Bill At Work

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Opening Day Speech to Student Body

I love refering to myself in the third person. I have very few photos of me at work on the blog. This photo was taken at the opening assembly on the first day of school in August. It was a very hot day and the sun shining directly into my eyes. Below are my notes on the opening speech. It is not exactly King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, but maybe it will be interesting to someone in the future.

I would like to welcome all of you to the official start of the 2010-2011 school of the International School of Belgrade High School.

I would like to start today’s Opening Ceremony by introducing this year’s faculty. When I call your name, please stand and acknowledge the audience. (see list)

In our fifth year of existence, this is the most international that we have been. This year we welcome 97 students from at least 28 different countries. I say at least, because if you dig a bit below the surface, you will find in many families, several different passports or cultural influences. To start with we have students from Poland, Australia, Serbia, USA, Montenegro, Romania, Germany, Israel, India, Sweden, Russia, Canada, Belarus, Italy, Czech Republic, Turkey, Norway, New Zealand, Austria, Slovakia, China, Hungary, France, UK, Slovenija, Croatia, and Denmark. There are probably a few I missed due to some of your complicated backgrounds.

We embrace this diversity and believe it makes for a richer educational environment. Not only are all of you students, but you are also all teachers, because we learn from each other. All 97 individuals are valued here at ISB High School, and we look forward to what you can contribute to the life of the school. Two values in our ISB mission statement are “open mindedness” and “global responsibility.” With such a diverse cultural environment, it is very important that we keep these two values in our consciousness.

I would like to welcome the 16 new students to the High School. A special welcome to Jessica, Emma, Marko, Sezgi, Rebeka, Mateja, Jonathon, Rachel, Rachel, Seth, Rakel, Hanna, Jordan, Chincia, and Stine.

I highlighted our diversity; I would also like to acknowledge our appreciation for our host country, Serbia. All of the expatriates here today, enjoy living in Belgrade and being part of the ISB community. Much of that is due to the kindness of the Serbian people. The Serbian students and teachers are our intimate connection to the local community. Serbia has a long and rich cultural history, and all of us upon leaving Belgrade, will be ambassadors for Serbia. On behalf of the international community here today, hvala, for welcoming us to Serbia and accepting us as friends and colleagues.

I would also like to direct a message to the class of 2011. Your senior year is a crazy, wonderful, exhilarating ride. You will be applying for universities, preparing for the IB exams, and entering a new stage of your lives. It can be stressful and I want to assure you that you will be fine. Not only do you have the support of all of the faculty and your parents, but you also have the support of your classmates. Some of you have been here a long time, others, it is your first day, but you will need to help and be there for one another. You also have a lot of eyes watching you with the lower grades. Remember that you are the role models here and set the tone for the school. Have a positive attitude, try your best, and as the third part of our mission statement says, strive for excellence. Keep in mind also, that time goes by quickly, so savor your time with your parents, siblings, and friends this year. Come May of next year, there will be many changes.

Speaking of seniors, I would like to introduce one of them, student council officer, Anna Turner.

 As the Principal, it is my job to protect the learning environment here at ISB. We want everyone to feel secure and be able to concentrate on learning. There are a few points of emphasis I would like to make regarding the Parent-Student Handbooks you received in your mailboxes this morning.

Absences / Tardies – 6 classes missed

Backpacks / Purses –

Locker Usage –

Personal Electronic Devices (cell phones, iPods)

Dress Code – tank tops

I want to note that I will be working with the Student Council to support student life here at the school. It is my goal to have a better school store (Party Services). We will also be placing the coffee and chocolate machine in the store for student access during breaks. We will continue to have a senior privilege of leaving campus during lunch break (after permission forms are signed). 

ISB Faculty Photo 2010-2011

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Above is the my school’s faculty photo taken during the orientation week. What an amazing background! The photo was taken on our high school campus and I have the pleasure of working in such a beautiful environment. There is something about big trees.

Nadia is in the front row towards the right side of the photo and I am in the back row in the suit and tie.

