Oliver’s Birthday Party, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
We celebrated Oliver’s Sixth Birthday on Saturday. Below is the video of us singing happy birthday and Oliver showing off his birthday gifts. The little guy is so cute! He loved his “spiked” soccer shoes, bicycle, and set of plastic army men.
St. George’s Church, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
In the spirit of Britian’s Royal wedding this week, we visited the Serbian royal family’s Mausoleum and museum complex in the small town of Topola, Serbia. Topola means “poplar tree” in Serbian and is located in the heart of Šumadija, the forested center of Serbia. This is the place where the founder of the Serbian Royal Family, (Karadjordjevic), the famous “Black George,” started the first uprising against the Ottoman Turks in 1804.
A later descendent of Black George, King Petar I, began construction of a church in 1910. The project was interrupted by World War I, and he died before it could be finished. His heir, King Alexander II, oversaw its completion. The church was dedicated to St. George in 1930. The church is on the peak of a small hill called Openlac near the original homestead of Black George. Masses were held there until 1947, when the Yugoslav government declared it a cultural landmark. Underneath the church is the Karadjordjevic family mausoleum. There are 19 members of the royal family buried there, including Black George himself.
It is an amazing building! There are 725 mosaics on the walls with a surface area of 3,500 square meters. The 40 million pieces provide the whole continuum of color, and the scenes depict either Bible stories or Serbian history. We were in awe walking through the place, with light striking at different angles. I highly recommend visiting the church.
The area surrounding the church is also beautiful and a perfect place for a picnic. Openlac in Serbian means the wooden pieces of carts. The wooded hill was used for centuries for wood collection by the locals. It is all preserved, including the vineyards of the royal family. It makes an ideal day trip from Belgrade. We also made the obligatory stop at the Aleksandrovic Winery, located 5 kilometers south of Topola. We tasted and purchased some of their wines, although we were a bit disappointed in the higher costs of the bottles. They used to be half the price of what you could buy in the supermarket in Belgrade. They are now 2-3 Euros cheaper and not worth the drive.
I was truly inspired after watching this short video by Ric Elias. He was in the front row of the plane that crash landed in the Hudson River, New York a few years ago.
The three points he makes in this talk were as follows:
Yesterday I also listened to a podcast interview on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) with Paul Cox, an Australian filmmaker. He survived cancer with a literally last-minute liver transplant. Both Paul and Ric’s near death experiences brought out much of the same feelings. The possible ending of their lives, brought to the forefront, the beauty of life and instead of religious feelings, feelings of sadness at the loss of being able to experience life. It is the daily small things that we have to appreciate. I agree with Paul – believe in the clouds, family, friends, trees, etc. How wonderful life is!
Ocean, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Yesterday it was the girls’ day as I supported their shopping. While they were in the stores, I played with the kids in the park. Ocean is shown above in Pioneer Park in downtown Belgrade. It was a bright, sunshine-filled day and we enjoyed time together.
We ended up with a game of bowling at the Usce mall. Owen is at the point of not needed the railings to prevent gutter balls. Ollie is shown below firing away.
We are enjoying 12 days of holidays in Belgrade for Spring Break. For the first time in a long time, the Catholic Easter and the Orthodox Easter are on the same day. I love just being with my family and the weather has been so nice, so far.
We are not a religious family, but we did pay homage to Easter by visiting St. Sava’s Cathedral. We lit candles in honor of loved ones. After hearing of our Easter lunch at McDonald’s, our friends invited us over to their home the next day for a traditional Romanian Easter lunch of lamb with prune sauce. Oliver was a bit sick on Easter so we took him to Bel Medic. The little guy rarely gets ill, and as you can see below, he wasn’t feeling up to his usual self. The antibiotics prescribed did their job and the next day we was back to normal.
Ocean also photographed us in the back yard playing basketball. We have such a nice garden and neighborhood! We play basketball, soccer, and skateboard/bike ride several times per day. Owen is shown below driving to the basket. We are playing out the entire NBA playoffs with games up to 20-40 points, depending on the time. I have little practices for them before each game to teach a fundamental. Lots of fun.
I’ve been hearing many complaints from Americans about the high price of gasoline in the US. Gasoline averages $3,84 per gallon in April in the US. Experts suspect it will go even higher this summer when the “driving season” comes. President Obama even commissioned a task force to investigate the oil markets to see if there is any price manipulation.
Well, here in Serbia, I would love to pay $4.00 per gallon! The other day I filled up my car and for unleaded, 95 octane, gasoline, the cost was 123 RSD (Republic of Serbia Dinara). 123 RSD is the equivalent of $1.78 US which works out to a whopping $6.74 per gallon!!! Experts in the US are reporting how people are curbing their travel plans or not traveling at all because of the high prices. I wonder what will happen when it reaches Serbian levels.
