Lazy Sunday

Written on 9/18:

          It was my first full day at home in Otes, without having to commute to Sarajevo.  I feel very rested and relaxed, for once!  I was able to sleep through the full night for the first time last night, so I think I’m finally getting used to the time change and the noises that are common around here (barking dogs, trucks, and sometimes even a rooster!)  I also am starting to feel like my appetite is back to normal, after adjusting to the different tastes of the foods here and the odd eating hours.  Most importantly, I was able to talk to Ross for the first time via Skype at the local internet café!  I can finally stop feeling anxious about finding a way to connect with home J.  The internet café is not ideal, since it’s not very private, there was no webcam for video chatting, and I have to use their computers (which means that I can’t post these blog entries saved on my laptop until I get wireless downtown).  But, on the plus side, the internet café is less than a five-minute walk from my place, and only costs 1KM per hour (roughly 60-70 cents).

            I also am feeling more settled in now that I have arranged my room.  When I first got to my apartment, my “fully funished” room was completely empty except for a sort of strange couch/bed hybrid.  However, there was an unused room in our apartment with another couch/bed and a closet.  Matt and Tim, the two American guys here, came up and moved the closet and extra bed into my room and I put together a set of metal shelves.  Yay for shelves and a closet—now I have finally unpacked my suitcase!

            I made Matt, Tim, and Sara lunch for helping me out.  I also practiced, Skyped, studied my Bosnian textbook, made reeds, and did a bunch of laundry before it was time to call it a day and go out to eat dinner.  I went out with my big group of international friends to a restaurant in Ilidza.  To get there, we walked through a very nice park, which I had heard/read about but hadn’t yet seen.  I will have to explore the park later by daylight, since it’s very beautiful, with spring water coming out of public drinking fountains. (Bosnian Capon Springs, Robbins family!)  For dinner, I had a yummy creamy pasta dish with mushrooms, and my first taste of Croatian wine.  I had a white wine, and it was exactly the kind of white that I like, buttery and not too sweet.  As much as I like the Sarajevska beer that everyone drinks all the time, wine was a nice change of pace.  All of the restaurants we have been to have huge portions, so tonight I learned how to ask for a take out box in Bosnian…haha.  Molimo ponjete kuci, or something like that…

            I am going sign off here and get some rest so that I’m ready to play tomorrow afternoon at our first rehearsal for the next concert.  It’s quite a demanding program: two Turkish pieces with some tricky technical and rhythmic demands, and Brahms 4.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Laku Noc. 

Sarajevo Old Town

Written on the evening of 9/17:

I feel like writing another blog entry tonight.  So far, I am writing more than I intended by sharing the details of every day so far, but I really enjoy keeping a journal of my experiences.  It helps me process and remember everything that is happening.  Maybe one day I will find it amusing to go back and re-read my first impressions of Sarajevo. 

The one thing that makes me sad is that I feel like I can share so much about my life with all of you, but I haven’t heard as much about my friends and family at home.  I have pretty limited internet access (at least for these first couple weeks), so I don’t have time to send all of you emails, but I have time to read (or at least download and save to read later) emails sent to me, so please send me some updates.  J  I’ve definitely enjoyed the few emails I’ve gotten so far!

Also, because I don’t have access to very fast wireless, I don’t think I will have time to post pictures right away (they take forever to load).  But, I am taking tons of pictures, and promise to share them on this blog and on facebook when I can!

Speaking of promises, I promised to write more about the old town (Bascarsija, pronounced Bashcharshiya) once I had more time to explore.  Well, today was a slobodan dan, Bosnian for day off, so I had time to go explore with my American quartet. (That is the most creative nickname I can think of us for the moment.  I will bring back a Bosnian treat to anyone who can think of something catchier.) 

We took the tram two stops past our normal one by the National Theater, and got off right by the famous bridge that I described in my last post.  By the way, my Bosnia guidebook says that the bridge is now called Latinska Cuprija (pronounce Choopriya) and was indeed where World War I started with Arch Franz Ferdinand being shot.  It is nice to stand on and take pictures, because cars are not allowed over it.  However, for being such an important historical monument, it is surprisingly inconspicuous.  The river below is sadly a bit polluted, and the sign marking the bridge is small, so I’m not sure I would have noticed it if it wasn’t pointed out to me. (Gene, I didn't see any locks.)

After getting off the tram, we headed North, right into the heart of Old Town.  I’ve read that Old Town is a microcosm of the meeting of Eastern and Western culture and it is really true.  Walking around, I saw a huge amount of diversity of religion, culture, age, etc. I found it interesting that I saw the diversity even within small groups of family and friends.  For example, I saw a woman in conservative Muslim dress, whose daughters were dressed in jeans and tank tops, and whose friend had a more casual head covering.  Many of the shops in old town sell beautiful scarves, jewelry, and coffee sets.  I can’t wait to go souvenir shopping before Christmas.  There are also many ice-cream stands, bakeries, and cafes, yum. (And thanks, dad, for teaching me “sladoled”, which means ice-cream in Bosnian.)  We ate at an outdoor café, and then got ice-cream at Egipat, which is famous for being perhaps the best dessert store in all of Sarajevo.

We saw a few monuments while walking around, including the remains of a hotel originating in the 16^th century, and some beautiful Muslim quarters (Sara and I weren’t allowed in the courtyard though because of our bare arms.  I’ll have to come back later when I’m dressed appropriately.)  There is still so much more to see and describe, so I will keep going back and gradually sharing more details.

We headed back over to the BBI mall around 3pm so I could attempt to Skype Ross.  Grr…the internet was too slow, but I did get to facebook chat!  Then we took the tram home, stopped at the market, practiced, and ate.  We had fresh bread and I recreated a salad that I made the other night with bell peppers (which are much more flavorful than in America), tomato, cucumber and feta.  I love the produce from the markets here, and think I will end up eating a lot of vegetable and cheese salads.  Everything is so fresh and so cheap.  There is a little old lady at the market who Sara and I really like, and I think we will become regulars J

Anyway, at this point, I am getting quite tired, so I will say “Laku Noc”, which means good night.

More firsts: First Performance

This is my third blog post in a row that I am not able to put up online right away.  Hopefully I can post my entries today, and share them with all of you readers out there!

Every day that I am here, I get more used to the way things work, and feel less overwhelmed.  It’s still hard to follow everything going on around me, though, because I don’t speak the language.  I’ve been working very hard at learning Bosnian, much to the amusement of my colleagues.

We had yesterday off, which gave us a chance to go shopping for some furniture and essentials. (Even though our apartment is furnished, there are no shelves or drawers to keep stuff in.)  Fortunately, the Sarajevo Philharmonic has an assistant who functions as their official driver, so we were able to get a ride to a store called OBI.  OBI is basically a Home Depot, and we were able to find almost everything we needed.  Our apartment is starting to feel more and more like a home.  In the meantime, I was able to learn a lot of Bosnian words for furniture, though the only ones I’ve retained are the cognates (e.g. lampa is lamp, ventilator is fan, and hanger is hangar).

After shopping, we had some time in the afternoon to eat, nap, and practice, and then we were off to our first performance.  Because everyone is so “laid-back” in Bosnia, not everything went smoothly: a few wrong entrances, missed notes, and lost singers.  However, I was asked during rehearsal yesterday to play louder and more expressively in my solos, and I felt like I was able to do so and still maintain control of my tone and pitch.  I got lots of compliments about my playing afterward, which felt so good, especially because I’m used to the nitpicking critiques that were part of my training in the US. (However, I think it’s important to note that the reason that I was able to play like I do is because I’ve had such demanding teachers, colleagues and conductors.  I enjoyed the compliments, but in the back of my mind I also know I could have done some things better.)

