Monday, September 10, 2007 Part 2
It is 1008pm now, and last day in Catici. Hana has been sleeping in her car seat…and the car seat is in the crib… Antonela had to go to Zenica for dentist and we all went there in the later afternoon.

We packed our things a bit this morning, and did nothing but enjoying a warm afternoon, eating ice creams outside.

Monday, September 10, 2007
It is 7am here in Catici. My stomach has been upset since last night. I am here sitting in the living room, watching BBC World and drinking green tea. BBC reporter Then commentators or analysts are talking about the war in Iraq. I am actually closer to Iraq, but this quiet environment in Catici makes me feel a war is happening far away.

Yesterday was very fine day with sunshine in the afternoon. We took a walk and visited Antonela’s grandparents grave yard. All of them died in 90s and I do not have a chance to meet with them. Hana is lucky to be able to se all of them, even though two different sets of grandparents lives almost 10000km apart each other.

Zen and…book is quite interesting. The pages I was reading this morning talked about the university, the meaning of university. University should not stand by or for the buildings, but real education should have rich variety of people,,, that is the authors points. It seems as if he was writing about a distant learning. Again this book was written in 1970s.

After the graveyard, we all went to have a cup of coffee. It just started raining so it was just a perfect moment to be in the café. Of course Hana got a lot of attention from so many people at the café, especially Antonela’s friends loved holding her, and asking questions how her life in the US. (I am just guessing, though.) Robert, Antonela’s fathers son, is a fun character. He showed up at the café and bought me three bottles of beer. Again it is Sunday afternoon at 2pm. Anto, his brother, also joined us so as Iva and Maria, Hanas god sisters. Then, the director of Kakanj cement came and join us. He is a Muslim who lives in Muslim part of the town, enjoyed three bottles of beer and had a great time together. Funny but Muslim is drinking, betting on football in England, and having a beer with Catholic Croatians. The situations have been changed a lot since I visited Kosovo and Macedonia. I need to go and see Macedonia once again.

It is 745am, Antonela’s parents joined me and they are having a cup of coffee.

Saturday, September 08, 2007
2pm in Ciatici and 7am in FSM
It is another cold and rainy day. I woke up at 10am, and Hana and Antonela were fully awake at 6am. Antonela’s mother is constantly working for tonight party. Yes, Hana Katarina will be baptized at the church we got married. (HK is sleeping now…I guess she is also getting ready for the party as a baby.) I am having a black tea…which says Indian tea in Croatian.

Yesterday, we had a good time at Antonela’s cousins house in Zenica. Iruga, He is a husband of Antonela’s fathers brother. When was it I met brothers husbands of….? Here, the connections and pipes between families and friends are stronger than you can think of. Anyway, Iruga has three kids, Marina, Mariana, and Ivan. Marina speaks very good English, and Marriana does not speak well, very she understands very well. Both of them just started learning English at the public school in Zenica. Ivan, who is 8 years old, also likes English and can understand English fairly well. They all went to Sweden, and Denmark, and Iruga took her wife for 15 year wedding anniversary to Rome. Helena is a school teacher here, and she took all of her students to Barcelona as a school trip. Of course all of the countries

Friday, September 07, 2007
1147am (448am in FSM)
I think I came home at 10pm last night. Kafkas friend, Johnny had a drinking party, and cooked out, and I was invited. There are Liepa, the radiologist, Johnny, a elementary school teacher, and three more guys. We cooked and had a drink together. Yes, Kafka came later after playing football somewhere.

We talked about politics, culture, sex, women, and so many more things. Liepa, 48 though looked older, does not like or I should say he hates capitalism. They are complaining with Lakia, Bosnian tequila, saying Life is difficult. Let me remind you it was three o’clock and they were complaining. Johnny, who is a teacher, has a second or weekend house in the very end of the town (village). There are no more house beyond his. He is a local Shakespeare scholar, and knows a lot of things about Japan. He knows about Miyamoto Musashi, which surprised me a lot. Bosnia, a country famous for a war in 90s, is obviously going through a lot of changes or transformation. I can easily imagine these changes are not easy for people who were used to the way it used to. Even for the government officials, this can not be easy.

Liepa and I had a small game, naming 50 states in the US. We started alphabetically, Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas…and he said Idaho….well which is in alphabetically ordered in Bosnian…and we went doing this randomly…

Liepa and Johnny are Muslims who drink a lot. Liepa was enjoying wine from a box, and Johnny was having great time with Stella Astolrs. The meat, Liga was cooking, took 5 hours to complete was really good. A tender deer meat with a lot of spices and herbs. It started raining around 7pm, but we all had a great time for difficult life.

