My first department meeting and Bora wind

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am part of an English department.  (The History department conducts all of its classes in Croatian and therefore was not a possible home for me.)  This department is interdisciplinary, with about half of the faculty teaching literature and half teaching linguistics.  Coming from an interdisciplinary department back in the States, I like this mix.  I have already learned a lot from conversations with my new colleagues.

Today I attended my first department meeting, and it seemed both unfamiliar and familiar to me.  The unfamiliar elements....
1. It was conducted almost entirely in Croatian.  The department chair explained, "We start the meetings in English but then slip into Croatian when discussing hot button issues."  The Croatian began almost immediately.
2. All but one of the 16 faculty in the room were female, and many appeared to be around my age.  The department chair is female.
      In the States, though my department's faculty is balanced in terms of gender, my university is not at all.  About 20% of the tenured or tenure-track faculty, and less than 30% of the students, are female.  In my 20 years as either a faculty member or graduate student, I've never had a female department chair.

And the familiar elements....
1. Heated discussions were clearly taking place.
     But I wasn't part of the "heat" and didn't know, for the most part, what was actually being said.  This meant that the meeting was just interesting to watch and involved no stress for me.
     A fellow Fulbrighter who has been teaching in another European country since the fall had explained to me that she liked what she called the "foreign language" approach to university meetings and will recommend this "stress-reduction method," as she put it, to her department chair and others back at her home university.  Now that I've experienced this approach firsthand, I plan to make the same recommendation.
2.  As I came to learn, the meeting covered familiar topics: enrollment for next year, poor software (in this case, required by the government for all universities in the country), and financial problems.
3. I sensed that decisions were made in a fairly democratic way.

On an unrelated note, today our family experienced our first Bora wind, common to this region.  When going up a hill to my office building as the winds were blowing, I found it somewhat hard to walk.  Also, my office building (finished less than a year ago, I believe) sounded as though it was playing music because of the way the winds were blowing.  It was actually quite beautiful.

Laura

Opatija, Ika, and the road to Mt. Učka

On Saturday, we rented a car and went back (in Caroline's and my cases) to the Opatija Riviera.  This time we went to Opatija itself, a town with grand hotels and homes on the Adriatic, as well as to a lovely, sleepier town just past it--Ika--where we had lunch.  We also went part way up Mt. Učka where J.D. and I really enjoyed the amazing views, both of places in the mountains in one direction and the Adriatic and Rijeka in the other direction.  

In Ika, the young man who worked behind the small lunch counter where we ate was very friendly and asked us a lot of questions.  One question--what was my salary in the States?--took me aback a bit since discussions of salary are generally such a no-no in the the U.S.  However, I had been somewhat prepared for this by a representative from the university's International Relations Office who explained that as I took various steps for our family to get our temporary residence permits, I might be asked a lot of questions verbally (not just on forms) about my income.  She said that she always prepares Americans for these questions because we're not used to them.  In some ways, I found the question from this man in Ika to be refreshing.  Perhaps that's in part because I've never liked that in the American context, secrecy surrounding salary helps to keep people from negotiating appropriately to get the salaries they deserve.

Note the palm trees below.  When taking family Croatian lessons before we left the States (again, thank you, Marko!), Caroline insisted on learning the Croatian phrase for "palm tree" (along with "coconut," "princess," and a few other practical words), despite the fact that the rest of us didn't think we'd need that phrase where we'd be living.  Miss Caroline was right again!

Laura

Opatija

 

Ika

 

Our rental car

On the road to Mt. Učka

A view of Rijeka

Pool Fun!

Today Mom, Caroline, and I went down to a new pool center right beside the Adriatic Sea. It had many options-even a kids' pool! Today though, at the hour we went, only Olympic sized pools were available, since most kids should be in school at 2 p.m. After swimming, we were able to pick out 1 of these creepy candies. I picked a chameleon (because it was the least creepy) and Caroline picked vampire teeth.

Yesterday, I talked to my mom about learning about my ancestors, and she told me that she did the same thing at my age. So we signed up for a 14 day free trial on ancestry.com, and started working on a family tree.

