With 3 religions in Bosnia, Easter is not such a big affair. The Muslims don't celebrate it and the Orthodox church celebrates it next week so we were in a minority as we got into holiday mode. I went to find chocolate eggs and was gobsmacked to find that here, in Bosnia, the most chocolate obsessed nation I have ever come across, didn't do them. At all. No big eggs. No little eggs. I did find some chocolate bunnies, next to the chocolate Santas left over from Christmas, so we went with those instead and I found some other sorts of chocolatey things that could be hidden in the garden for a traditional egg hunt.
The Bosnians may not do chocolate eggs, but they do get very into decorating their eggs. A friend had us over on Friday afternoon to help paint eggs and they turned out really well. The boys were very proud of their efforts and they occupied a very pretty looking nest in the middle of the table whilst I considered what to do with them next. Then I read a post from Are We Nearly There Yet Mummy which gave me the answer and an egg rolling competition commenced. The boys took to the event with enthusiasm. We don't have any eggs left anymore.
After a long, hard, cold, miserable, dank, dark winter it is such a joy to see the spring sunshine. It is t-shirt and shorts weather here. We spent the whole weekend in the garden digging our allotment, planting a variety of herbs and veg (fortunately being directed by a friend who actually knows what she is talking about) amongst the blossoms of the fruit trees that surround the garden. Suddenly I felt that Bosnia is a good place to be. I'm looking forward to the summer.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Who'd be a dog in Tuzla?
Up in Ilincica, the hills behind Tuzla, are some lovely walks and a restaurant. I've become quite friendly with the owner, who thinks that my daily walks up there with 2 small boys and a dog are quite bizarre but forgives us because we are English and therefore a bit odd.
As we parked up there the other day I noticed a bundle of fur by the side of the road and sure enough there were 3 bewildered rather frightened puppies. They were tiny, cannot have been more than 6 weeks or so old and certainly not old enough to be taken away from their mother. I asked the restaurateur where they had come from. 'A car came by about 5 minutes ago' he said 'they threw them out of the car'. I looked at the puppies again, a boy and 2 girls, one of whom had obviously got a broken leg.
I took my motley crew for a walk whilst I considered the options. Adam was very curious. Where did the puppies come from Mummy? Why don't they have a Mummy? Who is going to look after them? Why did the man throw them out of the car? I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier at the way in which some Bosnians treat their animals. How could they abandon these dogs like this? Luke was enchanted by them, and kept trying to return to them.
It became obvious - I couldn't leave them there. They would die, and slowly and painfully. I'd heard rumours that there was a dog home in Tuzla, something I didn't know about in previous episodes with abandoned puppies. We would take the puppies and we would find this dog home. It would be our afternoons adventure. The boys were thrilled.
When we got back to the car there were only 2 puppies. The restaurateur confirmed that the one with the broken leg had died, which I wasn't surprised about. So we found a box, put the puppies in the back, gave them some bread (all I had in the car), and set off. They were as good as gold. Not a whine, cry or whimper. Up the hills we went pursuing leads, on tracks which were definitely intended for a 4x4 and our Ford Mondeo estate was skidding around all over the place. I was rather scared (driving is not my forte) but in the end encouraged on by my 2 Lewis Hamiltons in the back, we crawled up a hill and there it was. The dog home for Tuzla. Battersea Dogs Home it was not. But it was a dog home and it was somewhere that these puppies might be cared for*.
I found the owner who was not keen. The home is for adult dogs only. For a moment I started to panic. I'd taken on these puppies, there was no way I could abandon them now. But they obviously had an element of German Shepherd in them and were going to be big dogs. Adopting 2 strays would not be a way to make my life easier. I have heard incidences of people adopting a Bosnian stray and for it to be a real success. But on the other hand a friend of mine took on a puppy from Sarajevo and he what could be termed a real handful, chases and kills chickens, sheep, cats, anything that moves. No, I really couldn't take on any more dogs.
With a combination of deliberate non-understanding of the I will not take these dogs phrases, consistent presenting of these two tiny, shivering, adorable pups and repeating the story that they had been thrown out of the car, as well as promises to get in touch with a journalist friend in Tuzla to see if we could get some more exposure for the shelter, I persuaded her to take them.
