what an awesome weekend

Well, one thing is for certain.. I am so glad I listened to everyone else but myself! hahaha! Rafting was so awesome! The experience was truly great! So Bree and I arrived late in Mostar and had a very low -key night with the girls, and probably one of the best pasta dinners I've had in Bosnia yet! With the busy day ahead of us we called it a night to ensure we'd get our butts out the door in time! Which is exactly what we did! Go us! We got to the hostel, which I just have to say is probably one of the most efficiently run hostels I've come across, because they are also a travel agency. Here is the link if you are at all interested in the other things they do: http://www.hostel-miturno.ba/.

So, we packed in to this huge old school van. And seriously it was hilarious... when we stopped for gas, the two guys who came with us who work at the hostel had to get out and push the van to get it to start. It felt like the scene straight out of 'Little Miss Sunshine!' It was rediculous. Needless to say I thought our driver was going to kill us.. these people in Bosnia really like to drive fast. Anyway, we made it to the site in one piece and were served brunch since it was like 11 something. Then we geared up in our wet-suits and water shoes and back in the van we went! We drove about 45 min away to our destination of rafting on the Neretva River, and met the man who was to be our guide... the few words to describe him.. mean & sexist. Apparently he we found out later that he had had a little to much Raqija (which is the local brand of liquor here that everyone drinks) and was a huuuggggeeeee jerk. He apparently felt the need to scream at us when we (and even the two guys from the hostel) weren't doing something correctly. He also felt the need to have the mindset that women are incapable of knowing how to row a boat. Well, FYI, telling 6 women from America who are the liberal, somewhat hippie's (hush Frank), and feminist types, that they are inferior to men at rowing a boat does NOT go over well... at one point he actually stopped the boat and made two of us get out because he wanted 2 more men in the boat... yeah, but excuse my french, he was an asshole. So, Bree and I decided to make life easy on everyone and we hopped out.. which was the best move because our new guide actually spoke English and so did the other two guys in the boat.

I think my absolute favorite part of the trip was when we came up to this one area that was alongside the river that had a ledge about 5 to 6 feet hanging over the river. Since my last trip to Mostar, I had wanted to cliff jump at the waterfalls, but because it had just rained I couldn't.. so here was my chance! I was sooo excited and nervous as all hell! It was hilarious because the second I turned around from Bree and headed up to climb the rocks my adrenaline kicked in and my whole bottom half of my body was shaking! It was so great! When I hit the water a huge rush of cold just hit me! (the water was freezing!.. not long before we hit this point their was a waterfall that flows into the river and that water is only 9 degrees! So it gives you a little perspective, but don't worry it was not that cold!) But the greatest thing about it was when I poked my head up out of the water and saw the rest of the IDP girls had jumped right behind me! I cheered on Bree to jump and in she went! It was such a great moment. We finished our rafting trip on the Neretva and ended up back where we ate Brunch. It was so cool, the staff their cooked us traditional Bosnian meals (which were delicious!) and it was just great!

Needless to say we were all pooped! We headed back to Mostar and just hung around the girls apartment. We called it a night pretty early and slept in on Sunday, which was nice not to have to rush. We got to see even more of Mostar the following day, because Bree and I just decided to take the 3pm bus back to Sarajevo.. which we felt like we were chancing it, but we didn't care. We ended up getting back to Tuzla at 9pm.. it was a really long trip, but it was totally worth it! It makes me want to see what water rafting in Denver is like!! Who knows, this could be my new thing! haha but seriously, it could! : D







So the first picture is the entire group that was in our rickity old bus! The second is a picture of the group on the boat *(please note the guide in the yellow backpack with the cig in his mouth..)* The third, is a picture of Autumn and I in our wet suits! The fourth, is a pic of Abbie and I when all of the groups stopped an hour in to the trip to lounge around on the 'beach.' The last is a pic of the meat that the people cooked for our traditional Bosnian meals!

well... COUNT ME IN!

hahaha! so, I'm sure you can assume from the title of this post that I have decided to travel back down towards Mostar and go rafting! I am really pumped about it! Bree and I are going to be leaving Tuzla around 2:30pm and heading down to Sarajevo, and then catching a bus from there straight to Mostar! Though it is a 6hr trip there and back, I don't even care! I just want to have fun this weekend!

I realized a few things during this whole charade, that even though I was trying to make a gracious and responsible choice in regards to my finances, I feel that I have been doing pretty well at budgeting myself (with the help of Frank and Mom of course, for realizing that). Also, I sort of lost sight of the whole 'this is once in a lifetime' kind of mentality. I think that had to do with the fact that I closely approaching my end date here in Bosnia, and maybe I was just trying to prepare myself for the 'real world' once again. Well, I'll push that task till next weekend! :D Just kidding. But seriously, I think I just need to enjoy the little bit of downtime that I have left in these next coming weekends.

