Ready for departure

[knightnorth]

I'm leaving today for Belgrade Serbia. I'm taking a box of the new Playboy Toro's. A very average cigar and I'm not a huge fan of Don Diego's. I actually walked into the shop thinking of getting a box of something else - but they had a playboy centerfold in the store for a special event and she gave me some free shit for buying the box soooo...

I hope to post from Europe but if I can't get a connection I'll see you all Friday or Saturday when I'm back in the states.

[sammis]

Ahhh, the old "Sex Sells" trick

Safe Travels to you and enjoy the cigars

[Shelby07]

Ain't no woman in the world that won't give a man shit!

Have a great time.

[knightnorth]

And them my triumphant return. Good to be home. Didn't buy any smokes in Serbia - I found some cigars that cost (the equivalent of) $10 - $20 that I could get for half that at home. I did see some Cubans at a reputable dealer but they were well over $30 American and I wasn't looking to spend that much on the whole trip.

My good deed for the team:

I'm used to be a canine officer for about 6 years so wherever I go on trips I like to talk to other canine guys because we have something in common. Well my last night in country there were 3 local canine officers standing post about 10 yards from where I was working. I didn't speak a lick of Serbian and they knew no English. It was about 2am and everyone's tired or bored so I saw one of the guys take his dog out of his cage and walk him - immediately I recognized it as a Malinois. (European dog - very good sniffing dog. Hard headed and stubborn but can also be used as a patrol or attack dog) When this guy finishes walking his dog he's about to lite a cigarette and I walk up to him and say Malinois. I had no idea if the dog was called the same in his language but he immediately recognized the word "Ya, ya Malinois." He starts talking and I'm not understand him but then he points at himself and says Labrador. I understand Labrador and I gathered after a few minutes that he has a Labrador at home that he likes better than his work dog. I showed him a picture of my home dog and say Manchester. I think he understood that's my home dog. Then he goes around to the other dogs and shines a light inside the cages and I saw the first one was a German Shepherd so I said, "German Shepherd." Again another word he recognized. He goes over each do and tells me the names - only the one named Tiger I understood. He did some sniffing sounds at one dog and I understood it was a tracking dog. He did some growling sounds pointing at one dog and I understood it was attack or patrol dog. Then his dog he said "bomb - boom" and I understood that was a bomb detection dog. Just found it neat that two people with no language connection can understand each other if they have something in common. We had found our first common language.

Our second language was when I pulled my box of playboys out. I figured I had no problem giving up 3 cigars. So I pulled the box out and when I opened it the man's eyes went wide and bight with a big smile on his face. Immediately he recognized the white rabbit and said "Ohhh Playboy" I offered it to his partners and everyone was excited. By the time I turned around though about 7 other Serbian police officers were coming off their post to see what the excitement was about. Well I offered a stick to all the officers that came over and decided I needed to get out of there before the whole city came on me. I went back to work and they all enjoyed lighting up. Cigars being a luxury here at home I wondered of what they mean in Serbia. All night I had police officers coming up to me making a smoking motion asking for a cigar. They had about 50 around the whole Hyatt. I had to lie and say I was out - I really just wanted to hand them out to the canine guys I had a common bond with - but the giving really did make me feel good.

[bigwhiteash]

Great story!


It only takes one word to break the language barrier!

[mrtr33]

We had found our first common language.

This reminds me of when I was in Rome 4 or 5 years ago with my youngest sister. We went to this little dive of a restaurant called Mickey's, near the Parthenon. We met this one guy from the hostel we were staying at, and these 2 other Italian guys. They were really nice, but similar to your situation, our conversation was limited to hand gestures and a few recognizable key words and phrases, due to the language barrier. The evening came to an abrupt ending when my sister (a very inexperienced drinker at the time) threw up all over the table. The ensuing laughter was a universal language we all understood.

Nice job, man. And welcome back!