Yes, it was the real thing but not what you'd expect. We've, however, not experienced it but heard about it on the news. It was not close to where we live. Apparently an American WWII airplane bomb was found at a construction site about 7 meters underground. Since it was unstable, they had to deactivate it on-site so the entire block was evacuated as a precaution. To make things more interesting, this was the 4th WWII bomb found at the same construction site. I sure would hate to be a construction worker there.
One would think that WWII was such a long time ago and long forgotten ago but every few years new findings are still made.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
American Citizens Information Night
I periodically visit Croatian US Embassy web site and today I've learned that they're organizing the first ever American Citizens Information Night in February. Naturally, we're going and look forward to it. The flyer mentions that "American" snacks and drinks will be served and I can't wait to see what's on the menu. :) Will they have imported Mountain Dew especially for us? One can only hope... Or maybe they will have found some good sharp cheddar cheese that I can't seem to find anywhere. Or perhaps there will be pop-tarts. I'll keep you posted. No pictures though. We'll have gone through a very, very thorough security screening so there won't be any cameras, cell phones...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Shop, play, and learn English (or Greek, or Latin...)
Zagreb has enjoyed a shopping center boom during the past 2-3 years. Names of all of the places are in English so should you come to visit, it really won't be a stretch for you to remember whether you've visited King Cross, Avenue Mall or City Center One (implying that City Center Two will come to existence at some point). I really can't say that I understand or agree with the English labels. English is not the native language here so why push it? Say my mom goes shopping to a mall... She doesn't really know how to spell the name of the place because it is not Croatian. Then at the store, it'll say "sale" in English, German or Italian. Since she doesn't speak those languages, she might as well just walk by and not bother spending her money at that store because clearly Croatian customers aren't targeted to begin with. I suppose good old Croatian apparently isn't good enough or fancy enough to advertise a sale. My job is marketing and in my opinion, this is not good marketing.
I am also curious as to who approved those names. I've been looking into potentially starting up a little business. Do you know where I've been stuck for three months? Company name. I know, you'd think it would be easy, but Croatian law seems to exist to complicate things and contradict itself. Let's see..., potential business names must be submitted and are then reviewed by a judge who then approves (or in my case not) a name. So I thought, OK, makes sense, they want to make sure nobody uses a vulgar or otherwise inappropriate name. Well, here is a little discussion on the rules... The company name can be a Croatian word but can't use Croatia in it. That is reserved for special folks and I am not a part of the club. Denied! OK, I'll forgive them that one even though there are millions of combinations of web site names with word Croatia in it. In a country with 4.5 million people we're not likely to run out of good names soon. The word has to be in Croatian, Latin or Greek. Hmmmm... I need to have a name that'll work for English speaking customers. I don't think any of them speak Latin or Greek. I see a potential problem there. So I come up with a really good one with a Latin word and a number. Denied! Can't use a number unless it's spelled out. Why is it OK spelled out but not OK when it's a number? See the problem here? It's called micromanagement. I am wasting their time and they are wasting mine. Nobody wins, no revenue, no new jobs created. Once I finally figure out a name I have to get a business license and do all the paperwork so I can go waste a day waiting in line to ask them if I could please, please have that web site domain name because someone was kind enough to finally approve a suitable company name. I'd rather sit at my computer at 2 in the morning and go online to purchase a domain name but that's not possible for .hr domains. I came up with another one but I am afraid to send it to them because they will likely deny it again. I am not bitter! I'll let you know how it goes.
Let's get back to more fun topics. Like shopping! :) There is one, well two, extremely good things about those new shopping centers that are popping up. Each one has one or more playrooms as a part of the facility and yes, believe it or not, it's free, supervised and in a confined area so you can just drop the kids off and do a little shopping and come pick them up in 1-2 hours. Not bad! Sure, usually those are in conjunction with a toy store (but not always) and kids have talents when it comes to talking you into parting with your money to buy necessities like all important stickers, toys and candy. But it's fun and useful and we like to go visit different playrooms. Especially now that it is chilly outside. We approve of their variety and equipment which ranges from slides and climbing gear to one recently discovered place that actually has dress up toys, and legos and such. Actually, the plan is to head there Saturday for some fun.
Second nice thing about malls is a grocery store. Each mall has a large grocery store (think Bruno's times three or more) as one of it's anchor stores. So kids go to play and I go get groceries. Everyone wins. Good thing. Today we did just that at King Cross after getting the kids from daycare. Strangely the pavement was fenced off right by the entrance. I thought that maybe they were fixing something. Then I realized that they turned it into an ice skating rink for customers and it's... yes, free! Ice skates included. How cool is that! We'll try to make it there this weekend or next weekend. Hopefully it'll still be there. If not then we'll just have to settle for a moonwalk inside.
