Life, Love and CAKE

LIFE, LOVE, CAKE BABY

So this week I travelled back to Serbia, 3 days and a lot of people to see and spend quality time with.

I had the most Balkan ride from Vienna to Novi Sad. Two big Serb dudes and two ladies smoking a whole packets

of cigarettes… windows in the car up… and playing loud tambourashi music, singing under their breath to every song. Plenty of stops for buying new packets of cigarettes and drinking ‘duze espresso’.  There was no better way to re-enter the culture that I loved so much, after all it can’t be fully experienced without these very authentic parts.

Arriving in the city, it’s a grey cloudy day, trying to rain and looking sad yet beautiful. The colourless grey building projecting up into the sky, deserted balconies with no trace of life, a crowd of poor kids sitting on sheets of cardboard on the street, stray dogs that had seen better days wandering around outside of bakeries looking for scraps of anything edible. With all its natural gloom it welcomed me like an old friend and I always felt a touch of emotion walking back on these streets that I knew so well. At every corner there is something I know, some memory hidden there, like a treasure that I buried and can always uncover at the moment I pass it. Serbia looks very different to Austria, but beauty comes in many forms and its tall socialist buildings stand up straight and tall, unmoving and uninterested in the world passing by. I am constantly reminded that my whole life used to be here, everything that meant anything to me was in this city. I had built, loved, laughed, cried, created, and fought for many many things here. As if to remind me that I will never be a stranger here, I walked only 500 meters before someone recognised me and called out ‘Caio Anna’.. smiled and waved..

Culture Exchange in Novi Sad looks beautiful. Ana and Andy are the new responsible owners and it’s been growing and changing in many wonderful ways.  It’s always nice to be here, and I feel the love and sense of community that it has built. A big thank you to Andy and Ana for letting me stay with them during these days and also for keeping CE, and caring for it. I feel like all the time and effort that I put into CE has made a lasting effect and I can see that these guys who run it now also put this love and effort to make it run, and it works. It’s really a special place, when you come inside you immediately feel that you are at home, that there are good people here and you feel comfortable. It’s got an amazing positive energy, it’s almost unavoidable to be affected by it.  I do not know why the CE in Serbia has made this impact or stood for this long, we all invested a lot of ourselves in it, but like a great painting, all the people that put some colour into it made it what it is today, even those who just passed by and put some energy into it, all the original owners, all the staff that ever worked here, with their faith in this place they made it what it is today.

Even though I love it here in Serbia, I look forward to going back to Graz.  Lots of people are asking me if it’s better for me in Graz, if I have a better life. I have to say It’s very different, I have more security and more of a chance to save money, I have different friends, and different responsibilities. I feel like neither is better than the other, both were perfect for that time. I grew through each experience and I wouldn’t trade my time here in Serbia for any amount of money or anything else (candy). I learnt that everything has a time and a place and will fall into place with time. 

So let me tell you about my recent project with expanding CE into the cake-making business. I have been baking cakes for around 2 years now  and as always I think big, I am developing my skills and thought that a great way to progress would be to try to make more cakes. How to do this? Well creating small branch of CE for catering… and of course calling it ‘CAKE BABY’. First me and Medea (my partner in crime) wanted to call it ‘Sweet Little Things’.. tho after some thought we felt it did not fit us so good… taking inspiration from one of our favourite films we settled on ‘CAKE BABY’.  It’s still early days.. but give us some support and check out our page, give us a like and possibly a share.. and you could even order a cake if you are feeling really adventurous.. and you live in Graz. It’s kinda my recent ambition to create a wedding cake, I feel I need this to expand my skills. None of my friends seem to be too successful in love, so I don’t know of any weddings, but if anyone feels like doing something stupid and getting married.. let me know.