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.