Another cloudy and cool day today – Sunday. We spent most of the day in Zemun and it was really nice! Zemun used to be a separate city across the Danube River from Belgrade, but it is now a suburb. We took a taxi over and the kids played in the park near the river. There were trampolines, bumper cars, etc. We then went for a nice lunch at the Bello Napoli Restaurant near the river. Zemun is much different than most of Belgrade because it was never destroyed by bombing so it has the classic architecture of Europe with cobblestone streets, old buildings, etc. It is a very nice atmosphere especially along the Danube and the sun even came out in the afternoon while we were walking.
In the evening I cut the lawn and we put the kids to bed.
Earlier this month we sold our house in the USA. It was bittersweet to have the home leave our family.
We bought the house back in July of 2005. We just had our second child, Oliver, and I really felt we needed a place to call our own. We had been looking for awhile in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I am from Caspian, and we were looking for a home nearby to spend our holidays. The area is full of forests, rivers, lakes, lots of snow, and it is a child’s paradise. We also have lots of family and friends up there. We finally found the home of our dreams. We were looking for an old “Americana” house in town. The house above, exactly fit the bill. It is a 1911 American Four Square located in a leafy neighborhood of Iron Mountain, Michigan. It was built by the first Swedish doctor in town when Iron Mountain started as a region of iron ore mines. We fell in love with the home.
A View of the Front of the Home
It is a huge house with over 3500 square feet of living space. The home was owned by another doctor the past 20 years and he did a great job of renovating and adding to the home. You can click on the photo above and it will take you to the set of photos we have. The back yard (above) was great with a swimming pool, sauna, and space to play. In retrospect, the pool was extremely dangerous with young children and we should have gated it or taken it out. The second floor was cool too, with a large terrace and the third floor had a perfect bedroom for the boys. Most of the basement was also finished and it was done in the style of a ski resort.
The reason we sold the home was that we hardly ever were there. It sat empty for an entire year and it was a burden for my family and friends to take care of. We also didn’t like the property taxes, insurance, and mortgage payments we had to make. Later on we rented the house and then we could never use it.
We didn’t lose too much in the value of the home with the market crash of the past year. Most homes in Michigan lost on average 20% in value and our home didn’t do that badly.
We learned a lot about real estate! For our situation as expats, it is difficult to have a home in the USA. For us, it was not worth the hassles and expense. But we will have good memories of our short time in the home. I don’t think our children will remember it however.
I want to thank several people for their help with our home. First of all my mother and father. My dad went every Thursday to clean up the yard and fix things around the home. My mother dutifully paid the monthly utility bills. My sister-in-law Michelle and brother Jim also checked on the house occasionally and had it full of food upon arrival. Finally, I would like to thank our real estate agent, Monica from Stephens GMAC. She was so kind and worked extremely hard in the purchasing, renting, and selling of the home. Thank you Monica!!!!
Winter View
Some colleauges here in Belgrade were talking about the affordibility of country homes in Serbia. Will we enter home ownership again???
Ocean turned 1 year old today!!! Battery is dying, more on this topic later. (I’m back)
We didn’t have a big party because one year olds don’t deal well with crowds. She also doesn’t have any friends yet, although my colleagues Tim’s girls love her. We did get typical Serbian cake of chocolate mousse and light creme – delicious! As you can see, Ocean enjoyed it also.
She gets cuter by the day and is showing us genuine affection. We successfully weaned her and now we don’t even give her milk at night. She still gets up a couple times a night, but only for a hug from me and then I put her down on her stomach and put the blankets on her to make her cozy. Ocean calls us by name and points her finger and says “no,no,no”.
Grandma Kralovec sends this message to Ocean on her first birthday:
I took this photo Wednesday afternoon, little did I know that it would be the only sun we have seen in two weeks. The rain continued today (Friday) and I just returned soaking wet and full of mud from refereeing a soccer game. The picture shows our high school courtyard. In the upper left you can see the bubble gymnasium. The school is a former embassy and has very beautiful grounds.
