Author: billkralovec

Christmas Show ISB 2009

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Owen Dancing Michael Jackson, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last Thursday evening Owen and Oliver performed in the annual Winter Show put on by the International School of Belgrade. Above, Owen is performing with his buddies in his first grade class. The music teacher introduced the boys to the music of Michael Jackson and they danced to “Black or White.” It has been a MJ festival in the Kralovec house as that is all that they want to listen to. Both the boys are good dancers. I encouraged Owen to continue with his “boy band.”

Oliver really has rhythm especially for a four year old. He wasn’t able to demonstrate that during the show, but at Owen’s party yesterday, he was the star. More on that later.

Ollie Performs

Visit to the Roma Settlement in Rakovica

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Roma Children, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Monday a delegation from our school visited the Roma Settlement in Rakovica, a suburb of Belgrade. The purpose of the visit was to deliver clothes and to entertain the children of the settlement. The High School Choir sang and we brought a truck load of clothes that were donated by the school community.

This settlement is one of several places that the Roma people that lived under the Gazelle Bridge were moved to. Earlier this fall, the large, Gazelle Bridge, makeshift village was plowed under by city officials. With the help of the United Nations and other organizations, new settlements were found for the approximately 20,000 people living there.

I spoke with a government social worker who helps the families in the settlment we visited. She said that the municipality of Rakovica donated the land. Rakovica is a suburb of Belgrade located on the south side of Kostunjak Park. It is a heavy industrial area and we noticed many factories near the site. There was also what appeared an older Roma settlement on the hill above the site. Trailers donated for 37 families. Each trailer has electricity, plumbing, and running water. All utilities are free.  The Bread of Life, a non-governmental organization provides one hot meal a day for the community. The site is near one of the regular city bus routes into the city where children go to school and adults can go to work. 

The trailers are well kept by the families.

 

The Roma people have been an endless source of fascination for me and the family. Most are very poor and we see them often picking through the garbage for cardboard, plastic, etc. I spoke with several Roma community members and they are quite happy with trailers and the new living conditions. Much improved from the slum they were living at, although they are a bit further out of the city. One of the community leaders was concerned about the values of the children and wanted the school to help with giving the message to the Roma children the importance of education. From what I have read about Roma, and from talking with the social worker, part of this is cultural. Roma have a difficult time adapting to Western cultural values of employment, delayed gratification, and long-term thinking. They were all very friendly and welcoming to us. 

Photo from October 2008 of the Gazelle Bridge Roma Slum

 

It was great for our students to see the other side of life. We have an affluent community, and it is important to develop in our students, a community conciousness. I am a firm believer in a judgement of a society is how it treats its lowest members. The Roma need to be taken care of and supported so future generations can integrate into modern society and contribute to the good of Belgrade and Serbia. The generosity of our community was outstanding. A huge amount of clothes were donated. So much so, that some will be delivered to various places needing it. We also work with an orphanage near the school and we’ll be visiting them next week. The choir sang in a large trailer that serves as a community center (photo above).  The Roma children enjoyed the music and it brightened up the day for the mothers and children. I noticed a lot of people hanging around on a Monday, especially men, and that may indicate that many are not working or have steady jobs. 

I hope that our school and me personally can do more for the Roma and the poor and needy of Belgrade.

