Bosnia part I: Banja Luka

The image most of us have of Bosnia – Herzegovina (BiH) is inextricably linked to images of Dutchbatters standing by impotently as genocide roars around them, of shells raining down on cities from surrounding hills and of Sniper Alley in Sarajevo. The project week to Bosnia was set up to show UWC students a different side of Bosnia; a Bosnia gearing up for the future, a Bosnia seen through the eyes of teenagers.

I had no idea what to expect of Bosnia. I have visited and even lived in dirt-poor countries, but I had never been to a country that was ripped apart by war only 10 years prior. The last thing I wanted was to only see the remnants of that war and have the picture of the Balkans I carry around in my head confirmed. However, as our bus left Croatia and entered Bosnia, the very first building we passed was still riddled with bullet-holes, as was every non-renovated building for the first 30 kilometres. Most disturbing were those buildings that had bullet holes at chest-level. Unfortunately, this was an image that was to follow us around for the next eight days, and indeed increase with each city we visited.

Our first port of call was Banja Luka, where we got off the bus with two groups of students; one group would do social service there, the other a video project. The rest would go on to Mostar and Sarajevo that same night. We (Marjolein and me) where supposed to be free agents travelling in between the different groups all over Bosnia, but in the end we spent most of our time going around with the video group. This group travelled to Sarajevo and Mostar as well, so it made sense to attach ourselves to them and it turned out to be a great group of students to travel with.



Centre of Banja Luka

Banja Luka is a strange little town. First of all, there is the graffiti of the “Patriot Boys” that is very present all around. This group wants an independent Republika Srpska, so a split BiH. Uncomfortable to see. Then picture all the stereotypical images you have of Mafiosi and gangsters and you have a rough idea of what 8 out of 10 men there look like. It was, in fact, the only city in Bosnia in which I did not feel very safe. You have a constant feeling of darkness creeping below the surface, but as an outsider you just can’t penetrate that and maybe that is for the best.

The hotel we stayed in was lovely, though, and it was even a bit of a shock that it seemed so much homier than the apartment in Duino. We didn’t have much time to revel in this luxury, for we were expected at the Gymnasium where a full set of teacher, including the headmistress welcomed us. To our shock, Mitja (UWCAd’s social service co-ordinator), Marjolein and I were introduced as professors! (I will love our students forever for not bursting out in laughter.) We tried to explain our position in the school, but they were having none of it. Professors they thought we were, professors we remained.

Two of the teacher took the three of us out that very night while the students went to their host-families. They were just dying to pick our brains about the IB and I have never been more thankful for my previous internship than I was that bizarre night. It seemed almost as if the teachers thought they were at a job interview. They kept asking our opinion about their teaching styles and the assignments they had been giving. Yeay BITEP. The background info we have been given over the past months really helped me through a most embarrassing evening. ( Drank good hot chocolate though! ;-)The upside was that I can now write The Bluffer's Guide to IBO!



The Old Castle and City Wall

The next day we went around the city and the extended job interview continued as we had taken it upon ourselves to steer the teachers away from the video group so that they could interview the gymnasium students in peace. An odd division in the Banja Luka populace crept up to the surface that day. The older generation (say 45 and up, sorry if I offend anyone!!!) is determined to show the outside world only the good side of their city and the country. The beautiful old city wall, the river, the gymnasium. As Basil Fawlty said, don’t mention the war….AT ALL.

The younger people are willing to talk about it and talk about it quite openly, even including the economical malaise that still keeps the whole of Bosnia poor. By the end of that day, we were more than ready to move on to Sarajevo. After the group presentations the following morning (where the gymnasium students thought I could not be more than 20 and therefore had to be a student, wonderful) we set out for Sarajevo.

To be continued….

ps. I am aware of the irony of having only posted beautiful pictures of Banja Luka, but my own photos have not been developed yet.

Project Week

Hello All,

I just wanted to post a quick blog, because internet was out for most of the day and I didn't get to email everyone, or reach you by phone.
I'm heading out to Bosnia for a week, which will be quite the experience. If I have the chance, I'll update the blog while I'm there, otherwise, you'll be able to read everything in about two weeks!!!

ciao for now!

Sas

The Harbor












The Holiday Inn, for those of you who are planning to come out.










A short blog to give some idea of how I am living. The building farthest to the right houses our mensa ;-)




ciao for now

Sas

Pictures

Until I get my own pictures developed digitally, I'll scrape them from the net. They are all very similar to the ones I have. I've added to Verona as well

Sas

Milan Express

Duomo

Question: what do you do when you rettore walks up to you and asks you drive up and down to Milan in a few days time to help students get a visa for project week. Answer: you say yes and then start to worry.

Why the worry?
First of all, I have never driven a mini van such as the ones the school uses.
Secondly, I have never driven in Italy but have heard horror stories.
Thirdly, even the Italians here looked worried when they heard we were going to have to drive in Milan.

I am the first to admit that Dutch burocracy and planning has gone to far, but I am glad some of it rubbed of on me. I was assured that all information would comemy way in time and there would be no problem in getting to the Bosnian consulate. Now, having grown up watching my parents prepare for trips into the unknown, I decided I was going to trust that. I bought a map of Milan, grabbed the map my roommates had bought me before leaving and sat down to plot my way across the A4 and A51. Thank god I did, because Italian roadsigns are crap. The A51 wasnowhere to be seen until we actually passed the exit. Somehow we managedto get into milan anyway, where a superfriendly taxi driver took us to our destination.

Driving on Italian motorways in the north is actually a very pleasant experience. People are quite patient and very few actually show any aggression, so the drive to Milan went very smoothly. But Milan itself!!! For those of you who have ever driven in Belgium: the Belgians are perfect drivers compared to the avarage Milanese (?)

