That day 12 years ago...

Since it was the anniversary of my arrival to this country a couple of weeks ago, I thought that I would write a bit about it. It feels just like yesterday and it's hard to believe that time flies by so quickly!

My first memory of England is the grey sky. As I was to find out in the years afterwards, grey sky and rain were the symbols of English weather and England as a whole. It was the winter of 1998 and me and my mother came to spend the Christmas with my stepfather in our future home. It was a house with a garden in the suburbs of Worcester, which was a great surprise to me. I had always dreamed of having a garden full of beautiful flowers and wildlife as we lived in the flat in Mostar, my hometown in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The next surprise was when I was shown my room-a room all to myself! In our flat I had always shared the master bedroom with my mother, because my grandparents also lived with us (a common cultural thing in that part of the world), and I remember bursting into tears because I could not remember a time when I didn't share a room with my mother. I eventually calmed down when my mother reassured me that she would be in the next room and that everything would be ok.

That Christmas passed in a flash, and although I missed my grandparents, I remember being pretty happy and being satisfied with the gifts I got. Near the end of February 1999 we left Bosnia & Herzegovina for good. The day before my departure I was at school, and I remember my teacher announcing to the class that we had to say farewell to an important member of the class. She asked me to stand up while the entire class wished me good luck, and I felt quite sad, though I didn't cry. I'm not sure it actually occurred to me that I would never be coming back to this class. When I was woken the next morning it was horrendous-I remember screaming and crying for my grandmother and grandfather, and as we sat off in the airport in neighbouring Croatia in my stepfather's jeep, and I don't think I calmed down for a good 15 minutes.

A few days after we arrived I started at my new school. The week before that we visited the school and my future teacher, Mrs Blow, gave me some colouring pencils and a plain paper notepad for me to draw some pictures. When I got home I drew a house on top of a hill in vivid colours and a decorative cabinet, as my previous teacher in Mostar had taught me and my classmates. I wasn't totally delighted with the first picture because I scribbled the sky in blue instead of carefully colouring it in, and I remember her looking in delight at what I drew then me making a sad face and doing scribbling motions. I think she understood.

School was a massive shock. For a start, it was on just one floor; my previous school had around three floors. Next, we sat on on tables in around groups of 4. And finally, the school had carpets! The room was also smaller and more square in shape. My old school was a typical Communist one, and my classroom was rectangular in shape with a massive green blackboard at the front. It had stone floors and desks for two kids each to sit on, all of which directly faced the front. "Oh how I wish we could have carpets" my old teacher, who we all called "Teacher Senada", often used to remark. Now I was in a school with carpets, and I couldn't believe it. I remember thinking that Teacher Senada would be very happy if she came to this school to teach.

Language was an obvious hurdle for me during those first few months. Before that point, I had been under the impression that everyone spoke my native language. But now I was in a room full of children who couldn't understand a word I said, and I couldn't understand what they said. I often tried to communicate with these children in Serbocroatian, but of course it never worked. I picked up English very quickly though: I was given supplementary English lessons by a lovely old lady at the school, who's name I cannot remember, and my mother also forced me to learn new vocabulary at home. By the middle of that summer, before the term ended, I was more or less fluent in English. Spelling was a struggle for years though: Serbocroatian is a phonetic language, and the concept of learning how to spell words was alien to me. It wasn't until I got to my early teens that my spelling began to significantly improve.

That summer we moved to the city of Bristol, where I still live. I'll continue this post in a second part tomorrow as this is getting very long now, but although there have been some very rough times, this country has generally treated me well and I'm very happy to have all the opportunities which are presented to me here and which I would never have otherwise had I stayed where I was.

Another return!

Ok, so before Christmas I promised I would update this blog regularly. It didn't happen. Basically, the time leading up to Christmas and much of January was a very stressful time for me and my family and many changes. But it's all finally settling down and I'm feeling a lot more stable so here I am, back yet again!

I've finally booked my trip to Germany to do work experience. I'm leaving on either the night of 20th March or the morning of 21st March. I'll be travelling there in the company's van, who will be at the London Orchid Show at the same weekend, saving me a lot of travelling costs. I really can't wait! This is one of the most prestigious Orchid nurseries in the whole of Europe, and I still can't quite believe that they want me to do work experience with them. After that I'm possibly going to Switzerland then to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but if not I'll just fly to Bosnia & Herzegovina directly. I'll definitely make sure I keep you guys updated, step by step.

