Weekend Adventures: Banja Luka, accordian sing-a-longs, and more

So, Banja Luka. We had a really great trip- Baya had rented a van to get all of us there- he, myself, the driver, Timur a high-school student who plays saxophone, Adnan, who is a clarinet professor and is one conductor for WoC, and then 2 other guys- one who we just drove to Banja Luka and the other who played accordian. The drive to start out was pretty foggy and I could see nothing which was rather anti-climactic after I had heard so much about how gorgeous the scenery would be. We stopped in Travnik after awhile and walked around there, got water and some chocolate and then piled back into the van. Luckily the fog had cleared up at this and we wer able to see all the country side we were passing through. Timur proved a good companion to chat with- he speaks English really well because he lived in Florida for awhile with his family and still has relatives there who he visits. We got to Banja Luka around 1ish and the weather was really nice and mild. The music academy there is part of a whole university all of which used to be military facilities. We found Irma giving oboe lessons to a potential pupil for her permanent oboe classes which will hopefully start sometime in January. From there we all went to her hotel, got her bags and then headed to a restaurant for lunch which was a good thing because we were all starving. I tried chicken medallions with kaymek which is kind of like sour cream, really delicious, and definitely not good for you. We hung out there for a pretty long time, first sitting outside right by the river and then moving inside for coffee. We went back to the music academy then to see the concert Irma had been working with the students all week to prepare. Timur and the accordian player also joined in for the performance. I had the very exciting duty of official photographer and videographer for Irma. Hopefully my filming skills will be up to her standards...

Then the really exciting part of the journey came on the way back. Irma, Timur and I talked for awhile and then I dosed a bit and Timur was pretty much out cold. We stopped in Travnik again though around midnight to get a late night meal. This in itself was pretty exciting because the restaurant was in Ivo Andrić's house. Everything was proceeding more-or-less as usual until as we were finishing up our meal, the owner noticed the instruments we had brought inside with us and offered a free round of drinks if we stayed and provided a little music. So Adnan busts out his clarinet, the accordian player gets going too, and eventually the owner starts requesting various Sevda songs and singing right along. Then some other guys pop in, see whats going down, and then run to go get their accordian too so they can join in the fun. Everyone is singing along and Irma and I are just sitting enjoying everything and taking it all in. One of the guys apologizes for not playing any English language songs, but explains that if he had his guitar it would be a different matter. A spark of innovation must have struck though, because next thing we know we're all singing Knockin on Heaven's Door played on an accordian. I'm not sure what time we finally left, but maybe it was around 2ish.

The drive back after that was an experience to say the least. At that point the fog had descended once more and for all I could tell we were going to drive off the road into a ravine at any moment. I have no idea how the driver did it, but he just kept right on driving into what was basically nothing-ness save for the faintest appearance of lines on the road. I tried to sleep but it was a little difficult to relax as I stared at the road. I think Timur was the only one who managed to fall soundly asleep yet again. I really don't know how we made it, but I'm here to tell the tale and in the end we arrived back in Sarajevo a little after 4.

