Sunday, August 22nd

A typical weekend for my Dad while working over here has been: work on Saturday from 6am to 2pm, relax in the afternoon than go out for dinner somewhere, Sunday sleep in a bit do some work from home and any personal work he can get done and than relax for the rest of the day. Well I'm sure I will appreciate this once I have worked a 70 hour work week but until then I'm raining on his parade haha. So the tentative compromise that I thought I would make with him, which I decided better left to just trying rather discussing it, was to do something 'touristy' every weekend. We will see how that goes …
So yesterday we decided that we need to go check the Belgrade Beer Fest that we had been hearing about at work all week. We decided it would be a lot easier to just walk down to the park from the apartment, which took about 30mins. My history lesson continued and I'm begging to put together a bigger picture of the city and what it's all about. I decide to try my luck with filming the event along with my usual picture taking. Well lets just say my previous filming experiences have all been pretty planned out so this didn't turn out in the 'best quality'. It doesn't help that filming on a digital camera isn't great but thats no excuse for my unsteady hand. Oh well! :). I hope you enjoy and can really get a feel for the amount of people that were actually there - thousands!!!!

Beer Fest 2010 - Belgrade from Michele Hynes on Vimeo.

"Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor's noisy party than being there" FJ
Mich

Friday August 20th

Well I officially finished my first week of work. My initially thought process when first entertaining the idea of doing a co-op term over seas was I really wanted to find something totally different, on my own, get to travel to a different part of the world and where I could really get a feel for what engineering is all about. In a city where I could maybe play basketball along with that sounded like the ideal and maybe a bit unrealistic but nonetheless ambitious haha. Other than that anything was game… Well I'm doing something different, I'm in the field - not my specific field exactly, I'm getting a good chance to learn about engineering, and I'm definitely in a different part of the world.
I'm quickly learning that it's really hard to do anything without knowing someone, or know someone who speaks English haha. Aka the saying "its not what you know, it's who you know" is all too relevant at the moment. But to be perfectly honest what can't it be both? What and who you know together can make for a good combo and I have definitely learned over the past few years that you can't always have one without the other. Well that's my take on it and its working for me. I didn't want the latter (who you know) to over rule my experience here but it is what it is. Yes I'm working with my Dad for a Canadian Engineering Consulting firm at an American Steel Plant (USS) in Smedervoo Serbia, but it has already been way more than I expected. So yes I did end up using my Dad's situation for a placement, but is that such a bad thing? I think I would be stupid not to - I don't think I could have found a better situation given my lack of experience in travel and in work and my wavering decision to do this. So I took advantage of the situation and I'm going to make the most of it.
In the first week I have already had to pull out some stuff that I thankfully already learned in school to help me get some of the work done. Although the tasks I'm doing are tedious and at times mundane, I quickly realized that all levels of engineering have these types of tasks to complete at some point and it's part of the project process. Luckily I finished workplace and gas safety training so now I'm just waiting for my safety equipment so I can mix up the work day with some jobs in the plant - which I'm pretty excited about. But for now I put in a solid week of AutoCad drawing cataloguing for the upcoming project we are working on. Not only did I have to enter every one of the 1395 drawing's details into an excel spread sheet, I got to translate them into English from Serbian! Let me tell you I was pumped when I finished the last one - definitely did a little dance and fist pumping in my head, while I calmly walked over and ask for my next task haha. My reward was getting to help with a drawing in progress for the project - screen shot below.

(Lets play 'I Spy': find the 6 small boxes that are very faint and you win!)


You see those tiny insignificant red boxes that you can hardly make out, within all the important stuff around it I didn't do, I did those boxes! Drawing one complete! hahaha - pathetic I know but when you see 1395 complicated drawings that you think you will never be able to do and start to panic because as usual "school taught us nothing about the real world" this was very rewarding :).
While trying to wrap my head around the fact that I now have a 9-5 job (here it's more like 6am to 5pm) I get to enjoy a nice relaxing weekend. Hopefully get into some fun!
Until next time ….

