Owen, Ocean, Ollie, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
The kids like the blow dryer and so Nadia styled their hair on Sunday. They looked so cute! They are 7, 4 & 1/2, and 2 and 4 months when this photo was taken.
Despite the cold temperatures (around -2 C) we still take advantage of the yard. Even last night we played football and soccer. There is a thin layer of snow on the ground and the cold temperatures are keeping it around. The snow is lasting longer this winter than last.
Last week we invited the Israeli Ambassador to Serbia, Arthur Koll to come speak to our students for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Mr. Koll gave a great speech that had all of our students silent for over 3o minutes. Quite an accomplishment!
Both of Mr. Koll’s parents are Holocaust survivors and he talked of his childhood after he immigrated to Israel from Romania. I took alot out of the speech, but especially when he asked the question, why have a special day for the Holocaust, when there were other genocides throughout history. His answer made me think. He pointed out the science of the Nazis that determined the “inferior” race of the Jews, among others, and the systematic obsession to eliminate them, all of them. Mr. Koll told of towards the war’s end, when the Nazis knew they were losing, they still continued to divert precious resources, like trains, to deliver Jews to the death camps instead of using them to transport troops along the Russian front. He also mentioned a concentration camp in Poland, that is mostly forgotten to history, because it wasn’t a work and death camp, but only an elimination camp. No one ever sent to the camp, lived to tell about it.
6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazi Empire. The Ustase Quisling regime here in Serbia had some concentration camps that I would like to know more about. I am shown above thanking Mr. Koll for coming to speak.
This is a video of Ollie’s performance Saturday in the ISB Music recital. Our school does not have a formal music program but many of the students have private music lessons. Oliver showed an interest in the violin after seeing his friend Matija (in the video) perform. He has been taking lessons once a week this year. (Click on the arrow in the lower left hand corner to watch the video)
Oliver was the youngest student on the program. He performed “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” as part of a trio with his friends Matija and Eve. The performance took place at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. It was an elegant setting for a recital. They did a superb rendition of the song. Congratulations Ollie!!!!
Yesterday Owen had a high fever and stayed home from school. He called crying around 11:00 AM and I went home to check on him. After I comforted him and got him to sleep, I spent some time with Ocean in the yard. We had about 6 inches of snow yesterday and I took her out and we made some snow angels and played. It was the highlight of my day.
Nadia turned 33 yesterday and we celebrated by going to the Dačo Restaurant. We shared the celebration with some friends. Dačo is a unique restaurant featuring homemade Serbian food. It has the cozy atmosphere of a Serbian village and heaping portions of delicious food. My favorite last night were the plum sauce on pork, kajmak with proscuitto on hot lepinja bread, and this bean dish. I highly recommend the restaurant! It is located in a working class neighborhood near the Pancevo Most. Strange to have this place surrounded by communist-era apartments.
We laughed a lot and ate well. Nadia looked beautiful and is getting more beautiful and interesting as the years go by. She paide homage to her homeland of Australia, and baked Anzac biscuits for everyone to celebrate also, Australia Day, which also happens to be ont eh 26th of January. Happy 33rd baby, I love you!
I took this photo of Ollie and Ocean Sunday morning in our bed. Most nights in our house, it is a game of musical beds. Ocean loves to wake us up with crying and she asks for milk. We are trying to wean her this month. Ollie usually is pretty good but in the early morning he comes in and snuggles with us. Sunday, they drove both Nadia and I out. I was up and Nadia was in Ocean’s bed. If they weren’t so cute, I would be very annoyed by them.
It was a busy weekend with four basketball teams visiting our school. I coached both Friday night and Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, I had a morning skype interview but managed some family time. I took Ocean out for a short run in the jogging stroller. It was cold yesterday and looks to be cold all week with temperatures around -7C. We did some shopping in the afternoon and wrapped up the day by visiting some friends.
Above is my favorite building in Belgrade, the famous “gate” to the city, the Genex Tower. It has an optical illusion beer advertisement on one of its sides. Jelen Pivo (Elk Beer) is probably the most popular beer in Serbia, although I prefer Lav, the other popular domestic brew. I wonder how much it costs to put a billboard on the side of an entire building? How about the people with offices or apartments on that side? Who makes signs that big? So many questions… I see large advertisements on several buildings around the city.
Below, Ocean and Nadia are coming out of Kika, a new home furnishing store in Belgrade, similar to Ikea. Kika is originally from Austria and it is expanding throughout eastern and central Europe.
superstars, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.
Last Friday night I made my acting debut in our school’s Improvisational Theater event. “Night of the Stars” was performed in the high school performing arts studio. The ISB Thespian Society sponsored the event and it was open to parents, students, and teachers. I formed a team with a couple of students (Marko and Bjanka) and a colleague, (Susie) and we had a great time. We didn’t win, but I learned a lot about the short form improv theater. Our theater director, Patty, gave us various scenarios, rules, etc for four rounds. One needs to listen intently, think quickly, and react to your teammates.
There was a nice crowd at the event with a happy group of community members. We tried to entertain them. A big thank you to my teammates for helping me out. They were all experienced actors and guided this novice along. We weren’t exactly ready for “Whose Line Is It?” but we didn’t embarrass ourselves too much.
On Sunday we headed up to Staro Hopovo Monastery in the Fruska Gora National Park. I was anxious to get out of the house after a very lazy, and relaxing Saturday. It was a really cold day and we did enjoy the drive and a short walk in the ravine areas near the monastery. We discovered a small cave, which we need to come back to explore as well as the trails in the area. Perfect place for walks, bike rides, and picnics with the kids. The monastery is located just outside of the town of Irig.
It is the simple things that are the best in life. If I could re-live a moment, it would be a Saturday evening walk with Owen and Oliver. We walked through the “spooky forest” (Haid Park) to get a pizza at Zodiac. It is a restaurant near our house in Senjak. The boys were so excited to be walking with a flashlight. We had races to the restaurant as we got close. They were so excited and we laughed a lot. It is nice to have them be so dependent on me for adventure and excitement. I wish these kind of moments could be re lived in the future when they are on their own and more independent. Both Ollie and Owen are so cute and so full of life. What an honor to be a father! I hope I am doing a good job with them.
Christmas/New Year holidays ended for us this weekend. What a glorious three weeks it was! I always value the relaxation and amount of time I can spend with the kids and Nadia. When Nadia and I are working, we are so busy that at times we don’t get to spend enough time with the kids.
We had a wonderful last weekend. The weather finally got better, with sunshine and warmer temperatures. The kids are shown in our yard before we went and played tennis at the local school yard. I also went for a long bike ride with Tim. Both Nadia and I ran quite a bit over the holiday.
Saturday evening we went to the basketball game. Red Star with its new coach, defeated city rival FMP 87-73 to move to 7-8 for the season. They looked better with the new coach by hustling more and shooting the ball well. They still have problems with good, attacking guards. They still have a ways to go. The boys most enjoyed being able to run around on the court after the game. Owen inherited by bow legs.
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