Apart from that, nothing that exciting has been going on with me. Marks and Spencer called me to say they have a new temporary contract for me until the end of March, which fits in perfectly and should give me lots of extra money! Due to a big misunderstanding (long story cut short again)I no longer work in the restaurant, but I could be taking that job up again at some point, though at the moment I am doubting it due to all the travels which I will be doing. I've been pretty busy with plant related stuff, as spring is starting to approach and lots of plants have been requiring attention. I've also been to London to visit friends and I had loads of fun with all of them. (If you're reading this, you know who you are and you're all amazing. :) )

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for (hopefully) regular postings from now on!

First Impressions of the Kitchen Life

Recently, perhaps unknown to many of you, I landed my first proper kitchen job. It’s in a small pub restaurant which is being rented out to a husband and wife who are cooking Thai food, though only the wife is Thai and I work in the kitchen alongside her and another helper, who is a friend of the husband. In other words, it is a very small kitchen and the restaurant does not have a high turnout, but I am quickly discovering that working in a commercial kitchen is very different to serving up meals to family and friends at home!

My role is basically as a trainee chef, and until I become fully trained I won’t be receiving a very high pay rate. Their definition of being “fully trained” is to be able to man the kitchen by myself and make anything on the menu which gets ordered, so I still have a long way to go until that happens! But I am slowly learning and making progress: I can now make a pretty good Pad Thai and I have managed to learn all the correct timings for deep frying the starters, such as the satay chicken and spring rolls. The learning curve has so far been quite steep, and I have had the head chef on my case more than once telling me to drastically speed up. But at the same time I feel like I am getting there and I am starting to enjoy the work as of my third shift there.

I always tell people that if I did not have such an intense love of plants and nature that I would most likely be aiming to be some sort of celebrity chef. But I would also be more than happy to have a kitchen career on the side while doing my plants at the same time. This initial stint in the restaurant will either solidify that ambition or destroy it, but so far I am definitely banking on the former. I can’t wait to learn more about working in a commercial kitchen and to finally become fully trained.

Dan Republike Jugoslavije-Day of the Republic of Yugoslavia

Flag of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-1991)

Map of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia

This anniversary actually took place on 29th November, which is the day when I returned to blogging, and after I realised this I thought it was absolutely criminal that I mentioned nothing about this considering my ethnicity and heritage!

The founding of the Republic of Yugoslavia-the country which both my parents and myself were born in-was founded on 29th November 1943 by Marshall Josip Broz 'Tito' and his Partisans in the mountainous central Bosnian town of Jajce during the height of their self proclaimed People's Liberation War. Tito's and the Partisan's headquarters were established there and thereafter became Socialist Yugoslavia's first capital, and once the entire territory was liberated in 1945 the sovereignty soon transferred to Belgrade, which before was-and today now is once again-capital of Serbia. Tito must have shouted perhaps his most famous phrase "bratstvo i jedinstvo"-brotherhood and unity-many times on that day, and it is these words which by themselves more than any other told of his vision for the country which he would rule for more than 30 years. Hundreds of people from across former Yugoslavia still gather on the anniversary every year in Jajce to celebrate Tito and his legacy.

My own great-grandfather was part of Tito's vision, for he joined the Partisans during the Second World War and became employed by them to write up their documents due to his excellent typewriter skills. My maternal grandmother-his daughter-resided in the northern Bosnian city of Tuzla at the time with her family, and remembers the fear they felt when Nazi's would bang on their door demanding to know where her father was, and the collective joy and elation shown by the citizens when Tuzla was eventually liberated, when columns of Partisan tanks and soldiers marched through Tuzla while people cheered in the streets.



Jajce, where Tito's state began

Tito was-depending on who you talk to-a socialist dictator or a powerful statesman who wished the best for his country. But few disagree with his vision, which was to unite all the people living across the territory of former Yugoslavia-the "Jugo Slavs" or "South Slavs"-into a single state based on tolerance and mutual corporation. Today, many more people still admire rather than despise Tito and look at him favourably as a peace bringer and a man who bought peace and economic prosperity to Yugoslavia until his death in 1980. In fact his reign is sometimes seen as a bit of a "golden age" among some in the region. But with his death the vision of Yugoslavia slowly faded away, and the country crumbled in a series of civil wars starting in 1991 due to a resurgence of nationalism and nationalistic politics-barely a decade after his death. Tito was the glue which essentially bound Yugoslavia together, and without him the countries which made up Yugoslavia simply failed to function in a single entity.

