You work here

By now I've started working, a bit, but everything so far has been pretty laid-back and informal. I had minimal information coming here so I pretty much just put aside the fact that I had no idea what I would be doing and hoped for the best. So, here is what I have so far. I work at the Faculty of Islamic Studies (FIN--those are the initials in Bosnian) which is loosely connected to the University of Sarajevo. I learned that it is technically related to the University but during communism, since any religion was illegal and the University was run by the state, FIN was shut down and made into a museum of sorts. But today there is a loose affiliation. (Sidenote: It is interesting that that is the information that I heard from my faculty because after talking with one of the local Fulbright scholars he said that Tito reopened FIN and that that is always the go to case-in-point example of how tolerant Tito was and how open he was to religion.)

Anyway my contact there, Mujesira, is fabulous and now that I've actually met her and spent a bit of time with her I know it's going to go just fine. My first meeting with her she made an appointment for me to meet the dean and vice dean. It was very impressive but neither of them

spoke English or really had any questions for me so it was basically just Mujesira and me speaking in English in front of them. FIN had equally little information about me and they seemed a bit nervous that I did not have a master's degree... but welcoming nevertheless.

The building itself is beautiful and it was built in 1887. It was, of course, restored since the war in the "new Moorish" architecture style. The Faculty has three departments: theological studies, religious education, and imame. I am teaching the exercise section of the English language course for first year students in each department. The students have two other sections of English class with a Bosnian professor. Each class is 45 minutes long which is just under half of the length of the classes I taught last year. So far, the students have a very wide range of language ability. Almost all of them had English classes in madressa (Islamic high school) but that doesn't seem to be any kind of a guarantee of their English language ability.

(This is the courtyard that I can see from the window of my office. On the right, just out of view is the mosque.)

My first class were the imame. An imam is (in the broadest sense) a leader of an Islamic community, so these students are in university so they can be a certified imam when they graduate. However, in class they are a group of 13 eighteen-year-old boys. Sooo the first class was pretty funny but not much got done. When I was asked how this class went, I told the truth, that they were harmless enough but definitely rowdy. The response was more or less that the students of other departments work harder so if the imam students don't want to learn, you can't force them. My next class was the theological students and the largest class of 36, thankfully, with six young women. Again, there is the same wide range of ability but on a larger scale.

(This is the courtyard that my and all of the other offices surround. Both students and staff meet here, hang out, study, have coffee, etc.)

When I'm not teaching, I try to still come in to FIN becaaauuuse I have an office! I had no idea that I would have one and it's really nice with 3 chairs, computer (with internet), and a printer.

So I come in and work on my research, mostly reading, and hang out a bit and try to talk to a few people a day just so that I'm there. So far, it's a great set up--what's not to like about teaching just over 2 hours a week and reading the rest of the time? As the rest of the school gets settled in I may also teach a conversational class to some of the teaching assistants. Outside of the University, I might also teach a conversational class for judges. We shall see.

(Get excited for "Let's go pick up apples", "Meeting with my boss", and "The few, the proud, the...")

History Quiz!

Question: Where did World War I start?

Answer: Outside my window!!! Other acceptable answers were the Latin Bridge or Sarajevo.

(I tried to take a picture of myself with the view in the background but over the course of 2 different days I couldn't get the right lighting or angle that I was happy with, so you'll just have to settle for this.)

So, yes, I am quite happy with my apartment but I think the best feature may be its location. I've said before that I would rather have a tiny apartment in the area I want to live than a huge apartment way far away. This apartment is right on the river and in the center of town right near the old town neighborhood Baščaršija (bah-shar-shee-yah). I can walk to everything that I need, including where I work which is about a 15 minute walk if I meander there. I've been loving walking everywhere here but I will be getting a tram pass soon (details on that are for another post) which I think will be handy come winter.

But back to the apartment. It's above a clothing shop and there are a total of 8 apartments in the building. You walk in to a small entryway and then in front of you to the left a bit is the bathroom with my washing machine. In front of you to the right a bit is my little galley kitchen. Turn right and you have my bedroom with little reading lamps in the wall and my closet with full length mirrors. If you turn right from the entryway then you are in the big living room. It has a "pit" L shaped sofa (I don't think it could be called a sectional because the pieces don't move) which pulls out to be a big bed also. There are some cabinets on the wall and a small flat screen TV. I also have a little coffee table with the couch and floor lamp. Then there is a larger table with four chairs that is now against the wall with the three windows that face the river. The windows can open from the top or from the side to get fresh air and I have the same set up of three windows all the way across the apartment in my bedroom.

