Sarajevo and other things

Hello!

So many things happened, and no time to write something. But here it is. I decided to do it in English, so (hopefully) everyone can read it and then I don't have to write it twice. And it's good to practice for the articles I want to write.

My second week went so fast. Sometimes I had some troubles with getting used to my new environment. The first week was so full of new things that I didn't have the time to think about it. So I got to know the city a bit more... spend some time with my Serbian, Macedonian friend from Australia which I met in Berlin by coincidence. It was fun and he told us quite a lot about the city and the country.

On friday I had my first Macedonian lesson! I was so happy. I also had some brainwave with ideas for articles so that was a good ending of my week. We ate some pizza and went to Mala Stanica with Lea (our teacher) and some of her friends. That was a lot of fun and I love that place! There was also a very good blues band playing. 

On saturday our bosses took us out for a lunch in a Kafana. That's a more traditional place. That was very nice. Besides the delicious food I tried rakia, a famous traditional balkan drink, I liked it. In the evening me and Katka went out with 2 friends we made a few days before. We went to some home party, which was very funny! A lot of them couldn't speak English but they tried, they were very kind and welcoming even though we just met. We also played some games and I even danced on a traditional dance.

Besides that, it was St. Triphon's day (vine-growers day). It's on the same day as valentines day and everybody is supposed to drink red wine. After that we went to a kind of club with a live coverband, it was nice. I only forgot my ID and there was police standing at the door when we were about to leave. So I couldn't get out, and had to wait till they were ready to take me to the police office. I could risk a fee of 300 euro's! Katka went home to get my ID, and in the meantime Monica explained that her dad was also a policeman, and luckily that was the reason why they let me go. I was so lucky!

Katka, Monika, Tara, ... and me @ Castro

On sunday me, Ondrej and Katka packed our bags for our on-arrival training in Sarajevo. We travelled together with some other EVS volunteers from Macedonia. It as a 16 hour trip which brought us through 4 different countries at once and gave me 4 stamps in my passport. We couldn't go through Kosovo so we had to take a longer route through Serbia, and because the road was better there we went even all the way up to Croatia to go down afterwards to Bosnia. We arrived in the morning. We stayed in Hotel Hollywood, a bit far from the centre, but with a very nice swimmingpool and stuff. We went into the city centre, and despite of the grey sky it looked very nice. Especially the old turkish part.

From tuesday till friday we had trainings. It was so nice to meet all the other EVS volunteers from many different countries, all working somewhere in the Balkans. It was nice to exchange our experiences, and the training was also interesting and fun. We had a lot of fun together, hanging out in the hotel, out in the city and playing bowling in the hotel. We climbed hills, pretended to be a toaster on the street, played chameleons in the corridor at 5 am, made ed-pictures, learned new languages, eat to much burek and played the kazoo. We didn't need sleep at all. At the end of the week we were a real group. It was even a bit hard to say goodbye on friday evening. But luckily we will see each other again, because we are planning to travel to each other or to see each other at the midterm training.

The bustrip back was also an experience. I was planning to go with 2 other volunteers from Macedonia to go to Belgrade. The bus was supposed to leave at 22.00, but there was none so we decided to go directly to Skopje, via Pristina. First, the bus was very hot, I was almost melting. So even though we were all tired, we could'nt sleep. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the night somewhere in Bosnia for a short break. We all went to the toilet, but I was the last in the row. I had some trouble with the toiletdoor because it didn't close, and besides that it was a nice (French :P) hole-in-the-ground-wc, and I had to find a place for my bag as well. And when I was finished I heard 'TUUT TUUT', and the woman from the restaurant was shouting something. Was the bus leaving? Without me? And I couldn't open the door anymore! But finally I managed and when I came outside the bus was already moving. This was no joke, the bus wouldn't wait for me! Luckily was the door still open and I could jump in. Everybody was laughing but I didn't notice. Damien and John, my travelmates managed just in time to warn the busdriver. Fjeww!... Almost I was left behind in a strange restaurant in the middle of nowhere in Bosnia in the night. After that there was also a carcrash, a car was upside down (while we were melting and nothing seemed to happen for more than an hour). And in the morning we got a flat tire. But we managed to get to Pristina and after that it wasn't so far anymore. 

Below are a few pictures I wanted to share. 

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Chao!