Serbia – Page 21 – Bill's Blog

Visit to the Bajrakli Mosque

January 22, 2009January 22, 2009billkralovec

Tuesday I tagged along with the grade 8 humanities class as they took a tour of the Bajrakli Mosque in downtown Belgrade. It was my first time to a mosque and I felt like the Ottomans were speaking to me. The name Bajrakli means banner or flagship. The name originates from when the Ottomans left Belgrade in the early 1800’s, this was their lasting monument of their presence.

The mosque was built in 1690 by Sultan Suleiman during the heydey of the Ottomans in Serbia. At the time, there were 22 mosques in the city, and this is the last one remaining today, although the iman told us several newer mosques are being built. The Austrians converted it to a Jesuit church for a short time, and then when they left, it was reopened as a mosque. The iman showed us the window that was walled up on one side of the mosque by the Austrians.

As you can see, the minaret is the classical Turkish style -thin, with a pointed cone peak. The mosque featured a huge dome, typical of the Ottomans and strongly influenced by the Byzantines. I also noted that St. Sava’s Cathedral has a large central dome.

The authorities of the mosque were very kind to allow us access to the mosque. I understand in countries with a more strict interpretation of Islam, non-muslims may not be allowed as much access as we did. The iman explained the prayer service, and answered all of our questions regarding the building and the faith of Islam. I guess the Balkan form of Islam is more like the Turkish form than in Saudi Arabia. From his talk I learned the following:

Allah has 99 names which are related to His virtues. In a mosque, pictures of humans are not allowed and so the 99 names were written on plaques in Arabic script.
Islam has prayer beads similar to a Catholic rosary. There are beads of 33 prayers or 99 prayers.
The congregation worships in straight lines to emphasize their equality before god.
They always face towards Mecca.

The students align as worshippers would as the Iman explains the prayer service.

I would like to thank Mr. Vrbaski for allowing me to attend the trip with his class. I would also like to thank the mosque authorities for giving us the opportunity to experience a mosque. The students unit on Islam was really enhanced with this trip. It was also nice to see the students translating for us, the iman’s Serbian speech to English.

The mosque trip also continued to perk my interest in learning more about the Ottoman empire.

The girls wore headscarves upon entering the mosque.

A Reader’s Guide to the Balkans

January 18, 2009billkralovec

One of my favorite authors, Robert Kaplan has a good reading list for understanding Serbia and the Balkans.

The Bridge On The Drina – Ivo Andrić

January 18, 2009October 18, 2009billkralovec

I just finished reading “The Bridge on the Drina” by Bosnian writer, and former long-time Belgrade resident, Ivo Andrić. He won the 1961 Nobel Prize for Literature.

UPDATE: I visited the bridge on October 17, 2009. My blog post on the experience is here.

Andrić lived a full life and he is a great example of the idea of Yugoslavia. His parents were Croats from Sarajevo, Bosnia. He spent his childhood in Višegrad, a small town on the border of Serbia and Bosnia. He studied in Sarajevo and Zagreb, Croatia. He was imprisoned during WWI by the Austro-Hungarians as a revolutionary. After the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes gained independence Andrić began a career as a diplomat for the new government. He held posts in Hungary, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and finally, in his peak position on the eve of WW II, to Berlin, Germany. All during this time, Andrić was writing and publishing poems, essays, and short stories. When Hitler occupied Poland, he tried to resign, but the Yugoslav government rejected it. When Germany bombed Belgrade in 1941, he retired from the foreign service and lived the rest of his life in Belgrade. During the war, he wrote three novels that would earn him the Nobel Prize. He donated the prize money to build libraries in Bosnia. You can read more about him at Ivo Andric Foundation web site.