Lanes, traffic lights, right of way. Nothing matters once rush hour hits the streets. It is every car fot itself and I was actually quite happy to be in a van as people are a bit more intimidated by it. 45 minutes of chaos and we hit the motorway once again where pandemonium continued as you have veer through dozens of lanes to stay en route to Venice. Somehow I managed.

It was a very eventful day and I will not soon forget it!!

Sas

ps. Watch out Holland once I am home!!!
pps. I've changed my settings so anyone can respond now!

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene!!

View from Amphi-Theate

Yes, the wet dream of every Shakespeare lover was realised within two weeks of being in Italy. Verona, birthplace of star-crossed lovers, was the first port of call in what already seems to be likely to become an endless list of school visits.

At 7 am last Saturday I hopped on a bus for a day of sight-seeing in Verona. On the list were the amphi-theatre, the tombs of the Scalieri (aka, the dogs of Verona), the duomo (cathedral), Roman theatre and, of course, Juliet's house.

For the occasion, the school had rented a bus and since Henry has apparantly left students behind before, all were on time and we were actually able to leave 7 sharp. The effects of a bus on UWCAd students is amazing. As soon as we hit the motorway, 39 students were fast asleep. I had had little sleep myself the previous wine-soaked night, so the 3 1/2 hours provided some welcome shut-eye.

We reached Verona at 10 in the morning. The sun was up and the theatre was still very quiet, so we walked all alone and imagined the wild animals, the huddling Christians and the gladiators. Verona is like a huge filmset all around, for example the bridge out of the old city provides such a beautiful vista that you can't imagine it is simply always there.

The scalieri, the dogs of Verona, were the warlords who ruled there before Venice became a big power. They have beautifu, gothicl tombs and normal tourists might miss them as they hidden quite well.



Scaliere Tombs

The church was just finishing up a wedding, so we got some beautiful pictures of the blushing bride and the church was covered in white flowers. Picture perfect!

Then there was lunch. Pizza, of course, but no Dr. Oetker (Cameo here) but freshly baked and together with a local wine the best lunch you can have! And because of that beautiful lunch we almost missed Casa di Guiliette!!! But we found her and it was the most grafittied plac4e I've ever seen. Curious thing: lots of people posting notes professing eternal love there hoping to have a love like Romeo and Juilet. Didn't they commit suicide? ;-)



Juliet's Balcony


Finally, it was off to the tomb of San Anzo, where pilgrims used to come to from far and wide, but the good man has lost his religious signifacance over the years. The church is split into two levels at the back. Upstairs is the church, downstairs the tomb. This is a good indication of how popular the man was at one time as church services could take place and pilgrims could continue to visit him at the same time.

We headed back around 1700. The few students not sleeping were up front and with a lot of laughs we were back in Duino. Perfect school trip!!!

ciao for now,

Sas

A Brief Description of the Department Store in Monfalcone

Saturday arrived and Marjolein and me were in deperate of some proper groceries. To Monfalcone it was. We hopped on the bus in the pouring rain and for the first time saw the town we had briefly glimpsed in the dark on Wedenesday in daylight. It has a beautiful square shops on all sides. Stores have strange opening hours in Italy, though, so we decided to go to an actual mall. My God!! It was huge and overwhelming and after 2 (!) hours of trudging from isle to isle we hopped on bus 51 back to Duino.

Walks and Wankers

The biting cold has left Duino and has turned into a rainy grey, so in a tv-less apartment covered in tiles it can be hard to keep the gloom away. Duino, though has one feature that turns all that glum away: the Rilke path. Named after Rainer Maria Rilke, a Praguese poet of German origin who even wrote an ode to Duino, this path runs over the cliffs all the way to Sistianna. With plenty of places to sit sit down, it has beautiful vistas of the azure Adriatic. On hazy days, like today, you can look towards the horizon and not know where the sea ends and the sky begins. However, before this really turns into a tourist trap description, never fear Italians wankers are also here (and I mean wanker in the literal sense of the word!) I guess beautiful views really are stumulating ;-)

Cucumbers, Casa and College

Hello all,

well we are here in Duino and it's been an interesting 24 hours!

The journey went smooth as a baby's bottom!! The plane landed 40 minutes ahead of schedule, baggage was out before I was even back from the toilet and within an hour of landing we were on the first train towards Duino. On the second train we shared a compartment with two Italians on there way back from Portugal and very quickly we found that some gestures are simply universal, such as peeling plastic down a cucumber. :-)

We were in Monfalcone by 19.00 so only one busride away from duino, which turned out to be soooo small that the bus passed through it before we realised we were actually in a village! The landlord was there within 10 minutes and the magical and wonderfully expensive "villa". Well........villa it ain't. The best way to describe it is a large wintersports accommodation and the wintersports would be done inside as the place was possitively freezing! I actually moved my bed next to the radiator and basically curled against it for the rest of the night.

At 10 in the morning we met Sandy in her office and she introduced us to the timetable (which is complicated) and showed us around the office building. This is actually the only UWC to be scattered over a number of buildings throughout the town. We then met a ton of people in the coffee room and I was whisked away by my mentor to observe the first class. (total time spent in Duino 17 hours).

So, the day has basically been a whirlwind of impressions (good free warm lunch, dedicated and very smart students, meeting our new roommate so that the appartment becomes affordable, walking around Duino, getting IT stuff sorted)

We are meeting our landlord in 5 minutes to get the heating up (which won't be much because Italy has just passed a law limiting heating to 19 degrees because Russia is being...well Russia)

post again soon,

saskia