Family, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Last week I turned 43 years old and we celebrated together as a family. It was a beautiful spring evening and when I came home from school, the kids were waiting with a cake and cards. We then went out dinner. The hugs and well wishes I received from my family were the best gift ever. We are shown above about to go to the restaurant. I share my birthday with Tito, the deceased leader of Yugoslavia and I payed homage to him by stopping at his museum.
Milan Stanković is this year’s Serbian representative to the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition is over 50 years old and is sponsored by the European Broadcasting Union. It is a bit like American Idol, with the artist singing the one song and being judged by television voters (50%) and international juries (50%) of music industry professionals. The artists selected are usually young and obscure and few go on to huge careers.
Stanković in the video above is bit of a sensation here in Serbia. His song and image are everywhere. He has a strange look, but the girls love him. The song is Ovo Je Balkans which means “This Is the Balkans” and it is a catchy song based loosely on the folk music of the region. One line in the song refers to the fact that Serbians kiss each other 3 times which distinguishes them from other countries. The 3-finger salute and this comes from the sign of the cross in the Serbian Orthodox Church, in which one uses three fingers to make it.
Eastern European countries take the contest much more seriously that Western European countries. When the song came on last night in the finals, we heard fireworks in the city. Milan was the eighth singer up out of 25 and we thought he had the best song we heard. There were a variety of styles, from the Mariah Careyish Azerbijzan singer to Bosnian Serb metal.
In the voting, fans cannot vote for their own country. Serbia came in 13th of 25. A German girl won the contest.
Yesterday we visited Sremski Karlovci, a small town just outside of Novi Sad. This is the heart of the Vojvodina, a region in northern Serbia that is a rich agricultural region and very Hungarian.
In the photograph you see the round yellow building to the right. This is the Chapel of Peace. On this spot in 1699, the Ottomans surrendered to the Austro-Hungarians on my wife’s birthday, January 26. The Turks controlled Belgrade and much of Vojvodina for years, but in 1697, a coalition of European armies came together to attack them. The Turks were hunkered down in the big fort in Novi Sad, Petrovardin, and had left to conquer another settlement north of the city. They ran into difficulties and attempted to flee to their winter headquarters in the Romanian city of Timisoara.
The Hapsburg Army was led by a Frenchman, Prince Eugene von Savoyen (below) was the hero. He had protected the Empire from the Turks in 1683, when they reached the farthest west they got, Vienna.
The decisive battle that led to the Turks leaving Vojvodina and agreeing to peace terms at the spot above was on September 11 1697. Ironic that an Islamic army would have a serious defeat on this day. As I wrote, the Sultan was trying to get his army back to safety in Timisoara. They were crossing the river Tisa, near the modern Serbian city of Senta (then called Zenta) when Eugene’s army surprised them. It was a complete massacre of the Ottomans. They were trapped on a bridge and were totally unprepared. With a loss of only 500 men, the Hapsburg forces killed 30,000 Ottoman troops. There were many Serbs in the 70,000 strong force and they must have taken great pleasure in getting revenge on the Ottomans, who at the time, controlled Belgrade.
In the loot, were the Sultan’s royal treasure chest, the Ottoman state seal, and most interestingly, the Sultan’s Harem. I wonder what happened to those poor girls. This eventually led to two years later, Ottoman officials going to Sremski Karlovci and signing over huge parts of territory to the Austro-Hungarians. They gave up Transylvania, Hungary, and parts of Croatia.
On the day of the signing, there was no chapel but a round tent. Legend has there were four doors so the parties involved in the signing could come in at the same time, and perhaps, the term “round table” came into use in diplomacy circles. The Brits and Dutch were there as neutral guarantors of the treaty. The ambassadors of these countries still mark that day with a ceremony on the anniversary of the treaty signing.
Later, a Catholic church was built on the spot and recently restored. On the day we went, it was locked. A tour guide from the town was showing a group of American tourists the chapel and was complaining that the Catholic church would not allow town officials to turn it into a museum.
It is a nice little town with a beautiful square, an excellent private high school, and a few wine cellars, so we’ll probably be back.
An amazing game last night at the 2010 Sajam Fudbala (Football Expo) in New Belgrade. The boys’ football club, Atacante had the honor of opening the Expo by playing a friendly “U-10” game between Serbia and “The Rest of the World.” Owen and Ollie and the international students of ISB that belong to the club played against the Serbian kids of the club. The game was played on a mini-soccer field inside the ExpoCenter, which is a big exhibition hall next to the Holiday Inn in New Belgrade. The Sajam is going on all weekend with exhibitors of soccer camps, professional clubs, sports television, and sporting goods, all having interactive booths.
The Rest of the World lost 2-1 in the game. Both Owen and Ollie played well and I’ll be posting video of the game tomorrow. The highlight was getting to meet the Serbian National Soccer Team coach, Radomir Antic. He is the guy in the center of the photo. A big thanks to Atacante coach Mihailo for organizing this for the club! It was an unforgettable experience. The city is getting excited for Serbia’s World Cup games. They open up against Ghana on June 13.
angels, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Nadia and Ocean made a delicious strawberry dessert yesterday and we enjoyed some after our soccer game. The cherries and strawberries are coming into season. We stopped at the Green Market in Senjak last night and stocked up.
We’ve had dreadful weather this week with cold temperatures, overcast, with occasional showers. I haven’t seen the sun since Saturday and that was only for a short time. This is a hugely busy time of the school year and I haven’t spent enough time with my family lately. I hope to change that this weekend.
