The last three days in Sarajevo were less focused on exploring the city and doing fun stuff and more focused on just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. A lot of my time was spent chasing a position at the OSCE. It didn’t work out, obviously, but it was the first spark of interest in working in Sarajevo. Anyway, the first night back from Mostar we went out to the Sarajevo Brewery, where Carey couldn’t hold on to his beer, apparently.
Ivana Got a "Wee" Beer
Then Carey Dumped His on the Table
The next night we celebrated Ben’s Birthday by making food at the house while he was at work and inviting over a bunch of his and Ivana’s friends.
Dutiful Wife and Buddy Working Away in the Kitchen
Ivana Lighting the Birthday Log
Ivana and Friends Enjoy the Party
Jack's Boots, You Wouldn't Understand
On our last day, we pretty much just chilled and wandered around.
My Favorite Sarajevo Picture - Calling out the Prayer without Amplification
I Want to Be This Guy When I'm Old
WWII Fortress on the Hillside - Used During the Seige by the Serbs
On day 5 in Sarajevo Carey and I spent most of the day walking around and hiking (read: getting lost in random neighborhoods). The above shot is one of my favorites from the trip. I’ll just post the pictures without much narrative. Not much had gone on that day. The most interesting part of the hike was the cemetary we went through, complete with the guarded grave of the first president of an independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović. A lot of the graves were from the war. Just thousands of them all with the same years on them during the siege (mostly 92). Here are pics from that hike.
This clock tells how many hours of daylight are left, rather than time, to aid prayer scheduling.
A street dedicated to rug-mongers. Yes, I just made that word up.
Graves
The Grave of B&H’s First President
Another View of the City
Move Graves
Me in Front of a Fortified Hill
Another View of the City, This Time with Carey
A View of the Old Library Where We Saw the Concert
Another City View, Not How the Cemetaries Are Built Right In
Carey Walking Along a Fortified Hill's Wall
A Good View of the Manor That's Bombed in the City Center
Walking Along the City's Edge at the Site of an Old Fortress
Looking out from the City
On day six Carey and I followed the recommendation of our hosts, Ben and Ivana, to visit a town called Mostar. Mostar is so named because of the famous bridge there (most, pronounced like moss with a “T” sound, is the Slavic for “bridge”). It was a site of some of the fiercest fighting during the war, as you’ll see from some of the scarring. The damage sadly included the destruction of the original bridge, but it has since been rebuilt. Despite the damage, it’s still a beautiful city, though you can still sense some ill-ease in the air. One obvious symptom was the gigantic church steeple, erected specifically to be taller than any of the local mosques’ minarets. Still, it was a nice experience if a little touristy. I think the most memorable thing for me was the strikingly emerald water in the river.
Misty Mountains and Winding Roads
More Mist on Mountains, This Time with Water and an Old Bridge
Mountains and Sky
Signs of Battle in Mostar
The other side of the street; the tourist town we were visiting was the scene of one of the war's front lines.
The Base of the Church with the Bell Tower
The Tall Tower
Still a Lot of Rebuilding to Do
They Are Making Progress, Though
Approaching the Bridge at the City Center
Looking back on our Way to the Bridge
A Look at the Tower, with Another Sign of Who is Boss Over the Town
Not Sure if This Was Supporting a Football Club or a Partisan Group or What
Days three and four seemed to have been pretty laid back. I was still feeling ill form Cairo at that point, but it was still a lot of fun just chilling out with two of my best friends from Peace Corps. The big news at this point was that I had decided to interview for a job with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). I think it would have been fun, and I thought the interview went well, but, unfortunately, the lady I interviewed with ended up going on vacation right after and then quitting to boot. I imagine I got lost in the shuffle pretty easily. I spent most of those days working on my resume and stuff for the process, but still had a lot of fun in Sarajevo. On that Monday (day 4 of Sarajevo) I had the interview, which is why you see me in a tie later on. Here are some pics from those days.
Ben and Carey
Proof That Beer Loves Me Back!
A Friend of Ivana's and Ivana Herself
The Bee Festival
Men Playing Chess in the Center Square by the Bee Festival
Post Interview Beers with My Boys
Birds Over Sarajevo
Sunset Over Sarajevo
Deflating with a Clove
We Didn't Know That By Just Ordering "Beer" We'de Get Wee Ones...
