Month: May 2014

25th of May: A Special Day in Serbia

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This is a special day for the ex-Yugoslavia because it was the Day of Youth and the celebration of former dictator, Tito’s birthday. It is also my birthday so I always try to do something with the family with a Yugoslavian theme. This year since we are leaving Serbia, I wanted to get a family photo with the traditional national costumes of Serbia.

Rural people actually wore these clothes into the 20th century, but like all traditional, locally made clothes, modernization has homogenized clothing for much of the western world. In some ways I see why people don’t wear these. The course woolen fabric of the pants is a bit uncomfortable and on this humid, early summer, day, it was difficult to get the kids to cooperate. The shirts had intricate embroidery, the red stitching symbolizing the blood lost in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. A distinctive feature for both men and women is the  jelek or waist coat, which looks good, even today.  You can’t see in the photo above, but I am wearing opanci, which are leather sandals with hooked toes that the peasants wore for climbing. They are similar to North American Indian moccasins.

My favorite part of the costume is of course, the national hat of Serbia, the Šajkača. The hats originated with Serbian soldiers, stationed on the Danube and Sava Rivers by the Austro-Hungarians to protect the empire against the Ottoman Turks. The hats are in the shape of an overturned Serbian boat, a šajka. The hat eventually became popular with the rest of the Serbian army and also with non-military farmers. The Bosnian Serb army during the wars of the breakup of Yugoslavia brought it back into popularity. Today it is only worn for special occasions, like Serbian national soccer matches or by folkloric dance troupes. I think they are very hip and would like to see them made popular again. They are very distinctive and instantly recognizable as Serbian.

Boys On The Move

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This morning Owen, Oliver and I completed a 5 kilometer run with the school’s Boys On The Move program. My wife Nadia for years has done the Girls on the Move, which is similar to Girls on the Run, with her elementary girls. One of the elementary male teachers did Boys on the Move this year so Owen was able to participate. We ran the approximately 5 kilometer course in 25:00 minutes, which was the second fastest of the group. Oliver also got in the action and ran was well, finishing the course with our school’s Athletic Director, Damian Hart and his daughter Abigail. Nadia was busy with her running buddy and organizing the whole event so I didn’t get a picture with her.

I didn’t want to have Ocean miss out on this blog post, so she is shown below riding a horse at the Belgrade Hipodrom. She has expressed an interest to ride horses to I took her down to the race track. It is a really nice setting near our house and is the oldest sports venue in the city. They hold harness racing, or the trots as they say in Australia, on summer Sunday afternoons.

 

Serbia Flood Update

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Above is a video I took on Sunday. Owen and I were riding along the banks of the Sava River and watching the hundreds of volunteers putting up sand bags along the banks. I was totally impressed with the kindness of the Serbs and how disaster can bring people together. Below is a video from the news coverage, showing the extent of the flooding from the air in the towns along the Sava that were flooded. The first city featured is Obrenovac, where many of our school employees are from . Our relief efforts continue…

 

 

Flooding In Serbia

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Sandbags line the banks of the Sava River in New Belgrade

Serbia experienced 4-5 days of heavy, steady rains this week, which caused major flooding of the Sava River. Several small cities along the river, including nearby Obrenovac, were completely flooded by over a meter of water. Several people died and thousands were evacuated. The damage must be enormous, and much livestock died. Flooding also occurred in in Bosnia, even more so than in Serbia. This is the worst flooding in the Balkans in recorded history.

Our good friends from Obrenovac were rescued by our head of security, and he told me a harrowing tale of getting through 1.20 meter deep water at night. The area was sealed off by authorities and people are being evacuated by boats now.

Owen inspects the sandbags for the expected river surge

I help organized a flood relief donations drive at our school. I was Administrator-in-Charge and earlier in the week I was dealing with possible closing of school Due to the heavy rains, all Serbian public schools closed by order of the government. We stayed open because almost all of our students live in areas that were away from the flooding and all take private transport. It felt good to help the people of nearby Obrenovac that needed to evacuate. They must be devastated to have that much water go into their homes. It will take a lot of cleaning, and drying out of things. 

Laying the base for the wall – Sava River May 18, 2014

The past couple of days I took the boys biking along the Sava. In Belgrade the water was high but not flooding. Today city officials were expecting a surge coming from down river as the flood waters recede and go back through to the river. Hundreds of volunteers were filling sandbags and lining them along the river to protect the areas adjacent to the river. I hope their work is sufficient to hold back the water. There are many homes and businesses near the river, and many of the famous splavs and restaurants on the river are flooded and may sustain some damages. As you can see by the pictures and video in this post, it was an anxious ride for Owen and I today. It was heartening to see the many good people helping out strangers and working together to protect areas from the flood.

