Category: Family Journal

An archive of our family’s daily life.

Honoring My Father

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It was great to see my family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last weekend. It was a short trip. I joked that I was “relatively” close to Michigan while taking a summer course at the University of Vermont. I decided to fly to Michigan for the weekend. Above is the ceiling tile that my brother Andy arranged to get painted. My Dad belongs to the American Legion Post in Stambaugh, Michigan. The American Legion is an organization that supports veterans who served in the US Military.

My Dad was a member of the 9,000 troop strong Ninth Infantry Division. He was in the army of occupation in Germany in 1956-57. He was stationed at a base outside of Stuttgart. He was part of the forces that they were defending West Germany from the Soviet Red Army stationed just across the border in East Germany. The Soviets has many more troops and weapons and so he joked that in case of an invasion, their instructions were to get in trucks and head to the Rhine!

My Dad enjoyed his time in Germany. By that time, Germany was on the road to recovery with the Marshall Plan. Next time I’m in Caspian I’ll post some photos of him in his army uniform from that time.

I would like to thank my brother Andy and the American Legion for honoring his service to our country.

Dad Reads the Paper - July 16, 2011

Chavez Family History (Severiano Chavez 1884 to 1968)

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While I am on holiday in Santa Cruz, I’ve asked Hermes about his father and found some old photographs. Severiano is the great grandfather of my children and I am doing a series of posts on our family’s geneology. It will be good to capture these stories for future generations of my family.

Severiano Chavez Justiniano was born in 1884 and died in 1968. He was born in Santa Cruz, Boliva. He inherited from his father, a land holding of 2,500 hectares (over 6,000 acres) located north of the city in the province of Warnes. He owned 300 head of cattle, and also produced sugar and molasses for the city.

He was not the simple farmer that many immigrants were in America. Severiano belonged to the high society of Santa Cruz and was the governor of the province. He also belonged to the 24 of September Club.The club is named after the date of Santa Cruz’s founding. This is the oldest association of Crucenos dedicated to running of the city and socializing.

Severiano, like many “patrons” of the age, had a rich family life. He was married four times and fathered 9 children.

His first wife was Ester Cronenbold, who died while giving birth to their daughter, Ester Chavez Cronenbold. His next wife was Castulia Zabala and he had three children with her. They were Meri, Mari, and Saul Chavez Zabala. His third wife was my children’s maternal grandmother, Leocadia Chavez. She was very young (born 1926) and despite the same last name, they were NOT related. She had four children, Graciela, Silvia, Hermes, and Ever.

Leocadia sadly fled the ranch when Nadia’s father, Hermes was only 2 and 1/2 years old. She left in the middle of the night with the baby son, Ever. Leocadia ended up in Brazil and it was not until many years later that she came back and saw Hermes again. In recent years, Herme’s brother Ever, came to Santa Cruz from Brazil to stay with Hermes on occasion. He recently died of cancer. I’ll write more about Leocadia and the others in later posts. I wrote previously on Silvia Chavez Chavez.

Severiano at 70 years old married a fourth woman, Sara Pizarro and they lived together for 12 years before Severiano died of pneumonia. Severiano sired a ninth child, Ana Maria Chavez Pizarro.

Because Severiano was so old when he fathered Hermes (age 56), Hermes didn’t really have much to say about his father, although he loved him dearly. Things obviously were much different back then. I wonder what it would have been like here in Bolivia at that time. I’ll try to find out more about him when I come back to Bolivia. I imagine being a rich, land-owning, Creole in the former Spanish colonies had its advantages. Below is a photo of Severiano with some other 20th century gentlemen, most likely the 24 of September Club.

