“Prosperous Days Are Yet to Come” – Bahrain

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I had to comment on recent events Bahrain. They are catching the spirit of revolt from Egypt and are having large protests. When I was in Bahrain for three weeks over the Christmas holidays I did notice somethings. So far the protests have been limited to the city, especially the area around the Pearl Circle. This is a traffic intersection with a huge statue in the middle consisting of 5 curved beams holding up a pearl. Bahrain used to be a pearl producing island before the discovery of oil in the 1930s.
My sister-in-law works at an international school in Bahrain. Her school is about a 30 minute drive outside of the main city of Manama and is quiet in that area. They are in a “lockdown” situation and are not leaving the area except for essentials. They are holding classes with low attendance.

I photographed this billboard during our holiday in Bahrain. It is one of literally hundreds showing the king on all of the streets and highways in the island. Any government that has that many pictures of its leaders on billboards is trying to say something and trying to stay in control of a situation they are not. The royal family named Khalifa, came from Saudi Arabia in the 18th century and are Sunni Moslem. Most of the Bahrain people are Shiite, probably because Bahrain was a Persian (Iran) island for many years before the Khalifas took over. Iran is prominently Shiite. Driving around Bahrain, one sees in the poorer neighborhoods all kinds of Shiite flags and signs. Driving home from the city during our stay, we always saw the police stationed outside of these areas on a permanent patrol.

The Kahlifa family has a tight grip on power on the island. The main three are pictured below. They are the king in the middle (Hamad), his uncle the Prime Minister (Khalifa ibn Salman), and the King’s eldest son, Salman bin Hamad, as the Defense Minister. Nadia jokingly referred to the three as “Los Tres Ridiculos.”


During the month we were there, all of the Shiite areas had black flags and banners posted everywhere. If one of my Arabic readers could translate for me, I would appreciate it.

I don’t think it is just about power sharing and a Shiite versus Sunni conflict that is going on in Bahrain and the other countries in the Middle East. I think it is bad economies with a poor education system that is not creating enough jobs and allowing companies to compete in the global market place. Plus, a big portion of the brain power, women, doesn’t have the same access to helping these nations. They will have to figure out a way to keep their young people engaged and making a contribution to society and the economy. I hope “Prosperous Days are Yet to Come” but it will take a complete make over and time to do so.

I’ll be closely monitoring the situation in Bahrain. Today’s Wall Street Journal has an excellent analysis of the situation.

Family Journal: Trip to Slovenija

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Nadia finally came home on Tuesday afternoon. We were all very happy to see her!!! I had a busy but wonderful time watching the three kids by myself for 5 entire days. We really reconnected after 5 weeks of school. We had plans to go to Mokra Gora, a small village in eastern Serbia, but we found out there is no snow there and the ski hill is closed due a competition. We decided to go to Bled, Slovenia, a small, picturesque village in the Julian Alps instead. We left at 8:00 PM on Tuesday and arrived 6 hours later in Slovenia.

I forgot to bring the cord for my camera so I’ll have to upload the photos when I get back to Belgrade. It is snowing as I write this and we are ready to go to breakfast and head up to the ski hill. Yesterday we unpacked and went swimming in the Ziva Wellness Center. I have to go now, but I’ll be blogging more later about Slovenija (Slovenia in English). It is a former part of Yugoslavia and we were last here in January of 2009.

 

 

Disappearance of Heroes

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Serbian documentary film director, Ivan Mandić worked with our Design and Technology students last week at the high school. Mandic and our Design Teacher, Dr. Gordetsky, taught the students animation with clay to produce short digital films. I’ll be posting some of their work on the school’s web site later. Ivan is shown above with the grade 9 students.

Mandic’s most famous documentary film is called “Disappearance of Heroes” and it is about the renaming of the streets here in Belgrade. After World War II, Tito and the Partisans changed the names of many of the streets in the city. In the past few years, the city formed a commission to look into revising the names of streets. They wanted to get rid of much of these Communist inspired name changes as well as correct redundancies and put a general order into the naming system. Mandic takes the human side of this work, interviewing members of the commission and the relatives of the Communist heroes who lost the honor of having a street named after them. Mandic also gives the historical background of the war which I really appreciated. It was the first time I saw Tito’s speeches and the baton celebrations of socialism in Yugoslavia.

