BOSNIA: SARAJEVO PICS

You asked for pictures-you got 'em!! There are so many I had to pick and choose but these are my favorite. Serbia pics up in the next post. Enjoy!

You know you're in Peace Corps when....

On the train to Sarajevo..Bosnia is a beautiful country!

In the mountains we ran into some snow...

Part of the Monument to Murdered Children-all these children died in the Serbian siege from '92-95.

Oh Hey Culture Center of Iran.

Beautiful Orthodox Church

Loved this statue.

Awesome chess game being played in park. I assume these men were discussing strategies.

Sarajevo is FULL of cemeteries. I mean FULL. These old stones are in a random park.

Freya and I in front of some gorgeous flowers. So glad we went in the spring!

Entering into our first mosque in Sarajevo.

This was amazing-a tunnel built during the war that gave the citizens of Sarajevo a door to the outside world. Food, supplies, and people were brought through this tunnel which was created by engineers from Bosnia. Only 25 meters are left of the 850 meter tunnel.

I'm in love with this city. See the snow capped mountains?

The path that led to the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. However we weren't allowed to actually walk down there because there are still LAND MINES from the war. I was content to stay where I was.

Some amazing traditional cakes our hostel hostess, Jasmina, bought for us. (Plug for Jasmina-if you are EVER in Sarajevo stay at Hostel Enjoy. She was amazing!)

Went to the Latin Bridge, location of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, which as we know ultimately let to the start of WWI.

Picture of the assassin and event.

We went to the site of the '84 Olympics and visited the stadium. Finally found our way inside after walking around the whole thing!

Well. Isn't this interesting.

Do you see the Olympic Rings?! And yes-another Cemetery.

That first mosque-at night.

Jasmina treated us to a traditional breakfast too. The meal was made on this fire.

Amazing mix of cheese, sausage, and spinach. Washed down with drinkable yogurt. AMAZING.

Then she took us to get tea directly after. Most delicious tea I've ever tasted. Look at that morning face!

Pretty much every building has some sort of damage from the war. This is just a sample...

Ah-so beautiful!! Walking along a pedestrian street in from of the Sacred Heart Church.

The beginning of the Turkish Quarter-markets filled with everything from tea, jewelry and handmade coffee sets to scarves and ice cream.

Amen.

After hiking up a large hill, we had this view. Stayed for a looong time just enjoying the weather, the moment.

Loving Life.

Freya and I. Yes we stayed awhile.

See those mountains again?

Aron and I investigated the OTHER side of the hill. We weren't disappointed.

Walking on some fortress ruins.

I liked this graffiti.

So green.

This man was making those coffee sets I was talking about. He was so nice and so skilled.

Largest and Oldest Mosque in Bosnia-Husrev Bey's Mosque.

Call to prayer, obviously.

Traditional food-Cevapi! Mixture of Pita bread, meat, onions and a white cheese sauce.

Inside the Husrev Bey's Mosque

I think we pull off the look well.

Maybe not appropriate RIGHT after the mosque pictures but this is the local beer, Sarajevsko. No complaints!

Can you see me taking the picture? Oh Aron is there too.

Sad this is blurry, but we met an American (next to Freya) and a man from Greece in our hostel. We all enjoyed some traditional food and Alex from Greece gave me an entire itinerary for my future trip to Greece. WIN.

Essential train items. Journal, books, sunglasses, Nalgene with water, candy, and Skip-Bo.

Pulling away from Sarajevo-next stop: Belgrade!

7th Grade Silliness

Just had to post this picture of my girls in 7B today. They are so fun! 

(Pics of Sarajevo/Bosnia coming tonight!)

I'm just going to take a moment to breathe.

Tired. That is what I am right now. Physically, emotionally, tired.  For Easter vacation the last two weeks I have been going non-stop: four different countries, different languages, train delays, meeting amazing people, seeing amazing cities, then having house guests from America, then more volunteers coming over, then Easter Sunday meal of lamb and boar with a dear Romanian, giving tours of Timisoara saying goodbye to all the guest and now being alone for the first time in weeks...stick a fork in me, I'm done! Don't get me wrong-everything was WONDERFUL and I wouldn't change a thing, but it is nice to be alone again in my apartment-the silence is welcoming. 

