Monday, November 29, 2004
Ski trip
Quite eventful weekend. Friday we stumbled into a fashion showing, guess the guard didn't bother asking us for tickets because we where foreingers or he was just on his coffebreak. Anyway it was nice, not exactly haute couture but the best Sarajevo could offer. The seem to have some long slender modellooking women here too..
Saturday was spent shopping. Of course we didn't get anything (we rarely do) because there simply isn't anything nice to buy. We have been looking at some handmade wooden table but we cant really decide if they are trying to screw us or not. (probably are)
Sunday we went to Bjelasnica for some skiing! Bjelasnica is where they held the 1984 Olympic skiing events. Since it is right on the border to republics Srpska, the battles raged hard here and everything was destroyed. A lot of money has been spent rebuilding and it looked quite nice now. It is before the season so all the slopes weren't open yet and apparently you could only get one day passes instead of the half day. Again I was suspicious and tried to get a look of the other visitors passed but gave it up.
The people skiing here where either really wealthy bosnians or eu of un personnel. Lot of nice cars. One or two out-of-place looking gentlemen in dark suits and big jackets and earpices standing in the middle of the slopes. I guess bodyguards don't ski.
Tried to rent a snowboard but it was not to be. The guy renting them out had three, but there where all booked. I hadn't used slalom skis in 15 years and was in a bit of a foul mood at first, but it all came back to me and I navigated the slopes easily. It was a really nice day, and with the slopes only being a 40 min busride away from home we will surely go there a lot.
The busdriver was a madman thou, and I not sure Julia like to go on that bus again.. Maybe we have to buy a car. We will see.
Cheers
Saturday was spent shopping. Of course we didn't get anything (we rarely do) because there simply isn't anything nice to buy. We have been looking at some handmade wooden table but we cant really decide if they are trying to screw us or not. (probably are)
Sunday we went to Bjelasnica for some skiing! Bjelasnica is where they held the 1984 Olympic skiing events. Since it is right on the border to republics Srpska, the battles raged hard here and everything was destroyed. A lot of money has been spent rebuilding and it looked quite nice now. It is before the season so all the slopes weren't open yet and apparently you could only get one day passes instead of the half day. Again I was suspicious and tried to get a look of the other visitors passed but gave it up.
The people skiing here where either really wealthy bosnians or eu of un personnel. Lot of nice cars. One or two out-of-place looking gentlemen in dark suits and big jackets and earpices standing in the middle of the slopes. I guess bodyguards don't ski.
Tried to rent a snowboard but it was not to be. The guy renting them out had three, but there where all booked. I hadn't used slalom skis in 15 years and was in a bit of a foul mood at first, but it all came back to me and I navigated the slopes easily. It was a really nice day, and with the slopes only being a 40 min busride away from home we will surely go there a lot.
The busdriver was a madman thou, and I not sure Julia like to go on that bus again.. Maybe we have to buy a car. We will see.
Cheers
Monday, November 22, 2004
Sights, shoes and some art.
Went to Paris last weekend (the 12th of nov) to visist Julias sister, buy some clothes and see the sights.
Paris is awsome. Its big, its metrolpolitan and you can get everything. Quite the opposite of Sarajevo. We managed to jogg thru one of the wings of the louvre, climb the stairs up the Eifel tower and buy a udisclosed number of shoes.
It was great to get some good food, and Julia had some sushi wich she has been longing for.
Took some pictures but they didnt turn out that great. Bad lighting in Paris. Or something like that.
I will put up a page with some more pictures soon, and link it from here.
Now i´m of to lunch.
Cheers
Paris is awsome. Its big, its metrolpolitan and you can get everything. Quite the opposite of Sarajevo. We managed to jogg thru one of the wings of the louvre, climb the stairs up the Eifel tower and buy a udisclosed number of shoes.
It was great to get some good food, and Julia had some sushi wich she has been longing for.
Took some pictures but they didnt turn out that great. Bad lighting in Paris. Or something like that.
I will put up a page with some more pictures soon, and link it from here.
Now i´m of to lunch.
Cheers
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Blackout!