It is very ironic that a country which had ethnic and religious tolerance at the centre of its values is now a region of states which has become notorious to the wider world for having racist and intollerant societies. True, Tito's vision was always ambitious-he was to rule a country with three major and several more minor religions, and with six dominant ethnic groups-the Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians and more than 20 established ethnic minorities, including Albanians, Hungarians, Italians and Turks. But few could have imagined that things would end up as they are in the present day, with many areas of the former Yugoslavia deeply divided and hatred running deep for the "wrong" side. Tito fought for 4 years to create the country of his vision-the Yugoslav civil wars began in 1991 and ended in 1995, meaning that in another 4 years Tito's vision was all but crumbled, blown away like dead autumn leaves in the wind.

Those 4 years of 1941-1945 were spent by Tito and his Partisans by hiding in caves and attacking the units of Nazi German occupiers by guerrilla warfare. At the time, the Nazi's-with their Croat Ustasha allies-installed a puppet "Independent State of Croatia" regime which covered much of modern Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and was headed by the notorious Ante Pavelic, who had rabid anti Jew and anti Serb views. The official policy for Serbs and other "offensive" groups such as Jews and Gypsies was to "kill a third, convert a third and deport a third"-the latter option often being to Nazi run concentration camps. In the most notorious cases, entire Serb Orthodox villages would have their villagers-including the elderly, the women and the children-forced inside the village Orthodox Church which would then be set ablaze. No one knows exactly how many Serb civillians lost their lives in this way, and the issue will probably never be resolved. However, the Jewish population of the region was almost completely wiped out, and the death toll of Serbs is somewhere in the region of hundreds of thousands. On the other hand royalist, nationalist Serbs under Draza Mihajlovic were established as the "Chetniks", who admitted only Serbs to their cause and began killing Croat and Bosnian Muslim civilians using the same tactics and brutal methods as their Ustasha counterparts. The most brutal of these massacres occurred in 1945 in the predominantly Muslim populated Bosnian Foca town region and the adjacent mostly Muslim Sandzak region in neighbouring Serbia, where some 9000 people were murdered. People who did not agree with either of these forces-and there were many such people of all ethnicities-joined Tito and his Partisans, and if they did not they at least supported him in non direct ways.

The two most crucial battles of World War II between Tito's Partisans and the Nazi Germans occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first was the "Battle of the Neretva" near the town of Jablanica, where the severely outnumbered Partisans managed to cross the River Neretva before the Nazi's and then blew up the rail bridge which they used, preventing the Germans from perusing them. The destroyed bridge was subsequently left as it stood this day and had a museum built next to it, located just outside the town of Jablanica. The second battle took place in Sutjeska, near the eastern Bosnian town of Foca. Here Tito's Partisans were once again outnumbered and were also completely surrounded by the Nazi's, who attacked them with both aerial and land bombardment. But they refused to surrender and the brave men and women who were fighting for a better tomorrow saved themselves by hiding in the vast mountains and woodlands. There were many casualties-some 3000 on the Partisan side-and Tito himself was almost killed by a German shell. But the Partisans once again switched to guerrilla warfare and the Germans were eventually forced to retreat. Subsequently the entire area was proclaimed a national park, and contains some of the most important Partisan monuments in the former Yugoslavia.




From top: Tito leading his men and women in the Battle of Sutjeska; the main monument at Sutjeska National Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina, commemorating the battle; a plaque in front of the memorial holding the grave of one of the fallen men and women who lost their lives in the battle; and the vast mountains, valleys and forests at Sutjeska where Tito hid along with his men and women

So many people died for Tito and his cause, yet it was really for nothing as what he worked so hard to avoid what occurred anyway: all out warfare and hatred between Yugoslavia's main ethnic and religious groups. The fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was ironically where the above mentioned two most major battles took place, has suffered the worst fate. The mountains and valleys of this beautiful republic are now littered with destroyed buildings, abandoned villages and terrible ghosts of the past, with hatred not being difficult to find. Before the war this republic epitomised everything Tito stood for, where Orthodox Serbs, Roman Catholic Croats, Bosnian Muslims and numerous ethnic minorities such as Jews lived side by side, particularly in the larger towns and cities,such as Sarajevo and Mostar, where if ever one group predominated at least one other would form a significant minority. Today some of these same once ethnically and religiously mixed towns now have one ethnic group which resides exclusively within them, the other communities being driven out by ethnic cleansing. The concept of brotherhood and unity is now as dead as Tito.

