Diary of a Serbophile

Diary of a Serbophile
March 3, 2025 • SAN ISSUE 35 - Winter/Zima 2024

And finally, a word or two about the Serbian language. I am learning it. And I make that statement confident in the fact that I will never be able to say that I have learned Serbian. It is not an easy language. How’s that for understatement?

Article by Erwin Coombs
Diary of a Serbophile
February 2, 2025 • SAN ISSUE 34 - Fall/Jesen 2023

And finally, a word or two about the Serbian language. I am learning it. And I make that statement confident in the fact that I will never be able to say that I have learned Serbian. It is not an easy language.

Article by Erwin Coombs
Diary of a Serbophile
December 6, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 26 - Jesen/Fall 2021

Said out loud, it sounds like I’ve invoked something negative, almost pejorative. Hard heads who won’t budge in the face of certain doom: this colours the West’s analysis of inat’s manifestation in the recent wars. Conceptually unique to the ‘Slavs of the South’, and translating poorly to “spite“ in its Serbian form and “stubbornness“ in its Turkish root, it has the character of an epithet given by the occupying oppressor, dismissive of ‘irrational’ resistance to their imposed authority.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 11 - Winter/Зима 2018

Sale is a strange one. After reading this article, you will have little doubt about it.

But, given the way I make my coffee, I find myself faced with a legitimate and possibly troubling question: am I slowly turning into a Serb?

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 15 - Winter/Зима 2018.

Sale dares to think he just might understand a few things about Serbia. He’s risky that way.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 16 - Spring/Пролеће 2019

Sale sees beauty in the rough, and Serbia has become his goldmine.

What I have found, others have lost. My travels to Serbia have rewarded me with so many gifts.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 17 - Summer/Лето 2019

Sale proposes that you get acquainted with Serbian medieval history on your next trip to Belgrade

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 18 - Fall/Јесен 2019

Two of Zet’s loves unite: his favourite music in his favourite country.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 19 - Winter/Зима 2019/2020

Seriously? Sale actually listens to and enjoys this music? He is Zet!

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 22 - Fall/Јесен 2020

Sale discovers inspiring strength under the scars of a Yugoslav heart.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 22, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 10 - Fall/Јесен 2017

Sale is a German/French-Canadian who found his way through marriage to an inexhaustible source of wonder and fascination called Serbia.

Article by Sale Dugokosi
Diary of a Serbophile
May 2, 2022 • SAN ISSUE 25 - Summer 2021

When I first began visiting Serbia, my father inlaw was my main companion, and while my wife met with her friends in Belgrade, he helped me discover the Moravian monasteries of Šumadija. Awakened to the complex and intriguing history of the region on my previous visit (see SAN 8), this trip was the first where I chose the destinations.

Article by Sale Dugokosi