Yesterday I met in Sarajevo with Senada Kreso, who is a very well-connected and important person in Bosnia-Hercegovina. She was able to tell me many people and organizations that might be interested in collaborating on a project together. When I said I wanted to work with women who survived the war, she said, "the first thing that comes to my mind are the rapes." Anyone who has been along for the "wild and disturbing ride" of my scholarly and clinical interests will know that this is EXACTLY what I wanted to focus on, but there is such a veil of secrecy, protection, and shame around sexual violence that I was fully prepared to compromise my main interests in order to be in alignment with Bosnian/Croatian collaborators.
So this was fantastic... and it only gets better...
By sheer coincidence, Senada had arranged to meet another friend around the same time and place, and when he arrived, it was synchronicity at its best!
He is the associate dean (vice-dean) of the University of Sarajevo (for education) and he is a professor of political science there. The school of social work is affiliated with the school of poly-sci, and he actually teaches the ethics course for social workers.
He was totally jazzed about my ideas, and said that we could have a great collaboration if I came to Sarajevo fr my dissertation. He said that the SW program is still developing and they do not have a lot of strengths in the area of research. So it is a perfect fit, with my rigorous Berkeley research-centric education, skills, and background.
This conversation was one of the most professinally and personally validating experiences of my life so far! It was all I could do to control myself and not go around jumping and singing for joy... (I did a little happy dance later at the hostel though!)
At the end of this talk, he basically invited me to come to Sarajevo and do my project there; he even suggested that maybe they could arrange for 8-10 of the best students (English and Bosnian speaking) to work on the project (for credit) under my direction. This was my dream come true (as many of you who have patiently listened to me as I formulated the idea of working with a team of SW students... but I thought I would get maybe 1-2 at best!). Of course there are still administrative hurdles (including the possible election of a new dean at the University of Sarajevo which sounds like a poliical nightmare). So nothing is definate... but this fellow seemed to feel that I could bring a lot to the school, the students, and the faculty.
This made me feel so good, because I do not want to just go to a place and gather knowledge for my own use: that is missing the point entirely (and it is antithetical to the core of what I believe social work is about). I really want to have a meaningful and mutually beneficial exchange, which sounds like what would happen here!!!
So I am walking on air and this was a fantastic way to spend my last day in Sarajevo.
Me and Anne Frank
Day 1: Amsterdam
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
Sarajevo Tunnel
During the siege of Sarajevo, the UN blocked people from being able to enter or leave the city due to a shameful agreement that they made with the Serb aggressors. This meant that there was no way for food or communications to enter or leave Sarajevo. (scroll down and read the previous post if you have not, so you will understand the background on the siege of sarajevo).
The Bosnians are nothing if not resiliant, and they are brilliant, because they came up with a perfect idea:
They dug a tunnel under the UN controlled area (where the UN would capture and return escapees from Sarajevo- or simply shot them- or watched while the Serbs shot the attempted escapees).
The tunnel connected Sarajevo to the free Bosnian territory in the mountains. The one good thing that the UN did in Sarajevo was to ignore the tunnel entirely, thus allowing Bosnians the ability to enter and leave the city.
Here I am, visiting one of the last remining segments of this tunnel today. 
This is the tunnel museum, put together by a family whose house was one of the entrances to the tunnel during the war. You can see how many bullet holes are in their house, and this seems typical for houses here. Many of them are still riddled with grenade, shell, and bullet damage even 10 years later.
I would like to tell you a little more about the tunnel, which I learned today.
The tunnel was 800 meters long and 1 meter wide and 1.6 meters high (on average; some places in the middle were lower). So even a short person like me would have to stoop. They ran phone cables, electricity, and other necessary utilities through this tunnel, and I am not kidding when I tell you that it was THE ONLY WAY for people or communications to get in and out of Sarajevo during the siege.
There was usually water in the bottom, and you are crouching along in the dark, carrying maybe 35 kilos of food or weapons or whatever on your back and right by your head are high voltage electricity cables. They say it took about 2 hours to go through the tunnel, because people ahead of you might stop (these were old ladies and children, as well as the Bosnian army, which used the tunnel for manuvering and transport of weapons).
In order to go through the tunnel, you had to go to a checkpoint at an alternate location and get official clearance from the Bosnian army. they would give you a stamp, which you presented at the tunnel entrance. Because of precautions like this, the Serbs did not find out about the tunnel for a long time, and even after that, they did not know exactly where the entrances were.
The entrance to the tunnel was hit by a Serb shell and all the people waiting to use the tunnel were killed (I think more than 50 people were killed and many were wounded). This is the imprint the shell left on the ground. I hope you can see the shape of it is a spiral. They call these "Sarajevo Roses" and you can see them all over the city from all the shelling that happened here. In some places, people have filled the roses in with red paint, representing the blood shed there. 
In places where more than 7 people were killed, there is usually a small plaque commemorating the victims. This is the one by the tunnel entrance, and you can see how many bullet and grenade holes there are in the walls around it. (sorry it is sideways) 
Here is the entrance to the tunnel that I passed through. And this is the tunnel.
Imagine if your only food or "relative safety" was on the other side of 800 meters of this hell. Imagine how bad things would have to be to take your child through this tunnel, or your grandmother, or yourself.
It is said that almost every Sarajevan who was alive during the war time went through the tunnel at least once.
Siege of Sarajevo
Please read this post, if you read nothing else on the whole site. Even if it is difficult to read.
The truth can be terrible, but it is worse not to know.
Sarajevo survived the longest siege of a city in modern history. They were completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the world for almost 4 years. Hopefully you can see this photo of a map of Sarajevo that shows the Serb forces surrounding the city, with a narrow passage through the airport controlled by the UN. The Serb parts are the red-pink all around the outside and the city of Sarajevo in in the center which is more white.
From April of 1992 until December of 1995, Sarajevo was a city under siege.
What do I mean by this?
The Serb forces were formed from the army that was once the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and they had all the tanks, artillery, shells, etc. that once belonged to all Yugoslavs for their protection. they surrounded the city and camped in places like this (the old Jewish cemetary) overlooking the city from neighbornig mountains (Sarajevo it in a valley).
Anyone who was watching the news will regcognize the yellow building here in the center of Sarajevo. It is the Holiday Inn, where all foreign journalists stayed during the war.
The Inn itself has had a bit of a "facelift" in the intervening years since the war, but you can see the concrete roof part still shows the scars of sniper fire. 
