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Mari's spaceCome with me ... BiH, MONTENEGRO, CROATIAHere I am, after a long long time. Well, to be honest, the last time I wanted to write somnething down was a week ago but I was so tired that it made me fall asleep. It was the same morning I came back home from the amazing trip to some of Ex-Yugoslav countries. Apart of that I had great time this summer in my village despite of the fact its not place where you would spend your holidays but this is changing. I must admit it was never boring, we had always someone visiting us, me visiting Istria and spending nice time enjoying the sun while getting sunburnt jaj and swimming until my legs and arms hurt. However, I was (un)pleasantly surprised when seeing all that new holiday houses built in Cittanova. Jao!
So, on the 8th september me, Mateja, Emil and OpelAstra started our spontaneous road trip at the parking of Motel Plitvice (Zagreb). I did come late the previous night from the concert of my fav cro singer Gibonni but there was no time to be tired. Just the opposite, I am wide awake when its time to go somewhere! We crossed the border to BiH in Stara Gradiska, drove through Banja Luka and had our first stop in Jajce, with its beautiful waterfall. When first entering Bosnia we (Emil it was who was driving) were "shocked" about the way people drive there. ;) If you go with a car you better be wide awake since people tend to drive on the opposite side of the road they should normally drive. It was sure an adventure coming to Sarajevo. ;) The Olympic City from the year 1984. We spend only a day and a night there but I found it fascinating. All I can say is: go and visit it for yourself. Its not only about ćevapčići, there is history and its people. And the New Sarajevo has a flair of any western capital. Clean city, safe, not that expensive and good fun!
I would always recommend to go with a car to be able to experience all the beauty, seen from the top of the country all the way down to the border with Montenegro. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country with a stunning nature, hospitality, good roads, we never had any problems, not even with the police.
When entering Montenegro we had to pay 10euros Ecotax. I think this is the only ex-yu country with those stickers. As a slovenian citizen we were always welcomed, especially in Montenegro where slovenians are seen as good tourists. The country defends its name all the way; everywhere you look is picturesque landscape: high mountains, clean lakes, stunning beaches and yes, cows, horses, goats everywhere. Yes, I mean everywhere. Usually on the roads just around the corner. So, when driving do drive slow and carefully. However, we reached our goal - Budva and gor accomodated in a super beautiful apartement. Our hosts were one of a kind and if you do go to Budva dont forget to book a room there. :) As for Budva, this cute city is full of russian tourist, maybe there is something that they bought quite a lot land there.Soon they are going to build Aquapark and huge golf courses there. The island of Sv. Stefan was rented for 30years from a singaporean company as well, so there is no way to try to land there. There are popular beaches as Slovenska plaza, which was named not after Slovenian (what most of us woudl think) but after Slovakian tourist. You will do the best if you book a boat and someone will take you to undiscovered beaches where you can swim in a clear blue water. Stunning! We spent almost 4 days in Montenegro which included Ulcinj, Bar, Kotor and this was not all, because I am coming back one day.
We had a view of all the Montenegro coast from Ulcinj and up to Kotor. And again, you have to see this places to understand what I am writing about. ;) You have to experience Dubrovnik, in my opinion a must see as one of the most amazing places in the world. We did not have much time to spend there as we were on our way to Mostar, wheer the rain was waiting on us. We did have hot, sunny weather all the time only the last day was kind of depressive. But despite of rain we were glad to have some sun shining down on us as we 2conquered" Mostar again one of the must see places!
All in all, this trip brought back good memories, it will be remembered not only as good fun, but through super nice people we met, because they are the ones who you will carry in your heart. And last but not least, nature lovers should put those countries in their itinerary.
I have been thinking on my next adventure, of course I have. ;)
Stay tuned... jaj
p.s. Photos will be uploaded soon. Be patient. ;)
Cosas Imposibles… pasan siempre (a mi). Impossible is nothing.
