We are enjoying our holiday in the Austrian Alps. Bad Hofgastein is a winter sport heaven, especially with the Eurosport coverage of the Winter Olympics, we watch the events at night and then go out and do them during the day. Nadia is pictured above learning how to nordic, or cross country ski. She really liked it and we hope to go for our first ski together today.
The boys have been doing downhill skiing the past couple of days. Owen plans to go up the gondola today for the first time – graduating from the kinderschule. Oliver is doing well and able to stop by himself. Ocean isn’t ready for skis yet, but we put her on the toboggan. I took a lesson in the skating cross country ski technique and plan to get better at it before we head back to Serbia.
We are pictured above in the train going from M to Bad Gastein. It was the final part of our journey yesterday. We left Belgrade Saturday morning in blizzard conditions and 10 hours later, arrived at our destination.
The kids loved the train. It was the first time I’ve see a train that you could place your car on and then ride up on. Bad Hofgastein is located in the Gastien valley and the shortest entrance to the valley from the south, is a tunnel that goes through the mountain. The tunnel is only for trains, hence why we put our car on the train. The alternative is to drive east and enter from the north which adds an hour and a half onto the journey. Snowy Belgrade is pictured below – near the entrance ramp to the highway heading to Croatia.
Saturday we went to the Belgrade Arena to watch the first singles matches of the Federation Cup Tennis Tournament. The Fed Cup is the women’s version of the Davis Cup. Serbia is playing this weekend in the quarterfinals against Russia. We also watched the reverse singles and doubles matches on RTV (Radio Television Serbia) on Sunday. With four singles matches and one doubles match, whichever team wins three, wins the “tie” as they say in tennis jargon.
Russia defeated Serbia 3 matches to 2. Ana Ivanovic was awful and lost her two singles matches and was the “weak link” in the doubles match she played with Jelena.
Serbia as you may know, is a power in world tennis because of the big three, Novak Djokovic (#2 ATP ranking), Jelena Jankovic (#8 WTA ranking), and Ana Ivanovic (#23 WTA ranking). Jelena and Ana make a duo that can match up with any pair of women in the world. Russia, is currently in my opinion, the top women’s tennis nation with 6 players in the top 20 and 15 in the top 100. The number two ranked player in the world, Marat Safin’s sister Dinara, was not playing, but we saw world number 4, Svetlana Kuznetova play.
In the first match, Ana Ivanovic (above) lost in straight sets to Kuznetova. She looked horrible in the first set, rallied in the second set to lead 4-2, before collapsing. I thought she looked rushed and off balance most of the match. Both Nadia and I remember watching her a couple of years ago defeating Venus Williams. She showed flashes of that, but mostly showed a very inconsistent effort and lack of intensity. In the second match, Jelena Jankovic played much more aggressively and defeated world #31, Alisa Kleybanova in three sets. Jelena came back on Sunday and won again in three sets, defeating Kuznetova. She never gave up, played with great intensity, and I have a newfound respect for her. I hope she wins a Grand Slam this year and makes a push for #1. Ana looks like she has a long way to go to be back in the top 10. It would be nice to see her dedicate herself to training and the tour this year and get back into the elite of the women.
Jelena serves in the first set
One of the most noticeable things about yesterday’s matches for any male, was the beauty of the Serbian girls. I enjoyed the tennis and respect the athletic ability of the women, but it is natural to notice things like that. Both Ana and Jelena are slender and carried themselves with a more feminine air than their Russian counterparts. They both play up the “babe” factor on their web sites (Jelena’s web site and Ana’s web site)and when they promote themselves. I felt they were at a disadvantage against the bigger, stronger, Russian girls yesterday. I think both of them would benefit from strength training. The Russians looked like linemen (North American football reference – these are the players that push against each other to create clear lanes for the faster and smaller running backs) and not what I think of as tennis players. Both girls are listed at over 150 pounds on the tour web site.
We enjoyed our first indoor tennis tourney
I also think Serbia should develop their women’s sports program significantly. Walking around Belgrade, I see a lot of tall (6 feet and over) women. With the history of success of the men’s basketball, I am surprised that women also haven’t done more. It might be that women don’t regard themselves like American women athletes do. They are more likely to stop competing in sports as adults and girls are not really encouraged and clubs and schools do not have female sports programs. I would like to start a women’s club program like Partizan, to develop women basketball players. Many would earn US university scholarships and they would be a force on the world basketball scene. In the US, law dictates that schools must have equal male and female sports programs. This has definitely helped women in the USA.
(A side note – In the photo of Ana Ivanovic, the gentleman in the background with the white shirt and light blue tie, is former Yugoslavian tennis great, Slobodan Živojinović. He was the first Serbian to be ranked number one in doubles and won the US Open doubles title in 1986.)
The EuroLeague Basketball is like the Champions League in soccer. The best professional club teams compete outside of their regular national leagues to determine one European champion. The EuroLeague is getting close to its “final four” and it is down to the final 16 teams. Belgrade professional team Partizan last night hosted Barcelona.
It was the first time I saw a basketball game end like it did. Partizan was comfortably head by half time but Barcelona stormed ahead in the second half. Late in the game, Partizan tied it and it went to overtime. In the overtime, with Partizan ahead by a point, 67-66, a Barcelona player took a shot. The ball hit the rim twice and was bouncing out when a Partizan player knocked it away from the basket – giving Partizn the win. But shortly after, the Barcelona coach (left in the photo above taken from my TV screen), the two referees (orange), and the Partizan coach (bald far right) were looking at the replay to determine if it had been goaltending or not.
