Last Friday evening we were driving downtown near Ulica Njegosova to pick up Oliver’s vaccines from a pharmacy. He got his 4 year old booster shot and the local clinic the expats used, asked us to order and buy the vaccine ourselves. Anyway, we were cruising down the street near a construction zone and we heard a thud on the back tire. Immediately we then heard a loud escape of air and the bumping of a flat tire. Apparently I hit a something that tore an inch long rip in a tire. We were on a narrow street and couldn’t find a spot to pull over. We eventually found a gate open on a driveway. The security guard of the area, a perfect stranger, Bosko, pictured above came over and helped me change the tire, doing most of the work . Since it was such a narrow driveway and street to get out of, he even drove the car out so we could be on our way. Then when we asked where we could get a tire repaired, another perfect stranger walking down the street overhead us and offered to take us to a tire shop a few blocks away. Very kind indeed.
It is quite appropriate to post about the country of Romania as tomorrow, Serbia plays against its neighbor in an important World Cup qualifying soccer match. My first impression of the country was the same as when I visited neighboring Bulgaria – “These guys are in the EU and Serbia is not?” It was most evident in the border crossing. Coming back into Serbia, the Romanian border post was run down and the guards very inefficient. Crossing into Serbia, the installations for immigration were better maintained. The roads were in better condition, less garbage along side the roads, and the villages and towns on the Serbian side were also nicer and better maintained. I know Serbia is not part of the EU because of politics and not economics or standard of living, but when compared to Bulgaria and Romania, they are EU-quality.
The Romanians were very friendly and we enjoyed the visit. The Romans had a larger effect on them than the Serbs. I wonder why? The Romans were also here in Belgrade. I also learned of the Dacians, one of the early groups in Romania. I would like to learn more about them as well as the Vlachs. I did notice a significant gypsy population, even in villages, which one does not find in Serbia where they are mostly located in the larger cities.
Gypsy Wedding Dance in a village we drove through
The Carpathian mountains were beautiful as well as the rolling hills of southern Romania. Very similar to the Serbian countryside, although we saw more pumpkins in Romania. We had to stop at a pumpkin patch and get some photos. It reminded me of the old Peanuts cartoon when Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin to come.
The boys climbed some of the Carpathians! We didn’t see any vampires, which is always strongly associated with Romania. We did see a girl at breakfast in the hotel rubbing garlic on her toast however. We will probably be back again.
This weekend we visited southern Romania. Above is the view of from our window of the Carpathian mountains in the town of Baile Herculane. Romania borders Serbia and we were invited to see the sights by our Romanian friends living here in Belgrade.
We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the resort town of Baile Herculane. It means Hercule’s Bath in English. The area has geothermal water springs and since Roman times, people have thought that the water has medicinal properties. The setting of the town is beautiful. The Carpathian mountains are a long mountain chain that goes through Romania and into northern Serbia. They are not the peaks of the Alps, but as you can see, they are scenic in their own way. We drove through much of them and stopped in several places to hike and take photographs.
The town is very strange. When this part of Romania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the town was discovered by Emperor Franz Joseph. He built several large hotels, a casino, and several formal bathing palaces near the turn of the century. Back in the days before antibiotics and modern medicine, geothermal waters and mountain air were more popular medical treatments. I read of Franz’s wife or sister, I can’t remember which, visited the town and had an affair with a Romanian officer in the Austro-Hungarian army. She visited the place frequently and she had a villa. It sounds like the town was once the Monaco of the Empire. I can’t get over the amount of money it must of cost to build these palaces. It is crazy that one many, Franz Joseph could have so much power. It is also unbelievable that the two countries, Austria and Hungary, dominated European affairs. Today they are two smaller nations, that are well off, but by no means lead Europe.
The buildings are still in Baile Herculane today, but they are in very poor condition, many of them abandoned. It was eerie to walk around the town and see all of these magnificent palatial buildings in such a state of disrepair. The fog and gloomy weather combined to make it all the stranger experience. Late Saturday afternoon, we walked with the kids down to the city center and saw up close all of these buildings. The kids loved the park and buying honey in the comb pieces from a street vendor. We were loving the architecture and mountain scenery. The place could really be a five-star destination with about 100 million dollar investment in the buildings, roads, etc.
The Kids Enjoyed the Park
The environmental consciousness of the Romanians is not quite up to EU or American standards. We saw lots of garbage in the village and throughout this part of Romania. The river going through the town was also quite polluted and I saw several open pipes running into the water. The geothermal springs are hot, but the water does have a definite sulfur smell and one could identify walking through the town.