The Holiday Inn is located on a street ctalled "snipers alley" during the war because the Serb snipers would shoot civillians like clay pigeons as they hurried along. They would often shoot the first person, purposely only wounding them so they could kill more people when they came to help the wounded one. sick. anyway, during the war, the inn was called "sunny-side up egg" because in the winter snow of bosnia the yellow building looked just like that.
The Bosnian army was formed to react to this Serbian aggression on June 15, 1992, 2 months after the siege had begun and the city was already pretty well surrounded. They had only 1 tank I am told, and had a very difficult time obtaining arms with which to defend the city of Sarajevo (or the rest of Bosnia for that matter).
Let us back up a bit and talk about what Sarajevo once was.... it was the most multi-ethnic city in Eurpoe and possibly on the planet. It had the most inter-ethnic and inter-religious marriages when compared to other cities.
During the Spanish Inquisition, Jews fled Spain and where did they go? To Bosnia, to Sarajevo, a city famous for tolerance. Sarajevo was the only Eurpoean city without a Jewish ghetto, because they were not separated from the Muslims and Christians who were living in Sarajevo. During the Nazi times, the Jewish sacred book, the Haggadah, was hidden in the last place the Nazis would look (and they turned over every stone in Bosnia looking for it). The main mosque in Sarajevo hid the sacred Jewish text, and the Jews would have done the same for the Luslims had they bene threatened similarly. Now this Haggadah is on display in the National Museum.
In the main square of Sarajevo, there stand in a close circle a mosque, a synagogue, an orthodox church, and a catholic cathedral. apparantly there are plans for a buddhist temple here too. They call Sarajevo "the Jerusalem of Europe" because of this history of religious groups coexisting here and finding the sacred together and separately without hurting one another.
So what happened??
Many people pin the demise tolerance in Bosnia on the "Balkan Butcher," Slobodon Milosovic. This may be an oversimplification, but it seems to be the srtoy accepted by the people here. So Milosovic started 5 wars here and lost them all (but everyone loses in war... so this is not saying much). He started a war of aggression in Slovenia and lost, then Croatia and lost, then in Bosnia and lost, then in Kosovo and lost and then the "war" as it is referred to here with NATO which he seriuosly lost.
After Slovenia and Croatia seceeded from Yugoslavia, Bosnia knew it was only a matter of time before they were also attacked by Serb forces under the command of the Serbian nationalist Milosovic. So they had a referendum and 70% of Bosnia-Hercegovina voted to become an independent country, seperate from Yugoslavia. On the day that the UN recognized BiH as its own country, Milosovic began the shelling of Sarajevo, which was to continue for almost 4 years without cease.
The city of Sarajevo was completely surrounded by Serb forces, who cut off all food, water, electricity, phone, gas, and every other life-sustaining element to the city. There was a narrow passage by the airport to the "free bosnian territory" in the mountains, but this area was controlled by Serbs, who shot Sarajevans who tried to escape this way.
The United Nations did a very bad job of intervening and some people here say they hurt the Bosnian cause more than they helped. This might sound crazy, but just listen to what they did:
They took over the airport as a UN controlled area, which seems like a great idea, then they could let the people in and out for food, etc. but NO this is not what happened. The UN made an agreement with the Serbs that they would not let anyone in or out of the city, and they would give 50% of humanitarian aid to the Serb forces. very bad idea.
So the UN was providing 287 grams of humanitarian aid (including everythihng, not just food) per person per day, but since so much was going to the serbs, Bosnians in Sarajevo could only hope to receive 140 grams of aid per person per day. But they did not get even this small amount, because the Serbs could easily shut down the airport by shooting down a plane or two, which would close the airport for several days to a week at least. The UN also tried sending caravans of aid, but these were usually intercepted and relinquished to the Serbs.
The food that did get in was often so rotten it was inedible, or it was pork products (60% of Sarajevo is Muslim and they cannot eat pork) or disgusting meat in a can with no expiration date that made people sick. They also sent in 2 planes full of condoms so people could enjoy safe sex here in Sarajevo. It seems the people would have been happier with food, medication, and bullets.
At one point, the Serb forces captured about 300 UN peacekeepers and chained them to strategic targets like bridges and tanks, so that the UN would not be able to attack the Serb strongholds. Sad but true. The mission was poorly planned, poorly funded, and had no power behind it. It was never going to be able to succeed to help or save or even protect the people of Sarajevo.
But is actually gets worse...
The UN made an arms embargo (seems like a good idea, if both sides cannot have weapons, they cannot fight, right? WRONG!). Bosnia had no real army to speak of before this war, so they had no weapons and had to keep buying bullets, etc. as they were using them. The Serb forces had everything that once belonged to Yugoslavia and apparantly they had enough arms to fire on Sarajevo for 8 years without having to buy a single bullet. So the embargo only emboldened the Serbs and caused the Bosnians to be at a more severe disadvantage. A man told me today that in desperation the Bosnian army eventually made a deal to buy arms from Columbian drug dealers (so he said, if you have to buy drugs, buy from Columbians!).
But the very worst thing, the unforgivable thing, the thing that makes me want to crawl out of my skin is this: SREBRENICA.
Hopefully this is a familiar word to you. If not let me tell you a little background. Srebrenica was a predominantly Muslim town near Sarajevo, where it was very hard hit in the beginning of the war. The UN took the town over as a "safe zone" and the people rejoiced, thinking they would be saved. The Serbs surrounded the town and in the middle fo the UN safe zone, they massacres over 8,000 Muslim men.
The UN did not react, did not protect the people, did not do their job, did not respond as any feeling human being would to the bloody massacre that they were seeing in front of their faces.
The Srebrenica Massacre was well-documented and really no one contests that it happened just like this: 8,000 men were rounded up, forced to dig their own mass graves, then summarily shot for hours and days until they were all dead. The women were evacuated, raped, and otherwise dealt with. The few men who survived to testify at the war crimes tribunal in the Hague (ICTY) said that they only survived by staying under the bodies of their friends and neighbors, pretending to be dead also, then creeping out of the pits of bodies at night.
This massacre is the biggest massacre in Europe since WWII, and it has been classified as a genocide.
Let me remind you that Srebrenica was a UN SAFE ZONE. So what is a safe zone, anyway? It is a place where you and everyone you know can be rounded up and killed for no good reason.
So this is what the UN did in Bosnia. 10 years later, the UN appologised. This is insulting at best. Too late for appologies. You had your chance to do right by these people, but you got them killed instead.
These people cannot accept an appology:
11,000 people killed in Sarajevo from 1992-1995
50,000 civillians wounded in the war
10,000 Sarajevans permanently disabled (many missing limbs)
1,600 children under the age of 14 killed in Sarajevo
1,067 members of the Bosnian army (of all ethnic and religious groups) killed
This is only one of the graveyards in Sarajevo for those who fell in the war.