The reality of living in BiH came knocking last night. I was surfing away on the net as usual when suddenly everything went pitch black. I looked out over Sarajevo and saw nothing but darkness. The hole valley was dark. After a few minutes of sitting in the dark I realized that this wasnt to be fixed soon. Got up and borrowed a candle and lighter from my landlord. Stood on the terrace and looked out over the dark Sarajevo listening to car alarms going off everywhere.
After half and hour or so the power came back to my area, but the rest of Sarajevo was still black.
Today everything is back to normal and its looking out to be a great day in the Balkans.
hasta.
After half and hour or so the power came back to my area, but the rest of Sarajevo was still black.
Today everything is back to normal and its looking out to be a great day in the Balkans.
hasta.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004
Horror !
Today when I got up I discoverd the world turned white. Lots of snow everywhere. Very strange, since only a couple of days ago I was walking around in tshirt and sunglasses. Strange country, strange weather.
Anyway. Thats not the horror. The horror is that all this rather wet snow seems to have disrupted my satellite dishs receiver. Yes folks, you guessed it - no tv . None whatsoever (exept bosnian tv but that doesnt count). "Bad signal" it says mocking me. Tried to wipe the snow of with a broom but that didnt help (probably just screw up the setting).
Again, thank god or allah or whoever for my internet connection.
Tomorrow I will start some sort of rescue operation. May involve ladder and stuff. We will see.
Cheers.
Anyway. Thats not the horror. The horror is that all this rather wet snow seems to have disrupted my satellite dishs receiver. Yes folks, you guessed it - no tv . None whatsoever (exept bosnian tv but that doesnt count). "Bad signal" it says mocking me. Tried to wipe the snow of with a broom but that didnt help (probably just screw up the setting).
Again, thank god or allah or whoever for my internet connection.
Tomorrow I will start some sort of rescue operation. May involve ladder and stuff. We will see.
Cheers.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Sunday snowy sunday
This morning (actually didnt get up until 12) when I looked out the window i saw that the top of the surrondig hills where coverd in snow.
Julia went of to Prag for some conferance and I am enjoying bosnia on my own this week.
For some reason the heat is either at maximum or no heat at all, so when i tried to set it to a normal temperature it resulted in no heat at all. The apartement is freezing, guess I rather live in 30 degress heat then have the bosnian winter inside.
On a more personal note I would like to thank whoever is up there in the sky for my internet connection. Without it I would go insane.
Julia went of to Prag for some conferance and I am enjoying bosnia on my own this week.
For some reason the heat is either at maximum or no heat at all, so when i tried to set it to a normal temperature it resulted in no heat at all. The apartement is freezing, guess I rather live in 30 degress heat then have the bosnian winter inside.
On a more personal note I would like to thank whoever is up there in the sky for my internet connection. Without it I would go insane.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Photo of the new Mostar bridge with my digital camera.
Live from Bosnia
Sitting in my "office" a little room in our apartment looking out over the dark view of Sarajevo. Cold day today. I think winter is finally here. Some Bosnian told me that there's a jazz festival in town, so I will try to get tickets to that. He also said that this month there is a couple of cultural events but the rest of the year is basically dead, so it seems to be a good idea to seize this opportunity.
Went to Mostar last weekend. Nice bridge. The used to have a bridge from 1540 something , but some smartass decided that he didn't like it so he ordered artillery to pound it into nothing. The UN spent some 15 million or so to rebuild and voila here it is again.
The war is everywhere here. At first it all looks ok, but then you notice the blownout buildings and the bullet holes in the walls. People here are tough. Survivors. They take shit from noone and doesn't particular like foreigners. I guess some of them feel that the UN didn't do shit to help them during the war. I cant really blame them.
Went to Mostar last weekend. Nice bridge. The used to have a bridge from 1540 something , but some smartass decided that he didn't like it so he ordered artillery to pound it into nothing. The UN spent some 15 million or so to rebuild and voila here it is again.
The war is everywhere here. At first it all looks ok, but then you notice the blownout buildings and the bullet holes in the walls. People here are tough. Survivors. They take shit from noone and doesn't particular like foreigners. I guess some of them feel that the UN didn't do shit to help them during the war. I cant really blame them.
