Full House

This past weekend our house was overflowing. Suzie and Renee came to visit from Serbia, Lisa came to visit from Sarajevo, and Anhchi came to visit from Croatia. Saturday morning we hiked up one of the hills surrounding Banja Luka. At the top was a memorial from World War II and a cafe, a great combination for the top of mountain (okay, hill). The memorial had really interesting and graphic carvings, the content of which took me by surprise. I feel like memorials in the US leave a little more to the imagination. The carvings depicted graphic scenes of violence, including people hanging. It's definitely a good way to keep people from forgetting.

Anyway, it was fun to hike and get a different view of Banja Luka.

We're Everywhere. . .

So, last Friday Dee, Sandy, and I visited a domestic violence safehouse in a neighboring town. The house is situated on some property with a barn. They are currently raising chickens, and have room to have pigs as well. As we were going through the barn, I spotted a familiar symbol from across the room. Upon closer inspection I found a stack of cans from MCC. It was canned meat - "Food for Relief". What a small world.

More from the birthday. . .

I had to include a picture of Dee, Sandy and I all dressed up. I have to admit, Sandy definitely takes the cake with her "chic" hat, huge earings, and cumberbun. Good times.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

Yeah! Yesterday was my birthday. My colleagues, roommates, and the entire city of Banja Luka helped to make this an amazing day. Dee and Sandy made me signs and decorated the apartment for me in the morning. They made a huge card on yellow posterboard (see left). Dee also posted signs of different events that have happened on my birthday in various years. My favorite is the reference to "The Fugitive". Dee and I had watched that just a few days before. However, my favorite sign overall was posted to the TV and read "happy birthday krash". For those of you who don't know, "krash" has become my alias among the Denver gang. This stems from an unfortunate incident involving my now laid to rest car and a very poorly placed telephone pole.

After this morning excitment, I went to my field placement where they celebrated my birthday (I didn't even think they'd know). They gave me a book in English (yeah!) and a small vase made by residents of one of the therapeutic communitites they collaborate with. It was really awesome.

Wondering around after leaving my field placement, I happened to bump into Dee and Sandy. Banja Luka is a small town for being the second largest city in Bosnia. They admitted that they were out to buy me a birthday present. Their intent was to buy me a really skeezy shirt and make me wear it to my birthday dinner. Ha ha - I foiled their plans. We ended up ALL getting new outfits, definitely throwing ourselves headfirst into Bosnian fashion. I was blessed with a super cool shirt that says "Feel the groove in your legs". And I do. Dee did my hair and make-up, and then we then went out for a really great supper at. . . yes, our favorite restaurant. It's becoming a little bit like "Cheers" in there.

The evening was rainy the entire time. While that didn't dampen our spirits, it did seem to dampen the spirits of everyone else in the city. When we left the restaurant, there was absolutely no one on the streets. Usually we have a crowd to fight through. I'm not going to lie - it was a little creepy.

Oh yeah - I also got to talk to my mom for a little bit. Even though it was really short, it was really great. Love you, mom!

So, overall, I had a great birthday. Thank you all for your birthday wishes!

Gender Center

Today Dee, Sandy, and I met with someone from the Gender Center for the Republic of Srbska. She was able to tell us about the work they are doing as well as comment on gender issues within Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was fascinating to hear. The meeting was probably the most interesting thing I have participated in since being here. I think we have something to learn from them.

Maria's Visit

My good friend Maria and fellow IDP'er came to visit this weekend. She is living in Mostar for the summer, but was in Sarajevo on Thursday and Friday. Since she was already a little closer to us, she made the final trek up to Banja Luka for the rest of the weekend. Dee and I showed her all the sites here. . . which took about half a morning. We spent the rest of the time in various cafes. We also introduced her to some VIP stars, our favorite television programming. It was good times.

Traveling by Bus

This past Friday, Dee, Sandy, and I traveled to Prijedor, a town about an hour away. We went to visit the Mental Health Center and meet with their psychologist and psychiatrist. The first thing we were asked upon our arrival, however, was if we were familiar with their bus situation. Having just gotten off a bus in Prijedor without problem, we didn't know what they meant. They went on to explain that their bus station manager (for lack of a better term) was caught embezzling funds. He is no longer working in that capacity, and no one has taken his place. Therefore, no one is in charge of the bus station. More importantly, there really is no working bus station. Buses show up as they please and leave when they want. There is no schedule and no way to predict when they will be coming or going. You basically just show up and wait. This situation became infinitely more bizarre when they told us it had been this way for 6 months. Despite the chaos, we easily made it back to Banja Luka by showing up and waiting until a bus was headed that way.