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...