Last week we visited friends in Sweden and Denmark for our October Break. We stayed in Helsingborg, a small city on the southern coast of Sweden. Denmark and the beautiful city of Copenhagen was just a ferry ride away, so we also spent a day there.
It was a relaxing and interesting trip. Our hosts, Per and Maria Akkeson were beyond great, and they showed us a wonderful time. We got to feel how Swedes live and they showed us all the spots as only locals do. Ollie is shown above on the windswept cliffs of the Kullaberg Peninsula.
The area reminded me much of my native Michigan, especially the coast of Lake Superior. The only difference was a bit older buildings and many city buses. The socialized system of Sweden and Denmark have resulted in a clean and prosperous region.
Ocean at the canals of Copenhagen
We had an enriching afternoon at the Luisana Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark. Other highlights included fine dining, bike rides and hikes in the fresh Scandinavian air, and many laughs with the Akkesons.
Owen in a Modern Art Room
I hope someday to return the favor and host them. We all enjoyed our visit to the north of Europe and want to return to explore more, especially further north towards the arctic regions.
Belgrade is so lovely this time of year. When the sun is shining in mid-October, with many of the leaves turning yellow,blue skies, and a cool breeze, it really doesn’t get any better than this for weather.
We have been taking advantage of this by getting out with the bicycles and going around the city. We are pictured above at Ada Ciganlija where we went for an 8 kilometer run/bike ride and then had a delicious late lunch at the Oaza Restaurant.
Owen and Ollie on the Zemun Quay
On Saturday we rode up from New Belgrade to Zemun along the bike path and had a wonderful day along the river. The kids complain a bit at first, but then they too get caught up with exercise in the gorgeous weather.
Yesterday we hosted seven of Ocean’s friends to celebrate her birthday. She turned six on Thursday. We hosted the girls at our apartment and the theme was “Pinkilicious” and the girls played games, had a tea party, and it culminated with a fashion show and dance.
They were all so cute and most importantly, Ocean had a lot of fun. A special thanks to Nadia for her work and preparation for the party. It was a perfect afternoon full of laughter and song.
As most parents say, I can’t believe it has been six years since Ocean’s birth. She is such an vivacious, caring, smart, articulate, and busy little girl. It is such a privilege to experiencing raising a daughter. We love you Ocean!
We really had a fabulous time at the Davis Cup Semifinals this weekend here in Belgrade. The Serbs defeated the Canadians, 3-2 with two thrilling singles victories on Sunday. Serbia now hosts the Czech Republic in November for the championship, going for their second Davis Cup title. They last won in 2011.
The amount of great tennis players this small nation of Serbia produces is extraordinary. Besides having arguably the best player in the world, Novak Djokovic (photo above) they also have on the men’s side, Janko Tipsarevic, ranked number 18 in the world and Viktor Troiki, before he was suspended for missing a drug test, was ranked as high as #12. Serbia also has a top doubles, player, Nenad Zimojnic, who is a former number 1. Playing for Canada was Milos Raonic, who was born in Montenegro and Daniel Nestor, born in Belgrade.
On the women’s side, they have two former number ones, Ana Ivanovic (#15) and Jelena Jankovic (#10) and Bojana Jovanowski, coming up the rankings at #39. Another ethnic Serb, Tuzla native Andrea Petkovic was #9 playing for Germany before her injury.
Why so successful? First the Serbian people have many tall, strong, and athletic genes flowing through the population. The Serbians are good at all sports and despite a poor infrastructure for sport compared to richer nations, they do extremely well on the world stage in most ball sports, especially water polo, basketball and volleyball.
Friday night’s match between Raonic (foreground) and Tipsarevic (background)
The atmosphere in the Belgrade Combank Arena was thrilling and it is a different experience watching live as opposed to on television. The crowd was totally into it and I am excited for the finals. The Serbs should win if Nole (Djokovic’s nickname) wins his two matches and Tipsarevic can beat the number 51 ranked Radek Stepanek or 46th ranked Lukas Rosol. With the home crowd behind them, Serbia should defeat the defending champions. It may come down to Berdych versus Nole if all goes according to plan. It will be a fantastic match.
A special thank you to Kevin and Lara from the Canadian Embassy for inviting us to the final day. It was fun to be a part of the Canadian fan delegation. They were almost more enthusiastic than the Serbian fans.
Owen and Me at the ISB Tennis Courts
Probably the best tennis of the weekend came from the ISB Tennis Courts however, with Dad (me) playing against Owen, Ollie, and Nadia. It is great to have nice courts at the school that we can use anytime.
Last weekend we traveled to the Srem part of Serbia and had a delicious goulash made with the rare Hungarian breed of pig, the Mangalica. Srem is a flat, agricultural area next to the Croatian and Bosnian borders. We spent a glorious late summer day at the Zasavica Nature Reserve, a farm and ecological area located outside the town of Sremska Mitrovica.