Arrival To Bolivia

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Modesta and Owen, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

After a long trans-Atlantic flight and layover in Sao Paolo, Brazil, we finally arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It was an uneventful flight. We were surprised that we couldn’t leave the airport upon arrival to Brazil because we didn’t have a visa. We had an 8 hour layover and we planned to check into a hotel, but immigration officials wouldn’t allow us pass them. We ended up buying a day pass for the AA Admirals Club and had a nice day together.
Our second night in Santa Cruz was the Festival of San Juan or Corpus Christi. This is a big Catholic holiday here. It is traditionally celebrated with a mass held at the soccer stadium. It coincides with the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. Bolivians have fires in the evening and eat hot dogs and drink singani, the Bolivian rakija (brandy). Tempatures got down to 11 C last night. We cleaned out the BBQ area and had a big fire. The Mayor’s office outlawed individual fires for environmental reasons. Instead, officials organized big public campfires. We told stories and had a nice time.
The origin of the Corpus Christi dates back to 1263 where in Italy, a priest named Pedro de Praga was celebrating mass and the host (communion bread) began to bleed. This is proof of the transformation during the mass the communion bread and wine actually turns into the body and blood of Christ. The host is still preserved and was tested in 1971 as well as blood crystals in the wine. There is human tissue on the host as well as an AB blood type in the wine. I don’t believe it but it does make for an interesting evening in late June.

During the day, we visited the Santa Cruz Zoo. Owen loved seeing the 10 jaguars because earlier this year, he made a poster and gave a presentation on the jaguar. The zoo had a nice collection of Neo-tropic birds and Amazonian fish. The kids also like the spider monkeys with the prehensile tails. We are all still suffering a bit from the jet lag.

Summer Holidays Begin

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Ollie, Ocean, Mom, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Nadia is shown above with the kids at our favorite place for pizza in Belgrade, Brodic. It means “little boat” in Serbian and it is basically a boat and raft, moored along the Sava River, near the Sajam Fair. They serve a sesame seed crust pizza that is absolutely delicious. It is more a hangout place for beers, than a family restaurant, but it has a friendly atmosphere and serves Paulander Wheat Beer, which is a favorite of mine. I highly recommend the “The Pizza Boat” as the expats call it.

We are busy packing for our summer holidays. I’m wrapping things up in the office at school. We bought a new car as our beloved “Eidelweiss” is on her last legs. It is a 2005 Town & Country and it is THE family vehicle. I love that both rows of seats can be stored underneath easily and it is quite luxurious compared to the 1996 Honda we are currently driving. We are trying to figure out a name for the car. The paperwork is taking forever however, and we won’t get our license and registration until we return to Belgrade in August. That is one difficult part of living in Belgrade, sometimes simple things like transferring a car title and registering for a license plates take forever and require several trips to government offices. It is one reason why the economy is bad here, is that it is hard to do simple business transactions because of too much bureaucracy.

The New Ride

I took the kids to the zoo on Sunday while Nadia was getting her hair and nails done. We had a great time. I recommend visiting it with the family. I am ambivalent about zoos. It is good the kids can see the animals and learn about them, but it is basically a prison for animals. The conditions for the animals in the Belgrade Zoo are not great, but in my travels around the world, I’ve seen worse.

Cooling Off at the Pool

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Yesterday we went over to the Košutnjak Pool which is a large sports complex owned by the city. It is located near the sledding hill in the suburb of Banovo Brdo (Ban’s Hill). It was our first time to pool and we were impressed by the facilities. There were five outdoor pools, restaurants, changing rooms, in a nice woodland setting. It looked very communist, but it was well maintained. The only problem was the 1000 other people enjoying the pool. That is one thing you get in Belgrade during the summer. Any water is just full of people. The kids enjoyed it and it was refreshing. Europeans are in so much better shape than Americans and not as body conscious. There was plenty of flesh of all ages on display. There was a baby pool and it is a nice place for families, although I recommend getting there when is opens at 10:00 AM and leaving around noon when the crowds pull in.

My bow-legs are visible as I dive into the pool

For lunch we went to restaurant nearby for some BBQ lamb and sausages which was delicious. We finished the day with some tennis at the school and saying goodbye to friends who are leaving today for the USA.

 

Farewells

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We had our last Administrative Team meeting at the International School of Belgrade where I work. We meet every Wednesday and other times as needed. We’ve spent many hours around the table in Eric’s office. I’ve appreciated the collaboration of my colleagues and their perspectives, expertise, and different viewpoints, have made me a much better school administrator. I am seated on the far left. To my left in order are the Lower School Principal, Tim M., School Director Eric, S., Business Manager Snežana H., and IT Director, Bane N.
Vicky, Nadia, and Janna

It is the time of year to say goodbye to everyone, some just for the summer holidays and others forever. Our life in international education forces us to have people come and go in our lives. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is strange to get very close to people for several years, and then never see them again. It is impossible to maintain friendships over time and distance.Nadia is above having a coffee with friends Vicky and Janna at the Park Cafe.