I'm going to head back up there on Sunday to take some food for the dogs. It will be a drop in the ocean, there are at least 350 dogs there, but every little helps. She told me she has very little help, very little money and doesn't know what to do. This being Bosnia I've heard other stories from other people including that she had a link with a Dutch organisation who gave money but it disappeared. Certainly, the shelter is a long way off the standards that would be required to call it humane. But it is there, and that is a whole lot better for these 350 dogs and 2 puppies than facing the hunters.
******
*Adam over at Balkan File had a post recently including some pictures about a similar dog home just outside of Belgrade in Serbia. There he gives a contact for anyone wanting to contribute towards the running of the home. I'd love to do something for this dogs home, but there is obviously some back story that I'm unaware of. If anyone has an idea about how to help please leave me a comment!
As we parked up there the other day I noticed a bundle of fur by the side of the road and sure enough there were 3 bewildered rather frightened puppies. They were tiny, cannot have been more than 6 weeks or so old and certainly not old enough to be taken away from their mother. I asked the restaurateur where they had come from. 'A car came by about 5 minutes ago' he said 'they threw them out of the car'. I looked at the puppies again, a boy and 2 girls, one of whom had obviously got a broken leg.
I took my motley crew for a walk whilst I considered the options. Adam was very curious. Where did the puppies come from Mummy? Why don't they have a Mummy? Who is going to look after them? Why did the man throw them out of the car? I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier at the way in which some Bosnians treat their animals. How could they abandon these dogs like this? Luke was enchanted by them, and kept trying to return to them.
It became obvious - I couldn't leave them there. They would die, and slowly and painfully. I'd heard rumours that there was a dog home in Tuzla, something I didn't know about in previous episodes with abandoned puppies. We would take the puppies and we would find this dog home. It would be our afternoons adventure. The boys were thrilled.
When we got back to the car there were only 2 puppies. The restaurateur confirmed that the one with the broken leg had died, which I wasn't surprised about. So we found a box, put the puppies in the back, gave them some bread (all I had in the car), and set off. They were as good as gold. Not a whine, cry or whimper. Up the hills we went pursuing leads, on tracks which were definitely intended for a 4x4 and our Ford Mondeo estate was skidding around all over the place. I was rather scared (driving is not my forte) but in the end encouraged on by my 2 Lewis Hamiltons in the back, we crawled up a hill and there it was. The dog home for Tuzla. Battersea Dogs Home it was not. But it was a dog home and it was somewhere that these puppies might be cared for*.
I found the owner who was not keen. The home is for adult dogs only. For a moment I started to panic. I'd taken on these puppies, there was no way I could abandon them now. But they obviously had an element of German Shepherd in them and were going to be big dogs. Adopting 2 strays would not be a way to make my life easier. I have heard incidences of people adopting a Bosnian stray and for it to be a real success. But on the other hand a friend of mine took on a puppy from Sarajevo and he what could be termed a real handful, chases and kills chickens, sheep, cats, anything that moves. No, I really couldn't take on any more dogs.
With a combination of deliberate non-understanding of the I will not take these dogs phrases, consistent presenting of these two tiny, shivering, adorable pups and repeating the story that they had been thrown out of the car, as well as promises to get in touch with a journalist friend in Tuzla to see if we could get some more exposure for the shelter, I persuaded her to take them.
I'm going to head back up there on Sunday to take some food for the dogs. It will be a drop in the ocean, there are at least 350 dogs there, but every little helps. She told me she has very little help, very little money and doesn't know what to do. This being Bosnia I've heard other stories from other people including that she had a link with a Dutch organisation who gave money but it disappeared. Certainly, the shelter is a long way off the standards that would be required to call it humane. But it is there, and that is a whole lot better for these 350 dogs and 2 puppies than facing the hunters.
******
*Adam over at Balkan File had a post recently including some pictures about a similar dog home just outside of Belgrade in Serbia. There he gives a contact for anyone wanting to contribute towards the running of the home. I'd love to do something for this dogs home, but there is obviously some back story that I'm unaware of. If anyone has an idea about how to help please leave me a comment!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Lists and the love of a mother
A departure from my usual blogging self. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow. But today there has been a fortuitous coincidence.
