Kralovecs Complete the Budapest Half Marathon

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Kralovec Family Poses at the Start

Nadia and I both finished Sunday’s Budapest Half Marathon (21 kilometers – 13 miles) under our goal of 2 hours. It was a beautiful late summer day in the historic city of Budapest, Hungary. It was our first truly big race with over 6,000 runners starting the half marathon. It took us 4 and 1/2 minutes to reach the starting line! We ran together and around the 17 kilometer mark, we spotted the red pacing balloon of 2 hours just ahead of us. We passed her quickly and held on the rest of the way. We sprinted to the finish and Nadia finished with a time of 1:58:07 and she finished #470 overall for the women. We had a 10 km split of 57:37. I had a time of 1:57:56, good for a #2631 finish for the men.

The buildings and sites were amazing, although there were too many people running the race and we felt crowded. Very different from our runs this summer in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Cruising Along the Hungarian Parliament Building

IKEA – Family Trip to Budapest, Hungary

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We are in Budapest, Hungary this weekend to run in Sunday’s Half Marathon. We will be running through the UNESCO World Heritage city and are looking forward to the beautiful sites and flat course. More on the race tomorrow. We drove up on Friday evening after school and the trip took us around 4 hours. We have diplomatic lisence plates on Eidelweiss which greatly reduced the time stopped at the border. It is always strange for Americans to drive to another country. 

We are renting a nice apartment called 7Seasons, I highly recommend it as it is a good price, centrally located, and very comfortable. We can cook meals in the apartment which is great for the kids. We spent most of Saturday shopping as this is “Nadia’s weekend.” The highlight was Ikea, the Swedish superstore. It was not too painful, only $332 worth of housewares. We make an annual trip here to help out our apartment in Belgrade. 

We are both very excited for today’s run. The weather will be sunny and in the 70’s, perfect running weather. Last night it was cold and raining, so we are happy for the blue skies this morning.

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.