Alison

P.S. from Laura: This pool complex includes a cafe with extraordinary-looking pastries, the above-mentioned candies, sandwiches, and a full bar.

The best day ever

Got tons of exercise.  Met lots of cats.  Found a playground.  I went across the top of the monkey bars.  And played Eager Beaver Adventure Park on Webkinz and got to Level 13.  School was great.  I wrote words like "make" and "take."  I learned about history too.  I met a neighbor on the 4th floor named Chiara.  I have a friend named Chiara at home too.

Caroline

Croatia votes to join the EU...and Puss in Boots in 3D

First, today Croats voted to join the European Union: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/croats-vote-eu-membership-referendum-15414259#.Txxs-qUV2Ah.  We've had several conversations with people here about this.  All said that the Croats would vote yes, but one noted that joining was seen as the lesser of two evils.  Also, one person here mentioned that the vote would be divided by region (with Rijeka and the capital city of Zagreb voting yes), and another noted that many in rural areas were against the EU because they were concerned about the regulations that would be imposed upon them if Croatia joined.  This person gave the example of a farmer who sells his cheese on the side of the road and doesn't refrigerate it; that farmer evidently wouldn't want the food and safety regulations that Croats would have the follow if the country joined the EU because of the extra costs involved.

Second, to go back to the title...we went to see Puss in Boots in 3D today.  We thought that the movie was going to be in English with Croatian subtitles as with the other English-language movies at this theater.  But it turns out that the cartoons (and probably all children's movies) are in Croatian.  Oops!  We still understood the basic story line, especially with cats and other objects frequently flying at us.  Plus Alison had seen this movie a few months ago back in our hometown with a couple of friends.  I liked that this theater did assigned seating.  An interesting experience all around.

Laura

Education in Croatia

I have learned from a few different people about education here. It definitely is much harder than schools in America. Apparently, if anyone asks: "I don't understand; can you tell me again?", the teacher will be harsh. In America, if you speak out like that, the teacher will be proud of you!

Alison

Me, at my dream house back at home!

Caroline's second post

1. School is great in Croatia because there are no centers.
2. You have to hang your clothes up instead of putting them in the dryer.
3. PASTRIES ARE VERY GOOD HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. We live on the 5th floor.
5. The elevator in our building is very small.  We take the stairs almost all the time, but twice I took the elevator.

Caroline

The Opatija Riviera

Today Caroline and I went with my department chair, Maja, and her 5 1/2 year old daughter, Mia, to the Opatija Riviera on a sparkling day (sunny, in the 50s).  In the nineteenth century, the royalty and upper class of the Austro-Hungarian Empire made this area into a resort, and I guess that Austrians still flock here.  It's very close to Rijeka--just minutes away by car.  Maja and Mia were incredibly kind to invite us to join them.  The four of us spent several hours strolling along the long pathway by the water (Adriatic Sea) and rocky coastline.  As you walk on the pathway toward the town of Opatija itself, a rock wall is to your right and a railing is to your left.  The girls skipped around on the pathway, and we stopped frequently at playgrounds along the way.  Mia is bilingual in Croatian and Italian (she will be learning English, and therefore trilingual, in the near future--not yet though), and Caroline's Croatian, like the rest of our family's, is currently limited, so it was hard for the girls to communicate.  But I think that will get easier as we go along.  Caroline did ask Mia's mother, Maja, how to say "sarcastic" (a commonly used word in our family : ) in Croatian.  FYI, it's sarkastičan. Here are a few photos from this beautiful area:

Fishing village of Volosko; note the fishing nets hanging  

Entrance to a resort

A resort

Looking back at Rijeka from the pathway

Laura

An education

I am always learning new things in my job and life back in the U.S., but I think that I may have learned more here in the past week than I have in the last year.

Laura

For My 5th Grade Class

I don't know if my class will actually look at this, but here is some stuff about Croatia.

