I saw people skiing!

yep, I haven't gone yet myself, but I saw other people skiing (out a train window of course...

Last weekend, the Rotary in Austria hosted a meeting for all the exchange students, and since Croatia is part of their district, we came too. We took a train from Zagreb to Salzburg (7 lovely hours, but the train was nice, and I got to see the Alps, and people skiing, as I mentioned. One of the ski resorts was right on the rail line and a family got on the train still wearing ski boots!)

Austria is really pretty, the mountains and snow reminded me of home. There are a lot more newer buildings than in Croatia, and Austrians definitely seem more mild-mannered. They appear to drive much slower in town, and I'm told the buses even run on time.

It was also cool seeing all the exchange students. In Zagreb, all but one of us are from the US, but though there are still more Americans, Austria has a bunch from Australia, some from New Zealand, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico, and a few from other countries like Venezuela, Belgium, the Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, and probably a few others. There were over 70 exchange students in all, plus a group from South Africa who were on a short-term exchange to Austria for their summer.

tortelli, piazzas and tango

I went to Italy a little more than a week ago, and although I just got back from Austria, I think I should write about Italy first.

I have been hearing stories about Italy all my life, and I didn't expect it to really live up to the stories, since many of them were from quite a while ago, but upon arrival, I found the Italy right out of my favorite tales, at least in essence. I loved everything-the animated expressions on the Italians' faces as they gave us directions; the crazy driving (it all works as long as no one slows down); the cobbled streets, old buildings, beautiful piazzas and majestic cathedrals; the tasty food (I thought tortelli di zucca, pumpkin ravioli, was particularly interesting). I also loved the language, especially the rhythm of it. I am slightly frustrated with the fact that I could understand Italian almost as well as Croatian, and I've been here for almost four months. This is presumably due to my French, which is quite similar, but possibly also that Italians lend themselves to being understood. Italy seemed like one of those places that just clicked for me and I definitely want to go back.

I went for a Tango fest, and was accompanied by my Rotary counselor, who was so nice to come because I wouldn't have been allowed to go alone, and one of the exchange students from Brazil who just came along for the ride. I've got to say that I felt like I was crashing the party-there were tons of people at the festival and pretty much every one was a great dancer. I took several workshops-in Italian, which I actually though was pretty interesting. I could understand some, my partners translated some, and of course, I learned a lot just by watching. I also went to the milonga each night. The milongas were held in some sort of giant athletics building, with a rubbery floor that was a bit hard to dance on, red plastic tables and chairs around the outside, and colored stage lights. It was very different, and I though it had a fun atmosphere. My favorite night was Sunday. Lots of people had taken off, so there was more space on the floor but still plenty of people to dance with.

Dan Zahvalnosti

That's Thanksgiving in Croatian! Not that they celebrate it--I'm sure you all know it's an American holiday. But we Rotary students decided to celebrate, so we organized a dinner and crammed all our host families, our Croatian teacher and one of the Rotary councilors (25 people) into the Tuškan family's living room...well, some of us were eating in the entryway, and I had to climb over a small desk to get out... It was lots of fun, though. We had a cool mix of Croatian and American dishes--pumpkin strudel, anyone? Of course, we weren't terribly well organized in terms of who was making what and how much, so we ended up with enough food to feed about 4 times as many people...
Kelsey and I were making decorations during school, and our hand turkeys caused quite an uproar. Our classmates really couldn't understand why we would trace our hand and call it a turkey, and honestly, I don't really blame them. Sure, they could use a bit more imagination, but where did we come up with that idea anyway? And yet, every kid in the US does it.

life in zagreb again

I wrote this a little while back, but for some reason it didn't post then, so here it is now:

The sun finally came out after 2 weeks of greyness and wetness and wet feet. I can't tell you how happy that made me. I've been celebrating for 4 days now, and have taken the opportunity to go into the center of the city almost every morning, equipped with my camera. Saturday mornings are cool in Zagreb because everyone is out. It feels really festive with music playing in the squares and people sitting at cafes.

