Mudita Journal

Moving to Belgrade

November 12, 2009 · Filed under: Personal
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This Saturday I am relocating to Belgrade, Serbia.

I’ll be checking just two items when I board the plane: (1) my guitar and (2) a suitcase with my belongings. Today I put my remaining possessions in boxes, and tomorrow those boxes go in a storage facility here in Carson City.

Why Belgrade? Overall I’m in a significant life transition. Kathy and I are recently divorced (amicably, remaining close friends and business partners) and now seems like a time to see what the world has to offer that may be different, meaningful, and exciting.

A few years from now, I’d love to be remarried and starting a family. In the interim, I’m going to spend time getting to know a new culture (or variety of cultures) in Eastern Europe, participating in some of the pro-Rand and pro-freedom movements in the area, and making new friends.

Eastern Europe is a favorable destination because it is relatively more receptive to American values (when they show up) and because my friend Stephen Browne has been kind enough to connect me with his network of friends in the area.

Bulgarian publisher Kalin Manolov, for example, has recently published a Bulgarian translation of Atlas Shrugged, and he’s invited me to give a short talk to his new Ayn Rand Society on the 21st. So I’ll be spending time in Sofia that weekend.

Fortunately, I can continue to run Atlas Web Development from anywhere that I have an internet connection, so I’ll maintain the same professional activities I’ve been pursuing in the United States.

My plan is to rent an apartment in Belgrade, and use that as my office and home base for exploring other areas on the weekends. I’m also planning to start a travel log, for those of you who’d like to keep up with my adventures. I’ll post an announcement here once I do.

See you on the other side.

Posted by Joshua Zader · Trackback URL · Link
  • Rebecca

    Holy Moly!

    I missed lots of news by not being around in West Hollywood a couple of months ago!

    I wish you all the best!

  • http://xerhino.livejournal.com Roy Corey

    Wow, big changes. I listened to your interview the other day, btw, and you did a good job. Very calm, very descriptive.

    I hope Belgrade is a good adventure for you. I’m sure you’ll do well where ever you end up. and, yeah, seeing as how they have *the internet* we’ll be able to follow along with your adventure. :-)

  • http://www.rawandfit.com/biketour Casey Stanton

    Good luck!

    Living abroad, working online, is much easier than many people believe.

    Enjoy your time in Europe. It’s incredibly welcoming to us Americans now that Obama is in office. It’s literally a 180 from what it was 2 years ago.

    Quite possibly the best time to travel.

    May the wind be at your back.

  • http://www.shop.com Jordan Zimmerman

    Wow – I’m sorry about your relationship.

    Very exciting about Belgrade, though. Please report often on your experiences. If the USA continues it’s ride down the Socialist highway my wife and I will be looking to relocate.

  • http://beerandmind.blogspot.com/ David Elmore

    Joshua, I’m very sorry to hear of your divorce, but I’m glad it’s amicable. My divorce from Kelly Reynolds in early 2006 was also amicable, and we still see each other a lot at functions, as well as when we drop our daughter Livy off.
    I wish you all the best in Serbia and hope it is as fruitful and exciting as it sounds like it may be.
    Take care,
    David

  • http://GameOfThriving.com/abcintro Mark Michael Lewis

    Joshua, I’m glad to hear of your adventure. Had the fortune of spending time in Belgrade 1989 – currency crashing, people in the streets, culture exploding. It had a profound impact, and leaves me happy to think you will be representin’. May pleasant surprises inspire profound love of this crazy life thing.

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