Europe for a long time has had more expensive gasoline than the US. Public transport here is more accessible and things are closer. Most Serbs I know have only one car, and it usually not the big S.U.V. that Americans drive. I am not that bothered by gasoline prices here because we do not drive much. We live 1 mile from school and seldom venture downtown or across the river for shopping or entertainment. I do feel bad for those people on fixed incomes with long commutes.
I am not sure why gasoline prices are so high in Europe, especially Serbia. I miss those days of living in Venezuela. We lived there from 2002 – 2007 and the government subsidies (photo below of the Venezuelan National Petroleum Company Compound) and exchange rates, made Venezuela to have the cheapest gasoline in the world at 12 US cents per gallon.
It was a fabulous day yesterday as we began our Spring Break! We have 12 days off of school. It felt like a long time since Ski Week, especially for me with the basketball season and the accreditation visit. We are staying in Belgrade for the time off and enjoying our new apartment and the spring weather.
The boys are shown above playing basketball. They love playing hoops and with the smaller ball, Oliver can make baskets. Besides playing a lot in the back yard, we did some shopping for more plants and did somethings around the house. I am growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables on our balconies.
We wrapped up the day with a great meal at the Sheher Restaurant (Park Cafe) with friends Claudiu, Vesna, Per, and Maria and families. It is located in our neighborhood and it has a big outside area for the kids to run around while the adults can socialize in peace. The food was delicious and a great ambiance outside on their patio. I highly recommend the place.
I’ll try to blog as much as I can for the holidays. Today we’ll begin dyeing the Easter eggs. We are trying to have a full Serbian Orthodox Easter this year.
Sanja, Nadia, Sara, and Lisa, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Nadia and I attended the “Slow Art Day” event organized by our friend Lisa on Wednesday. Some of the girls are shown above on Kneza Mihailova, the famous walking street in Belgrade. It was a gorgeous sping evening and Nadia enjoyed contemplating the art and we both enjoyed the camardarie and atmosphere of the event.
Slow Art was started by Phil Terry, an internet entrepanuer who wanted to change the “8-second rule” of art museums and galleries. This is the “widely reported statistic that most people spend on average 8 seconds in front a piece of art when visiting a museum.” The idea is to look at a piece for up to 10 minutes and then discuss your interpretations with friends.
Lisa organized several pieces to look at in 5 galleries downtown. Two of the exhibitions were by the same Yugoslavian artist (find name). My favorite was by a Serb-Spaniard, Vecev Vecel. He left Serbia during the war and settled in Mallorca. His exhibition was named 3,727, which refers to the number of days he was outside of Serbia. This was the first time he was back in the country since his family fled. The words in his works are in both Serbian and Spanish.
I didn’t realize how many galleries there are in Belgrade. The city is so full of cultural opportunities. Thanks to Lisa for putting it together!
Race Favorites, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.Today we ran in the Belgrade Marathon for the third time. We stopped for a photo before the race with the other race favorite, a guy from Ethiopia. It is always nice for the elite runners to get together before the race. I am not sure if he won.
It was a gorgeous spring day! We both finished the race as well as our friends in photo, Michael, Lisa, and Bruce. Nadia and I enjoyed the views of the city and cruised home with 2:09 and 2:05 respectively.
Yesterday I registered for the Belgrade Marathon and happened to come by the rally of the Serbian Progressive Party to call for elections. The SNS (in Serbian – “Srpska Napredna Stranka) is a political party headed by Tomislav Nikolic. He broke way from the Serbian Radicals, a Nationalist party to form his own party. Nikolic feels that his party can win an election. Serbia has a parliamentary system and elections can be called at anytime. He feels so strongly that he can win that he went on a hunger strike. He was taken to the hospital today.
The standing president, Boris Tadic, went and spoke with him yesterday. He does not want to call for elections until Serbia is awarded European Union Candidate status.
I am not sure if Nikolic could win an election. He does have several things in his favor. The economy is very bad in Serbia, with high inflation and unemployment rates. In walking through the rally, most of the people seemed to be from outside of Belgrade. In the villages and outside of Belgrade, the economy is even worse, especially in southern and eastern Serbia. Elections during tough economic times usually means a change in government.
Nikolic has run for president on four occasions and lost every time. I think he feels that the time is now or never. We’ll see how this plays out. The rally was peaceful. It was a lot of speeches and music, with people standing around with flags. Many were walking around enjoying the sights of the big city. There were literally thousands of policemen on standby ready for violence. It must have cost the government a lot to pay all of those policemen overtime. The rally took place in front of the Serbian Parliament building which you can see in the background. The facade is undergoing restoration and it looks really nice.
We’ll see if the rally and hunger strike will force President Tadic to call elections. I don’t understand Serbian politics enough to comment on if he should or not. There is a lot of work to do to improve the Serbian economy. I don’t think either party can get it done.
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