As I live in Serbia longer, I am realizing the impact of the conflict between the Partisans (Communisists) and the Chetniks (Serbian Royalists) and its effects even today. I’m reminded of the maxim that history is written by the victors. I wonder what Serbia would have been like today if the Chetniks and Draža Mihailojvic would have taken power instead of the Partisans. This is an idea I will be further pursuing as I learn more about Serbia.

I would like to thank Ivan for coming to our school and donating the DVD of his film to our school’s library. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. He has subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and German. It will be available for check out after the Ski Week holiday.

Single Parenthood Continues

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The Kids Interpret the Works of Travanov

Nadia’s flight was delayed coming out of Dubai yesterday. She was forced to spend the night in Istanbul and she will be coming back today in the afternoon. We were all disappointed not to see her on Valentine’s Day.

What to do with young children in miserable weather conditions? Temperatures are hovering around freezing and Belgrade is at its ugliest in February. There are only patches of snow, brown grass, mud and water everywhere make it difficult to do anything with my kids outside. After running some errands in the morning, I took them to the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrade. There is an exhibition by Belgrade artist Srba Travanov showing this month. As you can see if you follow the links provided, the guy looks like your typical European Av ant Gard artist. It reminds me of the Saturday Night Live parodies by Mike Myer, playing the character Dieter. The boys enjoyed the exhibition. They are very interested in form and function and for each piece, they made up what it would do. Travanov took old technological tools (typewriters, manual oil pumps, pencil sharpeners and made works of art out of them. He is also into the old petroleum derricks. His interview on the museum’s website is hilarious.

It is called the “salon” – room, because the museum does have a beautiful entire building in New Belgrade that can hold up to 5,000 pieces of art. Unfortunately, it has been closed for “renovation” since I arrived three years ago. Can someone put some money into the place to get it done. It would be good for the cultural life of the city as well as another tourist attraction. I wonder what the politics or economics are behind the scenes of this museum.

In the afternoon we did the Delta City Megamarathon. Delta City is one of the large shopping malls in the city. We did bowling, movie (Disney’s Rapunzel “Tangled”, which was excellent by the way in the classic Disney way), and food court. After a bath and reading books, they all kissed me good night and went to bed. Once again, an amazing day with my children. They are my Austrian Alps for this Ski Week holiday.

 

 

 

 

Visit to Mount Avala

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Yesterday we visited Avala, a mountain located in the outskirts of Belgrade. It is about 1,600 feet (500 meters) high and it is the highest point of the forested Šumadija region just south of the city. Because of its height, it has always been a strategic point and people naturally gravitated to it. Both the Romans and the Turks established fortresses there. The Serbian royal family and government also used the area through the years for various activities, like hiking, hotel, children’s clean air refuge, communications towers, etc.

Today it is still a preserved area with some interested things to see. The photo above is taken from the top of the newly completed tower. On April 29, 1999, NATO destroyed the tower as part of their attacks on the Milosevic-led Yugoslavian government. The purpose was hinder Milosevic’s use of the media, as the tower was used to broadcast the national television station. It didn’t stop the broadcast however because the station was broadcasted through many different stations. A big waste of money! Not only in the bombing raid, but also in the fundraising for construction of the new tower.

The kids were excited to go up to the top. Ocean was most enthused about handing the ticket to the lady at the elevator. The views over Šumadija were impressive. There is supposed to be a restaurant on the top but it was not open I guess. The attendant told me that between 500 and 2,500 people a day visit the tower.

I was annoyed to learn that the big monument on the mountain to the Unknown Soldier, built after World War I, was put over the ruins of a Turkish fortress. The strategic mountain must be rich in archeological history, but this has not been studied or developed. The medieval Serbs called the fortified city on top Žrnov. It was later taken over by the Turks. The Ottoman general, Gazi Porča, renamed it Havala, meaning obstacle or barrier. I guess it was a barrier against tribes from the south heading into Belgrade. Below is a picture I found in the Wikicommons of the remains of his fort. The monument is beautiful, but they could have preserved and improved the fortress AND build a monument. I would have preferred a center for Ottoman and Roman studies with the sites excavated, rather than monument.