Serbia World Cup Draw

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Last Friday the World Cup Soccer draw took place. There was a lot of hype and attention on the event, as everyone was hoping for an easy draw. I was most interested in Serbia’s group and this post is an analysis of their chances of winning the World Cup. 
I think people put too much emphasis on which group their team gets placed into. I look at it like it doesn’t matter when you face the tough opponents, whether in your group or in following rounds, eventually you are going to have to beat a quality opponent. For each group of 4, the top two qualify. Then the 16 teams in the 8 groups advance to the single elimination bracket. Qualifying from an easy group, a team will likely play a tough opponent in the knockout round of 16.
Serbia’s group is one of the tougher groups of the eight. Of course, the favorite is Germany. The Germans have been in the championship game 7 times in their history and have won three World Cups. The team cruised through its qualifying group, easily defeating Russia and Finland. The team once again is solid, with Chelsea star Michael Ballack leading the way. Germany’s discipline, physical play, and talent will be hard to beat.
Serbia is ranked second in the group on paper, but I would say that all three teams are just about even.  Ghana is a country of 23 million and are a traditional African power, winner several African Cups over the years. “The Black Stars” recently won the Under-20 World Cup and last World Cup, made it out of the first round, losing to Brazil 0-3 in the round of 16. The team features another Chelsea superstar, midfielder, Michael Essien, and also, former Vojvodina FK coach, and Serb, Milovan Rajevac is the coach. 
Australia qualified through Asia for the first time. Usually they compete in the Oceania group, but wanted tougher competition to prepare for the Cup. They beat Japan to get in, and their star is Tim Cahill, from Everton. 
Serbia has a good of chance as anyone. They won a tough qualifying group, finishing higher than France, Austria, and Romania. They have top league European based players, with the star being Nemanja Vidic for Manchester United. They looked out classed against France however, and I fear that both Germany and Ghana, may have a faster game than the Serbs. I do feel good with Vidic in the back, and the Serbs do play tough soccer. 
If they do get through, they will have to play either #1 or #2 of group C which features England, USA, Algeria, and Slovenia. Suppose they finish second, they could play England. The winner then plays either group 1 winner France or group 2 runner-up Argentina. That would put them in the semifinals. As you can see, it will be very tough odds for Serbia to win it all. 
There has only been a small number of teams that have won the World Cup in recent years. Realistically, the winner will be Brazil (192 million), Germany (82 million), Italy (60 million) England (50 million) France (62 million). The Netherlands, with 16.5 million, is the smallest country to consistently appear in the semifinals. Note that Croatia did make it to the 1998 semifinals which is an anomaly. My idea would be to have a large nation and a small nation World Cup. Set it at say 20 million, and nations with a population smaller than that would compete in one tourney and larger nations in the other. You could even have the winners meet. I know other factors come into play other than population, like coaching, financial support, youth programs, etc, but long-term, the chances of a very small nation winning it are remote. There are many smaller nations with excellent soccer, like Denmark, Paraguay, Portugal, etc. that would make for an interesting World Cup, small division. There is a nice article in the Wall Street Journal that has similar thoughts to my ideas. 
I would also modify the game of soccer to allow more goals. Because the extreme difficulty of scoring goals, too many games come down to a lucky bounce or an acting dive in the penalty box. I don’t like to watch a game where one team dominates play the entire game and then loses with one counter attack that results in a goal. The modifications I propose would be larger goals, more lenient offsides rule, stricter penalties for players faking a trip (automatic red card and forced to wear a pink tutu for the rest of the season or tourney), etc. I would rather see games finish 8-7 than 0-0 and a team wins with penalty kicks. 
Anyway, I’ll enjoy watching the games in June and there will be a lot of excitement here in Serbia. Living an expat global nomad lifestyle, I have several alligences to other teams including Australia and the USA. My South American teams did not qualify this time (Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela). 

 

Hiking On Mount Avala

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This past weekend I was alone with the kids as my wife went to Budapest with girl friends. On Sunday I took the kids out to Mount Avala for a morning of adventure. It is only 18 kilometers outside of Belgrade and a nice day trip.

This is our second time there, and we found some areas away from the monuments that were great for kids. It was a foggy day (the fog seems to stay around Belgrade for days) and with the woods had a special feel to them. We played hide and seek in the trees near the monument as well as hiked some of the trails going down the mountain. A highlight was going through a tunnel that ran under the road near the Roman mine shaft. The mountain is a former island in the Pannonian Sea, and was always a focal point for people heading to Belgrade. The name “avala” means obstacle or shelter in Turkish. Both the Ottomans and Romans settled the area. 

There are plenty of trees, herbs, and wildflowers to identify and the kids loved it, so we will definitely be back. They are reconstructing the TV tower that NATO took out ten years ago. It will have a restaurant and tourists will be able to go up to enjoy the view.

Serbian Parliament

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Serbian Parliament Building, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

I took this photo on last Friday’s field trip to the ivo Andric museum. Both the Parliament building and Andric’s former apartment on on Pioneer’s Park. It was a beautiful sunny morning. This week has been grey and rainy. Temperatures are in the 40’s and 30’s (F) and the sun is supposed to be back on Friday. It looks like temperatures will dip below freezing next week and I am hoping for snow. 

Serbia’s parliament has one house called the National Assembly consisting of 250 members. That is one representative for every 26,000 Serbian citizens. I don’t know how that compares to other countries, but it seems to be a bit of overkill. The school is planning on having some of our older students serve internships in the parliament next semester through an international NGO. I am looking forward to that. The public can visit the parliament on the last Saturday of each month. I would like to do that with the boys. 

A Tomb for Boris Davidović by Danilo Kiš

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These are a collection of short stories set in the first half of this century. The settings include the Spanish Civil War and the Russian revolution. 