Friday, September 07, 2007

It is cold today and gloomy. The gray sky seems to be ready for a heavy afternoon rain. I woke up late today…at 11am, had breakfast with Bosnian apple pie and coffee. Antonela, Hana and I left for Kakanj at 2pm and enjoyed a free pizza.

It is almost 530pm. Maca came with Lujia and Kajia. Both of them are playing with papers at the stairs. Maca is eating paprika. Hana is sleepy and Antonela is trying to put her asleep, walking around the living room. Very peaceful and quiet.

アントネラの実家を訪れたときの日記です。
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Wednesday, September 5, 2007
It is 1040pm here in Ciatici, and 340pm in Fort Smith. Antonela is eating SMORKI and drinking FRUIT JUCY.
We had so many things done today. First Antonela got her visa, and we had a very nice cup of cappuccino and a cake in Sarajevo. Also she got her teeth fixed..almost..she had to go and see a dentist one more time.

We shared a lot of pictures and videos with Antonela’s mother. It has been raining on and off all day today. We are so lucky we did not get wet in Sarajevo. Hana is sleepin in her bed now.

I am at a barber for my hair cut. Quiet and a bit chilly Saturday
morning was really good for me after a long trip home from London.
Soothing music here also sound good and the sounds of the cutting
sisciors even soiund better. I just cannot believe I was in London two
days ago, and Sarajevo several days ago. This is going to be a good
Saturday

Wednesday, September 4, 2007

It is just 10 minutes passed midnight. It is Wednesday here in Ciatici, and 510pm in Fort Smith, and still Wednesday. I am here at the dining room watching BBC, and having a cup of green tea. I was so sleepy when we came back from Sarajevo, and was not planning to sleep that long, but it was already 1130pm when I woke up no find everybody is asleep.

Hana, Antonela and I went to Sarajevo yesterday. We left home at 7am and were in Sarajevo at 830am. The traffic was not so bad that we could drive okay. The difficult thing was, and of course it should, finding a parking spot. Sarajevo, like any other big cities in the world, has serious traffic problems. Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Dallas…the cities I visited recently have traffic problems which make me wonder how they can solve them. Anyway after 15 minutes driving around the old city, finally I could park with 5MK for a day. And the spot I found was very good one.

The appointment at the US embassy for renewing Antonela’s visa went good overall. The only thing I should probably mention is Hana…..she pooped there and messed her clothes. We did not take her clothes, so she had to keep the dirty pants for a while. (We changed her diaper, though.)

After the embassy we went to the city. It was just 10 minutes walk, and very pleasant walk with nice sunshine. The city was full of people despite Tuesday morning. We all so hungry and went to have early lunch.

Monday, September 03, 2007
1121am in Ciatici, Strong espresso did not want to make me sleep.

I had to admit that I was so tired yesterday. After a long journey, I was at Antonela’s home at 5pm. Unpacked and gave away gifts I brought, had a wonderful dinner, and I fell asleep at 10pm. I woke up at 4am and fell asleep at 6am again. It was already 9am when I woke up for coffee and breakfast.

Antonela and I went to Zenica for her dentist’s appointment. While Antonela was having her teeth fixed, I enjoyed walking around the city. Main street was full of people, even though it was after lunch time, or regular lunch time for us in the US. Many middle-aged men were sitting, so as young ones, and enjoying having a cup of coffee at the café. It seems or very obvious that they have never seen a Japanese there. They think I am Chinese, which it is fine with me. But Chinese do not have a good image here, and usually people do not like them. I saw only one Asian in 60-minte-long walk.

After dentist, we went to FIS, which I think is Bosnian Wal-Mart. We bought 15 boxes of teas, some spices, two bottles of wine, two cokes, some baby food. FIS is a great example of commercialism in Bosnia, I think. You can buy almost anything you want/need in the US. American products are a lot more expensive than the ones in the US. I would say the same American products are 20-40% cheaper in Fort Smith. After a Bosnian soft cream at FIS, it was already 4pm when we came home. Two big peppers willed with grounded beef was my lunch. I enjoyed them. Oh yes, Hana did not come with us, but stayed with Antonela’s mother or Hanas grandmother. After late lunch, we enjoyed watermelons outside, and went to see Maca and Kafka’s new house.

The house was still under construction with no windows. The foundations, walls, roofs are leady, and even the stairs to the second floor was neatly built. It was only 3 minutes walk from Antonela’s parents house, and Kafka was measuring the walls when we arrived there. The house is going to have 4-5 bed rooms with huge backyard. It should be ready sometime next year or summer exactly. It is going to be a nice house.

