I'm not always right that the Bosnians are too tako je kako je about their lot in life. There are times when they are motivated to protest and we got caught up in one such event yesterday. A factory in Tuzla has just stopped paying salaries (which is not that uncommon here) but also has told the workers that there is no money for their pensions.
Everyone protested. They protested by shutting down all the main roads in the town which caused complete chaos. We happened to be at the junction of one of the roads when the demonstrators very peacefully walked in front of the cars and refused to move. It was obvious we were going nowhere so we got out of the car to watch the proceedings.
Noone was to break the picket line. That was until 2 small boys spotted some Smokis for sale on the other side and made a run for it, with me in hot pursuit. The protesters let us go with a smile before continuing their whistles and shouts.
I don't know what the outcome of the strike was, but sitting on a wall with a packet of Smokis in hand, the boys and I enjoyed the spectacle very much.
Friday, 27 February 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
getter tenser
The accusation of a Euro 70million odd fraud against the Bosnian Serb leader has just added to an already very tense political situation in BiH. Turns out there are irregularities in the way in which the charge was bought about whereby all Bosnian Serb representatives were by-passed. In a country that loves conspiracy theories, this is turning into a humdinger. Everyone is nervously watching developments. More on this story from Balkan Insight here and about the conspiracy theories that are circulating here for those interested.
addresses
After my whinge about post office employees the postal system shows its other side. We received a wedding invite posted to us the other day. The only correct things in the address are my name (it's an old friend, I'd be upset if they hadn't managed to get that bit right!), the city and the country. The rest is so far wrong was probably copied out of the wrong address book.
The invite took only 2 days longer to arrive than those posted to English address. I'm impressed by that, but still haven't forgiven them for not letting me post my letters on Monday.
The invite took only 2 days longer to arrive than those posted to English address. I'm impressed by that, but still haven't forgiven them for not letting me post my letters on Monday.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Customer Service? Not in Bosnia
The Bosnians have someway to go to learning about customer service. A few recent incidents have bought this home.
Yesterday was a miserable day. Temperature just above freezing so all the snow kind of melting, kind of freezing and outside is a general festival of mud of Glastonbury proportions. I had no idea what to do with the kids, so decided to take them to post some letters which involves going to the post office as there are no postboxes in Tuzla, and then have a ride up and down the escalators at the local shopping centre. There isn't very much to do with kids in Tuzla, a ride on the escalators is as good as it gets on a grey Monday afternoon. The shopping centre isn't very far, so I decided to get them to walk there.
We had one of those mind-altering toddler moments. Luke was unable to move faster than the pace of a drunken snail. Adam was obsessed with a red car that had driven past full of young lads and was full of questions. After I had answered for the 150th time (no exaggeration) that I didn't know where they were going or why they were in a red car and was privately wondering if this is what taking large amounts of drugs was like, we finally arrived. We went to the post office and patiently queued. The boys did a runner, I gave chase and we lost our place in the queue / melee that masquerades as a queue in the post office. They had another attempt to scuttle into the toy shop foiled by their mother. Back to waiting. And so on.
We finally reached the counter at 4.01pm. The post office shuts at 4pm. All I wanted to do was to give the man 3 letters which already had stamps on. He said No. All he had to do was put them in his bag. He glared at me, I glared at him. He said No again. And that was that. There was no way I was going to be able to hand over my letters. I might have said a naughty word.
I told D all about it and he reminded me of the time we were in the supermarket and Adam had accidentally hit a bottle of honey which smashed on the floor. We alerted the staff to what had happened and were promptly marched off to the managers office where we were made to pay for the honey jar. Now, there was no doubt that it was our fault it was broken. I'd have been surprised to be made to pay for it in the UK, after all we do spend a lot of money in the supermarket. But, it wasn't so much that we were made to pay for it, 11KM isn't going to break the bank, it was the feeling that we were criminals as we were marched off. D was so angry with the treatment he actually wrote an email to the head office of the supermarket. No reply to date.
Yes, there are definitely moments that the remnants of the communist system shine through.
Yesterday was a miserable day. Temperature just above freezing so all the snow kind of melting, kind of freezing and outside is a general festival of mud of Glastonbury proportions. I had no idea what to do with the kids, so decided to take them to post some letters which involves going to the post office as there are no postboxes in Tuzla, and then have a ride up and down the escalators at the local shopping centre. There isn't very much to do with kids in Tuzla, a ride on the escalators is as good as it gets on a grey Monday afternoon. The shopping centre isn't very far, so I decided to get them to walk there.
