Halloween (Noć Vištica)

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The kids loved all the Halloween parties this weekend! The holiday, known as “Night of the Witches” in Serbian is not celebrated in Serbia, but in our expatriate circles and the international school, it is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Kids get so excited to dress up and trick or treat and even the non-American parents, get into the spirit of the event and dress up as well.

On Friday night the kids attended the school Halloween party (photo above). Owen’s outfit was from the obscure movie “Tron”, Oliver was Iron Man, and Ocean was a princess.

The Canadian Embassy hosts a costume party every year and Nadia and I went with friends again this year. Our friend Claudiu brought costumes from the USA and we went with traditional Bavarian folk costumes. We had a lot of laughs and one of the best things about the night, is the costumes allow strangers to interact with one another. Everyone has their “act” with their costume or we try to guess what they are dressed as.

Nadia, Bill, and Charmaine

The fun continued on Saturday evening with the American colony, Banovo Brdo, hosting a trick-or-treat and party. The kids went around to many of the homes in the gated community. Then Robert and Julie turned their home into a Halloween Amusement Park with decorations, food/drink, and a haunted walk in their yard. Absolutely brilliant and I would like to give them a big thank you! The kids ran around and laughed and had a blast.

A special part of the evening was Ocean losing her first tooth. She was so excited that her tooth just fell out. Nadia luckily found the tooth on the ground and the tooth fairy left 200 RSD for Ocean last night. My angel princess is so beautiful!

Hiking Through the Hills of Rajac

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Nadia, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

Last weekend our school’s hiking club went for a long walk through the hills, forests, and meadows of the Rajac region. This area is about 100 kilometers south east of Belgrade. We started the hike on the famous summit of Suvobor. This is the sight of a great battle in World War I. The Serbian army on December 4, 1914 took control of the hill from the Austro-Hungarian Army. They eventually also took the city of Valjevo and drove the Austrians out of Belgrade and across the border. It was a Phryic victory for the Serbs, but it did give them 10 months of control in Belgrade. The losses from the war combined with a typhus epidemic, really took a toll on the soldiers.

98 years later, we were there in much better circumstances. It was a gorgeous day Saturday as you can see from the photos. It is not the most dramatic scenery of Serbia, but it is quite nice and typical of the type of topography of Šumadija. It was also great to have the entire family on the hike, including my wife, Nadia, who usually doesn’t like to go with us.

Boys love weapons – Owen doing his “Children of the Corn” impression

Goodbye Stara Planina

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095, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

We got to appreciate the beauty of Stara Planina yesterday as the fog lifted allowing us to go on a couple of hikes. Above, we are at top of one of the many ski runs around the hotel. There was a nice walk through the woods to get to the scenic look out. Behind us is the trail to Midžor, the highest point in Serbia. We’ll save the 8 kilometer hike for the next time we come.

The boys and I did have a successful hike to Babin Zub (Grandmother’s Tooth) through the fog and high winds in the morning. Just as we got to the top, the skies cleared and it was really nice. We did some rock climbing and Owen commented how he felt he was in a National Geographic documentary. The boys were a little scared as we got to the top due to the fog, but we had an easy way down when the winds took away the low clouds.

I can see the potential of this place. It is just as nice as the major Serbian ski resort of Kapoanik. The Austrians are building the infrastructure and in the years to come, the place will fill up. It will be sad if they do it wrongly, and I would had to see the beautiful trees cut down for chalets and lodges. Right now, they are lacking a good highway to get to the hotel, nearby supermarkets, and restaurants, and private accommodation. I am tempted in buying some land up here as an investment. It is really beautiful place to relax and enjoy nature. We will definitely be back, at least, to hike to Midžor.

 

I also highly recommend the Hotel Stara Planina. The staff were very courteous, the facilities were excellent, rooms comfortable, and reasonably priced.

Owen in Front of Babin Zub

Fogged In

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Oliver Backflip, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

We spent the day inside the hotel because of the dense fog. Visibility was about 10 meters and so we relaxed at the hotel. You can see Oliver in the video above practice his back flips. The hotel has a nice spa, children’s playroom, dining room, and weight room. We had a good day together, despite not being able to explore the area as planned. This morning it looks a bit better so we’ll try to scale Babin Zub and maybe even visit the nearby town of Pirot.