I've heard that a new, biggest yet, shopping center will be built right in our neighborhood. Don't know it's name yet but I bet it'll be in English. I am thinking that it'll be some two miles away. Perhaps less. I am not that good at guessing distances. I don't know why we need more shopping centers as it seems to me that there certainly are plenty around. But, I like the idea that it will be supremely close and convenient so bring it on! We're in a dead end street so traffic won't change but the convenience factor will go way up. Hooray for city living! Maybe, if I manage to supress my American "love-my-car" instincts, I'll even dare to sit on a bike to get there. I give it 5-10% chance. What do you think?
I am also curious as to who approved those names. I've been looking into potentially starting up a little business. Do you know where I've been stuck for three months? Company name. I know, you'd think it would be easy, but Croatian law seems to exist to complicate things and contradict itself. Let's see..., potential business names must be submitted and are then reviewed by a judge who then approves (or in my case not) a name. So I thought, OK, makes sense, they want to make sure nobody uses a vulgar or otherwise inappropriate name. Well, here is a little discussion on the rules... The company name can be a Croatian word but can't use Croatia in it. That is reserved for special folks and I am not a part of the club. Denied! OK, I'll forgive them that one even though there are millions of combinations of web site names with word Croatia in it. In a country with 4.5 million people we're not likely to run out of good names soon. The word has to be in Croatian, Latin or Greek. Hmmmm... I need to have a name that'll work for English speaking customers. I don't think any of them speak Latin or Greek. I see a potential problem there. So I come up with a really good one with a Latin word and a number. Denied! Can't use a number unless it's spelled out. Why is it OK spelled out but not OK when it's a number? See the problem here? It's called micromanagement. I am wasting their time and they are wasting mine. Nobody wins, no revenue, no new jobs created. Once I finally figure out a name I have to get a business license and do all the paperwork so I can go waste a day waiting in line to ask them if I could please, please have that web site domain name because someone was kind enough to finally approve a suitable company name. I'd rather sit at my computer at 2 in the morning and go online to purchase a domain name but that's not possible for .hr domains. I came up with another one but I am afraid to send it to them because they will likely deny it again. I am not bitter! I'll let you know how it goes.
Let's get back to more fun topics. Like shopping! :) There is one, well two, extremely good things about those new shopping centers that are popping up. Each one has one or more playrooms as a part of the facility and yes, believe it or not, it's free, supervised and in a confined area so you can just drop the kids off and do a little shopping and come pick them up in 1-2 hours. Not bad! Sure, usually those are in conjunction with a toy store (but not always) and kids have talents when it comes to talking you into parting with your money to buy necessities like all important stickers, toys and candy. But it's fun and useful and we like to go visit different playrooms. Especially now that it is chilly outside. We approve of their variety and equipment which ranges from slides and climbing gear to one recently discovered place that actually has dress up toys, and legos and such. Actually, the plan is to head there Saturday for some fun.
Second nice thing about malls is a grocery store. Each mall has a large grocery store (think Bruno's times three or more) as one of it's anchor stores. So kids go to play and I go get groceries. Everyone wins. Good thing. Today we did just that at King Cross after getting the kids from daycare. Strangely the pavement was fenced off right by the entrance. I thought that maybe they were fixing something. Then I realized that they turned it into an ice skating rink for customers and it's... yes, free! Ice skates included. How cool is that! We'll try to make it there this weekend or next weekend. Hopefully it'll still be there. If not then we'll just have to settle for a moonwalk inside.
I've heard that a new, biggest yet, shopping center will be built right in our neighborhood. Don't know it's name yet but I bet it'll be in English. I am thinking that it'll be some two miles away. Perhaps less. I am not that good at guessing distances. I don't know why we need more shopping centers as it seems to me that there certainly are plenty around. But, I like the idea that it will be supremely close and convenient so bring it on! We're in a dead end street so traffic won't change but the convenience factor will go way up. Hooray for city living! Maybe, if I manage to supress my American "love-my-car" instincts, I'll even dare to sit on a bike to get there. I give it 5-10% chance. What do you think?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The death of a snowman
With a heavy heart I would like to announce that Snowy (as kids have named him) has perished yesterday, a victim of January sunshine and sudden rise of temperatures. First his carrot nose fell of, then the pebble eyes fell to the ground, and then his left "arm". We knew the end was near when we came home to find his head had rolled away. Mere shadow of a snowman, it was just a matter of hours before he ceased to exist. On a brighter side though, I heard that special snowmen like this one, tend to come back if there are willing kids around to help remake him. I got a couple of those snow-loving kids and they keep persistently bugging me and asking if it will snow again. Judging by current temperatures, it certainly doesn't seem likely. However, that too could suddenly change. Stay tuned...