We had one of those mind-altering toddler moments. Luke was unable to move faster than the pace of a drunken snail. Adam was obsessed with a red car that had driven past full of young lads and was full of questions. After I had answered for the 150th time (no exaggeration) that I didn't know where they were going or why they were in a red car and was privately wondering if this is what taking large amounts of drugs was like, we finally arrived. We went to the post office and patiently queued. The boys did a runner, I gave chase and we lost our place in the queue / melee that masquerades as a queue in the post office. They had another attempt to scuttle into the toy shop foiled by their mother. Back to waiting. And so on.
We finally reached the counter at 4.01pm. The post office shuts at 4pm. All I wanted to do was to give the man 3 letters which already had stamps on. He said No. All he had to do was put them in his bag. He glared at me, I glared at him. He said No again. And that was that. There was no way I was going to be able to hand over my letters. I might have said a naughty word.
I told D all about it and he reminded me of the time we were in the supermarket and Adam had accidentally hit a bottle of honey which smashed on the floor. We alerted the staff to what had happened and were promptly marched off to the managers office where we were made to pay for the honey jar. Now, there was no doubt that it was our fault it was broken. I'd have been surprised to be made to pay for it in the UK, after all we do spend a lot of money in the supermarket. But, it wasn't so much that we were made to pay for it, 11KM isn't going to break the bank, it was the feeling that we were criminals as we were marched off. D was so angry with the treatment he actually wrote an email to the head office of the supermarket. No reply to date.
Yes, there are definitely moments that the remnants of the communist system shine through.
Monday, 23 February 2009
General Bosnian news
An article in last weeks Economist (click here) shows quite well the current situation with Bosnia (and other Balkan countries) when it comes to joining the EU. Everyone wants to join, even Serbia has elected a EU facing government. But political situations across the region has led to everyone getting a bit 'stuck' and are not being helped by the global economic situation, which is slowing investments and manufacturing.
Also, Chris Patten not in the running for the High Representative's job, but another Brit is the current front runner. According to general gossip Emyr Jones Parry will be confirmed in the role today. (see here). Good luck to him, he will surely need it. Lajcak, the previous holder of the role, compared the job to flogging a dead horse due to the lack of policial will within the EU to act against the Bosnian politicians.
And it looks as if the Bosnian politicians need a firm hand. This weekend saw an indication of how deeply corruption is embedded into Bosnian life. The Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, and 10 others were accused over the weekend of embezzling something in the region of 74million Euros (see here). Just a mere 74 million. You could buy yourself a new car with that.
As the Economist says, the day to day life goes on without too much trouble masking some of the serious challenges that Bosnia still faces.
Also, Chris Patten not in the running for the High Representative's job, but another Brit is the current front runner. According to general gossip Emyr Jones Parry will be confirmed in the role today. (see here). Good luck to him, he will surely need it. Lajcak, the previous holder of the role, compared the job to flogging a dead horse due to the lack of policial will within the EU to act against the Bosnian politicians.
And it looks as if the Bosnian politicians need a firm hand. This weekend saw an indication of how deeply corruption is embedded into Bosnian life. The Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, and 10 others were accused over the weekend of embezzling something in the region of 74million Euros (see here). Just a mere 74 million. You could buy yourself a new car with that.
As the Economist says, the day to day life goes on without too much trouble masking some of the serious challenges that Bosnia still faces.
Friday, 20 February 2009
In Praise of Smokis
I've just finished reading Rosie Whitehead's book Travels with my Frontline Family about bringing up a young family in the Balkans during the early 1990s whilst her husband covered the various wars in the region at that time. I have to say that I enjoyed it very much, and not just because I can read it and go That is so true! I found that too!
Obviously there are some enormous differences between our experiences. The region is not in major conflict. My husband is not in danger every day unless you count the walk to the office along icy roads. The early nineties did not have the Internet with email, access to Radio 4 and the cricket commentary or Amazon to deliver to your doorstep. It is now pretty much 20 years since communism fell in the region, and although things are still not quite like a capitalist market, they have moved on somewhat from their communism heritage.
But, of all the deep and profound things that she discussed in her book the one thing that really stood out for me was that her family was also obsessed with Smoki Flips. They are a sort of peanutty Wotsit type crisp and they are good in that really really good sort of way. Balkan children have grown up on them for generations and the Bosnians can't believe that we don't have them in England. Come to that, neither can I.