Carey and I said goodbye to Cairo on the early morning of Sept. 14th, 2007 and were happy to leave. We had gotten the hostel owner to set us up with a driver (his cousin or something who had his own independent service). We agreed upon a set price for the fare, but, of course, the guy wanted baksheesh. We didn’t tip him despite his qualms and went into the airport. It was another bit of shuffling around and Carey spending his last Egyptian pounds on us to snack and hydrate. I was not looking forward to what a flight was going to do to m stomach, but it ended up being ok. Before a terribly long time we were on our way to Sarajevo. It felt good to see the Balkans and other such mountains under us once we got back into Europe. I have to admit, I feel comfortable in southeastern mountain ranges there now. I enjoy them. I’m familiar and comfortable with them. I was not so with Cairo. I’m sure that I could have gotten used to Egypt, but Cairo was too much. Once we landed Carey and I were very pleased to be able to use our Bulgarian again to communicate to others (Bulgarian and Serbo-Croation are pretty close) rather than to hide our identities as Americans. We were able to catch a cab after deciding not to use one guy who was trying to rip us off (or maybe we didn’t and did get taken for a literal ride, but I remember arguing with a cabby). Anyway, we arrived into downtown Sarajevo without too much incident (no lost luggage this time) and got in touch with Ben to meet us out in his building’s lobby. After a quick lunch of chicken sandwiches we were able to drop our bags off at Ben’s and explore the city a bit while he returned to work.
Sarajevo's Eternal Flame Dedicated to the Fallen of WWII
Carey and I did some walking around, hit up an internet cafe I’m sure, and basically just enjoyed not being in Cairo (recurring theme, I know). Afterward Ben and his then new wife Ivana met up with us and we went to a street cafe before decided to get dinner at the Sarajevo Pivaria, or brewery. We ended up there a few nights during our stay, but it was good and fun. Here are some more pictures from that first day.
Ben and Ivana at a Cafe
Bullet Holes from the War on Ben's Apartment's Outer Wall
The View from Ben's Terrace
Day 2 in Sarajevo (Sept. 15, 2007) was a Saturday, so Ben and Ivana both had the day off and were able to show us around. Our principal objective for the trip was to weave through some of the old town and make our way to a hilltop cafe called Biban. We also stopped every now and then for local delights and to just chill and enjoy the city. Here are some pics from that walk.
A Building Still Bombed Out from the War
Baščaršija, a Famous Street / Neighborhood in the Old Turkish Quarter
At a Mexican Place in Baščaršija
Carey Eating Burek, It's Hot!
Carey and Ben Sitting Opposite the Store I Was Shopping At
The Main Square in Baščaršija
Never Quite Figured Out What This Place Was, But Better Looks at it Reveal Massive Bomb Damage
The Old (Bombed Out) University Library
The Bridge Where WWI Started
A Chinese Tower Cafe, Where Later in Our Stay We Got Refreshments
Men Playing Chess During the Sarajevo Bee Festival
Ben and Ivana at Cafe Biban
Uppers + Downwers = Heaven Mid-Hike
Sarajevo from Cafe Biban
Still Newlyweds
Narrow Sidewalk
A Sarajevo Rose - Site Where a Mortar Killed Someone
After the hike Ben arranged for us to experience a rare treat. The Italian Embassy was giving a concert in the old library seen above and arranged admittance for us. It was a great night of excellent music in a beautiful old ruin of a building. They’re slowly restoring it, but much, much work was still yet to be done.
I was pretty sick by this time in Cairo. We made a foray to the Egyptian Museum, but I was having none of that. I made a quick scan of King Tut’s stuff between sprints to the cafeteria toilet and decided to spend the day resting in the hotel while Carey had fun. That night we met up with some of Carey’s friends doing mission work in Cairo,ate some fast food, and pretty much chilled. Here’s some filler images, however, so that you can see more of Cairo despite my own inactivity that day.
Where to start with Hristina? She and I first met my second summer in Bulgaria. I had been helping Matt run the summer day-camp he and I had put on and which I took over the next year. Hristina was dating another American volunteer at the time. He was in the same group as Matt was, so he and Matt were both about to leave the country. Hristina was driving him through Bulgaria to say goodbye to his friends, and they came through Zavet to meet up with Matt. That night she crashed on the floor with her boyfriend in my spare room after helping cook dinner. Ends up she was an archaeologist (how sexy is that!?) and cut hair in Sofia. The barber in my town had just left to go back to the Netherlands, and I could no longer get my hair cut in town since the ladies at the beauty shop didn’t cut men’s hair. So, I got Hrisi’s number, and told her I would call for an appointment when I got back in to Sofia, which I did at least every three months. It became a strong friendship.
I saw Hristina almost every time I went to Sofia. I’d call her, make sure she had an opening, and would go get my haircut. A couple of time we’d go out to a party together. Eventually she came back to Zavet a year after we’d met to participate in the camp. She volunteered to come and paid 40 leva to travel 12 hours round trip to get there (keep in mind most Bulgarians only earn about 300 Leva a month!). She spent two days volunteering and even chipped in for food and beer (meanwhile some Peace Corps volunteers – whose job it was to be there – were grumbling about 5 leva a day for food and beer and lodging at Chez Koubi). What a beautiful soul!