Volunteers fill sandbags and deliver them to the banks of the Sava River

We have been watching the RTS and B 92 news. I’ll try to keep updated with the progress of the flood and recovery efforts. A lot of work will have to be done with cleaning, repairing, and purchasing of new carpet, appliances, etc. for the people of Obrenovac and other cities. I hope our family can lend a hand in the next few weeks before we leave Serbia.

 

The brown, swollen, Sava River – May 18, 2014

 

Visit to Bucharest, Romania

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Ocean in Revolution Square in Bucharest where two Romanian rulers (King Carol II and Ceausescu) were forced out of office.

Ocean is pictured above in Revolution Square in the center of Bucharest. This is the large plaza where KIng Carol II abdicated in 1940 and dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu fled from in December of 1989. Bucharest has many large, open squares, and beautiful, old architecture. You can see the famous World War II-era Athene Palace Hotel in the background. We walked around the center at night are were very impressed with the palaces, theatres, etc. One bad point is the Romanians drive very fast. 

We have a four-day weekend with the Serbian government declaring the May 1 Labor Day on Thursday a national holiday along with the Friday as well. We took the opportunity to visit my close friend Claudiu Fuiorea and his family in Bucharest. They are Romanians who used to live in Belgrade and last year they moved to the Romanian capital. We visited them at their home in Transylvania during the winter break of 2009-2010 and traveled with them to the Carpathian mountain resort town of Baile Herculane in October of 2009. We were supposed to also travel with them in October of 2012, but Ocean’s passport was expired so we had to stay in Serbia. We also made many shopping trips to Timisoara, the most western city and a short drive from Belgrade. Claudiu’s wife Vesna and children, Tudor and Mark, are also close to my family and through the years, we have had many good times together. As we leave Europe for Japan next month, we really wanted to see them one more time before we go.

I am in front of the Arc of Triumf, erected in 1878 to celebrate Romania’s Independence

This is my second visit to Bucharest, the first being on business in October of 2010. Through our friendship with Claudiu’s family, we have really come to know the country and culture of Romania. After Poland, it is the biggest Eastern Europe country, and with the Carpathian Mountains, Black Sea Coast, and western Pannonian plain, it is the most diverse. It also differs from the rest of Eastern Europe due to its Latin root language. This is a fascinating country regarding folklore and legends, and it has been pleasurable learning nation’s history.

The next day I went for a run around the National Arena which was constructed in 2008 and is located close to Claudiu’s apartment in the suburb of Titan. Soccer is very popular here as in all Latin European countries (Italy, Spain, France). The suburbs remind me of many Eastern European capital cities because of the communist architecture of the apartment buildings and offices. We then ventured out as a family and had a great afternoon, seeing the sites and soaking up some perfect spring weather. We first visited the Natural History Museum, that had a large and varied collection of stuffed animals from all around the world. It was started by the Romanian naturalist, Grigore Antipa and was set up very well, with it being entertaining and educational for the children and adults. We then walked through the massive Herăstrău Park for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Bucharest has several lakes and parks around them and they are well-maintained. This was something I was not expecting. I also was impressed with the city’s subway, that was clean and organized. It was very convenient to travel downtown and back to Titan.

The kids in front of an extinct elephant species at the Natural History Museum

Ollie’s Ninth Birthday

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Ollie’s Gang

We had a special day on Wednesday to mark the ninth anniversary of Oliver’s birth. He invited four friends over for a Nerf gun extravaganza! There were bullets flying all over the house and the kids had a great time. A highlight was the weekly radio check to the US Marines at the embassy. We walked to Ollie’s favorite restaurant, Quan Du Je, in Senjak. It is a nice thing about Serbia is that they love kids and chaos, so no one was bothered by the boys chasing each other and being loud in the restaurant.

We finished the night by watching World War Z and reading a bit of the Zombie Apocalypse Handbook. It was a total boy’s party. Another interesting moment was the candle explosion during singing Srećan Rođendan (Serbian Happy Birthday) and you can see the video here.

Happy Birthday to our charismatic, high-energy, mischievous, boundary-testing, curious, knowledgeable, warm hearted, loving little guy! We love you and enjoy your tenth year!