The beautiful early fall weather continued this weekend with blue skies, a slight breeze, and perfect temperatures. Temps have been in the low 80’s during the day and dropping in the 60’s at night. We took full advantage of this, as the cold weather and winter will be fast approaching. Nadia and Ocean are shown above in our pergola on Saturday evening. We ate outside in front of the fire. Absolute magic! I read a choose your adventure book to the boys and eventually, Oliver fell asleep Nadia’s lap.
On Saturday morning I mowed the lawn and cleaned up the patio and garage. In the afternoon, the boys and I took film producer Tony Pappa around the city to show him the sites of Belgrade. He is shooting a promotional video for the school. Sunday Owen, Ocean, and I went for a bike ride/run to Ada Ciganlija and then we had dinner at the Fuiroea’s home.
Last Sunday Nadia wanted to do some shopping in Budapest so we went down to the walking street in the center of the city. There is a square named after the Hungarian poet Vorosmarty. While she was in the various shops, I hung out with the kids in the square. What a wonderful morning it was. The kids ran around, climbed the statues and fountains, and watched all of the people in the square on a sunny early fall Sunday morning.
Being in Europe it is appropriate to think about Friedrich Nietzsche and his concept of eternal recurrence when looking at the photo above. The concept is that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum. I wish the moment Nadia captured on film above would occur ad infinitum. Sadly, I don’t share the same philosophy as Nietzsche, and believe these moments happen only once. But, if I could relive a moment, it would be a tender hug and kiss from Ocean.
Ocean turns two years old today. What a glorious tumult she brought to our lives. We didn’t plan on having three children, and after two boys, a girl has arrived with all kinds of surprises. Her personality is starting to show and she’ll be another lively, enthusiastic Kralovec. She loves to laugh and has very strong feelings on what she wants and likes, and she is not afraid to let you know how she feels! She is also very independent and wants to do things herself.
Last night I took her to the store to buy milk. We did some shopping and she followed me around the store with her little cart. She was dressed in her cherry pajamas. So cute.
This weekend we headed 4 hours north to the capital of Hungary, Budapest. Our boys’ soccer teams were playing the American International School of Budapest. I brought the family up to watch the game and enjoy the weekend in a beautiful city. The kids are shown above playing in the hotel room.
That is the funny thing about kids, they enjoy different things than adults. Nadia and I were appreciating the amazing architecture of the buildings of Budapest. Most of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site and I can see why. Everywhere one looks, there are huge, ornate facades on these magnificent buildings.
The kids enjoyed most the hotel rooms and the swing at the zoo.
We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary Wednesday, September 17th. Nadia and I are shown above with Ocean and Oliver in our yard before our big night out. We were married in Coral Gables, Florida in 1999. We had a civil service and had a small reception at Tia Silvia’s home. Our more important anniversary is Halloween, the day in 1997 we first fell in love.
To recognize the occasion, we went to dinner at Cantina de Frida. This is the “hot” place to go in Belgrade for the slightly older, hip crowd. The restaurant is named after Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is located on the Sava River in an old warehouse. Some of the buildings have been converted to restaurants, shops, and bars. It had great food and a very nice atmosphere. We then went to the Yugoslav National Theater and caught a performance in the BITEF. More on that later.
I didn’t think it was possible, but Ocean is getting cuter! Look at those pigtails. I am totally in love with her. Last night I was carrying her down to the car as we were heading off to the store for our weekly grocery shopping, and she was giving me kisses and caresses and saying, “ah tata.” I never got that from the boys.
It was a very busy week with two Open House nights and the usual demands of managing an international IBO secondary school. I did get a chance however, to play with the kids a bit and what privilege that is. The weather has been great and it allowed us to play catch in the back yard. If there is a heaven, I would want it to be full of moments like this. Owen is really getting good and Ollie has a good arm on him. I fondly remember the Kralovec family Sunday night batting practice with my Mom and Dad and brothers. I hope to carry on the tradition with playing a lot of sports with my children.