Zrnov Fortress
Oliver In Front of the Tower

There are a couple of other monuments on the mountain. One is dedicated to the Soviet military. A plane crashed in 1964 full of World War II veterans. They were going to Belgrade’s 20th anniversary of its liberation from the Germans. I want to see the Memorial Gardens in the nearby village of Jajinci. The Nazis used the area as a “killing fields” and over 80,000 Yugoslav were executed and/or buried there.

We got some popcorn and played “hide-and-seek” in the gardens around the monument. As we climbed on the monument, the marble is chipped in places. Owen was fascinated to learn that it was from flying shrapnel from NATO bombing raid 11 years ago. The kids slept in the car on the way home. It makes a good day trip any time of the year. We’ve gone several times and the kids always enjoy it.

I completed my second full day as a single dad. Nadia gets home today and we’ll head out to the airport this afternoon to pick her up. After Avala, I did some shopping while the kids slept in the car and we hung out at home. We have a sauna and hot tub in our apartment building. The steamy sauna was refreshing way to brighten up a cold February night.

Finding a Work-Life Balance

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A few days ago I watched a Ted.com talk by author Nigel Marsh. He wrote a couple of books about finding a balance in our lives between work and family – “Fat, Forty, and Fired” and “Overworked & Underlaid.“

His ideas resonated with me and I feel that when I get busy at work with consecutive 10+ hour days, I am missing something. He didn’t come up with any formulas, but his main message was to make small choices. He described a call from his wife asking him to leave work early to pick up his son from school. She was busy with the other three children and needed some help with the kids. Marsh went picked up his son and they hung out in the park and went for a bite to eat. He finished the night by reading his son a story and putting him to bed. His son said this was the best day of his life.

I try to keep in mind that my children and wife for that matter, are so precious that if I can make any small choices to find a bit more time with them, the better. I am not a business or bank executive like Mr. Marsh was, and I am blessed that education is a profession that is more family-friendly than most professions, but there are times when I feel out of balance. Work demands overtake time spent with my children, time spent renewing the relationship with my wife, and time spent taking care of my personal health and fitness and well-being.

I spent an entire day yesterday with my three children. Nadia is out of city on a conference and I have all three. We survived day number 2 in fine style, although I did lose my patience a couple of times. Owen is shown above at the Guitar Art Festival Expo at the Continental Hotel. He plays the guitar and I wanted to encourage him and the other two to play music. Ollie loves the drums. Hopefully after the basketball season is over, I can learn the piano and my dream of a family band can be realized. I’m looking for stuff to do at home that doesn’t include a screen! Owen wants an electric guitar and Ollie wants a drum set, and I want a keyboard. We’ll see where this goes…

Ocean - Tata doesn't know how to brush girls' hair (sorry Nadia)

When I am in charge of the kids, I prefer doing stuff rather than just sitting at home. It makes it easier for me and the boys instead of me scrambling around trying to keep the house clean and nothing gets broken. In the morning we went to the school’s bubble and played tennis and basketball. In the late afternoon after a hike around our new neighborhood, we went and saw “Medved Yogi – Yogi Bear” and ate a pizza at Vapiano. The weather is cold and the melting snow makes everything wet and muddy, so the more we can do indoors, the better.

It was great to hang out with the kids all day and I have another one today. Our neighborhood, Dedinje, means “old man’s hill” and below is the view from top of the hill looking east into the suburbs of Belgrade.

Owen and Bill Go to the Belgrade Philharmonic

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With Nadia at an Educational Conference in Dubai until Monday, I have a full weekend with the kids. We are starting the Ski Week Holiday also on Monday so I’ll have more time to blog.

We started the holiday last night by playing some pick up basketball at the school with the teachers. Owen and I then went to Kolorac Hall in downtown Belgrade to watch the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra. We have season tickets for the “New Years Cycle” which is a series of six concerts having the theme of New Year. Last night it was the theme was Chinese New Year, which the actual date happened earlier this month. It is the year of the Rabbit.