I highly recommend the book, “The Bridge on the Drina.” The Drina is a river that separates Bosnia and Serbia. The bridge he refers to in located in the town of Višegrad, Bosnia. The novel is an epic historical fiction beginning in the 1500’s with the construction of the bridge by the Ottoman Turks and ending with its destruction during World War I. I love history and as all good historical fiction does, it brings alive the facts of history. It got me to think more about the legacy of the Ottomans. They had a large empire for many years, but are not that well known or studied in the US. Andrić tells of the Ottoman’s blood sacrifice, in which the Turks would raid Serbian villages and kidnap young Serbian boys to raise them as Turks in Istanbul. He also describes the public “staking” of a man caught vandalizing the bridge during its construction. The Turks were here in Serbia for a long time. As the novel progresses through time, it is good to have a bit of background of Balkan history. Besides the historical stuff, he tells good stories of people and families. My only criticism is he slides into a bit too much of “magic realism” and I got burned out on that by reading Garcia Marquez and other Latino writers.

The picture above is of the Hotel Moscow which I took in August of last year. Ollie is pictured in front of the fountain. A friend tells me it was one of Andric’s favorite hangouts here in Belgrade. I will go visit his museum soon. The apartment where he lived is now a museum and it will give me a better idea of the man and his works, and I will do another post on the visit. I will also most likely read some more by him. I am especially interested in reading his essay on Simon Bolivar. If any of my blog readers have a copy of that, preferably in English (I am now at the stage in my Serbian language development which I call “early caveman” – for example, Danas lepo toplo i kizovo (today very cold and slippery).

Heating Crisis in Serbia

January 10, 2009January 10, 2009billkralovec

Serbia is never boring and one of the reasons I really enjoy living here! This week the dispute between Russian natural gas company Gazprom and Ukraine temporarily cut off gas supplies to Belgrade. I had a couple of parents call me to see if we were to have school on Monday because of this. My friend who manages an internatioanal business in the city said he had to send workers home this week because the office did not have heat. On of the school employees in the business office also had the heat turned off in her building. Several students said their families got electric heaters in case of their gas being shut down.

The school uses oil and was not affected. Our home had heat so we didn’t have to worry either. Serbian officials were working to counteract the shortage of natural gas supplies. Happily the dispute was resolved yesterday and natural gas supplies will soon be back to normal.

Many Belgraders use coal stoves to heat their home. A pile of coal was dumped on the street near the exit of our house. Ned, one of the tenants above us, ordered the load. Yesterday, a worker hauled it up to his apartment. With the rising costs of natural gas and oil, it may be the cheapest way to heat a home. Very few Americans burn coal in their homes, mostly in the Pennsylvania anthracite mining area. My father remembers burning coal as a kid in their home and I’ll have to ask him about it when I call him tomorrow. Back then and in the early days of coal in the home, smoke was a problem. I noticed the odor right away and was wondering what that chemical smell was in the air. My sister-in-law noticed the smell also during her visit, recalling the winter odors of Istanbul where she used to live.

I would assume the stoves in Belgrade are not very modern and use clean technology. Fortunately, not everyone burns with coal and I don’t know the percentage of Belgrade homes and apartments that do. Our neighbor and a couple that lives in our building do however, so we smell it often. It doesn’t bother me. I would like to hear from readers who know more about it. I also can’t identify the types of coal. It probably not is the high quality, hard anthracite coal. Belgrade doesn’t feel polluted and we have clear views to the Sava River from our house.

Serbian Orthodox Christmas Eve

January 7, 2009January 7, 2009billkralovec

Parishioners Gather Collectively Burn the Badnjaks

Yesterday we participated in a Serbian Christmas tradition. The Serbs celebrate Christmas today, January 7th, because they still use Julius Cesear’s originally calendar. It was replaced by the modern Gregorian calendar because the Julian calendar required too many adjustments through the years to keep it accurate. One of the remnants of the old Slavic religion is the custom of the burning of the “badnjak” on Christmas Eve (January 6th).

In earlier times when most Serbs lived in the countryside, the father used to head into the woods and fell a young oak tree. The badnjak was a big log that was then thrown onto the fire in the hearth of the home.Today, most Serbs live in the cities and the tradition has changed a bit. The log (kind of like a yule log) is represented by these thin branches arranged like a bouquet of flowers. They sell them all over the city and that is what first got us interested in the custom. We were wondering, what were these dead leaf arrangements?I took the photo below while we were running errands. We bought a couple and found that attached to the bottom was a plastic bag of sunflower seeds and corn kernels with a ribbon.