From: Alison

1. Most of the stuff back at home is NOT here....I can name like 5 million things. 
2. When our class talked, you didn't see the city streets. Not as nice as the views from the balcony, the streets are covered with trash and graffiti.
3. Shopping is the best! And I am not saying this because I love to shop! The deals here are amazing! A pair of shoes MY size were like 40 kuna, which in American money, is less than seven dollars! 
4. Our blog tells a lot about the Korzo because we go there a lot. These buildings are very fancy and quite nice compared to the rest of the city.

Your Own Croatian Dictionary

Thank you=Hvala (Hah-VAH-lah)

You're welcome=Molim (Moh-leem)

I am your name=Ja sam (ya-sam) your name

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT A WORD IS IN CROATIAN, LEAVE THAT WORD (IN ENGLISH) AND I WILL TRY TO POST IT.

Sunny, as always

I woke up today with sunshine streaming though the windows. It was sunny here while at home, everyone was freezing from the snow. It is warm here almost every day. Though at night, it tends to get colder. 

So anyway, today my mom and I went down to the small mall in the Korzo to pick up homeschooling supplies. We went to many different stores just for fun. One of the stores we went to was called "Fiesta". This store opened three days ago and is owned by two sisters. We saw a lot of masks at this store due to the fact that there is a big carnival coming up in Rijeka. Maybe we can go back there and get some costumes!

Here is a picture of our clothesline. To us, having a clothesline is quite different, since back at home we have a dryer!


Alison

First days

I went to the university today for the first time, so it was sort of like my first day of school.  It was fascinating and somewhat overwhelming at times.  I enjoyed taking in what I learned about Croatian culture (a bit of which I'll mention here).

I spent the morning with a representative from the university's International Relations Office, who was very helpful in taking me through the process of filling out the necessary paperwork so that our family can receive temporary residence permits.  As we talked, we discussed cultural differences between Croats and Americans.  She explained that according to many Croatians, the stereotype of American women is that they are aggressive and express their opinions all the time.  She thinks it will be interesting to talk to my students about such things when I teach Women and Gender in American History here.  So do I!  She said that many younger Croatians get their sense of Americans from watching Oprah and Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Then, I met a number of my colleagues in the English department.  Even though I'm a modern American historian, I'll be teaching in the English department and more broadly, in the Faculty of Philosophy (also called the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences).  Each faculty, as it's called, is very separate from all of the others.  I guess that the university is moving in the direction of becoming integrated, but the different faculties are resisting that.

When I first met my main contact in the English department, she said that she had to ask: am I related in any way to two high school classmates of a friend of hers (her friend is a historian in Rhode Island who graduated from a high school in Queens (NYC) in the mid-1960s)?  As it turns out, those two people are my uncle (my Dad's younger brother) and my Dad's first cousin.  Small world!  My last name isn't terribly common but certainly not unique....

Today was also the girls' first day of homeschooling.  They're using the Calvert School homeschooling program (http://homeschool.calvertschool.org/), which is recommended by the State Department (the State Dept. runs the Fulbright Program).  Our plan, as of now, is to have them do their schooling in the mornings and into a bit of the afternoon, and we've hired a young Croatian woman to help with tutoring. 

We found the tutor through Erin, who is a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant from Texas and Oklahoma and who is here in Rijeka all year.  She gave me a lot of useful information before we left the States, and she very kindly had our family over for dinner on Saturday night.  We've been lucky to have so many people welcome us in various ways.

Here are a few other musings (the first, serious; the others, not-so-serious) that don't relate to first days of school:
1.  When we met the girls' tutor, she talked a lot about Croatian culture and customs.  Though she was very young during the Homeland War (Croatian War of Independence, in the early to mid-1990s), she has some clear memories of it.  Rijeka didn't have any fighting.  However, her parents decided to go to see her grandparents in Zadar (further south on the Croatian coast), where she remembers her family's car getting shot at. 
2. Now for the not-so-serious....here's a photo of Caroline on Saturday at a store on the Korzo:

