Summer heat

Summer finally remembered to visit Croatia. June was cold and rainy. But, finally, the sun came out and temperatures skyrocketed. The temp has been into the 90s for the past couple of days. No big deal, right? Just stay indoors and drink lots of water. Well, we don't have air conditioning yet so indoors has been hot! We have one portable fan per person in the house and move them along with us. We've also installed three ceiling fans which is highly unusual for Croatia. People usually don't have ceiling fans in private homes. Fans are helping us live through the heat. I am thinking that we'll just have to spend the money and get it done for next year. It just seems like such an unnecessary expense as it gets truly hot here for maybe a month out of the year. Still, during that month, I am thinking that it would be worth every penny (that would be every "lipa" here).

The unusual thing is that Croats don't really seem to like air conditioning their homes. Quite a few people that I know do have air conditioning installed in their apartments, yet they don't use it even when it is oppressively hot like it is now. Others claim that they would never, ever want to have one. Now, I can understand if they say that because it's expensive and it uses a lot of electricity. On the contrary, claims are that then it gets too cold and that the AC will make them sick. I sure could use one now to prove them just how wrong they are.

Kid Dreams

Every night at bedtime, either Chris or I talk to our kids about their day. Sometimes those conversations go off in different directions where we discuss anything from math, to current events, to weather or whatever else might come up. Tonight we made shadow puppets while we talked. Then the conversation drifted off in a different direction. The other day Ivor had a nightmare about all of us getting eaten by a crocodile so I asked them today about their dreams. Mia's answer surprised me. I expected to hear about ponies and butterflies. Mia told me that she had dreamt about going to school naked and that other kids laughed at her. Being naked in public is a classic anxiety dream and I bet just about everyone has had it at some point. I just didn't know that five-year-olds had those as well. I was genuinely surprised. So even in her little five-year-old world there was enough anxiety to cause a dream like that.

Ivor chimed in and said that he had a dream like that too except he at least had his underwear on and that he wasn't really stressed out about it. Apparently, in his dream, it just got him in trouble with the teacher. I am thinking that we'll talk about dreams more often now.

Economic Crisis

What happened in the US some 12 months ago appears to be at our door as we speak. Even though the economic situation in Croatia has always been hard (I can remember late 70s raging inflation when I was just a little kid), it's been getting worse each year at an increasingly faster pace since the war. Well, it's getting ready to hit rock bottom it seems. Pay cuts have been announced for the second time this year. This time retirement checks will not be spared either. Retirement checks roughly amount to $250 to $600 per month. A few days ago it was announced that school books will no longer be provided free of charge. It's just weeks from school year starting back up and parents are starting to break into cold sweat over expensive books. Only unemployment and prices are predicted to keep going up in the foreseeable future. Gas is still at some $5.6 per gallon.

So long Mr. President

While we were out of the country on our 8-day vacation with no access to local news and print, Croatian Prime Minister quit his job (without an explanation) and Croatia was left without a government. As if the political and economic situation isn't already messy enough. Now they are predicting another cut in government jobs paychecks (including already severely underpaid teachers and similar professions) and another cut in retirement pensions (which are already too low to live off of). Before the war things weren't good. Then the war came along and it's been getting progressively worse every year since. Nice doing Croatian leadership. Shame on you.

Sad to say but I am inclined to agree with this Washington Times article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/04/croatias-leader-resigns/.