Everyone was very friendly at the hotel and we ate well. Claudiu and Vesna were great as our Romanian tour guides. We really enjoyed ourselves! I’ll be blogging more this week on some of our experiences.
The beautiful early fall weather continued this weekend with blue skies, a slight breeze, and perfect temperatures. Temps have been in the low 80’s during the day and dropping in the 60’s at night. We took full advantage of this, as the cold weather and winter will be fast approaching. Nadia and Ocean are shown above in our pergola on Saturday evening. We ate outside in front of the fire. Absolute magic! I read a choose your adventure book to the boys and eventually, Oliver fell asleep Nadia’s lap.
On Saturday morning I mowed the lawn and cleaned up the patio and garage. In the afternoon, the boys and I took film producer Tony Pappa around the city to show him the sites of Belgrade. He is shooting a promotional video for the school. Sunday Owen, Ocean, and I went for a bike ride/run to Ada Ciganlija and then we had dinner at the Fuiroea’s home.
Last Sunday Nadia wanted to do some shopping in Budapest so we went down to the walking street in the center of the city. There is a square named after the Hungarian poet Vorosmarty. While she was in the various shops, I hung out with the kids in the square. What a wonderful morning it was. The kids ran around, climbed the statues and fountains, and watched all of the people in the square on a sunny early fall Sunday morning.
Being in Europe it is appropriate to think about Friedrich Nietzsche and his concept of eternal recurrence when looking at the photo above. The concept is that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum. I wish the moment Nadia captured on film above would occur ad infinitum. Sadly, I don’t share the same philosophy as Nietzsche, and believe these moments happen only once. But, if I could relive a moment, it would be a tender hug and kiss from Ocean.
Ocean turns two years old today. What a glorious tumult she brought to our lives. We didn’t plan on having three children, and after two boys, a girl has arrived with all kinds of surprises. Her personality is starting to show and she’ll be another lively, enthusiastic Kralovec. She loves to laugh and has very strong feelings on what she wants and likes, and she is not afraid to let you know how she feels! She is also very independent and wants to do things herself.
Last night I took her to the store to buy milk. We did some shopping and she followed me around the store with her little cart. She was dressed in her cherry pajamas. So cute.
Nadia and I attended the play, “The Blue Dragon” last week. It is one of the features in the BITEF (Belgrade International Theater Festival). The Festival is as old as I am in its 43rd year. This is quite amazing considering the political tumult Belgrade and Serbia has been through since the festival started.
We thought The Blue Dragon was brilliant. The play was done by Robert LaPage, who is a Canadian playwright and director. We were enthralled with the sets and lighting. It was amazing the scene changes and how real everything looked and felt. They went from a snowy day outside to an airport terminal, inside of an apartment, to biking in the city, throughout the play. The scene above shows La Page demonstrating Chinese symbols and their meaning.
The play was set in modern China and looked at Chinese culture and society, the effects of time on love, among other themes. It made me want to visit China to see it for myself. We were also impressed with the Yugolsav Drama Theater (below).
Budapest, Hungary is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Above is just one tiny example of the amount of architectural beauty that abounds. Everywhere one looks, down hundreds of streets, towers, facades, statues, etc. can be appreciated. And all of the buildings are massive. It felt a bit like Washington DC in the fact that there are so many areas with landmark buildings and squares. I can see why most of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site. I can’t believe all of the buildings survived WWII and the communist era.
The international school is also spectacular. It is set about 7 miles out of the city amidst orchards and villages. The K-12 campus is huge and it looks like a university campus. If I was working at the school, it would be nice to live in the village near the school.
Now the bad side – The over 3 million inhabitants of the Budapest metro area and more than 20 million tourists make the city feel crowded. Every where we went, from the cinema, to the grocery store, to the zoo, was packed with people. We felt it and it must increase the stress level of everyone. It will be something to consider when we make our next move to another international school. Many international schools are located in large cities and this will be a consideration. Belgrade is a nicer size. We also saw many more homeless people in the streets. I am not sure where they are in Belgrade, but you just don’t see them. Only the occasional gypsy, but they usually have a home. We also noticed that the street people were drinking publicly, bottles full of a yellow alcohol.
Our first hotel choice was hilarious. Nadia picked it over the internet and it looked like a nice family apartment. When we got there, it was in the middle of the red light district. They did not accept credit cards – only cash and I had to go to an ATM. While walking to the ATM, a prostitute said hello to me. Nice, with the family in the car 10 meters away. We called the owner and got out of our obligation and found a nice suite hotel in a better part of the city.
