So I'm here in the internet cafe, and I sneezed, twice. Each time, I said, "Excuse me." I've learned that you should do this, as you never know who's listening. Never assume the person next to you has different manners just because you're in a different country.
So the man next to me struck up a conversation, in part because he lived in Australia for awhile, and knew the custom, but knew it wasn't Croatian. We had quite the conversation.
All over Croatia, I had seen pictures of a man with the word "heroj" under him. This man was on the front page of the newspaper the man had. It turns out that this was the Croatian general during their war of independence. He's currently at The Hague on trial for war crimes. He signed a condolence letter for Milošević's family, thus creating a huge controversy at home. (Click the link for a quick geopolitical review.)
So we got into quite the conversation about the war. Turns out that the Serbs had cut communications links, but it was the Austrians who provided bandwith for images coming out of the internet from Croatia. The world saw what was happening, and, really, did nothing for awhile.
The economy of Croatia isdevastatedd, as all industry was destroyed. Homes were the first priority, and the industry has not really returned. From what I've seen, you can't tell there was a war here 15 years ago. The man told me that there were villages around here that are totally abandoned. The Serbs left, and Croats destroyed their homes in retaliation for killing family members.
It was afascinatingg conversation about the war. It was one that I had wanted to have, but hadn't really found someone to discuss it with. It's not popular at the information booths. And all because I minded my manners...
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You scratched the surface of a huge topic. I didn't hear about that guy signing a letter of condolence but if so it strikes me as a big step for reconciliation. These people (Serbs & Croats) have hated each other with a passion, for a long time. I'm told that showing the Croatian grb (coat of arms) to a Serbian is like dangling a red cape in front of a bull. Anyway, Nana and Deda who were safely in the US for 40+ years when that war happened, summed it up like this. "Let them kill each other." According to them, that was the only thing that would make them happy. Things are a little better now but there is still an undercurrent. When I was being tutored in the "Croatian" language (used to be "Serbo-Croatian") we were using some older materials and it was very clearly pointed out to me that certain words were Serbian words and I should not use them but rather some new Croatian word instead. They were in effect differentiating their language. Pronunciation is another issue, a lot of words are pronounced with an "e" sound in Serbian that are pronounced with an "ije" sound in Croatian. God help you if you say it the Serbian way in Cro-land.
With respect to your comment about them getting connectivity from Austria: The one thing that Croatia has not forgiven the US for, is the arms embargo I guess we levied during their war for independence. They believe that by denying them guns (as we also did to Serbia) we made it much harder for them to defend themselves after they declared their independence. Anyway, that is a long story. But, you have to realize that almost all men in the country at some points picked up whatever pistol or rifle they had, and got themselves to where-ever the fighting was at. There was a lot of house to house fighting between a bunch of guys from places like Olib who traveled to where-ever the fighting was, to stop Serbia there before they overran the whole country.
Maybe this is propaganda, maybe it is truth, but, this is the story that you hear when you talk to them about it: We denied them the weapons they needed to defend themselves.
/pbz
Hi Shanta-
I don't have anything political to add, just happy that you're coming home soon, hope you'll be stopping in Chicago. We've really enjoyed the postcards - you almost have Mahd beat in terms of exotic locations (he's been flying troops to Diego Garcia and Djbuti (sp?), Africa).
Some news on our front.....
1. Bought a house in Aurora, YIKES
2. Baby Shayeb is scheduled to arrive round about October 11th, Auntie Marcia! Apparently what they tell you in medical school is true... if you don't use reliable contraception, you're bound to get pregnant! Not drinking alcoholic beverages sucks, especially when you really enjoy drinking them!
Enjoy the remainder of your adventure!
Love, Kristen and Mahd
and all of this goes back to around the 8th century with alliances of Croatia with the Holy Roman Empire and Serbia with the Byzantine Empire. and the Great Schism of 1054 made it even worse!
We'll go back to the politics when I get more time, but for now, Congrats to Kristen and Mahd!
I will be up in the Chi area at the beginning of June. Stay tuned for more details...
One of the hostel employees was taking a great interest in CNN's coverage of Milosevic's funeral. Then he suggested that we go to Belgrade, and raved about his recent vacation there. You just got sort of a weird vibe from him about the whole thing, like he had an agenda or something. Turns out that he's Serbian. He probably just wants good press for the country.
Even though Slovenia was the one that started the collapse of Yugoslavia, there doesn't seem to be animosity towards them by any of the ethnicities. They had 10 days of war, and then a truce. Milosevic then proceeded to trounce Croatia instead.
Historically, they've always been closer aligned to Austria and Germany than everything else on the Baltic Penninsula. So that may have to do with the fact that they are now seen as outside the "former Yugoslavia" label...
It's like walking on eggshells around here.
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