Poems came

Yesterday while I was listening to some music I started to get some poems , this happens to me from time to time they just come in ones, two's and threes, but these just kept coming and over about a 3 hour period I had 21 poems. Then they just stopped. It is the most poems I have received in one session and I have decided to title the series One Day. So over the next 3 weeks I will post 1 poem each day. Here is the first.

Rain runs
down the window
Rain drips
on the tin

Rain stays
outside of the weather

Rain no
you are not
getting in!

By the way I am dedicating this series One Day to my Father.

England and back part 2

So I took a day or so to recover from my trip and to adjust to the warmer rainy conditions, going for my regular run helped.
Then it was Christmas shopping. I also got a power cord for my laptop that was compatible for the UK. I went with my nephew and we stopped in to see one of his friends and we decided that we would all go to see the Hobbit film on the weekend. On Sunday we went and I enjoyed it, oh and yeah I got to watch a lot of football over the weekend.
Christmas was the usual family gathering, though it was slightly delayed since my brother in-law had to work, but he did manage to get away so that we could all open our presents together.
It seemed like it was going to rain everyday I was in the UK, but at least it wasn't as cold as in Sarajevo.

To England and back part 1

So on December 19 2012 I, for the first time in a while, took a flight on a major airline to the UK. My flight from Sarajevo on Austrian airlines to Vienna was a little late leaving but arrived on time, the connecting flight to London was also a little late leaving, but we were told we should arrive on time. We were about 20 minutes late because when we got there we were put in a holding pattern. I managed to quickly get an Underground train to Euston Station and as luck would have it got a ticket for a train to Stafford leaving in 15 minutes. I got to my sister's house at around 11pm, I had left my flat in Sarajevo at around 1pm ( 12 noon UK time ) so I had gone door to door in 11hours, which I was quite happy with.

Snow time

For the last few days it has been raining in Sarajevo and the river has been a little higher. Well today it is snowing. We had a light snow a month or so ago, but this time it looks a bit more serious and they say it will continue to snow for a couple of days. Apart from a short break in the UK over Christmas, this will be my first winter in Sarajevo

Birthday

Today I am celebrating my Birthday in the fourth different country in my short lifetime. I have mostly celebrated them in either the UK or the USA. The previous 3 times have been in Slovenia and for the first time I am celebrating it in Bosnia. It is snowing out there so I am having a white Birthday 2 weeks before Christmas. Tomorrow I get to go to a carol service which I have not been to for a few years now so it should be fun and in just over a week I fly to the UK to spend the holidays with my sister and family. I am just 1 year away from a milestone and must say I have an interesting and enjoyable life.

Internet experience

So I got this cheap internet provider in Sarajevo when I moved into my place in August. Everything was going well until I went make my monthly payment at the beginning of November at the post office. About 2 hours later my internet went off, at first we thought that maybe the payment was late and we would have to call the company to get it turned back on. However they didn't answer the phone and when my friend eventually went to their office no one. So now I decided to sign up with a bigger company, but they say they are busy and it would take 15 days to install, so I am waiting. In the meantime the restaurant across the street has wifi and I went there and ate pizza and got their password so I am using their internet for now. Plus I can use it at work, which is what I am doing now. Things work a little differently than in New York, but you have to figure your way around it :)

Peace Tree

Last Tuesday I took an overnight bus to Ljubljana to complete a project I had started about 7 months ago before I left for Bosnia. On October 11 there was a ceremony to dedicate a Peace tree on the Green ring which is a walking and running path around the city. During WWII it was a fence constructed by the Italians to prevent supplies coming into the besieged city.In 1990 a former mayor Nusa Kerseven had the idea to plant trees around the ring. Earlier in the year I went for a run on the ring and noticed some trees had plaques dedicating them to people or organizations like sport clubs and such. I thought it would be a great idea to dedicate a Peace tree and this led me to meet Ms Kerseven, who I discovered has a golden heart. It was decided to dedicate a tree on October 11 a Sri Chinmoy Peace Tree on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of his passing. The project grew and by the time we came to the ceremony we had 16 children from a local school running with the World Harmony Run torch, a well known radio presenter a well known Slovenian actress and the Mayor of Ljubljana who was able to take 20 minutes from his very busy schedule to help me place soil around the tree and say a few words of support. If you are ever in Ljubljana and would like to visit the tree to take a moment of Peace it is near the 31km mark on the green ring near the start/finish markers at Dolgi Most.

