Above is the video of the kids singing Happy Birthday to Ocean. Yesterday we hosted 30 kids at the birthday playground, Okean. Okean, which means “ocean” in English is a pretty appropriate place to have the party. The theme was Hello Kitty, and Nadia made Kitty cupcakes and the cake was also a Hello Kitty. The Serbian birthday party places are brilliant for parents because they also cater to the adults. Besides an enclosed playground monitored by employees, there is a video game room for the boys, a “princess” room for the girls to gather, and the disco tech (shown in the video). The parents can sit in the cafe and talk and I had a really nice espresso. All of Ocean’s friends from ISB and her former school of INSB were in attendance.
We can’t believe it was 5 years ago Ocean was born! It seems like just yesterday. Happy Birthday Ocean, we love you!
The weather in September has been fantastic here in Belgrade! With sunny skies, crisp mornings, and afternoon temperatures in the high 70’s / low 80’s, you couldn’t ask for a nicer fall. In Serbian, the term Miholjmsko Leto (Extended Summer) means these great “Indian Summer” days. We are able to play outside with the kids in shorts and t-shirts.
We are getting ready for a big today – Ocean’s Fifth Birthday Party. I’ll blog more later on her big day.
Alexander The Great on Horse – Macedonia Square – Skopje
I am finishing my 3-day visit to the capital of Macedonia today. I was here on business but got the opportunity to explore Skopje a bit. I really enjoyed our stay mostly for two reasons. First, I stayed at the Alexander Palace Hotel, which had 6 tennis courts and a café/bar sponsored by the Skovin Winery. We played a lot of tennis and enjoyed the Macedonian wines. The second reason was the hospitality of our hosts, the Novakoski Family. Viktor Novakoski is the principal of the Nova International School in Skopje. They are fellow members of the Central and Eastern European Schools Association. Nova has become a valuable partner in developing our sports programs. Viktor and his team were fabulous hosts and I was very impressed with their school and his mission of bringing international education to the young nation of Macedonia.
The city itself is smaller than I expected, with a population of around 700,000. The topography and climate is very Mediterranean, and it looked and felt like Spain, Greece, or the Croatian coast. Skopje is surrounded by green mountains and with the perfect sunshine and blue skies, it was a very enjoyable 3 days. I was happy my Serbian was useful in getting around the city and the Macedonians easily understood me. I didn’t notice any difference in the Cyrillic script as well.
View From My Hotel
I came with question of where the Macedonians fit in the Slavic spectrum. They are not as tall as the Serbs, and being the southern most Slavic people, the city had a lot of Turkish or Albanian ambiance. There are many mosques, however, the city seemed divided between the Macedonian part and the Albanian part. Walking through the old Turkish market today, I felt like I was in Sarajevo. We even heard the call to prayer one night at dinner. With a growing population of ethnic Albanian Macedonians, it will be interesting to see how the two groups interact in future years. Can the country hold together?
I also was interested in seeing the infamous Skopje 2014 project. City leaders have this plan to build these huge statues, huge Greek Revival buildings, and fountains, plazas, etc. It was a bit amusement park like to see a 50-foot bronze Alexander the Great on horseback on a towering pillar in the center of a fountain. The fountain shooting streams of water in synch with classical music, including lights. They are spending a lot of money developing buildings and statues along the river. I have not seen anything like it and it would be interesting to hear the opinions of Macedonians if this has improved the city. There was also a really nice running track along the Vardar river, going from our hotel to downtown. It was a great place to exercise and I hope they add to the network.
Another Statue – They love horses in Macedonia!
In reading about the history of the Macedonians, I asked the question, are they more like the Bulgarians or the Serbians. I would say that the city felt more like Sofia than Belgrade and they are definitely more Bulgarian, but slightly less central Asian. They truly are a people in between the Serbs and the Turks. Everyone was friendly and treated us well. I would recommend a visit to the country!
Nadia and I celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary last night in grand style at the Hyatt Crystal Ballroom! Nothing less for my baby! Oh by the way, the Malaysian Ambassador was also hosting a celebration in honor of Malaysia day in the ballroom. We enjoyed some good Malaysian food, dance, and national anthems. It is a fun way to celebrate our marriage.
It was also interesting to see Serbian President, Tomislav Nikolić up close as he made a toast and cut the cake with Malaysian Ambassador. He certainly doesn’t command a presence in the room like his predecessor, Boris Tadić.
