Meet Voja (VOY-yah), who owns the little newspaper stand where I go every morning to buy my newspapers. Here I also sometimes buy bus tickets, Milka chocolate, and other treats, and Voja always seems to be around. You can probably surmise that smoking is big here from the packs of cigarettes jammed behind his window. (Serbia was third in Europe after Greece and Turkey for the number of smokers.) I had never seen Voja standing until I asked him for this photo, since he's usually seated inside the little window you can glimpse on the left. Voja was very pleased when I presented him with a copy of this photo!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
My corner store
Meet Voja (VOY-yah), who owns the little newspaper stand where I go every morning to buy my newspapers. Here I also sometimes buy bus tickets, Milka chocolate, and other treats, and Voja always seems to be around. You can probably surmise that smoking is big here from the packs of cigarettes jammed behind his window. (Serbia was third in Europe after Greece and Turkey for the number of smokers.) I had never seen Voja standing until I asked him for this photo, since he's usually seated inside the little window you can glimpse on the left. Voja was very pleased when I presented him with a copy of this photo!
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Voja, "Louis" is pleased to make your acquaintance, even though it is from a great distance!
A cosmopolitan little shop. The snacks have English labels. I see a German automobile magazine, I think. American brand cigarettes. Quite a contrast to the post from Sunshine Coast, Australia, whose author says they can't even display a lot of cigarettes in the shop.
My post will go up in about 12 hours. As usual, it relates to the theme but I refuse to take it literally.
Voja is a handsome guy and has what looks like a nice small business there on the corner.
I am a bit early for my browsing theme day as mine can't go up for another 5 hours.
hi vija nice to meet you...
What nice connection you have with him. And he posed so relax in your photo. Excellent.
It's nice to have those personal connections like this!
See, if you just ask, people are pleased and honored to pose for your camera. Very nice photo and perfect for theme day. You've made Voja a happy man!
Hello, all! Yes, Voja will be pleased to see his photo on the Net (though he doesn't have a computer and will go to a friend's place). I don't think he knows English either, but he can at least see so far how many comments he's received.
As for the German magazines, the ones you see, perhaps "Gud" and "Auto-bild" are in Serbian, though their titles are in German, and my guess is that they are German, but in translation.
I sometimes DO ask to take people's photos when it's someone like this that I know or "feel" will let me, but many, many others, especially those who are from the village, say selling stuff on the markets, or similar often do not want their photos taken, so I sneak one.
I like knowing the shopkeepers too. It can really make daily routines so warm and comforting.
GUD is serbian product. Made by Marbo Products. I think origin of gud isn't in german, I think it's in english. Since Serbs have phonetic alphabet - meaning every voice has it's own symbol, "gud" is how we would write after someone reads "good" in english. German way to say good is "gut". This AutoBild is serbian version of (in Europe) famous German, low cost, bad designed, but full of good infos, car magazine.
Yes, thanks/hvala, Obelix. If I had been more awake when I wrote my comment, I would have realized it's 'Gut,' not 'Gud' in German! Also I should also tell viewers that there are lots of newspapers, news magazines, and specialized magazines in Belgrade at major newsstands and some bookstores.
I'll try to fully wake up before I post again!
Hello Voja,
It is a lovely portratit. We don't have these kind of newstands on the island, but there are so many in France. So the daily newspaper ritual isn't confined to myself then?
Lighthearted and friendly! Good choice! Cheers.
Bibi, I also think that is a lovely portrait of a nice-looking man. I enjoy reading your blog. As you say, it's one way of bringing the rest of the world a picture of the ordinary, nice people who live in your city. It's a pity that we read so many negative things about your part of the world in our newspapers. Thanks for helping in your way to bring peace to our planet.
Nice sort of environmental portrait today Bibi! He certainly has a wide variety of products from all over the world in his little shop.
Thanks for your very nice comment on my post today!
You seem to have a nice relationship with Voja!
When I visited Belgrade I was still smoking (no longer do) and I remember that everybody there smoked all the time, both on the street and indoors. Here, the city is working very hard to encourage people to quit; they forbid smoking inside most public places (including restaurants, cafes and bars), recently distributed free nicotine patches, and have raised the price of cigarettes, which now cost $8.50 per pack.
Blather From Brooklyn
Oh, what a nice post about this (Im sure) nice man :)
So, I have a question... Have you learnt serbian???
Kind regards! :)
Thanks for visiting my site. To answer your question; about 1000ft up in a balloon. I've been running the story over the past week or so, so there's quite a few photos in a similar vein.
I'm so glad you featured Voja today. Since we get to travel to Belgrade via your experiences and images, its nice to meet the people who are part of your daily life. I see from the crossed legs in the background that one can sit nearby to enjoy reading the paper.
-Kim
Seattle Daily Photo
It is a charming photo, Bibi, so I am not surprised he loved it! Great choice for the theme day!
Bibi, your ability to catch and post in your blog the everyday lives of people in your city is remarkable! It reawakens memories of old world charms and lifestles that I've admired on travels to Europe and it's good to see how much remains. Thanks for introducing Voja too!
This place looks very nice!
how nice that you made his day!
We have Milka chocolates at the corner Eastern European grocery stores too. I believe the owners are Romanian.
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