I realized that I forgot to write about one of the most interesting
parts of my trip back from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo. I happened to be on a bus full of American tourists about my
age. I forgot how hard it is to
ignore surrounding conversations when you can understand everything being said.
(It is very easy for me to tune everyone out when people are speaking Bosnian
on the tram, and even when I try to understand, I can only get about 50%.) Anyway, I ended up with an entertaining
few hours of eavesdropping.
I
found the reactions of the young American tourists so amusing because I had so
many similar reactions myself when I first arrived in Bosnia. The Americans seemed quite charmed by
the natural beauty and the friendliness of the people. “Wow! That river doesn’t
even look real.” “The lady at the café just gave me a sandwich! The bread is so
good.” The funniest comment was, “Oh my god…look…a cabbage patch.” It seems so silly because there are
cabbage patches everywhere, but I remember that I was also very excited about
the first cabbage patch I saw in Otes.
Most Americans don’t usually see cabbage patches, I guess. I also laughed to myself when I heard
“why is everyone parked on the sidewalk?”
Later, driving into Mostar, I could relate to the Americans’ shock and
sadness about the amount of destruction caused by the war. “You can tell this
used to be a very beautiful building.” “I can’t believe there are so many
bullet holes.” I am getting used to seeing partially damaged building
everywhere I go, so I don’t notice them as much anymore. However, I remember how horrifying it
is with “fresh eyes”.
When
we stopped for a short break, I would up being a sort of unofficial translator,
since our bus driver only spoke Croatian/Bosnian. The driver announced, “pauza, dvadeset minuta”. So, I could relay, “twenty minute
break” in English. I giggled a
little bit, because this phrase is kind of an unofficial motto of the Sarajevo
Philharmonic. We really care about
our twenty-minute breaks. J
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