"Learning is not a spectator sport" DB
Mich

Sunday August 15th

I'm starting to get use to having no idea what is going on around me from a verbal perspective. I didn't realize how much I paid attention to what others where saying even if it didn't involve me. I know some of you might think this is eavesdropping, but when you are listening to understand people, place or situations around you or learning something you may not have other wise known I call it information gathering haha - that may be a stretch I know... So the result of not having the luxury of comprehension results in 100% people watching which, lets be honest, everyone does anyways but now we don't know what they are saying so we can make up even more far fetched assumptions about people. Which Dad and I often do and ends in a ridiculous story that we have a good laugh at. But I digress haha …
I'm becoming more comfortable about my surrounding and how things are different here. My second day here I had to go to the police station to register my passport for a temporary resident card, which I would have never known to get. Having Dad around to show me the ropes the easy way is a little better than find these things out the hard way haha. This was my first task on the solo but like Ty and I have said since day one about my Dad working over here - he knows people who know people. So I get a knock on my door, knowing to expect someone but not knowing what to expect. After taking 5 minutes to open the door, because I apparently can't figure out a door with 5 dead-bolts which you can turn to three different positions, I'm greeted by a Serbian gentleman telling me, in broken english, someone is here for me. So I quickly grab my purse, where I had strategically placed things (keys, Dad's cell number, my address, etc) in case of 'emergency' and head down stairs. Where I meet an other guy, who's english is better, and he tells me he is here to take me to the police station so I figured my Dad probably knew this guy. We walk outside to his car, an automatic Mercedes with black tinned windows, which you don't see around this tight streets to frequently - you can imagine the different scenarios that are going through my head at this point (cough cough … Mofia …. haha). He opens the door for me, which I don't think I will ever get use to, it is forever in my head that only forgein men in American movies do this gesture haha. Getting use to the 'difference' in driving we made our way through busy streets to the station. Needless to say this guys knew what he was going. All it took was me handing over my passport (slightly holding my breath) and 10 minutes later I was back home and a register resident of Serbia for 90 days. I ended the ordeal with a good old fashion american hand shake, which I have learned it my link to saying thank you without actually have to say it, although my pronunciation of 'Hvala' . Later I recount how things went with my Dad when he informs me he had no idea who the guys was that took me but we don't have to worry about it now cause I got home safe (ear muffs mom) haha.
Well that was a long winded example about all the fun and interesting situations that I'm just beginning to experience and over analyze - hope I painted a good enough picture for you to enjoy :).
This afternoon we spent the day going down town to the shops and visited the old fort. Kalemegdan is the castle located where the Danube and Sava meet on the coast of Belgrade. My history lessons are continuing and my cluelessness to history is coming along nicely. Its starting to sink in now that when someone says something is from the 13th century is not a mind blowing concept in Europe like I think it is. Anyways here are some pictures and hope to update you again soon. …



"Imagination is stronger than knowledge. Myth more potent than history. Dreams more powerful than facts. Hope always triumphs over experience. Laughter is the cure for grief." RF
Mich

Thursday August 12th

"Sorry to say but I can't stay …" Today was departure day from Barcelona for everyone. Dad and I were off to Serbia while the rest of the crew was on route back to Canada. Didn't have much repacking to do so I was able to get a good sleep in before the trip. The flight to Serbia only took 2 hours so it was basically the equivalent of my usually flight from Winnipeg to Hamilton which covers only two Provinces in Canada. Througout this flight I passed through a couple of countries, a couple of parts of the Mediterranean - which is still a hard concept for me to put into context some times haha. But we arrived in Belgrade without too many delays. I don't think I have ever seen seat aisles on an airplane so narrow but luckily my five-feet-something worked to my average this time. My dad has no idea what I'm talking about as he is a 'business class flyer' - overrated I'm telling you. Having a free drink is not even that great of a deal because it guarantees you trip to the washroom, which can be an even bigger of a hassle on a foreign plane with funny looking toilets and no English signs haha ... mildly kidding ... it really was a fine flight.
I don't think I had prepared myself enough to know what surroundings I was landing in so my optionated canvas was blank with only Canadian comparison. Did I mention I don't remember anything from European history class??
Well it was interesting from the moment I was out of the airport, so many different sights and expected norms gone! I can't even give options or perspectives because 30mins in I knew it was going to take a while to rap my head around everything. So for now I'm on the other side of the 'immigration' experience, the one who can't explain myself to get what I need in stores and the one who will probably put my foot in my mouth many times to learn different parts of the culture. But I'm excited to observe and 'learn' ... I'm finally getting a sense of what people mean when they say 'travelling helps you grow as person'. I'm definitely not anywhere near there but that feeling of uncomfortable-situations-ahead has settled in so I'm in for an experience ...