Now while they were deciding who would win the game, the crowd waited. Pionir Hall is a small stadium that seats roughly 7,000 fans was completely full. Partizan fans are like soccer fans and they are on their feet and singing and cheering the entire game. Serbia takes its basketball seriously and so the atmosphere for visiting teams must be difficult. After about a 5 minute delay, the referees finally decided in favor of Partizan. I wonder what would have happened if they had decided the other way? A riot? Violence?
I didn’t know that instant replay is used in professional basketball anywhere. It is used in NFL football, tennis, but I don’t think in basketball yet. Even more puzzling was the fact that the opposing coaches and referees were looking at the replay together court side to make the decision. Usually the replays are looked at in the quiet of a booth in the stadium by a designated official or they are computer generated like in tennis.
With the win, Partizan is 2-0 in their group of four. They had two upset victories, on the road against Panithinaikos (Athens) and this victory at home against Barcelona. They play next Thursday against Maroussi, another Greek team in Athens. My favorite team in Serbia is Red Star, the other big Belgrade team, but I am fully behind Partizan since Red Star did not qualify for the Euroleague.
I’ll be posting more about basketball as the season continues. Below is the photo of the instant replay. I would have not ruled it goaltending as the ball was leaving the cylinder. The Partizan player, John Roberts, former Red Star import, shouldn’t have touched it however, and risk the goal tending call.
Ocean is shown above in the jogging stroller. I took the photo on Sunday during a light snow.
I’ve done more running this winter than last winter. It is actually not too bad to run, even in the coldest Belgrade weather. Ocean doesn’t like it as much as she does in the summer of course. I also don’t have the time because of school to run much during the week. Another detriment to my running is that it gets dark early. Belgrade is 44 degrees north, which is close to the latitude of my hometown in Michigan. World maps are a bit deceiving and I didn’t realize that Europe is more north than the USA. Michigan has colder temps and more snow that most of Europe due to the large continental land mass of North America. But, Michigan would be southern Europe if judged by latitude.
I feel refreshed from running in cold weather. I put on my ear muffs, a running sweatshirt, sweat pants, and off I go. On the coldest days I may wear gloves. The sidewalks and paths in the city are usually clear. It is a bit tough along the river because of the colder winds.
The kids like the blow dryer and so Nadia styled their hair on Sunday. They looked so cute! They are 7, 4 & 1/2, and 2 and 4 months when this photo was taken.
Football in the Yard
Despite the cold temperatures (around -2 C) we still take advantage of the yard. Even last night we played football and soccer. There is a thin layer of snow on the ground and the cold temperatures are keeping it around. The snow is lasting longer this winter than last.
Last week we invited the Israeli Ambassador to Serbia, Arthur Koll to come speak to our students for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Mr. Koll gave a great speech that had all of our students silent for over 3o minutes. Quite an accomplishment!
Both of Mr. Koll’s parents are Holocaust survivors and he talked of his childhood after he immigrated to Israel from Romania. I took alot out of the speech, but especially when he asked the question, why have a special day for the Holocaust, when there were other genocides throughout history. His answer made me think. He pointed out the science of the Nazis that determined the “inferior” race of the Jews, among others, and the systematic obsession to eliminate them, all of them. Mr. Koll told of towards the war’s end, when the Nazis knew they were losing, they still continued to divert precious resources, like trains, to deliver Jews to the death camps instead of using them to transport troops along the Russian front. He also mentioned a concentration camp in Poland, that is mostly forgotten to history, because it wasn’t a work and death camp, but only an elimination camp. No one ever sent to the camp, lived to tell about it.
6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazi Empire. The Ustase Quisling regime here in Serbia had some concentration camps that I would like to know more about. I am shown above thanking Mr. Koll for coming to speak.
This is a video of Ollie’s performance Saturday in the ISB Music recital. Our school does not have a formal music program but many of the students have private music lessons. Oliver showed an interest in the violin after seeing his friend Matija (in the video) perform. He has been taking lessons once a week this year. (Click on the arrow in the lower left hand corner to watch the video)
Oliver was the youngest student on the program. He performed “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” as part of a trio with his friends Matija and Eve. The performance took place at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence. It was an elegant setting for a recital. They did a superb rendition of the song. Congratulations Ollie!!!!
The Hardest Part for Ollie Was Sitting Through The Rest of the Recital
Yesterday Owen had a high fever and stayed home from school. He called crying around 11:00 AM and I went home to check on him. After I comforted him and got him to sleep, I spent some time with Ocean in the yard. We had about 6 inches of snow yesterday and I took her out and we made some snow angels and played. It was the highlight of my day.
Nadia turned 33 yesterday and we celebrated by going to the Dačo Restaurant. We shared the celebration with some friends. Dačo is a unique restaurant featuring homemade Serbian food. It has the cozy atmosphere of a Serbian village and heaping portions of delicious food. My favorite last night were the plum sauce on pork, kajmak with proscuitto on hot lepinja bread, and this bean dish. I highly recommend the restaurant! It is located in a working class neighborhood near the Pancevo Most. Strange to have this place surrounded by communist-era apartments.
We laughed a lot and ate well. Nadia looked beautiful and is getting more beautiful and interesting as the years go by. She paide homage to her homeland of Australia, and baked Anzac biscuits for everyone to celebrate also, Australia Day, which also happens to be ont eh 26th of January. Happy 33rd baby, I love you!
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