October 7th, 2010

TIME IS FLYING BY... I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 8 WEEKS ALREADY!

It's been awhile … I have to admit that spending extra time on my computer has not been at the top of my fun list as of late. I literally spend 90% of my time at work on the computer and as much as I like surfing the web and checking up what is going on else where in the world - including catching up on north american television - the 'screen-time' gets to you. When you get home from work, and an hour later you are trying to look at a computer screen and your eyes are glazing over I take this as a sign that I shouldn't be on here. On the flip side I like keeping, those of you who are interested, up to date so I battle through haha ….

Top Highlights:
1. Went and watched the Davis Cup (Tennis) world semi-final between Serbia and Czech Republic. I have always enjoyed a good tennis match on TV but I was a little sceptical on how much I would like seeing it live. What made me commit 100% in going was the fact that Djokovic was going to be playing. (We were making fun of my Dad when he first started working in Serbia, that they didn't even have that many good sports to watch. Which he proceeded to argue and list off all the world-ranked players of various sports. Because if my Dad was going to take the time to learn anything about Serbia it would be the details of the sports world! And since than I started to take note of Serbian athletes). Djokovic has become one of my favourite European athletes to watch. He has typical European flare, but is classy and seems like he handles his job seriously and with gratitude - at the same time he isn't afraid to show personality to the public. So naturally his country loves him haha …. A few pictures from the tournament, I watched the first two singles matches and the double match. After not a great showing in the doubles match, Serbia had to win both single matches on the Sunday to win the semi-final. I was a bit of a sports nerd, I really enjoyed seeing these elite athletes in a totally different world of sport (for me) and how they performed in a unique event that sees athletes compete as a team when they normally compete as individuals. It was an exciting finish for a stadium packed with passionate fans - Serbia won so no riots ensued haha just kidding (kind of).

(I found an option for an even greater digital zoom
on my camera - makes me feel like a stalker haha
... pictures are great but I can say I saw them)

2. I officially learned how to take the public transit system here. Once the novelty of my walking radius wore off I took the plunge. I decided to test out my North-American personal space bubble and jam pack myself into one of those buses. Well it did take a couple of rounds to work up my courage. My inexperience saw me pass-by the first two #17 buses to try and get a less packed bus - which I figured out doesn't exist. So I got out my old subtle-elbow-pushing skills and forced my way in. I won't get on the subject of how my bubble burst about two stops short of my destination because that's the not the point. The point is I did it! (This also help me conclude that I really like walking in fresh air and with elbow space haha).

3. I did another 'only-in-Serbia deal' and got myself some tickets to the Euro-league football game for the Partizans. After mentioning to a guy down the hall at the office that I was a little disappointed that the games where sold out he returned the next day with some contact information of where I could get some. Knowing I was happy about the opportunity to get tickets but I couldn't talk my way through getting them, one of my co-workers took over. After getting the details, we go pick up tickets at a random computer store (yeah you read right!) down town, with cash haha. We couldn't just buy one ticket, you had to buy one for all three games. So I have completed 1 of 3 Partizans experiences - again the sports nerd came out and I loved the atmosphere that was in the stadium. The ability for the athletes, coaches, even referees to function effectively in a space with so many people cheering and making noise is amazing in itself. And on top of that, despite the fact that the home team lost, the crowd cheered from 20mins before the game until 20mins after, with (mostly) positive encouragement. My favourite cheer was at the end, translated to "even though you are the worst, we still love you" haha. Definitely a cool experience.




4. My mom has arrived after settling into her no-school routine. She took a sabbatical this year to get a break from school and to be with my Dad. I have to be honest its a weird experience going from only getting to see them ever few months, to sharing a 900 square foot apartment with them. It's natural reaction to what to go back to relying on them like you did when you were a kid, only now there is a small guilty feeling knowing that you really shouldn't. But at the end of the day I feel really grateful for the opportunity to share this experience with them and know that they are the ones that have really given me the tools to get whatever I want out of this adventure. And besides I needed a travel partner at some point so looks like Mom is the lucky winner, she may not know it yet but hey there was a long line-up of people wanting the spot so she is pretty lucky if I don't say so myself …. haha. Don't get me wrong the comments of "so when are you going back to school?" are never to far away but for now I get to be the kid that won't leave 'home' - my mom should just stop cooking with cheese.

Still getting use to the time change.

5. I finally got to cross off another Serbian tourist attraction off my list. We went to Avala tower this past weekend. It is a telecommunication tower siting on top of Avala hill just outside of Belgrade and was bombed during the NATO bombing in 1999; but was rebuilt and reopened this year. It is one of the tallest buildings in the Balkan and now stands as more of a historic piece rather than for telecommunication use. Basically it reminded of a mini CN tower. The architecture of the base is different in that it supported by three arched columns that join to make the tower - so the wide range of architecture continues (Sam I think it would give you enough to look at haha).



Than just further up the hill was the Monument to the Unknown Hero. Again a unique mix of old and new architecture and great cultural significance. As it is meant to represent more than just Serbian soliders, but rather women from all countries that were involved or a part of the former Yugoslav during WWI and Balkan wars.