At the end of my time in Bulgaria she came out to my going away dinner, as seen in this post. It was a sad affair saying goodbye to her, but I had faith I would see her again. Continuing my friendship with her (we still email and chat online), is one of the big reasons I am hoping to get stationed in the Balkans with the Foreign Service.
Anyway, I’m surprised it took this long for me to do a post about her. Хриси- Лиспваш мен!
BFE Indeed. Excuse me, sir, can you tell me how to get back to Interstate Ten?
Alright, I’m super-pissed at WordPress right now. I FINALLY get back to trying to update this thing for once and it autosaves right when, for some reason while undoing some poor image entry with <ctrl>+<z>, I lose the whole post and wordpress autosaves the post! I lost everything, and I was almost done! Argh! Cairo continues to curse me even after a year plus! Curse you right back, Cairo!
So here goes rebuilding this post from memory…
Carey and I arranged with the hostel owner to have one of his relatives drive us out to the pyramids on the morning of day three. This was not a cab. This was us paying his cousin or brother of third uncle twice removed on his step-dad’s side or something. Keep that in mind for later. The ride over was interesting. Any car ride in Cairo as a visitor is interesting. It’s just so busy. I’d hate to have to drive in it, but it’s kind of fun to see it as a spectator, provided you’re in no hurry. By the time we got to Giza and started to see the Pyramids poke through gaps in buildings we began to see camels alongside the road pulling carts and stuff much like donkeys did in Bulgaria, only this was new and fresh and interesting to us again because, hey, there’s a camel! This mood was quickly spoiled by our destination outside of Giza – a shabby stable for a racket where our driver oh so kindly took us to a place where we could rent horses or camels very cheap to see the pyramids on. “Oh, it’s so far, and it’s so big. You’ll get tired.” Whatever, dude, we’re not falling for it. That may work for some fat middle-aged tourist from the industrialized West who isn’t used to walking anywhere exept to his bed, couch, table, desk, or car, but we Peace Corps veterans are used to walking around all damned day. Also, your camels and horses are not exactly the best looking animals in the world, and I refuse to support your business and the conditions it keeps them in. Also, I’m not too keen on the smell of the damned beasts and don’t want it to dominate my experience. So, after being harassed for five minutes there we walked up to the pyramids.
Sphinx, and Two of Three Great Pyramids
On of the first things that strikes you about the pyramids, besides their enormity, is how close they are to the city. In the nice pictures you always see of them they always look like their off in the distant desert with civilazation nowhere to be found. Not the case. As Clark Griswold would say, “I think they took this from a different angle.” The city is right there, and its pollution’s haze distorts your gaze if you look back at it. This picture from behind the Sphinx illustrates the proximity well:
The Sphinx Watches over Giza
The first thing you get to do is walk around the Sphinx, which is in a pit from when it was excavated. Some of it, as you can see above, has been reconstructed. It’s still pretty large and impressive, though. And beautiful.
Riddle Me This...
After the Sphinx you can walk up to the rest of the complex, dominated by the three Great Pyramids. It also includes a series of smaller ones, however. Tourists can enter the biggest one, Kufu’s, but they limit that to just a few hundred a day (and thousands come every day), so it’s hard to get in. The smaller pyramids are, on the other hand, open all day long to whoever wants to see them. We entered one such pyramid, as seen in these images:
A Smaller Pyramid
Where, Apparently, Queen Henutsen Was Buried
After a Long, Low, Narrow Stair in, You Go Through the Hole and Even Deeper
Carey Coming Down
Carey Checking out the Glyphs
Heiroglyphs!
Being inside a pyramid is pretty cool. It’s just amazing to know that your inside something that old. Of course the signs said no pictures, but the guard said it was ok to do it anyway. Of course, then he wanted bakhshish for it. We refused, of course. It wasn’t our style to pay someone to not do their job. After that small tour, we spent an hour or so just walking around and looking at the massive things. Carey wrote a bit in his journal while sitting on the Great Pyramid, I took lots of photos, etc. Basically we just marveled at the majesty of these huge structures. Here are the more interesting pics:
Look at the Size of These Stones!
And If You Thought THAT Was Big...
BFFs on the Great Pyramid
The Pyramid of Kharfe
It Is Also Big
Very Big
And to Think the Other Is Still Bigger
Hot Sun over Giza
Glyphs Inside a Temple
More Glyphs
Leaving Giza before Saqqara
After walking around for an hour and some more, we reunited with the driver and he dropped us off at Saqqara to walk around some more.