The Hungarians were much nicer this time than when we went in Christmas of last year. They make a big point of helping tourists and I had locals explain the IKEA parking lot ticket machines, people apologize for rude salespeople, etc. I imagine tourism brings a lot of money to the city. We saw tour buses and groups everywhere!
The country is much more developed than Serbia. The standard of living and cost of living are both much higher. This is good and bad, especially for expats living in the country. In talking with the international school’s principal, childcare and domestic help would be too expensive there.
The Hungarians look central European and Slavic, but their language and ethnic background is distinct from their neighbors. The language is very complex, with most words having over 10 letters and lots of symbols above the vowels. it is related to Finnish, but distantly related and the Finns don’t understand it. There are around 10 million Hungarians and the country is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. With the architecture, wine industry, thermal baths, history, I can see why.
This was our second trip to the city. Our first I blogged here. There is still more to explore and we will definitely return.
This weekend we headed 4 hours north to the capital of Hungary, Budapest. Our boys’ soccer teams were playing the American International School of Budapest. I brought the family up to watch the game and enjoy the weekend in a beautiful city. The kids are shown above playing in the hotel room.
That is the funny thing about kids, they enjoy different things than adults. Nadia and I were appreciating the amazing architecture of the buildings of Budapest. Most of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage site and I can see why. Everywhere one looks, there are huge, ornate facades on these magnificent buildings.
The kids enjoyed most the hotel rooms and the swing at the zoo.
We celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary Wednesday, September 17th. Nadia and I are shown above with Ocean and Oliver in our yard before our big night out. We were married in Coral Gables, Florida in 1999. We had a civil service and had a small reception at Tia Silvia’s home. Our more important anniversary is Halloween, the day in 1997 we first fell in love.
To recognize the occasion, we went to dinner at Cantina de Frida. This is the “hot” place to go in Belgrade for the slightly older, hip crowd. The restaurant is named after Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is located on the Sava River in an old warehouse. Some of the buildings have been converted to restaurants, shops, and bars. It had great food and a very nice atmosphere. We then went to the Yugoslav National Theater and caught a performance in the BITEF. More on that later.
John went through his International School of Prague Moodle pages. It started there as a grassroots movement with a small group of teachers. They are in Year 5 of implementation and obviously far ahead from us. He said we are in good shape and can avoid the mistakes his school made in implementation. Things I learned:
All faculty at his school need to do the skills below (Moodlic Literate)
log in to Moodle
upload a file
participate in a forum
participate in a wiki
A Minimal Requirement for teachers on their pages is to post all homework assignments, and have resources (worksheets – word docs – web links.)
No requirements for teachers to post their grades. They are moving to a Admin Software that will do this for them.
ESL kids love forums on Moodle and they can write at their own pace and they don’t stand out in a classroom environment. Want the forums to be a safe environment.
New teachers when they are hired, they go through an orientation on Moodle. They get all the orientation information, and participate in forums. It would be a good mentoring method.
Administration team, committees, PTA, Board of Trustees put all of their minutes, etc. on Moodle.
All that is produced at the school through Moodlic, it is the property of the school and it gets archived. The teacher can take the course with them, although it is not compatible with Blackboard.
At ISP, Moodlic is only for teachers and students, not parents. Students can share password with the parent. The idea is that parents can’t walk into a classroom.
ISP has turned off the chat and the messenging, because too much of temptation for students.
Recommend everyone to 320 gig portable hard drive to back up their work. All students have a USB flash drive to take with them.
Teachers responsible for backing up their moodle pages.
Google docs can be integrated into Moodle. ISP is gmail. No email accounts for students.
Faculty Meetings minutes, etc. on Moodle Course. The forum occurs before the meeting.
Faculty Forum – Before the faculty meeting, Prinicpal sends it out.
Trainings – Beginning of the year 3 hours, 1 and 1/2 for veterans. The Moodle trainers (two teachers) and then ICT trainer. Give a stipend to those mentors.
Cyber Cafe – One time per week, not required for teachers to go to. This is a PD for tech stuff.
One problem is too many things going on and too many portals for people to access.
Upper School Calendar for Homework – Portal for parents (Principal and Counselor) – Talk to teachers –
One portal – email/calendars/
One portal – Moodlic
One portal – WebEIM (or alternative Admin Software)
Teachers self police and no administrator moving through the pages to see who is doing them.
Leadership Team Course Excellent!
When a student enrolls, they fill out a form allow their children to be photographed on put on the website.
Teachers need to de-clutter their documents on their moodle pages as the years go by.
