Kere's Landsphere: December 2007

San Giovanni Fort

My "loyal fanbase" will note that I have not posted in several weeks. I wish I could blame internet connectivity, a hectic work schedule, or some other circumstances beyond my control for this laxity. Unfortunately, I have only myself to blame - specifically my lack of any significant insights into this new country of residence, Crna Gore (otherwise known as Montenegro.)

I'd like this blog to me more than just a vacation photo album. I'd like to provide insights and perspective. But, I have found Montenegro strangely covetous of its culture. Sure, there are the generalizations I could make. Montenegro has pretty mountains and azure seas. The weather sucks. Developmentally, the country has quickly advanced from the socialist doldrums of its Tito years and has left the consequences of Milosevic's atrocities behind as bitter memories, so that today the country is quickly growing into a modern, independent, European state. Despite that, of course, the country remains socially regressed in many ways (The people park their cars on sidewalks, smoke indoors, and spit in public! Oh, the horrors!) Okay, so I can say all that, but so could anyone who came for a weekend's vacation here. It's the people that matter, what about the people?

And that's where I hit a wall of incomprehension. Perhaps the one conclusion I can draw about the Montenegrin people is that they are masters of being unknowable. It would be unfair to label them as unfriendly, as being unwelcome of foreigners. Indeed, many Montenegrins have been quite helpful to me on many occasions. There is certainly none of the caustic xenophobia I experienced in South Korea, nor even the haughty superiority against others the Russians in Moldova expressed. Yet, if they were so behaved, Montenegrins would be easier to comprehend: I could label them "xenophobic" or "haughty". In fact, the easy, casual friendliness of the people here makes them that much harder to comprehend. For that friendliness always only extends to a point, only as far as it needs before it becomes genuine, personal.

There is not so much an attitude of xenophobia as there is just a hazy wariness held by the people here. It's not aggressive, not at all, but this wariness lurks in the eyes, in the posture. Several foreigners I know have commented that not one of their Montenegrin coworkers has ever even offered, nor accepted an invitation to, lunch or a coffee outside of work. I'm a regular at many stores and cafes around town, and the people greet me with smiles and "ciaos" when I enter, but any attempt at actual conversation is met with dubious looks.

Now, let me emphasize, this wariness is in no way blatant, it's more of a subconscious firewall against overt socialization. I wouldn't even go so far to presume, in fact, that this wariness applies only to outsiders. With the deeply entrenched clan disputes that define the underlying terrain of social interactions here in Montenegro, there may be a deeply rooted legacy of wariness against all not-your-clan that is only accidentally transferred to visitors from beyond the country's borders. Or, on the other hand, perhaps clan disputes have nothing to do with it. Perhaps after centuries of Montenegro fighting on the front lines of Europe's conflicts (Montenegro lay squarely on the boundary between Holy Roman and Byzantine Europe, was one of the few countries in the area that maintained its independence against the Ottoman Empire, defended itself successfully against Napoleon, and was entrenched in significant conflicts in both WWI and WWII. And, of course, there is the little matter of the recent former-Yugoslavian conflicts of the 1990's) perhaps, Montenegro has justification for preserving a culture attitude of distance against outsiders - outsiders haven't been too trustworthy in the past.

Regardless of the underlying causes, the ultimate consequence of this wariness is that I have found it hard to get a bead on Montenegrin culture, and - more significantly - even harder to make personal relations with the people here. My original lascivious intentions to land one of the tall, leggy, raven haired angels that stalk the streets in their snapping heels quickly withered and died after several weeks here, and I have resolved myself to the companionship only of my rampant cats. Just so, I have accepted the limits of my experiences and understanding of the country to be localized on mountains, old forts, bodies of water - the inanimate factor of Montenegro. As the CNN commercial declares, "Montenegro: experience Vild Beauty." Indeed, the spectacular scenery of Montenegro awaits you. But forget about experiencing the people.

So, to that end, I share with you photos of a solitary journey I took up the mountain paths to Fort Giovanni at Kotor Bay some weeks ago. Enjoy the views!