I left Belfast, UK, para siempre end of may and returned back home for the UEFA EURO 2008, volunteer job in Austria, as you may all know by now. Pardon my english, I am a bit confused with all the languages. When I speak I use 2 … 3… 4…. or more of them in a sentence. In any case, I attended the “Welcome Service” training in Klagenfurt as well. Met great people over there, got my accreditation, my uniform, I was really looking forward to the start of THE event… and then it had to come; 1st of June 2008, Sunday early morning, well it was 10am, just 2 days before my departure to Klagenfurt. I was taken to the hospital due to ruptured appendicitis. (I think I wrote it wrong but I guess you know what I mean). It hurt like hell, I couldn’t breath, as per then I thought I would die. Yeah, I know what you think: “She could get a prize for being the greatest panic in the universe.” Well, ladies and gentlemen, the docs said that coming home at that point (and yes, I nearly died for Croatia or better: Croatia saved my life.) and not eating harira in Morocco or dancing samba in Brasil or doing whatever in other country that wasn’t Slovenia (after being around for some time I still trust Slovene docs the most), saved my life. What is more, I had no insurance! Nada. Every time when I went abroad it was without insurance because – read this and then you are allowed to say/think how stupid I am - I wanted to save some money. Luckily nothing ever happened to me, no crocodile scared me in Australia, nor I ate too much asado in Argentina or fruit in Morocco or junk food in Belfast or... Ok, I will get to the point. I was f… lucky since my mom could arrange the insurance on time although it was the day after surgery. I had luck, bloody hell. I spent 10 days in hospital, in a room with 2 ladies, one of them was great, the other one was snoring and when she wasn’t snoring she was talking. What she did was either snoring or talking. Otherwise she was alright and luckily, she left after 2 days. And another one came. It was then when I started to ask myself if I am in hell. Or maybe hospitals are like that. Till then I have never been in one.
Bueno, I survived. I had to take a rest for a month at home. That meant being at only one place, at a place called home, at a place that was interesting for me for 10 days, for a month. That meant end of life. Joke. Ah, ok. I have to say, that in the past 3 years I didn’t have permanent phone number or address, only permanent thing was and still is my email address. I hope this will come to an end soon, all this moving thing, every year all over again (although I would like to learn Portuguese, French & Arabic as well). I loved it, but now I would like to get a teaching position in a school “somewhere” (excluding cold north and preferring CRO) in Europe. I always wanted to teach, now I will have to do my best to get the internship first, which, I realized, in Slovenia won’t happen. We will see. Impossible is nothing.
Cuidado con la vida
beijos
p.s. I met a family from Hawaii. Yes, from Hawaii in my small village. They were really cool, and now I am invited to visit them. You see, when it is not possible for me to ravel the destinations come to me jaja. Better In TimeNot that nothing was happening since my last post. Just the opposite, plenty of things going on: one weekend I was visiting Ivana (a friend from HC) in Dublin, who like me wants to explore more of Morocco; the other weekend I was hosting Oxford Ian who brought the sun and chocolate to Belfast; I booked the ticket to Edinburgh; booked the tickets for Slovenia as well; week days are usually busy, but I took some time after work to meet for a drink with colleagues from work and other acquintances I meet during my, already, 11 months stay in Belfast.
If I look back on that 21st of June when I came first to rainy London I had tears in my eyes. There was no sun, and back home I remember it was 30 deegrees. Belfast was not so much different from London, I can say even worse when it comes to weather; I think this place had the most rainy days in the universe! ;) However, my days in Belfast are counted: 4 weeks more to go and I will be back in my home country. Actually, I cannot wait since I think may is the best month to spend in my little village, when everything is so "spring". Ahhhhhh, and the time in Austria in June as well; I bet it will be amazing experiencing that huge event, live! I still have to find a wee room; I had one person confirming, but who knows, hopefully I wont have to sleep on the streets of Klagenfurt!
To be totally honest, my job sux big time! It must be the worst job ever; it gets even worse, every bloody day. Well, I did survive 11 months, but the last month I am meeting all the people working for our HR department. Why? Because I switched the place I sit at work without letting know my manager (who btw has NO experince in managing and I am still wondering who the hell put her on this position) - so did other colleagues do - and then she forced me to go sit back which I denied of course, since we are in a free country, so she couldnt deal with it and sent me to HR. It was ok with me since at least that one hour I didnt have to answer the phone. Then other time, because I complained that not everyone in team is doing equal amount of work, she sent me to employee relations. I was hoping I will get fired, but she just smiled. On other occasion I had to take Czech calls, although I explained that Slo/Cro is not the same language. What pisses me the most is when that same manager tells me: "I know Slovakian is not Czech but....""" Wtf???? Slovakian?? "Miss Smartass, I am from Slovenia, you should know that after 11 months!" So, we are arguing all the time (although she gives me right at the end), I think she likes to be pain in the ass or maybe she has too much spare time. Dunno, but she doesnt have to be bothered with me for the last month. So every second day I am on some "meetings, chats", or whatever, I feel like back in school! Not that I was a problem child, its just they treat as we were in a kindergarten or sth. Everyone of my colleagues complains about that but noone has guts to say it loud. Luckily I am gone from this misery of work in exact 1 mont! :)
Well, thats life, experience, something to learn from. Am I to naive? Do I look for the fairness when there is no such thing? Are not all the people supposed to be honest? Can we learn from our mistakes? How can you respekt someone who doesnt respekt you? Am I too good or too bad? Am I just ordinary girl who is lost? Did I lost something on the was here or there? Knock, knock, wake up, it all gets even better in time. :)
I spy with my little eye ...
