Intense Bus Driver

So, the girls and i had to got to prijedor today to talk with some people from the Center for Mental Health there. We will be working in prijedor on Fridays. The city is about an hour away from Banja Luka. After our meeting there this morning we hopped back on a bus to head home. Little did we know that we had the bus driver from hell. Normally I am not afraid to drive with others, however, this gentleman has instilled a new fear of bus drivers. At one point we passed a smaller car on a curve going faster then i care to admit. Kristine, Sandy and I looked at each other is disbelief....does this mean we will opt for the train next time? Not sure, but we will be going there every week so we will at least hope for a new driver.

You arent gonna believe this...

I am sitting here in Banja Luka in jeans and a hoodie sweatshirt. Yep you heard me a sweatshirt. i woke up this morning cold. Which is a feeling i forgot, until about 4:00 am. What a joy to have on a sweatshirt. It has been rainy here the last couple of days and has made a huge difference in how hot it is. I want to say that it is probably about 65 degrees C. Talk about a blessing. the breeze that is making its way through our apartment is amazing. we have been out walking around a ton since it is not as hot as lava outside. I know this wont last long, but while it is here we are going to enjoy it!

Back to the Grind

Well, kristine and i went to sarajevo this weekend. Sandy trained it down with us and decided to head to tuzla with some of her classmates. Maria came over from Mostar while michelle and savi came too. We had a good time. Sarajevo is very different from Banja Luka. For one it was cooler! Yeah, I cant get enough cool breeze coming my way these days. We went and saw the tunnel museum, which was sombering! it was interesting to see a museum where all the artifacts are less than 20 years old. on the way back we got lost from the museum and the owner saw us wandering on a corner and decided he would help us back to the city and gave us a ride. A bit hestitant at first to get in the car, but we realized that if we didnt we wouldnt have made it back to the city! So now we are back in banja luka, sweating and working.

I'm melting...

i think that the wicked witch of the west coined this phrase best, however, i feel that she might not visited banja luka in the summer. I'm sure it was hot in Oz; but we are melting away here. I am not sure how you get used to sweating 24 hours a day. We went out to a cevap restaraunt yesterday, we sat outside because there was a waterfall and beautiful flowers and umbrellas. I do not enjoy sweating while eating hot meat. We made grabbed some ice cream, which is everywhere here and headed home and planted ourselves in front of the fan. And we hear that it is only going to get hotter.

Heat Stroke..

Allright, Sandy and I purchased bikes. Yes, I said bikes! We decided that since our field placement is only 4.5 miles outside of the city that we were going to bike there. So today was our trial run to see how long it would take us to complete the 4.5 miles. Aside from being sweaty and smelly, i felt as if i was going to die! It was probably not the smartest thing to test run this 8 mile ride all together in the middle of the day when it was 100 degrees outside. We were told it was 40 degrees C. I guess i figured that since i am in such stellar shape i could do this bike ride on what felt like the surface of the sun with no problem! Little did i know biking up the side of the hills of banja luka is tougher than it looks. Thank goodness there was shade for me to rest in for 10 minutes..

Kruna Klub...

Need I say more than the title!! we decided to visit a local night club for a bit last night! we headed out around 10:30 (normal time you would head out) when we got inside we realized that was not the normal time here, so we chatted till about midnight when people started showing up. And when they started showing up some prime people and fashion watching began...I was excited to see the fashion statements here since we here this is the LA of Bosnia. After an hour of shock we realized that we were doing good if this was the LA. We felt on top of our game! After having probably the worst beer we have ever tasted we chilled a bit more and headed for the stroll home, which was the best part of the evening..It is so beautiful here at night. We spotted another club called the Boom Boom Room, i will let you know how that goes!!

Too Tight!!

So, Sandy, myself and Kristine decided to venture out to the community pool yesterday for a relaxing dip. When we entered the pool aread it was like a water park. There were three pools to choose from, a lazy river and even a huge slide. It was awesome. However, after lounging around and chillin in the water we began to notice a horrible trend among the men at the pool. aside from the fact that the world's tallest and thinnest people are here the men seem to think that it is okay to rock the too tight suit. no matter what it was they were wearing (speedo, the short speedo or regular swimtrunks) there were a couple of times each of us looked up from the pool and got little surprises for our enjoyment. We were laughing so hard. it a great cultural experience!

Found a translator

So, Sandy and I found a translator to go with us to United Women. Ivana is so sweet. I think that sandy and i might have been a lot to handle but she is a trooper. After a 20 minute bus ride to our placement we got a tour of the safe house and met the kids and moms who live there. There were large gates outside of the building for the women's safety. (I will post pics later)
After politely not requesting coffee, turkish coffee was placed in front of us. Since I have to have milk and sugar in my coffee in order to not have a caffine meltdown, I went to pour milk in my cup and got it all over the table. Realizing that i didnt need anymore i passed the milk to sandy who proceeded to spill as well. Amela and Dragona thought it was the funniest thing and it lightened the mood of the meeting. Leave it to me to add humor to the siutation.
Finally when our meeting was over, we got onto a cramped bus with no air, with about 50 people. I thought that I was going to melt to death or die of suffocation and leaving this world beause of overwhelming body odor is not the way i wanted to go.

Banja Luka!!

So, I have made it to banja luka bosnia. Can you believe it? after a crazy whirlwind in Munich i met Kristine at the train station and thus begins our adventure over the last 3 days!
We were picked up at the station by Vesna (our new found friend) and made our way through the streets where we were pulled over by the police as we left the parking lot. We finally made it to our flat which is unbelievable...

We opened the door and Tanja and Djuro were patiently awaking our arrival. We stepped onto the beautiful stick on lanolium which was stuck to carpet. Then Djuro showed us the bathroom with no shower curtain and a strange blue color toilet. As we bent over and saw that the washing machine dumps water into the tub we decided baths were not allowed. Between that and the lack of shower curtain the Americans in Banja Luka are getting pretty ripe.

Djuro then showed us to the living room where, to our surprise, two Bosnia versions of hide-a-beds. He showed us that with a lot of effort we can get the couches into the bed position, hopefullywithout waking the neighbors. What is great about the sleeping arrangements is the first thing i see every morning when i wake up is Krash's face. Our beds almost touch, which means we can cuddle whenever we want.

* Another wonderful thing about Banja Luka is the food. The first meal I had was a pizza with mushrooms, pickles and egg. This is not what I thought I ordered, but this is what came out. Krash's pizza was a nice Hawaiian pizza. Looked very normal, a few pieces of pinapple and ham. Mine not so much! Needless to say that is that last time that I will be eating that. The next day we went to Master restaurant, which is literally a few feet from our flat. It is the only Mexican restaurant in town. When the chips and salsa arrived we were served spicy dorritos and marinara sauce with chili powder. So good!!!

Finally today while Krash was at her placement Sandy and I went to the Farmers Market. Brave I know. What a great way to practice Serbian-Croatian or to stand there and look incredibly lost and confused. We did the latter. Which made for quality service. I never know how much lettuce was in a kilo, but lets just say it is a lot of lettuce. We will be having salads for sometime. Yummy!!

When i know more about my field placement i will let you know. But since there is not a translator available for us yet. Sandy and I are hanging out and making presentations that might never be used. But good practice is how i am going to look at that.