Tito's mausoleum in Belgrade today stands as an unmaintained building with an unkempt flower garden. This sad view of a once highly revered and sacred place to many reflects the sad fate-and ultimate failure-of Socialist Yugoslavia. It reflects what he and all his brave men and women fought for and for what many of them gave their lives so we-the people of the former Yugoslavia-could have peace and a better tomorrow. The memory of those days may still be fresh in the minds of many but are now tainted by darkness and sorrow by the wars and the ethnic cleansing, just as Tito's grave is now unmaintained and the once beautiful flowers in the garden no longer bloom.

I'm back....for good!

Hello everyone! I know it's been a long long time since I made a post here (4 months to be exact!) and now I understand how some blogs just get left without anything being posted on them. However, I promise that I'm back for good now and that I'll be making regular posts from now on, at least once a week!

Well first things first: my trip to China was absolutely amazing and also life changing in a way. In my month there I met so many varied and interesting people and have seen so many things. Among other things, I visited centuries old Chinese temples (Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian), markets, beautiful scenery of the Li river, traditional Chinese villages and many other things which I will remember forever. My Mandarin Chinese also improved miles; before I went to China I could only say some words and a few simple sentences, but I came back speaking longer, complicated sentences and my vocabulary sharply increased! In fact, I loved it all so much that I plan to go back next year! I will probably also make a blog post or two about these experiences.

And the second thing...well, I'm not sure that there is a second thing! I just promise to be around more often and keep this blog as active as possible. :) See you all around!

Goodbye...for now!

Well, the time has come for me to go to China. I am leaving to go to Heathrow airport in an hour to catch my flight to Shanghai, from where I will be catching a connecting flight to my destination, Guilin in Guangxi province. I am feeling a large cocktail mixture of emotions right now. On the one hand I'm very excited to be going as I have wanted to visit China for years. On the other, I am absolutely petrified because it will involve 2 flights to get there with a total journey tme of about 16 hours, and I have never made such a long journey by myself before. I also have no idea what the actual place is going to be like and what the people are going to be like, and I always get stressed when I don't know exactly what to expect. But I am trying to put all that to one side as the programme I am going on looks absolutely amazing and I am sure that I will have a good time.

For those who don't know, I will be travelling to Guangxi province in the far south of China, on the border with Vietnam. I will be visiting the famous city of Guilin and the lesser well known but equally beautiful Yangshuo, which is also situated on the well known Li river. I will also be visiting several traditional Chinese villages, including Zhuang minority villages, who's language and culture is rather different to that of the Han Chinese. (The Zhuang also make up almost 40% of Guangxi's population). Guangxi is also known for its tropical climate and breathtaking scenery, and I am looking forward to some summer heat!

I think that this blogging site is blocked in China, which means that there will be no blog posts until I get back on August 14th. If it happens to be unblocked, however, I will try and make a few posts with updates on what I've been up to. I also have not finished blogging about all the things I want to about Bosnia and Herzegovina, but that will have to wait until I come back. See you all in a months time! =)

Blagaj, the old capital of Herzegovina

Blagaj is a small town south of the modern city of Mostar. Although it is upstaged by its larger neighbour in modern times, in medieval times Blagaj was larger and far more important than Mostar, which was then a collection of just a few houses and a small fort linked by a bridge across the river Neretva. It was not until the Ottomans decided to develop Mostar in the 1470's that it grew into a settlement of any significance. Though Blagaj was given the status of "kasaba" (castle-town in Ottoman times), it developed more slowly then Mostar and was quickly outshunned by its neighbour, which was to become the modern capital of Herzegovina.