The concert last night featured a Chinese pianist named Haochen Zhang. The first piece was aptly a piano concerto and the big Steinway was in the center of the stage. Zhang came out and played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number 1. Zhang made it look easy. The highlight for me was introducing Owen to the orchestra and the different instruments and Tchaikovsky. He did fall asleep in the second movement, but did get to get the feeling of it. The theater was warm (In Serbia in the winter, everyone cranks the heat because they are afraid of cold drafts causing sicknesses.) and cozy.

The video above is Zhang playing a Chinese folk song which I’ve heard before in some movie. I really like the song and if any reader of my blog knows the name of it, please send it my way.

If I Were King of Serbia

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The Party is Over (4:00 PM - Serbian Parliament Building)

The Serbian Progressive Party rally yesterday in Belgrade was really a non-event for me. I was busy reading questions for the Knowledge Bowl (see our school’s blog for more information on that event) at the school during the rally. I did get down around 4:00 PM and snapped a few photos, but by that time, everyone was gone and the moving trucks were taking down the stage. Estimates from the B92 put the number at around 55, 00o.  As this commentator put it on the B92 website,

The usual blabla from these two guys. 55 thds people that mostly came from south and central Serbia in buses! As always these people most probably received some daily allowance to participate!
It is certainly important to have a good opposition but when it comes to these two, apart from critics I have never heard, read any mention of a program that make sense or could change the situation in Serbia. So waste of time and money.

I would have to agree with this. The purpose of the rally was to complain about the performance of the current government and a call for early elections. People around the world want good government (ex- Egypt) but they don’t want ideals, or platitudes, which most politicians give.What they want are the basics like tax money being spent well, roads without pot holes, decent schools, clean hospitals, a dignified retirement for senior citizens, job opportunities, feel secure in their neighborhood, etc.  I don’t see Nikolic (the Progressive Party leader) and others in his party being able to do this. They don’t see smart enough, or empathetic enough to manage an economy and a nation.

But instead of just criticizing them, I will give my ideas on how Serbia should be run. I see a nation with great potential, but it is being wasted, as young people who are innovative and ready to make their mark in the world, being disillusioned because the economy is horrible. I haven’t given it enough thought, but if I were president of Serbia, I would have the following platform:

1) Foreign Policy

  • I would eliminate the military. It is a big expense for the Serbian government. This would free up the large amount of military land for the good of the public. This could be used for parks, schools, green housing projects, hospitals, etc. There should also be money to train ex-soldiers for civilian life. The ending of the military would also say a lot to our neighbors and the world that Serbia is past violence and open for tourism and business investment.
  • The end of the military would also mean the end of military service. I would make a Peace Corps for the Balkans and send young people for 1-year missions around the ex-Yugoslavia and the poorer parts of Serbia. They could be intern teachers, nurses, security guards, construction workers, engineers, etc.
  • Invite Montenegro and Republika Srpska (the Serbian part of Bosnia) to join Serbia. I would also negotiate with Kosovo and get the northern part to join Serbia.  The majority Kosovar Albanians will never want to stay in Serbia. With a recognized government, Serbians will eventually be able visit whenever they want anyway. The dream of multi ethnic societies should be dropped for now.

2) Domestic Stuff

  • Ban the Serbian Latinica alphabet. The Cyrillic script looks cool and this is a part of Serbian culture that should be protected and promoted.
  • Eliminate the antiquated and Byzantine (appropriate for this place) laws on the books that make it impossible to do business. The amount of paper work for building permits, starting and ending businesses, hiring and firing workers, etc. is a huge impediment for companies. Belgrade is a natural business hub for the Balkans and with a business-friendly environment, it would entice more companies to move in and we would see more start-ups.
  • Fight corruption and organized crime. These elements hurt society in the long-term.
  • Collect income tax from everyone, including the rich.
  • Pump huge amounts of money into schools and build a cutting edge, “green” curriculum that targets entrepreneurship, technology, and problem solving. (you can tell I am a teacher)
  • Clean up graffiti and garbage around the city. Help neighborhoods to form cooperatives to beautify their apartment buildings and parks. Give matching grants to apartment associations for renovating of their buildings.
  • Continue moving towards Europe because this would give young Serbs the opportunity to work in other countries in the EU as well as Serbian companies possibly expanding their markets.
  • Adapt the ex-Yugoslavian slogan of  “Unity and Brotherhood” to “Tolerance and Pursuit of Happiness.”