"Live consciously, continuously and with out fear of the unknown"
Mich

Wednesday August 11th

Having arrived towards the end of the my Aunt, Uncle, and parent's trip to Barcelona, they were pretty tired and ready for a relatively uneventful day. So we decided to go for a nice short shopping trip in downtown Barcelona. We all had a few souvenir and must have item to pick up so we knew we couldn't get sucked in to do too many things. Well let me tell you, I was tempted to want to do so many things but I understood - the feeling of going back home from vacation tired can be very draining. But after walking around, stopping at the stores we intended to and seeing the usual interesting-people-watching-scenes I found myself back in the car as planned.


We came back to the house for a famous Monsterat lasagna lunch and fruit. After which everyone had the feeling for a much needed siesta. This is where I caught up on my sleep I think, mine lasted a good 2 hours! Than I woke up to a full household of people. They had planned a drive up to some of the close by mountains to see the view. Meanwhile I went and played some basketball. Losing track of time, after 2 hours of playing the call to come home because we were heading to Barcelona for dinner was received. Got home, showered and dressed all within 10 minutes to enjoy a great night out. The restaurant was beautiful (fun fact: the restaurant was the one from the movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), the food was great and the company even better!

We finished off the night with a visit to the eldest brother Carlos' house in north Barcelona, to see his new digs and the painting he did for the baby's room haha. It was a very cool place, the perfect size and use of space, which they had done a great job of making into a home. You don't find anything like that in Canada that's for sure haha. Said our goodbyes :( and headed home.



Another late night well spent. I was ready for bed after some initial packing but couldn't seem to fall asleep when I started to think about how lucky I was to have had the pass couple of day turn out the way they did. Pretty cool …

"When the doors of opportunity swing open, we must make sure that we are not too afraid or indifferent to walk through them." JJ
Mich

Tuesday August 10th

Another great breakfast to start the day and than we were in for a beach tour. We headed to the north east coast of Costa Brava where the family usually vacationed to when the boys were younger so it was fun to hear some of the stories. It took about 2 hours to get there, I tried to stay awake to see some of the scenery but it was mostly highway, which meant instant napping for me :). The first stop was to the top of a mount St.Sebastian, were the introduction to the great views began. This is where one of the most important light houses is located and below is surrounded by one of the busiest beaches.



Next we head to the town of Tamarin for some lunch on the beach front and a walk along the beach path - again it was insanely busy.



Than our snorkelling and exploring destination was just around the cove, where we set up on rock face and explored the water below. The water was a refreshing temperature and there were plenty of fish to see. Not to mention that swimming in the ocean always reminds me of how big the world actually is - when you look out and all you can see is water and the thought of the next content being so many swimming months away is always surreal to me haha. But we all enjoyed the day and no one got sun burnt. Being able to tell we were tourist from a cold country was too easy for the brown-sun-tanned Europeans :).



After leaving the beach we headed to the top of another mountain where the very cool hotel of Parador Hotel Aigublava was located. We walked around a bit more as the temperature was starting to cool down and the lightning on the coast made for some great pictures of the scenery!



Than for our final stop we ended up in Pals, which is a medieval village where the coast line can be seen from afar. This is the typical town that you would see in a movie with a medieval setting. Cobble stone streets, old farming land, gothic church, archways in the street, flowers that looked wild but well kept and endless scenic view from different viewpoints to make you think its the perfect spot between sea and land (wow that sounds like a travel adversitment haha).






We headed home, which definitely involved a nap in the car, and we were all ready for some much needed sleep. Had a snack of fruit - I swear they inject it with sugar and growth hormones, which makes every possible fruit delicious. Even fruit that I don't like look appetizing and I must try and ones that we don't have at home are that much more tempting to try haha. Off to bed ready to sleep for hours ….

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.” ID
Mich

Monday August 9th

Had to do some serious reading to fall sleep after heading to bed around 11pm, as we had a 5am wake up call ahead of us. Our destination today was three and a half hours north west to the Pyrenees mountains for an exciting day of white water rafting and some site seeing around the village of Llavorsi. Getting there a few hours before our raft departure time, our gracious host of course packed us a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed river side - couldn't get much better! Then we walked around a bit and took in some of the mountain side town before suiting up for our water escapade! With my Mom a little nervous and my excitement building I knew we were in for some fun haha. We all got the traditional rafting gear and a quick intro to the basics, than we were off for an hour and 25 minute, 14km adventure. It was tons of fun highlighted by: some 'bumper cars' off rocks, some refreshing floating in the ice cold river, Mom's face when told to 'rescue' everyone, Uncle DV's determination leading the charge in the front, and many laughs having to do with our paddling (in)ability and general excitement when going down rapids! (Hopefully action photos to follow later)
After that little work out :) we were met by our ride back to the city as soon as we arrived back at the rafting starting spot. We decided we were more tired than hungry and start the trek back home. After an adrenaline-pumping-european-style drive back home we had some snacks and were ready for a nice night at the house. Of course this does not consist of nothing but we had a great time. Aunt Wendy and I spent a good amount of time helping prepare some bedding for the baby that the family is expecting any day now! Mom and Monsterat jumped in here and there while preparing some things for dinner. We enjoyed a very very good spaghetti dinner under a warm and comfortable night - oh did i mention that typical dinner time is around 9pm and we eat outside most of the time, one of my favourite parts and exactly my style haha. Another late night to try and fall asleep, I don't think the napping in the car anywhere we go is helping ...
"No day is so bad or too good that it can't be improved with a nap." CP
Mich