Pictured above is a Mangalica breed of pig. They have thick, curly hair and used to be quite common before World War II. They were a favorite breed of Franz Josef, the Austro-Hungarian Emporer, who kept them for their lard. They are a fatty pig and have been replaced by leaner breeds. The Mangalica has made a comeback in Hungary however, and in this region of Serbia that has Hungarian influences. They are used mostly for sausages and the Hungarians regard them as a traditional food. They are also catching on in the USA, as this New York Times article featured. They are also known to have less cholesterol than other pigs.
The farm borders on one of the rare wetlands areas in Serbia. It has been somewhat preserved as a park and is a great spot for bird watching, fishing, and boating. The nearby Sava River provides water for the lowland ground.
We had a nice meal and lounged around and played football in the sun. Owen and I also went for a walk through the Podolian Cattle herds, another rare breed of livestock.
I recommend spending the day and the next time we go out, we will certainly rent a boat to explore the wetlands.
It was an exciting morning today as we started the 2013-2014 school year. The kids were up early in anticipation and we eager to ride their new scooters to school and see all of their friends. Owen is in his final year of the PYP programme and is a big fifth grader. Oliver is “a new man” and promises to listen to his teachers and obey the rules, and Ocean can’t wait to “learn the small letters” of the alphabet and start reading. Nadia is teaching first grade for the second year and really loves it. I am starting my sixth year at ISB and we welcomed over 200 students to the Upper School.
We also love the convenience of living right next to the school. It makes our lives soooo much easier. I highly recommend ending commutes for families. We are all looking forward to another year of adventure and growing for our family.
Last weekend we escaped to the heartland of Serbia – Šumadija. Šuma is forest in Serbian and the area used to be covered in forests and the Serbian people have been in this region for a long time. It is just south of Belgrade and today is full of small farms and rolling hills with pockets of forests.
We visited the Radovanović Winery in the small town of Krnjevo. It is one of our favorite wines from Serbia. The country has an excellent wine industry and it is growing. They were very friendly and gave us the full tour of the premises and arranged for a wine tasting. They even had low alcohol wine for the kids to taste. We are not that big of wine drinkers, although I did take a wine-tasting course at Western Australia University years ago and am interested in science and pleasures of fermenting grapes.
Fresh Grapes Ready for Wine Production
We then spent the night in the spa town of Aranđelovac, home of the famous Knaz Miloš bottled water. They opened up a large new hotel and water park. The park was quite crowded but the kids liked it. In town there is a huge park where the original spa used to be and it is filled with these beautiful statues carved from the local venač marble. We walked around and the kids played on the statues. It was a glorious mid-summer evening and lots of people walking about.
The Marble Statues of Aranđelovac
It is only 78 kilometers from Belgrade and makes for a perfect overnight get-away. I also highly recommend Radovanovic wines and visiting the mali podrum (little cellar).
I’ve been loving the extremely hot temperatures in Belgrade this August. The day time temperatures have been up into the 90s Fahrenheit and even the nights have been in the 80s. We have been spending as much time as possible in the water, both at Ada Ciganlija and in swimming pools. Owen is shown above diving into the pool at a friend’s house.
This weekend we went to one of the many “green markets” in Belgrade, this particular one in Blok 44 in New Belgrade. It is funny how in the US they make a big deal of the “Farmers’ Markets” and in Serbia they are everywhere. Many of the stalls do buy directly from local farmers as the ties to the countryside and small farms have not been lost like in the USA. The family is shown below shucking corn.
Finally, our recommendation for the best ice cream in the city, Moritz EIS located downtown on Ulica Vuka Karađića near the walking street. The Austrian owner has high quality homemade ice cream that come in interesting flavors. There is a nice outdoor area to sit and it is convenient to go for a stroll afterwards down Knez Mihajlova Street.
The 23 and Me Testing Kit (Photo courtesy of James Hadfield)
Earlier this month I submitted a sample of saliva to the genomics and biotechnology company called 23 and Me. The company, founded by the wife of Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, allows individuals to get a portion of their genome decoded and they give some health and ancestral information. Only around 1 million of the 3 billion base pairs are read by the company and based on this, the report shows people their genetic predisposition to some diseases and other traits. I haven’t explored this part yet and will do in the coming weeks.
I was really interested in the ancestry part of their services. I am adopted and have found my biological mother and know a bit about my heritage, but it was really amazing to see in detail the percentages. It was also awesome to think about how humans came out of Africa and some of my DNA sequences are the same as the Neanderthals and the cavemen who painted those beautiful drawings in France.
Humanity is just in the beginning stages of understanding our genome and I hope I live long enough to see the advances in the field. It would be a great field to go into if I was younger. I am not sure how accurate the results are given that only a small portion of my DNA was decoded. The “speculative” read of my DNA was as follows:
Overall, I am 99.3 % European ancestry. The breakdown of this European DNA reads:
38.6 % Eastern/Northern European
19.1 % French/German
12.7% Non-specific Northern European
8.4% Balkan (yea Serbia!!!!)
