1, In Bosnia, and most of Europe, the "comma" replaces the "period."
2, The cost of living is much cheaper. For example they use marks instead of dollars- it's roughly 1.5 marks to each U.S dollar...and a lovely sized cone of homemade banana vanilla ice cream only costs just 50 fenings (33 cents) ...so, it's possible I've gotten a lot of ice cream since being here =P
3, What's known as the hipster mullet in the States is actually a common hairdo amongst most boys here...no comment really.
4, It's impolite to place your feet on the coffee table.
5, Except in the river and swimming pools, no bare feet outside, or passed the specified "take your shoes off area." Not even a step is allowed. Me being a Kentuckian it's almost required that I walk around outside in bare feet, so this one's been kind of tough remembering. I got yelled at by a deaf guy for doing it..so ya.
6, Always shake with your right hand. Supposedly toilet paper is sometimes in short supply. Haven't experienced this one yet...
7, It's culturally acceptable to drop your drawers, pull out your man parts, and relieve yourself in the middle of the river while conversing with your peers.
8, The worse the food actually is for your body, the better. Cevapi tastes most excellent but it's essentially the greasiest sausage links imaginable, rolled up in soggy pita bread, stuffed with extraordinarily tasteful onions, smeared with cheese butter. YUM!
9, The coffee is potent, addictive, and expected to be drunk until your body physically can't manage any more of it.
10, The local weather channel is hosted by scantily clad women. So far I've seen a "hot cop" (as Jeff called her) and a poorly done cheerleader interpretation.
11, The movie theater in town shows American films with Bosnian subtitles. So that's festive.
12, Becky talks about Tony a lot.
13, It's to be expected that when a Bosnian musician is performing live, the entire show is them lip-synching. BLAH! Give it to me raw and wiggly!
14, Pipe smoking is somewhat of a rare phenomenon.
15, It's difficult for the language to sound pleasant. I'm not saying people are upset or angry in the least when they speak, it just sounds rather intimidating.
16, Most cars run on diesel fuel.
17, A local can easily pick a foreigner out of a crowd simply by our walk and the way we carry ourselves. I've noticed that the proper way to walk is to throw your shoulders back, stick out your head a bit, and just sort of saunter like you haven't got a care in the world where it is that you're going, or how long it takes for you to get there. It's amazing.
18, It's the season of Ramadan right now, so all the devouts are fasting during the day, only eating when the sun isn't up. But, it's surprising really to see how many people could seriously give a rat's ass about the entire thing.
19, My body feels tired at night, but I'm unable to fall asleep. There may be various factors that come into play here (jet lag, excess coffee intake, general insomnia) but it's kind of annoying =]
20, The weather is blistering hot midday, and nippy at night. They say it's expected to begin cooling off drastically here in the next month or so...hooray for that. (I say that now...but by december I'll be jonesing for a warm sunny day haha)
21, The plums (among other fruits) are much smaller here, but taste better, and again...are cheaper. 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) of plums that were shaken off local trees only cost me 1 mark...ya.
22, My dreams have been strange as of late.
23, There's a lot of trash...everywhere. Apparently going green is not the thing. There's not one recycling center even remotely close by. Jeff laughed at me when I proposed the idea of me buying a load of trash bags and going around picking up garbage. But I'm going to do it regardless ;]
24, Gypsy kids are persistent when it comes to asking for money.
25, The women's place is in the kitchen. In all honesty though, the role of the women here isn't as degrading as I thought it would be prior to coming. From what I've experienced they're still involved in everything and included in conversations and such. They're just also expected to perform their womanly duties.
26, The pace to life is much slower here...which I couldn't be more thrilled about. Rushing and stressing to be somewhere is essentially obsolete.
27, The foundation to success in the field of mission work is primarily allowing yourself to devote time to the people and form lasting, genuine relationships with them.
28, There are a lot of wild dogs.
29, The mountainous landscape is beyond beautiful and not something to be taken for granted.
30, Short shorts, manpris, picking at your bellybutton, showing off your chest hair, and being proud of scars are all ordinary, male things =D
31, When you're out and about in public and need to use the john (and don't feel like whipping it out) you gotta pay for it...unless of course you're in a restaurant...of course. (Becky acted like I was a downright fool when I asked if it costed anything to pee while we were eating yesterday)
32, Running with Jeff is enjoyable.
33, Air conditioning doesn't exist. Well it does, but it's super uncommon, and cross breezes are looked upon as some scary voodoo. So lots of time it's warm in the houses.
34, Jeff's really good at air hockey. Next time we're at the arcade I'm demanding we foos it up.
35, The open air market is a fun place to go. Inexpensive clothing and such, fresh food, lots of people.
36, My tattoo is healing well. Praises be!
37, Having the television on for background noise is a cultural normality. No one really ever pays attention to it or could even care less what's on. I don't understand why conversations need background noise. But oh well.