To top it off.... there is no reason that Sarajevo needed to be under siege for almost 4 years, because when NATO finally got off their asses and bombed the Serb forces surrounding Sarajevo, the war was effectively over in 5 days.
Let me repeat: once NATO intervened, the war was over in 5 DAYS.
Not 4 years, but 5 days.
This is our fault. Sarajevo is our responsibility. We knew what needed to be done: Sarajevo asked for NATO intervention in 1992 when the Serbs first surrounded the city. But we did not want to get involved. Clinton did not want to look like a hawk in the first part of his presidency, so he waited... perhaps he was waiting to make sure he would get that second term? I do not know. I am very glad that did eventually intervene, but how can he live with this?
how can I live with this?
the world waited and watched as thousands of innocent people, women and children old people and men were massacred. and we did nothing.
"never again" is an insulting and empty statement. meaningless at best, because a similar massacre is happening now in Darfur. it has been 3 years and no one is intervening, no one cares. no one hears those children crying. it is like the UN response to the Rwandan genocide, which they knew was happening: they said, "why should we intervene, there is nothing in Rwanda but people, nothing valuable."
In Bosnia they tell a joke:
Two Bosnian soldiers are digging a trench and one is digging too deep. The other one asks what he is doing, the the digging soldier replies, "maybe if I dig deep enough, I will strike oil and then someone will save us!"
The truth can be terrible, but it is worse not to know.
Sarajevo survived the longest siege of a city in modern history. They were completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the world for almost 4 years. Hopefully you can see this photo of a map of Sarajevo that shows the Serb forces surrounding the city, with a narrow passage through the airport controlled by the UN. The Serb parts are the red-pink all around the outside and the city of Sarajevo in in the center which is more white. From April of 1992 until December of 1995, Sarajevo was a city under siege.
What do I mean by this?
The Serb forces were formed from the army that was once the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and they had all the tanks, artillery, shells, etc. that once belonged to all Yugoslavs for their protection. they surrounded the city and camped in places like this (the old Jewish cemetary) overlooking the city from neighbornig mountains (Sarajevo it in a valley).
Anyone who was watching the news will regcognize the yellow building here in the center of Sarajevo. It is the Holiday Inn, where all foreign journalists stayed during the war. 
The Inn itself has had a bit of a "facelift" in the intervening years since the war, but you can see the concrete roof part still shows the scars of sniper fire. 
The Holiday Inn is located on a street ctalled "snipers alley" during the war because the Serb snipers would shoot civillians like clay pigeons as they hurried along. They would often shoot the first person, purposely only wounding them so they could kill more people when they came to help the wounded one. sick. anyway, during the war, the inn was called "sunny-side up egg" because in the winter snow of bosnia the yellow building looked just like that.
The Bosnian army was formed to react to this Serbian aggression on June 15, 1992, 2 months after the siege had begun and the city was already pretty well surrounded. They had only 1 tank I am told, and had a very difficult time obtaining arms with which to defend the city of Sarajevo (or the rest of Bosnia for that matter).
Let us back up a bit and talk about what Sarajevo once was.... it was the most multi-ethnic city in Eurpoe and possibly on the planet. It had the most inter-ethnic and inter-religious marriages when compared to other cities.
During the Spanish Inquisition, Jews fled Spain and where did they go? To Bosnia, to Sarajevo, a city famous for tolerance. Sarajevo was the only Eurpoean city without a Jewish ghetto, because they were not separated from the Muslims and Christians who were living in Sarajevo. During the Nazi times, the Jewish sacred book, the Haggadah, was hidden in the last place the Nazis would look (and they turned over every stone in Bosnia looking for it). The main mosque in Sarajevo hid the sacred Jewish text, and the Jews would have done the same for the Luslims had they bene threatened similarly. Now this Haggadah is on display in the National Museum.
In the main square of Sarajevo, there stand in a close circle a mosque, a synagogue, an orthodox church, and a catholic cathedral. apparantly there are plans for a buddhist temple here too. They call Sarajevo "the Jerusalem of Europe" because of this history of religious groups coexisting here and finding the sacred together and separately without hurting one another.
So what happened??
Many people pin the demise tolerance in Bosnia on the "Balkan Butcher," Slobodon Milosovic. This may be an oversimplification, but it seems to be the srtoy accepted by the people here. So Milosovic started 5 wars here and lost them all (but everyone loses in war... so this is not saying much). He started a war of aggression in Slovenia and lost, then Croatia and lost, then in Bosnia and lost, then in Kosovo and lost and then the "war" as it is referred to here with NATO which he seriuosly lost.
After Slovenia and Croatia seceeded from Yugoslavia, Bosnia knew it was only a matter of time before they were also attacked by Serb forces under the command of the Serbian nationalist Milosovic. So they had a referendum and 70% of Bosnia-Hercegovina voted to become an independent country, seperate from Yugoslavia. On the day that the UN recognized BiH as its own country, Milosovic began the shelling of Sarajevo, which was to continue for almost 4 years without cease.
The city of Sarajevo was completely surrounded by Serb forces, who cut off all food, water, electricity, phone, gas, and every other life-sustaining element to the city. There was a narrow passage by the airport to the "free bosnian territory" in the mountains, but this area was controlled by Serbs, who shot Sarajevans who tried to escape this way.
The United Nations did a very bad job of intervening and some people here say they hurt the Bosnian cause more than they helped. This might sound crazy, but just listen to what they did:
They took over the airport as a UN controlled area, which seems like a great idea, then they could let the people in and out for food, etc. but NO this is not what happened. The UN made an agreement with the Serbs that they would not let anyone in or out of the city, and they would give 50% of humanitarian aid to the Serb forces. very bad idea.
So the UN was providing 287 grams of humanitarian aid (including everythihng, not just food) per person per day, but since so much was going to the serbs, Bosnians in Sarajevo could only hope to receive 140 grams of aid per person per day. But they did not get even this small amount, because the Serbs could easily shut down the airport by shooting down a plane or two, which would close the airport for several days to a week at least. The UN also tried sending caravans of aid, but these were usually intercepted and relinquished to the Serbs.
The food that did get in was often so rotten it was inedible, or it was pork products (60% of Sarajevo is Muslim and they cannot eat pork) or disgusting meat in a can with no expiration date that made people sick. They also sent in 2 planes full of condoms so people could enjoy safe sex here in Sarajevo. It seems the people would have been happier with food, medication, and bullets.