Ollie has an exuberance for life!
I am a very lucky man to have such a wonderful family.
We visited the region of Zlatibor this weekend for the first time. This is a part of Serbia south east of Belgrade, along the border with Bosnia. It was a wild and beautiful part of Serbia and now my favorite place in the country. “Zlatibor” means “Gold Pine” in English and it is an area of mountains (3000 feet), pines, and rugged beauty. We stayed outside the village of Mokra Gora, and it was about a 4-hour drive from Belgrade. Nadia is shown in the parking lot of the hotel. You can see the terrain behind her. If I was to buy property here, it would certainly be in this part Serbia.
We are in the Nikola Tesla Plaza in Kusturica's Village
We stayed at the Hotel Mecanik which is part of the Serbian Ethnic Village that the famous movie director Emir Kusturica built. It is called Drvengrad and as an excerpt from the article in the Guardian describes it as follows:
I turn up in Belgrade as the thermometer sinks south of -20 degrees. “Come to my village,” he demands. “I have something to show you.” Three thousand feet up on Tara mountain the next morning, the full effect of his latest piece of “inspired lunacy” sits under 2ft of snow. Kusturica has sunk himself deep into debt, spending more than £1m to build a pastoral paradise, his own version of Plato’s republic, in one of Europe’s last great peasant redoubts.
“This is my Utopia,” he declares. “I lost my city [Sarajevo] during the war, now this is my home. I am finished with cities. I spent four years in New York, 10 in Paris, and I was in Belgrade for a while. To me now they are just airports. Cities are humiliating places to live, particularly in this part of the world. Everything I earn now goes into this.”
What started as a couple of salvaged traditional wooden houses 18 months ago, on a bluff above the spectacularly beautiful Mokra Gora valley in western Serbia, has mushroomed into a modern take on the great monastery-universities of the middle ages. The village is equipped with a library, Serbia’s most advanced cinema and, most incongruously of all, an underground basketball arena – a tribute to the three world championships won by the former Yugoslavia. For Kustendorf, as he calls the place, is also a hymn to Serbian cultural achievement and traditional living – a kind of cultural Alamo, as a country that has been cut off from the world by war and sanctions opens itself up to the gentle mercies of globalisation.
“I am making a stand here. I want to do something constructive. In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don’t have experience of the west, they even believe that western shit is pie.” Given that the prophets of the free market in Serbia often tend to be the same gangsters, war profiteers, smugglers and chancers that Kusturica lampoons in his films, you can see his logic.
I have never seen any of his movies and did not know much about him before writing this blog post. He is a very interesting character to say the least! Some people don’t like him and I can see how he would shake some people up. There are lots of articles on line that describe his conversion to the Serbian Orthodox Church from his Bosnian Islamic roots. The village we stayed at is temple to Serbia.
Emir's Unusual Touch
On one level, it was a great place to stay with my family. The kids loved the swimming pool, we all loved the clay tennis courts and indoor basketball court. The food was delicious, although the waiter and some of the help were a bit quiet to us. Not exactly rude, but a bit cold. The views are spectacular and the cool mountain air is refreshing. The cabin we rented was comfortable and it even had a fireplace. I would love to return in the winter for a skiing trip.
On another level, it was fascinating to see his take on life. He is very much anti-Western (aka Anti-USA) and against the cultural hegemony of the US. He put photos of Che Guevara, Maradona, Fidel Castro, Pancho Villa, etc. in the restaurants. I think my buddy in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez would get along great here! I don’t like Che, I think he was an Argentian bum who got lucky to be in the right place at the right time and ended up killing a lot of people. I wish people would read up about his background before wearing a shirt of his because he looks cool. Serbs love him and his image is around Belgrade a lot. Nadia was laughing because she is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia where Che was killed by the Bolivian army. One of her relatives on her mother’s side of the family was probably in the unit that found him in the mountains of Valle Grande, near Santa Cruz. He also didn’t serve Coca Cola, and so we ordered Emir’s Revolution Raspberry Juice (delicious). There was a picture of George Bush behind bars. I think he is a bit carried away with the anti- imperialism stuff, but I do agree with a lot what he has to say. The war of the breakup of Yugoslavia was tough on him and before I can judge someone, I need to walk in his shoes.