My Angel Princess

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I snapped this photo a couple of weekends ago at the Knez Mihailova Street in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. It is the famous walking and shopping street that is only open to pedestrians. There is an old art gallery with high curb where street vendors sell souvenirs. Ocean sat down while Nadia and Alejandra were buying some ear rings. I took a series of photos showing the various emotions of her. She is very expressive and I absolutely love her. I call her my “Angel Princess” because she is so heavenly. It has been amazing to be a father to a daughter. I think I am learning as much from her as she is from me.

Summer Picnic

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We went back to the Staro Hopovo (Old Hopovo) monastery in the Fruska Gora National Park Saturday. We were there last January and it was so cold that I said I wanted to go back in warm weather. We did on Sunday for a family picnic.

We had a nice lunch in the sunshine and then I took the kids for the hike. The boys were complaining a bit, but in the end, they found some sticks and were pretending to be soldiers as we walked along the stream. There is a spring behind the monastery that people go and fill up bottles.

Owen Crosses the Bridge

Boys Will Be Boys

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Sebey, Owen, & Oliver, originally uploaded by bill kralovec.

This is a short video of my two sons and nephew “playing” in our garden. I don’t understand how this is their version of fun. I enjoyed watching them. They were constantly beating on each other while Sebey, our nephew was here. Alejandra and Sebey left today for Bahrain, via London. We’ll be visiting them possibly in December.

Cousins and Sunsets

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It is nice to have my nephew Sebastian visiting us for a few weeks. This morning I took this photo of my sons and nephew sleeping next to each other in their room. They like to set out the quilts and sleep on the floor instead of the bunk beds. Little sister Ocean would also like to sleep on the floor too, but we put her in her room with a bottle of  mleko.

I was also on a cruise on the Sava and Danube rivers earlier this week. Fans of my blog on the boat with me, wanted me to post this photo. I took this photo of the Danube (Dunav in Serbian) while we were pulling in to the dock. It was a peaceful time and it gives one a different perspective of Belgrade. I wondered how invading armies must have been challenged in taking Kalemegdan Fortress above the rivers. I think Strauss would have written a sequel to his “Blue Danube” waltz if he had seen my photo above.

Sense of Community in Belgrade

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Tuesday evening we took the kids to the Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade. The park is a huge public green space surrounding the ruins of a fortress. The city was originally only the fort as it commands a strategic, and more importantly for us today, a position with gorgeous views over the city and rivers. It is nice in Belgrade that most people live in apartments and do not have private gardens. They must use the public spaces, and this creates a real community feel. That is lacking in  many western nations as people tend to stay in private homes more. There is also not a lot of crime in the parks so families can enjoy them without worry. In developing nations, the parks are not very nice or safe from crime. I think this is one of the reasons expats like Belgrade so much, is this sense of community.

You can see Alejandra above (black dress) and my family, watching the old guys play chess. We had a nice evening, meeting several people and having the kids run around the fort walls and scramble on the collection of tanks they have on display.

We jha

Knjaz Milos & Ada – A Great Combination

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Knjaz Milos Mineral Water

The hot weather continues here in Belgrade and we’ve been trying to keep cool. Both Nadia and I have become huge fans of carbonated mineral water and our favorite is shown above, Knjaz Milos. It is named after the Serbian King, Milos Obrenovic, who believed the waters of a town Arandelovac, just south east of Belgrade in the Sumadija region, had curative powers. I would like to visit the town some day.

Many Serbians drink carbonated water and at first, I didn’t like it much, as it is not very common in the USA, but it grew on me. Now I prefer this over regular water. I see the attraction and it is like a drink, but water and healthy for you as it has less calories than soda pop.

Without a car our options are limited of getting out of town so we’ve been going to Ada Ciganlija often. Below is a view from Saturday.

Kralovec Family History (Andrew John Kralovec – 1860 to1942)

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Andrew Kralovec and Family (photo circa 1940?)

Readers of my blog are curious to the origin of my last name. The name sounds Slavic and I get a lot of guesses. One Czech reader did correctly recognize it as a Bohemian surname. This post is the story of my Great Grandfather who came to America. This summer I spent some time going through some old scrap books in our basement. The sources I used for this post were the 1942 newspaper (either Marinette, WI or Menominee, MI daily) obituary of my great grandfather and conversations with my father.

