It has been a busy week. Yesterday I was over at the Hotel Zira until 8:00 PM working on the graduation ceremony. Tonight, I have a Grade 5 transition meeting with the parents at 7:00 PM. Saturday is the Spring Fair. Does it ever end? – Yes, on June 24th!
A couple of nights ago, Nadia called me over to take a picture of Ocean in her crib, hugging her doll. She looks so cute! Ocean is sleeping more through the night. I only get up once or twice every other night. Much better than the 2-3 times per night a few months ago.
Owen is taking swimming lessons with the Plivaćki Klub “Free Style.” Plivački means swimming in Serbian. Owen is shown above with his coach, Nenad Milojević. Coach Nenad is showing him how to dive. Swimming and especially water polo is big in Serbia. The lessons take place at the Partizan Water Polo Club pool in the Banjica suburb of Belgrade. The facility is huge, with an Olympic size pool and 1/2 of an Olympic size pool. There are also multiple swimming pools outside that will open on June 1. Besides the pool, the recreational complex houses a table tennis school, a tennis club, and right next door is the RAD professional soccer club.
The Partizan Water Polo Club in Banjica
The lessons are for elementary age students and take place every Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 PM. There are about 20 kids in Owen’s group, with Owen being just about the youngest. The classes cost $40 per month. They spend a lot of time with the kick boards and Owen is developing a good kick and back stroke with the board. He is also starting the fundamentals of the free style and sort of diving. He is improving rapidly. Serbia always in medal contention for water polo so I hope it rubs off on Owen.
Typical European changing rooms – unisex, with men and women right next to each other. It is no big deal here, but in Puritan USA, it would be a scandal. They are separate rooms with no doors and everyone respects each others’ privacy.
We want Owen to feel safe in water and these classes will hopefully help him do that. He is very coachable, and I see him doing a lot of laps compared to the other kids, who sometimes are off-task. Nenad and his assistants do a good job of getting the kids to not fear the water and develop good fundamentals. The classes also give me a chance to work on my Serbian lessons. I take my book along and do a lesson while Owen is in the pool. Nenad (Nesha for short), wants to practice his English with me and always helps with my Serbian.
I highly recommend the swimming club to anyone. Owen is the only foreigner, but we are treated very well by all. That is one thing that everyone always says about the Serbs here in Belgrade, they are really nice.
Spring is in full bloom and the markets are full of cherries. We have been eating them off the trees at school and going to the markets and buying kilos for devouring at home. Love ’em and can’t get enough of them! This morning I took the kids and we walked down to the local “green” market here in Senjak. Serbs call markets with produce for sale, “green.” It was a beautiful day today with temps in the 80’s. It was such a European thing to do – walk to the market with our rolling basket to buy fruit, eggs, and milk. The boys love ža ža (pronounced like Zsa Zsa Gabor), which are these bite sized pastries. In our neighborhood besides the market, there is a regular super market, a hamburger place, car wash, gas station, several cafes, pharmacy, etc. Everything we need within walking distance. Quite convenient.
Ollie and Owen Eat Pastries
We had a really good day today. I mowed the lawn, we went grocery shopping for the week, and Owen had his swimming lesson. We played in the backyard and went up to the park at school. Nadia made a nice risotto for lunch.
At last weekend’s Serbia Open, we had a pleasant surprise upon arriving. I parked my car on a side street and we went through someone’s yard to get to the stadium. When we emerged through the yard, we came upon two policemen that directed us across some railroad tracks. On the tracks, was the ex-Yugoslavian leader, Tito’s famous blue train. Serbia being a relaxed country, (I think of it as a Slavic Spain or Latin America), they of course let us enter the stadium via this unofficial route and gave us a tour of the train.
Tito and his wife's chair were bigger than the rest of the chairs
Tito didn’t like to fly and so he ordered a train to be constructed. It had bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, meeting rooms, etc. Very presidential like the Air Force One plane for the US President. It was built in the late 40’s early 50’s and he toured around Europe with it quite a bit. Many world leaders were hosted on the train.