1.2% Iberian
1.1% Italian
7.9 % Non-specific Southern European
9.6% Non-specific European
There are too many “non-specifics” for my liking and I am not sure how they arrived at this. Is it because they didn’t read enough of my DNA? Could it be that because Europeans interbred so often, that to distinguish between countries, or groups is difficult? Living in Serbia and being of Slavic origin, I always wondered if I had some Balkan blood in me, and yes indeed I do. The 0.7% of non-European DNA was defined as Middle Eastern/Northern Africa.
The company is also crowd sourcing DNA for its mega database to find insights into the human genome. I gladly contributed to this and with the 300,000 other people who have done this also, wish them luck in their research. The company also matches genetic relatives, known and unknown from the database. I found I have a second cousin who also submitted a saliva sample. There were a bunch of third to sixth cousins. Out of respect to my biological mother, I probably won’t look them up.
Another part of the company are collecting health and ancestry surveys from the participants. With this they can get more specific regarding country origins. The top two countries for me were Poland and Slovakia, which matches what my biological family has told me. Other countries earning percentages were Russia, the Ukraine, Estonia, Romania, and strangely, El Salvador and Cuba.
I am 2.8% related to Neanderthals, and the average European is 2.7%. That puts me in the 72 percentile. Very odd to think that humans bred with Neanderthals and we still carry some Neanderthal DNA with us today.
In tracing my maternal and paternal DNA lines, on my mother’s side I am Haplogroup H, which is typical of Europeans, and found in the Basque and Scandinavian populations. On my father’s side, I am the R1b1b2a1a, which comes from the fringes of the North Sea and over 50% of European men possess this group. Sharing the same paternal line is the media sociologist and author, Malcolm Gladwell.
I will be blogging more about this as I delve into the reports on the web site.
We recently spent 4 glorious days on the island of Čiovo, located just off the Croatia mainland next to the beautiful town of Trogir. The island is in the center of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast and it is our third trip to the Croatian coast and each time I like it more and more.
The highlight for me was renting a sea kayak for an afternoon with Owen. It was a great way to spend the day with my son. We paddled out of Okrug Gornji and found some secluded coves that were perfect for “cliff diving” and swimming.
I can see the allure of the Adriatic Sea. The turquoise water, that Mediterranean bright sun, the smell of pines and sea, and the white limestone rocks, really renews one’s soul. We spent most of the time on the beach because the kids couldn’t get enough of the water. In the evenings we enjoyed fresh fish dinners and took the ferry over to the mainland Trogir for ice cream. The town is an UNESCO world heritage site and it was pleasant to see the yachts in the harbor and meander through the old city in search of ice cream.
Okrug Gornji Harbor – Our Dinner View
There were a lot of tourists, mostly from Germany, Poland and other northern European countries. There were enough places to get away however and it didn’t feel that crowded.
We stayed on Čiovo because our good friend, Nemenja, his mother is originally from there and they have a summer home there. He and his family showed us some typical Balkan hospitality and made our stay even more wonderful. I want to thank Dragica, Milena, and especially Nemenja for showing us the secrets of Dalmatia.
I would bet the Croatians have an ambivalent attitude towards the crowds of tourists. Most locals have gotten into the rental business and converted their homes into apartments. The tourists also bring lots of revenue to the supermarkets, restaurants, ferries, shops, etc. They have changed the character and physical look of the place however, and it was interesting to hear Nemenja’s description of the town pre-tourist boom. There were very few Serbs around, and that stems from still ill feelings of Croats towards Serbs from the war. A bit inland is the former Serbian enclave and short-lived independent country (Republic of Serbian Krajina), Knin. A lot of violence occurred there and it would be a fascinating place to visit. The city went from being 79% Serbian to 75% Croatian. Serbians usually go a bit further south to the Montenegrin coast. We did get quite a few looks because of our licence plates. Croatia was celebrating their recent membership to the EU (July 1) and I am closely watching the impact on the country. Serbia is in the process of membership and so I am curious to see what benefits and disadvantages EU membership brings.
Ocean and Ollie Take a Break at Labadusa Beach
I learned that the Dalmatian breed of dog is not common in Dalmatia. The breed was originally from there, used as a guard dog for nomads, but the breeding and popularization of Dalmatians took place in England. The unofficial capital of Dalmatia is Croatia’s second city of Split. I would like to go and visit there. I also did not understand much of the Croatian language. They have a different accent and in this part of Croatia, they mix in a lot of Italian and Croatian terms that differ from Serbian. For example, they do not say prijetno, but dobar tek instead.
We will definitely be back to Dalmatia. It is seven hours from Belgrade via a fast, four-lane highway, although it goes in a roundabout way and not a direct route. Someone needs to put a large, straight highway from Belgrade through both Bosnia and Montenegro. Travelling through those countries is an uncomfortable and slightly dangerous experience due to the winding narrow roads.
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