Sunday also held a few adventures of its own. I had coffee in the morning with Geni and Seka and then went to the market with them. I got a small introduction to the tram's in this process which was good b/c I had avoided riding them thus far. After that I went to meet Peter for coffee finally which was great to finally have a face to put with the name. He gave me a run down on restaurants, activities, other places to get things, etc. which was great and also a bit about himself. He's actually leaving soon (Christmas-ish) and fejdje is going to be moving into his apartment. He hopes to come back in June though so I suppose I may see more of him then. He's a lot more low-key than Adam, we discussed Adam's drinking habits and Peter said he's been "forced" to drink sliva/rajkia by Adam at 10 am on some occaisions. After we finished our drinks, I headed back home feeling very happy and zen-like; the weather was great, I was great, everything was great. However, it was not to last... I've struggled with the lock on the outside door of my building before- but this particular time it proved to be impossible. I knew there had to be some trick to making it work, and previously various jiggles, pushes and pulls had eventually produced results. This time- no luck. I finally gave up and rang the bell, hoping Seka or Geni would come let me in. Sadly, my ringing was misinterpreted and instead a second set of keys were tossed out the kitchen window for my use. I figured I would at least give them a try and that maybe me keys were just finicky or bad copies or something. No. It seemed that absolutely nothing would make the door yield. After awhile, Seka and Geni must have noticed I still hadn't appeared- but their solution was to drop down yet another set of keys. I almost cried. Luckily they didn't leave me alone with those for too long- Seka came down pretty quickly and issued what encouragement she could from the other side of the door (however it does take a key to unlock from the inside too, and I'm pretty sure I was in possession of all of them at that point). Apparently the trick though is to pull on the door with all your might from the outside, and push from the inside. So Seka pushed, and I was finally able to get in- the whole ordeal took over 1/2 an hour. Luckily though there was an excellent reward on the other side- Seka had made zeljanica for dinner (similar to spanakopita) and I was invited to join. So that was the positive ending to my Sunday- and I managed to get back at least a little of my zen.

excerpt from previous e-mail: the American Embassy is Evil

I went to the US Embassy today to register with my passport and everything. I was almost a little excited to go- in my imagination it had taken on epic proportions as a bastion of peanut butter and Starbucks coffee with country music playing in the background... ok I didn't really expect that- but at least some friendly American accents in a pretty building. WELL- I guessed wrong, instead I was first met by a massive concrete wall with no obvious entrance. After walking back and forth a couple of times and receiving suspicious glances from people behind thick glass windows, I was finally directed to the end of the fortress where security gaurds with automatic rifles curtly waved me around not 1 but 2 barriers. When I tried to enter the door I had been directed to, I was angrily told to "just wait a moment" by yet another man behind plate-glass. Then, "what are you here for?" "Um, to register...?" "Well, they're really busy right now, so just wait" so i did, without much choice in the matter- because who knows, if i did decide to leave at that moment without explanation maybe I would've been machine-gunned down right there on the street. Finally they let me in, but only for the very friendly process of scanning my passport, x-raying my bag, confiscating my hand-lotion, waterbottle, ipod and cellphone, and waving a metal detector over my entire body. It was more intense than airport security. Some welcome... I was finally allowed into a waiting area at that point and saw that what they had been "very busy" with before was putting 2 other guys through the same security check, except they were Bosnian. If I thought I had it bad, all I had to do was listen to the way they spoke to the one of them when they called him to the window. It was an intensive interrogation process, and whatever the poor guy said was a lie or wrong as far as the official was concerned. He was trying to get a work visa that he had already gotten on previous occaisions. Eventually they sent him and his friend back out to their car to get another document as further proof he wasn't a lying criminal. Meanwhile I continued to sit alone, wondering if my presence was known or not. All forms of life had disappeared from behind the windows. It was like waiting around at the MVA- a horribly warped and cracked out MVA. Bosnian-work-visa-guy reenters. I think both of us were debating whether or not to begin conversation with one another. Finally I say, "I don't even know what they're doing back there" and conversation flowed fairly easily from there. He pointed out I had it much better than he, which i agreed with and then we each explained why we were there. He was going to work for Celebrity Cruises which he had already done before and had never previously had issues with getting the visa. So apparently it all depends on what kind of mood they are in. At that point I was called to the window, strikingly not by the evil sounding interrogator that had been there before, but instead a friendly enough looking woman. I handed her my already-completed form and passport which she disappeared with for a moment and quickly returned. "Great, now you're all registered and we can contact you in case of an emergency. Which is
very important" all spoken in the tone of a 1st grade teacher, with a smile meant to reassure but based on the rest of my experience, really just creeped me out. I was shocked at how painless it had been though, with no additional questions about what I had written on the form or anything. With that I left as quickly as I could, wished the Celebrity Cruise guy luck, and reclaimed all my posessions from the security checkpoint. People actually seemed much more friendly now that I was leaving, strangely enough.