Serbia and Malaysia Friendship
I am very lucky to be married to such a beautiful woman, inside and out! I am looking forward to many more years together!
Picnicking is quite popular in Serbia. I think the fact that most Serbians live in apartments and don’t have much green space outside their homes, makes the locals want to get out a bit in nature. I love to go out with the family and spend an afternoon outdoors with a picnic lunch or a BBQ in the backyard.
Last Sunday we drove up to Vršac, a city of around 40,000 people located in the Banat region of the Vojvodina province. The Banat is a flat plain located in Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. Vršac is near the border of Serbia and Romania. We planned to picnic near a monastery but found it quite run down, so we found a spot in the vineyards outside the city. There are several good wineries in the region. It turned out to be really nice. We played a lot of baseball and Nadia made some delicious chicken sandwiches. Nadia and Ocean also caught some late summer sun, laying on the blanket.
After we were done eating, we went up to the famous tower of the city. As you can see in the photo below, the Banat is quite flat except for the vrh (summit in Serbian) in the city. Because of its strategic position, there was always a fortress on the top. We walked up to the fort to enjoy the beautiful views. The kids liked to climb on the crumbling walls of the ruins. The tower is being renovated and there was also a paragliding runway at the top.
It was a really nice day trip out of Belgrade. We didn’t visit any of the wineries, but might do it the next time we are in town. The city center is quite nice too, good for walking around.
ISB Students in the Courtyard of the Tronošo Monastery
I really enjoy hiking to the many Serbian Orthodox monasteries in the country. Most of them were built in wild, difficult access areas for protection from the Turks (Ottomans) and Austrians. Serbian rulers, instead of building castles and palaces, built monasteries and churches. The monasteries were bastions of Serbian religion, culture, and language. I am not religious, but the quiet, natural surroundings, and architecture have a calming effect on my soul. There are between 50 and 100 monasteries and I recommend a visit to any of them. They are great for hiking, holding a picnic, or admiring the architecture, mosaics, and history that these places hold.
The Tronošo Monastery is located in western Serbia near the Bosnian border. I was on a school trip this week and we took the students first to the home village of the Serbian language reformer, Vuk Karađić. I’ll blog more on him later. We then hiked from the ethno village through a steep ravine up to the monastery. The walk took about an hour.The church was completed in 1559 (over 400+ years ago) and it always amazes me, an American who is used to less ancient history. At the time, Serbian was dominated by the Turks, so the Serbs built the church with permission of the Ottoman authorities. Surrounding the church are the buildings and grounds of a cenobitic monastery. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches, this is similar to the Catholic Orders. Cenobitic means a focus on community. The “nuns” (what are they called in Orthodox????) were quite friendly to us and the community of 10 up keeps the grounds and they have a small gift shop. They served us Turkish coffee.
In reading a bit about the history of the place, during the Austro-Turkish War (1788-1791), the Tronošo Monastery, served as a center for organizing soldiers to fight with the Austrian army against the Turks. At that time as well, Vuk Karađić studied in the monastery school. During the Serbian uprisings in the 1800’s, once again it was a staging point for the Serbian army. The Turks set fire to the place in 1814 and it was rebuilt 3 years later. As you can see, the area has seen a lot of history.
Finally, I learned the story of Jug Bogdan. Jug was a heroic, medieval warrior featured in Serbian epic poetry. Just north of the Tronošo Monastery, a spring has a monument with the mosaic above. Legend has is that Jug (real name Vratko Nemanjić) and his nine sons were all killed at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Jug is pictured in the middle of the mosaic.
We have been taking advantage of the warm summer nights this week and trying to get out and do things outdoors. Owen is into distance running. After watching the events in the Olympics and watching Nadia and I run all the time, I guess it was inevitable. He is training for an 800 meter run at school.
There is a nice 1.2 kilometer running trail in the Košutnjak Park. The trail is dirt/wood chips and lined with wooden beams. This park is the huge, former hunting grounds of the King, and is located just on the next ridge from Dedinje. The trail is marked ever 100 meters and they even have a 12 minute run test chart to see how your fitness rates.
Besides the running track, there are tennis courts, volleyball, basketball, even a group was playing team handball on a specially marked court just for team handball. There were lots of people doing sport and exercising. The Serbs love sport!
