Learning Spanish
I've had my second Spanish class today. I'm in a group with two girls who're way ahead of me: they follow some Spanish soap-series on TV, which poses an unfair advantage and I look like the dummest guy around :) Perhaps it's time that I buy a TV again?
I first planned to find some material on the web. So I found a couple of web sites which feature free Spanish lessons, such as Online Spanish Tutorial, Learn Spanish and Study Spanish.
Yet, first thing I noticed is that Spanish is much more similar to Serbian in terms of grammar than either of these two to English. So, I decided that it was a waste of time to use English as intermediate language. Accidentally, I ran into 3-month course organized by Belgrade Student Union (Savez studenata Beograda), so I registered.
I'm somewhat in a new territory, since the course is not as systematic as I would expect (I'm studying mathematics, so I probably expect too much :)—we have not yet been introduced any of the grammar rules, but I can already see some patterns.
So, by next 6UADEC, I'll be writing novels and poems en Español—yeah, sure :)
Free Software: Focus on Serbia
I know very little people from Belgrade who actually care about free software (instead, there're some who care about open-source, as in "good way to profit using else's work", "technical advantages" [I don't actually believe in them a priori] or "Linux RU13Z" style). I suppose this show-off and compete attitude doesn't leave room for ideas such as "help your neighbour" or "share with everybody".
OTOH, there're some people who've started the Free Software Network, and they're—interestingly—not from Belgrade (well, most of them study in Belgrade now).
They work on a whole lot of stuff, like actually writing documentation in Serbian, doing some web-based support, and organizing and helping with minor local gatherings.
They're also planning to do a Serbian free software magazine, and work is already being done on that. Like probably many others in Gnome community, I just found out about Free Software Magazine through a post on foundation-list.
It seems it should be possible to make use of their experiences there, and especially, make use of their technical achievements. One of the leaders of FSN Serbia (Ivan) is a big fan of Gnome, so I expect Gnome to be the best-covered desktop in the magazine. :)
Anyway, lets hope this takes off! Any tips from other local groups are welcome!