At one point, the Serb forces captured about 300 UN peacekeepers and chained them to strategic targets like bridges and tanks, so that the UN would not be able to attack the Serb strongholds. Sad but true. The mission was poorly planned, poorly funded, and had no power behind it. It was never going to be able to succeed to help or save or even protect the people of Sarajevo.
But is actually gets worse...
The UN made an arms embargo (seems like a good idea, if both sides cannot have weapons, they cannot fight, right? WRONG!). Bosnia had no real army to speak of before this war, so they had no weapons and had to keep buying bullets, etc. as they were using them. The Serb forces had everything that once belonged to Yugoslavia and apparantly they had enough arms to fire on Sarajevo for 8 years without having to buy a single bullet. So the embargo only emboldened the Serbs and caused the Bosnians to be at a more severe disadvantage. A man told me today that in desperation the Bosnian army eventually made a deal to buy arms from Columbian drug dealers (so he said, if you have to buy drugs, buy from Columbians!).
But the very worst thing, the unforgivable thing, the thing that makes me want to crawl out of my skin is this: SREBRENICA.
Hopefully this is a familiar word to you. If not let me tell you a little background. Srebrenica was a predominantly Muslim town near Sarajevo, where it was very hard hit in the beginning of the war. The UN took the town over as a "safe zone" and the people rejoiced, thinking they would be saved. The Serbs surrounded the town and in the middle fo the UN safe zone, they massacres over 8,000 Muslim men.
The UN did not react, did not protect the people, did not do their job, did not respond as any feeling human being would to the bloody massacre that they were seeing in front of their faces.
The Srebrenica Massacre was well-documented and really no one contests that it happened just like this: 8,000 men were rounded up, forced to dig their own mass graves, then summarily shot for hours and days until they were all dead. The women were evacuated, raped, and otherwise dealt with. The few men who survived to testify at the war crimes tribunal in the Hague (ICTY) said that they only survived by staying under the bodies of their friends and neighbors, pretending to be dead also, then creeping out of the pits of bodies at night.
This massacre is the biggest massacre in Europe since WWII, and it has been classified as a genocide.
Let me remind you that Srebrenica was a UN SAFE ZONE. So what is a safe zone, anyway? It is a place where you and everyone you know can be rounded up and killed for no good reason.
So this is what the UN did in Bosnia. 10 years later, the UN appologised. This is insulting at best. Too late for appologies. You had your chance to do right by these people, but you got them killed instead.
These people cannot accept an appology:
11,000 people killed in Sarajevo from 1992-1995
50,000 civillians wounded in the war
10,000 Sarajevans permanently disabled (many missing limbs)
1,600 children under the age of 14 killed in Sarajevo
1,067 members of the Bosnian army (of all ethnic and religious groups) killed
This is only one of the graveyards in Sarajevo for those who fell in the war.To top it off.... there is no reason that Sarajevo needed to be under siege for almost 4 years, because when NATO finally got off their asses and bombed the Serb forces surrounding Sarajevo, the war was effectively over in 5 days.
Let me repeat: once NATO intervened, the war was over in 5 DAYS.
Not 4 years, but 5 days.
This is our fault. Sarajevo is our responsibility. We knew what needed to be done: Sarajevo asked for NATO intervention in 1992 when the Serbs first surrounded the city. But we did not want to get involved. Clinton did not want to look like a hawk in the first part of his presidency, so he waited... perhaps he was waiting to make sure he would get that second term? I do not know. I am very glad that did eventually intervene, but how can he live with this?
how can I live with this?
the world waited and watched as thousands of innocent people, women and children old people and men were massacred. and we did nothing.
"never again" is an insulting and empty statement. meaningless at best, because a similar massacre is happening now in Darfur. it has been 3 years and no one is intervening, no one cares. no one hears those children crying. it is like the UN response to the Rwandan genocide, which they knew was happening: they said, "why should we intervene, there is nothing in Rwanda but people, nothing valuable."
In Bosnia they tell a joke:
Two Bosnian soldiers are digging a trench and one is digging too deep. The other one asks what he is doing, the the digging soldier replies, "maybe if I dig deep enough, I will strike oil and then someone will save us!"
Thursday, May 31, 2007
My First Mosque
Today I had the chance to visit the main mosque in Sarajevo, built in the 1500s. It is 13 meters by 13 meters wide on the inside, and the domes that form the ceiling are 26 meters tall. Perfect acoustics!
It withstood incredible shelling during the "war of Serbian aggression" as my host called it. This and other mosques were purposely targetted because they were places of cultural and religious significance. He said that the mosque was hit by over 100 different shells and grenades of various caliburs. Luckily (or smartly) the walls are about a meter thick, so they were able to withstand a lot of damage without caving in.
During the war, they employed specially constructed reinforcements for the domes that form the roof of the mosque. Otherwise, the domes would have collapsed. My host told me that people still came to pray 5 times per day, even during the worst shelling. Even knowing that the mosque was a prime target. It was that important to them. I have to respect that kind of devotion.
You have to take off your shoes to enter, because the floors are all covered with exquisite rugs. My host told me that the rugs were all gifts from Muslim (and some non-Muslim) countries. The big one furthest toward the altar was given by one of the Shahs of Iran. 
This one was given by an uncle of Saddam Hussein (a long time before Saddam) who was the leader of Iraq. 
On Fridays during the service, there is a specal speech given by the Imam (leader) which talks about principles of Islam and how to live a good Muslim life. The rest of the services (5 times a day, everyday) are given in Arabic, but this small speech is given in the local language, Bosnian. The Imam stands on the top of these stairs for the speech, only on Fridays.
This part of the mosque has a special name, which unfortunately I cannot recall. It is very important, though, because it points towards Mecca. It is decorated with intricate details, and it is where the Imam speaks from except for that special Friday part.This is me outside the mosque, in the courtyard, with an incredible fountain where people wash their hands before going in to pray.
What's Up with Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH)?
So you might wonder... what is the deal here, anyway.... so here is a little history and some context.
Bosnia and Hercegovina (abbreviated BiH) is a country. It has been recognized as such since 1992, after it broke away from the former Yugoslavia (it was a republic within the former Yugoslavia). Before the war, BiH was one of the most diverse and well-integrated places on the planet, from all accounts I have heard. Serbs, Muslims, Croats lived together and while there were some tensions over culture, resource allocation, traditions, and ownership, things were fairly copesetic.