Those are my initial, undeveloped thoughts. If any bilingual Serbian wants to be my running mate, I would like to run for President. I don’t speak Serbian well and that would probably hurt me in government.

Cold Weather Continues in Belgrade

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The View of the ISB High School Campus from the Roof

It continues to be very cold and “wintery” in Belgrade this week. Temperatures are down to -9 C (16 F) and we have light snow and fog daily. It is a bit depressing for many, but I like it. As long as one is dressed appropriately, it is quite comfortable outside.  Nadia was sick yesterday with the flu, so I took the boys home from school. We went shopping and then went to Pizza Hut for dinner. It was so nice to spend time with the little guys. With my job, I am usually working until 6:00 PM, so it was a treat to spend an extra 3 hours with them. I should try to do that more often.

I’ve been quite busy at school, especially with basketball. My team won on Tuesday, so that puts us at 4 wins and 4 losses for the season. We are coming together in anticipation for the CEESA tourney next month. I also am putting in what little spare time I have in settling in our new apartment. We still have some things in boxes that need to be rearranged.

Remembering the Holocaust in Belgrade

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Last week we recognized Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27) at my school, the International School of Belgrade. The Israeli Ambassador to Serbia, Arthur Koll spoke to the student body about the Holocaust and mentioned the atrocities that occurred here in Belgrade. He refered to the first systematic use of a “gas van” to kill the Jews of Belgrade. I did a bit research and found a website put together by UK professor Jovan Byford and funded by the British Academy. Professor Byford, with the help of Serbian researchers, has put together an informative web site about the Nazi concentration camp in Belgrade.

The camp, called Semlin Judenlager (German for Zemun Camp for Jews), is located in New Belgrade, right on the banks of the Sava River. In the 1930’s, the Belgrade government drained a swampy area on the other side of the Sava, and established a fair and exhibition grounds. It was a popular place for theater, cinema, etc. and one of the first areas developed on the north side of the river. Today, much of New Belgrade, as the north side is referred to, is developed out to the airport, several kilometers away from the river.

The Nazis took over Yugoslavia in 1941 and occupied the city. Semlin was technically in the part of Yugoslavia administered by the fascist Croatian movement, the Ustase. Belgrade itself was officially in German-occupied Serbia. The fairgrounds were used to round-up all of the Jewish people of the city (around 15,000) as part of the genocide campaign of the Nazis. It was supposed to be a temporary camp, but when a permanent facility couldn’t be found, it became one. It differed from the more famous concentration camps like Auschwitz, in that it was very close to the city. A photo of the camp in 1941 is below. Yesterday, I stopped at the site and photographed the original tower as it looks today (above).  The camp is significant in that it marks an escalation of the systematic elimination of the Jewish people in Europe. Ustase officials were proud to report to Hitler that Serbia was the first area to be “Jewish-Free” in WW II. Today I am not aware of a Jewish community in Belgrade.

The Semlin Camp - Circa 1941

After the elimination of the Jews, the camp also processed Partisan and Chetnik prisoners, Communist sympathizers, political opponents, Romas, etc. Most were used as force labor and many died in the camp because of inhumane conditions and disease. The camp was kept open for several years, eventually being the target of Allied bombing in 1944 during the liberation of the city.

It is sad that it is not a protected landmark. Thousands of people perished at the site and the camp is a very important part of World War II history. I was surprised to see people living in the tower. It has been converted to apartments. The other former pavilions are also now apartment buildings. I wonder if the people living in them know about the atrocities and terror that occurred here. I recommend the web site about the camp. It is gripping reading, especially the letters from a Serbian-Jewish nurse who perished in the camp.

The Fairgrounds Today - February 2

There are a couple of monuments in the area, which I visited when we held an art exhibition in  a hall near former fairgrounds. If I had the resources, I would buy out the current tenants and restore the grounds to its original state and make a museum and educational center. Serbia and the rest of the Balkans would benefit from the tourist attraction in addition to being a center of tolerance, which will always be needed in the ex-Yugoslavia.

I can’t imagine the horror that took place here. Entire families murdered. Tragic. There are several other Holocaust sites in Serbia that I plan to visit before I leave the country. There is an excellent museum in Banjica about the prisoner camp there.