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| 2 weeks. 2 weeks already since Sarajevo and it's been busy all the way. I haven't really been motivated to get on here and write in a while what with everything winding down and all. Everyone is moving out (including myself this week) and it's hard to "find" time to be alone. I've spent nearly every night for the past week and a half saying goodbye to someone, and today was no different. But despite my clock telling me it's way past my bedtime, I know I need to write something down here. Today was "cleaning day", and not a very successful one at that. I managed to take all the pictures and posters off my walls. I got a lot of papers thrown away, but that's about all. There's still a lot to do, and time is running short. It'll get there though. It has to. But enought about that. On to Sarajevo.
It's always difficult to write when you don't know where to begin, but as always, the start is usually a good place. In this case, we can actually start before the beginning. Me and Tutu left Friday night for Sarajevo from Munich, however we went to Munich on Thursday. We went with four other friends and spent most of the day just sitting around in the beautiful English Garden while we waited for our other friend to finish work. It was hot, but there was a perfect little river running through and we took advantage of it. Me and Tutu tossed a frisbee around for a good while. One throw went a little off course and I had to run for it. I happened to run directly towards the river, and although I caught the disc, I could not stop. So into the river I went. Ah well, it was nice, and it gave the people something to laugh about. A few minutes later the disc rolled back into the river. I reached but couldn't get it so I hopped in again. The river wasn't so high so I thought it would be no problem. Unfortunately I didn't think about the fast current that knocked me off my feet. I came out of the river, frisbee in hand....but glasses-less. Yep. In I went and off they came. Sorry for those at home who won't get to see my new glasses. Some fish in Munich is gonna be looking ultra chic now. So. What a way to start off the trip. No glasses for Sarajevo. It all worked out though considering I'm not as blind as others I know. I was still able to see and enjoy everything we visited. Friday we boarded a bus and prepared for a 17 hour drive through 5 countries and into the middle of Sarajevo. The ride wasn't too bad, just long. And difficult to sleep due to border crossings and subsequent passport checks...at 4am for example. But we survived it, and the next morning we were greeted with some rather odd sights. Half bombed houses out in the countryside, with trees growing up though, and around them. We looked at eachother with a look of "what did we get ourselves into" and waited to see what the city would look like. Unfortunately I think I'm gonna leave you all hanging there though, cuz I'm tired. Sorry! Don't be mad. Look! Pictures!!  
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| Hahahaha. I love when camera's catch something unexpected....
We had an 'interview session' last Thursday, because the school wanted to talk with international students about their experiences here and see what it's like to live with people from all over the world. They took pictures. Sometimes unplanned things were captured. No need to explain more, just enjoy: 
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| Unbelievable. It's already been a week since I got back from Bosnia and I'm just now getting on here? It's been a pretty busy week. 7 move outs, extra goodbye parties, "family" dinners... The office has kept me fairly busy too. It's kinda nice to know that some work will pile up without me there, but I'd rather not have to deal with it when I come back :P haha. Today we had a big bbq all afternoon for some final goodbyes, some new hellos, and some haven't seen you in way too longs. It was beautiful weather (a nice change from yesterday... which was pretty much a Seattle winter for those who know) and we all enjoyed the chance to really just relax for a while. Yes a frisbee was thrown around ;) Tomorrow apparently we are all taking the train into Munich. I hope the weather will be like today so we can enjoy some time swimming in the river. I promise I'll get a Bosnia post on here soon. The experience was incredible and I would love to go back. I have tons of pictures, so I'll be sure to get some good ones on here too. Hopefully soon... | | |
| I'll explain the title soon enough. But I think first I owe you all a video of sorts... Here it is. The famed "Couch Potato Dive", courtesy of Uncle Mike. And while I couldn't manage to get all the way around on the video, I would like to point out that it wasn't a belly flop. I would also like to mention that I DID make it around on the attempt that didn't get taped. Isn't that always how it goes...
Now. About the title. I have officially been on vacation for nearly one full hour now. And it's wonderful. Tomorrow morning my friend Tutu and I will be getting in some stranger's car and riding along to Munich. There we will stay overnight with a friend (who I just notified 20 minutes ago) along with apparently 4-5 other people. (See what happens when you wait till the last minute!?!) Friday evening, me and Tutu will board a bus, and 20 hours later we will be in none other than that Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. I'm totally pumped and can't wait to see everything I can down there in former Yugoslavia. It will be weird to be in a country where war is still so recent, but I'm sure it will be a good opportunity to learn too. I'll be gone for a week and I'm glad to finally have the vacation time. I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell when I get back. Till then. Enjoy the vid! | | |
| What a day, what a day, what a glorious day... : D Yesterday was B.E.A. YOUUUUtiful weather, so we decided to go to the pool. The outdoor pool. It was incredible, and exactly what we all needed. The kids pool complete with giant twisty slide and huge inflatable thing (where we spent most time of course), the diving pool with three boards at various heights (1, 3, and 6 meters more or less), and one giant pool for "real" swimming. As I said, most time was spent in the kid pool trying to see just how fast we could get going down the slide. And of course slide time was accompanied by random dive time, which became a mix of seeing who could hurt themselves the most, and who could do the craziest looking dive. I think I won it with my final dive from the middle board. The couch potato - courtesy of Uncle Mike. There's a video somewhere. I just have to find out where. And then I'll figure out how to add it. It didn't go quite as I had planned, but that just added to the magic of it all. It was a pretty fantastic time really. Last night, after hours in the sun, we had a wonderful bbq behind the tower with some incredible pizza. At least it would have been incredible if Tutu had simply put it in the oven and let it cook. But he decided to take creative license and added a good amount of little peppers to it before cooking it. (Yes it was frozen pizza, we were lazy) (yes I said bbq, we cooked the pizza in the oven and took it outside to join the others). Anyhow, we kept trying to get people to try it, but after the reaction from the first bite it got difficult. Some dared, others tried unknowingly, one ran and drank an entire liter of milk. Overall, funny reactions were seen and enjoyed by all. I think I got back here to my room and wonderful bed around 3:30 this morning... That's just how bbqs go around this place. : ) Today was fantastically lazy. I enjoyed some homemade macaroni with friends, watched a movie, and tossed a frisbee around for a while. The frisbee thing ended up lasting longer than expected, because we had company. There were a lot of people around the field today for some reason. And then a boy came around and walked through real slow with that "maybe if I linger they'll decide to throw the disc to me" look. Everytime the frisbee was thrown he would stop and watch it, then slowly keep walking. So I asked if he wanted to join in and he said yeah. It was pretty entertaining because he kept saying things and I had to ask him to repeat a lot of times. Problem was he spoke swabisch (picture someone from the deep south...) so it was difficult to understand everything. And even when he WOULD repeat himself, there were often words that I didn't know cuz they're just different from normal "proper" German. I also had to translate between him and my friend Tutu which got fun. He asked if we speak English, and when I said yes he very proudly stated that they had just learned some in school. "Hello I'm Sven". And that was it... He ended up wrestling a bit with Tutu, whose name he also laughed at. "I'm Sven" "Hi Sven, I'm Dave, and this is Tutu" "Tutu? What a strange name..." Hahaha. And it only got better when I tried explaining that he was Tutu because of his last name, Tutusaus. "Wie Tutu sauf ein Bier" (Like 'Tutu, chug a beer'). Silly kids. It was fun though. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, even if we ended up playing a bit longer than we had intended. | | |
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