Finally some snow! Yesterday morning was a winter wonderland in Belgrade. We awoke to a white world as you can see with Nadia above. While I was cleaning the car off (we don’t have a garage) Ocean was dancing around and throwing snowballs. She was very excited for the “sneg.”
Unfortunately, I had to leave Belgrade for a recruiting trip to London and I didn’t get to enjoy the snow. It was still snowing when I called home last night.
Southern Serbia has been hit hard with snow and it seemed like it was all around Belgrade, but not in the city itself.
My children love going to the New Belgrade Skate Park, located very close to the Ušče Mall and Friendship Park. I don’t have much experience with skate parks but I am impressed with the facilities. The park has a “half-pipe” and a wide variety of ramps of different heights, angles, and curves. Owen is getting pretty good as you can see in the video above. Oliver rides his bike around the park and all three love playing in the half pipe.
It is great that the municipality of New Belgrade built the facilities. They are quite well used as there are always a few kids skating or bmx biking about the park.
The video above is a recording of the song, Marš Na Drinu or “March on the Drina” by Serbian composer Stanislav Binički from Friday night’s concert of the Belgrade Philharmonic. The concert was part of their New Year’s Cycle which celebrates different New Year celebrations throughout the year. Friday evening was the New Year in the Julian Calendar, which several Orthodox Christian churches in Eastern Europe still follow.
I think the song should be the Serbian national anthem. Binički was inspired by the Serbian army’s Battle of Cer against the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I. The lyrics celebrate the bravery of the Serbian soldiers and the flowing rivers of Drina. The Drina River is a tributary of the Sava River and forms the border between Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia. I love the melody when I first heard it played at the stadium during Serbia’s run to the World Cup a couple of years ago. I especially like the haunting rhythms which begin about halfway through the four-minute composition.
The song was overwhelmingly voted by the Serbian public as the national anthem, but due to its use by the Bosnian Serb armies in the wars of the 1990’s and the song was associated with the war. Too bad, because the current Serbian national anthem, is a weak, rip-off of the Monarchist God Save the Queen.
It is somewhat similar to Australia, where Waltzing Matilda is a much more loved song than the Scottish written, Advance Australia Fair, the official national anthem.
The song was the encore to Friday’s concert which featured Russian and Serbian works of classical music. As time goes on and the wars of Yugoslavian Secession move out of people’s living memory, the song will eventually be adopted as the national anthem.
Nadia and I really enjoyed the concert! The Belgrade Philharmonic this year has spiced up their concerts with bringing in opera singers and as you can see in the video, a “stereo” choir on both sides of the auditorium.
Last night we went to Saint Sava’s Cathedral here in Belgrade for the burning of the badjnak and the Christmas Eve Service. As you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful and culturally enriching night for my family.
Each of the kids had a “badnjak” which is like a yule log. The word badnjak may be derived from the verb, bdeti, which means to stay awake or keep the vigil. The tradition stems from pagan times and the man of the house (domaćin) or sons on Christmas morning went into the woods and cut down a young Oak tree. The yule log is kind of like a ceremonial sacrifice to bring health and happiness to the family for the coming year. The log was burnt over the family hearth. Today, an assembly of twigs with Oak leaves, corn, pine sprigs, and straw is tied together with a red ribbon and sold in markets and street corners around Belgrade. Every church has a bonfire on its grounds where people can come and throw their badnjaks in the flames.
There were hundreds of people there and outside the church a mini-market was set up selling religious and holiday crafts and mulled wine. We went inside the massive cathedral to watch a bit of the service and light candles in memory of lost family members. The service, shown below, had a lot of priests singing and waving incense. There were also lines of people waiting to kiss various icons.
Afterwards we went to have some Lebanese appitizers at the Byblos Restaurant and the kids played in the park.
I have not been posting much over the holidays. I am spending lots of time with the kids and enjoying the unseasonably warm and sunny temperatures in Belgrade. We have extended holidays in Serbia because the Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the several orthodox churches that recognizes the older Gregorian calendar. Hence, their Christmas is January 7th and new year is January 13th.
Above, Nadia and I are pictured with Alejandra and Diego on New Year’s Eve. Diego left yesterday and Ale will be staying for another few days. It is great to see them and my nephew Sebey. Below is a sample of some of the things we have been up to this week.
The girls get some sun while biking and skateboarding with the kids.
The boys last night made their own fire in the backyard.
