Today is Ross’s fifth day in Bosnia, and so far so good. J The trip here went well, and Ross arrived on time on Thursday night. I feel much happier with him here, and he really likes Sarajevo. Ross is pretty laid-back, and enjoys coffee and sausage, so he seems well suited for life here.
On Friday, it was a beautiful sunny day, so we walked around my neighborhood and ate at Pizzeria Ilidzis. I was very proud of myself, because I was able to speak in Bosnian to our waiter throughout our meal, despite the fact that he probably speaks good English. Later, we headed to the Centar for the first performance of Giselle. Ross was able to find a box seat in the balcony and watched the show. Afterward, we went out with a group of my friends to the brewery, so Ross could taste Sarajevsko beer. I avoided the “Pene Alfredo” this time and got a tasty caprese salad.
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| Ross meets the Otes gang at the Pivnica |
Saturday was another sunny day. Ross is quite lucky, since it is rarely sunny here for more than one day, and this weekend we had nice weather on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We got a lot of exercise on Saturday, because we walked all the way down the path in Ilidza to the source of the Bosna River. The scenery was quite dramatic, because as soon as we hit the shadow of the mountain, it dropped about 10-20 F and the ground was covered in a very thick layer of frost. On the way home, we stopped by the supermarket, where Ross could ooh and ah over how much cheaper groceries are here.
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| Frost covered leaves in the park |
After a short rest and a small dinner on Saturday evening, we headed back to the theater for a repeat performance of Giselle. I felt happier with my solos on the second night, so I was glad that Ross watched both performances. We went out to a bar afterward, and met up with our conductor, who was a young woman from Serbia. Throughout the performances and rehearsals, I thought she looked a lot like a conductor I knew from Peabody. When I was talking to her at the bar, she mentioned that she had studied in Baltimore! It turns out she looked so familiar because she attended Peabody during the same years that Ross and I were there, and I had played for her before. The classical music world is so small!!!
I had Sunday off, so we could sleep in and take our time getting ready in the morning. Around noon, Ross and I headed out to catch the tram into town, so I could show him around Bascarsija. (Ross had still only seen downtown Sarajevo after sunset.) We wandered up and down the old cobblestone streets, and stopped to admire the books, fabrics, and silver being sold at all of the little shops. Ross was super-happy to finally have cevapi for lunch. The waiter always looks at me like I’m crazy when I order “samo kajmak”, or bread with “only cheese”, but I think it’s quite good. I also took Ross to my favorite sweets shop, Egipat, so he could wash down the cevapi with dessert.
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| Ross in Bascarsija |
I had to work yesterday, but I still had plenty of time to hang out with Ross and show him a bit more of the city. He came downtown with me, and hung out at BBI while I had rehearsal for Peter and the Wolf. We ate at my favorite restaurant, Metropolis, with Matt and Ivana after rehearsal got out. Then, Ross and I went shopping for Thanksgiving supplies and headed back home. It was great to have a relaxing evening at home with Ross around. I really do feel more like myself with him here. Now, we are looking forward to going to Zenica today for a Peter and the Wolf performance, and to hosting Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.
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