21 | September | 2008

Saturday morning I awoke early and went for a run at Ada Ciganlija (Sport Island). Mike Harvey invited me to come down as a running group meets there every Saturday. Mike works for the US Aid mission here that is helping Serbia go forward from communism and the war into the EU and a better life for all its citizens. We ran the loop around the lake which is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) I liked running with others and not having a jogging stroller and I hope to get the chance to do it more often. Thanks to Nadia for watching the kids and giving me a bit of free time!

We then headed off for shopping down town. We first went to the US Embassy Commissary. The commissary is a store on the second floor of the embassy that carries US products that you can’t get in Serbia. They only accept US dollars, but there is no sales tax (18% in Serbia) which makes it much cheaper than in the stores in Belgrade. We bought waffles, ziploc bags, cream of tartar, etc

The Kralovec family savors its processed food goodies outside the Embassy.

We next went to the Kalenić pijaca located near the St. Sava’s cathedral. “Pijaca” is the Serb word for market and the Kalenić is the largest open air market in the city. Laurence Mitchell in the Bradt guide book describes it, “the spirit of the Serbian countryside transposed to the city.” There are hundreds of stalls with fruits and vegetables, manned by really old ladies in the long dresses and head scarves. They look like the old Italian women in my hometown of Caspian that we used to see in church when I was growing up. It is a very nice atmosphere and beside produce, there are flowers, homemade pasta, meat, fresh ground coffee, etc. Nadia was inspired to make a potato and leek soup and hummus. We had lunch at a nearby Хлеб shop.

We finished up our adventure at a nice park near the Slavija circle, which is the epicenter of traffic in Belgrade. Ocean went down the slide by her self and the boys had much needed running around time. Saturday evening was spent enjoying a delicious meal by Nadia and watching parts of Will Farrell’s “Blades of Glory,” one of my all-time favorite movies.

Slavija Circle

Ocean enjoys a nectarine from the market.

Cold Morning, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Nadia and the boys are shown above walking to school on Friday morning. Belgrade had temperatures all last week in the 40′s and 50′s (10 degrees C). The boys have learned to put their hands in their pockets and to wear hoods to keep warm. It is strange to have a mud room full of boots, jackets, and sweaters after living in the tropics the past 6 years.

Last week we went and bought rain gear. The boys (and Nadia) love their boots and rain jackets. Ocean loves to be bundled up and is so quiet in the stroller when she outside. Ollie seems to be adjusting to the cold better than Owen, perhaps Owen has been in the tropics for longer. The cold weather continues with gray skies and scattered showers until later in the week. Everyone tells me that this is unseasonably cold weather and it should warm up again before winter.

We had a short week of school after the conference. Nadia and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary by going to the mall and buying gum boots. We were married September 17, 1999 in Coral Gables, Florida at the courthouse there. We celebrate more our anniversary of when we started dating – Halloween of 1997. It was a busy week with two girls’ soccer practices for me and a building consultant in from the US State Department. The school is designing the new middle school which will be put on the high school campus. Construction is to begin in March of 2009. More on that later.