Our new house is right next door to a mosque. It is a very Bosnian mosque, small, pretty and rather sweet. I like the feel of having a mosque next door. It allows us to watch the coming and going and the call to prayer provides a soundtrack to the rhythm of our lives in BiH. It certainly helps place us firmly in a different country. Bosnia is the most geographically western country which whilst you would never describe it as Muslim does have a significant proportion of Muslims in its population.
The only problem with the call to prayer is that it does start rather early. Today, being Friday it went off with a particular enthusiasm and length. Little L, affronted by the sound of a falling feather 3 blocks away whilst he is sleeping, was up instantly. Which is why I was trying to watch gymnastics at 5.30am this morning.
Friday, 15 August 2008
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Olympic Dreams
Obviously you can watch extensive coverage of the Olympics in BiH. But it isn't the same. I want massively biased coverage! I want to feel part of the movement as the whole country unites in its new found ability to talk expertly about fringe sports (" I think you'll find the synchronicity points for that dive will exceed the execution ones..."). I want to see the replays of England's few medal moments over and over again! I want Adrian Chiles and Sue Barker!
I don't want to see the Croatian water polo team in their very tight red and white checked trunks at 6.30am. It wasn't pretty.
*** updated later on in the day****
They haunt me - innocently checking the Guardian website and I was confronted by this picture. It still isn't very pretty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2008/aug/11/olympics20081?picture=336570654
I don't want to see the Croatian water polo team in their very tight red and white checked trunks at 6.30am. It wasn't pretty.
*** updated later on in the day****
They haunt me - innocently checking the Guardian website and I was confronted by this picture. It still isn't very pretty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/gallery/2008/aug/11/olympics20081?picture=336570654
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
the holiday is now, most definitely, over
After a week or so of living the uncomplicated childfree life, I popped back to the UK (for literally one day) and picked up the boys. The three of us flew to Sarajevo, 2 1/2 hours of purgatory. Flying with toddlers is hard work, flying with 2 is harder work. Suffice to say I earned my Mummy money and nearly wept on landing. After a quick trip to the lovely parks and tree lined avenues in Illidza to try and run the boys around enough to take away some of their excess energy it was a further 3 hour drive through the mountainous roads to Tuzla. Overall they were pretty good especially bearing in mind the very early start and epic amounts of travelling in one day, but home was still a very sweet sight.
Today was the first toddler filled day in Tuzla and it was exhausting. A is behaving appallingly. Refusing to let a chance to torment his younger brother go by, he has also developed a complete inability to hear what his mother is saying and, on being chastised, is combining it with an Oscar winners instinct for melodrama. I'm not sure if it is the change of scene, months of imminent change and now the actual move, an opportunity to get back at his parents for deserting him for 10 days or a heady dose of toddler hormones, but whatever it is we all hope it is going to be temporary. I'm a firm believer that it is change that is stressful and until we all get used to the new environment I doubt we'll be having those movie moment days when everyone is enthusiastically engaged in paper mache.
In the meantime we have appointments to look round 3 nurseries tomorrow.
Today was the first toddler filled day in Tuzla and it was exhausting. A is behaving appallingly. Refusing to let a chance to torment his younger brother go by, he has also developed a complete inability to hear what his mother is saying and, on being chastised, is combining it with an Oscar winners instinct for melodrama. I'm not sure if it is the change of scene, months of imminent change and now the actual move, an opportunity to get back at his parents for deserting him for 10 days or a heady dose of toddler hormones, but whatever it is we all hope it is going to be temporary. I'm a firm believer that it is change that is stressful and until we all get used to the new environment I doubt we'll be having those movie moment days when everyone is enthusiastically engaged in paper mache.
In the meantime we have appointments to look round 3 nurseries tomorrow.
Monday, 11 August 2008
the devil is in the detail
Er, turns out the service was not being held yesterday, but next week instead. My career prospects as a proficient and incisive researcher are golden...
Friday, 8 August 2008
post conflict reconciliation
As the boys are still in England life has been seeming like a bit of a holiday despite the mountains of admin to plough through. There have been long mornings lounging in bed, late nights in restaurants and general behaving like we don't have any children. But, the holiday had to end and work starts tomorrow for us both.
D has got his new office up and running and now needs to set about registering his company and looking for some employees.
