Time to Catch Up

Spring arrives and time sure does fly.

Since our last post Masa and I have both worked ourselves into a regular routine of work and school, and as the academic lecture section of my program comes to a close next week, the mercury is pushing 30 degrees. Perhaps the end of lectures will not come soon enough, as it is more and me difficult to be inside when the weather is so amazing.

Earlier this spring we both suffered from a few ailments, spring colds and flu's, and unfortunately for me, one awful stomach virus. As a result, I did afford myself of the opportunity to check out one of the private clinics here in town, and to meet a hysterical, 74-yr old internal medicine specialist, who lives in our neighbourhood. I spent more then two hours with him during each appointment, in which he regaled me with stories of his life in Sarajevo, and of how "you are sick because our germs see you as a foreigner." (wink wink.) An amazing bedside manner, and confident in his English skills, even in medical terminology, he did take a few moments when it came to typing up the reports, exclaiming, "now please, you must sit in silence as I type this report. I must think in my language but type in yours." A large old man with massive hands, it was a miracle he did not smash the keyboard into tiny pieces, typing only with his index fingers.

Spring also allowed us an opportunity to hike into Lukomir, a remote mountain village that is normally cut-off from the world at least six months of the year due to the heavy snows at higher altitudes. You can check out the pictures from the Lukomir hike here. But a couple of my favourites are below.

We also did a trip to our favourite Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik for the May 1st holiday (a traditional socialist worker's day), joining up with some colleagues and friends from Sarajevo.

Sarajevo Diaries Vol IX

So much for Winter.

The last month we kept waiting for the really cold weather to get here, perhaps conditioned by our experiences of Ottawa's notoriously bitter February winters. But with the arrival of March this week, winter is still nowhere to be seen.

The last few weeks we have been doing some celebrating with friends, as one of my schoolmates found herself invited to play violin with the Sarajevo Philharmonic; and Masa began a new job with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Spring will be a busy time of new routines and excitement as already the trees are beginning to bud and the tulips are beginning to sprout out of the ground.

Check out some photos here of our recent outings!

Sarajevo Diaries VIII

Time for a bit of Routine...maybe.

It's been funny to see the ways in which routine tries to take hold as we get into our third month here in Sarajevo, and how sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just cannot get into a rhythm.

The school schedule ebbs and flows, but the workload is steadily increasing. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll be able to hammer down on what my thesis topic will be, so that I can really get to work on it in advance of the inevitable spring and summer slowdown. Masa and I are both starting a Graduate Diploma program in Islamic Studies this coming week, and really looking forward to it. Two times per week in the evenings, traversing some of the history of Islam in the Balkans....and our first reading assignment? "The Koran for Dummies." Will either be the start of something fabulous, or of something altogether different, but no doubt another adventure!

I've been thinking a lot about what a "typical day" is like here for me. On days when I have class to get to, I usually make some time for an espresso at home and a little bit of internet news of events back home. On my into school I'll stop into the "Pekara" (the bakery) in front of our place to pick up a sandwich or two, or a croissant, and to practice a small bit of my Bosnian with "the ladies" at the counter. No matter how well I think I've pronounced things, or how I try to vary my delivery, they always smile nicely and have a little laugh. They are terrific though, and always friendly - and so far their initial assessment of me is about right, as they said "either he'll have to learn Bosnian or we'll have to learn English...and well, we're not learning English."

Other times we laugh at how we ought to start a counter of some kind on this blog as to the number of times I get better service as an obvious "foreigner", or when Masa gets the deal as a "local." Last week we went to the dry cleaners to drop off a bunch of our gear, and when we got our receipt, we realized why she never even asked for our name or phone number...it simply said, "foreigner." Not sure if this is a sign a great service for me, or a slight indicative of the owner's lack of desire to interact, or worse yet, were we being charged more since I'm an "international?" As it turns out, she was kind enough to tell us that she simply cannot catch up to all of the names of the foreigners she deals with in her business, and it is simply faster to always write "STRANAC" (foreigner) on the receipts....and we even got a bit of a deal. Maybe we would count this one to the local.

Later on we went to check out a new spa "wellness centre" that is opening near our house. The were not officially open yet when we peeked into the window, but the owner did open the door a crack to answer a couple of Masa's questions. When he heard me say "it's really nice" he opened the door wide, and said, "Oh, English, come on in!" And he proceed to give us our own little private tour of the new digs. Chalk one up for the foreigner.

Needless to say still getting used to trying to simultaneously fit in a little bit and deal with the obviously different expectations that people have depending on where you come from. Maybe now different than anywhere else...

Sarajevo Diaries VII

New Year’s 2007 in Turkey!