3. We learned that the big grocery (more than groceries) store, Konzum, to which our landlord drove us on our second day here, has an online shopping option.  Yesterday, we placed an order, and today the groceries arrived.  Seemed like magic!  I realize that some friends reading this may have used such a service in the States, but this is not an option where we live back at home.  There was something very Jetsons-like about this: press a button, and voila, food gets delivered!  We found this very handy as people without a car and people who don't speak much of the language (it's easier to spend time online looking through and trying to understand the shopping options than trying to figure out everything with our whole family present!  And thank goodness for Google Translate!). 
4. I like the look of Rijeka--the Austro-Hungarian architecture, the water, and the hills.  It's very hilly here and in that way, a lot like San Francisco.
5.  I also like having much less stuff here in Rijeka than we do back at home.  It's quite liberating!

Laura

Fun Day!

Yesterday we certainly did a lot.  We headed down to the Korzo, which is like a big outside mall.  Right inside the Korzo is an Italian restaurant called Pizza Heaven.  We ate there for lunch.  Here are some photos of Caroline and me from the inside:

Then we started walking around the Korzo.  Here are some pictures of buildings and us running around:  

After a little walking around, we found a skating rink in an outdoor tent with music playing.  Skating is a big deal back at home, but here it is not as popular, so we were very happy to skate.  It only cost 60 kuna (Croatian money) or about 10 dollars to rent skates and skate for an hour.  This skating tent will just be up through tomorrow as part of the holiday season.

 Rijeka is right on the water.  Here's a ship at the port:

 

Alison

Caroline's First Post

The buildings are old in Croatia.

Caroline

Day 3

Our trip was long and exhausting, as expected, but amazingly smooth--a six-hour drive from our small town in upstate New York to Boston and then flights to Munich and onto Zagreb.  Here are Alison and Caroline, with suitcases, at Logan airport in Boston:

Since we arrived in Croatia, people have been incredibly helpful to us.  When we got to the airport in Zagreb, we were met by a representative from the U.S. Embassy, and then an embassy driver drove us the two hours to Rijeka.  Both our landlord and the director of the International Relations Office at the university were waiting for us at our apartment building when we arrived.

Our apartment is lovely.  It’s a 3 bedroom, furnished apartment, and when standing on our 5th floor balcony, we look out on the Adriatic Sea!  An Italian architect constructed this apartment building in 1939.  The outside is somewhat dilapidated while the inside of our apartment is newly renovated and gorgeous.  This apartment was vacant for maybe 15 years, and then our landlord, Vanja, completely redid it about a year ago.  We're only the second set of tenants; the first was another Fulbrighter and his family.  Here are a few views from our balcony: 

Vanja has done so much for us.  As soon as we arrived, he showed us a few small places to buy food nearby.  Yesterday he took us by car to a large mall outside of the city, so that we could do a big grocery shopping trip.  Today a second representative from the International Relations Office at the university (also very helpful) and our landlord took us to register with the police, to set up a bank account, to a café (great pastries and prices!), and to walk around Korzo, the city's main promenade.


Drivers here are much faster and more aggressive (and erratic) than those in the U.S.  So far, we have to required Caroline to hold an adult's hand and Alison to stay right by an adult when crossing the street.  (Both J.D. and I have been surprised at the extent to which cars seem to appear out of nowhere!)  At home we allow both girls to cross our (small) street by themselves without any adult present.


We took some family Croatian lessons back at home (thank you, Marko!!!), but now I wish I'd been studying A LOT more!  Of course, navigating everything would be a lot easier right now if we could speak more Croatian.  We're trying to learn quickly!


Dovidenja! (Goodbye!)
Laura

A Warm Welcome

Hello, and welcome to our family blog. As it says in our profile, we are on the Fulbright Exchange program. We will be living in Riijeka, Croatia. In fact, we are leaving tomorrow!
Please note that we will sign our name if we wrote the post. I'm Alison, the 10 year old, and my sister, Caroline, is 6. My parents' names are: Laura and Jondavid (J.D.). We will be traveling to many different places in Europe, and writing about them. So on behalf from my family, we hope you enjoy our blog!

Thank you very much,
Alison