I on the other hand need to kick start my research. So, I am off, with a few friends, to the village where I hope the bulk of my research will be taking place. The main reason for going is to reintroduce myself and to sound out a few people about the feasibility of what I would like to do. However, tomorrow has a particular resonance for them. Their village was one of the first to be ethnically cleansed in 1992, and during the war years the mosque was razed to the ground and an orthodox church was built in its place. Since the conflict finished many of the original village inhabitants have returned. There are no Orthodox Christians resident in the village any more but those Muslims who wish to attend a mosque have had nowhere to pray. Tomorrow there will be a service at the church which is believed to be the first step towards shutting it down and permitting a mosque to be constructed in its place.
Whilst everyone hopes and expects that this will be a calm and peaceful process, there is a possibility that there may be some tensions and there will be a large scale police presence. Moments like these in rural Bosnian villages, will illustrate how far Bosnia has really come on the road of reconciliation.
D has got his new office up and running and now needs to set about registering his company and looking for some employees.
I on the other hand need to kick start my research. So, I am off, with a few friends, to the village where I hope the bulk of my research will be taking place. The main reason for going is to reintroduce myself and to sound out a few people about the feasibility of what I would like to do. However, tomorrow has a particular resonance for them. Their village was one of the first to be ethnically cleansed in 1992, and during the war years the mosque was razed to the ground and an orthodox church was built in its place. Since the conflict finished many of the original village inhabitants have returned. There are no Orthodox Christians resident in the village any more but those Muslims who wish to attend a mosque have had nowhere to pray. Tomorrow there will be a service at the church which is believed to be the first step towards shutting it down and permitting a mosque to be constructed in its place.
Whilst everyone hopes and expects that this will be a calm and peaceful process, there is a possibility that there may be some tensions and there will be a large scale police presence. Moments like these in rural Bosnian villages, will illustrate how far Bosnia has really come on the road of reconciliation.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
an accidental dinner
Coming to Bosnia is not a step into the complete unknown for us. About 4 years ago we spent a year in Bosnia, and are still in contact with lots of people. Since our arrival we have been involved in a flurry of coffees, drinks and dinners catching up with a variety of people, most of whom have done sterling work for us in finding somewhere to live, sorting out pet issues, visas, you name it. To say thank you we held decided to cook everyone dinner as I don't think we would have ever made it to Bosnia without their help.
This is not as selfless as it may sound. Firstly, the whole concept only came into being because I was trying to send a text to our landlord asking him round at 8pm (in order that he could sort out the washing machine - but that hadn't been mentioned in the message). I wasn't really concentrating, sent it to the wrong person and the next thing I knew quite a few people were coming over for the evening. Being English I was, of course, far to polite to correct the my mistake so dinner for 8 it was.
Second, and never being one to pass up an opportunity, I took the chance to get those attending to help us move furniture around the house. Beds went upstairs, others came downstairs, tables came downstairs, coffee tables went into storage. I'd have put money on the bed not making it upstairs, but the boys adopted a never say die attitude and against long odds the furniture is all now where I want it. The Bosnians were not convinced that it was an ancient English tradition to move furniture around on being invited to dinner, but lavish supplies of Tuzlanska Beer and Croatian wine helped convince them in the end.
This is not as selfless as it may sound. Firstly, the whole concept only came into being because I was trying to send a text to our landlord asking him round at 8pm (in order that he could sort out the washing machine - but that hadn't been mentioned in the message). I wasn't really concentrating, sent it to the wrong person and the next thing I knew quite a few people were coming over for the evening. Being English I was, of course, far to polite to correct the my mistake so dinner for 8 it was.
Second, and never being one to pass up an opportunity, I took the chance to get those attending to help us move furniture around the house. Beds went upstairs, others came downstairs, tables came downstairs, coffee tables went into storage. I'd have put money on the bed not making it upstairs, but the boys adopted a never say die attitude and against long odds the furniture is all now where I want it. The Bosnians were not convinced that it was an ancient English tradition to move furniture around on being invited to dinner, but lavish supplies of Tuzlanska Beer and Croatian wine helped convince them in the end.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
a very english shopping list
What do you buy in your first trip to the supermarket on arriving in a new country? I'm sure the check out girls had a field day with us. Combined with such vital things as a laundry basket and a couple of rubbish bins were a number of cleaning products (and lets face it, I'm hardly known for my ability to clean the house, so why I thought this was quite so vital escapes me), fresh milk and special K, some towels (accidentally put all of ours in storage), some nice wine glasses and a couple of bottles of french reds and some Tupperware. Obviously we have bought large boxes of PG tips out with us, although are lacking in the marmite front.
We have to go back to the supermarket today to get something to eat.
We have to go back to the supermarket today to get something to eat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