In reality, it was helpful to be so busy in the past two weeks because it took my mind of losing a dear friend and fellow volunteer. One of my best friends (and closest American to my site!) decided to head back to America and her absence has been felt in a big way. I still pick up the phone to call her with something silly that happened or to hear about her day.  I know the next year will be different without her and I will miss her greatly. 

So today I am sitting in my apartment. My phone is off. I will NOT feel bad about napping for hours. And I promise you that I will post about my vacation adventures later this week. Bosnia, Serbia, a jaunt through Croatia...and OH the pictures. I can't wait to share it all with you. Hope you had a blessed Easter. 

I will leave you with one picture-one of my favorites from Sarajevo, Bosnia. Freya and I are looking out over the city after hiking up a rather steep hill.

Freya to the left, and me. The beauty of Sarajevo!

First Romanian Soccer Game-POLI TIMISOARA V. STEAUA BUCHAREST

So last week I went to my first Romanian football game. The attire-PURPLE, Timisoara's color. The weather-PERFECT. And the amount of new Romanian words I learned-A LOT! It was such an amazing experience I even recorded some video. But lets back up, shall we?

I went to the game with one of my friends (and fellow English teacher) Ildiko and her husband. We also met up with some other teachers and Vali. The seats were fantastic, right in the middle of the field and high enough up so that we could see perfectly.  The opponant was a team from Bucharest, which is one of Timisoara's biggest rivals so I knew it would be a good (at least exciting) game.

We arrived a few hours early to get good sits and munched on sandwiches, sunflower seeds and warm cola. They gave me some history on the rivalry between the teams and tried to teach me some of the chants and songs, which I realized quickly were none to kind. Haha. Fun Fact-the team song is sung to the music from "Yellow Submarine" which was fun and easier for me to remember.

Rockin' the purple.

Ildiko and I ready for the game!

 Now I knew Europeans loved soccer-and I knew that games could get a little crazy but I wasn't expecting anything that happened over the next two hours. First off, there was a section of the stadium reserved for Bucharest fans-literally we weren't even allowed to sit with them because fights would start. And to make it even more exciting, they didn't even let the Bucharest fans in the stadium until the last minute to keep the peace. That is when the trash talking started and I was learning one new word after the next! It was a vocabulary lesson unlike anything I ever had in PC training. :)

This basically reads "From Sibiu we come for POLI because we love her! Go Poli!" (Sibiu is 6 hours by train)

I want this jersey!

Vali ready for a good match! Complete with ciggy

I need to invest in one of these...

Game Time!

   Now there is a group of die-hard fans that follow Poli Timisoara everywhere they play in the country, and they take up a whole section of the stadium. They are the ones that are a bit more wild than the rest, starting all the songs, yelling constantly, and even shooting off these flares. Now here is where it gets interesting. About halfway through the game this "rowdy" section starts throwing toilet paper down the stands onto the field-it actually was awesome looking.

 Then, they held up this sign that basically says, "We know that the flares are now illegal at these games but we fight for our team and we'll shoot flares for our team." And all of a sudden flares are lit everywhere. I mean all over. Fire, explosions, yelling and chanting-and the game never stops.

Toilet paper...fire...just another soccer game apparently...

No really people...it's on fire.

But all of a sudden, I realize-oooh my gosh..the stadium is on fire. Literally the chairs were on fire. All the toilet paper didn't help either. Before I knew it, fans are rushing to the top of the stadium, the fire truck is racing towards the fires, and riot police are running as well, complete with shields and protective wear. THE GAME JUST CONTINUES ON. I'm shocked. My American side comes out and I say to Vali, "Hey-do we need to leave the stadium? I mean...its on fire..." And he says "Oh no, the fire truck will come out, its ok. Look the game hasn't even stopped." I look to the nearest exit and realize I couldn't even get out if I wanted to.  They have sold 6,000 extra "standing tickets" because it was sold out and now there are people in every aisle, doorway, and even sitting on the top of the stadium.

See? NO way to exit. We're packed in like sardines.

 SO-I did what any panicked American would do in the situation and took out my camera to record the whole thing. When in ROMania...right? And sure enough, the fires were put out, the people returned to their drenched seats, and the game continued on as if nothing ever happened.

My recording is low quality but here is a link from YouTube. You can see it all happen here:

Timi v. Steaua Game-FIRE! 

Best experience ever. I love my life here.