We had a live TV interview a few days after I arrived in Serbia. I have done a few student news productions back in my prime at Swansboro.  For two years I was in Communications and all we did was the school news, so I’m no stranger to the camera. It’s a completely different story when the huge bright lights are on you and you cannot go back and edit the bloopers because it’s a live stream straight to the Serbian viewers. It didn’t go as bad as I thought it would go and I only got caught not paying attention one time.  

We went to the local “Spa” in Bor and drank from a few “springs” These were all naturally heated from an underground volcano.  Each one helps a different part of the body, for example they had a spring that helped with digestion, kidneys, etc. I don’t know how they determine which spring helps which part of the body, but never the less it was awesome drinking naturally heated water when its 20 degrees out. 

That same day we went to visit the mine in bor. It is one of the largest copper mines in all of Europe. It produces something called “Smelter”  if the wind is not blowing it can easily fill up half the city with a thick fog and a smell that you can’t put into words.  It’s not harmful; it’s just something else that I’m not used to.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTB_Bor Here is a trusty Wiki link to do some extra research if you are interested. 

Basketball goals are ALL over the city. I found this one and just had to take a picture; it has seen better days. 

I finally broke down and decided that I needed a haircut. My center ‘s (Don Rock) mother is a hair stylist in my town. She cut my hair, washed it, and gave me a massage all for $2.50. I can pay about $0.60 anytime of the day and go get my hair washed. She begged to cut my beard off and insisted that I would be prettier without it. Sorry! I’m not touching it until after we win the championship and I am back in the States. 

We have our first scrimmage on March 9^th vs NIS.

Fishstrong!

Trever

Questions and answers with your favorite Serbian Quarterback.

1. How hard has it been adjusting to the Serbian community?

It’s been an experience, to say the least. The language barrier has been one of the most difficult aspects.  If we don’t have someone to translate for us, it is a struggle for sure. For example, we sat down in Millennium (the casino) and ordered some tea. The waitress had never heard Americans speak before and she was so taken back after we ordered all she said was, “yooooooooo” with the deer in headlights look, and then walked off. Later our usual waitress brought over the tea we normally drink.  Every day is something new and interesting that requires some adapting.

2. Why do you like football?

I love the family atmosphere you create once you become a team. You will do anything and everything for the person next to you.  I have made best friends and great connections over the years through football.  I love game planning and outsmarting the other team. I personally love the feeling of a team looking up to you to take them to a championship. I love having all the pressure on me when the game is on the line. Football brought me four thousand miles away from home. I don’t like football, I love football.

3. What is the most surprising difference between life in Serbia and life in the States?

I would have the say the readiness of everyday items. Everything in my town closes around 10 pm. Some stuff stays open like the night clubs, bars, and a few restaurants. In America, we can go get food 24/7. My town does not have a single delivery service. They also don’t have American chips, cookies, or other junk foods. They have their own brand of those things. It’s still surreal to me that they don’t have a Dunkin Donuts on every corner. I would also kill for a Mountain Dew and Cheetos right now. The biggest difference other than the language is the food.

4. What is the one thing you wish you could “do-over”?

I don’t have a single regret because it’s all part of God’s plan. If I had the chance of a do over I would go back to high school and do my homework and study more. I would actually care about getting good grades to go to the college I wanted to attend. I went to UNCP where all of my friends went, but honestly I didn’t want to go there. I settled. It all worked out in the end because I moved to Wilmington a year later like I wanted to do from the start.

5. How do you just leave everything you know and start something in a new place?

It’s something I have always wanted to do: break away from the everyday routine and follow my dream of traveling the world and playing sports.  I am living my dream and making memories in the process and I couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s tough missing home and my family and friends, but you guys still love me right?

6. How do you feel about Michael Sam speaking out and telling everyone that he is gay right before the draft?

Personally, I do not care. I don’t think the sexual orientation of a player affects his abilities on the football field. Unfortunately, with the world we live in, I think that it will make him fall in the draft a few spots just because of locker room issues. I have had a gay player on my football team before and he was one of the top players. You would be surprised by how many gay athletes we have in all sports but will not come out because of our critical society.

7. Can you get American TV shows in Serbia?

We get almost all the new shows but not until  2 or 3 am my time. I am 6 hours ahead, so I stay up late to watch everything. I have about 10 American channels with Serbian subtitles. The only problem is I can’t watch college basketball because we don’t have ESPN.  It’s tough not being able to watch the Tarheels!



Fishstrong!

Trever

My house in Serbia is small, but we do not spend much time inside.  In our house we don’t have central heat or air, so we heat our house with a fire burning stove, an electric heater, and this gas burner that looks like a satellite.

 It can get scorching hot sometimes, and other times when the fire goes out and the gas tank runs out, it’s a cool 20 degrees. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes to warm up again.