First, I recently signed up for a 30 day improve your blog course. What can I say? It was free. I was supposed to be working. I was bored. I suddenly thought that maybe I ought to actually put some effort in beyond wittering at the few people who come by. I had actually forgotten all about it but the first lesson appeared yesterday and not only did I fail to complete it, I didn't even attempt it. It was all to do with identifying your ambitions for your blog, writing an 'elevator pitch' and working out who you are hoping will read it. That was difficult. I mean do I write for people who are interested in Bosnia? Do I write a Mummy Blog? Do I write for people interested in Bosnia and parenthood and want to read about it in English? That narrows the audience down somewhat. So I decided that I would write for myself and see where I end up. Got sidetracked from writing the elevator pitch - yesterday was a busy day involving far more important things such as escalators, potties (again, it is everlasting and I am still losing the battle) and seeing if I could get the boys to mop the porch before they realised it was a chore and not a game.
First, I recently signed up for a 30 day improve your blog course. What can I say? It was free. I was supposed to be working. I was bored. I suddenly thought that maybe I ought to actually put some effort in beyond wittering at the few people who come by. I had actually forgotten all about it but the first lesson appeared yesterday and not only did I fail to complete it, I didn't even attempt it. It was all to do with identifying your ambitions for your blog, writing an 'elevator pitch' and working out who you are hoping will read it. That was difficult. I mean do I write for people who are interested in Bosnia? Do I write a Mummy Blog? Do I write for people interested in Bosnia and parenthood and want to read about it in English? That narrows the audience down somewhat. So I decided that I would write for myself and see where I end up. Got sidetracked from writing the elevator pitch - yesterday was a busy day involving far more important things such as escalators, potties (again, it is everlasting and I am still losing the battle) and seeing if I could get the boys to mop the porch before they realised it was a chore and not a game.
For todays lesson I am supposed to write a 'list post'. An important tool apparently. But I quite like doing lists - I'm a mother after all - so I figured I could do that.
Then, just as I was wondering if I could update an old list and be done with it, I was tagged (I didn't know what it meant either) by A Modern Mother and Notes From Inside My Head inviting me to join the modern day Verne voyage to go Around the World in 80 clicks. The idea, in conjunction with Global Voices Online is to get as many Mums from as many countries to write a post listing 5 things that they love about their children, this being a universal question that all mothers, wherever they are from, can respond to. Being about the only Mummy blogging in English from Bosnia, I guess I need to suspend British scepticism and suspicion that this is a chain letter by another name and get to it if Bosnia is to be represented.
But really I can't resist it. 2 for the price of 1. Besides, I read some of the other posts from other participating mothers and there are some really great ones. So, here goes:
- Getting me back into baking. Cakes, biscuits, puddings. I never cooked them when I was a career girl. Now we don't stop. And even given the amount of copious cake eating that I've achieved over the past few years (particularly as cakes are bad for children and therefore tired Mummys must step in to ensure it doesn't go stale) I'm still a size smaller than in my career girl days because the kids don't stop running around, so neither do I.
The inability of Lukey to pronounce his own name. Instead he talks about Ookey. I do go a bit gooey every time I hear it and will be sad when he works out how to say it properly.
Providing me with the ability to say "because I said so" and for that to be the end of the conversation! Power. I have it. They may not respect it, but for that short moment I'm the boss and I said so. So there.
Making me see the world all over again. Especially seeing things that I have seen so often that I've forgotten how great they are and asking the questions that challenge the basics. I still don't know why Orangina makes you burp and not fart, whether ticks can swim or what worms do when they are not in the ground - but I'd like to.
Last, but by no means least, it is the way they can give an all over body hug, which includes arms, legs, head and any other part of their body they can manage to wrap around me. I'll never feel as loved and needed again. Everything that I do for them, give them, create for them is repaid in spades in that moment.
Mission accomplished. Normal Service will be resumed tomorrow. All that remains is to tag some others. So BloominMavelous and Alice - take it away.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Spring has sprung
At last. At long last. Spring has arrived, and it has arrived with a vengeance. The weekend was beautiful, blossom on the trees, all sorts of flowers out and a general sense that the winter with its snow and mud is behind us.