After the concert, we went out to celebrate at the Sarajevo Brewery.  It is a good quality, very large restaurant just across the famous bridge where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot. (My spelling and knowledge of the historical details may be off.  I’ll have to look up whether he was shot on the bridge, under the bridge, or near the bridge.)  We had a large party, consisting of the Philharmonic members who live in our building: four of us Americans, an Italian horn player, four Albanian musicians, and the Bosnian trumpet player.  All of the Albanians can speak Italian, so there were conversations going on in so many languages: English, Bosnian, Italian, Albanian.  Very cool, but a little overwhelming as well.  I was quite tired when I got home last night!  I feel energized this morning though, with the prospect of the weekend ahead of me.  We have the next 2 and a half days free, so I will finally get to explore Old Town a little better.  So, I’m off…

First Rehearsal

Written on 9/15:

Our first day rehearsing with the Sarajevo Philharmonic!  We only had one rehearsal, for La Traviata, and then we have to play the performance tomorrow.

Before the rehearsal started, many people greeted me and introduced themselves.  The musicians are very friendly and enthusiastic.  I am a little intimidated about remembering everyone’s name, especially because I am not used to learning Bosnian names.

As I warmed up, the second oboe player arrived, and shared a few tips with me about tempos. He is an older man, who has been playing with the group for many years.  I met him yesterday, and he spoke no English.  Between then and today he must have studied, because he was able to say a few things to me.  I’m very impressed…he seems to be learning English faster that I’m learning Bosnian!

The conductor for tomorrow’s performance is Bosnian, and so today’s rehearsal was run in Bosnian.  I’ve been studying how to count in Bosnian, so I could at least figure out what rehearsal numbers we were starting at.  However, I couldn’t understand any of the other verbal instructions!  Fortunately, we mostly ran things, so I could get a lot of information from listening and watching.

Since I couldn’t understand what people were saying, I had to concentrate very hard to perform at an acceptable level.  My concentration wavered a little during the run of the second act, and I got lost a few times when there were cuts.  I hope everything goes okay in the performance!!!

My American colleagues were surprised by how the orchestra behaved during the rehearsal.  (I wasn’t as surprised because Ross’s Bosnian guitar teacher warned me in advance.)  The musicians often talked and sang along, and sometimes even answered their cell phones during the rehearsal!  It was a little distracting, but I wasn’t as bothered by the “unprofessionalism” as I expected because (as my roommate Sara pointed out) everyone was so passionate and having so much fun.  I love that American professional classical musicians are so respectful and take their work so seriously.  However, sometimes I forget that music is meant to be enjoyed and help people communicate, and is not a life-or-death matter.

Alisa told us yesterday that people in Bosnia are very laid back, in part because they realize that the small stuff is not worth worrying about.  Many people here have lived through the siege in the 1990s, and every time they left their friends and family they did not know if they would ever see them again.  Now that things are better, people spend a lot of time in cafes, enjoying themselves, instead of working all of the time.  People are very patient, and don’t try to push through lines or rush others.  I hate that I am an impatient person, and hope that living here will help me learn to slow down and not worry all the time about unimportant details.

After rehearsal, the Americans (I need to find a fun nickname for the four of us) and an Italian horn player who also just joined the orchestra, had a late lunch in old town.  It is a really interesting and beautiful part of the city, and I hope to explore it more this weekend.  I think I will wait to describe old town until I get to know it better, so I will sign off here.  As they say in Bosnia, ciao!

First Day in Bosnia

Written on 9/14/2011:

 So, I said I would post more about my first night in Bosnia later.  I’m just going to give a play by play, because I’m not really feeling creative right now.  We (the four new American players) were so lucky that after we got in, a trumpet player from the Sarajevo Philharmonic had us over for dinner and showed us around our neighborhood.  The trumpet player, Admir, also let me send Ross an email on his phone, which meant so much to me since I felt homesick after such a long journey. (I’m sure it meant a lot to Ross and my parents too, who were able to find out that I was safe and sound.)  Later that night, we went out for beers and met Admir’s girlfriend, who is also in the Sarajevo Phil as a violinist.  I cannot imagine how hard that first night would be without their company.  They speak excellent English and Admir translated everything for us.  (Admir’s girlfriend is from Albania, where they speak a language completely different from Bosnian, so they have both learned a lot of English in order to have some language in common).  We didn’t have any Bosnian money, so Admir generously treated us to everything.  I would have had a long, hungry night otherwise!