I hope to not have to go back anytime soon...

Previous e-mail: on city navigation, breakfast with the fam, etc.

I´m here at the MwB (or should I say muzičari bez granica, MbG) office doing some translating which is just riveting... actually I can´t complain too much- its work and its a good place to start. Baya isnt here right now because he had to go to Banja Luka last night and today w a woman who is from the Netherlands and plays/teaches the oboe- her name is Irma and she is very nice, I also enjoyed her being here bc it forced people in the office to speak in English and I wasnt the only one who couldnt speak Bosnian. I hope to see her more and she was also telling me how I need to visit Musicians in the Netherlands- so that was exciting.

Right now Im also working on setting up a skpe account here so one of Irma´s pupils can use it to communicate w her between here and the Netherlands. Baya bought a webcam and a headset that I will also be able to use for my own skpe-ing enjoyment. So yeah- good stuff.

lets see, for a more chronolgical approach...

Friday evening Baya dropped me off at my place after we let Katie H and Kristin off at the train station. I tentatively entered and made my way cautiously into my room. The land-lady, Seka, knocked and came in to try to express a few things (welcome perhaps?) but most of it was beyond my comprehension. This continued when she knocked again to offer me coffee which i declined and later when she brought in a tray w- a water pitcher and glasses and then started yelling at one of the cats which followed her in. In the course of my unpacking attempts, her daughter Geni also arrived and poked her head in to say hello and then came in again later to explain the television and maybe some other things too. All in all I was feeling very harassed by the end of the evening and not at all like I was in a private room. However, I know they were just trying to be friendly/hospitable and for the most part I think Geni´s appearances were all forced by her mother. I went to bed somewhat uneasily, wondering if they might in fact come into the room while I slept.

Saturday, I woke up really early to the sound of the family moving about, but elected to continue sleeping. Finally got up at 9 and did some reading/map-studying. Debated taking a shower but decided it would involve too much uncomfortable interaction and opted instead to start my adventures in Sarajevo where it was still snowing out. It took me awhile to orient myself once out on the street, and in the process I was laughed at and taunted by a group of guys- all in Bosnian of course so I didnt understand a word. Headed in what I hoped was the direction of the old city, finally confirmed it was when I found the river and a major intersection that I remembered from thurs. I basically just retraced our steps from Thursday to confirm to myself that I actually knew where something was. When I was cold enough I felt a break was needed I went into buybook to browse their shelves. I found a book by a Bosnian author who emigrated to the \nU.S. with his parents in the early 90s- he writes in a very poetical style that was highly enjoyable. I need to go back to keep reading. After that I got a coffee and considered my next move. Decided to try to get to the office. I did surprisingly well- I think I can thank the river for that, I dont know what I would do if it wasnt here to orient me. Theres actually lovely tree-covered walk-ways on both sides of it once you go farther down- i have seen a couple of hard-core runners on them already, I will be holding off until more temperate weather arrives. Got to the office at 2:30ish and was greeted by a doorman at the building who spoke almost no English but wanted to convey the story of his son´s move to the \nU.S. and how he ended up in prison for either fighting, drug-dealing, or some combination of the 2, I really couldnt tell you which. He also insisted on giving me several high-fives and in the process I believe I caught a whiff of alcohol on his breath. Finally I escaped to the privacy of the office where I happily signed online and shed my shoes and socks in an attempt to dry them out. My peace and quite were short-lived however when one of the musicians from winds of change arrived in the office a whole 1/2 hour early. Luckily he spoke English and turned out to be the only one of the group that did so, but this meant we could at least chat and not sit in awkward silence. Apparently he lived in Florida for awhile with his family but they came back at some point- not sure of the timeline exactely but he is only in highschool. After this I went downstairs with the rapidly growing number of musicians to the hall where they were to have practice. Listening to their practicing was great other than the fact that the auditorium was super cold and my socks and shoes were still wet. When thez took a break I went out to the cafe to sit w/ Baya and the director, Adnan and have coffee. There was a lot of speaking in Bosnian so that was a little tricky, but when practice resumed Baya and I continued sitting and talking. He talked some about being here during the war and some of his other expereinces which was all really interesting. After awhile we went back up to the office and he gave me a bunch of stuff to read (hmm yes still working on that...) and offered to drive me home. I opted for a walk though bc I thought it would be good for me to finally walk a direct route from office to home (also wanted to make a detour to the grocery store). My walk went very well at first, and I knew my abode was somewhere near the Holiday Inn which I found with little difficulty. However, once I reached that point I couldnt remember exactely where the apartment was in relation to that massive yellow building. I wandered fruitlessly for longer than I would like to admit, and eventually conceded defeat by going into the Holiday Inn lobby and asking where my street was located. The guy at the reception printed off a map and everything for me and then was pretty much like, "its across the street" wow, good job tory. so yeah... my final battle was with the outside door key which is impossible- it has taken me many many tries everytime I have had to unlock it. I keep telling myself there must be some trick to it, but thus far sheer brute strength has proved the only answer.