One thought provoking idea is how history has been changed by people that have died that we don’t know anything about. Danilo follows these people and tells their story. I don’t want to ruin the book, but in all the stories, the main characters mostly end up dying. Methods of death are as follows:

  • Died of vitamin deficiency in Soviet Work Camp in 1941
  • Murdered during escape attempt from Russian prison after being captured in Spanish Civil War. 
  • Survived 10 years of prison camp; no unnatural death
  • Murdered with crowbar by fellow prisoner after both got out of prison camp
  • Dived into foundary fire rather than go back to prison camp

Initially I thought about how large the prison system role played in the Soviet Union. But in thinking it over, I would guess that today in the USA, the prison system plays a larger role in our society with our stupid ‘war on drugs.’ We probably have more people behind bars percentage-wise than the old Gulag system did. 

Danilo Kiš

 There are also a few great lines – he is a fantastic writer, even in translation.

Ireland “…for so long marked the boundary of the known world to navigators.” 

…”the temporary suffering of existence is worth more than the final void of nothingness.”

“Nature gave her everything: intelligence, talent, and beauty.”

…”man is only a speck of dust in the ocean of timelessness…”

Kis has many references to events and people that I didn’t know about. He also uses uncommon vocabulary. Below are words I learned:

pellagra  – A vitamin deficiency disease caused by eating corn-based diet without proteins. It was common in the US south in the 1920’s and 30’s as well as Soviet prison camps. 

Ploesti – oil fields in Romania, US bombed them in WWII after Romania joined Germany 

Cochin Hen – breed of chicken from China, large bird

Talmud – rabbinic discussions of Jewish law, ethics, etc. 

Bukovina – region split between Ukraine and Romania

ad acta – A Latin phrase meaning on the archives (filed away as is an unsolved murder)

farrow –  a litter of domestic pigs

brio – the quality of being active, spirited, alive, or vigorous – Kralovec children have lots of this!

Brest-Litvosk Peace Treaty – Signed in Belarus, marks Russia’s exit of WWI

Bolshevik – means “majority” in Russian, eventually became the communist party that founded the Soviet Union

Russian Ballet Performs in Belgrade

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Sunday evening we went out to watch the Russian Ballet perform at the Sava Center here in Belgrade. The Sava Center is a great place, it looks like a Sci Fi movie set from the 1970’s, ie Logan’s Run. The architectural style is a lot of cement, glass, and dark panelling inside. 

 

Scene from the 1976 Sci Fi Film Logan's Run

It was built in 1977 as a convention center and concert hall in New Belgrade. It hosted an IMF congress when it opened. Wikipedia some nice photos of the place and a bit on the history. 

We went out with friends for dinner first and had a great time. It was the first time I have seen ballet live. The dance form originated in the royal courts of France (hence the name) in the 1500 and 1600’s. It is kind of a stylized form of fencing. It is appropriate that I saw the Russian ballet performance, as that is the country that popularized it around WWI after it was declining for a long time. 

I enjoyed the evening. A lot was lost with the format of the performances. It was a “best of” with short pieces from a variety of plays. I think with one full play with context, I could be engaged a bit more with the form. I like dancing and we hold periodic dance contests in the house with the kids. When I showed videos of the performance to Owen and Oliver, they thought it was a bit boring and they preferred the “free style” dance form of Michael Jackson videos. I will attend the ballet again, but will wait for a full performance of a piece. 

The dancers were quite flexible which I admired. The outfits were a bit too much (see above) for my taste. 

 

 

Ivo Andric Museum

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Note- Any of my Serbian readers can translate what is on the page above?

Yesterday I went to the Ivo Andric Museum located near the Parliment building in downtown Belgrade. He was a true Yugoslav, being born and raised in Bosnia and having homes in Croatia and Serbia. He ended spending the majority of his life in his later years in Belgrade. The Ivo Andric Foundation made a museum out of his apartment. It was a modest apartment, and typical from a man that material things did not mean much. He was a man of principles. 

 

Andric's 1961 Nobel Prize

It was interesting to see his small cerca 1976 apartment. The photo above is from his desk. It was also the first time I saw a Nobel Prize medal. He won the 1961 Nobel Prize for literature for his book, Bridge Over the River Drina. I was a chaperone with the grade 11 students from the ISB High School. We stopped at the Hotel Moscow for a cup of coffee before visiting the museum. Andric used to spend a lot of time there and the cafe there was THE place to be in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. All the celebrities, intellectuals, and visiting dignataries made a stop there. The morning gave me a glimpse of how it was back in the time of Tito and Yugoslavia. Sad that they couldn’t keep the federation together – I think everyone would be much better off if they did. 