After his death, the train stood idle, but about 10 years ago, it was restored. The train is available to rent for groups and it is perfectly restored. My son Owen commented that it looked like the set from an old James Bond film. So right he was as you can see from the photos.
I really felt a sense of history walking through a few of the cars. The train was as the tennis tourney because they hosted journalists and guests for a luncheon and press conference. I wonder what conversations took place in it. I definitely want to rent this train for my farewell to Serbia. So I guess it was in a way, a visit to the Air Force One of its time. Except in this case, instead of the presidential plane, it was a train, and about 50 years ago.
There is much nostalgia for the time of Tito here in Serbia. Yugoslavia was then ahead of its neighbors in Eastern Europe as it was out of the Soviet sphere of influence. The economy and freedom of travel in the 50’s – 70’s was very nice. Tito died over close to 30 years ago and those living memories are being forgotten. It was not a sustainable economy however, and the bottom would have fallen out of it, but nevertheless, during the Cold War, Yugoslavia mattered. It is sad that all of the former republics of Yugoslavia felt so strongly about being independent. I believe the quality of life for all would have been better if they could have kept it together. Brotherhood and Unity!
Tito's Bedroom (his wife slept in a separate room)
Ocean last week moved from her blue swing seen to the left in the video to the red swing. In this video, Owen and Oliver are pretending to fall over when she swings forward and touches them with her feet. She thinks this is the funniest thing ever. What a doll!
As expected, Novak Djokovic won the inaugural Serbia Open in a straight sets victory over Lucasz Kubot. It wasn’t as easy as I thought, as Novak had a flair for the dramatic, going down 2-5 in the second set, only to come back to win, 7-6 (7-0) in a tiebreaker. Djokovic won the first set, 6-3.
Kosovo Serb Djokovic Serves
Kubot did not have history on his side. He was a Lucky Loser from Poland and ranked #179 in the world. Kubot did win the doubles tourney however, his second career ATP title. This was Novak’s 13th ATP tour title.
It was a celebration for Serbia. The hero brought the ATP tour to this tennis mad country. It was a beautiful day, with the Kalmegdan Fortress on one side of the stadium, and the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers on the the other. The President, Prime Minister, and Serbian military representatives were all there as well as a packed, enthusaistic stadium.
Owen, Nadia and I really enjoyed the game. We got to see Tito’s Blue Train (a future post) and some world class tennis.
Serbian President Tadic & PM Cvetkovic Watched the Game Too (blue shirts)
Our nanny reports that Ocean is now walking to school with her instead of sitting in the stroller Ocean is advancing quite quickly, more so that her older brothers I think being the youngest helps, and surviving two very rough brothers.
Vera, shown with the red hair on the bench, is very good with Ocean. She treats Ocean like a granddaughter. Vera is extremely hard-working, helping us manage a busy household. Everyday she walks Ocean to school to see Nadia and to pick up Oliver and Owen. They are pictured in the school playground.
All during the school year I spend my Wednesday afternoons with the Administration Team of the International School of Belgrade. We get together to discuss school issues, events, initiatives, and programs. The bottom line is student learning, and all of us work together, with the feedback and cooperation of the staff to always be improving.
The meetings usually last a couple of hours and since we spend so much time together, we have all grown close. From left to right in the photo are Eric Sands, (Director), Branislav Nikolić (IT Coordinator), myself, Snežana Hasanović (Business Manager), and Tim Moynihan, (Elementary Principal). They are all dedicated professionals and very good people. I have learned much from each of them. Despite differing opinions sometimes, and the occasional stressful situation, we get along very well. I have really enjoyed the camaraderie and professional collaboration and interaction. It has made me a better educator.
We are shown above in Dr. Sand’s office working on the new school web site. The intense efficiency, teamwork, and production was somehow captured in this action photo. Thanks to Neša for the photograph.
Oliver’s Early Years teacher, Ms. Mira, sent along this photo of Oliver’s birthday party in his classroom. Oliver had a party last Thursday on the actual day of his birthday.
Nadia reports that it was super cute and the kids were very calm.
Above is the video of us singing happy birthday to Oliver and him blowing out the candles. You can scroll down to read the previous two posts about Oliver’s birthday.
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