38, There's little to no wildlife. It was pretty much all driven out during the war.
39, Several women have already asked me if I came to Bosnia to find a wife.
40, The Summays really get the whole Christian thing. I'm super happy to be here in Bosnia and I can't wait for the ensuing months.
HECK IT'S ONLY BEEN A WEEK! =D
Grace and Peace,
Kaleb
9, The coffee is potent, addictive, and expected to be drunk until your body physically can't manage any more of it.
10, The local weather channel is hosted by scantily clad women. So far I've seen a "hot cop" (as Jeff called her) and a poorly done cheerleader interpretation.
11, The movie theater in town shows American films with Bosnian subtitles. So that's festive.
12, Becky talks about Tony a lot.
13, It's to be expected that when a Bosnian musician is performing live, the entire show is them lip-synching. BLAH! Give it to me raw and wiggly!
14, Pipe smoking is somewhat of a rare phenomenon.
15, It's difficult for the language to sound pleasant. I'm not saying people are upset or angry in the least when they speak, it just sounds rather intimidating.
16, Most cars run on diesel fuel.
17, A local can easily pick a foreigner out of a crowd simply by our walk and the way we carry ourselves. I've noticed that the proper way to walk is to throw your shoulders back, stick out your head a bit, and just sort of saunter like you haven't got a care in the world where it is that you're going, or how long it takes for you to get there. It's amazing.
18, It's the season of Ramadan right now, so all the devouts are fasting during the day, only eating when the sun isn't up. But, it's surprising really to see how many people could seriously give a rat's ass about the entire thing.
19, My body feels tired at night, but I'm unable to fall asleep. There may be various factors that come into play here (jet lag, excess coffee intake, general insomnia) but it's kind of annoying =]
20, The weather is blistering hot midday, and nippy at night. They say it's expected to begin cooling off drastically here in the next month or so...hooray for that. (I say that now...but by december I'll be jonesing for a warm sunny day haha)
21, The plums (among other fruits) are much smaller here, but taste better, and again...are cheaper. 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) of plums that were shaken off local trees only cost me 1 mark...ya.
22, My dreams have been strange as of late.
23, There's a lot of trash...everywhere. Apparently going green is not the thing. There's not one recycling center even remotely close by. Jeff laughed at me when I proposed the idea of me buying a load of trash bags and going around picking up garbage. But I'm going to do it regardless ;]
24, Gypsy kids are persistent when it comes to asking for money.
25, The women's place is in the kitchen. In all honesty though, the role of the women here isn't as degrading as I thought it would be prior to coming. From what I've experienced they're still involved in everything and included in conversations and such. They're just also expected to perform their womanly duties.
26, The pace to life is much slower here...which I couldn't be more thrilled about. Rushing and stressing to be somewhere is essentially obsolete.
27, The foundation to success in the field of mission work is primarily allowing yourself to devote time to the people and form lasting, genuine relationships with them.
28, There are a lot of wild dogs.
29, The mountainous landscape is beyond beautiful and not something to be taken for granted.
30, Short shorts, manpris, picking at your bellybutton, showing off your chest hair, and being proud of scars are all ordinary, male things =D
31, When you're out and about in public and need to use the john (and don't feel like whipping it out) you gotta pay for it...unless of course you're in a restaurant...of course. (Becky acted like I was a downright fool when I asked if it costed anything to pee while we were eating yesterday)
32, Running with Jeff is enjoyable.
33, Air conditioning doesn't exist. Well it does, but it's super uncommon, and cross breezes are looked upon as some scary voodoo. So lots of time it's warm in the houses.
34, Jeff's really good at air hockey. Next time we're at the arcade I'm demanding we foos it up.
35, The open air market is a fun place to go. Inexpensive clothing and such, fresh food, lots of people.
36, My tattoo is healing well. Praises be!
37, Having the television on for background noise is a cultural normality. No one really ever pays attention to it or could even care less what's on. I don't understand why conversations need background noise. But oh well.
38, There's little to no wildlife. It was pretty much all driven out during the war.
39, Several women have already asked me if I came to Bosnia to find a wife.
40, The Summays really get the whole Christian thing. I'm super happy to be here in Bosnia and I can't wait for the ensuing months.
HECK IT'S ONLY BEEN A WEEK! =D
Grace and Peace,
Kaleb
Hurray! You're back. Great observations. Thank you so much for sharing this stuff!
ReplyDeletespot on my friend!
ReplyDelete...and Jeff will likely school you in foosball too!
ReplyDeleteI love how you described it being so laid back. I can not begin to imagine how that would be to live like that way. I am blown away at your view on so many things. I can not wait to hear more and see how the trash pick up goes. I also think you made a great point about the foundation of your work being building relationships. That sounds so simple but it is so true. Something we can do easily anywhere we are if we just take the time to do so. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDelete