All In One Peace

welcome! ićm here… now what!?! heehee. im learning the language of course! todayi was so happy because i went to the post office by myself and bought not only a telephone card, but a specif card, and specifically asked for stamps for both postcards letters to america… and the lady understood me!!!! ah, the simple things, that make everthing so grand!

its been a bit hard because eveyone is so nice and is trying to translate for me- i keep telling them not to- as it will hurt me in the long run… but well see. i never thought id pick up things so fast… i am getting past tense - i never could use it before! but i have so much to learn- i just pray that im a sponge and can absorb it all…. my job this week is to visit with old friends and rest and practice speaking- i understand more than i can speak- but thats to be expected you hear it first right????

much love to you all back home…i miss you, although i have to say that my heart is so glad that i am here. if it werenćt for the language issue, id feel that i returned to a very familiar and comfortable place.

…to see the wizard… No, silly Crystal… I’m off to Bosnia! I’m excited and can’t wait to get there. I’ll let you know when I arrive. (late Thursday, their time, which by the way, is 9 hours ahead of Seattle/San Fran.). That’s all- vidimo se! (See you later)
Crystal J.

Nothing that I knew of, but there is a new statue of him in Mostar…. hmmm, I had no idea B-Lee was so popular/stood as a symbol there… I will have to learn more about this while I’m there- all the article said was:

“We will always be Muslims, Serbs or Croats,” said Veselin Gatalo of the youth group Urban Movement Mostar. “But one thing we all have in common is Bruce Lee.”

Bosnia unveils Bruce Lee bronze

Bosnia unified!
Wow, to think- a Bosnia with one leader instead of multiple ones! I am excited to see how this is works- like is there still a division of the Republika Srpska and the Federation? How are they to deal with the different alphabets now? When do they hope to disovle the Office of Higher Representitives- the international overseeing agency? Even with all these questions and unknowns- This is hope fullfilled- for everyone involved.

Dreams are funny things.

There is this one dream I’ve had the last couple of years; it has been the sweetest dream I think I’ve ever had. I had always woken up with joy afterwards- and the profound knowledge that I am loved and have choice to love back. But, recently, with this dream I has given me anxiety more than anything.

Without going into details, in my dream I am faced between two choices to love and pursue. Both are amazing: one is a sure bet and comfortable and I will enjoy it immensely, while the other path is a risk- but the rewards are much more than I can even fathom. My dream ends there, and I wake up contemplating which to choose. After much prayer, I’ve always thought in this situation I’d go for the risk- I’d never want to knowingly and explicity live with a “what-if” senario for the rest of my life - and so I took comfort in the risk of losing it all to be found.

Lately, things have been coming together and I feel as if I am coming to this situation- and I feel much different. It’s like in Matthew 19, where the rich man is challenged to rid himself of all that stands between him and Jesus- his pocessions. Am I willing to take the risk? And what if my riches are my love for the Balkans?

A month ago, at a Tuesday night, I totally broke down. With a broken heart I had to admit, like the rich man, I would have a hard time. My sister, when I was talking to her about this said, “…all you do is talk about Bosnia. It would have to be something really amazing to keep you from that…” and she’s right. But am I willing to leave is all behind and follow when the risk arrives?

So I went and got the book from Damir, the konabar (waiter) at the RG. Oh wow, is this place Bosnian. He gave me the book… see the cover…
This was a book he recieved when he came from Europe to help him learn English and get a job- I gather it was the government which gave him it… The coffee stains and smell of stale cigarettes permeate this book in an essence of “Balkan-ness”. Here’s the restaurant from the outside.

I am excited as I met some more people there and was even asked to come back again. It’s amazing that I do not have to go so far to meet up with the Balkan hospitality.

So yesterday I met up with JL and we went to the Balkan Grill in Tukwilla. It’s way out in the middle of nowhere… We were going to talk and to taste the delicacy of chevapi (a Balkan dish- and Sarajevan specialty) once again.

Other than a new bold paint job and a new American name-Renaissance Grill, instead of the Balkan Grill- it seemed we stepped back to a small town cafe (kavana) in Bosnia.

Needless to say, we were bit out of place- I think its a bit normal to feel out of place when you walk into a smoke-filled bar full of men looking at you and speaking in another language. But the “your-out-of-the-club” feel diminished when the man that served us noticed that I had my Croatian language books with me. We started talking about how we wanted to learn Bosnian (we knew from previous expirience, many of the people at the newly named RG are from Bosnia). He came over a few times and talked to us- it turns out he’s moving to Germany soon. He asked me to come back and he’d give me a book that the Government or some NGO gave him about language. So I’m going tonight to pick it up, as well as drop off some German language material for him.

As we were trying to figure out how to pay the bill (is it customary to go up to the bar or pay from the table???) we started talking to some of the other men there. One, named Zeljo, was from Tuzla; Matt, from Sarajevo. They asked us how we heard about the RC and that snowballed into wonderful conversation. I had a chance to practice my very rough Bosnian- I was suprised to hear that it was good- not suprised to hear that I have a HORRIBLE accent (especially since I heard it all last summer - heehee). So they are looking for a native instructor for me! Horray!

All in all, JL and I enjoyed our chevapi expirience. And it reminded me really what I’m getting myself into!