The Small Chapel at Drvengrad
I think Kusturica is an original and I enjoyed getting to know him a bit better. I will definitely look up his films and I do plan to return again. I will probably do some more blog posts on him and his work. You can see more photos on my flickr.com account.
I recommend the place for families and I also hope to explore Zlatibor and across the border in Bosnia. I saw on the map that the city of Visegrad, from “The Bridge Over the River Drina” is very close by.
Getting the kids ready for school in the mornings is always hectic. We are a 2-minute drive from school but it is easier for us to drive instead of walking because of the back packs and stuff we have to carry. I snapped this photo earlier this week of the boys while we were waiting for Nadia to get ready. As you can see, our garage is on the street level, while our yard and the rest of the house is one floor up. The Virginia Creeper vines can be seen hanging down. It covers up the garage doors a bit, kind of like the bat cave entrance in the Batman TV series from the 60’s I used to watch as a child. Also in our ground floor we have a second garage that we use for storage and then we have another room that we use for guests.
Nadia and Lekisha At the Concert
Wednesday night we got free tickets to the Leonard Cohen concert at the Belgrade Arena. We had one of the suites around the arena and it is a great way to watch a concert. Leonard Cohen is a legendary musician, songwriter, and author, and he career spans 5 decades. It was the first time that I ever heard him sing, live or recorded. He influenced a great number of musicians. His music was very mellow and okay to listen to. Nadia and I also went to dinner before the concert at The Corner restaurant downtown. Quite nice.
Sunday evening we visited our friends, Claudiu and Vesna. They have two young children and are a very fun couple. We always have lots of laughs wtih them, not only Nadia and I but the kids also as you can see.
They are from Romania and both of them were in 8th grade when communism and dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu went down. They are the last generation to remember how life was under communism. It is interesting to hear their stories about growing up in those conditions. They now work for Kraft and work throughout Europe. Kraft, which we know for Macaroni and Cheese and other processed foods in the US, only sells Jacob’s coffee and Milka Chocolate (like a Nestle Quik) here in Serbia.
Update: August 31, 2009 Here is an article about the possible move of IKEA to Belgrade. (courtesy of the Balkan Insight)
My son Oliver is above checking out bathroom fixtures at the New Belgrade Flea Market (Buvljak – in Serbian). I needed a new plug on an extension cord I use to mow the lawn with my electric lawnmower. I found the plug and the guy connected it to my cord for 300 RSD ($4.50).I also saw some small soccer goals I’m thinking of purchasing for the school.
The place has everything, literally everything. From Nike shoes, to fans, from pirated DVDs to ladders. It is a huge open market with narrow stalls. The flea market is located in New Belgrade, just down from the Delta City mall. It is always busy and there is a variety of people there. Everyone is pretty friendly and we’ve never had a problem there. Nadia found a booth selling IKEA products. IKEA is one of her favorite stores and the nearest outlet is in Budapest, 5 hours away.
In front of the flea market is an unofficial flea market. It is filled with gypsies selling junk they find in the dumpsters around the city. I’ll take some photos there the next time we go.
We stopped for a family photo earlier this week on our front steps. This week we began school. Owen is a first-grader and will turn 7 years old this year. I can’t believe it! Oliver is in Pre-Kinder Age 4. Ocean turns two next month and is still at home with the nanny, but she had her back pack too. Nadia is teaching kindergarten again, and I return for my second year as the Secondary Principal.
We look forward to a year of teaching and learning.
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