We took the opportunity to see whether the lakes near Tuzla were open yet. Deliberately not taking any swimming stuff (however much the boys beg, it is too cold to go swimming just yet) we set off and joy of joys, they are. People were cooking barbecues and picnicking, playing volleyball, fishing and generally moving into summertime mode. It was lovely.
Inspired we came back, bought a barbecue and spent the evening cooking our own burgers and kebabs in the garden, enjoying the evening light and not having to put on a jacket. Throw in a few beers, the odd glass of cold white wine and some good friends and races with small children around the garden and suddenly Bosnia doesn't seem a bad place to be at all.
Even with all the above, there is one development that has really caught my imagination. I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that all the Bosnians have been very busy in their gardens. Not tending to flowers (although there are some roses and other splashes of colour appearing in front of everyone's house) but planting their vegetables. There has been a flurry of digging, weeding and planting going on in almost every garden and most the open spaces around. Well, when in Bosnia.... we now have our own allotment in the corner of the garden. More accurately we now have our own dug up bit of earth and the bottom of the garden, but I have onions, carrots, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes to plant. I know nothing about growing green stuff, being an urban girl born and bred. But, I'm very excited about having a go, and, armed with their own trowels and permission to go get really dirty, so are the boys. You never know, if they grow the vegetables themselves they may even get inspired to eat them.
We took the opportunity to see whether the lakes near Tuzla were open yet. Deliberately not taking any swimming stuff (however much the boys beg, it is too cold to go swimming just yet) we set off and joy of joys, they are. People were cooking barbecues and picnicking, playing volleyball, fishing and generally moving into summertime mode. It was lovely.
Inspired we came back, bought a barbecue and spent the evening cooking our own burgers and kebabs in the garden, enjoying the evening light and not having to put on a jacket. Throw in a few beers, the odd glass of cold white wine and some good friends and races with small children around the garden and suddenly Bosnia doesn't seem a bad place to be at all.
Even with all the above, there is one development that has really caught my imagination. I've noticed over the past couple of weeks that all the Bosnians have been very busy in their gardens. Not tending to flowers (although there are some roses and other splashes of colour appearing in front of everyone's house) but planting their vegetables. There has been a flurry of digging, weeding and planting going on in almost every garden and most the open spaces around. Well, when in Bosnia.... we now have our own allotment in the corner of the garden. More accurately we now have our own dug up bit of earth and the bottom of the garden, but I have onions, carrots, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes to plant. I know nothing about growing green stuff, being an urban girl born and bred. But, I'm very excited about having a go, and, armed with their own trowels and permission to go get really dirty, so are the boys. You never know, if they grow the vegetables themselves they may even get inspired to eat them.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Small children and Bosnian medicals...
Our efforts to get hold of the appropriate visa continue. The most recent step was to have a medical. In our innocence we had just presumed this would be a quick chat with the doctor, possibly a blood pressure measurement or two and off we would go, declared healthy with the appropriate boxes ticked. I even thought that we might be able to do this whilst the boys were in nursery, surely they wouldn't want to examine the boys?
How wrong can you be? 6 hours, 6 Doctors, many nurses and quite a lot of cash later we finally got our signed bit of paper.
The following are my top tips for anyone else considering embarking upon the application process (especially those with children).
1. Make sure that you call someone who knows someone who knows someone in the hospital. This can help ease your route through the process and bumps you up to the front of many queues. This also means you must arrive at the hospital (children in tow) at 7.15am before any queues have yet to form in order to be able to jump them.
2. Find a doctor who knows how to take blood. Let him practice first upon an adult to get his eye in and ensure that if anyone is going to have a bruise from bicep to forearm it is an adult. Female doctors are much better at taking blood from wriggling, screaming children.
3. If you give an un potty trained toddler a urine sample pot, it doesn't mean that you will get a urine sample from him. It you write his name on the lid, it doesn't mean he is anymore likely to pee in the pot. Remember, if you can get unpottytrained toddler to pee into the pot, the mother might well kidnap you and take you home until you train the toddler to pee in the potty.
4. Potty trained toddlers are also going to find peeing into a tiny urine sample pot difficult. They aren't going to be able to repeat the attempt to do so either.