On the way up the hill, we stopped at the Soviet Veterans World War Memorial. Cool structure that over looks the west of Belgrade's surrounding valley. It was a little cloudy so we didn't have a great view but the location was really nice (I kept taking deep breaths of the fresh air - I'd forgotten what it felt like to fill my lunges which oxygen fresh from the forest haha).




That's it for now …Talk soon :)

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life." M&S
Mich

September, 18th, 2010

Trying to switch it up and not just give you long winded randomness from my life. I have been on the solo for a while now and starting to feel at ease with everything around me. If I haven't talk to you recently and you are reading this - I hope you are doing well and we talk soon :). Thought I would just post some snapshots I have taken over the course of my time here so far. Most of them are just taken when walking around the city.

Longest escalator I have been on.

Hallway of random building I walked into.

One of many churches.

Lots of time to cook!

Countryside Drives.

Graffiti art in progress.

Scented candles are my best friends against the interesting smells.

Sava at sunset.

Official taste test.

Learned the word for engineering project haha.

Engineering building at University of Belgrade

(I think it has some years on U of M...)

"Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshots from the photographs." MH

-Mich

September 12th, 2010

Nothing too exciting to update on, which is weird for me to think because it seems like I learn something new, feel completely incompetent, or see something way outside the 'Canadian' bubble everyday. Inspired with my new(ish) obsession with making sense of all these things on the internet, I give you in true Google search fashion some of my top 5's:

Top 5 Thing I instantly loved about the European lifestyle:
1. Fresh Bakeries and produce everywhere you go.
2. Cafes, beer drinking and difference in night life (not that I'm fully engaged in any of those but the possibilities seem endless :))
3. Intense sport culture.
4. Tons of things to film and take pictures of (now I just need some better equipment)
5. The laundry - the detergent smell is so differently fresh and they don't use dryers so everything is hung to dry, just the way I like it haha.

Top 5 Things I'm still adjusting to:
1. Milk that isn't kept in the fridge when bought, doesn't seem natural.
2. Sub-titles and some very interesting television.
3. How to speak translatable English - leave out words, use basic sentences, speak slowly …. oh and sarcasm is lost in translation - so basically I don't talk much … jk.
4. Having to do currency conversions between Dinars, Euros, US dollars, and Canadian dollars - as much as I'm a numbers person it can get very confusing when trying to make split-second decisions on purchases.
5. The traffic - the bus is insane busy all the time, driving is not for any one with heart problems and putting your body on the line to cross the street is the norm.

Top 5 TV Shows (bet you haven't heard of at least one of them, they are priceless in many ways haha ... my tv watching is has declined a lot):
1. Rita Rocks
2. Sam Who?
3. Cupid
4. Extreme Survival
5. Hallmark movies

Top 5 Mind-Blowing Scenes I Have witnessed:
1. The military practicing open range fire in a field by the side of the highway - no fence or barrier between the road and their targets. I'm truly Canadian in that hence and think it a very strange site to see guns outside of police's gun holsters.
2. Boys full out playing marco-polo in a huge fountain outside of the parliament buildings - no one seemed to care and they looked like they were having the times of their lives! (think that would fly in the Lincoln memorial? haha).
3. There is a very big wild dog population here, it's hard getting use to the fact that they can be seen dead on the side of the road - which we refer to as road kill ...
4. There have been many 'life changing' traffic experiences but the most outrageous has to be the crazy passes on two lane highways. People will go even if they know there is an on coming car. They fully expect them to move over so the road can be shared by all three cars side by side! (Oh and I can officially say I have been in a vehicle that was traveling at a comfortable speed of 200km/h to keep up with traffic - insane!)
5. Not outrageous but beauty that was hard to picture before.... The way older people work in the country side. I see them every morning riding on their tractors to the fields - women with the handkerchief over theirs heads walking hand in hand with friends. A man putting along with an cigarette hanging out of this month, with no hurry in his world. I mean we see these images on tv, movies or are told about them but it's a totally different experience to see it (thought it would be a little on the creepy to take pictures of them no matter how much I want to haha).

Anyways I could go on but that is just a little taste of some of changes and the new kind of busyness that is going on in my life. Talk soon.
"One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it." JA
Mich

September, 8th, 2010

Last night we were luckily enough to get tickets to the Serbia and Slovenia football game (yes that is the sport know as soccer for those of you not living in a country were 'american football' doesn't exist haha). We were hoping to get tickets to the up coming Euro league games for the Paritzans but they were sold out in 2 hours so I asked my 'sports event coordinator' at work to just get tickets to any European must see event - because when in Serbia! I seemed to film a lot more than take pictures this time around. The sounds turned out surprising not too bad so I think it gives you a pretty good ideas of what the atmosphere was like. I tried a story telling approach to the editing, its a little fast, so prepare your eyes for some speed reading haha. Enjoy!

First European Football Experience from Michele Hynes on Vimeo.