Blast from the past
2007 was a year to revisit some past events that I truly haven't thought of in many, many years. It seems that 2008 will most definitely continue that trend. I just got a note from a college friend, then an international student from Germany, that I haven't seen in some 16-17 years. Just saying that makes me feel old. It's nice to reconnect though and to know that people remember me. I honestly didn't think that so many people would. Just like all college students I felt invisible at times. A few weeks ago I got a note from a computer science club buddy. It was nice to see happy family pictures on his blog. All of us from high school and college got scattered, literally, all over the world yet I am still in touch with so many. Hooray for Internet and e-mail!
Last year I had my 15th high school reunion and that felt strange. It was a wonderful opportunity to renew relationships and to see what became of all of us "kids". Now we all look older and most of us are married with kids but I've noticed that everyone's behaviors and personalities stayed exactly the same as I remember even though years have passed.
Last week I got a note from a local journalist here (see her previous blog comment entry) and we exchanged a couple of e-mails. That e-mail exchange got me thinking about the past and I pulled out some old pictures. I even found the all important letter I wrote to my parents in December of 1991. That was an interesting read. In it I told them that I decide to stay in the US on my own and hoped to get their blessing. Now I know where my Mia gets her stubborn streak. :)
Last year I had my 15th high school reunion and that felt strange. It was a wonderful opportunity to renew relationships and to see what became of all of us "kids". Now we all look older and most of us are married with kids but I've noticed that everyone's behaviors and personalities stayed exactly the same as I remember even though years have passed.
Last week I got a note from a local journalist here (see her previous blog comment entry) and we exchanged a couple of e-mails. That e-mail exchange got me thinking about the past and I pulled out some old pictures. I even found the all important letter I wrote to my parents in December of 1991. That was an interesting read. In it I told them that I decide to stay in the US on my own and hoped to get their blessing. Now I know where my Mia gets her stubborn streak. :)
Monday, January 07, 2008
Thanks for stopping by
May I just point out that I've been doing extremely well this year. This is my 6th post in 7 days since 2008 made its debut. I have my doubts that I'll be able to continue this winning blogging frenzy. Certainly not for the lack of having things to say (just ask Chris, I can talk his ears off in no time) but because it's hard to make time.
I've noticed that my readership has increased to more than just close friends and family. It's a flattering thought and I appreciate all of you visiting our family blog.
I've noticed that my readership has increased to more than just close friends and family. It's a flattering thought and I appreciate all of you visiting our family blog.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Budding artists
Our corner bathtub is situated under a sharply slanted ceiling so it is actually possible to touch the ceiling drywall. Today I discovered scribbles in one place and couldn't help but smile. Offending party seems to have used one of bathtub crayons to embellish the ceiling. The ceiling must have been too white or too irresistibly close, or perhaps both. Both kids were appropriately reprimanded (but not punished) as neither would accept responsibility. I can't exactly encourage them to do this but in actuality I didn't mind so much. The place has a lot more personality now. This adds to the decor of dirt stained wall around the light switch in the small bathroom. That's how they mark their territory. :)
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Croatian wedding
December 15th, 2007. Part three of my holiday blogging catch-up...
On the 15th of last month (last year even), we attended a wedding for one of my friends. Chris finally got to experience a full blown Croatian wedding. I asked him to write me a blog entry about it but he's yet to come through about that. Perhaps he'll change his mind about it in the future (yeah, right!). In the meantime, here is a little write up on the events of the evening.
Bachelorette party was one week prior to the wedding. Since the bride to be was about four months pregnant at the time, I didn't expect anything too wild and indeed that was the case. About 15 women gathered at the bride's house for the evening full of talking, food, drinks (not soda if you know what I mean) and music. It was nice but I must admit that I found a few things surprising. The first one was that just about every single woman there was a smoker. The second that just about every single woman there smoked in the presence and in the home of a pregnant woman (who quit smoking when pregnancy came about). And third that the pregnant woman didn't just tell them to take it outside. I certainly wouldn't have thought twice about it. I came home smelling like an ashtray. Lovely...