We spent the equinox in the botanical gardens of University of Belgrade. The grounds were formerly an estate owned by Prince Milan Obrenovic. It was donated to the university in 1889 on the condition that it was named after the prince’s grandfather, hence the name Jeverem.
Ocean is pictured in front of the hothouse, which is a classic but it definitely needs to be renovated. There was a collection of bonzai trees out front that were pretty impressive. I enjoy and feel it is important to learn the names of the trees of all the countries I live in, so I appreciated the signs identifying the trees in English and Serbian. I will definitely begin to photograph and blog the various trees I learn of on my other blog about the plants and animals of Serbia. The other nice thing about the gardens was the Japanese pond and hill area. Oliver loved running around them.
We walked back home and Nadia cooked a great meal again. The weather has been cool and cloudy and it just feels like autumn, or first in many years. I am loving it!!!! Ocean is now saying “daddy” “owo” “mama” “no,no” “tu-tu-ta-at” (Bolivian for night-night) and is approaching her birthday number one, Friday. Owen has a loose tooth and a new tooth is coming in right underneath it. Nadia has a bit of a cold.
Good day at school today (Monday) – the highlight was meeting with the school designer on the new middle school. First day of autumn and we are looking forward to the fall colors.
Saturday morning I awoke early and went for a run at Ada Ciganlija (Sport Island). Mike Harvey invited me to come down as a running group meets there every Saturday. Mike works for the US Aid mission here that is helping Serbia go forward from communism and the war into the EU and a better life for all its citizens. We ran the loop around the lake which is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) I liked running with others and not having a jogging stroller and I hope to get the chance to do it more often. Thanks to Nadia for watching the kids and giving me a bit of free time!
We then headed off for shopping down town. We first went to the US Embassy Commissary. The commissary is a store on the second floor of the embassy that carries US products that you can’t get in Serbia. They only accept US dollars, but there is no sales tax (18% in Serbia) which makes it much cheaper than in the stores in Belgrade. We bought waffles, ziploc bags, cream of tartar, etc
The Kralovec family savors its processed food goodies outside the Embassy.
We next went to the Kalenić pijaca located near the St. Sava’s cathedral. “Pijaca” is the Serb word for market and the Kalenić is the largest open air market in the city. Laurence Mitchell in the Bradt guide book describes it, “the spirit of the Serbian countryside transposed to the city.” There are hundreds of stalls with fruits and vegetables, manned by really old ladies in the long dresses and head scarves. They look like the old Italian women in my hometown of Caspian that we used to see in church when I was growing up. It is a very nice atmosphere and beside produce, there are flowers, homemade pasta, meat, fresh ground coffee, etc. Nadia was inspired to make a potato and leek soup and hummus. We had lunch at a nearby Хлеб shop.
We finished up our adventure at a nice park near the Slavija circle, which is the epicenter of traffic in Belgrade. Ocean went down the slide by her self and the boys had much needed running around time. Saturday evening was spent enjoying a delicious meal by Nadia and watching parts of Will Farrell’s “Blades of Glory,” one of my all-time favorite movies.
Nadia and the boys are shown above walking to school on Friday morning. Belgrade had temperatures all last week in the 40’s and 50’s (10 degrees C). The boys have learned to put their hands in their pockets and to wear hoods to keep warm. It is strange to have a mud room full of boots, jackets, and sweaters after living in the tropics the past 6 years.
Last week we went and bought rain gear. The boys (and Nadia) love their boots and rain jackets. Ocean loves to be bundled up and is so quiet in the stroller when she outside. Ollie seems to be adjusting to the cold better than Owen, perhaps Owen has been in the tropics for longer. The cold weather continues with gray skies and scattered showers until later in the week. Everyone tells me that this is unseasonably cold weather and it should warm up again before winter.
