Today my son wrote me an email and told me that he wants to have a relationship with me again. He has been having a hard time adjusting...to school and to life with just his Dad, as his sister has moved out. He has had some problems and I have wanted to help, but couldn't.
This is one of the happiest days of my life. I didn't think he would ever speak to me again other than to tell me that he hated me. He sent me a picture of him and a song. He and I love music and he knows I like to listen to some of the same things he does.
My son and I have always been so close. Leaving him was the hardest thing of all. I'm not going to go into all the details. Just that my divorce has been hard on my kids and it is all my fault.
Dwelling on the guilt is something I do all of the time, and I really must let it go. Having him email me the past two days has done so much to help me that I can't really express it.
I look forward to the healing for him and for me. I feel like for the first time in many years, my prayers are being heard. This is not a religious blog, nor am I a religious person anymore, but I am grateful.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Visit To Šen Winery - Ilok, Croatia
We returned to the winery of Rudolph Šen in Ilok. He had some wonderful rose wine as well as his very nice, dry white.
We visited about an hour with this wonderful man and he took a few pictures with us.
He spoke to us about his life (he's 77) as we tasted wine and shared our stories. Once again, here is someone who we really didn't know other than as wine customers, and now we are friends.
We visited about an hour with this wonderful man and he took a few pictures with us.
He spoke to us about his life (he's 77) as we tasted wine and shared our stories. Once again, here is someone who we really didn't know other than as wine customers, and now we are friends.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Trip to Budva/Petrovac, Montenegro
We just returned from one week in beautiful Budva, Montenegro on the Adriatic. My fiance and I were there for the World Martial Arts Festival.
We stayed at the Slovenska Plaza, which is a resort consisting of many "mini" hotels. It is right there at the beach. There were tourists from many countries. Hearing all of the languages being spoken made me think of the Tower of Babel story from the bible. English, German, Serb, Macedonian, Russian, Korean, French...
The water was cold like ice! But, the water was clear and blue and the beach was nice with sand and small pebbles. I am used to the mud of a lake bottom where your feet sink into the goo, so I loved it. But, not being a "nature girl" I spent most of my time in one of the two pools there at Slovenska Plaza. They used fresh seawater in the pool and it too was freezing, but refreshing.
On our last night, we went to Petrovac, another village on the Adriatic and stayed at the Hotel Palas. The accomodations were even better than at Budva. Our room had a terrace, air conditioning, TV and a mini fridge and we had a beautiful view:
The little island on the right has a little Orthodox church on the top of it!
The weather turned stormy and cold that night, so we took the train back home to Novi Sad.
Prices were very reasonable. I think for most Americans, English, etc. it would be considered cheap to stay in Budva or Petrovac. I noted some prices:
Large Pivo 1.5 Euro
Hamburger or other sandwich 1.50 Euro
Room in hotel 55 Euro per night
(This included a full buffet breakfast and dinner, with meat, salad, bread, dessert, everything. And the food was good. The hotel in Petrovac, owned by some French investors even served white or red wine with dinner.)
Parasailing, boat tours, fishing expeditions, carnival rides for the kids...all was available from about 3 Euro and up. And of course, souvenirs of all kinds were available.
There were the usual little markets conveniently located so that you could buy juice, fruit, whatever you wanted at prices that were close to what we pay here in Novi Sad.
We stayed at the Slovenska Plaza, which is a resort consisting of many "mini" hotels. It is right there at the beach. There were tourists from many countries. Hearing all of the languages being spoken made me think of the Tower of Babel story from the bible. English, German, Serb, Macedonian, Russian, Korean, French...
The water was cold like ice! But, the water was clear and blue and the beach was nice with sand and small pebbles. I am used to the mud of a lake bottom where your feet sink into the goo, so I loved it. But, not being a "nature girl" I spent most of my time in one of the two pools there at Slovenska Plaza. They used fresh seawater in the pool and it too was freezing, but refreshing.
On our last night, we went to Petrovac, another village on the Adriatic and stayed at the Hotel Palas. The accomodations were even better than at Budva. Our room had a terrace, air conditioning, TV and a mini fridge and we had a beautiful view:
The little island on the right has a little Orthodox church on the top of it!
