Family Journal – Page 70

The Daily Struggle

September 4, 2008September 4, 2008billkralovec

Getting a 3 year old and a 5 year old to walk to school in the morning has been a challenge for Nadia and I. We are used to living on campus and so the idea of having to leave by 7:15 AM and walking the 15 minute walk to school is new to the boys. They have no sense of point A to point B and stop to look at every little thing. The natural curiosity about the world around them is great, but not when we have to get to school.

Our nanny is great and she assists us with packing their lunches, etc., but with Nadia and I getting ready ourselves, it has been the biggest challenge for us in adjusting to life here.

It is a very nice walk however. The weather has been great so far. I can’t imagine what this will be like in the winter. The route is mostly park (see above) or streets meandering through the leafy suburb of Senjak. There are huge mansions, some look like the Addams Family house. It would be fun to have a lot of money to buy one and renovate them.

The boys have learned how to avoid cars and we are very vigilant to get them on the sidewalk. Serbs drive fast, not as fast as the Venezuelans, but very similar so that is a concern for us.

Things are starting to settle down at school and I am finding a bit more time to visit with the boys during the day. Yesterday I saw Owen playing with his friend Tudor, who is from Romania. His parents work for Kraft Serbia. Very nice family and Romanian is similar to Spanish.

Tudor and Owen Take a Break During Recess

Well, today is Friday and we are looking forward to the weekend.

Family Journal: Sunday August 31, 2008

August 31, 2008September 2, 2008billkralovec

We had a nice relaxing weekend. After the ISB Welcome BBQ we headed down to Dorcol suburb of Belgrade. This is a trendy area of bars, cafes, restaurants, and really expensive cars. We went down to an Italian restaurant and had a nice pizza with some Serbian red wine.

Sunday morning Owen and I went for a bike ride. I then took the kids to “Ada” the sport island and my current favorite place in Belgrade. Everyone went for a swim, we ate popcorn, ice cream, and the famous Serbian “palacinkes” which are crepes. We had the nutella with biscquit and I thought of Andy when we had them. The last time we were in the Caribbean Mall in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela and it was a flat crepe covered in a jar of nutella. This was the perfect crepe so I took a picture of Owen eating one. I have a food theme with Andy in this blog! It is sooo great to spend time with my children. Precious moments abounded this weekend. From watching Owen hoot with exhilaration as he is riding down a hill on his bike, to Ocean waking up, sitting in my lap with a bottle and caressing my arm as she drinks. Then to top it off, when she is done she turns around gives me the biggest hug and falls asleep in my arms. What an angel! Ollie was his positive crazy self and he drank eagerly from my wine glass. He talks with everyone and is always in a good mood. I am a lucky man.

Nadia survived her first week in the PYP. Despite her freaking out, she is doing great and will have an excellent year of teaching. She went to school this morning for a couple of hours of work.

We finished up the weekend by going over to my friend Tim’s house for pizza. He has two daughters that take care of Ocean and the boys, so it is so nice to go over and socialize with them.

Well, it is to bed and a fresh week ahead of us.

School Starts at ISB

August 31, 2008August 31, 2008billkralovec

I have not been blogging much lately because our voltage reducer blew a fuse and I can’t recharge my camera batteries. It was also a busy and draining first week of classes. We decided to throw out the 10-day cycle, 7 period day a few days before classes began because it was unworkable. We switched to a 4-day cycle, 4-period day which incredibly worked out well. It makes for a less hectic day and the students have more electives.

It was an exhausting start of the year for Nadia and I because everything is brand new. It was also challenging for the boys to get up and walk to school with us. Yesterday the school held the welcome back BBQ which was a really nice day and today we finally have a chance to catch our breath.

Last week during the orientation, we took the all-staff photo in the garden of the high school. Nadia and I are together in the second row from the top, near the center on the right side. The secondary staff has 32 teachers and administrators that I am responsible for. The staff has been very helpful and supportive to me. There are a lot of good teachers here.

The students are more diverse and worldly from the students in my previous schools. There are 57 nationalities in the student body and they are from affluent and educated families and it reflects in their achievement.

I plan on blogging more often after I get my tech set up at home.

Owen likes his classmates although he is a little bored to be in kindergarten again. Oliver fell off the monkey bars the first day and kept running over the Mom’s classroom, but is now fully participating and enjoying his class. It was tough on Nadia to leave Ocean and I hope we can get a good balance with that.

