Bascarsija Night

After being back in the US for nearly two weeks, I’m finally getting around to writing about my final few days in Sarajevo.  The Bosnian lifestyle has rubbed off on me, and after a few hours of errands, chores, or practicing, I feel the need for “pausa”.  So it’s taking a little bit longer than I expected to get reorganized, haha.

The day after returning from Sibenik, I had a relatively successful lesson in pita-making from my friend Adi.  By pita, I mean the multi-layered Bosnian pastry stuffed with cheese, meat, spinach, or potato, not the pocketed flatbread that we call pita in the US.  I really like zeljanica, the kind stuffed with spinach and chesse, so that’s what we made.  The hardest part was getting the dough well-worked so that it can be stretched super thin.  We didn’t quite get the dough as thin as it should be, so the outer layer of the pita was a bit thick.  Also, we didn’t know to brush oil on top of the pastry at the end, so it was drier and cruncher than expected, but it still tasted really good.  I’ll include our recipe on this blog. 

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I spent most of my time in the city center, since we were so busy preparing for our concert on Sunday night.  Every year, spanning the entire month of July, Sarajevo hosts a large outdoor arts festival called “Bascarsijske Noci” (“Bascarsija Nights”).  The Sarajevo Philharmonic traditionally plays a concert to celebrate the opening night, on July 1^st.  We played a collection of short pieces, and accompanied a few soloists from our orchestra and from Serbia.  We played on an outdoor stage, right across from the National Library.  The library is an important landmark that was shelled during the war and is now being rebuilt, so I felt honored to be facing it while playing my last concert in Sarajevo.  The only problem with the location was that it was extremely hot, and we had to rehearse in the blinding sunlight.  At least I looked awesome playing my oboe with sunglasses on.

Rehearsal for Bascarsija Nights Opening Concert

View of the National Library from my seat in the orchestra

Between our rehearsals, I tried to spend as much time as possible with all of my friends.  I also taught a final lesson to my student, ate one last sandwich at Metropolis, my favorite restaurant, drank a few coffees, and made a last lap around the old town.  I went home only at night, and didn’t get much sleep because I had to pack and clean up the apartment.  At first, I felt like I had all the time in the world to wrap up my life in Sarajevo.  Then, a couple days before I left, panic set in, because every time I checked something off of my list, I thought of five more things to do.  But, by Sunday evening, I was all packed, the apartment was cleaned, and I could enjoy myself until it was time to go.

Unfortunately, this year, July 1^st fell on a Sunday, and our concert conflicted precisely (almost to the minute) with the Eurocup finals.  I was worried that we wouldn’t have much turnout, but we still managed to fill the seats.  My Albanian friends were very excited because the Albanian Radio Television Orchestra was in town, and a lot of their friends and former colleagues came to see us.  Our concert ended with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, a piece that is traditionally played at graduation ceremonies on the US.  I found it a bit funny, because the music made me feel like I was graduating from the Sarajevo Philharmonic, which I was in a way.

After the concert, Matt and I (the only two Americans who stayed all the way until the end of our season!) invited all of our friends to join us at the pivnica (the brewery).  It was an ideal spot because it was just up the hill from our concert, and has enough space to accommodate a very large group.  By the time we got to the pivnica, it was already close to midnight, since our concert was two-hours long and didn’t start until 9pm.  So we only had a short time to have a beer and say our goodbyes before the pivnica closed.  It was so sad to say goodbye, but of course I was glad to have one last evening with all of my friends.  I didn’t feel like going back to the empty apartment right afterward, so I went with just a few friends to find another place to hang out.  Since it was Sunday night, we were worried everything would be closed, but Sarajevo always has something to do at night, and we found Cheers to be open.

Saying goodbye in the Pivnica

One last drink with "The Otes Family"

My flight left at 6am on Monday, so it worked out that by the time I got home on Sunday night, I had just enough time to shower, pack a few last items, and call a cab to the airport.  Whew!  On the plus side, I didn’t have too much time to feel overly nostalgic about leaving.  And I screwed up my sleeping schedule so much I didn’t even have jet lag when I got home. J