The weather turned stormy and cold that night, so we took the train back home to Novi Sad.
Prices were very reasonable. I think for most Americans, English, etc. it would be considered cheap to stay in Budva or Petrovac. I noted some prices:
Large Pivo 1.5 Euro
Hamburger or other sandwich 1.50 Euro
Room in hotel 55 Euro per night
(This included a full buffet breakfast and dinner, with meat, salad, bread, dessert, everything. And the food was good. The hotel in Petrovac, owned by some French investors even served white or red wine with dinner.)
Parasailing, boat tours, fishing expeditions, carnival rides for the kids...all was available from about 3 Euro and up. And of course, souvenirs of all kinds were available.
There were the usual little markets conveniently located so that you could buy juice, fruit, whatever you wanted at prices that were close to what we pay here in Novi Sad.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Vojvodina Ethnic Festival of Food and Music
This Saturday we went to the Vojvodina Cultural Festival of Food and Music here in Novi Sad. There are about 40 different ethnic groups living peacefully together in Vojvodina. The festival was held down at the Strand beach on the Danube River. The Strand beach is very popular with the locals for swimming, sunning and hanging out.
This event had booths set up for people to sell wine, pivo, rakija, kobasica,kolač and other foods from this area. Others sold handcrafted items like embroidered table cloths and painted items. People walked around in swimsuits, shorts, capri pants...all kinds of summer clothes and everyone had a good time.
We walked around, tasting and sampling the food and had a pivo sitting at a table in the shade with a couple who were kind enough to share their table with us. While we were looking at everything, we met the president of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (President of the Vojvodina Government), Bojan Pajtič and he was kind enough to have his picture made with me.
There was a large stage where live music was performed by many ethnic groups. There were also dancers in colorful costumes:
It was a very hot day, but with the shady areas scattered throughout the festival site and the location of the beach just steps away, it turned out to be very comfortable.
One of the things I love about this place is these wonderful festivals that occur almost every couple of weeks!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Birthday Celebration Details
As I mentioned in my last post, my love recently celebrated his birthday. Birthdays in Novi Sad are an affair for family and friends just as they were in my home state of Louisiana. The difference? Here birthdays are also for adults.
Back in Louisiana, birthdays were mainly for kids. We take them to McDonald's, or the skating rink, or whatever business caters to kids birthdays with a bunch of their friends. Or, we'd have a party at home with their friends and cake and ice cream. When the kids were small grandparents would come, too.
For adults, usually the husband and wife go out to dinner at a nice restaurant and maybe a movie. If you are dating someone, same thing. If you are a young adult, usually you do have a party with friends.
Here in Novi Sad, my love invited his closest friends and his daughter and her family over and we ate, drank, talked, joked and listened to music. He tends to like the traditional music of Vojvodina and US music from the 50's and 60's. We also listened to some of my CD's. I like all kinds of music, so for his guests we listened to some Trisha Yearwood, Lionel Ritchie, Fleetwood Mac...easy listening. They like their music a little louder than I do, but they speak loudly so they can still hear each other over it!
I have posted before about how when people here are speaking they can get rather loud. If you didn't know better, you would think they were mad at each other. My love told me a story of one time one of his neighbors visited with a mutual friend and after several rakija's they got pretty loud. His son-in-law (who lives in the building) came to the door concerned that they were fighting! He said they all laughed and invited him in to join them.
To me, this is just another example of the zest for life that these people have. It's like everything they do, they do with vigor. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but it is also endearing.
The guests seemed to like my music. I know they are familiar with American music. The whole world is. There are many radio stations here in Novi Sad and I can always find several playing American music, but I like the traditional music as well.
The little roasted pig was a hit. They eat everything here. Nothing is wasted. The pig's tail, ears, etc. were all consumed. The meat was very good, roasted perfectly.
The one major disappointment was my camera. It has been acting up lately and did not cooperate for me to take pictures. I think I had some bad batteries, because it is working now that I have replaced them.
