Tea Party at Five

It was a nice and sunny; well, OK, too hot and sultry august day. I
received my e-mail and almost had a heart-attack when I read that my sister, Bokica, the respected president of our Backpacker's Association, had invited people from the mailing list to a tea party at our place on Friday at five.

Well, Bokica, querida, why do you think that anyone would like to come to have a cup of tea in the middle of the summer? - I asked carefully. Hm, see, I didn't even think about it, so: "I am broke, but I am anxious about gathering friends together, so I invited them for tea
because we do have it in the house :)" - she answered joyfully.

Well, folks, it's real backpackers' spirit. And that move was exactly
the right one. Indeed, at 5pm on Friday, people who were - well,
unbelievable - appeared at the door. She got me infected with her idea, so we also invited people who had registered on the web site
www.hospitalityclub.org (a site for hosting backpackers for free). We
thought that they were friendly young people who also like traveling.
Then we started to receive answers. I can't resist not to mention some really silly customs that my sister has because they are very interesting to the audience. so, she made a list of guests who had
said they would come and when they appeared, she put a plus next to their names!!!

Two days before the party, a couple of backpackers from Finland
arrived to our place. Two months ago, they wrote that they will come, but I didn't make an effort to remember the exact date because in our Serbia, no one respects plans. So, I was very surprised when I received an e-mail that they were really going to arrive when they said before. We offered them accommodation and our mother and grandmother had breakdown because we hadn't asked them anything, they were not even informed. The party was planned for the Friday when they were supposed to leave to the weekend house. With their leaving starting to be uncertain we became frightened that they will stay at home and discover about our other action that they were not told about either.

Fortunately, they started to pack for leaving, but unfortunately, it
was too late because the people were punctual and arrived in great
number at a time, right when my mother tried to put of a bunch of food and meat in the fridge for a weekend trip.Tea party started. We pushed our new friends into our small room and prayed for that out mother and grandmother leave soon! In that chaos and heat in our room, we had to forget about making tea. Finally, we announced extending the party over the whole flat and then the party really began. I must admit that people really drank the tea. I adore english black tea with milk, but there was another brand which had the original flavor and smell of fruit.

And, of course, the whole point of this text is not to describe the
outside characteristics of the party, but to present the atmosphere that I felt, hoping that I'm not the only one!

I liked the company from the very beginning. People came from different sides and in our small room they realized how small the world is! Some of them knew each other from primary school, some from high school, others from work, or faculty. And the biggest coincidence was when - while walking downtown - our Finns met a guy from Amsterdam who was with them at the same hostel in Romania a few days before, and he was the same guy that our friend backpacker, Sale, met in Budapest, at the Pepsi Sziget festival two weeks earlier.

I am glad that people fit together, all talked to each other, it was very positive atmosphere, and I think that the only outsider was my
boyfriend who came, realized that he was not from the same story, and left :). We talked about hostels and the Association. I felt really
strange when I realized that everybody knew what hostels and backpacking were, because people often look at us like we came from another planet when we mention those two words. I felt so familiar. It seems to me that we understood each other very well, no matter what we talked about. My Bokica was a little disappointed at the end because there was not more time for talking about the Association, because people had more fun, and less "work" :), but I told her that the most important thing is that we met each other, made some kind of contact, and what better way to do it if not through having fun and cool atmosphere. So, I had really great time, I felt euphoric and someone asked me if we put alcohol in the tea because we were so cheerful :).

There was a volunteer from the Hospitality club at the tea party whose task, I found out, was to observe us, and if he figured out that someone of those offering accommodation is not normal or acts strange, he would notify those at the club to expel him from the web site :). But, even though he tried to convince me that I got it all wrong, he still took photographs all evening. That seems cool to me, but who knows for what secret purpose he will use them and I ask myself what people would think when they saw the pic of my sister crying when the Finns were leaving Belgrade to continue their Interrail Europe. Oh, our hospitality :)

And, like I always end my impressions from some event, I invite all who were at the party, and don't feel bored, to write one or two words about that and how they experienced this gathering. I hope that we will see each other again, and that all those who were not able to come the first time would come as well!

I send you all a KISS!

Jelena