Family Sumadijan Style...

We were packing up on Saturday morning getting ready for a few days of sun, food, way too beer and partial relaxation at our viked vekendica in Sumadija when Mama got a call from her niece (one of like 200 Mama has)...  Actually, I have this theory that when Marija & I got married in 2000, I immediately became related to half of Sumadija.  Every time we travel around Marija will yell out; "Stop, I see my cousin!  Let's give him/her a ride"...  which of course ends up at four in the morning with me dealing with the previously mentioned; Three Rules of Sumadija.


Any way, back to the call Mama got.  Marija's cousin's son is in the army, details of the Ispracaj to follow, and was recently moved to Belgrade for a few days of operations.  As a majority of the recruits that are stationed in Belgrade also live in Belgrade, many either go home at night or get daily supplies from family.  Simply put, the Serbian army is near bankruptcy and has problems feeding soldiers let alone give them full military training...  Maybe a good thing.


So, Marija's cousin's son is in one of the Belgrade barracks with little to no food and even less knowledge of how and where to find it in a city he's been to maybe twice in his life... This is where the Sumadijan family network comes in!  With instructions of what a "modern" Sumadijan soldier in Belgrade needs we dropped off two very fresh pleskjavicas (got it from one of Daryl's favourite places), a litre of Coke, a litre of apple juice, a box of cookies, ten packs of 3 in 1 instant coffee (we had extra left over from Exit and I'll never drink the stuff) three packs of smokes (Marlboro no less) and a some porn... I mean Sportski Journal.


All very well received.  Funny thing is I parked, not noticing at first, parallel to the barracks gate.  Marija's cousin's son came out and met us to pick up his care package.  When i realized that I parked my foreign plated car blocking the gate to a army barracks, I started waving frantically to the guard that I'll immediately move.  His response was a slight bent head to the right and shoulder shrug basically conveying "amm" which I loosely translated as "whatever".


Either a sad state of affairs or an understanding the importance of dropping important things like food off to family...  Or both!


Any way, scored major rakija points (not that i need more rakija) with Marija's cousin's son's mother...  actually, Marija's cousin.