Wednesday, April 02, 2008
They say we will get some rain today
I was getting spoiled by the recent lovely weather, and my ears itched a lot last night. So I watched the news. They said the 'S' word, that's right, the weather announcer said 'može snijeg' which means there could be snow! So knowing I needed to be out today, I changed what I was planning to wear.
It is early, too early to call the S.O.'s nephew. So for today I do not know how he is. He could really slow down as he talks! I get like every second word, and on a mobile phone it is a little worse. I actually wish he had time to do text messages. I only call him when I am sure he would be on lunch break.
So while I probably will know something soon, you won't until tomorrow unless it is significant one way or the other.
The fact I have had to 1. arrange to pay my next 3 month's rent and 2. I have had the flu and it has given me more than the usual problems, means I could not go visit him.
I tend to go deal with using a Bankomat as early in the day as possible, fewer dodgy characters about, and I can go home and put it in a safe place.
The tourist season looks to be off to a decent start. That is good, because people should visit BiH on general principle, and it is good for the country if lots of people do visit.
Yesterday on the bus, it was fairly crowded, a kind person made sure I could sit. She is from the neighborhood, and probably noticed earlier in the year and last year that I had ankle problems. My ankles are ok right now, I am careful though and try to sit on the bus rather than stand, because with the roller-coaster streets here, you get pulled this way and that. I finally learned the Bosnian expression for 'roller coaster' T.V. is my FRIEND! the phrase in English would mean 'death train'! Anyway I sat next to a very tall guy. The front four seats of busses here are really meant for people disabled not by just ANY cause, but people disabled in the war! So I felt guilty sitting there. I notice another thing here, and that is that as much as possible, younger people do offer seats to older people and what is really very touching, women will offer a seat to a man if he looks particularly tired, or if they even t hink he was in the war.
That I think is really a nice thing about this town.
Yesterday I had a particularly long wait for the bus, and I did not want to walk up the hill even on the good sidewalk, so I waited. There was a funny old man, he could not stand up straight anymore, and used a cane. He kept looking at me. It got a little uncomfortable, so I went someplace else, he did not follow me, I don't know how in fact he expected to get onto a bus! Anyway this lady came by who had really huge ankles. She had a very nice dress and coat and about the ugliest shoes I have seen on a woman here! They were not Crocs, they were like men's shoes.
It reminded me of stories about my Aunt Lil, since gone to her reward. My grandmother could never talk about Aunt Lil without saying 'you know Lil, she is HUGE' That Aunt was not Jewish, but she made her fortune in Hollywood by becoming a kosher caterer. She was very good too.
An early employment trauma led to her taking up that job. She was hired by a rich Jewish family, and there was a family recipe that involved pork chops cooked in milk, from the kosher point of view a REAL NO NO! Pork and then the whole meat and milk thing, So anyway she serves this, and the family and the guests all ate it. There was an uncomfortable silence during the meal though.
Later her employer went to the kitchen and explained the whole kosher thing. Aunt Lil had not know about all this, and of course was very sorry. So her employer trained her, and she mastered the sort of cuisine these people wanted.
She saved her money and opened her own small catering business some years later. Anyway Aunt Lil being both tall and heavy had very big feet, she was embarressed to go to a shoe store, so she would not do that. She instead ordered her shoes from men's shoe catalogues. These shoes were also wide, and she ordered white a lot because of her job as a cook she wore white most of the time anyway and she ordered the kind of shoes that have those decorative holes in them, like spectator shoes often have.
She died sometime in the 1980s, right after my grandmother. I never got to meet her at all due to a huge feud between my grandmother and her. My mother did not dare get in touch with her due to this feud.
Anyway I was looking at this woman wondering how someone that short could have such ankles and the old guy looked at me and winked. It was funny on another score, this town is full of really good looking women. While I am not ugly, I would not class myself as drop dead gorgeous either.