The part of the country that is Bosnia is the predominantly Muslim area (including Sarajevo) and the part that is Hercegovina (including Mostar) is the predominantly Croat part. So this answers the age-old question, "what is Hercegovina anyway?" It is pronounced "hurts-uh-go-vee-nah." rolls off the tongue!
You've probably heard of the Dayton peace talks or the Dayton agreement... it is very important! At that meeting in lovely Ohio in 1995, the US (go Clinton!) was able to help broker an agreement between the three fighting factions to share Bosnia and Hercegovina.
The Muslims and Croats in BiH have a power-sharing government (called "the Federation") and it is amazing actually, because they were able to put together enough of a truce not to split Bosnia-Hercegovina in to different countries. The Federation of BiH (Muslim & Croat) has control of 51% of the government and the Republic (Serbs) have control of 49%. In this way, the agreement encourages the federation to cooperate because if they don't, each group will become a minority in terms of the power-sharing, so it is to their benefit to try and get along and work together so that the Serbs do not gain the majority votes.
The prime minister of BiH is supposed to rotate between a Muslim Bosniak), a Croat, and a Serb. Seems reasonable enough.
There is also a Serb part of Bosnia-Hercegovina, called Republika Srpska (R.S., Serb Republic, or simply "the Republic"). They have their own organizational center in Banja Luka (actually close to Croatia). These guys would like to be part of a "greater Serbia," but they lost the war, so they are kind of sulking in their little Serb territories here (as I have been told-I sped through these areas on the train and did not disembark). These territories were some of the hardest hit during the war, because the Serbs were trying to literally clear out or kill everyone who was not Serb in these areas. They were frighteningly successful (due in part to the impotence of the world community's response to the atrocities committed here).
Actually, there is also a Serb part of Sarajevo, called "East Sarajevo" with its own bus station, etc. I have not gone there and will not go. The idea of it reminds me of East-West Berlin. It is not a good idea to draw these kinds of lines between people, saying "this is the place where me and mine can live and that over there is for you and yours." this only leads to the kind of yearning for home that caused this horrible war (and most wars, let's face it) in the first place.
In the immortalized words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
Bosnia and Hercegovina (abbreviated BiH) is a country. It has been recognized as such since 1992, after it broke away from the former Yugoslavia (it was a republic within the former Yugoslavia). Before the war, BiH was one of the most diverse and well-integrated places on the planet, from all accounts I have heard. Serbs, Muslims, Croats lived together and while there were some tensions over culture, resource allocation, traditions, and ownership, things were fairly copesetic.
The part of the country that is Bosnia is the predominantly Muslim area (including Sarajevo) and the part that is Hercegovina (including Mostar) is the predominantly Croat part. So this answers the age-old question, "what is Hercegovina anyway?" It is pronounced "hurts-uh-go-vee-nah." rolls off the tongue!
You've probably heard of the Dayton peace talks or the Dayton agreement... it is very important! At that meeting in lovely Ohio in 1995, the US (go Clinton!) was able to help broker an agreement between the three fighting factions to share Bosnia and Hercegovina.
The Muslims and Croats in BiH have a power-sharing government (called "the Federation") and it is amazing actually, because they were able to put together enough of a truce not to split Bosnia-Hercegovina in to different countries. The Federation of BiH (Muslim & Croat) has control of 51% of the government and the Republic (Serbs) have control of 49%. In this way, the agreement encourages the federation to cooperate because if they don't, each group will become a minority in terms of the power-sharing, so it is to their benefit to try and get along and work together so that the Serbs do not gain the majority votes.
The prime minister of BiH is supposed to rotate between a Muslim Bosniak), a Croat, and a Serb. Seems reasonable enough.
There is also a Serb part of Bosnia-Hercegovina, called Republika Srpska (R.S., Serb Republic, or simply "the Republic"). They have their own organizational center in Banja Luka (actually close to Croatia). These guys would like to be part of a "greater Serbia," but they lost the war, so they are kind of sulking in their little Serb territories here (as I have been told-I sped through these areas on the train and did not disembark). These territories were some of the hardest hit during the war, because the Serbs were trying to literally clear out or kill everyone who was not Serb in these areas. They were frighteningly successful (due in part to the impotence of the world community's response to the atrocities committed here).
Actually, there is also a Serb part of Sarajevo, called "East Sarajevo" with its own bus station, etc. I have not gone there and will not go. The idea of it reminds me of East-West Berlin. It is not a good idea to draw these kinds of lines between people, saying "this is the place where me and mine can live and that over there is for you and yours." this only leads to the kind of yearning for home that caused this horrible war (and most wars, let's face it) in the first place.
In the immortalized words of Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"
When in Sarajevo...
I once had the chance to visit a mosque in high school and I declined because I found it offensive that I would have to cover my hair.
COVER MY HAIR?!? no way, said I.
My red hair has always been an important defining element of my selfhood, my personality, and something that sets me apart from most other people. Before considering myself to be an American, a Bostonian, or even a woman, I was (am) a redhead. Maybe Grandma and other redheads will understand. So it scared me to take away my individuality by covering up my hair at a time of life when I was so much trying to find myself and show the world what was special about me. Of course as a teenager, that is all wrapped up in what I looked like (with some character mixed in too).
Today, I bought this head scarf at the Turkish market here in Sarajevo and the woman who sold it to me showed me several ways to put it on, from everyday to busy day to professional to "special occassion." I chose to use the special occassion look because today is very special to me. My first day in Sarajevo, my first visit to a mosque, and a discovery that I am not my hair!
So the most amazing thing happened after I rushed home to try out the new look...
I loved it!
I expected to feel closed in or covered up or somehow less important or less me. But none of this happened. In fact, quite the opposite. I felt so safe with my hair and head covered, and even alone in my room, I felt more comfortable.
When I walked in the street, women nodded in acknowledgment in a way they had not done this morning. And men averted their eyes, which they certainly had not done this morning. When I went to visit the mosque, the man at the reception asked me if I came just to visit or to pray.
And as for my individuality, no one and nothing could ever take that away.
I stopped for a rest when my feet were tired and watched the women walking by. Not one of them looked the same. Each one had a different print or color, and each one was wrapped in a unique way. Mine is purple (is there any other choice?) and it has some decorative elements that I love. I searched through hundreds of veils and scarves to find the perfect one for me. I see now how silly and closed-minded I was before and I feel grateful that I have had this experience of stepping in to the culture of another woman, even just for a day.
Although I like this look and the feel of it so much that maybe I will continue it when I get back to America. I was thinking about it today, and it could be a way of holding solidarity with Muslims in America, who are facing such strong discrimination today because of the crazy actions of only a few fundamentalists.