Family Journal: August 17, 2008

August 19, 2008August 19, 2008billkralovec

Owen & Ocean, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Not much time to write as teacher orientation has begun! School starts next Monday and it is full on work all week to get everything ready.

Sunday morning I took time out to run with Ocean and Owen on his bike. We rode down to the river and then took the bike elevator up on the bridge and crossed the Sava River. The kids are shown above with Old Belgrade shore in the background.

Saturday we hosted our first BBQ in our back yard. It was a success and everyone had a good time.

Sunday afternoon was spent at school fixing up my office. We moved in on Friday evening to the new school. Nadia is working in her classroom and I have to work on the schedule.

Beating the Heat – Family Journal August 17, 2008

August 17, 2008August 17, 2008billkralovec

Temperatures have been in the 90’s all week. We bought a small pool for the kids to play with and it is a big hit. Shown above is Ocean in her Dora The Explorer bathing suit. She loves the water.

At work the construction company moved out on Wednesday and late Friday I finally got into my office. The AC was not working so the days have been quite stifling. We completed the orientation packets for the new teachers. There is still much to do with the schedule, lockers, etc. still needing some attention. I received my school cell phone which will help greatly.

Vera our nanny is going to work out great! She is hard-working and wonderful with the kids. Ollie and Ocean particularly like her! She went with Nadia and the kids to the beach on Friday. Friday evening we went walking down town and ate at the nicest McDonald’s I have ever seen. We then walked down to the big cathedral in the city which I’ll do a blog post later.

On Saturday I ran with Ocean to the post office to pick up Nadia’s back pack that my parents sent and some lollies from Australia that Alejandra sent. We then had my colleague, Tim and his family over for a BBQ. He is the elementary principal and has two daughters that played and looked after the kids. Nadia and I actually had a chance to talk and enjoy ourselves. Tim’s wife Janna will be working with Nadia this year and he also had two friends from Montana/Seattle visiting. It was a nice afternoon.

We are still watching the Olympics and I discuss that more a bit later.

Today I will be going into school for a awhile to do some work and then the rest of the day will be spent with the family.

Family Journal: Tuesday August 12, 2008

August 13, 2008August 13, 2008billkralovec

Vera Serving Breakfast, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Nadia is working with Vera this week to see how she might be as our nanny for this year. Vera is from Belgrade and lives close to our house. She is 51 years old and so far is quite nice, hard-working, and most importantly, the kids like her. She is shown above serving breakfast to our charges. This is very important as Nadia begins work next Monday and we need someone we can trust to be at home with Ocean. We are using Skype to communicate with us at school and we’ll have a computer at home and both Nadia and I have lap tops at school so we will be in contact frequently.

I had a busy day at work yesterday as I am preparing for teacher and student orientation and working through the schedule. Nadia has been a champion being home with the kids all day. Owen loves his new spy watch, it has a special spy night light, message decoder, secret message capsule and shows the time around the world. Oliver got a new spiderman and he carries it around with him everywhere. Ocean is an eating machine and the best out of the three.

Family Journal: Sunday August 9, 2008

August 10, 2008August 10, 2008billkralovec

I have been pleasantly surprised with the great amount of bicycling paths and running routes one can have here in southern part of Belgrade. There are miles of bike paths along the Sava River and acres of parks near our home. It must be watching the Olympics and seeing all those great athletes competing that inspired me yesterday. In the morning I went with Ocean for a long run through the Košutnjak Hill (Doe Hill) park. This is a huge area of forest and open areas just south of our suburb of Senjak. It gets its name to the deer that once roamed there, as it was the Royal Hunting Grounds reserve until 1903. It is very nice except for the “hill” part. Our area of Senjak is all hills and they do take it out of you.

In the afternoon I went with Ollie and Ocean over to the school’s park. Owen and I then rode our bicycles once again to Ada Ciganlija island. It should be called “sport” island as it has facilities for almost every sport imaginable. There were lots of people biking and roller blading, as well as soccer, tennis, etc. There is even a baseball field.

We spent the evening in our backyard. We have a perfect little place for the kids to run around and it was great the Calzini’s (previous occupants) left a swing set for us!

I have a week of work ahead of me, as we are gearing up for the arrival of the new teachers and the orientation program which begins next Monday.

Family Journal: Saturday August 8, 2008

August 10, 2008August 10, 2008billkralovec

Belgrade Rail & Bus Station, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Yesterday morning Ollie, Owen, and I took our first trip downtown in public transport. We walked down the hill and first took a bus in to the main train and bus station in Belgrade (picture above). From there we took an electric trolley (tram) to Kalmegdan Park and the zoo. It was raining off and on quite hard so we had to wait out the rain several times. It costs 60 cents and about 20 minutes. The boys were thrilled with public transport and the zoo.