I've been continuing to go to tango, though just once a week. The tango scene here is still pretty young. I keep hearing more and more about how it came to be. Supposedly, the main teachers of Tango Argentino Zagreb started about 6 years ago, but there wasn't anyone teaching, so they (and a few others that joined shortly after) began learning tango from videos! They also attended workshops in Ljubliana (Slovenia) but the tango scene was just getting started there as well. Several years later, they started teaching classes. There's another school, too, but the teaching is focused mainly on learning footwork and combinations rather than leading and following, so I don't really like it. Oh, and they don't dance on the beat!!!? The two schools are sort of mutually snobby against each other, and it's too bad they don't pool resources, because it's such a small community. It definitely seems to be growing, though, and I hope to be able to go to some festivals as well. (I'm going to Mantova in December!)

School here is mostly about drilling facts, but today the history teacher made an attempt at discussion. They are learning about post WWII, and he split the class into three groups, each representing a country- France, Britain or the US. Each group received a paper with some background on their diplomat and their objectives for the treaty. We also received a sheet with possible outcomes of different aspects of the treaty--who was responsible for the war, what county would get certain cities, etc--and as a group we discussed what our country would decide about each one. Then we split into smaller groups with one person representing each country and went through the paper again. The point, however, was somewhat lost on the students, who's focus was aimed only at filling out the paper, rather than actually discussing it. My group voted on each thing and for the many that out as a tie (we had a few extra people), someone would just choose randomly. Additionally, as far as I could tell, there wasn't any follow-up about what happened in each group, or any discussion about the fact that these 3 superpowers were just sitting there deciding the outcomes for the whole world.

I went to Ljubljana a few weeks ago. There's less tax there, so apparently my family goes every now and then to shop and visit relatives. I think it's rather amusing to say that I went to another country to go shopping. I'm now equipped with some sweaters and a non-tourist coat. We also walked around the city a little. It was cold, so I got to make immediate use of my new coat. I thought the city was really nice. Somehow it was pretty much as I imagined it, even though I knew practically nothing about it. It didn't have the colors of Zagreb, or the parks, but I loved the river running through the center and all its bridges.

I'm getting tired, and I can't think of anything else to say, so that's all, but here are a few pics from Ljubljana.



My host family, Bruna (the Brazilian exchange student) and me in my non-tourist coat

Greece

Well, I'm finally going to tell you about Greece, I don't know why it took me so long to sit down and write about it...
My trip began in a dark but noisy parking lot in Zagreb at 11 at night. I found my classmates attired in sunglasses, straw hats, floaties and of course good old winter coats. We were originally supposed to leave the next morning for Venice (a few hours in the bus) and take a boat from there to Greece, but something was wrong with the boat, so we had to leave the night before and bus 12 hours to Ancona and catch a boat from there instead.
When I woke up in the morning, I rushed out to the deck of the boat and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with sunshine and an amazing view of the Greek coastline. Then it was off the boat and back on the bus. We drove up and up. We must have gone up pretty far, because the trees were turing orange, and the air was chilly and smelled like the mountains.
Our next stop was Kalampaka, where monastaries perched perilously atop pillar-like cliffs. The first one we stopped at was closed, but we had better luck at the second and were able to go inside.
Early the next morning we re-boarded the bus to go to Delphi, the alleged home of the oracle. We followed a path that wound up the mountainside through the remains of a series of temples, eventually ending at a stadium. The view was amazing, with cliffs all around and olive trees below. After that, we explored the town of Delphi, then it was back on the bus for a 6 hour ride to our hotel outside of Athens.
We spent the next day in Athens, where we saw the Acropolis. It was quite a mob scene of tourists from all over the world. Kelsey and I walked around eavesdropping and trying to identify the different languages. We visited a museum and saw ancient artifacts and statues, then we explored the city. My Croatian classmates complained that it was dirty and smelly, but I thought it was a cool city. I love how there are ancient ruins and beautiful old churches randomly scattered among the modern buildings.
I went swimming that night in the sea. It was a bit chilly, but the water was surprisingly warm. I think Kelsey and I were the only ones all week who went ion the sea. The Croatians said it was dirty. (and they weren't altogether wrong, but I didn't really care) The prevailing sentiment of the week: Greece sucks; we love Croatia! It was really interesting traveling with them. Can you imagine 50 Croatians parading through the streets at two in the morning belting out their Croatian songs?
The next day, we went to Sounion, where according to legend, King Aegeus threw himself into the sea when he say his son's ship returning from battle with a black sail. The wind was blowing so hard but there was a great view.
On our last sight-seeing day in Greece, we traveled around Peloponnese, where we visited an ancient amphitheater with amazing acoustics, Mycenae, and the old capital, Napflio, a picturesque little town with arches and flowers and views of the sea.
The next day we woke up early, drove to the port and boarded our boat. On our drive home through Italy, we stopped to visit the Republic of San Marino, a tiny country built on top of a very steep hill. We arrived back in Zagreb at 1:30 in the morning and I was so happy to see my host family and my bed.