The wedding was in the afternoon the following Saturday. We got babysitters lined up, got ready and headed downtown. I wasn't completely certain about the location and navigating downtown Zagreb isn't necessarily the easiest of tasks. It started snowing earlier that day so the streets were slick and wet. We managed to find a parking garage in the nick of time. I decided to put on my snow shoes which made a nice ensemble with my coat and formal dress but I didn't care so much. It was really cold, we were running late and outside streets were full of ice. High heels wouldn't have cut it. We ran out into the street and found the church two minutes past the scheduled wedding time. I saw the bride bundled up at the church door so I figured that we've made it as she hasn't even entered the church. Then she looked up and I stopped... It wasn't the right bride. Quickly I thought back to our driving path and whether I've seen any other churches along the way but I knew of no other ones that fit the description that I received along with directions. That area is full of centuries old beautiful old churches though. I can think of 5 right of the bat within a half a square mile including the cathedral. I thought that we should look inside nevertheless. It turned out that the wedding has already started so we simply caught a seat in one of the available pews. The bride at the door was probably there for a wedding following the one we were attending.
After the ceremony the newlyweds didn't just walk down the aisle to leave the church as I had expected. They stayed at the altar while everyone congratulated them. From the church we headed to reception. Since we weren't in a rush anymore and I knew where we were, I suggested a different route to the parking garage. We took a scenic evening walk through an old picturesque part of town while it was snowing. It was very romantic. I found a picture of the street but without snow. You can imagine that part.
The reception started at 7:00pm with newlyweds' arrival. The announcements were made and then the food started arriving. We started with individual assorted appetizer plates. After that there was a break and the band played music. Newlyweds danced their first dance. Then soup was served. Then we had a break and some more dancing and music. Then the main course was served buffet style (we were already quite full by this part as sweets were also on the tables the entire time). After that, there was dancing and music. Several toasts were made in the meantime. Then the cake was cut and served. You guessed it, after than more dancing and music. Then long speeches came -- maid of honor and best man had to do say a few words. During the whole time drinks were served including an open bar with quite an array of available choices. It was 2:00am already. Then it was time to give gifts to the couple. We lined up and congratulated again and gave our gift to the couple (most often a card with cash, rather than purchased gifts). Then we split for the night.
I am certain that the party continued until the early morning hours and at least one more meal was served. We didn't even make it until the bouquet toss. All of that would make one Croatian style wedding. We were stuffed, danced out and tired and were glad to get home to try and recover. I can't imagine how tired the bride would have been considering that she's with child. Yes, everyone smoked away so I came home smelling like an ashtray — again.
On the 15th of last month (last year even), we attended a wedding for one of my friends. Chris finally got to experience a full blown Croatian wedding. I asked him to write me a blog entry about it but he's yet to come through about that. Perhaps he'll change his mind about it in the future (yeah, right!). In the meantime, here is a little write up on the events of the evening.
Bachelorette party was one week prior to the wedding. Since the bride to be was about four months pregnant at the time, I didn't expect anything too wild and indeed that was the case. About 15 women gathered at the bride's house for the evening full of talking, food, drinks (not soda if you know what I mean) and music. It was nice but I must admit that I found a few things surprising. The first one was that just about every single woman there was a smoker. The second that just about every single woman there smoked in the presence and in the home of a pregnant woman (who quit smoking when pregnancy came about). And third that the pregnant woman didn't just tell them to take it outside. I certainly wouldn't have thought twice about it. I came home smelling like an ashtray. Lovely...
The wedding was in the afternoon the following Saturday. We got babysitters lined up, got ready and headed downtown. I wasn't completely certain about the location and navigating downtown Zagreb isn't necessarily the easiest of tasks. It started snowing earlier that day so the streets were slick and wet. We managed to find a parking garage in the nick of time. I decided to put on my snow shoes which made a nice ensemble with my coat and formal dress but I didn't care so much. It was really cold, we were running late and outside streets were full of ice. High heels wouldn't have cut it. We ran out into the street and found the church two minutes past the scheduled wedding time. I saw the bride bundled up at the church door so I figured that we've made it as she hasn't even entered the church. Then she looked up and I stopped... It wasn't the right bride. Quickly I thought back to our driving path and whether I've seen any other churches along the way but I knew of no other ones that fit the description that I received along with directions. That area is full of centuries old beautiful old churches though. I can think of 5 right of the bat within a half a square mile including the cathedral. I thought that we should look inside nevertheless. It turned out that the wedding has already started so we simply caught a seat in one of the available pews. The bride at the door was probably there for a wedding following the one we were attending.