(As of now the pictures I have are of it looking barren, I will take and put up ones of it with my decorations tomorrow!)

So, yeah, that's about it for the apartment but like I said, I really like it so far and have been on a number of grocery runs to get myself set up there. It's been recently renovated so everything feels like new to me. As I said, the couch pulls out to a biiig bed and also since it's right in the center it's right around the corner from Hotel Europe, the nicest hotel in the city... so really, no excuse not to visit!

It's almost like I live here

Today has been a landmark day. I got my security briefing at the embassy, got my embassy badge, successfully used an ATM, figured out how to put more minutes on my phone, paid for my hostel, got my white card (the first step for a residency permit here), started signing on an apartment, moved in, unpacked, got (partially) organized, went grocery shopping at three different stores, and lastly had a celebratory gelato for dinner.

Not to worry I will post more details about these happenings later, including pictures of the apartment but as of right now, I'm pretty tired. Snippets to look forward to include: "You work here?", "History quiz!", and maybe one on the security briefing too.

Election day

First off, on one front the votes are in. That is regarding this blog as several of you older readers have asked for a background change... democracy wins. But much more importantly it is actually election day here in Bosnia. In talking to only a few people here (some American, some Bosnian) a lot of the same issues came up that come up in a lot of democratic elections: voter apathy- especially among youth, corrupt politicians, bad economy getting worse- the need for job development, in some ways, the usual. Of course in many other ways not the usual at all. As one of the articles below points out there are 8,000 candidates for 4 million people which is one of many factors that leads to voters being overwhelmed, confused, or apathetic. But I feel that I'm getting ahead of myself because I am still rather ill-informed about the details of all the political parties and the implications of the potential outcomes of this election. So, I suggest that you read some of the articles I have below if you want or Google yourself up some more.

an article from the NY Times

transcript from PBS

an article from BBC

an article from The Economist

I do have some pictures and snippets to share of some of my experiences with the election so far. I mentioned corrupt politicians

before and also how the elections were in many ways not usual, which brings us back to my first day here. One of the Fulbright scholars here pointed out this poster on the street, talking about how he was involved with his trial for war crimes at the ICTY. Welcome to politics in the Balkans.

He was acquitted of the charges, but still.

Next up is a rally that I stumbled upon for the SBB party or "The Alliance for a Better Future".

I heard cheering and someone on a microphone so I walked over. It was of course all in Bosnian so I had no idea what they were saying but it was interesting because all of the people who I was standing with were more just kind of staring. It was only the people up at the very front who were cheering. I'm not sure if the people in the back didn't care or specifically didn't support that party but the people up front were pretty pumped to be there.

Last night, I was (again) wandering through old town when I found that they (some organization?) was showing a movie in one of the open square areas. They had a fancy screen and folding chairs set up. It was mostly kids and families who were watching so I was pretty excited to see what movie it was. I tried to look as I turned the corner and I saw it was a cartoon with a panoramic view of an old city built in the desert--Aladdin, right? No, it was the story of the history of Muhammad (then I realized it was set up in front of a mosque. Still it was in English and I wanted to learn so I sat on down. A fair amount of people would stop and sit watch a bit and leave or stand in the back and watch. It was really nice and clearly all the kids were super psyched because it's a cartoon outside! I actually watched for a long time, it was a really good movie. There was some commotion of people yelling and cheering coming down a side street. As I looked I could see all the red banners of the SDP party. I was very curious to see what would happen next.

I'm not sure why I think this but I think what did happen would never happen in America. The parade came on down and the leaders up front shushed everyone, and they all quieted down, stopped blowing their whistles and quietly paraded on through. I thought that was incredibly respectful of a political party on the eve of the election. So, like I said before, maybe not so usual.

If you look close you can even the guy on the left shushing the crowd.

Cavities and heart palpatations

Before I left, people asked me what Bosnian food was like. I said that from what I knew there is a lot of meat in most things. The other thing I knew about Bosnian cuisine was the importance of "coffee culture". Traditional Bosnian coffee looks like Turkish coffee served on copper trays with small porcelain cups inside of copper holders and poured from a tiny copper pitcher. Traditional coffee is served with sugar cubes. There are also the options of coffee (espresso), cappuccino, or coffee-with-milk (big or small) as seen in other parts of Europe. All of which is usually served with two sugar packets.

