I am doing this blog for several reasons. Probably the most important is that it will be a permanent archive for our family memories. I also like to reflect on my work as an international educator and the expatriate life in the country we are living in. It is also a forum for my thoughts and observation on a variety of topics.
A Short Biography
My name is Bill Kralovec. I am 41 years old and an international school administrator. I am the Secondary Principal at the International School of Belgrade, Serbia. I am originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA and have lived and worked in international schools for the past 16 years. My previous posts were Barranquilla, Colombia, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Perth, Western Australia, and Anaco, Venezuela.
My wife Nadia is 31 years old and originally from Melbourne, Australia. She is a dual citizen of Australia and Bolivia. She is currently the kindergarten teacher at ISB. We have three children, Owen (age 5), Oliver (age 3), and Ocean (11 months). We are a multinational family with citizenship from the United States, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Australia. We also have a special affection for our new adopted home, Serbia.
The photos were taken on our final trip to my favorite place in Anaco. On June 8th, 2008, we went up to the Mesa De Torre, which is located near the town of Mara, Anzoategui. In the photo above are Owen, Nadia, Ocean and Oliver. The photo below shows me with Ocean and Owen.
To contact us, you may email me at the following address: billkralovec@yahoo.com
9 responses so far ↓
Monika // September 3, 2008 at 7:17 am |
Hello
I noticed that there are some mistakes in the translation.
Maybe somebody already informed you about that?
This is the right translation.
I am from Serbia but I live in Holland.
Now a friend of mine is also learning Serbian to speak/write. And he has a great website where he does that, maybe you already know about the website otherwise this is it:
http://serbianschool.com
Kako se zovete? (What is your name?)
Zovem se Bill. (My name is Bill)
Molim bac—> Molim vas means please (please and welcome) welcom means Dobro dosli
Hvala (thank you)
Drago mi je. (nice to meet you)
Ya sam (I am) Ja sam / ti si (you are) / vi ste (you are)
When you ask a question, throw a “Da li” in front of it. For example, Da li govorite Engleski? Do you speak English?
Ne razumen. (I don’t understand.)
New Phrases I want to learn this week
Izvolite – Can I help you?
Živolite! – Cheers means —>Ziveli
Ja bih (kafu) molim bac? – I would like a coffee please.
Dajte mi (kafu) molim bac? – Give me a coffee please.
U redu – okay / all right
Categories: serbia
Tagged: languages, serbian, Serbo-croatian
shooree // December 4, 2008 at 3:32 pm |
uh, stumbled on to this. But I’m a serb as well, so just one quick thing:
wherever you see “bac” above, it’s actually “vas”.
the confusion arose since “vas” is literally written “bac” in cyrillic, so the person doing this got a bit mixed up.
I’ll snoop around a bit more
Cheers
Karlovac // January 8, 2009 at 10:35 pm |
Hey Bill,
Your last name sounds Croatian.
What are your origins? Have you ever checked your family tree?
beautiful family btw.
billkralovec // January 14, 2009 at 9:16 pm |
My surname comes from the Czech Republic. I also have Slovak and Polish in my genetic heritage. I am a third generation American however, with my ancestors on both sides coming over to the USA in the late 1800’s. It feels like I am getting back in touch with my Slavic roots living in Serbia.
Stan Racansky // January 24, 2009 at 2:09 am |
let me say your blog is very peaceful and interesting. Probably because of your bohemian (czech) blood. Your blog has little bit soldier Schweik inside.
ximena zabala // March 25, 2009 at 9:11 pm |
Bill como estan??? soy xime la amig a de Nadia estoy hace dias explorando tu pagina y no entiendo casi nada solo veo las fotos FELICIDADES por tan bella familia y que dios les siga bendiciendo con tanta felicidad!!
Saludos a mi amiga del alma NADIA
BYE XimenaZ
Novi Sad // May 21, 2009 at 8:35 pm |
Bill, just want to say hello and keep up the good work. Have you been to Novi Sad? I like to read you blog, it’s very interesting and amusing
All the best!
billkralovec // May 23, 2009 at 6:31 am |
I have only been to Novi Sad once and really liked the city. My initial impression is that it is a mini-Belgrade and it has a nice feeling to it. I am sure to go again while I am in Serbia. The Vojvodina region reminds me of Iowa/Illinois in the USA. The region is the “bread basket”of America, with long, flat views of corn fields, etc. Thanks for the kind words.
Novi Sad // May 24, 2009 at 3:22 pm |
You’re welcome
Reserve a weekend in Novi Sad and go see Petrovaradin fortress. It’s the second biggest fortress in Europe and it’s beautiful. Also near Novi Sad is “Salas 137″ (http://www.salas137.rs/index.html). “Salas” is and old farms in Vojvodina far away from cities and civilisation – excelent for realxing. From 6. -14. June in Novi Sad will be held “Cinema City” (http://eng.cinemacity.org/novi-sad-serbia.51.html) – the festival ov movies when whole city becomes one big movie threatre. So come to Novi Sad
I really enjoy to hea that foreigners like Serbia and see that we are not savages as tv represents us, but we are also kind, relaxing and open-hearted people.
Can’t wait more text’s form you.
Best wishes from Novi Sad