A large badnjak market in downtown Belgrade, near the Kalenica Market. — A large "badnjak" market in downtown Belgrade, near the Kalenica Market.

Another change in modern times is the badnjaks are burned collectively in a church yard instead of the family fireplace. Our nanny Vera, invited us to attend the mass and ceremony at the St. Trifun Church located in Topčider Park near our house. It was a bitterly cold night but we managed to get all the kids out. We first lit candles in a little side house next to the church. The bottom shelf where the candles were placed in sand was for souls of the dead and the top shelf for the living. The boys said a short prayer for their all of their grandparents. The church was too full to attend the mass. I was raised Catholic and am very curious to attend an Orthodox service. We did see the interior of the church and it was much different than a Catholic church.

We did join in the procession following the short service. It wound its way around the church and then into the front yard. It was led by the priest and several altar boys and men carrying banners and incense. After a few words, the bales of hay were ignited and people began throwing their badnjaks on the fire. It is supposed to bring health, wealth, happiness, money, etc. in the upcoming year. Owen and Oliver were thrilled with the large fire and the opportunity to throw in their badnjaks. Owen and I hung out by the fire as we are both pyromaniacs. Nadia, Oliver, and Ocean were cold and went straight back to the car.

The ceremony for me had a greater significance than just experience Serbian culture and an Orthodox church ritual. In the old Slavic religion, trees were sacred. The Serbs today hold a great reverence for trees as I do. It harks back to original Slavic religious thought. In burning of the log,it represents a sacrifice to the gods, and the fire also represents sunshine. With today’s temperature of -7 C and icy fog limiting visibility, I can understand the Slavic tribes reliance on the spring sun. I can also imagine what it was like for them before modern heating and home construction.

I facilitated a course last year for a student at my school in Venezuela (Evan Huff). He was interested in Vikings and we did a Teaching Company course on the history of the Vikings. Part of the lectures dealt with Norse religion. It made me wonder what the world and Europe would be like without Christianity. A part of me is disappointed that a Middle Eastern religion conquered the world. It would be interesting to see what would have happened if the Slavs and other peoples of Europe never converted to Christianity. The preferred tree for the badnjak is the Oak Tree, which is strongly associated with the supreme Slavic god, Perun. Perun is similar to the Norse god Thor.

: Saint Trifun Church

Family Journal: Tuesday December 23, 2008 Red Star Basketball

December 25, 2008December 25, 2008billkralovec

Tuesday night we attended the Red Star basketball game. You may have heard of Red Star’s soccer team. The professional clubs in Serbia as in Europe have teams in many sports. They also have the different levels, beginning with a youth team, moving through to the “A” professional team.

As I explained in a previous post, one of the leagues Red Star participates in is the Adriatic Basketball League, sponsored by the NBL bank. The Round 14 game was against FMP Belgrade. They are from the Belgrade suburb of Zelenik. Red Star is tied for second place in the league with a record of 11 wins and 2 losses. Partizan is in first place and fellow Serbian team, Hemofarm STADA is tied with them. FMP is in 8th place (out of 14) with a 5 and 8 record.

Most of the players on both teams were Serbian. The Serbs are a tall people and this was reflected in the rosters, as there were two 7 footers and many big men around that height. It was a high quality of play, although the players were not quite as athletic as the USA professionals. It was an evenly matched game as the Red Star’s lead fluctuated from 4 to 10 points most of the game.

The difference were the two American players on Red Star. Andre Owens from Indiana University and Lawrence Roberts from Mississippi State, and the Memphis Grizzlies gave Red Star and extra boost when they needed it. You can see Roberts behind Owen. My sister-in-law erased most of my photos and video I took so I don’t have a video post.

Sebey, Owen, and Papa Enjoy the Red Star Victory

The arena is called Pionir Hall and seats 7,000 people. It is located near the center of the city and it was quite easy to find with our GPS. It was in good condition and we bought the best tickets for $20 each. Best thing is kids are free!!! We were a few rows up at mid court. It was mostly filled and the fans were enthusiastic and polite. Overall it was a great experience and we hope to go again. Red Star proved too much in the end and won their 12th game.