The zoo is big and has a varied selection of animals. I have mixed emotions about zoos. I think they are good in that people learn about and see the animals and perhaps this will lead to better protection of their habitat and population numbers. But on the other hand, it is still an “animal prison” and the amount of living space is limited. It was especially sad to see the chimpanzees in their cages.

Boys Play At Kalmegdan Park near the Belgrade Zoo

In the afternoon, the rains let up and the sun was shining. Owen and I were inspired after watching the Olympic Road Race, so we went for a long bike ride. Our neighbor, Radtko, brought a bike over for me to use. We went down to the Sava River bike trail and west to the Ada Ciganlija island. We rode on the river side of the island where Belgraders have small floating houses on the banks. It reminded me of the cottages on the lakes in my native Upper Peninsula. It was peaceful on that side of the island and many Belgraders potter about on weekends in their river shacks. We stopped for a Coke on the way home at Costa Coffee, the Starbucks of Serbia.

Saturday evening Nadia prepared a wonderful dinner of roast pork and vegetables. We watched an episode of the Spiderman cartoon, read a book, and went to bed. Ocean slept most of the night! We have been letting her cry it out the past couple of evenings. She was getting up 5-10 times a night, and now it is down to 2-3 and we don’t have to walk her until she falls back to sleep.

Weekend Journal: August 2-3, 2008

August 4, 2008August 4, 2008billkralovec

We had a nice weekend, our first in Belgrade without jet lag. On Saturday we went to Ada Ciganlija which is a long, flat island in the middle of the Sava River. It is a few kilometers from our house and has an artificial 4 kilometer lake in the middle. As you can see, on a hot Saturday in August, it is quite popular with Belgraders! The island is great, with bike trails going for miles all around.

Despite the hordes of people, we had a really good time. The boys enjoyed all of ice cream vendors and swimming. Ocean loves the water and she was laughing and playing and would have stayed in there as long as I did. Nadia and I enjoyed the people watching. Old folks doing the European sleeping under a tree in the shade and women in bikinis sauntering down the path with purses and high heels.

We then went to the Delta City mall and Nadia and the boys watched a movie. I strolled around with Ocean and she fell asleep.

On Sunday we relaxed around the house. I did some yard work, took the kids to the park and went for a long walk with Ocean. We had a big lunch outside and ordered pizza for dinner. I will be back at work all day today.

Sava River (Reka Sava)

July 31, 2008July 31, 2008billkralovec

Our children are pictured above on the jogging trail that goes along the banks of the Sava River. After buying a table cloth at Home Center, we took a stroll along the river. The river is just down the hill from our home in Senjak (Belgrade). I discovered the trail on a run I went with Ocean yesterday morning. It goes north towards the city center for at least 7 kilometers and south for another 5 from our entry point. The trail is paved and perfect for biking or jogging. I am sure we’ll be cruising it a few times as it will become one of my running loops around the city.

The Sava is over 600 miles long and runs through four countries of the former Yugoslavia. It connects three capital city. The Sava originates in Slovenia and ends here in Belgrade, when it connects with the Danube. It is the second biggest tributary of the Danube.

It is one of the few rivers that still has flood plains as it is not regulated. It flooded the lower parts of Belgrade in 1981 and 2006. The name Sava is not Slavic – it has Celtic and Roman origins.

I see many people fishing on the river and lots of bikes and runners in the late afternoon. There are plenty of boats, many of the old and rusty boats that look like they are permanently anchored near the banks. There is also some algae buildup and plenty of refuse, so I question the water quality. It would be a lot better if it was better taken care of, but I am do not know the strength of environmental agencies and groups here in Serbia. It is still nice and our neighbor Radko swims in it all the time. He says there is a clean spot between the bridge supports pictured behind. I enjoy the fresh water air coming off of the river and the large number of birds along the shoreline. The bike trail is great too! The Serbian word for river is reka.

It was my last day of summer holidays as I report to work tomorrow (August 1). In the morning I took the kids with their bikes to the park. In the afternoon we organized the shelves in our house and the computer and camera equipment. I went to the airport with Eric, Goran, Jasmina, and Dominik to pick up the new elementary principal, Tim, but his flight was delayed with Lufthansa. After I came back, we went to the river. We wrapped up the night with watching Spiderman with the boys under our gazebo outside and Nadia and I had a nice glass of Macedonian white wine.