Category: Family Journal

An archive of our family’s daily life.

Wedding Anniversary

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The Happy Couple Posing With Nadia's Aunt Silvia

Eleven years ago in Coral Gables, Florida, Nadia and I were married. On September 17, 1999, we exchanged vows and became legally married at the Coral Gables District Court, one of the several Miami-Dade County locations to obtain a marriage license. It was a short ceremony attended only by Nadia’s aunt Silvia and her cousin Arturo.

We didn’t intend to get married in Florida. We both left the Santa Cruz Cooperative School in Bolivia in June of 1999. We planned to get married in Michigan. Nadia’s father was still living in Spain at the time, and so we thought it would be best to do it in Michigan with my parents. It didn’t work out for us there

For the sake of posterity and honesty, I feel after thinking about this blog post, to discuss a bit on why it didn’t work out for us in Michigan with the wedding. I found it strange my mother’s reaction to the idea of us getting married in Michigan. I thought that her oldest son getting married would be a joyous occasion, but she didn’t see it that way. I think it may have been that Nadia was so different from what she was used to. She was not from the upper midwest, or even from the US for that matter. It may have also been that I had been gone from home for 9 years. I’m not sure why she didn’t embrace the idea. She even told me that she wish we had gotten married in Bolivia. Nadia quite rightly was furious. I on the other hand didn’t have a reaction either way. I never spoke with her about it, but I did have some resentment over this. Well, that is all “water under the bridge” now and as I look back, the important thing is that our marriage is a solid one and so far, we are doing well and are happy.

, so we then considered going to Las Vegas. When Aunt Silvia found out about this, she insisted we do it in Miami. She was staying with her son at the time, so we went down to Miami in September. We were waiting for my visa for Australia to come through as well as Nadia’s acceptance to an Australian university, so we had a semester off. Aunt Silvia made a nice dress for Nadia and her cousin Arturo and his girlfriend at the time, Suallapa, were gracious hosts and we had a nice dinner with them after the ceremony.

We then went to Colombia for our honeymoon. We stayed at one of my favorite places in the world, the National Park Tayrona, a idyllic tropical beach and forest on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Eventually we made it back to Michigan and finally arrived in Perth, Australia in February of 2000.

Through our eleven years of marriage, we have lived in 4 different countries and have been blessed with 3 beautiful children. If I had to do it all over, I would marry her again. We are having a wonderful life together. Happy Anniversary Nadia – I love you!

Jewish New Year Concert

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Budapest Klezmer Band, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last night we went to the first concert of the Belgrade Philharmonic season. We bought a ticket package themed “New Year Celebrations” and the first in the series celebrated the Jewish New Year, which was this week. The evening program featured Jewish composers.

In the second half of the concert, the Budapest Klezmer Band from Hungary. Klezmer is a traditional music form of the Eastern European Jews. Klezmer is quite lively, featuring the accordion, clarinet, violin, trombone, bass, and drums. Think of the dance tunes of Fiddler on the Roof. I really enjoyed the music and it was a welcome change from the seriousness of symphonic music. Many of the audience were still the normal somber, hushing tones of a classical music patron, but the musicians were asking for people to clap, and by the end, the infectious music had everyone in a good mood.

Sadly, not much is known about the original klezmer music due to the genocide of European Jews last century. It was brought back by the Yiddish immigrants to America and it survives today. It would be great to have a live band at a wedding or party. Give a listen to the short clip above. Having so many cultural opportunities is one of the nice things of being posted in Europe.

Kralovecs Complete the Budapest Half Marathon

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Kralovec Family Poses at the Start

Nadia and I both finished Sunday’s Budapest Half Marathon (21 kilometers – 13 miles) under our goal of 2 hours. It was a beautiful late summer day in the historic city of Budapest, Hungary. It was our first truly big race with over 6,000 runners starting the half marathon. It took us 4 and 1/2 minutes to reach the starting line! We ran together and around the 17 kilometer mark, we spotted the red pacing balloon of 2 hours just ahead of us. We passed her quickly and held on the rest of the way. We sprinted to the finish and Nadia finished with a time of 1:58:07 and she finished #470 overall for the women. We had a 10 km split of 57:37. I had a time of 1:57:56, good for a #2631 finish for the men.

The buildings and sites were amazing, although there were too many people running the race and we felt crowded. Very different from our runs this summer in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Cruising Along the Hungarian Parliament Building

IKEA – Family Trip to Budapest, Hungary

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We are in Budapest, Hungary this weekend to run in Sunday’s Half Marathon. We will be running through the UNESCO World Heritage city and are looking forward to the beautiful sites and flat course. More on the race tomorrow. We drove up on Friday evening after school and the trip took us around 4 hours. We have diplomatic lisence plates on Eidelweiss which greatly reduced the time stopped at the border. It is always strange for Americans to drive to another country. 

We are renting a nice apartment called 7Seasons, I highly recommend it as it is a good price, centrally located, and very comfortable. We can cook meals in the apartment which is great for the kids. We spent most of Saturday shopping as this is “Nadia’s weekend.” The highlight was Ikea, the Swedish superstore. It was not too painful, only $332 worth of housewares. We make an annual trip here to help out our apartment in Belgrade. 

We are both very excited for today’s run. The weather will be sunny and in the 70’s, perfect running weather. Last night it was cold and raining, so we are happy for the blue skies this morning.

Bill At Work

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Opening Day Speech to Student Body

I love refering to myself in the third person. I have very few photos of me at work on the blog. This photo was taken at the opening assembly on the first day of school in August. It was a very hot day and the sun shining directly into my eyes. Below are my notes on the opening speech. It is not exactly King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, but maybe it will be interesting to someone in the future.