"Forever is composed of nows." ED
Mich

September, 6th, 2010

This weekend I wanted to venture off to the town of Nis, which is about 2 hours south-east of Belgrade. I pitched my plans to Dad and he agree mildly enthusiastically - keep in mind he has been in Serbia three years and hasn't really seen much so making him be a 'tourist', isn't on the top of his propority list. We were home no longer than an hour on Friday night when he gets a phone call, knowing all too well what and who is on the other end of the line, I know whats coming. Sure enough after the 5 minute phone call he informs me that he is working in the morning. But to my luck he remembered the agreement of going to Nis and suggested that we both go into work and we can leave from there …. good enough for me (it took me much longer to agree to that than it did to type it). Saturday morning we get up early headed to work and it looked like it was going to be a great day weather wise so I wasn't to disgruntled about not getting to sleep in because apparently I haven't lost my teenage craving to sleep until noon whenever possible haha.
After working a little but knowing I couldn't really do a whole lot to help my dad complete his work I turn to web surfing. Now for anyone who is on a computer most of the time at work you know the frustration of not being able to access half of the websites you want because of the settings your employer has on the internet access. I know this is to prevent unprofessional use of the internet at work, but for the times you are not on the clock its a pain. But where there is a will to surf, the waves will come - this may involve news reading, 'map-questing', 'google-earthing' and weather checking but it passes the time. I continued to check out our Nis destination and everything seemed lined up for nice afternoon and evening - with the weather and events going on in the city.
Around noon we were on our way, windows down temperature getting warmer and the roads not too busy - I was pretty excited! Well not 30 minutes into the trip, all I see coming over the horizon, dark clouds. Ok no big deal, the weather is suppose to be nice it will pass. Well, as we get closer Dad and both come to conclusion that the clouds are not going anywhere fast. But we had made the two hour trek so we weren't turning around. I had my checklist of things to see so we were determined. Whether is was the rain, the lack of signs, or our mounting frustrating with both of those it took a while to find things. It ended up being an 'Afrain Lion Safari' version of european landmarks haha. We drove to one sight walked around took some pictures and got back in the car. I would read the information I had about each site in the car, prior to see it, that way we knew what we were looking at. Needless to say they don't have much information by the sights or people around to explain and unfortunately there isn't a lot of up keep of the sites either. Here is what we were able to find and my basic understanding of each:


1. Small town right outside of Nis - Niska Banja. Known for its hot mineral springs, first used by the romans. There was lots of spas - natural indoor swimming pools and outdoor springs. It was a rainy day so not many people were out walking but we walked through the parks a bit and you could see the clearly of the water and the different public washing stations that people use. Weird concept to understand until you see it, but I tried to get a picture of the steam that was coming of the one of the springs. And the view from the town outlook. Oh and there were signs that we later found out said that the water is radio active so it's really healthy in small does … yeah I'm sure your thinking the same thing I did haha.


2. This is Mediana, the remains of the birth place of Constantine the Great and where he lived off and on. This was one of the harder places to find. There was one sign that lead us to an field with a don't enter sign, so I did what must tourist do, 'pretend' not to know was going and we just went in. It is basically just a field of foundations of what is left - enough to make out what building it probably was but not a whole lot to see. There were piles of bricks you could tell they were sorting to possible build in the future. But took some pictures to say we did and continued on ….


3. One the many sites we had no idea what it was but wondered in. Our conclusion on this one, was a Serbian Orthodox private school for boys. As we walked further up this hill there was a brand new state of the art school facility, we quickly noticed it was not meant for tourist (gates, guards, etc.) so we walked back down. Where we noticed only groups of boys seemed to be entering the gate, having performed an religious gesture before entering, hence our conclusion.




4. Skull Tower (Céle Kula) is exactly what it sounds - and for me is another complex political story. But the short is, it was originally built by the Turks after 3,000 Serbain died in the first national uprising, to show thier defeat. It is now enclosed by a chapel and only a fraction of the skulls remain, as the Serbians took most of them for proper burials. It is now regarded as a representation of Serbian courage during the battle.







5. The Nis Fortress - regarded as one of the biggest and oldest existing Fortesses, there is tons of history behind it and dates back to being originally used by romans. You can see the various types of building which display different architecture. My Dad began to teach me how you can tell what time period they are from and what national possibility built them. This is where one of the festivals was suppose to be going on but the rain had put a hold on it. There was lots of remains of the fun they must have had the night before haha.





6. A army depot camp (Red Cross Camp) used by the German in WWII to hold people before they were sent for torture, execution or death camps. Bubanj Monument, the three giant fiest and wall, for the 10,000 Serbians that died in WWII. The river front monument for the 1999 NATO bombing victims.This list just keeps going … war is still so fresh to this city that is hard for someone like me to understand it and put into perspective but a visual of the effects that war has is always a powerful thing. It is unfortunate because this city is so rich in history and there is tons more to offer than just war memorial. But for now it is rebuilding nicely and is becoming an enjoyable tourist spot.

Sad to say for us we just hit some bad weather and were unable to enjoy their numerous markets, walking streets and the on-going festival of Nisomnia. So my perception may not tell the whole story, but I'm glad we went and saw what we could and if we get a chance to go back we will definitely be able to find things a lot more quickly :).



On the way home, about half way between Nis and Belgrade the sun was setting beautifully and it turned out they had great weather in Belgrade all day .... go figure.

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." MK
Mich