Have a wee time! MOROCCOI finally managed to visit this amazing country; I have been truly amazed by the extremely friendly people, stunning landscape, beautiful beaches, historical cities, delicious food ... I could go on and on. But let me first start with a delayed flight from Dublin, freezing cold on the plane and the drunk (OK, maybe he wasnt THAT drunk but if he would have drunk one more shot on that plane I would sufFocate of the smell of the whiskey) but nice older man. His daughter was working for AERLingus so he could afford to go to diferent parts of the world almost for free. So he was in Thailand, USA, Dubai etc. Respect, respect! Anyways, after 3 hs we landed in AGADIR (southern Morocco), did all the passport checking, got a REALLY expensive taxi (25euros, which is way too much, so if you go dont make the same mistake as we did - me and mi amiga Claudia - make sure you negotiate the price before and find someone to share the ride; the parking is always full of taxis, be aware that on weekends the taxi ride is more expensive than on week days (?), at least one local guy told me so.. hmmm). Since we were really tired of the flight we paid the high price, got into the nice hotel (Hotel Sindibad, 12euro per night per person, 15min from the beach), had dinner (40drh = 4euros, including the traditional soup "harira", then the main dish "cous cous" and a dessert). I ate cous cous for the first time in my life and I find it, personally, so bloody dry, I poured all the "soup" and still it was too dry. The guys in Morocco are ... I have to admit really good looking, polite, most of them no pain in the ass with the "will you marry me" thing ;). Not much of a problem for a girl travelling alone, maybe you will get too much attention (as I did the last day in Agadir, after Claudia left for Argentina, when "couple" of guys approached me and wanted to marry me, give me everything, the house, the car, etc it was quite amusing though ;) just stay polite and they wont bother you anymore. In Agadir we spent then the next day, it was sunday, on the beach, with a fun (ny) french guy Matias and a super nice guy from Agadir, Tarik, who I met through HC. He was teaching me how to surf (near Agadir there are beautiful beaches, a surfers paradise, a lot of surfers visiting Morocco!). Me, boluda, thought it so easy to get on the surf board, but soon I realised that I CANNOT even get my ass on the surf board. The water wasnt super warm but outside it was super hot. :) In the evening we met some locals, ate "tajine", which is eaten with bread and using your fingers. How cool is that. And afterwards it is normal to share a mint tea, made of fresh mint leaves. In Morocco EVERYTHING IS FRESH! Vegetables, fruit, meat, bread, sweets, everything so natural. I have never seen a supermarket, they can survive saturday night without alcohol, people are super nice (once I passed by a shop and seen a guy eating some pancakes alike food, and he noticed it and offered me for free, or when I was puking on the bus from Essaouira because my stomach obvioulsy wasnt that familiar with all the spices, one older man offered me orange juice - I said politely "no, thank you" since the reason for my puking was the dessert I ate the previous night, fresh cut oranges with cinnamon), the women are also super friendly, it is just amazing how they treat a person they have never met before as a friend. That is missed in most of the countries in Europe. Ok, I must admit precausion is necessary, since there are people who see you as a "euro" or "dollar". But I had, luckily (or is it because it ws me ;)), good experience with the people I met.
I have to make it shorter, because I feel I could go on writing for hours about Morocco. ;) So on monday we took a bus to MARRAKESH, took us 4hs, 5euros, but be aware that if you book a cheap bus (CTM etc, tourist buses are called Supratours) you have to take your time since they usually do not depart at the promised time, usually you have to wait 30min, or an hour more ;). When in Marrakesh, we took a taxi (we didnt book any hotels in advance since its low season), it brought us to the most expenive hotel (20euro night/person), got the provision, stb!, but we didnt mind since the next day we found a hotel for only 7euro night/person. Marrakesh is a great city, it has a Medina (all around walls), with "souks" (bazars), where you can buy whatever you like. Full of tourist, especially french, spanish speaking. But if you are like me, just go a bit away from the tourist spots, there are always some kids who will help you find way back (for couple of dirhams). The city is full of stunning gardens, you can shop till you drop, go eat where the locals eat (we did it all the time), dont take the taxi to every sight you wanna see since it is nice to walk, and not everything is far away.