5. Neither toddler will stand still long enough to take a chest x-ray without their mother in the room (and even then it is not guaranteed). The toddlers will also take off any special apron thing put around their waists.
6. It is impossible to keep toddlers behaving well for 6 hours. At some point they will leap off the waiting room chairs and run screaming at the top of their voices into a consulting room. They will repeat this several times.
7. They will also crawl under benches, chairs and generally roll around on the floor. They will probably take down giant cardboard displays and use them to build a fort. It doesn't matter how many times you tell their mother that the floor is dirty, they've been there for 6 hours and it is playing on the floor or running screaming into adjacent consulting rooms. You choose.
8. Please don't ask the mother of a toddler if she gets headaches as the toddler is bashing her over the head with a train.
9. Don't ask if she gets enough sleep either. What do you think?
10. At some point the children will have to be fed and given something to drink. This should not mean that they lose their place in the queue.
For me the highlight of the day was when we were given a psychological test. Seriously. It felt like something out of Joseph Heller's Catch 22. If you are applying for a Bosnian visa you must be mad. Therefore we deny you this visa on the basis of insanity.
The quest continues...
How wrong can you be? 6 hours, 6 Doctors, many nurses and quite a lot of cash later we finally got our signed bit of paper.
The following are my top tips for anyone else considering embarking upon the application process (especially those with children).
1. Make sure that you call someone who knows someone who knows someone in the hospital. This can help ease your route through the process and bumps you up to the front of many queues. This also means you must arrive at the hospital (children in tow) at 7.15am before any queues have yet to form in order to be able to jump them.
2. Find a doctor who knows how to take blood. Let him practice first upon an adult to get his eye in and ensure that if anyone is going to have a bruise from bicep to forearm it is an adult. Female doctors are much better at taking blood from wriggling, screaming children.
3. If you give an un potty trained toddler a urine sample pot, it doesn't mean that you will get a urine sample from him. It you write his name on the lid, it doesn't mean he is anymore likely to pee in the pot. Remember, if you can get unpottytrained toddler to pee into the pot, the mother might well kidnap you and take you home until you train the toddler to pee in the potty.
4. Potty trained toddlers are also going to find peeing into a tiny urine sample pot difficult. They aren't going to be able to repeat the attempt to do so either.
5. Neither toddler will stand still long enough to take a chest x-ray without their mother in the room (and even then it is not guaranteed). The toddlers will also take off any special apron thing put around their waists.
6. It is impossible to keep toddlers behaving well for 6 hours. At some point they will leap off the waiting room chairs and run screaming at the top of their voices into a consulting room. They will repeat this several times.
7. They will also crawl under benches, chairs and generally roll around on the floor. They will probably take down giant cardboard displays and use them to build a fort. It doesn't matter how many times you tell their mother that the floor is dirty, they've been there for 6 hours and it is playing on the floor or running screaming into adjacent consulting rooms. You choose.
8. Please don't ask the mother of a toddler if she gets headaches as the toddler is bashing her over the head with a train.
9. Don't ask if she gets enough sleep either. What do you think?
10. At some point the children will have to be fed and given something to drink. This should not mean that they lose their place in the queue.
For me the highlight of the day was when we were given a psychological test. Seriously. It felt like something out of Joseph Heller's Catch 22. If you are applying for a Bosnian visa you must be mad. Therefore we deny you this visa on the basis of insanity.
The quest continues...
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Hajmo Bosno Bosno Bosno!
Bosnia's football team has yet to qualify for a big football tournament. The closest they got was about 5 years ago when they had to beat Denmark, at home, to go to Euro 2004. They drew 1-1, didn't make the cut and Bosnians still talk of their misery that day.
Whisper it quietly, but the current Bosnian team (managed by the flamboyant Ciro who took Croatia to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1998) is not at all bad. The Bosnians are secretly hopeful of going to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Having beaten Belgium away 4-2 on Saturday, last night they hosted them here. A win would put them into a strong position in their group. They might do it. Everyone thinks that they might.