Owen and Sebey enjoyed the game. They loved the cheerleaders performing during time outs and the scoreboard. Owen learned what the 24 second shot clock was and how to keep score. I hope both the boys will play basketball as I did when I was younger. I need to put up hoops somewhere outside and inside the house.

We attended the game with Alejandra and Brad and it was an entertaining evening.

European Gas Prices

December 22, 2008December 22, 2008billkralovec

Lots of people ask me how much gas costs in Serbia. I took a photo of the meter when we filled up yesterday at Beopetrol gas station in our neighborhood. I put in 50 liters (13 gallons) into Edelweiss and it cost 3,900 Serbian dinars. That comes to $63 at today’s rate of 62 dinars per 1 US dollar. Doing the math then, that comes to $5.80 per gallon. Much higher than anything in the USA! The “dinara” is the plural for the Serbian currency the Dinar.

We don’t buy a lot of gas as we live very close to our school. Most of our driving consists of a weekly trip to New Belgrade for grocery shopping. We are trying to do more on weekends and that will also mean more gas consumption.

To put the $5.80 into perspective, the average gas price in the USA this week is around $1.60. It is about average for Europe with Norway $7.76 being the high and Estonia being the low $4.30. I sure miss the 12 cents / gallon of Venezuela.

Family Holiday Journal December 21, 2008: Visit to the 25th of May Museum

December 21, 2008December 21, 2008billkralovec

Lil’ angel Oliver sure looks holy in this photo. We stopped at the St. Sava’s Cathedral with his grandfather, Hermes Chavez (affectionately known as “Popa” by the boys) to show him the scaffolding. Hermes owns a scaffolding rental and sales business in his hometown of Santa Cruz. The cathedral is under restoration now that is is finally peaceful in Serbia.

The girls (Alejandra & Nadia) went with Brad & Ocean to the big outdoor market downtown while Hermes and I took the boys the cathedral. We then visited the 25th of May Museum. The museum holds memorabilia and the mausoleum of the former Yugoslav leader, Josip Broz “Tito”. The museum is named after his birthday. The day used to be huge in Yugoslavia. One of the events was the annual running of the baton across the country by socialist youth. The boys were fascinated with the different batons.

They wanted to know which baton was the oldest (1945) and the newest (1985). The first was right after WWII when the Partisans rid the country of the Nazis, and the final one was five years after the death of Tito. There was a wall display of different batons that were gifts to Tito. The boys were picking their favorites. Most had very cool socialist themes. There was the heavy industry factory baton, a red star on top of a standard screwdriver, another with a JNA tank, a rocket missile, etc. Perhaps I’ll have them make their own batons in the Communist Style of the 60’s and 70’s. A big part of the complex is showcasing the gifts Tito received from Heads of State and Yugoslav citizens throughout the years. The current exhibition were a display of all of his hunting rifles and equipment. He was a big-time hunter and there were antler trophies mixed in with the guns, and photos and videos of his hunting trips. Tito started the Non-Aligned Movement and the museum housed many gifts from developing countries including an elephant tusk gong from Burma and a devil carnival mask and costume from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. My only criticism of the museum is I would have liked a bit more information about his career and personality. I envisioned the place like the Carter Center or Clinton Library, that would be a place to for scholars to study the writings, photographs, etc. of Tito. It was more a showcase of his gifts more than anything else. It does hold his remains. Owen asked should we say a prayer when I explained that his remains were probably buried under the big marble tombstone. I replied that he was an atheist and didn’t believe in God so we shouldn’t.The museum is close to our house, located between Haid Park and the Partizan Football Stadium.

For a man that believed in communist ideals, he sure lived a life of luxury.

The boys yearned to be good socialist youth!

Oliver, Owen, and Sebey loved running around the complex. The grounds were nice although a bit neglected. They were running up and down the hills and stairs and in between the many trees. We then went home and played soccer in the yard with Brad. Nadia is cooking a delicious soup while everyone else is playing Wii.

