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. 