I am writing this post on our third night here, and it feels like our first night is a distant memory.  So much has happened since then, and the longer I wait to write about it, the more I forget.  So, without further ado, I will begin my day 3 post.  Also, enjoy my account of day two below.

Today was my first morning in Bosnia, and my first time riding the tram from Ilidza to Sarajevo.  It’s slow, and crowded, but there are lots of people and things to watch.  I think that the commute will be very similar to what it felt like to take the el down to Civic rehearsals several times per week.

The first thing we did when we got into the city was visit the National Theater to get music, file paperwork, etc.  Alisa, who is part of the orchestra’s administration, led us around to take care of all of it.  She also introduced us to many of the other musicians, and many of the younger ones speak great English.  The second oboist is an older man, who speaks no English, so I’ll have to work hard at learning Bosnian better so I can communicate with him.

The National Theater is a very nice building with a gorgeous stage.  All of the performing arts groups in Sarajevo rehearse and perform there: opera, ballet, symphony, theater.  It is kind of exciting to walk by all of the singers practicing, the dancers in rehearsal, and the stagehands experimenting with lighting for the night’s show.

After visiting the theater, we went out to do errands.  Sarajevo is pretty much built along one long main street.  The city is pretty dense, so it will take me a while to take in all of it.  There were some noticeable landmarks: the tallest building is a twisty glass and metal structure that looks like it belongs in Chicago.  We also saw the famous yellow Holiday Inn, the American Embassy, and later walked by the Sarjevo McDonalds (oh boy).

We drove to get our white cards, walked to set up our Bosnian banks accounts, change money, and got Bosnian pre-paid cell phones. All in all it was a very productive day.  Alisa was so helpful, showing us the ropes, treating us at the café, and translating everything for us.  I still do not feel entirely comfortable with the way of life here, but feel reassured by the fact that the Bosnian people seem to always be very kind and generous hosts.

We went to lunch at a newly open mall called BBI.  BBI was quite fancy, and they have relatively fast wireless, so I may spend quite a bit of time there until I have wireless in my apartment.

We finally got home around 6pm, which gave me my first chance to practice and work on reeds here.  We are rehearsing La Traviata tomorrow morning, so hopefully my act is in gear enough now that I can make it through.  The orchestra has played the opera before, so we only have one rehearsal and then the performance on Friday night.  I’m a little worried about performing at an acceptable level, being so tired and overwhelmed, and never having played the opera before.  We’ll see…

After practicing, it was already 9pm, so I suggested to Sarah, Matt, and Tim that we get dinner.  We decided to walk across the street to the little store and buy pasta and sauce for dinner.  Unfortunately, either our stove is not powerful enough to make a huge pot of boiling water, or we don’t understand how to turn it up, so after waiting for over two hours for the water to boil, I got impatient and threw the pasta in the hot-but-not-boiling water.  It instantly turned soft, but weirdly chewy and sticky.  The sauce that we bought was also a little unappetizing, since we thought we got marinara but it was a very bitter bell-pepper sauce instead.  Dinner fail.  Tim was a good sport and ate it, but the rest of us ended up eating beer, bread and cheese for dinner, which finally happened around 11:30.  Maybe I will eventually figure out how to cook in Bosnia…I sure hope so!

Hello Europe!

I typed this out on the evening of 9/13.  I now have internet access for long enough to publish my first blog post from Bosnia.  Yay!  Here it is:

Tonight is my first night in Sarajevo.  I was exhausted and went to bed around 10:30.  Then I woke up thinking it was morning and it is only 1am!  Between the jet lag, dogs barking and a bit of homesickness, I’m feeling quite awake, so I figured I would get up and type a blog entry so that when I first get internet access, I can make an update right away.  For these first couple of posts, I will write them in advance and publish in internet cafes.  After a week or so I will (hopefully!) have wireless in my apartment and things will be easier.

My travels here could not have gone more smoothly!  Well, at least all of the hitches are minor ones.  For example, I insisted that Ross drop me off at terminal 5 at O’Hare since it’s the “international terminal”.  Whoops…Lufthansa flies out of terminal 1.  It all worked out after a short train ride to the correct terminal.