I asked the tour guide if Andric had any living relatives and she said no close ones. There is a group of people that manage the foundation. I wonder what Andric would have thought about Višegrad today. It is the scene of his book and it is much different after the Yugoslav Civil Wars. He probably understood Bosnia better than anyone. 

The View of Andric's Apartment Building From Pioneer Park

Science Podcast

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The Panel Members

On Wednesday November 25 we held a discussion about science and science education. A panel of science educators, writers, and scientists discussed the challenges of engaging young people with scientific fields. The over one hour discussion that included questions and comments from the audience, hit on topics such as society’s message to young people in general and girls in particular, that making money is more important that knowledge and being educated. Other topics addressed were what parents can do to raise their children’s interest in science, finding a balance for educators between exposing students to the wonder of science with instilling in them the discipline for long hours of study and concentration. If you are interested in these and other topics with science, I encourage you to listen to the podcast.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Brian Gorodetsky: Brian is from Vancouver, Canada and a IBO Diploma graduate. He has a Bachelors degree in Microbiology from the University of Alberta and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Canada’s leading materials institute at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. His research interests were specialized in nanotechnology. He worked for 10 years as a research scientist in fields that ranged from oncology to the design of smart materials and is currently an advocate of  science education in Belgrade, Serbia. He is a new teacher at Crnjanski High School and is responsible for organizing an exciting hands-on environmental science class. In addition, Brian is also a pilot and is learning to navigate the skies over Serbia.   

Andrew Bridges:Andrew is a longtime reporter, editor and writer with a keen interest in science journalism. Andrew currently works as a science writer for Sally Ride Science, the science education company founded in 2001 by America’s first woman in space. He has written and edited multiple science books for readers ages 8-12. His latest is Clean Air, published in August by Roaring Brook Press. Previously, Andrew worked as a medical and science reporter for The Associated Press, as well as for various newspapers and Web sites, both in the United States and Europe. Andrew has a bachelor’s degree in history and Italian literature from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in Italian literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. Andrew, wife Maury and son Roland have lived in Belgrade since 2007.

 Luiz Mello    : Luiz Mello     is from Curitiba, Brazil. He has a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences with a double major in plant physiology and Science education. He holds a certificate in Instructional Technology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in Education from Framingham State College. His experiences include 6 years as an ESL instructor and 2 years as a web programmer. He is currently in his 4th year teaching internationally, and in his second year at ISB as our biology teacher. He is married to Betina and his favorite hobbies are playing and coaching soccer.

 Ivan B. Jovanović, DVM, MS, PhD: Ivan was born and educated in Belgrade, Serbia. He graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade, where he also obtained his Masters and PhD in Animal Morphology and Physiology. He teaches Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to graduate and postgraduate students at FVM. His primary field of research is the biological role of
Selenium and other micro-elements in health and sickness of animals and men.

Branka Srekovic Minic: Branka is from Belgrade, and has a double Serbian/French nationality. She has been working at ISB for 10 years, and has taught MYP French and Humanities. She is currently coordinating the IB MYP and DP, and is a Personal Project Coordinator. She is teaching DP HL History, and is Humanities Head of Department. She is working for the IB as the MYP school authorization and evaluation team member, and is a trained IB MYP Workshop Leader. She is married and has twin daughters who are enrolled at ISB’s grade 11 as the IB DP candidate students.

Chris Slough: Chris is from Colorado, USA and has a B.S. in Physics. He later earned a Masters in Education from the College of New Jersey. He has 10 years teaching experience, 8 in international schools. Besides teaching in Paraguay and Kuwait, he most recently was a science teacher here at the International School of Belgrade. He is currently on sabbatical.

Bill Kralovec: Bill is the Secondary Principal at the International School of Belgrade and will be the moderator of the discussion. He is a former science teacher and has spent a lot of time roaming the forests of South America.

 

 

Thanksgiving 2009

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The school held the annual Thanksgiving party last night. It was graciously hosted by the Canadian Ambassador to Serbia. We all ate well and had lots of laughs. I am pictured above with Ivan, who works in the Fine Arts Department at the school.

We don’t have the day off, but I did get a chance to see the Detroit Lions lose on ESPN America. It is one of our special Kralovec family traditions for Thanksgiving. I gave my family a call and my Dad was over at my brother Jim’s place, enjoying a big meal. My brother Andy is on a beach in Ecuador, taking advantage of a long weekend from his school.

We are celebrating Thanksgiving again on Saturday with a meal over at some friends home. Nadia looked beautiful tonight.

Marianne and Nadia Enjoy Some Holiday Cheer