Osijek to Vukovar to Sarajevo: Day 18 (2010/01/19)

Osijek to Vukovar to Sarajevo: Day 18 (2010/01/19)

In the morning Catey told me I attacked her in the middle of the night. It went something like this.

"Hey LaVana, do you remember getting up alot last night?" she asked me.

I sat on the bed, fully dressed and feed, but confused at her question. The bed was not good on my back and even though I had some sleep, it didn't charge me all the way up. "No, not really, why?"

"Because you slapped me in the head last night and said 'Its all over you! It's all over you'!" she told me very simply like she does.

I stood there horrified at my subconscious actions. "Really?! I am sooo sorry!!"

She laughed. "Meh, its okay. I mean, you only hit my head and then started to wave your hands about trying to swat whatever was on me." Mei was on the other side of the room and laughed at the explanation.

After breakfast the group headed towards the bus. Walking outside its started to snow and couldn't help but lift my head and open my mouth. I caught a few pieces, but the first group melted because of my breath. Borris then came and we rolled on out. I slept the first few hours. Then the boarder came, from Croatia into Bosnia. They checked our passports leaving the country and checked them entering. I had to wonder what the land was between the borders, if it was neutral or not. On the bus ride, we passed by houses and small towns that were heavily damaged. Then we reached Vukovar where the Yugoslav army tried to enter the country and bombed the hell out of that place.

We met the major, a very passionate man whom they called the 'White Obama' of the town. He led a hard life during the war. He was captured for being part of the military and suffered through the camps they had. His story was very passionate and I could tell he was good for his town, for his people. He wanted to bring the Serbs and Bosnians together. And the funny thing was that right across the river was Serbia. Isn't that amazing? I had to wonder the mentality of these people, who lived and separated themselves from their enemies.

Afterwards we went around the town looking at the old destruction and looking at the new construction. There was still alot of work to do, but the place looked nice. Last year they couldn't stay in the area because they didn't have a place to house them...or maybe that was Sarajevo.

For lunch we ate at a Bosnian boating club restaurant. It was nice outside and I ordered me a meat plate that had steak, chicken and lamb on it. Some people ordered fish in hopes of a better fish meal than they had last night. I tasted it, and the fish did not taste right.

On the way out of the town we saw the water tower that became the towns symbol of strength. No matter how hard the army tried to destroy the tower it never fell. Sure the people could never use it again, but the fact that it remained standing through out the war became empowering to them. The major talked about it in his speech, which he had a translator for us.

On the road most people slept. I did sleep alot, had a good amount but was ready to sleep in my own bed. We road on into the night and passed by towns that had alot of garbage in them and didn't smell to good. We stopped for a break at this shady looking mall and I didn't buy anything from it. Back on the bus I slept for two more hours before we came into Sarajevo. The city was beautiful at night and had alot of buildings patched from the war. Of course its political structure was absolutely ethnically fear ridden, but it looked nice.

The hotel we are staying at is Hecco. Its on the hill stretching the parking skill of Borris to the max. He managed it and we all cheered, and went inside. It was very modern and nice, though some of the hallways were a bit confusing for me with its style. The shower is absolutely lovely and the beds are soft, much better than the one in the last hostel we stayed in.

Miriam became my roommate again, and I was completely fine with that because we seemed to be working well together so far. I lasted about an two hours before going to sleep.

The bed was awesome!