Ocean Posing In the Park
One of the nicest things about Belgrade is the idea of the “third place.” The third place is defined as the place that is not your home and not your work. In Belgrade, most people live in small apartments and so the public places (third places) are vibrant and full of activity and people. It is a refreshing change from the USA, where people have such nice homes that they don’t go out and mingle. With big back yards, lots of tech gadgets, Americans generally spend more time at home. There is always something going on in Belgrade and the Košutnjak Park is a nice example. It is a great spot for families and I have some of my training running routes through the more remote sections.
This weekend my wife and I went out with friends to experience one of the famous “splavs” of Belgrade. A splav, which means raft in English, is a bar, restaurant, or dance club which is on the river. They are literally floating on the Sava River and one needs to walk out to them on a ramp. Above is a photo I took of a drinks table at the splav Sound, and the view is of the river and the Brankov Bridge.There are many splavs, ranging from the glitzy Freestyler, to the rickety, pizza and beer joint Brodić. They are the place to be in the summer.
The Belgrade nightlife is world famous and I can see why. We visited a club downtown (Brankow) and then went to Club Sound around midnight. It is one of the fancier clubs on the river. It was early as the place was half full. Around 1:30 AM or so, it began to fill up, and when we left after 3:00 AM, it was totally packed and in full swing. I was definitely one of the older people in the club, with most patrons in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. The music was extremely loud, although I enjoy dance music, it was too loud to talk.
There were many very good looking people at Club Sound, both men and women. I also always feel very short here, as the Serbs are very tall. It is very surprising how many fit and handsome people there are in Serbia. There was not a lot of interaction and people were content to talk and flirt with their own table, people watch, and buy drinks. Mixed drinks were about 4.50 Euros, which is not cheap for Serbia, so I was surprised at how many people were drinking, considering most Serbians don’t make a lot of money.
Photo courtesy of the Belgrade Clubbing Blog
It was very interesting to people watch and get a glimpse of the nightlife here. I am definitely out of this scene, especially when I have three children, am happily married, and get tired around 10:00 PM anyway. It would be nicer if the music was turned down to a lower volume and clubs tried to get strangers to meet each other through activities designed by the establishment to get people talking to each other. Maybe I’m just getting old…
Club Brankow – On the Roof
I would like to thank my friend Nemanja for taking us out. I hope to explore a bit more of the Belgrade night life, although perhaps in the future, a not so late.
We played yesterday in the Tenth Belgrade Trophy Little League Baseball championship held at Ada Baseball Field. My friend Brian and I are coaching our sons and other international school students this summer. We got a team together to play some exhibition games in the tourney.
We played “The Alligators,” Novi Sad, and Bešereck, finishing with 1 win and 2 losses on the day. Owen made a couple of nice plays at first base and had a several hits, including a 2-RBI double to seal a victory against Bešereck.
I would like to thank Nikola Vučević, the organizer of the tourney and head of the Serbian Baseball Association for inviting us to play! He went out of his way to give our kids opportunities to play on the beautiful field and have some real games. Owen and his friends were so excited to wear uniforms (the old ISB MS volleyball uniforms) and compete. The day was funded by the city of Belgrade.
Despite the heat, it was a wonderful day. The first game we used a pitching machine against a much older team, and we soon found out we needed to switch to coaches pitching. In the second game we played against a team closer to our age, and in the third game, we played against a very good older club. Owen thought the highlight was Cody’s inside the park grand slam.
Owen’s first at bat!
With temperatures over 100F, after the game we cooled off in the river and had a nice BBQ meal at one of the restaurants at Ada.
We hope to play some more games before the cold weather sets in.
Last night after work, my daughter Ocean and I went to the Lido Beach on Great War Island. The island is in the middle of the Sava River, just upstream from Ada Ciganlija, near the Belgrade suburb of Zemun. During the summer months, the Serbian army erects a portable, pontoon bridge so people can cross and swim on the beach on the north tip of the island. During the other months, the small island is a Serbian military base and nature reserve for birds. It is called, Veliki Ratno Ostrva (Great War Island) because it was a strategic military point for the conquest or defense of Belgrade.
It is very shallow and no white sand, turquoise water of the Adriatic, but it does have a cool vibe and with temperatures over 100F, it was just as good as any Caribbean beach.
After a busy day at school with multiple meetings and the suffocating heat wave w are experiencing, it was nice to go to the beach, cool off, and just hang out with Ocean. She didn’t like the shells and rocky bits, but after awhile, got used to it. We bought some popcorn and then headed home. It was a brief respite from the busy school and family life I have.
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