(Quick Disclaimer: The following few entries are from my analog edition of the blog whilst I was in Sarajevo, Bosnia from June 24th to July 27th. Read and enjoy.)
June 23rd with a psychotic blur into the 24th with no sense of solar orientation plays ping-pong with cognitive orientation. One o'clock in the morning Pacific Standard Time is the time that marks the beginning of the odyssey that marks the tenth team to be sent to Sarajevo as part of the Bosnia Global Projects. Our entire group consists of two teams, 12 people in total. 8 in Sarajevo and 4 in Banja Luka, which is located 5 hours, driving time, to the North in the Republic of Srpska which is predominantly Serb/Orthodox Christian. We arrive at LAX just before 5 o'clock in the morning to collect our boarding passes, which, we found out later was due to to inexperience, were listed as void in the 1s and 0s database of the United terminal. Once everything was kosher, we ran through security which, for one team member, was a pretty fun adventure, as TSA mistook his big box of dominoes for a suspicious package. 7:55 arrives and our flight boards: LAX to Washington D.C. Dulles airport in about five hours time. After slipping in and our of consciousness for the first part of the part of the flight we landed, much to our surprising enthusiasm, to our five hour layover where a group of us cleaned out the airport's Fuddruckers, the first time I've had it in 20 years time.
After sitting for a what felt like not a very long time, we boarded Lufthansa for what turned out to be an 8 hour flight to Munich. I made the appealing decision of watching out GPS readout of plane position for a decent amount of time which was a friggin' mistake. For four hours it looked like our plane didn't leave the southern edge of Greenland. Finally after the blackout ended, the plane's windows and lights were shut off for a majority of the flight, I was able to see a break in the clouds just as we were flying over Ireland's east coast. Spectacular. Our plane touched down in Munich around 11:35 AM local time, at which time our puddle jumper to Sarajevo was boarding. What proceeded was the proverbial mad dash to the finish line. With about five minutes to spare we boarded our place bound for our final destination. The short flight produced one of the most amazing sights in the (for those keeping track at home) 14 hours of total flight time, the German Alps. One eternity later, we touched down in Sarajevo, tired, cranky, dirty, and ecstatic that we are finally here. I started playing car nerd nearly immediately, spotting and pointing out Renault, Citroen, and Opel just to name a few. Finally we arrive at our home for three weeks, a quint little church in the southern hills overlooking the city (sort of.) We meet our host, Tamara, and I grab a quick power nap.
I awaken to find that the Banja Luka team was sent off, good luck and God speed guys. Our team meets up with Deron and Laz, two American transplants who take us into the heart of the city. During our journey we come across a fountain that we all proceed to drink from. According to legend, those who drink from it are destined to return to Bosnia. We arrive in Baščaršija, which is comprised of old Ottoman architecture, and we are taken to a little restaurant called Željo, where they serve the staple equivalent (but far superior) of the hamburger, Ćevapi! It's an 8 inch piece of pocket bread, stuffed with small sausages, decet in my case, served with or without onions, and kajmak, (see Meliha, I finally remembered what the stuff is called!!!) which is basically cream cheese that's been whipped all light and fluffy. Needless to say, we all decreed that it should the be the street food of choice EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!! We then proceeded to a small cafe and partook in the social life blood of Bosnia, really really damn good coffee. Upon returning to KAIROS (the church home) just before 10 in the PM I settled down for the rest of the sleep that I had started earlier in the day. I then awoke at 10 to 4 in the morning, showered, read some book, and I've been writing these words. Today we go to University and do surveys...joy. We shall see what day three has in store for us. More to come and remember rule #32.
Final team tally: Sarajevo Banja Luka
Myself Bekah
Kevin Nicole
Luke Stephan
Sarah Eric
Martha
Emily
Sara
Greg
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