Humanitarian Organization Divac Program at ISB

December 5, 2008December 5, 2008billkralovec

Our Community Service Program at the school is turning it up a notch for the holiday season. The high school students on Wednesday, participated in a presentation by the Humanitarian Organization Divac (HOD). HOD employee Aleksandra is shown above, explaining the Christmas Card program. All of our students are selling Christmas Cards to raise money and awareness for HOD. Ana, shown to the right, gave a moving talk on the refugee problem in Serbia. HOD was founded by ex-NBA basketball star Vlade Divac. He is now living in Serbia and when he visited along with his wife Ana, the collection centers for refugees in Serbia, he was moved to help. Vlade was known for his philanthropic deeds, and now he is focusing his work in his home country.

During the break up of Yugoslavia, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Serb citizens were forced to flee their homes in Croatia, Kosovo, and Bosnia. Many were traumatized by the violence and the loss of their homes, jobs, and lives of loved ones. Many of the refugees still live in these centers, getting by with limited resources. The Serbian government and economy are still recovering from the wars and the international embargoes and can only supply limited support. HOD’s goal is to help these people get their lives back together. They have purchased over 100 homes for families and they are also giving job training to help the refugees start again.

From the HOD website is an excerpt about the program:

Today, Serbia is a country with the largest number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Europe.

Thousands of refugees and IDPs still live in collective centers across Serbia, in poor conditions, terrible hygiene, without jobs, salaries, pensions and often without the opportunity to legally obtain any type of income.

They can’t return to their homes. The refugee camps are their only “home”.

After more than 10 years of living in such circumstances, they feel abandoned, forgotten, without hope that they can make any change for the better. They have no will or strength to even try.

We ask that anybody who feels compelled, to join us in this effort to help them find new homes, material and financial security, so they can live a decent and dignified life once again.

Humanitarian Organization Divac (HOD) launched the “You Can Too” initiative with the mission to help these people realize their right to a home, a job, material security, psychosocial help and an opportunity to start a new life after years of living in refugee centers.

Individuals such as Vladimir Radmanovic, Zarko Paspalj, Scot Pollard, Sasha Danilovic, Chuck Peterson, Sasha Djordjevic, Chris Webber, Savo Milosevic, Dejan Bodiroga, Zoran Savic, Peja Stojakovic and many others, have already taken part. We invite you to join us.

If Divac can help, You Can Too!

I will let the refugees tell their own story in the video below. We plan on visiting a collection center in two weeks and the students want to help more.

Refugees collect rainwater in a center in Kralijevo

I also came across a really good post on video lecture sites on the internet.

Alignment of the Planets

December 3, 2008December 3, 2008billkralovec

I took this photo on Monday evening at sunset. The sun sets around 4:00 PM here and I was heading to basketball practice on our campus. It shows a crescent moon, venus right below it, and Jupiter to the upper left. Although it looks like they are close, they are all actually millions of miles away from each other. Later on in the evening, the moon blocked venus (called an occultation) which is a rare event. Thanks to my wife for sending this link, which explains more about it. An interest in astronomy is another thing we have in common.

On Sunday we drove to Mount Avala which is about 8 miles south of Belgrade. The mountain is a state park and it has some walking trails, war monuments, and a hotel that looked closed for the season. Being about 500 meters higher than Belgrade, there was still snow left and we had a good snowball fight. Owen showed his tropical upbringing, and he refused to get out of the car, prefering to stay warm with mom. We are both sick this week and driving in the car gives us a break with watching the kids so the trip to Mount Avala had an alterior motive. Behind Ollie and Ocean is the Unknown Soldier monument dedicated to the Serbian soldiers killed in WWI. I noticed some of the marble blocks were chipped. This was from the 1999 NATO bombing raids that targeted RTS state television transmission towers. They are building a new tower that looked like the CN Tower in Toronto, so perhaps there will be a restaraunt there.

We are loving our new car. We bought a GPS also, and I am a believer in it! It is so much easier than old fashioned maps, although I love maps. The GPS tells us exactly when to turn, etc., and you can zoom in and zoom out on the map. It also has pharmacies, supermarkets, etc. Amazing! Below we are shown filling the car up with gasoline. The neighborhood gas station is very low key, so much different than the big, lighted, American gas stations. The Serbian gas stations on the highways are similar to the US gas stations, but the ones found on side streets are like the one below.

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