One more thought about this... I always imagined that these scarves were held in place so beautifully by the grace of God (or Allah). It turns out they stay put because of a few well-placed pins!
The sunglasses complete the look. This is me, baby!
POP QUIZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where and why did World War I start?
Here is a hint:
Anyone who guessed Sarajevo gets 10 points!
OK.... so what was the event that set in motion the events of WWI?
Here is another hint:
So here is what they say happened, here in Sarajevo, the center of the universe......
The area that is now Bosnia was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and there was a dude called Franz Ferdinand, who was the arch-duke and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.
So he was standing on this bridge (which at the time was called "The Latin Bridge") with his pregnant wife Sofia.
Here is me with them (OK, OK, it is not really them... but you can willingly suspend your disbelief... this is in the City Museum of Sarajevo).
A Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip who was unimpressed with the occupation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary (as many Bosnians were) stood by the bank of the river and shot them, killing them both. Now shortly after this, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (because Princip was a Serb) and then everyone else gradually got in the game... WWI had begun.
Some interesting things about the myopic and malliable nature of history... The bridge was called the Latin Bridge when the assasination happened. After that Princip was considered to be a hero and the bridge was renamed "Princip Bridge" through the times of the former Yugoslavia.
But remember, Princip was a Serb by nationality... so after the most recent war perpetrated by Serbs in Bosnia, Princip was renamed a traitor and terrorist, and the bridge was renamed too. Now it is again called "the Latin Bridge." And they are thinking about putting a bust of the slain arch-duke Ferdinand on the bridge because now he is the hero of the story.
So today I stood on the bridge in the spot where Franz Ferdinand was shot.
I also stood in the spot where Princip shot him.
Here are Princips footsteps.
Here is me literally staiding in Princips footsteps. They used to have this on display on the street in the "place of assasination," but it was removed to inside the museum when Princip became a traitorous villian (by virtue of nothing but his ethnicity and some bad acts by other Serbs in the intervening years). The footsteps are not even on display in the museum. They are under a desk behind the reception area. the only reason I even got to see them was because I asked if it could really be true that they had these foosteps made and then took them away later (it seemed so patently absurd to me). The museum dude brightened up and said, "footsteps, look here!" and moved some junk off of them, beckoned me behind the desk and allowed me to take these photos.
This is the only way to understand history. To stand in the place of each man (and woman) whom we think we cannot relate to or understand. Standing in each of these spots has its own perspective and neither one of them is right or true or wrong or false. They are simply points of view. no more. no less.
Here is a hint:
Anyone who guessed Sarajevo gets 10 points!
OK.... so what was the event that set in motion the events of WWI?
Here is another hint:
So here is what they say happened, here in Sarajevo, the center of the universe......
The area that is now Bosnia was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and there was a dude called Franz Ferdinand, who was the arch-duke and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.
So he was standing on this bridge (which at the time was called "The Latin Bridge") with his pregnant wife Sofia.
Here is me with them (OK, OK, it is not really them... but you can willingly suspend your disbelief... this is in the City Museum of Sarajevo). A Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip who was unimpressed with the occupation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary (as many Bosnians were) stood by the bank of the river and shot them, killing them both. Now shortly after this, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (because Princip was a Serb) and then everyone else gradually got in the game... WWI had begun.
Some interesting things about the myopic and malliable nature of history... The bridge was called the Latin Bridge when the assasination happened. After that Princip was considered to be a hero and the bridge was renamed "Princip Bridge" through the times of the former Yugoslavia.
But remember, Princip was a Serb by nationality... so after the most recent war perpetrated by Serbs in Bosnia, Princip was renamed a traitor and terrorist, and the bridge was renamed too. Now it is again called "the Latin Bridge." And they are thinking about putting a bust of the slain arch-duke Ferdinand on the bridge because now he is the hero of the story.
So today I stood on the bridge in the spot where Franz Ferdinand was shot.
I also stood in the spot where Princip shot him. 
Here are Princips footsteps. 
Here is me literally staiding in Princips footsteps. They used to have this on display on the street in the "place of assasination," but it was removed to inside the museum when Princip became a traitorous villian (by virtue of nothing but his ethnicity and some bad acts by other Serbs in the intervening years). The footsteps are not even on display in the museum. They are under a desk behind the reception area. the only reason I even got to see them was because I asked if it could really be true that they had these foosteps made and then took them away later (it seemed so patently absurd to me). The museum dude brightened up and said, "footsteps, look here!" and moved some junk off of them, beckoned me behind the desk and allowed me to take these photos. This is the only way to understand history. To stand in the place of each man (and woman) whom we think we cannot relate to or understand. Standing in each of these spots has its own perspective and neither one of them is right or true or wrong or false. They are simply points of view. no more. no less.
For Nadia
Since meeting Nadia in Rockport many years ago, I have taken on her habit of photographing food. She had whole albums of these photos of beautiful meals, and if you cooked a special meal together, she would always stop you before you took a bite, to get the perfect picture of your meal. She could flip through the albums and tell you who was eating with her that meal and what special significance there was to the food or the meal itself (celebrating a new baby, a wedding, mourning a lost loved one, welcoming the grandchildren back to Rockport after they had been away at school all year...).
Since Nadia is surely reading my blog from Heaven (actually I feel her traveling with me, she does not even need to see the blog...). It is her voice in my ear, urging me to photograph the butter before eating it, not matter how hungry I may be...
So here is butter in Opatija (Croatia), which they served on ice, with garnishes of curled carrots and some greens.
And this is Caprese salad in Rijeka (close to Italy, the second language there is actually Italian! and people say it is like how Italy used to be... how nostalgic.... all I can say is that the Croatian fresh mozzarela is very rich and quite fantastic!).
This is BUREK!! So tasty... but not for you high-cholesterol, blocked artery types! It is a local specialty and I think I may suffer from withdrawal symptoms from the lack of it when I return to the states........... This is filo dough with meat, cheese, or potatoes inside. This whole meal with juice and local yogurt (soooooo tasty, soooo rich!) cost me about $2. Actually, the whole time I have been here, I have eaten very well and have never spend more than $10 USD on a meal.
For example, this was my dinner tonight. Half a chicken, yogurt, bread, juice... all for a whopping $5 USD. The food is flavorful and well-prepared. I can always find something I am excited to eat which is well within my price range. I certainly cannot say that about the US! (as those of you who have ever searched fruitlessly (haha) for food with me will know!). The other nice thing is that I cannot finish any plate of food, but I am staying at hostels where they have a fridge, so that $5 or $10 meal will last me 1-3 meals all told.