Stuck there in the very front seat, was a notice in English and in Bosnian to watch out for pick pockets. It was hard to read the sign due to small letters and the fact it was pretty faded.
So I got to my street and went home.
It is early, too early to call the S.O.'s nephew. So for today I do not know how he is. He could really slow down as he talks! I get like every second word, and on a mobile phone it is a little worse. I actually wish he had time to do text messages. I only call him when I am sure he would be on lunch break.
So while I probably will know something soon, you won't until tomorrow unless it is significant one way or the other.
The fact I have had to 1. arrange to pay my next 3 month's rent and 2. I have had the flu and it has given me more than the usual problems, means I could not go visit him.
I tend to go deal with using a Bankomat as early in the day as possible, fewer dodgy characters about, and I can go home and put it in a safe place.
The tourist season looks to be off to a decent start. That is good, because people should visit BiH on general principle, and it is good for the country if lots of people do visit.
Yesterday on the bus, it was fairly crowded, a kind person made sure I could sit. She is from the neighborhood, and probably noticed earlier in the year and last year that I had ankle problems. My ankles are ok right now, I am careful though and try to sit on the bus rather than stand, because with the roller-coaster streets here, you get pulled this way and that. I finally learned the Bosnian expression for 'roller coaster' T.V. is my FRIEND! the phrase in English would mean 'death train'! Anyway I sat next to a very tall guy. The front four seats of busses here are really meant for people disabled not by just ANY cause, but people disabled in the war! So I felt guilty sitting there. I notice another thing here, and that is that as much as possible, younger people do offer seats to older people and what is really very touching, women will offer a seat to a man if he looks particularly tired, or if they even t hink he was in the war.
That I think is really a nice thing about this town.
Yesterday I had a particularly long wait for the bus, and I did not want to walk up the hill even on the good sidewalk, so I waited. There was a funny old man, he could not stand up straight anymore, and used a cane. He kept looking at me. It got a little uncomfortable, so I went someplace else, he did not follow me, I don't know how in fact he expected to get onto a bus! Anyway this lady came by who had really huge ankles. She had a very nice dress and coat and about the ugliest shoes I have seen on a woman here! They were not Crocs, they were like men's shoes.
It reminded me of stories about my Aunt Lil, since gone to her reward. My grandmother could never talk about Aunt Lil without saying 'you know Lil, she is HUGE' That Aunt was not Jewish, but she made her fortune in Hollywood by becoming a kosher caterer. She was very good too.
An early employment trauma led to her taking up that job. She was hired by a rich Jewish family, and there was a family recipe that involved pork chops cooked in milk, from the kosher point of view a REAL NO NO! Pork and then the whole meat and milk thing, So anyway she serves this, and the family and the guests all ate it. There was an uncomfortable silence during the meal though.
Later her employer went to the kitchen and explained the whole kosher thing. Aunt Lil had not know about all this, and of course was very sorry. So her employer trained her, and she mastered the sort of cuisine these people wanted.
She saved her money and opened her own small catering business some years later. Anyway Aunt Lil being both tall and heavy had very big feet, she was embarressed to go to a shoe store, so she would not do that. She instead ordered her shoes from men's shoe catalogues. These shoes were also wide, and she ordered white a lot because of her job as a cook she wore white most of the time anyway and she ordered the kind of shoes that have those decorative holes in them, like spectator shoes often have.
She died sometime in the 1980s, right after my grandmother. I never got to meet her at all due to a huge feud between my grandmother and her. My mother did not dare get in touch with her due to this feud.
Anyway I was looking at this woman wondering how someone that short could have such ankles and the old guy looked at me and winked. It was funny on another score, this town is full of really good looking women. While I am not ugly, I would not class myself as drop dead gorgeous either.
Stuck there in the very front seat, was a notice in English and in Bosnian to watch out for pick pockets. It was hard to read the sign due to small letters and the fact it was pretty faded.
So I got to my street and went home.
# posted by Katja R. @ 12:28 AM 