The hotel is owned by an Austrian company called Falkensteiner. They have over 30 hotels in central and eastern Europe. They are building another hotel up here and the plan is to have an entire resort village to support the ski complex. It is a bit sad to see forest being cut down for ski runs, roads, and accomodation, but on the other hand, southern Serbia needs economic help. The government is wisely supporting this development. I’ll try to snap some photos of the hotel and surroundings. It will be interesting to see what this place looks like in 20 years.

Stara Planina

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Our plans to visit Transylvania didn’t work out for our October Break, so instead we headed the other direction and are visiting the Stara Planina (Old Mountain) national park. The park is located on the border of Serbia and Bulgaria. We are staying at the new ski resort hotel, “Stara Planina” located at 4,800 feet near the village of Konjarnik. When I say new, I mean really new. The hotel opened up last winter and they are still making ski runs and building roads to get here. It is located about 110 km from the southern Serbian city of Niš. It is actually closer to Sofia than Belgrade. The 110 kilometers from Nis to the hotel is rough road, but it was an interesting adventure driving through the dark fog rural countryside. We listened to the Eastern European legend of Baba Jaga, a witch that eats children, to really get in the mood for the day.

We are really enjoying the stay so far. Today we went for a walk up the mountain. We got cut short of our goal to reach “Babin Zub” (Grandmother’s Tooth) due to rain, but the kids loved climbing on the rocks on the way up there. We hope to reach it tomorrow. For those Serbian learners, Baba is grandmother, and the “in” means possession in Serbian. The word zub is tooth. It kind of looks like a granny’s tooth.

I love hiking and really get re-charged by being out in wilderness. The views, despite the rain and clouds, was still beautiful. I’ll be blogging this weekend from here as we explore the region.

Babin Zub mocking us in the background!

There is not much information on-line about the Serbian side of Stara Planina. So far my impressions, besides the natural beauty, is that this part of Serbia is very poor and they speak with a much different accent than Belgrade. I am curious if the area develops into a tourist destination. Right now, it is really tough to get to so they will need to build some more roads and I wonder about the amount of snow they get around here. It is only 120 kilometers from Sofia, and if Serbia puts in a good highway from Nis, it would be easier to get to.

Time to head to the pool with the kids.

The Serbian Language

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I have really enjoyed learning Serbian during my time here. I wish I had more time to study and use the language. My work at an English language international school and a family with young children limit my time practicing Serbian. I am making a commitment to study and use more. Some expats come and learn very little Serbian because many Serbs speak good enough English. They also feel that with being posted here for such a short time, and little chance of using the language later in future postings, some people do not devote time to learning it. I feel that it has enhanced by experience here and I’ve learned a bit more about the culture. It has also been great to learn a Slavic language and getting back to my family’s ancestral tongue.

It is cool that I now understand the Cyrillic script. My favorite Cyrillic letter is ж or ž in the latin version. It is the most “exotic” of the letters. The grammatical cases in Serbian are frustrating, but with my usual flair, I add endings to the words based on how I feel. The Serbs get a kick out of my take on the langauge and they really appreciate a foreigner’s efforts in trying. Below is a sampling of my latest learning.

  • Moze da ti jede tortu sa glave. (She can eat cake off the top of his head.) – Serbian saying when the woman is much taller than her partner. This happens often in Serbia due to the height of women here. Although my wife is not Serbian, when she wears heels, she could eat cake off my head.
  • sikter kafa or sikterša This term is used when the host wants a guest to leave. They offer them a sikter (I think this is a Turkish word) kafa which is an “indirecta” to announce it is time to go.
  • puza mene – When Serbian children play tag, žmurke in Serbian, they spit to indicate  they made it safely to goal. The phrase is also used to say that an employee showed up for a mandatory function they really didn’t want to go to but had to. The verb, to spit is pljunuti, or ja pljujem (I spit).

 

Srećan Rođendan – Ocean’s Birthday Party

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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!

Indian Summer

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Ollie on his scooter!

 

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.

 

 

Skopje, Macedonia

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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!

There are lots of Albanians in the city

Happy Anniversary!

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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!