After the ceremony the newlyweds didn't just walk down the aisle to leave the church as I had expected. They stayed at the altar while everyone congratulated them. From the church we headed to reception. Since we weren't in a rush anymore and I knew where we were, I suggested a different route to the parking garage. We took a scenic evening walk through an old picturesque part of town while it was snowing. It was very romantic. I found a picture of the street but without snow. You can imagine that part.The reception started at 7:00pm with newlyweds' arrival. The announcements were made and then the food started arriving. We started with individual assorted appetizer plates. After that there was a break and the band played music. Newlyweds danced their first dance. Then soup was served. Then we had a break and some more dancing and music. Then the main course was served buffet style (we were already quite full by this part as sweets were also on the tables the entire time). After that, there was dancing and music. Several toasts were made in the meantime. Then the cake was cut and served. You guessed it, after than more dancing and music. Then long speeches came -- maid of honor and best man had to do say a few words. During the whole time drinks were served including an open bar with quite an array of available choices. It was 2:00am already. Then it was time to give gifts to the couple. We lined up and congratulated again and gave our gift to the couple (most often a card with cash, rather than purchased gifts). Then we split for the night.
I am certain that the party continued until the early morning hours and at least one more meal was served. We didn't even make it until the bouquet toss. All of that would make one Croatian style wedding. We were stuffed, danced out and tired and were glad to get home to try and recover. I can't imagine how tired the bride would have been considering that she's with child. Yes, everyone smoked away so I came home smelling like an ashtray — again.
Christmas train
December 22nd, 2007. Part two of my holiday blogging catch-up...
Right before Christmas we took the kids for a ride on the Christmas train where they got to meet Santa, listen to holiday songs, got candy and got to ride on a real train. Ivor's Canadian friend Daniel and his parents joined us. Kids loved the experience because of Santa, candy and an hour long train ride. We loved it because it was a low hassle parenting experience -- we stayed warm, didn't have to walk far nor carry heavy children, didn't have to worry about kids running off somewhere, getting in trouble, getting kidnapped or hurt. It was a win-win situation for all involved. Even Santa as he got paid to be there and McDonald's for sponsoring the event. As if we don't go there enough already. :)
Christmas morning
December 25th, 2007. Part one of my holiday blogging catch-up...
Christmas morning the kids got up at their regular time of 7:00am. I suppose they are still too little to try for the 5:00am wake up or maybe they know that we wouldn't reward that type of behavior with early present opening. 
Mia went straight for the stocking and started opening stuff up so she was immediately in trouble with Chris. They had to wait for me to show up, then for me to take a few pictures... I think they were starting to get annoyed. 
Finally we let them get to the gifts. Mia wanted a wrist watch so bad and was delighted to see that Santa got the message. She has no idea what time it shows but she's been wearing it since she got it. She even sleeps in it. At least I know that she liked the present.
Ivor got Yu-Gi-Oh cards that he wanted, and of course, a bunch of other toys. It was fun and loud and messy while it lasted. :)
Christmas morning the kids got up at their regular time of 7:00am. I suppose they are still too little to try for the 5:00am wake up or maybe they know that we wouldn't reward that type of behavior with early present opening. 
Mia went straight for the stocking and started opening stuff up so she was immediately in trouble with Chris. They had to wait for me to show up, then for me to take a few pictures... I think they were starting to get annoyed. 
Finally we let them get to the gifts. Mia wanted a wrist watch so bad and was delighted to see that Santa got the message. She has no idea what time it shows but she's been wearing it since she got it. She even sleeps in it. At least I know that she liked the present. 
Ivor got Yu-Gi-Oh cards that he wanted, and of course, a bunch of other toys. It was fun and loud and messy while it lasted. :)Down the slope
It snowed lightly yesterday and today. It was nice outside this afternoon so we went outside to play. After donning on appropriate multi-layered winter gear (it is quite chilly these days), we borrowed some sleds (we haven't bought any yet) and I took the kids for their first ever sledding experience. 
Ivor absolutely loved it. He caught on immediately, figuring out how to make the sled go faster and how to slow it down. Afterwards he announced that he'd love to learn how to ice skate as well as ski. We'll see about that. Mia declined to go down the slope. It must have looked too scary.
Ivor absolutely loved it. He caught on immediately, figuring out how to make the sled go faster and how to slow it down. Afterwards he announced that he'd love to learn how to ice skate as well as ski. We'll see about that. Mia declined to go down the slope. It must have looked too scary.
Upon our return home we took it upon us to build a first ever Phillips family snowman. He was dashing featuring two delicate branches and our kitchen pot that otherwise rarely gets any use. The look was completed with two dark pebbles and, to kids' delight, a carrot that we just happened to have handy. 
You can see our home in the background in it's "lovely" peach/gray glory. :) Entrance into the building is on the left. Two top floors are ours. You can see some of our decorative sculptures peeking through the windows.
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