We had a short week of school after the conference. Nadia and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary by going to the mall and buying gum boots. We were married September 17, 1999 in Coral Gables, Florida at the courthouse there. We celebrate more our anniversary of when we started dating – Halloween of 1997. It was a busy week with two girls’ soccer practices for me and a building consultant in from the US State Department. The school is designing the new middle school which will be put on the high school campus. Construction is to begin in March of 2009. More on that later.
We just completed two glorious days of professional development. Debra Welch from the Teachers Training Center (TTC) came to Belgrade to work with our entire staff on Understanding By Design (UBD). This is an approach to planning learning units that uses the concept of Backwards Design. This method was produced by educational experts Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. The idea is to first look at the essential learning (big ideas) and work backwards through assessment and teaching strategies. The staff was asked to work on 1-2 units they were going to use this year. The two days gave us a rare opportunity to really go through the process as most of the time we are so busy with the daily teaching schedule, that we do not get the luxury of time when planning curriculum units. It also let us meet across grade levels and disciplines to plan and discuss common issues and units. Deb Welch is shown above addressing the teachers.
I got a thorough understanding of UBD and a booklet of resources that I will refer to throughout the year. I also worked through the Backwards Design process with a middle school girls’ soccer unit and a school-wide discipline model. I also had a chance to meet and talk with many of the staff that I don’t get to see often.
Nadia found some time to shop at the mall at the Hotel Zira
The Hotel Zira was also very beautiful and great hosts!
The classic Eastern Europe view from the Hotel Zira balcony.
Serbia is participating in the qualifying rounds for the 2009 European Basketball Championship. The tourney takes place a year from now in September of 2009 and it is hosted by Poland. Sixteen teams will participate in the championships, with half the teams already set. The host Poland plus the seven teams who qualified via the Olympic qualifying matches. 17 other teams are competing for the final 8 spots, one of which is Serbia. They are in Group A and they have have a record of 5-1 in their first six games. They play Wednesday against Finland here in Belgrade. That is their only loss, so they will be looking for revenge. The Serbs finish up their schedule against Bulgaria which will probably be the deciding match for supremacy of the group and direct passage to Poland and the European Championships next year.
Serbia’s top player in the qualifying is Nenad Krstic who is averaging 13 points and 5 boards a game. The 7 footer played for several seasons with the New Jersey Nets and now plays in the Russia. Hopefully I will be able to go to the game Wednesday.
Krstic goes for two against Bulgaria earlier this month.
We visited the Chinese Market today over in New Belgrade. It was a cold, rainy day but we braved the elements and headed over in a taxi. We met our friends, Tim/Janna, and Jennie and their children. The photo above was taken in between the buildings of the market.
I was expecting something a bit more “Chinese,” something like Chinatown. A place where you could buy Asian spices and there would be an old Chinese man with a noodle shop. Instead, it was a like the market Barrio Lindo in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Yes, there were plenty of Chinese salespeople manning the stalls. The market was filled with cheap merchandise. It was mostly clothes and houseware. Everything was of very low quality. The only thing I found I liked was bee-bee guns that looked like M 16 US military rifles. I was tempted to buy two for the boys, but they are a bit too young for those. We did buy them plastic guns and transformer masks. We also got a pair of shoes for Oliver. Nadia was really bothered by the smoke and the crowds. I guess if you combine Chinese (heavy smokers) and Serbians (also heavy smokers) you get a lot of smoke. There were thousands of people there. New Belgrade is full of huge Communist era apartment buildings. The low prices probably attract the locals.
Nadia considers the bok choy.
We then went grocery shopping at IDEA, a mega-store like Wal-Mart. The chain is out of Croatia and it was a very nice store. You can buy in bulk there so we stocked up on the essentials. We had some excellent bread, a whole wheat with other nuts and grains.
Nadia and Owen move through the produce section of IDEA.
We took a short nap in the late afternoon and played football in the yard with the boys. We were loving the cold weather! It will be so different to experience the changed of seasons. Our mudroom is full of jackets, something foreign to us.
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