As you might tell from my blog, I am a big sports enthusiast. I participate in almost all sports, and follow many closely. One of my loves are the Detroit Tigers and the great game of baseball. Here in Serbia there is one nice baseball diamond on Ada Ciganlija and I have seen a team practicing. I am not sure the extant of Serbs that understand and play the game. I grew up playing and watching a lot of baseball, and later on I coached Little League baseball teams. I am teaching my sons the game and hope to get them to play a bit in this summer. My eldest son Owen is a left hander, and I am already working on his pitching. He is my retirement plan.
Joking aside, the purpose of this blog post is to give my thoughts on my favorite Major League baseball team, the Detroit Tigers. My mother was a fanatical Tigers fan and that is where I get my enthusiasm for following them. In the MLB, every team plays 162 games a season, so it is an everyday rhythm that one needs to follow a team. Unlike other professional US sports, there are no salary caps for teams, so the payrolls for the teams are very unequal. Luckily, the Tigers have the sixth highest payroll out of the 30 teams in the league, but with $122 million, they are still far behind the $206 million of the NY Yankees. Now I know that payrolls don’t necessary determine winners, but it helps to have enough money to get and keep good players.
The Tigers are currently 1.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central division. They lost to the Twins last year in a one-game playoff after both teams finished with identical records after 162 games. The Tigers are on a better pace than last year, and after 48 games this season so far, they are on pace to win 93 games, 7 more than last year. I predict they will win their division this season. Let me tell you why.
They lost a couple of good players to free agency. Two All-Stars, Placido Palanco (Phillies) and Curtis Granderson (Yankees) left for higher salaries. I was concerned in the off season as I really liked these two players. But, they did get Austin Jackson from the Yankees and he is turning out to be just as good as Granderson, and maybe even better. They also have an MVP candidate in Miguel Cabrera, who after a drunken meltdown at the end of last season, is putting up monster numbers this year. Add Johnny Damon from the Yankees and a comeback year from Magglio Ordonez, and the Tigers have more batting power than last season. They also got unknown rookie, Brennan Boesch, who has been very impressive in his debut season.
The pitching has started off shaky, but shows signs of coming around. They always have Cy Young Candidate Justin Verlander, one of the top pitchers in baseball. Rick Porcello will also be a great pitcher. Behind the big two, if they can get a comeback year from Jeremy Bonderman and Dontrelle Willis, they will be tough to beat in the playoffs. One addition that will also help, is that of closer Jose Valverde, who they got from the Houston Astros. He is a huge upgrade from Fernando Rodney, who blew so many save opportunities.
The team also has some good chemistry, with Damon leading the way and improved attitudes of the Venezuelans. I am really keen on this team and hope they can overcome the Twins and make the playoffs. It will be fun following the Tigers all season long! I bought the MLB.com radio package so I listen to some of the games and always watch the highlights of each game.
It is nice to feel like a kid again! Standing next to Vlade I feel like I am ten years old. He was kind enough to pose with me at this weekend’s MS girls volleyball tourney.
Our girls’ team won the tourney easily. We had a tall, athletic front line of Serbian students that the other teams could not handle. As I said many times before, there seems to be a disproportionate percentage of tall, athletic people here in Serbia. That combined with the sports and training focus in the culture, makes this small country a remarkably successful nation in Europe and the world.
Owen’s Guitar Debut, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Friday Owen had his first public musical performance. The Lower School held a Talent Show on Friday and Owen showed off his guitar skills by playing versions of “Frere Jacques.” He did quite well and we are proud of him. We need to buy him a smaller guitar this summer. This follows on Oliver’s violin performance this past January. It makes me want to learn to play the piano. I see the start of a Kralovec Family band, ala the Partridge Family.
Owen, Ollie and I are playing our version of the World Cup in the back yard. We make a 32-team knockout version of the World Cup, similar to the college basketball championships. Each night we play a game. In photo, Owen holds the Algerian flag, who played the opening game against the USA. Ollie is holding the brackets. It is usually Oliver and I against Owen. Ollie getting quite good!
We are also collecting the Panini World Cup stickers, although with over 600 stickers to complete the album and the only option to buy packs of 4 at a time, I don’t think we’ll complete it. The boys are learning about the world and soccer and we are having a good time.
When I was visiting Estonia earlier this spring, I picked up a copy of one of the most famous Estonian writers, Jaan Kross. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times and received numerous awards. He passed away in 2007.
“The Czar’s Madman” is work of historical fiction and it is set in 1800’s Estonia. It is the story of a Livonian noble, Timo Von Bock, who suffers from a slight mental illness. The Livonians are Germans who ruled over the peasant Estonians. At this time, Estonia was ruled by Russia and the Czar is friends with the aristocratic Von Bock. Von Bock writes a letter criticizing the Czar and ends up in prison for nine years. He married an Estonian peasant girl and the book is set in a journal format of the girl’s brother. The book follows the family into the next generation and was an exciting read.
The book helped me understand the plight of the Estonians and small ethnic groups in as a whole. The Estonians have been subjugated by larger groups for most of their existence and were treated as second class citizens. I am amazed that the language and identity survived. I wonder what effect that has on today’s Estonians. Is that why they are so quiet? The book was published in 1978 and it is a metaphor also, of the domination of Soviets. Kross really did his research and the book mirrors actual events with Kross, fleshing out the details and plot twists for us. Not only is it a good story, but it has insights on human nature and the brittle nature of life changes.
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