hello again

I hate being sick! I'm currently sitting here with my tea and my tissue, and I'm getting really tired of blowing my nose.

I went to the supermarket looking for cough drops, but I couldn't find them. So, with my very limited Croatian vocabulary, I went for help. I'm talking very limited: "I am " I was asked if I was looking for tea, then taken to the honey. Then I amended my statement, "Do you have candies for (I used the word 'vrata', which, at the time, came out when I was thinking stop, but then I realized means close, or possibly door...oops) Finally, I was lead to the candy section, and finally appreciated the fact that many of the candies here are mentholated.

There's an underground mall beneath the train station here. The first time I went in there, I thought it was just a passageway with a few stores. Later, I noticed other hallways leading off of it. The other day, I went wandering, and it's like a labyrinth in there. The hallways lead in every direction, and there are even multiple levels in some places.

I had my first dream in Croatian! I didn't understand all the words and there were a few English ones mixed in, but there were definitely conversations in Croatian.

Never at home...

Life feels so normal here, but when I stop and think about it, none of this would ever happen at home. Take yesterday, for instance:

I woke up around 10:30, even though it was a thurs and I had school. Around 11, my 11 year old host sister came home, and when I asked her why she was home so early, she said her teacher was sick so school was can canceled. We hung out for a couple hours, and after lunch I left for school.

I hopped on the first bus that passed my stop, which happened to be my favorite bus, Dugave, which goes all the way to my school so I don't have to switch to the tram. I don't know all the buses, yet, so my strategy for getting to school involves getting on any random bus that passes and hoping it takes me where I want to go. (I only ride for 2 stops, so most of them do. I did learn, however, not to ride the Lanište bus)

When I arrived at school, I looked around for my classmates. I don't understand how they know where to go; our classes are in a different order every day of the week, and the classrooms seem to change, as well. So I follow my classmates.

Our first class was math, followed by music history, then I had french with one of the other classes. After that, we were supposed to have art hist, but it got changed to math. Since we'd already had math, every one, including the math teacher went to the cafe thing and hung out for the period. Then we had physics, and then Kesley and I took off because we had places to be later.

We got into town early, so we called one of the other exchange students, Mikayla, and got some food. Then Kelsey left for her ballet class and Mikayla came with me to tango.

It took me a good hour to get home by tram and bus. I think I could almost walk faster! I like the buses, but I'm beginning to hate trams. Then I read for a little while and went to bed.

more travels

My host family took me traveling again last weekend. We left on fri afternoon and drove about 4 hours south-ish to visit my host mother's sister and her family near a town called Šibenik. On Sat, we helped pick grapes for making wine. In the afternoon, they took me to visit a national park nearby. There were tons of little ponds and waterfalls, and it was dazzling.

Most of the people there spoke very little English, but as a result, I spoke a lot more Croatian. I'm learning to string multiple words together to form sentences and beginning to understand a little of the conversations held in Croatian.