Blagaj was also famous for another reason: it was the capital of medieval Herzegovina before it was formally fused with Bosnia. Without going into too much detail, medieval Bosnia from the early 15th century until the Ottoman Conquest in 1463 was basically an autonomous kingdom which had several leading noble families who's land and assets rivaled that of the king's. These were the Hrvatinić family, who controlled much of west-central and north-western Bosnia and a significant part of the modern Dalmatian coast (including the important modern Croatian city of Split), the Radenović family (after 1416 known as Radenović-Pavlović) who controlled a huge expanse of land in eastern Bosnia, including Vrhbosna (modern Sarajevo)and the Kosača family, who controlled all of today's Herzegovina, plus parts of today's southern Bosnia, western Montengero and south-western Serbia (Herceg Novi, Nikšić, Pljevlja etc.)as well as parts of modern south-eastern coastal Croatia. The king himself controlled roughly all of central Bosnia (Visoko, Kreševo, Jajce etc.) The people in these regions all spoke distinct accents of Serbocroatian and held some of their own local traditions. By the second or third decade of the 15th century, the Kosača family rose to become the most powerful of these three noble families.

The term "Herzegovina" itself arose in 1446 when Duke Stjepan Kosača dropped the title "Vojvoda (Duke) of Bosnia" and adopted the German title "Herzeg", effectively turning his back on the Bosnian king and making Herzegovina an independent state. From then on until the present day, "Hum" became known as "Herzeg's Land" or "Herzegovina".

Blagaj was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1466 and the medieval fortress and court of the Kosača family quickly fell into disuse. Sometimes referred to as "Stjepangrad" , its ruins are located on the outskirts of Blagaj. Below is a picture which I took of it in August 2009. Much of the present structure dates from the 14th and 15th centuries.



On this occasion we visited the actual town of Blagaj and its historic core. Our first destination was the source of the river Buna (a tributary of the Neretva) where the famous Blagaj Tekija (Muslim religious house/monastery) is located. The story goes is that the new Ottoman rulers were so delighted and amazed by the source of the river Buna that they immediately ordered the construction of the tekija. Since the building was (and still is) made largely of wood, it was damaged or destroyed several times by fire, and the present structure dates from about the 18th century, whereas the original was built at the end of the 15th century. Nevertheless, it is an extraordinary piece of Ottoman architecture which is heavily influenced by the local Herzegovinian and Dalmatian styles of building to create a truly well proportioned and harmonious structure. All parts of the tekija are open to visitors, though parts of the upper level is still used as a place of worship and because of this one is required to take off shoes before going upstairs and females are required to cover their hair. The lower level is mainly occupied by a gift shop and a small cafe. Anyway, enough talk, here are some pictures!




The cliffs above the tekija are just as spectacular as the building itself!









This last picture is particularly interesting, for it shows a natural shower-when it rains the water is broken up by the star shaped holes and one can wash!

After a fascinating but alas brief visit (there is only so long you can gawp at the various rooms and their contents, after all) we went outside to one of the restaurants for some food. The specialty here is fish, to be specific trout, which is fished locally from the rivers Buna and Neretva. I can honestly say I have never tasted better Herzegovinian style trout in my life!



The source of the river Buna-just look at that colour!!!


My meal-when I am next back in the area (probably September or October) I will definitely pull all the stops to come here and eat this again!

After lunch, we walked along the Buna and back into Blagaj town. Note the typical Mediterranean landscape and vegetation.




This spectacular Ottoman era bridge was, according to the information plaque next to it, built on the site of a medieval river crossing on the old road to the town of Stolac to the south. It was badly damaged in 1849 and a local rich Muslim woman, Belfe-Kadira, daughter of Ali-bveg Velagić, provided the funds to repair it. It is known as Karadoz-beg bridge, after its original founder.



This is the Caerva Dzamija (Tsar's Mosque), the main and oldest mosque in Blagaj, built in 1520 in honour of the Ottoman sultan Sulejman the Magnificient. After its contruction the historical core of Blagaj rapidly urbanised as neighbourhoods grew around the mosque.
Note the ancient Bosnian Muslim gravestones around the mosque. The modern town is also largely Muslim-current estimates are that at least 80% of the population in Blagaj are Muslim.




The streets in Blagaj are full of old, Herzegovinian style houses such as these. Some have been turned into cafe's and restaurants. Blagaj, unlike large parts of Mostar outside its historic core, retains a medieval-Ottoman feel for it largely escaped development and industrialisation in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The second image shows an ancient water mill. Some damage was inflicted on the town by both Serb and Croat shelling during the 1992-5 War, but much of the damage has since been largely repaired.

At this point, it was getting dreadfully hot (over 35 degrees) and all of us had had enough so we decided to call it a day and go back to the car. Perhaps next time I will venture more around Blagaj and take more pictures, which I will of course share here. Thank you for reading! =)