One snack I ate on the island of Lokrum in Croatia was so tasty that a peacock came by and ate some too. I was finished already...
This is fried cheese, which I ate with Toshi on the first night he arrived in Croatia. We sat out on a magnificant balcony and fininshed off a bottle of wine as well...
We had a fancy dinner with nice wine from the island of Hvar (near where we visited, but we didn't make it to that island). We started out with shrimp risotto.
Here is a fish plate we ordered for our one really nice fancy dinner out in Split, Croatia (ancient walled city from Roman times). The hands you see belong to the waitor, who cut the fish heads and tails off and deboned the fish right there at the table for us.
The plate had 2 kinds of fresh fish, also huge shrimps, mussels, clams, octopus, and calamari.
Here is me trying octopus for the first time. Tasty! and crunchy and salty!
OK, so these next ones are technically beverages, but who's counting?
I enjoyed espresso in Amsterdam (and elsewhere, but only photographed this one), slowly allowing the sugar to dissolve on the spoon. This is a delicate pleasure I learned from my mother. I love to watch the sugar dissolve, only allowing a tiny bit of coffee on to the spoon at a time.
This is fresh lemonade with slices of orange in it. I had this on the island of Lokrum one day and it was so good I made Toshi come back with me the next day too! He had a nice nap in some plush chairs while we sipped this refreshing drink after a boat ride to and a hike around this tiny island nature preserve.
Here is me trying Absinthe, which I thought would be cool. But it did not make me feel different at all, just a little cloudy. So don't believe the hype!
Since Nadia is surely reading my blog from Heaven (actually I feel her traveling with me, she does not even need to see the blog...). It is her voice in my ear, urging me to photograph the butter before eating it, not matter how hungry I may be...
So here is butter in Opatija (Croatia), which they served on ice, with garnishes of curled carrots and some greens.
And this is Caprese salad in Rijeka (close to Italy, the second language there is actually Italian! and people say it is like how Italy used to be... how nostalgic.... all I can say is that the Croatian fresh mozzarela is very rich and quite fantastic!).
This is BUREK!! So tasty... but not for you high-cholesterol, blocked artery types! It is a local specialty and I think I may suffer from withdrawal symptoms from the lack of it when I return to the states........... This is filo dough with meat, cheese, or potatoes inside. This whole meal with juice and local yogurt (soooooo tasty, soooo rich!) cost me about $2. Actually, the whole time I have been here, I have eaten very well and have never spend more than $10 USD on a meal.
For example, this was my dinner tonight. Half a chicken, yogurt, bread, juice... all for a whopping $5 USD. The food is flavorful and well-prepared. I can always find something I am excited to eat which is well within my price range. I certainly cannot say that about the US! (as those of you who have ever searched fruitlessly (haha) for food with me will know!). The other nice thing is that I cannot finish any plate of food, but I am staying at hostels where they have a fridge, so that $5 or $10 meal will last me 1-3 meals all told. 
One snack I ate on the island of Lokrum in Croatia was so tasty that a peacock came by and ate some too. I was finished already... 
This is fried cheese, which I ate with Toshi on the first night he arrived in Croatia. We sat out on a magnificant balcony and fininshed off a bottle of wine as well...
We had a fancy dinner with nice wine from the island of Hvar (near where we visited, but we didn't make it to that island). We started out with shrimp risotto.
Here is a fish plate we ordered for our one really nice fancy dinner out in Split, Croatia (ancient walled city from Roman times). The hands you see belong to the waitor, who cut the fish heads and tails off and deboned the fish right there at the table for us.
The plate had 2 kinds of fresh fish, also huge shrimps, mussels, clams, octopus, and calamari.
Here is me trying octopus for the first time. Tasty! and crunchy and salty!
OK, so these next ones are technically beverages, but who's counting?
I enjoyed espresso in Amsterdam (and elsewhere, but only photographed this one), slowly allowing the sugar to dissolve on the spoon. This is a delicate pleasure I learned from my mother. I love to watch the sugar dissolve, only allowing a tiny bit of coffee on to the spoon at a time.
This is fresh lemonade with slices of orange in it. I had this on the island of Lokrum one day and it was so good I made Toshi come back with me the next day too! He had a nice nap in some plush chairs while we sipped this refreshing drink after a boat ride to and a hike around this tiny island nature preserve.
Here is me trying Absinthe, which I thought would be cool. But it did not make me feel different at all, just a little cloudy. So don't believe the hype!
Sarajevo
I always wanted to visit Sarajevo, since the winter olympics in 1984 (at the ripe old age of 4).
It is very different here than in Croatia (at least the parts of Croatia I was in). In Zagreb, they laugh about the war... and there was not too much damage. What was damaged has pretty much been fixed, and you would never guess there was a war within the last 15 years.
Sarajevo, on the other hand, holds its war history on its sleeve.
The buildings are riddled with bullet holes, and many houses have been hit by shells and not repaired in the intervening decade. When I was riding the tram from the train station to the hostel, a friendly woman talked to me the whole ride, pointing out important landmarks and other things as we rode by. Passing the street dubbed "sniper alley" during the war, she said in a flat voice as we passed these buildings (each with more than 100 bullet holes and many with gaping holes caused by shells), "too many serbia sniper, no good."
Sarajevo survived the longest siege of a city in modern history (1992-1995-while the world watched and waited), and they have not been quick to cover it up with a veil of collective forgetfulness like their neighbors in Croatia. Perhaps it is because it has not been as easy or affordable to make repairs, perhaps it is because unlike Croatia, in Bosnia they do not want to forget. The world has already forgotten them and they refuse to do the same abuse to themselves.
The hostel where I am staying is in the old town (Turkish quarter). You can hear the people praying in several nearby mosques. I drifted off to sleep last night to the sounds of prayer.
Today I explored the Turkish market, which has been constantly running since the Ottoman empire and was really the meeting point between east and west in those days. I believe it is one of the oldest constantly running open-air markets in the world. You can buy anything from belly-dance outfits (if only they were tiny enough to fit me!) to hookahs to Turkish coffee sets to prayer rugs to magic lamps (genie costs extra! haha!).
You can buy lots of shirts with writing in Bosnian that look very nice until you ask what they say... because they say swear words and politically charged statements. such as... A shirt will have a picture of Croatia-maybe in a checkerboard pattern, which is the symbol of Croatia, or a picture of Bosnia (like this one) and it will say (rough translation) "fuck the country that does not have Bosnia." So I will be careful about what I buy so I am not making a bad statement. I also saw shirts that said, "do not panic: I am Muslim." I liked those ones.
