dance society

Yesterday I went down to see Sasha and ask him if there was another dance party this Friday. When I came to the shop I saw that there were several people inside so I waved to Sasha and called out, "You're busy, I'll come back later."
"No! No! come on it, we're having a tea party. . ." one of the other guys yelled.
So I went inside and sat down at the low glass table where everyone was seated. I noticed that there didn't seem to be any cups on it when he finished his sentence, ". . .without the tea!" and then laughed uproarously. That's when I realized that he had an American accent.
"Are you American?" I said.
"New Yorker," he answered in that typical gregarious style they have, 'name's Silus."
I introduced myself and met his girlfriend Kataja and their other friend Zvezdan, which means 'starman.' Sasha was there and they were all speaking English so it was quite nice to join them. I inquired about dance parties and Sasha let me know that they happened every Friday at the Festivalna Dvorna Ballroom. Silus told me that he was a Swing dance guy and hosted a regular Swing night at Luna Park every Tuesday. They had a little class beforehand, free of charge, and the party went from 9-3AM.
I think I'll check him out one of these Tuesday while I'm not working.
Silus was so fun to talk with, he said things like, "Don't you just miss Reeses Peanut Butter Cups? I have my Mom send them."
When I agreed he shouted out, "High Five Girl!" and we did it there in the store like a couple of teenagers.
Silus moved here two years ago for Kataja, they looked really happy. I got an excellent vibe from Zvezdan too, he just seemed automatically like a good person. They gave me more explicit directions to the dance party and I left there in a state of complete elation.
Marko was feeling kind of sick, and it was the birthday of a friend of his, Katarina. After her birthday I decided to walk to the Festivalna Ballroom myself. Marko assured me that I would be perfectly safe walking alone and so armed with a map, and dressed for 'ballroom' I headed out alone at 11 PM.
The night was so warm and with only the slightest breeze, so I was very comfortable outside, it was perfect for me. The streets in the center were really busy, down by the three bridges I'd say hundreds of people filled the cafe and surrounding area. There was a live band playing acoutic traditional Slovenian music, which sounds like a blend of Austrian and Italian music. There is ALWAYS an accordian, and lots of gay singing by old men. The audience sings along in a  hearty, slight drunk manner. Also in the center by the three bridges the Hari Krishnas were giving a little performance with drums and flutes. Some hippies were gathered around watching them. The whole scene was so interesting to me. Everyone together in a public, with drinks, but very family-ish. Kids and dogs were plentiful and playing together, old people and young people seemed to enjoy themselves equally. There was a general air of festivity and celebration that was hard not to feel. I am amazed by the community oriented lifestyle of Europeans, this is something that really lacks in the cultures I've previously lived. I have never felt a general public sense of community with the greater body of those people who live around me. They do this every day and every night, they live a great deal more of their lives in public than we do in the US. I can see how they would have this robust feeling of 'our city' 'our people' 'our traditions' etc. . .
They are Slovenians.
I kept walking away from the center and into and area that was much  more deserted and slightly industrial looking. I had to tell myself over and over again that it was safe for me to be there. Every few moments I would think, 'this is a great place to die' or 'I wouldn't have a chance if someone attacked me now' or 'are you mad? What do you think you are doin?' All the while, even if I'm not thinking things like that, I'm silently sizing up escape routes, nearest roadways, and the location of my cell phone, damn.
This is all programming left from living in enormous cities, and it's pretty hard to shake, I'll probably never shake it completely. As it happened I arrived at the ballroom without incident.
I paid and went inside.
The crowd was aged between 30 and 50, with a lean to the older side. Everyone danced in pairs just exactly the same, with some variation in skill. The DJ announced the dance at the beginning of each song, "Waltz!" "ChaCha!" "Mambo" and so on. I sat and watched with some interest. I didn't know any of the dance moves but I noticed that the ballroom was very nice. It's the perfect dance spot, hard wood polished, smooth floors, no smoking in the ballroom, great lighting and acoustics, altogether is was gorgeous.
A man asked me to dance, I declined and told him that I didn't know how. He looked skeptical so I agreed and we headed to the dance floor. He showed me the step and I tried to follow, but I was having difficulty. He was holding both of my hands and we were just repeating this step back and forth. I thought the music was okay and I would have liked to dance, in fact I had the urge to DANCE, like really dance but he was holding my hands so I felt trapped. We danced like this for awhile but then I couldn't take it, "let go of my hands, I want to dance free please," I asked. So he let me go but I still tried to dance with him, just in a more free style. He became confused, he looked at me with mild distress.
"But this is the ChaCha," he said, and it was so innocent, and so befuddled sounding that I couldn't bear to confuse him any longer.
"Okay," I said, and taking his hands I tried to ChaCha for the rest of the song.
I'm not sure ballroom dancing it for me. I like to be able to do more things.
I watched the dancing for about an hour, then I walked home.

On the way home I passed a Burek stand that was still open and had a good late night crowd. I'd heard of Burek, and seen it for sale all around Slovenia. It is a traditional Serbian food, but obviously very popular throughout the Balkans.
I passed the stand then turned around and went inside. I ordered a cheese Burek to-go. The guy took it right out of the oven and bagged it up for me. It cost about $2.25 USD.
When I got home with it Marko said, "AH, Burek!" I told him which stand I bought it from, and he exclaimed that they were one of the best. I enjoyed the Burek very much, it's like a light filo pastry filled with ricotta cheese and baked in some yummy oil. It is oily, but not greasy, and the filo dough has a consistency closers to crepes than say, croissants. It was a huge piece, but we ate it in about 10 mintues. Yum!

We'll be going to Croatia for 10 days, to stay and swim on the island of Vis. I'm really excited, we leave tomorrow morning very early.

Luvs,
Agg