After breakfast on sun morning, we began our journey home, but we made several stops. The first was at a rest stop on the highway, but that doesn't really count, because we only stopped for a few minutes to look at the view. Then we went to visit my host father's mom. We ate lunch and talked, and then we picked plums--I don't think picked is quite the right word. The trees were tall, and the plums were about 20 ft above us, so we put tarps on the ground, shook the branches with a long pole, and collected the plums that fell. Next, we visited my host dad's brother's family, who live in a little village, with cows and sheep and pigs and chickens, etc.

School

It's starting to feel like fall. Early fall, but fall nonetheless. I think the cold spell we had killed summer, or at least my belief in it. It was rainy and wet and cold and grey and did I mention WET? I even dug out my big pink wool socks. It's warm again, but the air smells different and I've taken to carrying a coat.

This week, school is in the afternoon, from 2 till 8, which feels so weird!

I guess I should explain how my school works; it's pretty different.
I go to a gimnazija, which is a high school like we have in the US, where students study everything. Here, students can also go to technical schools for high school, where they learn a trade. Gymnazija students pretty much have to go to university after they graduate. Most buildings house two schools, which rotate holding class in the morning or afternoon each week. So last week, I had class from 8am-2pm, and this week it's from 2pm-8pm. Classes are 45 minutes long, and students have 14-19 subjects that meet one to four times a week. My school is a bilingual school, so everyone must take English, and my class has physics and sometimes history in English, as well. In the first year, they are put in a class based on their second language, and they take all their subjects with that class for the entire 4 years. I think that explains most of it...

Alright, I'm tired of writing now, so anything else will have to wait...

more on my first 2 weeks

I'm back.

Last weekend, my host family took me to the coast. They have a flat in a town called Rovinj, which is a city right on the coast, with beautiful old buildings and narrow cobblestone streets winding up to a church. many of the streets are too narrow for cars, and on one, I reached my arms across and I could touch both walls! I have so many pictures. sooner or later I'll try to post some.

I've started school, and the school is quite nice. there are 3 floors with hallways and classrooms around the outside and the whole middle is open. it's cool to look down from the top and watch all the people walking around below. Most of my classes are in Croatian, so I don't really understand anything, but Kelsey, one of the other exchange students is in most of them with me, so I have someone to talk to. The other students in my class are nice, and they are more or less fluent in English.

I started Croatian class yesterday. I'm so glad. Hopefully I will get the hang of Croatian quickly. I also met the other exchange students, there are 6 of us here in Zagreb.

And, last but certainly not least...drum roll, please...I FINALLY WENT TO TANGO!!!!! It was so nice to be back, I missed it so much! Kelsey came, too, and I made a somewhat failing attempt at teaching and leading... but perhaps I didn't do too much damage, because she still wants to learn, and I still got dances. Hopefully I'll go again on Sat.

I guess that's all for now.
-Chandra

I'm here!

Hello all,
I've decided to start a blog, since there are so many of you who gave me your email addresses, I would never have time to email everyone, so I think this is better, but feel free to email me if you want.

I've been in Croatia for 2 weeks, now, and I love it so much! It's a very pretty country, and coming from Colorado I have pretty high standards. the countryside is really green, with hills and many small farms. The city itself (Zagreb) is also really nice. It's way prettier than any of the pictures I'd seen, so colorful! Along with the browns greys and whites of most cities, there are also buildings in so many shades of yellow, orange and red, even some blue. There are also lots of parks interspersed within the city streets.

I love my host family, My host sister, Mirela is almost the same age as Raina, and my host mother speaks quite a bit of English, which is nice right now, since my Croatian is virtually nonexistent. I can say some words, but Croatian grammar seems really different, so I haven't really figured out how to string them together, yet. Yesterday, I learned how to seay it's raining-Pada kiša! I can understand more than I expected though, and I start croatian class tonight, so hopefully I'll get it down soon.

I have to go to class, now, so I'll get back to thins later.

Chandra