Back in Louisiana, birthdays were mainly for kids. We take them to McDonald's, or the skating rink, or whatever business caters to kids birthdays with a bunch of their friends. Or, we'd have a party at home with their friends and cake and ice cream. When the kids were small grandparents would come, too.
For adults, usually the husband and wife go out to dinner at a nice restaurant and maybe a movie. If you are dating someone, same thing. If you are a young adult, usually you do have a party with friends.
Here in Novi Sad, my love invited his closest friends and his daughter and her family over and we ate, drank, talked, joked and listened to music. He tends to like the traditional music of Vojvodina and US music from the 50's and 60's. We also listened to some of my CD's. I like all kinds of music, so for his guests we listened to some Trisha Yearwood, Lionel Ritchie, Fleetwood Mac...easy listening. They like their music a little louder than I do, but they speak loudly so they can still hear each other over it!
I have posted before about how when people here are speaking they can get rather loud. If you didn't know better, you would think they were mad at each other. My love told me a story of one time one of his neighbors visited with a mutual friend and after several rakija's they got pretty loud. His son-in-law (who lives in the building) came to the door concerned that they were fighting! He said they all laughed and invited him in to join them.
To me, this is just another example of the zest for life that these people have. It's like everything they do, they do with vigor. It can be overwhelming sometimes, but it is also endearing.
The guests seemed to like my music. I know they are familiar with American music. The whole world is. There are many radio stations here in Novi Sad and I can always find several playing American music, but I like the traditional music as well.
The little roasted pig was a hit. They eat everything here. Nothing is wasted. The pig's tail, ears, etc. were all consumed. The meat was very good, roasted perfectly.
The one major disappointment was my camera. It has been acting up lately and did not cooperate for me to take pictures. I think I had some bad batteries, because it is working now that I have replaced them.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Srećan Rođendan! (Happy Birthday!)
This is a busy weekend for us.
Tonight we celebrate my love's birthday. We have invited friends over to our apartment and we have a half of a roasted pig cooking at the corner pekara to eat with them.
Must run now and go buy mineral water and pivo which we will serve in addition to beli vino.
Tomorrow we go to Čelarevo to visit family and celebrate the 15th anniversary of my love's brother and his girlfriend. This will be another big party with lots of food and laughter.
I will have pictures of these events and tell about how they celebrate birthdays (birzdays..haha) in my next post.
Tonight we celebrate my love's birthday. We have invited friends over to our apartment and we have a half of a roasted pig cooking at the corner pekara to eat with them.
Must run now and go buy mineral water and pivo which we will serve in addition to beli vino.
Tomorrow we go to Čelarevo to visit family and celebrate the 15th anniversary of my love's brother and his girlfriend. This will be another big party with lots of food and laughter.
I will have pictures of these events and tell about how they celebrate birthdays (birzdays..haha) in my next post.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
The Cows Come Home to Novi Sad
Last year in the town center, Novi Sad had an exhibition of painted horses. They were very beautiful. This year, the town is featuring painted cows. The cows are all the same, but the painting is done by different artists. The people here seem to love them as much as I do. People have their pictures made near them and children seem drawn to them.
I have uploaded pictures of them to my Flickr account. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/novisadnewbie/
You can also see pictures of some of last year's horses there.
As I walked through the town the other day, the weather was comfortable and people were out, sitting in the little cafes spread throughout the center of town. My love says that many people are on vacation at this time of the year and if they cannot go to the sea (Greece, Montenegro or Macedonia) they will enjoy the cafes of Novi Sad.
We stopped and had an icy cold beer at JOE'S, which is close to where my love works.
Živali!
I have uploaded pictures of them to my Flickr account. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/novisadnewbie/
You can also see pictures of some of last year's horses there.
As I walked through the town the other day, the weather was comfortable and people were out, sitting in the little cafes spread throughout the center of town. My love says that many people are on vacation at this time of the year and if they cannot go to the sea (Greece, Montenegro or Macedonia) they will enjoy the cafes of Novi Sad.
We stopped and had an icy cold beer at JOE'S, which is close to where my love works.
Živali!
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