Sunday- considered figuring out a church service to go to, but I think I will save that one for next week (also it was still snowing out and I had no desire to venture forth in a hurry). I had cereal and yougurt to eat for breakfast- the only thing stopping me was the need for a spoon which would require venturing into the kitchen where the family spends most of their time. I entered, made my request which was promptly met, but then followed by an invitation/demand that I stay for breakfast. I didnt have much say in the matter as my spoon and I were forced onto a couch and eventually a seat at the table. In the end it was a great meal, and the daughter was wonderful at translating everything. The father wasnt there at first bc he had gone to work only to return home bc he missed some memo about no work on Sunday. I got to ask them questions about Sarajevo and themselves and they asked me lots of questions about my work here, weather, etc. There was also discussion of the cats, and at another point Geni and the father told me that Seka is crazy, and then she tried to defend herself in English which initially came out as "Im crazy" instead of "Im not crazy" She also thought it was very funny to say "fuck" repeatedly, which made Geni really embarassed... oh wow... all in all it was quite the affair that lasted from 9-11 I think.

I also finally got a tutorial on the shower and laundry, so both of those much-needed tasks were finally accomplished. By the time I left the house it was approaching 3. I wore a pair of boots that Seka wanted me to borrow which belong to her other daughter who is now living in the \nU.S. They had heels but I wore them anyway in hopes they would be waterproof, but walking through the slush demonstrated otherwise. The time here last night was when I got to meet Irma and chat longer w Tijana who I have met before. For a long while I sat w the 2 of them while they bemoaned the inability of teenagers and young adults to take music seriously (Tijana is a band/orchestra instructor). After we were finished at the office and Irma and Baya left for Banja Luka, I headed off to meet up w Gerardo (the SEE YN volunteer who we met at that office party) for a drink. I botched that up a bit too, but eventually we found each other and wandered through the old city first going to "To be or not to be" and then City Pub. I really enjoyed talking to him a lot, he is very easy-going and has 5 sisters so I think he's used to talking to girls (just maybe). We covered everything from politics, to travel, work, family, music, etc. When I got home I went to bed pretty promptly. Today is my first real day of work- I expected Baya to turn up at some point, but he still hasnt shown up and its after 5... soo I think I will be calling it an evening and heading off in search of shoes. We'll see if Im successful...

Getting Started

Ok I wasn't sure about all this blog-stuff, but I have finally given in. We shall see how it goes... perhaps I can simplify my means of communicating with everyone- at least that is my hope. I'll start out by posting a few of the past emails I've already sent to some of you and we can go from there.