Most people watched Saturdays game at home. You knew when Bosnia had scored, a fireworks display worthy of Guy Fawkes went off. Well, not on the fourth goal perhaps, I think everyone had run out of fireworks. But having beaten Belgium so convincingly there was a real mood of anticipation and excitement about the home leg. A group got together on FaceBook calling for the erection of a big screen in Tuzla to watch the match and after 2000 people had joined it, the government duly did so.
We couldn't resist. We found a babysitter, got the boys into bed and off we went. The square was packed, everyone dressed in blue and yellow. There was a lot of singing and laughing and flag waving. Everyone was having a ball, including the legions of young kids who were out for the event. We drank beer and ate peanuts and shouted at the TV screen along with everyone else. We leapt around singing songs when Bosnia scored and were deafened by the firecrackers exploding by our feet. There was such a sense of fun, of enjoyment and joy, with very little of the drunkenness, shouting or aggressiveness that you might expect to find at a similar event in Britain.
Bosnia won 2-1. We strode down the Korzo with the exultant crowds waving their flags and then back home as parades of cars, with men hanging out the windows, beeping their horns were singing Bosnian songs. We were singing them as well. Especially when we found out that England had won 2-1 too.
UPDATE
We're not the only ones who enjoyed the big screen spectacle in Tuzla. A Balkan Insight blog also writes about the event, but adds additional information about the darker side of football in Bosnia.
Whisper it quietly, but the current Bosnian team (managed by the flamboyant Ciro who took Croatia to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1998) is not at all bad. The Bosnians are secretly hopeful of going to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Having beaten Belgium away 4-2 on Saturday, last night they hosted them here. A win would put them into a strong position in their group. They might do it. Everyone thinks that they might.
Most people watched Saturdays game at home. You knew when Bosnia had scored, a fireworks display worthy of Guy Fawkes went off. Well, not on the fourth goal perhaps, I think everyone had run out of fireworks. But having beaten Belgium so convincingly there was a real mood of anticipation and excitement about the home leg. A group got together on FaceBook calling for the erection of a big screen in Tuzla to watch the match and after 2000 people had joined it, the government duly did so.
We couldn't resist. We found a babysitter, got the boys into bed and off we went. The square was packed, everyone dressed in blue and yellow. There was a lot of singing and laughing and flag waving. Everyone was having a ball, including the legions of young kids who were out for the event. We drank beer and ate peanuts and shouted at the TV screen along with everyone else. We leapt around singing songs when Bosnia scored and were deafened by the firecrackers exploding by our feet. There was such a sense of fun, of enjoyment and joy, with very little of the drunkenness, shouting or aggressiveness that you might expect to find at a similar event in Britain.
Bosnia won 2-1. We strode down the Korzo with the exultant crowds waving their flags and then back home as parades of cars, with men hanging out the windows, beeping their horns were singing Bosnian songs. We were singing them as well. Especially when we found out that England had won 2-1 too.
UPDATE
We're not the only ones who enjoyed the big screen spectacle in Tuzla. A Balkan Insight blog also writes about the event, but adds additional information about the darker side of football in Bosnia.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
nirvana.. or close to it
As I type, we are a picture of domestic bliss. One boy is sweeping. The other is following with a mop. If I can just keep this up for the next 18 years I (and any future daughters-in-law) will be laughing.
The realistic chances of it lasting for much more than the next 5 minutes are close to zero but I'm enjoying the dream.
So whilst I have 5 minutes, I'm going to add a link for the Best of British Mummy Bloggers Carnival which publishes the best posts from British Mummys every two weeks. This week it includes me (small cheers and a bit of a jig performed from a seated position). And then I'm going to go and read the other blogs (more cheers, more jigs and a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure that the mopping is still going strong, ah yes, they are now tackling behind the sofa, I'm training them well).
The realistic chances of it lasting for much more than the next 5 minutes are close to zero but I'm enjoying the dream.
So whilst I have 5 minutes, I'm going to add a link for the Best of British Mummy Bloggers Carnival which publishes the best posts from British Mummys every two weeks. This week it includes me (small cheers and a bit of a jig performed from a seated position). And then I'm going to go and read the other blogs (more cheers, more jigs and a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure that the mopping is still going strong, ah yes, they are now tackling behind the sofa, I'm training them well).
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