I would like to welcome all of you to the official start of the 2010-2011 school of the International School of Belgrade High School.

I would like to start today’s Opening Ceremony by introducing this year’s faculty. When I call your name, please stand and acknowledge the audience. (see list)

In our fifth year of existence, this is the most international that we have been. This year we welcome 97 students from at least 28 different countries. I say at least, because if you dig a bit below the surface, you will find in many families, several different passports or cultural influences. To start with we have students from Poland, Australia, Serbia, USA, Montenegro, Romania, Germany, Israel, India, Sweden, Russia, Canada, Belarus, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, Norway, New Zealand, Austria, Slovakia, China, Hungary, France, UK, Slovenija, Croatia, and Denmark. There are probably a few I missed due to some of your complicated backgrounds.

We embrace this diversity and believe it makes for a richer educational environment. Not only are all of you students, but you are also all teachers, because we learn from each other. All 97 individuals are valued here at ISB High School, and we look forward to what you can contribute to the life of the school. Two values in our ISB mission statement are “open mindedness” and “global responsibility.” With such a diverse cultural environment, it is very important that we keep these two values in our consciousness.

I would like to welcome the 16 new students to the High School. A special welcome to Jessica, Emma, Marko, Sezgi, Rebeka, Mateja, Jonathon, Rachel, Rachel, Seth, Rakel, Hanna, Jordan, Chincia, and Stine.

I highlighted our diversity; I would also like to acknowledge our appreciation for our host country, Serbia. All of the expatriates here today, enjoy living in Belgrade and being part of the ISB community. Much of that is due to the kindness of the Serbian people. The Serbian students and teachers are our intimate connection to the local community. Serbia has a long and rich cultural history, and all of us upon leaving Belgrade, will be ambassadors for Serbia. On behalf of the international community here today, hvala, for welcoming us to Serbia and accepting us as friends and colleagues.

I would also like to direct a message to the class of 2011. Your senior year is a crazy, wonderful, exhilarating ride. You will be applying for universities, preparing for the IB exams, and entering a new stage of your lives. It can be stressful and I want to assure you that you will be fine. Not only do you have the support of all of the faculty and your parents, but you also have the support of your classmates. Some of you have been here a long time, others, it is your first day, but you will need to help and be there for one another. You also have a lot of eyes watching you with the lower grades. Remember that you are the role models here and set the tone for the school. Have a positive attitude, try your best, and as the third part of our mission statement says, strive for excellence. Keep in mind also, that time goes by quickly, so savor your time with your parents, siblings, and friends this year. Come May of next year, there will be many changes.

Speaking of seniors, I would like to introduce one of them, student council officer, Anna Turner.

 As the Principal, it is my job to protect the learning environment here at ISB. We want everyone to feel secure and be able to concentrate on learning. There are a few points of emphasis I would like to make regarding the Parent-Student Handbooks you received in your mailboxes this morning.

Absences / Tardies – 6 classes missed

Backpacks / Purses –

Locker Usage –

Personal Electronic Devices (cell phones, iPods)

Dress Code – tank tops

I want to note that I will be working with the Student Council to support student life here at the school. It is my goal to have a better school store (Party Services). We will also be placing the coffee and chocolate machine in the store for student access during breaks. We will continue to have a senior privilege of leaving campus during lunch break (after permission forms are signed). 

ISB Faculty Photo 2010-2011

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Above is the my school’s faculty photo taken during the orientation week. What an amazing background! The photo was taken on our high school campus and I have the pleasure of working in such a beautiful environment. There is something about big trees.

Nadia is in the front row towards the right side of the photo and I am in the back row in the suit and tie.

My Angel Princess

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I snapped this photo a couple of weekends ago at the Knez Mihailova Street in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. It is the famous walking and shopping street that is only open to pedestrians. There is an old art gallery with high curb where street vendors sell souvenirs. Ocean sat down while Nadia and Alejandra were buying some ear rings. I took a series of photos showing the various emotions of her. She is very expressive and I absolutely love her. I call her my “Angel Princess” because she is so heavenly. It has been amazing to be a father to a daughter. I think I am learning as much from her as she is from me.

Summer Picnic

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We went back to the Staro Hopovo (Old Hopovo) monastery in the Fruska Gora National Park Saturday. We were there last January and it was so cold that I said I wanted to go back in warm weather. We did on Sunday for a family picnic.

We had a nice lunch in the sunshine and then I took the kids for the hike. The boys were complaining a bit, but in the end, they found some sticks and were pretending to be soldiers as we walked along the stream. There is a spring behind the monastery that people go and fill up bottles.

Owen Crosses the Bridge

Boys Will Be Boys

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Sebey, Owen, & Oliver, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

This is a short video of my two sons and nephew “playing” in our garden. I don’t understand how this is their version of fun. I enjoyed watching them. They were constantly beating on each other while Sebey, our nephew was here. Alejandra and Sebey left today for Bahrain, via London. We’ll be visiting them possibly in December.

Cousins and Sunsets

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It is nice to have my nephew Sebastian visiting us for a few weeks. This morning I took this photo of my sons and nephew sleeping next to each other in their room. They like to set out the quilts and sleep on the floor instead of the bunk beds. Little sister Ocean would also like to sleep on the floor too, but we put her in her room with a bottle of  mleko.

I was also on a cruise on the Sava and Danube rivers earlier this week. Fans of my blog on the boat with me, wanted me to post this photo. I took this photo of the Danube (Dunav in Serbian) while we were pulling in to the dock. It was a peaceful time and it gives one a different perspective of Belgrade. I wondered how invading armies must have been challenged in taking Kalemegdan Fortress above the rivers. I think Strauss would have written a sequel to his “Blue Danube” waltz if he had seen my photo above.