Andrew John Kralovec (the name was “Americanized” – it was originally Andreas) was born “in Bohemia” on July 17, 1860 and he came to the USA in 1888 when he was 18 years old. I can only guess why he left for America. At the time, Bohemia was a peaceful entity under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they had a relatively good level of autonomy. His decision to leave changed my destiny completely.

Andrew first came to Menominee, Michigan, but moved to Odanah, Wisconsin. He lived there for 20 years from 1900 to 1920. Andrew married fellow Bohemian immigrant, Anna Rebic, shortly upon arrival.  They were wed on February 7, 1888 in Stangleville, Wisconisn. Andrew and Anna had seven children, three girls and four boys, one being my grandfather, Charles Kralovec. The other children listed in the obituary of 1942 were as follows and a bit about what my Dad remembers about them:

1)  Anna Kralovec – She remained single her whole life and worked as a nurse in Oak Park, Illinois.

2)  Mathias Kralovec – He lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin and worked as a carpenter. He didn’t have any children. My father lived with him for two weeks every summer in Green Bay.

3)  Mary (Feich) – She lived Greenwood, a small town just south of Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She didn’t have any children.

4)  Charles Kralovec – My grandfather, lived in Menominee. He attended Ripon College (Wisconsin) with his brother John for a couple of years. He left the school because of his lack of hearing. I will post on him more later.

5)  Jennie (Paitl) – She lived in Menominee and had several children.

6)  Frank Kralovec – He house painter in Ewen, Michigan. He married late in life and had no children.

7)  Colonel John Kralovec – He was physics professor at Kemper Military School, Booneville, Missouri for over 40 years. John had two boys, one named John Charles.

Andrew worked in a sawmill in Odanah. Lumber companies back then advertised in Europe for jobs. He was a skilled “sawyer” who could accurately determine how many boards could be cut from a log, thus avoiding waste. Odanah is a small town in northern Wisconsin on an Indian Reservation. My grandfather attended the St. Mary’s Indian School on the reservation. The big event of the day was the arrival of the train at the depot, everyone watched it to see if the inspectors would find any contraband whiskey, because alcohol was not allowed on the reservation. In 1900, not much of the Chippewa traditional life was left, my Dad said there were a couple of wigwams (tepees) left, and they got rid of those “smelly things.”

Andrew then returned to Menominee, Michigan in 1920, where he worked as a lumber grader for 14 years. At that time, Menominee, located at the mouth of the Menominee River, produced lots of lumber because of the great number of trees in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan being harvested and its position on Lake Michigan.

Andrew died in 1942 at the age of 82. He passed away quietly in his sleep. The newspaper reported that he suffered from heart disease for some time before his death.

Anna lived another 5 years after the death of her husband. She died of stomach cancer. My father remembers that she cooked all the time and always wore an apron. She always had a crock of sauerkraut fermenting in the kitchen, my father remembers the smell, and she cooked fresh bread everyday.

My father remembers a bit about his grandfather. He was a big guy, about 6-2, 200 pounds. Andrew loved to play pinochle with his brother and they were always cheating at cards. He did not speak English very well but he understood everything. His left arm didn’t move from when he tripped over the woodblock making kindling for the stove about 10 years before his death.

Andrew Kralovec (1860 – 1942)

I would have loved to have met him, but he died 25 years before I was born. It would have been interesting to ask him why he came to America. My father said that because of the language, he didn’t speak much to him. My grandfather spoke Czech, but not my father. He lived a good life according to my father, so I guess he didn’t regret coming over. I also wish the newspaper would have had a bit more about where in Bohemia he came from.

“Eidelweiss” in the Garage

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Nadia Calls a Tow Truck

We are without a car for the next 10 days. Our beloved “Eidelweiss” was scheduled to get a new compressor, but as the mechanics found out as they began to replace it, another part was needed. I bought parts at a Honda dealer in the USA because we have an American car. The parts are much cheaper there, and the guys here in Belgrade, kindly gave me a list of parts to buy. They overlooked a part, hence they are ordering a new one. We’ll be without a car for a while.

We also found out the car was low on oil after the long holiday. We needed a tow truck coming back from the airport last Friday evening. Nadia is shown above calling as we pulled over on E75. It is doubly inconvenient because Nadia’s sister and my nephew are visiting and it would be nice to have a car. I’ve been working this week and Nadia and the kids have been going to Ada and biking and swimming.