Obviously there are some enormous differences between our experiences. The region is not in major conflict. My husband is not in danger every day unless you count the walk to the office along icy roads. The early nineties did not have the Internet with email, access to Radio 4 and the cricket commentary or Amazon to deliver to your doorstep. It is now pretty much 20 years since communism fell in the region, and although things are still not quite like a capitalist market, they have moved on somewhat from their communism heritage.
But, of all the deep and profound things that she discussed in her book the one thing that really stood out for me was that her family was also obsessed with Smoki Flips. They are a sort of peanutty Wotsit type crisp and they are good in that really really good sort of way. Balkan children have grown up on them for generations and the Bosnians can't believe that we don't have them in England. Come to that, neither can I.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
snowing again
It's done nothing but snow for the past 4 days. For one brief moment it started raining, but then that water froze into a nice layer of ice which is now underneath a whole lot more snow.
For a Fraught Mummy, this means we are back to the winter routines detailed before (see here) but with an added twist. Yesterday I tried it at nursery.
I pick the boys up at 12. It was 1.30 by the time I managed to leave. There were all the usual scraps and battles about putting on the water proof trousers, socks, boots, a layer underneath the coat, the coats itself, let alone hats, gloves, scarves. But this time it was in front of an audience. Such fun! thought the boys. Look how fast we can run away from Mummy. Watch! we can run into a classroom full of sleeping children screaming at the top of our voices. Can you see? we can find a stash of toy guns and run around loudly shooting everyone. Do you think we can make Mummy really cross, especially if we take off our boots after she has put them on? Ah hah! Mummy is trying not to shout but she isn't going to be able to restrain herself if I run into this office and leave my all my clothes there. Oops, she is really shouting now, she'll be in a good mood for the rest of the afternoon. Let's hide and laugh manically, that'll make it all better! Even better - lets go in different directions and both create carnage. She'll love that best of all!
Are there any other Bosnian children creating such havoc? Er, no. It's been bothering me for a while. Why is it that it is always my children creating such chaos whilst the Bosnian children look on and behave beautifully? Obviously lax parenting, poor discipline and too much sugary food. But, I have a new excuse. I've noticed that the Bosnians are canny. None of them appear to more than one child in tow. Certainly not 2 children with only 18 months between them. I don't know if they just have bigger gaps between their kids, manage to leave one at home with Granny, only have one child or what. But, I'm pretty sure that even I could manage if I only had to get one of them dressed at a time. I'd have a fighting chance of retaining control if I only took one child out. It is trying to get the second variable pointing in the right direction and wearing the right amount of clothes at the same time that causes the majority of my problems.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
For a Fraught Mummy, this means we are back to the winter routines detailed before (see here) but with an added twist. Yesterday I tried it at nursery.
I pick the boys up at 12. It was 1.30 by the time I managed to leave. There were all the usual scraps and battles about putting on the water proof trousers, socks, boots, a layer underneath the coat, the coats itself, let alone hats, gloves, scarves. But this time it was in front of an audience. Such fun! thought the boys. Look how fast we can run away from Mummy. Watch! we can run into a classroom full of sleeping children screaming at the top of our voices. Can you see? we can find a stash of toy guns and run around loudly shooting everyone. Do you think we can make Mummy really cross, especially if we take off our boots after she has put them on? Ah hah! Mummy is trying not to shout but she isn't going to be able to restrain herself if I run into this office and leave my all my clothes there. Oops, she is really shouting now, she'll be in a good mood for the rest of the afternoon. Let's hide and laugh manically, that'll make it all better! Even better - lets go in different directions and both create carnage. She'll love that best of all!
Are there any other Bosnian children creating such havoc? Er, no. It's been bothering me for a while. Why is it that it is always my children creating such chaos whilst the Bosnian children look on and behave beautifully? Obviously lax parenting, poor discipline and too much sugary food. But, I have a new excuse. I've noticed that the Bosnians are canny. None of them appear to more than one child in tow. Certainly not 2 children with only 18 months between them. I don't know if they just have bigger gaps between their kids, manage to leave one at home with Granny, only have one child or what. But, I'm pretty sure that even I could manage if I only had to get one of them dressed at a time. I'd have a fighting chance of retaining control if I only took one child out. It is trying to get the second variable pointing in the right direction and wearing the right amount of clothes at the same time that causes the majority of my problems.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
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