Walking through the Dessert in Saqqara
The Step Pyramid Peaks through the Distance
Carey Has a Little Captain in Him
The Step Pyramid of Djoser
A Redneck in Egypt
Saqqara went more quickly than we expected, and we were tired and ready to go, but the driver wasn’t there to take us to the next stop until the when we told him we’d be done, so we had to wait an hour. We just sat and the shade and waited. It actually wasn’t too bad of a break, really. Still, a good driver looking for a tip should have waited around (you still remember this wasn’t a cab, right?). Anyway, after an hour of waiting he shows up and we head for Memphis.
After Memphis, which really only took about 20 minutes, we headed back to the hostel. It had been a long day already and we were tired. Of course the driver wanted bakhshish for having done his job in physically transporting us which we had already paid him for, but we didn’t. Still, it kind of irked us that he would ask after we already paid for his services, especially since they weren’t that great.
So that night Carey and I went out and got some awesome food and shisha at Seqouia, a restaurant on the Zamalek island in the Nile. It was the best food experience we’d then had in Cairo. The place is all open air under a large tent, with shisha coal-boys running around constantly. It’s on the tip of the island, so all around us was the Nile. It was magnificent. Check out Carey blowing out shisha smoke and the video of what the place was like.
Awesome! I hadn’t seen this version before. Thanks, Ivan!
Also, I’ve been super-swamped lately. In case y’all didn’t notice, we had a hurricane come through Baton Rouge, then I had to do a bunch of United Way stuff with that, and now I’m currently working on studying for the Foriegn Service Officer’s Exam and the lenghty application to take the test. So be patient with me, I’ll try and get some more content up soon, but don’t hold your breath.
That’s right. I said it. You don’t even have to do it ironically to enjoy these guys. Well, yeah, maybe you do, but they’re still awesome. I just find it amazing that they’re still out there doing their thing.
So this is the original 1976 video. Pretty basic. The dude’s pretty calm. Horrible and unsynced choreography, but you can see how they really polished it up and kicked it up a notch for this next one.
This is the 1986 re-recorded version. Whoa! Unison! Crazy shirtless dude going crazy and shirtless! How can you not love this?! I mean seriously, I think the only way to respond to having seen this video would be this:
I mean, really, can you dig it?
So here we’ve fast fowarded to 2005. These guys are still doing their thing! Crazy shirtless dude is still shirtless and crazy, and old now too! Bonus!
So here the dude waxes philosophical in front of a crowd of Italians who just don’t understand English, or maybe the BS he was spitting out was just too crazy for them? Either way, this is clearly a rather weak performance. The vocal quality has obviously gone down, and he’s starting improvising a lot too. Hrmm… I wonder where this leads?
New dancer! Sadly, his craziness is obviously affected, and his shirtlessness falls flat. His vocals also do poorly, even compared to the other guy when he got old. Sad.
Anyway, that’s your lesson in the awesomeness of yesteryear, kids.
So I’m a little embarrassed about this plug. I actually don’t own any of Lindsay’s music, but I want to. I remember the first time I met Lindsay. It was way back in 2000. I was a young punk (as in inexperienced and stupid, not mo-hawk and boots) with long hair and a goatee in my freshman year at LSU. I think I ran into her at the Varsity or (the old) Chelsea’s or maybe the Spanish Moon. Anyway, it doesn’t matter where, but I got invited to see her play a small gig at a coffee shop off of Sherwood Forest I had never heard of called the Daily Grind. I went out to the show and really enjoyed it. In retrospect I probably creeped her out just a bit. I know it’s hard for my dear readers to imagine, but I was not always the smooth and suave operator you know and love today. Anyway, she had some cool stuff, covered some Brak songs (which was really cool at the time), and generally made a good impression in terms of who she was and what she was about.
Anyway, Lindsay is one of those people you just see around. I’ve bumped into her a few times over the years and it always seems to be that she’s still doing the really cool living the dream and playing music still thing. Recently she came out with a new CD and did a release party at the Spanish Moon that I really should have gone to but didn’t. So I guess the point of this post (like most of these reviews) is to tell you that she’s good and you should check her out.
Clicking on the picture above will send you to her website with streaming audio of some of her stuff. The Advocate says she sounds like Imogen Heap, the Cranberries (I can actually hear a bit of Delores in her voice), and Bjork. I like all of those artists and I like LRS too. I’m definitely going to keep a look out for her next show and, when not broke from dentist bills and saving for another trip to Little Rock, buy her CDs. Remember to support your local artists and musicians, folks.
A