After the house visit, we all went to have a cup of coffee, including Lucia and Katia. Katia is a funny one, and Lucia is the one with a lot of questions in Croatian. (All of my answers are Da, which is Yes.) Antonela’s god mother showed up, and they also enjoyed meeting Hana for the first time. It was chilly, but nice coffee, well espresso.

We all need to get up early, around 6am or 630 at the latest. We need to go to US embassy in Sarajevo to get Antonela’s visa renewed. Backpack is already packed and we are ready to go. I hope morning traffic should not be that bad there.

I thought I was flying to London Gatwick, but it was wrong…I was going to Zurich on my way to Sarajevo, and coming back from Gatwick. The airplane from FSM to DFW was delayed almost 90 minutes. This should be my first time to see such a delay. Arriving at 12’05 at DFW, I spent almost 2 hours at AA lounge.

This flight is full…as long as I can see. I switch my seat from 27A to 11B, the same aisle seat. The family of 5, young parents, two boys and one girl asked me if I can move to fathers seat which was 11B. 5 people traveling together…5 seats….$1000each…wow, $5000. Seriously we should start saving as much as possible. A flight captain is talking about the condition in Zurich. The temperature is 15C. This airplane does not have an individual TV screen, but small 15 inch TV at the very front. It seems even business class passengers are the same.
Hana and Antonela left on August 13th, it passed almost 3 weeks since they left home for Ciatici. I am looking forward to seeing them both.

Globalization consists of two key factors- Economic and Cultural.
Economy, Movement of Labor, Knowledge (Technology)
An Advanced country
Education and vocational training, to make sure that workers have the opportunity to acquire the right skills in dynamic changing economies; and
Well-targeted social safety nets to assist people who are displaced.

It is 9pm in Fort Smith, and I do not know what time it is now here .The movie was”in the memory,” a story about girls high school basketball team in Oklahoma. The coach Jim Keith and his struggle in the rural Oklahoma city Middletown. As I live so close to there, it was easy for me to see it as a real story.

The air pillow, or whatever we should call it, doe not work for me. I just though it would be nice to have one, as I travel a lot, but just make my neck hurt.

It is interesting this atmosphere, dark, nothing is moving, make me feel as if the time stopped. The airplane is flying in several hundred miles for sure, but this make me feel nothing is moving.

September 2, 2007
Zurich, Switzerland
It is 9’10am local time. This airport is small, but it is crowded. Not bad, but not good. It is like the one in Osaka, or Little Rock with smaller space.

The screen says Bitte Warten, or Please Wait. My flight is at 1000 to Ljubljana, Slovenia. I do not know….for sure, but I feel so strong that I am in Europe. European are more…I do not know what to say, but different. Well, their glasses are so different.

The lady next to me from Dallas has an interesting life. She is a German. Her first husband was from Arkansas, and black…they have one kid and he went to school in Camden. Her second and current husband is from Louisiana and lives there. They do not live together, but meet each other 4-5 times a year. Interesting life. She told me that she would not live in the US. Hummm. I should have asked how she met those husbands.

1138
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Yes it is 1138 here in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and it is 438am in the US. I should be sleepy and I am yawning all the time. Surrounding the airport are beautiful mountains. I was hoping the airport is bigger and has some sort of public transportation to the city center, but it looks exactly the same the ones in Sarajevo, Skopje and Zagreb. This country IS part of EU, but id does not look like one yet. I have almost three hours, actually more than three hours here...what to do? What to do??

1435 Ljubljana
Yes, I am still here…I think this is the longest layover in last a few years. I even can spell Ljubljana now, which I think it should be or must be used for spelling bee in the US. It is 737am in the US, and it shows I did not sleep last night. Yes, I am tire, and ready to go. It seems the flight is on time. Great news.

1523 Ljubljana-->Sarajevo (823am in FSM)
Almost there. I am tired…maybe just because I did not sleep? Well, I think waiting for 4 hours was just too long. I saved almost 200 dollars, so I should not complain….
Suddenly I realized I am the only Asian in this airplane…not only this one, but the last one must have been. Well, well, I have already got used to this, but eastern Europe is different the way people look at me. I will be in Sarajevo in 30 minutes…almost 4pm/9am(FSM)…It took 24 hours to get there from home.

The in-flight meal was blueberry paste filled bread….it did taste like blueberry, but it does not have any blueberry for sure.

I am at Fort Smith airport. I like this airport so much for its size. Small but very convinient, one hour to Dallas, Memphis and Atlanta.
Yes, it is already September! I cannot believe, but time is flying so fast.
I will see Hana and Antonela for the first time in almost 3 weeks? I cannot wait.

This is Hana's latest picture!
I will see her and Antonela for the first time in 15days.
I cannot wait!