 

Fall

OK it's been a few weeks since my last post. Here in Sarajevo the weather has gone through a few changes, cold to warm to cold again. We have had some rain and as a result mushroom hunting and picking has become quite popular here. I have been picking and eating for breakfast Cep or Porcini mushrooms which are the current ones to be had.
I will be going to Slovenia tomorrow for a week and should during that time have a meeting with my publisher. Hopefully we are getting close to the publication of the book, which is slated to come out in 4 or 5 languages. So will let you know what happened in my next post.

Four Months

I have now been in Bosnia, specifically Sarajevo for 4 months and my experience is quite different than when I left New York for Slovenia. I started working almost immediately and it has been intense at times. I have just recently begun to realize that the city air is quite polluted and at times I have a little bronchial problem, but fortunately my work takes me up into clean mountain air and that helps. After a dry hot summer we have started to get rain and cooler temperatures and I have to adjust to that. Well we will see what the months ahead have in store.

Rain

We finally got some rain here in Sarajevo. It started last night and went on into this morning, stopping just before I went out for my run. The temperature is a little cooler as a result, but the Sun is once again shining.There is supposed to be more later today and tomorrow. Personally I am a little selfish because I am happy the the plants up in Eco Futura will finally get a real drink of water instead of the few watering can's I have been giving them.

Blue Moon

Tonight there will be a Blue Moon, which in case you didn't know is when you have a second full Moon in the month. It does not happen that often and I am told the next one will be in 2015. It seems we will be lucky to be blessed with a clear night here in Sarajevo. They a Blue Moon has a special energy so hopefully it will have a positive effect on things.
It is as crazy as usual at work, which of course is good because it means we are busy and we need that. We are supposed to get some rain over the next few days which is good for many things, but may effect business, school is also back in session so not as many families during the week.

An old friend

I had a visit from an old friend on Monday. We both lived in New York for quite a while and now spend most of our time in Europe. Due to bus and airplane schedules he could only be in Sarajevo for 1 day, but I got to show him around and he was suitably impressed and says he will come back for a longer stay.
The hot weather is continuing, but thankfully the mornings are cool when I go out for my run. I heard that there is a water shortage in the city, but they don't want to say anything so as not to upset people in an election year. Yes there are elections here too.

My Niece

I just came back from spending 6 days on the World Harmony run in Bosnia and in Croatia, check out my running blog for a report. On the second day it was my sister's Birthday and I sent her a message to wish her a happy one. She did however give me give me the news that my niece is quite sick and will have tests son the determine what the problem is. We are hoping for the best and I will post here when I know.

New Place

It has been a while coming but I finally moved into my new place in Sarajevo on August 2nd. Earlier in the week I bought a new bed which is very nice.The new windows were supposed to be installed last month, but things don't move that fast here and they are now supposed to be put in this week, they say Monday and Tuesday they will take 2 days.right now my room is very basic, a bed, a desk and internet :). I will slowly improve things as time goes on and keep everyone informed.

Cooler

There has been a change in the weather for the start of the week, actually it started last night. There was a sprinkle of rain in the morning and was mostly overcast. The high temperature for the day today was about the same as the low temperatures for the last few weeks or so. I have to say it is most welcome and is supposed to last for the next few days.

Survived II

Well I managed to survive my week of being in charge of the kitchen at Ecofutura, it got a little intense at times, but you just have to get through it. I will say one thing I didn't have a problem sleeping at night. Staff numbers are back to normal and yesterday when I finished my run it completed 18 months without missing a day, which equals my second longest streak of all time
The Sarajevo film Festival is over and I am sure the city will be a little quieter as a result, though I was told that the numbers were down from previous years.

Survived

Survived the weekend. It was really hot in the kitchen yesterday and we were busy, it seemed even more so because we were short staffed. Things will be a little quieter for a few days and the other cooks will be back by the end of the week.
The mornings are quite refreshing and it is nice to go out and run .

Hard work ;)

It has been getting quite busy at work and this weekend it got even more so. Normally we have 3 cooks at the peak of the day, but on Saturday the 2 cooks who have been the mainstay of the kitchen went on a trip for 6 days. So now I am the main guy with one assistant. It was quite intense at times because we also had a Birthday party to deal with, but we survived. It was a little cooler in the kitchen which helped. When I got home I had a hard time staying wake and eventually just sacked out on the couch. Sundays have been quite busy the last few weeks so we will see how we get through this one.

Longest day

OK so it is June 22 nd, which is supposed to the longest day. The forecast here in Sarajevo is that it will be quite warm, but with a chance for thunderstorm's later, from an Hortic's point of view this will help the plants since it has been hot and dry for a while now.
After my little break I am settling in again and actually starting to feel comfortable here.

In Sarajevo we have been experiencing some hot weather kind of like New York, but without the humidity.  of course I have the chance to go up into the hills where it can be cooler and we have even had some rain which cools things down a bit