We continue to play North American football in the back yard with the kids. I wish I had video of my playing when I was a kid. We played all the time in the Caspian School Field next to my house. Great times following the NFL and NCAA in the 1970s and playing with the kids in the neighborhood.
I took video of the games and you can follow the game by clicking on the links below.We are playing a mock NFL tourney. We have everyone’s favorite teams. Oliver likes the Pittsburgh Steelers, Owen likes the Green Bay Packers, Diego likes the Patriots and Dolphins, and I asked for the Lions to be included in the tourney.The first game is the Baltimore Ravens against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
There is North American football in Belgrade. The Central European Football League has five teams including the Belgrade Vukovi (Wolves). They play their games from April to June down at Ada Ciganlija.
I would like to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas. With four children in the house, we had a great time making the holiday memorable for them The kids were up early on Christmas morning to open their gifts. We also played a football game in the afternoon with the boys. Nadia and Ale enjoyed a bit of art before preparing a delicious traditional turkey with all of the fixings. We finished up the day by having a dance contest and watching the Christmas classic, Love Actually. Overall, a wonderful day.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve! It was relatively warm and sunny day and we took advantage of the unseasonably like conditions. The video above is of the boys and Uncle Diego playing football in our backyard. Owen is totally into football and is constantly carrying around a football and he is following the NFL and college bowl games. Oliver is a tough little guy and Sebey showed some athleticism. You can watch some other highlights on the Flick page.
We also went for a long bike ride at my favorite place in Belgrade. There were not many people there and we enjoyed showing Diego the beauty of Ada Ciganlija. We stopped for a hot chocolate before watching the NFL games for the evening. We had a Skype call with my Dad and brothers and their families.
The Kralovec Family did the Central European Tour on the way home from Vienna. We stopped in Bratislava and Budapest for more Christmas shopping. When we leave Europe, we will miss the different languages and currencies within a few hour’s drive.
The kids are shown above in the Ikea parking lot in Bratislava. There was snow on the ground and we took time out to have a mini-snowball fight. Bratislava, Slovakia looked and felt much like Belgrade. It is only about an hour from Vienna. It also marked a new country for all of us. I am up to 45 countries as a lifetime total. We then spent the night in Budapest, Hungary. Of course we had to visit another Christmas market! We all found it better than the markets in Vienna. I did notice the global economic crisis in Budapest however, as there were lots of buildings for rent and I see they are raising their sales tax to a whopping 27% to generate more revenue for the government.
We made it home safe and sound and are looking forward to re-joining the Wells/Chavez family for Christmas and New Years Celebrations. We put up more lights around the house last night and bought a turkey for our Christmas Eve dinner.
We visited the Mumok, the basalt-rock building behind Nadia and Ale. Note that Ale is my sister-in-law and she maintains an amazing art blog for kids. The tagline for the site is “Inspiration for Parents, Teachers, and Anyone Who Loves Teaching Art.” The museum is part of the Museums Quartier, district rich in museums and cafes. We dropped the kids off at the Zoom Children’s Museum while we visited the Modern Art Museum.
Although I found the art pieces interesting, I don’t agree that these works should be valued and thought about by our society. For example, there were canvases with just a single color or geometric figures that anyone can do. I understand there may be a story behind them, but they should not be considered art. I thought it was a waste of such a great space. There were classes there however and as i wrote, I did try to attach meaning to the works and it did make me think a bit about what is aesthetically pleasing in my life. I liked the intellectual part of each work, the history behind the piece and what the artist was trying to say.
The highlights for me were a painting by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. This is the first time I saw actual live works by those two icons. The piece below by Warhol, is a print screen of a car accident.The repeating of the image is supposed to make it less tragic and more mundane, simulating the effect of modern media. It also has the deeper meaning of a luxury item for someone, (it is a convertible) instead of bringing them pleasure, brought them death.
Today is our final day in Vienna. It was good to see family and the sights of Vienna. I understand a bit better the Hapsburg Empire and Austrian culture. The city is much larger than Belgrade and the Austrians much colder and almost bitter when compared to the warness of the Serbs and the Balkans. Every empire brings its culture to the forefront and exposed to the world, and the Austrians gave an order and attention to detail to the their sphere of influence.
Today is also the shortest day of the year. It gets dark around 4:00 PM and doesn’t get light until after 7:00 AM. We are driving back to Belgrade and will meet up again with our family. They are staying with friends for an extra night in Vienna.
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