Oliver is shown above riding his bike at Ada Ciganlija this weekend. He comes home everyday from school and goes directly to his bike to ride up and down our “L-shaped” street. Owen learned to “skid-out” his bike last night. He is turning into a real “dude.” The boys ride up and down and Ocean tags along in her tricycle. It will be great to get the whole family biking. When we head to the bike trails at Ada, we still need to rent a “rickshaw” or bike carrier. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to ride the bikes a bit more and go over to New Belgrade where there are plenty of new trails to explore.
Today we ran in the 18th Annual Novi Sad Half Marathon. Novi Sad is the second city of Serbia and is about 70 kilometers north of Belgrade. Conditions were perfect with cool overcast skies, with temperatures in the 60’s and a very flat course. I finished in 153rd place (out of 295) and ran a personal best 1 hour 44 minutes and 42 seconds.My previous best was last year in Budapest when I ran a 1:57.
Nadia broke 2:00 hours again and finished with a with a 1 hour 58 minutes and 31seconds. This was good for a 238 place. Our friend Eric also broke two hours with a time of 1:51 and another ISB Harrier, Georganne ran 1:30.
The course was a bit monotanous as it looped back on itself several times. I liked that it was completely flat. It also started and ended in the beautiful central plaza. We took the nanny and kids and they had a good time at the McDonald’s, or the Team USA pre- & post- race training center. We used the race as a warm-up to next month’s Belgrade Marathon. I hope to complete a racing trifecta by also doing the Skopje, Macedonia Marathon in May.
One of the race sponsors was the cheese company, Biser. They gave the kids Novi Sad Marathon shirts and Ocean, who loves cheese, was so excited to meet “Sir Milan.” I called him that as a take on Sponge Bob. Sir is Serbian for cheese, and Milan is a common Serbian name.
It was a strange scene last night at the Red Star Stadium here in Belgrade. Northern Ireland came to town for a Group C Euro Cup Soccer Qualifying Match. No one except for 200 VIP Northern Ireland guest supporters were allowed in the stadium. The normal packed scene of lines of fans around the stadium was eerily empty. The only people we saw the press corp and plenty of police and military personnel to keep spectators and hooligans away. (photo below) The Serbian Football Federation was serving a 1-game penalty for fan behavior in October’s match in Italy. The match couldn’t start because of a group of hooligans and Italy was awarded a 3-0 forfeit victory. Last night’s game was the second part of the sanction.
It was an entertaining match. I was surprised because Northern Ireland plays a defensive style and after scoring a beautiful goal off a set play in the first half, (screen shot above from the Serbian television station RTS – Radio, Television of Serbia) I thought it would be more boring delay tactics with nine men in the box for the visitors. Fortunately, Serbia kept on pressing and in a dominant second half, scored two goals to win 2-1. It was odd to watch on TV and hear individual voices of players and coaches.
The first round of games in the group are complete. Despite the forfeit, closed stadium, losing their coach, and suffering many injuries, the “White Eagles” are tied for second place with Slovenija in their group behind Italy. The top two teams qualify for next summer’s European Cup hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine. They have 5 more games with the next game being in Talin, Estonia on Tuesday. Hopefully the momentum of the victory will carry them through a probably cold and dreary game in the far north of the European continent.
Note that the “Gazprom” painting on the seats is the owner of the Red Star professional soccer club in Belgrade. Gazprom is the Russian National Petroleum company. Earlier in the week, Vladimir Putin was in Belgrade and the stadium. Red Star played an exhibition match in his honor with a Russian team.
I can’t wait to go to the next Serbian in September against the Faroe Islands. I think it is good that FIFA penalized the Serbian Soccer Federation. They need to invest in the stadium and clean up those disaffected youths that give the country a bad name. I also feel that the Serbian government is also to blame in that it does not have a good economy to provide opportunities for these young men to put their energy towards making Serbia better and establishing careers.
Yesterday I spent the morning with Owen and Oliver at their Parent-Teacher Conference. They were student-led conferences. Oliver read Nadia and I a book and then answered questions about the book. He then rolled dice and added the numbers. He wrapped it up with doing a senses activity by describing odors and tastes.Oliver learned to read this year.
Owen shared his current book, “George’s Marvelous Medicine” by Roald Dahl. He showed us his learning journal. We spent a lot of time doing math games. Owen surprised me with how quick he added and subtracted large numbers. Owen and I then had a conference with his teacher, Ms. Sheila (background).