From the main square to the hostel, you pass by the old Turkish cemetary with probably 50 gravestones. Right behind it is a newer cemetary, for those who died during the siege of Sarajevo. There are so many gravestones. I cried to see it; there were so many white pillars sticking up out of the green grass. And these are only those people who dies in Sarajevo and whose bodies were recovered and who were given proper burial here in Sarajevo. So many others were dumped in mass graves or simply never found for any kind of burial. This is one of the primary things that survivors of war generally want-- a chance to bury their dead with respect and in the proper way. Every time I pass by, there are people crying or praying for their lost loved ones. Also buried there is the prime minister of Bosnia during the war, so there are alwasy soldiers stationed there, protecting his grave against any type of molestation.
Less people speak English here than in Croatia, but now I am very good at communicating with body language. One funny example: We were out of toilet paper at the hostel, and I went to tell the person at he desk. He did not understand any of what I was saying, so I said "toilet" and he shook his head, yes... so he had that part. I said "paper" and his quizzical expression made it clear he had no idea where I was going with this. I made a vbery unladylike gesture of wiping my ass and then said "ne" which means no. He jumped up, blushing a bit, and had understood what I said. Problem solved!
It is very different here than in Croatia (at least the parts of Croatia I was in). In Zagreb, they laugh about the war... and there was not too much damage. What was damaged has pretty much been fixed, and you would never guess there was a war within the last 15 years.
Sarajevo, on the other hand, holds its war history on its sleeve.
The buildings are riddled with bullet holes, and many houses have been hit by shells and not repaired in the intervening decade. When I was riding the tram from the train station to the hostel, a friendly woman talked to me the whole ride, pointing out important landmarks and other things as we rode by. Passing the street dubbed "sniper alley" during the war, she said in a flat voice as we passed these buildings (each with more than 100 bullet holes and many with gaping holes caused by shells), "too many serbia sniper, no good."
Sarajevo survived the longest siege of a city in modern history (1992-1995-while the world watched and waited), and they have not been quick to cover it up with a veil of collective forgetfulness like their neighbors in Croatia. Perhaps it is because it has not been as easy or affordable to make repairs, perhaps it is because unlike Croatia, in Bosnia they do not want to forget. The world has already forgotten them and they refuse to do the same abuse to themselves.
The hostel where I am staying is in the old town (Turkish quarter). You can hear the people praying in several nearby mosques. I drifted off to sleep last night to the sounds of prayer.
Today I explored the Turkish market, which has been constantly running since the Ottoman empire and was really the meeting point between east and west in those days. I believe it is one of the oldest constantly running open-air markets in the world. You can buy anything from belly-dance outfits (if only they were tiny enough to fit me!) to hookahs to Turkish coffee sets to prayer rugs to magic lamps (genie costs extra! haha!). 
You can buy lots of shirts with writing in Bosnian that look very nice until you ask what they say... because they say swear words and politically charged statements. such as... A shirt will have a picture of Croatia-maybe in a checkerboard pattern, which is the symbol of Croatia, or a picture of Bosnia (like this one) and it will say (rough translation) "fuck the country that does not have Bosnia." So I will be careful about what I buy so I am not making a bad statement. I also saw shirts that said, "do not panic: I am Muslim." I liked those ones.
From the main square to the hostel, you pass by the old Turkish cemetary with probably 50 gravestones. Right behind it is a newer cemetary, for those who died during the siege of Sarajevo. There are so many gravestones. I cried to see it; there were so many white pillars sticking up out of the green grass. And these are only those people who dies in Sarajevo and whose bodies were recovered and who were given proper burial here in Sarajevo. So many others were dumped in mass graves or simply never found for any kind of burial. This is one of the primary things that survivors of war generally want-- a chance to bury their dead with respect and in the proper way. Every time I pass by, there are people crying or praying for their lost loved ones. Also buried there is the prime minister of Bosnia during the war, so there are alwasy soldiers stationed there, protecting his grave against any type of molestation.
Less people speak English here than in Croatia, but now I am very good at communicating with body language. One funny example: We were out of toilet paper at the hostel, and I went to tell the person at he desk. He did not understand any of what I was saying, so I said "toilet" and he shook his head, yes... so he had that part. I said "paper" and his quizzical expression made it clear he had no idea where I was going with this. I made a vbery unladylike gesture of wiping my ass and then said "ne" which means no. He jumped up, blushing a bit, and had understood what I said. Problem solved!
The Orient Express
Yesterday I took my first big train trip!!! I always wanted to travel by train. It seemed so romantic and exciting and classic. The route I took is the last remaining functional part of the Orient Express... so it was even more interesting and intense when considering the historical significance (everything seems like that here- it is interesting and enjoyable with no information or background, but if you know what things used to be or how important they were in world history, you are reeling from the significance).
Well, the train ride from Zagreb (capital of Croatia) to Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia-Hercegovina, BiH) was 9 hours long, partially because we stopped a lot of places along the way... and partially because they kept stopping the train to check everyone,s tickets and passports. This is because of the nature of the areas we were passing through, since we went from the Croatian border (Croat territory) across in to the Serb part of BiH, then in to the Muslim area of BiH. So everyone in each place needed to make sure that all was well with our documents. It got to the point where (because I did not know what they were asking for each time, ticket, passport, etc) I actually tried to show my passport to a guy who was trying to sell me vodka on the train! He laughed very hard........and I did too.
We passed through the Serb part of Bosnia-Hercegovina (Serb Republic, Republika Sprska, R.S.), with a stop in its capital, Banja Luka and several cities I had read so much about because of the loss of life and violence toward women during the war. I was happy not to get off the train in those places, though they are quite safe now. Serbs use cyrillic letters (like Russian does) but things are pronounced similarly to Croatian and Bosnian, which use the Roman alphabet (like English and other Romance languages). It was kind of discombobulating to look at the cyrillic letters as the train passed by stations and towns.
This is the Serbian Cyrillic Alphabet
А а Б б В в Г г Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ж ж З з И и Ј ј
К к Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т
Ћ ћ У у Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш
The countryside is so beautiful, with rolling hills in every shade of green. I can understand why people could fight and die for this land. It is a very special place.
The contryside houses are small square brick or concrete buildings. Many of them were 1-story only, and had big holes in the side. Some looked damaged in the war; others were clearly just falling apart from years of use with no money for upkeep. 
They make the shed that used to be in my parents backyard look like a luxury condo. We have no idea in America how the rest of the world lives, even a person like me, who has made a conscious effort not to stick my head in the sand.
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