Sunday August 8th

I arrived in Barcelona after a 7 hour flight, my first international flight alone, which felt great to get out of the way to know I was comfortable doing it. I met a really interesting girl from the US who went to undergrad at UNC, it took all my strength to not ask too many questions about the sports culture but her best friend was a member of the women's basketball team so I was in luck haha. She had just finish an internship in New York for her third year in Law school and decided to take a 5 day trip to Barcelona before school started again in 8 days ... insane! The flight attendant thought we were sisters and travelling together to celebrate a vacation from school so she brought the drinks over right away haha. We had some good chats, some laughs, a nice nap and a really decent meal (for an economy class ticket) to make the flight pass very quickly. I arrived in Barcelona airport at 7am with a solid 3 hour nap to sustain me for the day - I don't know what all the fuss is about jet lag, the adrenaline and excitement of being in a new country had me ready to go haha .... maybe.
Getting back to the house, that I had been to 2 years ago, immediately felt like home. It may be because the family we stay with is exactly that FAMILY, but it also has to do with the hospitality and the way they go out of there way to make you feel like you can make yourself at home. So we started off the day with a typical European breakfast - fresh bread, cheese, amazing fruit, cafe, tea, and of course my favorite chocolate croissants! Than after much discussion we (Mom, Dad and Aunt Wendy) decided to head to the Barcelona Zoo for a few hours while the rest of the crew stayed at home to enjoy the warm weather in a more relaxing way and to prepare for the tradition Spanish meal of paella.






It wasn't as big as the Toronto zoo but there are still a lot of animals and you are a lot closer to the them than most zoos, good or bad you can decide haha. Another Barcelona site to check off the never ending list of things to do there!
We returned from the zoo right on time to enjoy a delicious meal of a paella, that had more ingredients in it than I can list but it was DELICIOUS! (google paella if you are interested in cooking, its a lot of fun to make and you can't mess up the 'receipt' because there are so many versions). Oh and we definitely could not have this meal without drinking sangria and having crema catalana for dessert. [Caution google imaging these items may make your mouth water] haha.
Being full and tired is the perfect combo for a quick siesta to get over some jet lag - well it felt like I slept for hours but it only lasted about 20 minutes, so that was either all I needed or I was just too over tired, who knows. Everyone was still too full from the meal that we didn't plan any dinner but more family members stopped by to visit. We took some pictures and enjoyed the warm weather and good company before heading to the beach for an early evening walk.



A great day to start with :) …

"The first step towards somewhere new is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." UK
Mich

Off Running with the Bulls

Well I'm not in Panploma but I'm close enough to get the cultural feel haha. I have finally made it to Europe after what feels like months of waiting yet it came up so quickly. I start in Barcelona for a few days of pure vacation and fun with family - my Canadian family and my spanish family :). It has been quite the journey to get here but at the same time a new journey is starting. I hope to share with you what I'm up to, with no intention or agenda just what comes to mind. Enjoy at your own pace and risk, some of it may mean nothing but this is my easiest way to share with everyone. And a very wise team of 'life coaches' showed me the rewarding process and peace of mind that 'journalling' can bring.
If anything I hope to strike your interest about something you may want to do or go, or something that you may realize you haven't done or may never want to do. I know that I'm beyond lucky for what I'm about to venture off and get to experience, so I want to share it with anyone and everyone. This is my way of trying to keeping everyone in on what I'm up to, because we all know I'm not the best of communicators when in the same country so a whole different contient could bring a whole new level haha.
But I'm so fortune to have family and friends genuinely interested in what I'm doing. You know who you are so here is to you….

"The future is always beginning now" MS
Mich