When we aren’t home, we have a chance to wander around town, when we aren’t at the gym or practice.  I have mentioned before how inexpensive everything here is and the cars are no exception.

 

Time Magazine describes the Yugo as “one of the worst cars ever built” so it’s no wonder it costs about $200. These cars are ALL over the town and are typically they are made in red; I don’t know why this is such a popular color for the Serbs. If you see a red car in my town of Bor, nine times out of ten it will be a Yugo. One of my teammates is getting his license at 20 years old. His parents are making him practice with the Yugo until he becomes comfortable enough to drive a more expensive car. He drove Oscar and me home from practice one night and getting into that car was a different experience. First of all, you can see how small the car is. Fitting my 6’2” self into the backseat was a task of its own.  My knees were so far in the driver side seat that the driver was sitting straight up trying to drive. The car has heat and air, but it was so poorly manufactured that it was colder in the car than it was outside. My teammate had to constantly use an ice scraper because the windshield kept fogging up, making it difficult for him to see the road and shift gears. Don’t get me wrong; I am not complaining and I am more than thankful for the free ride, I just have never ridden in a car so small.

Another thing I see on the streets every single day is a different kind of dog.  My town does not have animal control, so we just have random dogs all over the town . All of the dogs are shy and act scared when I take a picture of them.  One night, we actually saw a bobcat at the bus stop; it was walking right up to us and unlike the other strays, there was no fear in its eyes.  

My next post will be a Q&A about my life and Serbia and whatever else people decide to ask me. Thanks for sharing and commenting on the blog! I am now over a thousand views!

Fishstrong!

Trever                                     

Food! I eat for free in this college cafeteria; the food is surprisingly good and for the most part, healthy. It’s not like cafeterias in the States when you have 20 options, but instead there are three choices of a main course, then six sides to choose from including a whole loaf of bread. I’m not kidding; every person gets a huge piece of bread. 

 it’s crazy but no one drinks anything when they eat.   Oscar, my roommate, and I always ask for “voda” which is water. They do not offer tons of soft drinks and juices. Last night we had pork chops,  French fries and of course, bread. It was one of the best pork chops I’ve had in a long time. The best part about it all, is that we get so much and it’s all free.  

In town they have a ton of other places that we can eat at. We have to pay for these meals but as I said before, everything is so cheap, and delicious. We don’t have fast food in our town at all. I’m actually thankful for that because I can enjoy new food and drinks from this culture that I haven’t had before. Don’t get me wrong, there is a McDonald’s 20 miles away that I’m sure we will crave enough at some take the bus for a Big Mac. 

One of my most favorite restaurants (so far) is called “The French Guy;” the food is always so fresh and the owner is always so pleasant and happy to see us. For my first meal, I had this piece of hamburger that had fresh onions packed in it with fries, cabbage, and a stuffed red pepper.  This was the best meal I have had so far, and it only cost about $3.00.  

As most people know, pizza is vice. So naturally I wanted to find the local pizza place and see what it tasted like. The most common pizza in Serbia isn’t like America’s.  Instead of pepperoni and cheese, in Serbia, the typical pizza is bologna, cheese, and mushrooms.  It was very good and it’s not dripping with grease because it’s not loaded down with cheese. Nevertheless, it was about $1.00 and tasted like home. Needless to say, I’ll definitely go back!

They have only 1 big grocery store here in Serbia. Everything else is small markets with everything that you would need. That’s where we have been going.   

They also have a bunch of little side stores that are outside all year long. 

On a lot of street corners and windows of retail stores they have posters and pictures of female models. They do not look like American models. They look healthy. You can’t see hip bones or plastic surgery, mostly because they can’t afford it.

Once we get more into the season, I will be able to post more football related things.  it’s just so cold outside that we can only practice in the gym at night for a few hours. Once this snow melts we will be in great shape! Go bears! 

Fishstrong!

Trever

I think I can start every blog entry with “Where do I start?” I swear I am overwhelmed  my the newness of this experience everytime I step outside of my house. I will start with my trip to the airport. Since I received my flight information from the team, I assumed my flight was out of Washington, D.C. and I didn’t even bother looking up the airport until the morning of my flight.  It turns out that Dulles Airport is in Washington, Virginia, not D.C.  So after coming to this realization,  Clint, Jonathan, and I woke up around 6:30 am on Thursday, January 31^st with snow and ice on the roads in Jacksonville; it was a small struggle to get to the main highway.  After arriving at the airport, we  walked around, found my gate and checked my bag. We still had a few hours until my flight so we looked up a local “mall” 30 minutes away that had approximately 5 stores, 3 of which were closed for construction. When we got back to the airport, we quickly go out of the car and said our goodbyes. My stomach instantly dropped as my roommates drove away, leaving me on my own for the first time in my life.