Coffee culture means that when you go for coffee with someone you stay and talk for one or two hours, coffee is an event. To this extent, I have learned quickly that what I think of as a cafe is not the same thing here. A cafe may only serve coffee and does not have any food. So, in my first few days I would wander into a cafe looking for lunch and find coffee. This was fine because I had my stash of American granola bars (thank you Mummy) until I realized that my diet consisted of coffee, sugar, and granola bars. Now, while you don't have to add the sugar, I am not an avid coffee drinker. Sure, I love me some Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee, I do claim to be from the Boston area after all, that being said, I'm no coffee connoisseur. It tastes very strong to me and well, just better with some sugar. Until I find myself walking around again and notice my heart beating in my ears and my teeth feel all mossy in my mouth. Yeah, time for less of that.

So, I've gone out in search for traditional Bosnian cevapi (chuh-vah-pee) which is small grilled rolls of minced meat served with diced onions and half a grilled pita. I found a place in the old town and walked in and sat at an empty table. Eating is a social activity and so the restaurant was filled with families with kids, groups of friends, etc. The waiter came over and asked me something (probably what I wanted) in Bosnian and I gave my usual shrug-sorry-help me-garble of a reply to which he smiled and pulled out a menu asking, "English?" I said yes and pointed to a medium cevapi and said, "cevapi," which he then repeated and I nodded and smiled. My Bosnian language skills are really coming along quite well. The waiter was very nice and would give me a wink and smile any time he brought something over.

Flash forward to last night (two nights after first having cevapi) when I decide I should go out to dinner again and try something new. As I'm walking I think that I don't want to go to some fancy place further away, I'll stay in old town. Here comes the tricky part of finding a place to eat. Remember, a cafe doesn't serve food so that rules a lot of places out. Then I don't want a place that's empty on a Friday night but I don't want a super crowded place either. So I pass the place that I ate at before thinking to myself that I really ought to try some place new. The next block houses a sister restaurant to the one I've had a few nights earlier so, why not. I sit down and realize that it is the exact same menu. I laugh to myself and think that at least now I'll know how to order a little bit better, I'll order the small instead of the medium and I'll order a jogurt like I saw others doing last time. So the waiter comes over aaaand it's the same guy as before. He smiles and kind of stifles laughter as I outright laugh as I order. He was equally as nice to me this time and I plan to go back again but next time I will hopefully be with some other people and be able to order in Bosnian.

Call to prayer

I've never lived in a place that had a large Muslim population before and while this maybe be part of the "honeymoon phase" here, I am particularly enjoying hearing the call to prayer. I have a lot to learn about Islam so don't think that anything I say is fact, more just guessing as I go along trying to educate myself. The guest house that I'm staying at until I find an apartment (that's another story) is up on a hill a bit but still very close to the center of town. It has a great view and because there are so many mosques around the city all of their call to prayers echo on the hills and it sounds really beautiful.

The view from my balcony. The big building with what looks like a clock tower is the brewery and just below that is the river (which you can't see) and then is the old town surrounded by all the rest of Sarajevo.

I think that I read somewhere, or heard on the news, or heard from someone, or maybe I just made it up that many mosques today use a recording of the call to prayer to broadcast over their speakers instead of having an actual muezzin do it each time. Well, last night as I was walking up to the guest house I passed a mosque with a fenced in courtyard. As I approached I heard the call to prayer but then when I looked in I saw someone was actually reciting it as people entered the courtyard. I was so impressed! Only later did I realize that traditionally it is supposed to be done from atop the minaret, so I could have easily been mistaken on this one. But, whatever may have been happening as I walked by, I'm glad I saw it.

A librarian's thoughts on cowboys

A lot of people were nervous when they heard I was going to Bosnia because they immediately thought of the war during the 90's. The recent history of war is visible anywhere you care to look for it in the architecture of the city. While the aftermath fascinates me, I do not expect to write about the war a lot here nor do I expect the talk about the war all that frequently with my students or friends (fingers still crossed on finding some of those...)

With that preface, I was struck by about a 90 second conversation that I was a part of on my first day here. At the American Corners library that I mentioned before the librarian was showing us some of the paper wigwams that local little ones made to celebrate "Native American Day". Then she told us about an American person who was there to talk and how he fielded questions so well from the children. When one little boy asked, "Did the cowboys really kill the indians?" the man answered, "Yes, white people killed a lot of Native Americans." The librarian the told us how taken aback she was by this because, "Serbs would never admit to something like that," And then without so much of a pause she showed us that the library also had Oprah's O magazine and which computers had internet access. So, just like that, little reminders pop up of the reality here.

*Note: I'm aware of the potentially un-PC-ness of the term "Native Americans". Also, by relaying this story I am not accusing any side of either guilt or innocence, just telling a story that happened to me.