Lectures: Today is my last lecture to a small core of faithful students from law, political science and journalism at the University of Montenegro. My class, because it is taught in English, is an elective course. The students are as interested in an interaction with a American as they are in the topics I discuss. Because the group is so mixed, I've generally discussed the role of media in society, including some discussion of media theories to explain how people use or react to media content. My class will have to end a little earlier than usual today. Though I've been in this room, meeting at 10 AM until 11:30 AM all semester, another class has been schedule to use the room at 11 AM. Why or how this happens, I do not know. Schedule planning is one more area needing overhaul at the university. It seems to be a scattered, random system of assignments.

Police Presence: The newspapers reported Saturday morning of rocks thrown at vehicles leaving a referendum rally the previous night. Three or four cars were struck by rocks but there were no arrests. During the day Saturday, as a friend and I walked around Podgorica, we were surprised by the number of police officers we saw on the streets. Was this an effort to prevent any referendum-related clashes between proponents and opponents, I wondered aloud? Fortunately, the answer was no. The police were on the streets to prevent soccer/football holligans from causing trouble before or after Saturday's game. Fans get roudy in the U.S. but it's nothing compared to some of the trouble that breaks out in Western Europe at football matches. Serbia/Montenegro apparently is beginning to copy those actions.

Manicured: In the U.S., they'd be weeds if they sprouted in the manicured, chemically-treated lawns of a suburban neighborhood but here in Montenegro, they are wildflowers. White, yellow, orange, pink, violet, blue, purple and red colors add to the feeling of spring. Even here, some of the wildflowers aren't always welcomed....especially as they reach a foot or more in height. Then the weedtrimmers do their work. Here that means a man with a traditional scythe will cut them, by hand and with the sweat of his brow. This is the same sort of scythe Americans might see in a picture with the Grim Reaper....a curved blade about three feet long and a wooden handle about five feet long. In the Green Market, you can buy a new scythe handle or new blade. The handle costs about 2 Euros and a new blade about 10 Euros.


English Creep: It is always interesting for me to hear or see English words that enter the vocabularlies in non-English speaking countries. "Marketing" does not have a Serbian equivalent term so the word has been added to the vocabulary. "Super" for great or excellent, is a commonly used word in Montenegro. On my to-do list before I leave is to take some pictures of some of the uses/applications of English words. Here's one example: