Tuesday evening we took the kids to the Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade. The park is a huge public green space surrounding the ruins of a fortress. The city was originally only the fort as it commands a strategic, and more importantly for us today, a position with gorgeous views over the city and rivers. It is nice in Belgrade that most people live in apartments and do not have private gardens. They must use the public spaces, and this creates a real community feel. That is lacking in many western nations as people tend to stay in private homes more. There is also not a lot of crime in the parks so families can enjoy them without worry. In developing nations, the parks are not very nice or safe from crime. I think this is one of the reasons expats like Belgrade so much, is this sense of community.
You can see Alejandra above (black dress) and my family, watching the old guys play chess. We had a nice evening, meeting several people and having the kids run around the fort walls and scramble on the collection of tanks they have on display.
Readers of my blog are curious to the origin of my last name. The name sounds Slavic and I get a lot of guesses. One Czech reader did correctly recognize it as a Bohemian surname. This post is the story of my Great Grandfather who came to America. This summer I spent some time going through some old scrap books in our basement. The sources I used for this post were the 1942 newspaper (either Marinette, WI or Menominee, MI daily) obituary of my great grandfather and conversations with my father.
Andrew John Kralovec (the name was “Americanized” – it was originally Andreas) was born “in Bohemia” on July 17, 1860 and he came to the USA in 1888 when he was 18 years old. I can only guess why he left for America. At the time, Bohemia was a peaceful entity under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they had a relatively good level of autonomy. His decision to leave changed my destiny completely.
Andrew first came to Menominee, Michigan, but moved to Odanah, Wisconsin. He lived there for 20 years from 1900 to 1920. Andrew married fellow Bohemian immigrant, Anna Rebic, shortly upon arrival. They were wed on February 7, 1888 in Stangleville, Wisconisn. Andrew and Anna had seven children, three girls and four boys, one being my grandfather, Charles Kralovec. The other children listed in the obituary of 1942 were as follows and a bit about what my Dad remembers about them:
1) Anna Kralovec – She remained single her whole life and worked as a nurse in Oak Park, Illinois.
2) Mathias Kralovec – He lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin and worked as a carpenter. He didn’t have any children. My father lived with him for two weeks every summer in Green Bay.
3) Mary (Feich) – She lived Greenwood, a small town just south of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She didn’t have any children.
4) Charles Kralovec – My grandfather, lived in Menominee. He attended Ripon College (Wisconsin) with his brother John for a couple of years. He left the school because of his lack of hearing. I will post on him more later.
5) Jennie (Paitl) – She lived in Menominee and had several children.
6) Frank Kralovec – He house painter in Ewen, Michigan. He married late in life and had no children.
Andrew worked in a sawmill in Odanah. Lumber companies back then advertised in Europe for jobs. He was a skilled “sawyer” who could accurately determine how many boards could be cut from a log, thus avoiding waste. Odanah is a small town in northern Wisconsin on an Indian Reservation. My grandfather attended the St. Mary’s Indian School on the reservation. The big event of the day was the arrival of the train at the depot, everyone watched it to see if the inspectors would find any contraband whiskey, because alcohol was not allowed on the reservation. In 1900, not much of the Chippewa traditional life was left, my Dad said there were a couple of wigwams (tepees) left, and they got rid of those “smelly things.”
Andrew then returned to Menominee, Michigan in 1920, where he worked as a lumber grader for 14 years. At that time, Menominee, located at the mouth of the Menominee River, produced lots of lumber because of the great number of trees in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan being harvested and its position on Lake Michigan.
Andrew died in 1942 at the age of 82. He passed away quietly in his sleep. The newspaper reported that he suffered from heart disease for some time before his death.
Anna lived another 5 years after the death of her husband. She died of stomach cancer. My father remembers that she cooked all the time and always wore an apron. She always had a crock of sauerkraut fermenting in the kitchen, my father remembers the smell, and she cooked fresh bread everyday.
My father remembers a bit about his grandfather. He was a big guy, about 6-2, 200 pounds. Andrew loved to play pinochle with his brother and they were always cheating at cards. He did not speak English very well but he understood everything. His left arm didn’t move from when he tripped over the woodblock making kindling for the stove about 10 years before his death.
Andrew Kralovec (1860 – 1942)
I would have loved to have met him, but he died 25 years before I was born. It would have been interesting to ask him why he came to America. My father said that because of the language, he didn’t speak much to him. My grandfather spoke Czech, but not my father. He lived a good life according to my father, so I guess he didn’t regret coming over. I also wish the newspaper would have had a bit more about where in Bohemia he came from.
We are without a car for the next 10 days. Our beloved “Eidelweiss” was scheduled to get a new compressor, but as the mechanics found out as they began to replace it, another part was needed. I bought parts at a Honda dealer in the USA because we have an American car. The parts are much cheaper there, and the guys here in Belgrade, kindly gave me a list of parts to buy. They overlooked a part, hence they are ordering a new one. We’ll be without a car for a while.
We also found out the car was low on oil after the long holiday. We needed a tow truck coming back from the airport last Friday evening. Nadia is shown above calling as we pulled over on E75. It is doubly inconvenient because Nadia’s sister and my nephew are visiting and it would be nice to have a car. I’ve been working this week and Nadia and the kids have been going to Ada and biking and swimming.
Owen Playing Chess Against His Cousin Sebey as Ocean Looks On
We are back in Belgrade and enjoying the beautiful weather and relatively empty city, with everyone on vacation. We are also hosting Nadia’s sister and my nephew for the week as they do not have to be back to school until September. I am working hard getting ready for the arrival of the new teachers. In the photo above, we had a pizza at “Brodic” one of our favorite splavovi (restaurant floating in the Sava River) and Sebey taught his cousin how to play chess.
We also are spending time at Belgrade’s “seaside” or Ada Ciganlija. The family is shown below on the rocky beach cooling off. It is an amazing place and the thing that most impressed Nadia and I was the fitness level of the Serbians. There are not many overweight people in Serbia as it is the US. We were discussing why that is so. I think it is a combination of more activity and less food intake.
My village of Caspian is located in a beautiful, sparsely populated region of the USA. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is located between the Great Lakes of Superior and Michigan. It has the area of Maryland (500 km long and 200 km wide) and only about 300,000 people. It is a land of forests, rivers, lakes and cool weather. This summer renewed my love of this land. We hiked, camped, swam, etc. in the beauty of the northwoods. It is a great place for enjoying wilderness and has a slower pace because of the lack of people. It reinforced my desire to eventually retire or live up here, at least on a part-time basis. Real estate is cheap as well as the cost of living. We also have lots of family and friends in the region. It is a summer paradise for kids.
The Mighty Fishermen
Above is a photo of our campsite at Golden Lake (285 acres – max depth of 100 feet). We actually enjoyed a night in a tent and the kids loved the camping experience. We’ll definitely have to do it again. We also stayed at the Aurora Borealis Resort in Skanee, Michigan last week. We spent two days swimming and beach combing at Lake Superior. Ocean is shown below on the beach front of Huron Bay. The resort is owned by a retired doctor from Milwaukee, and him and his wife have made the cabins and gardens look like Martha Stewart designed it.
Yesterday we ran our final race this summer. The Windsor Center (building behind me) hosted a 5K and 10K run. The Windsor Center is my old high school. As the population dwindles in my hometown, schools are consolidating and there are more empty former school buildings. A group of citizens are trying to use the building benefit the community and so they are raising money to keep it open and develop it for other things besides classes.
It is also Rodeo weekend here in Iron River. Annually, the town holds a rodeo and it attracts many tourists. The rodeo performers are part of a semi-professional regional circuit and this is one of their tour stops. This was the first time in several years that they held a road running race in conjunction with the rodeo. I would like to thank Dawn Pisoni and the people at the Windsor Center for making it happen again this year.
Nadia ran the 5 kilometer race and won her age group with an amazingly fast time of 24 minutes. That is about 6 minutes faster than her times a few years ago in Venezuela. I ran the 10 kilometer and finished third in my age group with a time of 4 7:20. We both earned medals and it completed a successful summer of running with us competing in three races (Bass Run, Canal Run, Rodeo Run). I am inspired to continue to train and get more serious about my running. That is of course, time permitting. At least we would like to get more serious about running. Hopefully, we can do it this school year.
Owen and Ollie also got into the act with the Kiddie Race. It was a 70 yard dash and both boys did well. They won participation ribbons, so we all came away with something to put in the trophy case. The kids are pictured below with their friend, Avery. We want them to enjoy running and being active and events like this will help it. In the photo above, we are pictured with my dad, who was the Master of Ceremonies for the event. It was a fantastic morning!
The water temperature of Lake Superior this summer is15 degrees (F) above average. Yesterday we had a doctor’s appointment in Marquette, so we took advantage of the beautiful, sunny day and spent the day at the beach. We found a nice sandy beach near Harvey, Michigan, just east of Marquette. It looked like the Caribbean, so much so, that Nadia actually swam in the Lake for the first time ever.
It was such a nice day – the kind of afternoon you wish could last forever…
Yesterday we participated in the “Run Your Bass Off” 10 kilometer run in Crystal Falls, Michigan. The race is part of the Bass Festival in the small town located on the eastern side of Iron County. We try to run the race when we are here for the summer.
Nadia won second place in the 30-39 age group and ran a fantastic time of 54 minutes and 33 seconds. This is much faster than she has run in the past. I ran 48:15, which was 15 seconds faster than last year, but still only good for fourth place in my age group. The race made both of us wanting to train more seriously and get our times down. We’ll see if work and family committments will deter this.
The three men in Ocean’s bedroom are not looking for a buried treasure. This week we are doing repairs on the main pipe leading away from our bathroom. The approximately 80 year old pipe broke this weekend. The result was a flooded bathroom. The pipe broke about 3 meters away from the toilet, which actually was underneath the floor in Ocean’s bedroom. As you can see below, they dug underneath the bathroom first.
Our Bathroom
We are sitting around now awaiting for the workers to finish. I don’t think too many people have basements here in Serbia to they actually have to rip up the floor to get to the pipes. In the US, there is a space between floors for pipes that is accessible.
The school was really nice in finding us alternative accomodations. We are staying at the “M” Hotel, which is the Best Western lacated in the suburb of Banjica.
On Monday Nadia gave her first art exhibition. She presented her recent work in a gallery along with the student-artists of the International School of Belgrade’s art classes. Nadia has been working with Maja , a local artist once a week this semester. She had several works and everyone liked the art. It was the first time I saw her paint in a realistic style. Her usual style of art is abstract and very colorful. Below are some photos from the evening.
Professor Maja and NadiaOne of Nadia's Works
The gallery is located in New Belgrade near Brankov’s Bridge, near the Sava River. The neighborhood is called Staro Sajmaste, which translates to Old Fairgrounds. It has a sad history, as the Germans used the fairgrounds as a concentration camp during World War II. In 1940, the area was uninhabited marsh land. The Nazis asked the Croatians, who had the left bank of the Sava under their control, to take Serbian Jewish prisoners. There is a small monument in an abandoned park near Poseydon Hall where the exhibition was held.
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