I was so proud of both the little guys. Owen is a model student with a positive personality, excellent skills, and a balanced interests. He wants to please others and is very concientious. He is a natural leader in the classroom. Oliver has a stronger personality and is more of a people person. He is always looking for a laugh and puts his interests first. Like Owen, he is an excellent student and he constantly surprises me with his depth of understanding and insight into things.
I took the family with me to the CEESA Educators Conference in Budapest, Hungary this weekend. Nadia and I were attending the conference along with the entire staff of our school. We brought the kids up to Budapest with the nanny and made it into a nice weekend. On Friday afternoon, I took the kids up to the Buda Castle and above, Oliver is pictured looking at the beautiful city of Budapest. We went out to dinner both Friday and Saturday nights and had two great meals – one Italian and one Mexican. On Sunday, we visited the Science Museum and had a final lunch at Subway (none in Serbia) before heading back for home. It was my fourth trip to Budapest. Beautiful city, but very expensive compared to Belgrade.
Weather is very depressing here in Belgrade today – cold, gray, and wet…
I think one of the reasons I like the northern part of Europe so much is that it reminds me of where I grew up in northern Michigan. The photo above of a small road near our hotel, looks just like my hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is strange however that the latitudes are so different. For example, Belgrade has a latitude of about 44 degrees north, the same as central Michigan. But, it has the climate of Washington DC, which is much further south. Meanwhile, Riga, with a latitude of 55 degrees north, is much like Michigan and much warmer than its equivalent latitude in North America.
Below I wrote some final thoughts on beautiful Latvia.
Our Lithuanian friends showed Eric and I the proper way to do the Baltic Spa. Because of the high latitudes, the winters are long, dark, and cold. The Latvians love taking a sauna and spend time at Wellness Spas. It was a refreshing experience.
First they took us to a steam room and our guide went in the middle of the steam room and twirled a towel around, pushing the hot steam at us. We then went out and jumped into a cool mini-pool. We went back in for a second time and this time he put ice on us as we lay down in the steam room. That was followed by a cold/hot foot bath. We then did a bit of sauna (there were three temperature saunas – 60 – 80 and 110 degrees Celsius) and finished up with a “salt steam treatment.” In this room we took salt and rubbed it all over our skin. We finished up with a shower. I felt really good afterwards. The cold Baltic air really got to my core on the walking tour of the city of Riga. I can see why the people of the northern countries like saunas so much.
The city of Riga is nice, although it is not much different from many European capitals. I did notice that there is more of a Russian presence in Latvia than in Lithuania and Estonia. There were many old cathedrals and buildings and quaint walkway and cobblestone streets. The Latvians like to put totem animals on the façade and on the roof of their buildings. The rooster has a special significance during pagan times and so you see many roosters on the buildings.
We had a nice last day. Between getting some work done, I went for a run and touched the water of the Baltic Sea one more time. There were lots of people walking on the snow covered beach on Sunday. It was a warm, gorgeous day. I went in the sauna one last time.
I’m getting a better understanding of the northern part of Europe. I like the coniferous forests, saunas, herbal drinks, healthy lifestyle, etc. I don’t like how quiet and dour they seem, although there are exceptions. I would love to take my family to the far north for a holiday before we leave Europe.
Oliver learned to ride a bike this weekend. Yesterday I had to see for myself so I did this short video of the little guy riding up our driveway. He was so proud! I can’t wait for all three of us to go for our first non-training wheel bike ride along the Sava River trail. Oliver still needs to learn how to use the brakes and he is a bit shaky with bumps and turns. It will take some more practice.
It is one of the nice things about our new apartment. There is a private road that the kids can ride on without interference from traffic.
It was a bittersweet end of our season as we lost in the finals 53-57 to the American International School of Zagreb. Their star player scored 44 points, including all of their 15 points in the fourth quarter. He will be playing for South West Oklahoma State next year on a NCAA Division II scholarship. The boys played great all weekend, winning four games including defeating the host school, the International School of Latvia in the semifinals in three overtimes. We had a super season with 14 wins and 6 losses, matching last year’s record. We also won the Sofia, Bulgaria Invitational Tourney last month. We will be losing our leading scorer and a good rebounding forward, but everyone else will be back. We will also get some new players coming into the team. We should be strong again in 2011-2012. It was a very enjoyable season and I would like thank the players, Coach Sands, Athletic Director Damian Hart, for their efforts and cooperation. I also want to thank Nadia and my family for supporting me with the extra time I put in with the team.