Masa and I had been trying to think of a unique place to go for New Year’s this year, what with our proximity to so many incredible places in Europe and abroad. We first considered going to Cairo, as a colleague of Masa’s is working there until March. We even had a friend in Vancouver who is an editor of an online travel magazine run a poll of her readers and contributors as to where we should go.

In the end the consensus became Istanbul for us, largely due to the cost savings over going to Cairo at this time of year.

We traveled first by van to Belgrade, Serbia to see Masa’s grandmother and aunt for a couple days, and then booked our flights to Istanbul in and out of Belgrade. Unfortunately I managed to catch a cold in our rickety van on the way to Belgrade as we traversed the mountains, and I struggled to shake it off for the remainder of the holiday.

We arrived in Belgrade on Christmas day, and although I was felling rather homesick and longing for some of the usual Christmas traditions that I have been used to, Masa’s grandmother and aunt went to incredible lengths to celebrate Christmas for me – even decorating their kitchen and living room, wrapping us presents (Masa’ favorite), and making a turkey! It was a magnificent feast!

Spending a few days in Belgrade we were able to tour some of the city with a school-mate of mine, Slobodan, who was home visiting his family. It was great to see some more of the city that neither of us had seen before, along with some great historical explanations of some of the landmarks.

We arrived in Istanbul on the 28th, having traveled with an organized tour from the Kon Tiki agency in Belgrade. The flight was great, although somewhat humorous for the degree of Serbian propaganda included with our tour guide, who graciously explained the history of Serbian involvement in Turkey….for example, Constantine was actually a Serb….this was news to me….and of course I then had to stick my foot in my mouth and ask her if she was from Turkey…this did not sit too well with her.

Once we arrived at our hotel and got settled, we got straight to the business of seeing the sights. Our first stop was Hagia Sophia – currently a museum, but once the largest church in Christendom, and subsequently a mosque during Ottoman times. Seeing the blend of Christian mosaics with the Arabic scriptures from the Koran was very powerful, and quite beautiful. The church would have been almost unimaginably shimmering in gold mosaics when it was in its glory.

Within the same area of Sultanahmet, the old town of Istanbul on the shores of the Bosphorus, you can find the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, and the Topkapi Palace. Over the course of our four days in Istanbul we made sure to see all of these, and without question they are each undeniably incredible, leaving us speechless at every turn. I have been remarking on how the Hagia Sophia was likely my favorite, but as I write this I am not so sure. The Basilica Cistern, which we left until our final hours in the city, was truly remarkable. The Blue Mosque was powerful and magnificent, yet also left us with such a wonderful sense of calm and quiet.

We were initially and continually struck by the gender divide in Istanbul, and often wondered about the degree of this divide across Turkish society. We found ourselves immersed in Turkish food, language, and culture, yet oddly surrounded by collections of Turkish men, yet very rarely did we encounter what we thought to be local Turkish women. Perhaps this was due simply to the neighborhoods we were in, or the sights we saw, or to the undoubtedly large preparations for the Islamic celebration of Bajram (Buy-ram), held in Turkey this year on December 31st. Overall it was an interesting and perplexing observation to have made.

We loved the food in Istanbul. Our favorite was a little restaurant that we stumbled across on a street called “Peyhane Sokak”. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall sort of place with just two or three tables, and occupied by a few local workers at the end of the day. But they made the most delicious čorba soup, and an incredible Dürum (much like a rolled kebab).

The New Year itself we had hoped to spend in the main Taksim Square, in the more modern area of Istanbul – where you can find chain stores and familiar North American conveniences like Starbucks….yes, I did go in for a fix. The Taksim square was full of tens of thousands of revelers, live music, djs, and general pandemonium. But we started our evening at a pre-arranged dinner that was organized through a travel agency, which we were attending with Masa’s uncle Emir, his girlfriend, and many of their friends, as they had flown in from Sarajevo. The dinner might have been amazing…except when we got to the restaurant there was no room for us to sit, the “traditional” Turkish entertainment of belly dancers and music was already half-over, and the manager of the restaurant was content to seat our 17-member party individually at separate tables. In the end we left and ended up at another place that was cut from the same tourist-centric cloth, where we rammed down some dinner and wine at 11:30, just in time to raise a glass of bubbly for the New Year. Eventually we made it back to the Taksim square…but by about 2:00am, at which point it was populated mostly by riot police. We shared loads of laughs and had a great time though!

My overall impressions of Istanbul are tremendous. We thoroughly enjoyed the time there. For a city of 17 million people it is vibrant, welcoming, and exciting. I definitely want to make it back to explore the Grand bazaar at greater length, to return to see the Bosphorus in the summertime, and to eat more incredible food!