I have only flown one other time (to Atlantic city for Wayne’s bachelor party), but the whole process was not completely foreign. I made my way to security and they asked very politely for me to take off the baggy sweat pants I was wearing in front of about a hundred people. Fortunately for me and all the onlookers, I was wearing my “fun” underwear. When I finally made it through security and to my I gate, I sent a few final texts and calls and they called for us to board the plane.  After a 7 hour flight in a seat made only for people under 5’8” with my knees wedged into the back of the passenger in front of me, I arrived in London at 6:30 am.  I had a 6 hour layover so I just wandered around, found something to eat and tried to stay awake for my connecting flight to Serbia.  After realizing I had been awake for a full 24 hours, they finally called for my final connecting flight to board. Despite my exhaustion and nerves, I was unable to sleep on the flight.

 
I finally arrived in Belgrade, Serbia where I was greeted by the head of sponsorship for our team and his friend.  We got into his car and made the THREE hour drive back to Bor, the hometown of my new team.  When we finally arrived at my new house, the exhaustion had really set in; there was a sandwich waiting for me from the “best restaurant in town” and I could not wait to scarf it down and collapse into bed.  Not a chance.  Instead, they told me to eat quickly and get changed for my first practice with my new team.  We travelled less than 5 minutes to practice and when I got out of the car, my new teammates seemed almost as starstruck as I was.  I could hear them saying things like “there he is” and “he’s finally here!” I honestly heard one of the younger guys from the junior team say, “ I want to get his signature,” in very broken English. I feel like Tom Brady on Monday night football. That is such a cliché thing to say, but it’s true.

I came in at the end of practice so I didn’t really get to do much; I just talked to a few guys on the team and continued to meet players. After practice, I met up with a few of the guys I had been talking to before arriving in Serbia.  They invited me out for a beer and even though I was physically and mentally drained from being up for 35 hours, I could not turn it down.  What would a few beers (and shots, and a few more beers) do?

At the bar, I quickly realized that the drinking age is only 18; with that said, not a single bar actually regulates this. The cops do not seem to care either as long you aren’t making a complete fool of yourself and/or raising hell in the streets. Kids on the junior team are out drinking with us too. Kids at 16 and 17 years old are doing shots and drinking beer along with the rest of the team, which was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. I liked the bar and the atmosphere except that patrons are allowed to smoke in Serbian bars and literally EVERYONE does.  It’s annoying and I can hardly breathe to drink a beer. I even left that bar with cigarette burns in one of my sweaters. Another major difference between this and American bars are the way people treat one another. In America when someone wants to walk by you, they have to awkwardly walk behind you and try their best not to bump into you. It’s the exact opposite in Serbia; they run right into you and keep walking.  Somehow it doesn’t even seem rude, just the best way to get past someone I guess.

This is the cheapest beer with the most alcohol content. It doesn’t really taste bad, it’s just not budlight.  The beer is 18oz and 7% alchohol for about $1. I can also buy a shot of wild turkey rare breed for $1. crazy I know.  In the states this would probably cost an easy $5-8. Everything is so cheap here: food, drinks, cars, just the lifestyle in general. It has been a crazy past few days but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Thank you to the people who keep showing me support. I enjoy waking up to text messages, snaps and tweets from all of you. Keep them coming!

Fishstrong!

Trever

Where to start? For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Trever Hardin. I am 25 years old and am originally from Swansboro, NC.  Over the past few years I have had an urge to travel and venture out to a new culture and something that is different from Jacksonville, Wilmington, and Raleigh where I have spent most of my life. Don’t get me wrong: I love being able to walk from a bar straight to the beach access in less than 20 steps, but I really just wanted a change of pace. I am excited to say that I received exactly what I had been praying for.

I landed in Bor, Serbia on Friday with the chance of a lifetime. I have been chosen to help a football team that was winless in 2013 to hopefully become a championship contender in the 2014 season. In 2011, I turned down a chance to play Arena Football in the IFL (Indoor football league). Fortunately, it worked out for the best because I finished my degree and that team folded the next year. In 2013 when I was offered the chance to play football again, I was determined to not let the opportunity slip away. With that being said, it’s very hard to quit a well-paying job, leave friends and family that you already miss (it’s been 1 day) and pick up everything and fly away to a whole new way of life. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but it’s something I have always wanted to do. Most of you knew or know of Jeff Fisher who played a HUGE role in my life and on my final decision. We talked it over, weighed the options, and I could never give him a good enough reason to stay home. I will always have a job; I will always be able to make money, and I will one day find the person I want to be with. Maybe I already have? If so, she will be there when I get back. He wouldn’t let me say no to the opportunity and I can’t thank him enough for that. We all miss you Jeffrey! Rest easy buddy!

This blog will be about football, Serbia, other countries I get to visit along the way, and flash backs and memories of home. Please feel free to comment or share my blog with anyone you think may want to read it! Anything is possible, I’m living proof.

Fishstrong.

 

Trever