I am in Latvia this week for my team’s basketball tourney with the Central & Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA). There are 8 teams competition for title. This is my first time in Latvia, which also marks visiting all three of the Baltic countries, Lithuania , Estonia, and now Latvia. Latvia is 56 degrees north of the equator.
Like many of the small countries in Europe, Latvia was not independent for most of its history. The Germans, Swedes, Lithuanian/Poles, and Russians, all at some time had control of Latvia. For most of my life, Latvia was a dotted line, pink state of USSR, and called LatviaS.S. They finally gained their independence for good in 1990. I was reading about this time in their history, and it was amazing to read that everyone from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, joined hands and formed a line going through all of the capitals of the Baltics. There still are Russians here and I see many Russian signs. We are staying in Jurmala, which is a resort town, that many for Communist bosses from Moscow had summer houses on the southern Baltic shore.
I asked two Lithuanians what is the relationship between the Latvia and Lithuania. The Lithuanians view Latvia as “the little brother” because their languages are very similar. It is probably the same relationship as Argentina has to Uruguay. They also said that the Latvians are more German than the Lithuanians, and Protestants instead of Catholics (Polish influence). The Latvians seem to be very quiet and tall. They are light-skinned with a variety of hair colors. The town of Jurmala looks like a northern Michigan town, with its tall pine trees and big snow banks. I walked out to the beach. It must be nice in the summer. It is under ice right now, out to about 100 meters from shore. Hockey is big here and the Riga professional team is in the playoffs right now in the Russian League. The gymnasium we played is beautiful. It is mostly made of wood, and with the snow and pine outside the window, it really felt like a ski resort.
Our Hotel - The Jurmala Spa Hotel
Another aspect of the Baltic countries that I find fascinating is paganism. The Latvians were one of the last European people to convert to Christianity. Today, there are many folk traditions and actual worship in the manner of the pagans. Many Latvians believe in spirits of nature, etc. If I lived here, I would definitely want to learn more.
After two days here I am getting to get a better feel for this part of the world. The topography and forests of Finland, Estonia, and Latvia all are similar to northern Michigan. The architecture is really interesting with a combination of modern and old wooden homes. I could easily live in any of these countries. The only point I don’t like is the Latvians and neighbors are very quiet people that it takes a while for them to open up.
I have two more days here and I plan to go do some sightseeing after the finals.
We had a nice weekend in Belgrade. The snow was melting during the day so we were making Easter Island-like snow balls. I see the appeal of ancient people and moving huge objects.
On Friday night Nadia and I went out to dinner at the Iguana Restaurant. The restaurant is on the Sava River in a refurbished warehouse/dock. There are a couple of restaurants, clubs, and shops nearby. They had live jazz music which was a great way to spend a Friday evening.
We then went and saw the Academy Award Winning “The King’s Speech” after dinner. I struggled with stuttering for much of my youth so I could really empathize with King George. Stuttering or stammering is very misunderstood. It is hard to describe to someone that never had the problem. In the movie, King George’s therapist worked on “rhythym” by getting him to sing or use profanity to gain fluency.
I went to speech therapy for years in my schooling, and was helped by Mrs. Kathy Campaign, the speech therapist at my local school. She got me to speak slowly and read aloud to gain this ryhthm. Even today, I read aloud before I speak publicly to help me. I read where most people outgrow this and I am glad that I did, but I still have to be aware of my speech, especially when I am nervous, or tired. I am still amazed that I do a lot of public speaking in my job. The movie cut out the real bad stammers of King George to make the film bearable. It gave a truthful view of stuttering and I am glad the film won. I would also like to thank Mrs. Campaign for her work with me. I saw her about ten years ago when subbed at my old high school and it was good to be able to thank her in person. She is now retired, but she really helped me. I still use her techniques today. I am happy that none of my children are struggling with it.
On Saturday we had that Balkan/Slavic/Eastern European treat called “sarma,” which are cabbage rolls. The Serbs got the dish from the Ottoman Turks. In southeastern Europe, they use sauer kraut, or fermented cabbage instead of regular cabbage. Inside is a combination of beef, bacon, and rice. It is served with sour cream and it is a winter and Christmas dish in Serbia. I love it and our friends Claudiu and Vesna, invited us over for Vesna’s Romanian mother’s version. Absolutely delicious!
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