My flight from Lufthansa to Frankfurt was a little sad, because I was sitting next to a couple going to Europe for their honeymoon.  (Ross and I gave up our honeymoon, which was supposed to start today, so I could come here.)  On the other side of me was a man who thought his elbows belonged well over the edge of his armrest and in my personal bubble.  Instead of sitting there feeling angry for the entire eight hour flight (something I would normally do), I waited a half hour and then kindly asked him to give me some more space.  I asked politely, and we ended up getting along great.  He was from Serbia (what  a coincidence!) and so was very curious about why a US citizen would go to Bosnia (which is somewhat poor and has high unemployment) for a job.

I am pleased that so many people in the Frankfurt, Zagreb, and Sarajevo airports spoke excellent English and were very helpful and friendly.  It made me feel less stressed during all of my layovers. When I got to Zagreb, I was able to meet up with Matt, one of my three American colleagues who are also joining the Sarajevo Philharmonic for one season.

I spent my two intra-European flights looking out the window.  I got a spectacular view of the Alps from Frankfurt to Zagreb, and a view of Kosovo on the way to Sarajevo (how can such an idyllic hilly landscape be home to such a sad recent history?).  I took some pictures from the plane, so once I have better internet I can post them.

Matt and I arrived in Sarajevo with all of our bags in tact (hooray!)  Alisa, a manager from the orchestra met us outside customs.  “Customs” consisted of a man asking me “do you have anything illegal?” to which I replied “no” and was waved on through.  Alisa and two drivers took us straight from the airport to our apartment building.  I was quite shocked during the drive to see how much physical evidence of the war remains.  Many of the apartment buildings around ours are pocked with bullet holes.  People still live in these buildings, and their colorful laundry and flower pots provide a stark contrast to the damaged concrete. (Again, pictures to come)  I was also surprised and a bit saddened by the large number of poor gypsy children playing on the street and near the garbage with their dogs.

I greeted Sara and Tim (the other two Americans) at our apartment building, since they had arrived a few hours earlier.  I am sharing a three bedroom apartment with Sara.  The place is furnished, but quite sparse.   There is a CRAZY paint job.  Let’s just say we have some shopping and redecorating to do.

I am getting sleepy again, so I will have to write my account of my first evening here another time. Ciao for now!

Goodbye USA

I leave tomorrow!  I am feeling a mix of emotions, but mostly I'm very excited for the new adventures that lie ahead.  I've encountered some challenges already, and spent much of this week figuring out how to book plane tickets (Sarajevo is not the easiest place to get to) and getting paperwork in order so I won't end up being an illegal immigrant (hopefully).

I had a huge to-do list, which drastically shrunk between Wednesday and today.  On one hand, it's such a relief to be almost ready to go, but on the other hand it means that I'm very close to having to leave Ross for two months :(  Being busy has kept me from feeling very emotional, and now that I am pretty much ready, I hope that I can keep a positive attitude and enjoy the time I have left before I leave.  I feel reassured by the fact that Ross has tickets to visit me in mid-November, and that I will be able to come back for Christmas in LA.

I am trying to talk to as many Bosnian people as possible before I go.  Ross has a surprising number of contacts, so I've been able to hear more about what to expect.  Ross's guitar teacher is Bosnian and recently played a concerto with the Sarajevo Philharmonic, and so I was able to learn more about the orchestra, including their problems.

We also went to a Bosnian restaurant in Chicago, and I am happy to report that Bosnian food is fantastic.  Between cheese, vegetable dishes, bread, and their delicious desserts, I feel reassured that I will find plenty to eat despite being vegetarian.

Already, I feel I am learning to be more outgoing, because my curiosity about the country has forced me to get over my shyness and ask a lot of questions.  One of my goals for the year is not to be so shy about asking for help, since I know that I'll need a lot of it living in a foreign place where I don't speak the language.

So, I'm off to finish packing and eat some Mexican food (not sure I'll be able to get guacamole again until I visit California in December...very sad).  It will probably be a few days before my first post from Bosnia.  I will try to update as soon as I am settled and have internet access.  I just figured out how to use my new digital camera last night, so hopefully I can upload some pictures of my journey there!