All right, a lot of information and things happened today.
First of all I woke up continuously between five and eight this morning and around seven I heard someone open our door, enter, and then close it. I fully woke up along with my roommate several minutes later.
'Did someone just come into our room?" I asked her. She looked confused as well.
"Yeah, I think so. It might have been the cleaning lady." Either way it was weird to have our door open and close when we both had our keys and still slept.
After looking around for the breakfast area for a good eight minutes the Professor directed be to the back of the hotel where the food was served. It was nice to have so many variety of fruit, meat and bread for breakfast. The peaches were delicious, they slithered right down my throat. Maybe I just missed fruit, either way they were some good peaches.
By 10:00 everyone was on the bus and ready to go. Rob was late, but he finally came. Our guide, who's name I can not remember, was an elderly old lady who had very high opinions and claimed not to be a feminist when she made some very feminist comments. It didn't bother me, I saw her as a very strong women who lived through a war and knew her history. Throughout the tour she frequently told us about times when Italians or French people would come and she would give a tour of the city, they would make various comments.
Yeah.
On the bus tour she showed us the wonders and disasters of the city when the war started in 1991. There were patched bullet holes on most of the buildings and alot of the main buildings were still being repaired. Some of them were already fixed, one building the guide told us had belly dancers during the war and when the building was hit they were injured, forcing them to retire. the enemy, the Yugoslav Army, were initially aiming towards the children's hospital. Those were one of the things that she couldn't forgive about the war.
We continued to drive around and went to one of the biggest cemmentary in Europe. She told us there were still quarrels about that among the French and other people say. The cemmentary was huge, an example of the ethnically diverse community that lived in harmony before the war. Christians were on one part, Muslims had their part, and even Jews had a section. But all were buried in the cememntary. However, you had to pay yearly to have your dead ones there, or they would be exumned from the graves and placed in a different place to make room.
Alot of the group gasped when they heard that and I was shocked as well based on my knowledge of never disturb the dead. These things happen, and I found it sad that only in death could these religions ever get along. In real life they waged war against each other, and even though Zagreb was ethically diverse they still had their underlying troubles. She showed us the place where a major politician was buried and told the story of how people complained that it was too big.
The group then went for lunch and stopped at the church I saw the other day with Catey and Mei. I got a Kabab, which is an open sandwich with sliced meat and other burger pieces. The day before the square was empty, but as we walked in there were people with their stalls celling fruit and trinkets. The open market was lovely. We then headed towards a statue that had St. George for the war, with the dragon already dead to show that they were thankful to have their enemies defeated and done. We then headed to the church where it caught fire. I stood looking at this arch way made in 1269 or so and noticed that they had a spike ball on tha top. That spiked ball happened to be a weapon, in which was tied to a string and swung around. Apparently the fire burnt everything in the church except for a picture of the Virgin Mary and her son. They had it out in the open and I was amazed by it and couldn't help but think how my father would love to be here. On the side there was an old lady that had a metal bin filled with lit candles.
A funny thing she told us when we reached an overlook view of the city after passing an old church and school, was that on the left side of the main church, on the top, a person committed suicide by climbing all the way to the tipy top and jumping. I was amazed, because how did he get up there? There had to be a secret passage way and I now wanted ot go inside the church and look for it.
And then we went down the stairs and she showed the statue of a famous poet who wanted the entire city, or half of it, against him. I took a funny picture, which got laughs from people in the building next to it.
She then showed a tower where at exactly twelve every day the small canon went off. It was a good thing she told us or else all the people would have been freaking out. It was initially to tell the towns people to come in at a certain time between nine and ten at night to keep them safe from robbers and the like. Here's a video.
After the main square and chasing pigeons, we headed back to the bus where she bid us farewell and we went off. There is alot of graffiti in the town and as the bus went towards the outskirts of the main heart of the city the graffiti amplified. Here are a few a examples, but there were plenty more. It reminded me of the ghetto in America. The bus ride was long, reaching Osijek in three or four hours. Catey being the smart one followed the teachers, saying they had the best accommodations for them. Which was true, because our hostel was much nicer than the Bar Hostel that the other half of the people stayed in. That's right, there was a bar beneath them, lockers for their important things, the locks on the doors didn't work- the complete sketchiness of sketchers.
After getting in we headed to the restaurant, where we ate a good meal of meat soup and fish soup. I ate alot, having a good time with my friends. Of course this was after we had a presentation of the Nanson Dialogue Center, where they worked to fill in the gap between the ethnically divided groups. I learned about Rob that night, well more about his family because he sitting there all quiet. And then I learned that his family hardly talked ever over dinner. Only about sports. Me, coming from a very open and I have to be blunt, sort of violent family, I was very surprised. I seem to be surprised alot during these days. But here he was, saying he never really talks over dinner. My family on the other hand, and I told him this, talk with and about each other. He laughed, and said that he would most defiantly talk with his kids when he has a family. That made me smile, and then it made me remind myself about how a child can sometimes act like their parents subconsciously. I seem to be reminded about a lot of things on this trip as well.
Back in the room Mei was telling us some creepy things. Like how she would like to take a picture pf the both of us sleeping together if we were hot guys. Catey and I both laughed nervously, and glanced at each other.
"That's...highly disturbing," I said to her and Catey agreed.
"Yeah, I feel slightly uncomfortable now," she said. Mei just laughed and I ran into the bathroom for safety.
And that's how my day ended.
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