After spending 2 days in Marrakesh we took a bus to ESSAOUIRA, the windy city, la p. madre. The nights were bloody cold, the days windy, and people there know how to dress to protect themselves from the sun and the wind! The city is cute, although full of tourist, has a beautiful port where you can eat fresh seafood and nearby restaurants. Actually, this hippie place is known for a world renowned music festival, that happens in june of every year and becomes packed with musicians from all around the world. And you can bet that music called "gnawa" or "gnaoua" will put you in trance. ;)
In those 7 days we spent in Morocco, amazing things happened, it would took me too long to write down everything, I have a desire to write and write but I know I have to stop. Dont know what is happening to me. Hmmm. It was my first visit to Morocco, and I want to go back, hopefully this year, rent a car and see the rest of this incredible place, that I was able to experience a bit of it. I am not exaggerating when I say, that for me personally (when I sum up all my previous travels), Morocco is the country that has it all, the hospitality, the people, the landscape, beaches, tranquility. Morocco and the rest of Africa is definitely on my travel itinerary. You gotta see it, experience it, to believe it. I cannot believe that in only a week in Morocco I could write a whole book. Its strange. I felt as out of this planet, Africa surely is other world, where people are still people and where you can do "wow" at every step you make. Go and see for yourself. It hit me! Peace and love. Inshalah. Somewhere Over The Rainbow... there has to be a place with 330 days of sun. Ok, you probably know how the weather is today - rain. Actually, it looks pretty calming watchin the raindrops falling down. If you are inside of a house which has a heating. And if it lasts for a day or max. two. Not the heating, I meant the rain. Yesterday the city was covered with the snow, by today everything is gone.
I hope this is my last complaint about the rain here, since it doesnt help (pero yo me quejo siempre - I complain all the time ;)), the rain stays, its a part of this island, people who came here from other parts of the world say you get used to it - AFTER 3 YEARS. Whhhhaaaattttt? Or you leave the place after a year, which will be my option I guess, I think. I find it cool to get the chance to see this part of the world but I wanna see more! :) A colleague from work told me the other day: "Marica, we have to get out of this place!" He was thinking about the call center, which is by the way not the most boring job (and now we have restricted access to inet, I mean, do they wanna kill us?) in the world (researches were made to prove there are jobs which are worse), hmmm, thats strange. Now he is gone, friday was his last day, and me? Well, I am "stuck" here for a couple of months more. But I am gonna enjoy my time here despite of the rain and travel some more. I booked the ticket to Morocco, leaving on the 1st and returning on the 8th of march. Cannot wait, definitely gonna sit on the sun whole time until I get red like a tomato! And good that we dont need any visa since I, boluda, first booked and then checked if any other papers are required. ;)
January was rainy, during the week, but the last 2 weekends we had sun (for me it appears sunny when it doesnt rain but it does not necessarily mean it has to be so dangerous that you need sun block cream, lol) so I managed to go to Bangor and Newcastle, both beautiful towns on the east coast of Northern Ireland. I am plannig also to go to Scotland some time in near future since I have some holidays left. Well at work they practically "force" us to use the rest of holidays util end of march. Why? I dunno, it was something like: "The year is from april to april so bla bla bla..." I dont mind, since in april I can start again and take holidays :). I will have to since we will be having training for the volunteer job in Austria. Yes, I got it as you may noticed. :))))) I cannot express my joy when thinking I will be able to participate at such a huge event. Una locura! I might apply for a volunteer programme for the world cup 2010 in SA. ;) That would be awesome. And my younger brother is getting married in october!!!!!! Well done! Thats the greatest news in this year and it also means no pressure on me from my mums side for another year, since one wedding is "allowed" per year. ;))) And since I have an older brother which is getting married hopefully next year it means I can add another year. Lol. Any guy who wants to go with me on this event (the wedding, we wont be getting married to make things clear, at least not in the same day ;)), to see Slovenia/Croatia, free food and accomodation included, you will sleep in the same room but not in the same bed hahaha, feel free to apply. The ones who wish to apply please consider to be put under the lens to satisfy "high standards"! ay dios
Tuesdays in Belfast are reserved for cinema, tickets are cheap, it is an after work thing to do (except if you prefer a guinness in a crowded pub) and it is usually raining so outside recreation etc is excluded. Guys, you have to see "Kite Runner" (or read the book)... one word: AMAZING! One of the best movies I have seen in the past years! Check also "Zeitgeist"... the 1st part is ... lets you think. One of the worst movies of all times is "Alien vs Predator Requiem", Jesus Christ, Holy Shit etc. No comment. I dont even bother to put a link, since ... no words. I prefer "Alvin and the Chipmunks" to this piece of crap/bollocks.
Let me not bother you anymore, I do hope you got a decent laugh after reading my blog!
I will be back!
Cheers
UEFA girl ;)
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¡Gracias por tu visita!
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