Above is a photo of our school’s farewell assembly. We said goodbye to several students and teachers. The ceremony took place in our new amphitheater and it is such a nice setting for public gatherings. We are definitely going to use it more in the future, both for assemblies and outdoor classes.

It is a wrap for another year in education. For teachers, our year doesn’t begin in January, but in August with the start of classes. I am looking forward to upcoming summer holiday. I’ll be spending a few more days wrapping things up in the office and then it will be off to Bolivia. I can’t wait to spend more time with my wife and children, and myself!

School Year Ends

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Ocean, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

With the end of the school year being such a busy time, I’ve had no time to keep up with my blogging. We had our last day of classes yesterday. I’ll be working this week finishing up in the office and then summer holidays!

Ocean is pictured above at last week’s Art Exhibition our school held. Our school is very “hip” and the students exhibited many different mediums of art, including sculpture, digital film, and music. The exhibition was held in the former Military Academy in downtown Belgrade. It is now being turned into a museum and exhibition center after the Serbian army donated the building to the city, It is such a fabulous space to feature student art. As you can see from the photos, the interior of the building is quite striking. The building was damaged twice in WWII and the 1999 NATO bombings.

Oliver and Owen’s art work was featured as well and so I snapped a couple of photos of their work. It was such a nice event for our students and parents and I am happy that ISB supports the fine arts.

Oliver's Sculpture

Sting Performs in Belgrade

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We thoroughly enjoyed attending the Sting concert last night at the Belgrade Arena. Sting is the former lead singer of the Police and is a pop music legend. He is on the second European portion of his long tour promoting his new release, Symphonicities. The real name of Sting is Gordon Sumner and the former British school teacher has been a pop star for 30 years. He looks great at age 58 and his voice and energy is of a man 20 years younger. The idea of the album and concert is to rearrange his songs for a symphony orchestra. I really felt that for most of the songs, it gave them a new life and I found that it brought out his voice more and the story behind each song. It made for a varied evening, with featured players including the trumpet, clarinet, violin, cello, etc. Sting is a true musician and played the guitar, lute, harmonica, among other instruments during the course of the 2-hour, 23 song concert.

I grew up with the Police in the 1980’s and as he has aged and developed more complex musical tastes, I’ve been along for the ride. He is one of the my all-time favorite musicians and it was a great concert. Nadia and I took Owen and he managed to stay up the entire evening. It was the first time we all “partied” together. I hope the exposure to music will inspire him to appreciate music. He is taking guitar lessons. I hope to learn the piano and develop that side of my life.

I would like to thank my friend Claudiu for buying the tickets for us way back in February. The seats were magnificent, near the stage and up above the seats on the floor. With Serbians so tall, it is tough to view a concert if you are a row behind someone. The view was perfect. Nadia kept asking me to dress more like Sting! I’ll post photos tonight when I charge my Blackberry.

The Day at Silver Lake (Srebrno Jezero)

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Sunday we spent the day at Silver Lake. Silver Lake was formed in 1971 when a branch of the Danube was dammed to “protect the Ram marsh from subterranean waters.” It is 14 kilometers long and 300 meters wide. Over the years, people have built vacation homes along the reservoir. A private development company is making a resort with a swimming pool, tennis courts, residences, etc. I like it because it is so close to Belgrade. It is only about an hour drive from the city. It is called Silver Lake because of the sparkles of the water at sunset. It is just south east of Belgrade, and Romania is just across the river. 
We had a great day! We were catching frogs along the banks and kids can spend hours going in and out of the water. The area is not in the big guidebooks (Lonely Planet, Bradt). I found some brochures at the tourist desk at the airport describing tourist spots along the Danube and Silver Lake was featured in the section about the nearby town of Veliko Gradiste. (“big construction site” in Serbian)
Silver Lake is like a cleaner, country version of Ada Ciganlija with much less people.

Tennis Warriors

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Oliver and Owen played some great games of tennis last weekend. We brought the USTA “Quick Start” Tennis net and balls over to their elementary school. They played several great games. We are watching the highlights of the French Open and I’m getting them excited about tennis.