I love you all! I'll update as soon as I can to let you know how the trip went! I'm sure I'll have tons of stories! :D

attempting to be responsible with my $ in a foriegn country

Jessie! (that's another greeting that I've learned)

So.. I'm in a pickle folks. I received an email from one of my fellow IDPer's that a bunch of members of the BiH stationers are going to be taking a rafting trip this Saturday!! My predicament is more internal than anything, but its a frustrating situation nonetheless! The ladies who are organizing these festivities are my lovely Mostar girls, who I visited to ring in the 4th abroad. It looks as though this water rafting trip will be about 90km, which is about $65 in the US, which really is a good deal, because it includes transportation to and from the site from Mostar, breakfast and lunch, the equipment, rafting for 3-4 hrs, and pictures of the days events on a cd! The only thing is that i'm going to be spending a lot of money, just to go rafting (which fyi, I have never done before!) I guess the question I'm asking myself is, is it worth all the money?? One side says, YES IT TOTALLY IS! : You are doing something you have never had the opportunity to do before, you are going to be with your friends, you are getting the hell out of Tuzla, it will be a blast, and the weather is supposed to be relatively good. The other side of me says WELL I'M NOT SO SURRREEE... : you are spending a lot of money in one weekend (nothing I haven't already done though!) what if you get there and the weather turns out to be crappy (well, I guess I save 90km then & I'll get to see more of Mostar!, it's a lot of money that you may need when you get home.. (ok, fine, this is true..)

So, you see?? I can't seem to make a decision!! I have 3 weeks left here and one more trip I am taking to Dubrovnik, Croatia on 7/31 (which is 2 weeks away! but I have $$ put aside for that) I just want to be responsible, but I am about to throw all to the wind and say 'COUNT ME IN!' Well.. we'll see, I have to make my decision in a couple of hours....

& the music plays on...

So it is the beginning of week 6. Only two and a half more to go. And I can't wait. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed my time here, but I'm done; I'm ready to go... but since I have nothing else going on at the moment, I will update you on this past week..

Thursday, Alma, Amir, Christina, and I traveled to the municipality of Milići and we got to see some more CRP/ Red Cross trainings being conducted at the local health center there. It was good to see, and there was a completely different dynamic at this one than we had seen in Srebrenica. We interviewed 6 people, getting their perspective on the trainings and what not. It looks like Christina and I will be giving a presentation to the rest of the staff, explaining to them the details of our interviews and what not. I think that may be happening in 2 weeks, since most of the staff will be gone that last week of July because they are all going on holiday.

Then Thursday night Amir's band was playing at Club Privilege at Hotel Tuzla. It was a great time! We got to hang out with a lot of the CRP & Mercy Corps staff and it was nice to see them outside of work. Amir's band was awesome! It was great sounding music, even though I hadn't a clue to what the lyrics meant since it was all in Bosnian (hahaha) but it was a great time. And since we were supposed to be going to Srebrenica on Saturday, Alma decided that we should just take Friday off, because 'it's going to be a very draining experience', she said. So that is percisely what we did. And I took full advantage of the R&R and dragged my tush out of bed early on Friday and went to the salt lakes, solo. I got to work on my tan and enjoyed the time by myself, getting to 'people-watch' everyone in Tuzla who joined me at the salt lakes.

Unfortunately, our trip to Srebrenica on Saturday was canceled. It was pouring rain and my supervisor at the hospital, Dr. Esmina, didn't want to travel in such conditions. Also because we would have had to be walking in the mud and what not. So, needless to say I went back to bed after having gotten up at 6am, and proceeded to have a lazy Saturday. Me and the other girls just hung around for a bit and watch movies on the tv and then Bree and I decided to venture out into the rainy day for some retail therapy (which was very much needed). It was nice, we strolled into the center of town and had pizza for lunch, then we went and had traditional Bosnian coffee, and then treated ourselves to some ice cream for the walk home. All in all it was a pretty good day, aside from the rain.

Sunday strolled around and Bree and I went to the salt lakes to just sit by the lake and enjoy the relaxing sunday, like sunday's are supposed to be. We were invited by some of my coworkers to attend a bbq at another coworker, Sabina's house, so we were really looking forward to that. However, I guess bbq's here don't start at the normal time of 1 or 2pm but instead at like 10:30am! Bree and I had just arrived at the Salt Lakes when we got a call saying that our ride would be coming to get us in 20 minutes! Needless to say we canned that idea and told the group we would just take a cab... which we did... which was 20 KM, but it was totally worth it! I had a great time hanging with all of my coworkers and just sitting on the porch drinking beers and relaxing. Especially, because we got to play some volley ball! haha! And Eddin, one of the guys who works in CRP cooked dinner for us all and it was soo delicious! Bree and I ended up getting back to the apartment a little after 9pm, and we both had work the following day, so we were pretty exhausted.

So, as you can see, I am having a really great time. I think part of 'the debbie-downer' in me is that I am just sort of over it, if that makes sense to anyone. However, I can imagine it doesn't to some, because I can totally sit on the other side of my argument and say 'why the hell are you complaining?' But truth be told, it's all just monotonous a lot of the time and it's getting old. The work I'm doing is interesting, but it doesn't make it feel any less like busy work, sometimes. I mean, yea is having mundane work part of, well, work? Yes. But, I don't know.. I think 8 weeks is just a bit too long...

More pics!

#1 this is the old guy on the bus back from Sarajevo a couple of weeks ago.. yeah you know.. how for the 1st 10 minutes I thought "aww," then the next "eww gross, get off of me..." thank Christina for the documentation...hahahhaha

#2 Some of the girls hangin out in Mostar!

#3 The Stari Most bridge

finally! some visual!

Ok, so the 1st is Bree, Christina, and me, after we just finished having a delicious and authentic Chinese food meal!

2nd- is the front entrance to the health center in Srebrenica..where the hold the re-certification trainings for the volunteers in the surrounding villages. The nearest hospital is 1 hour away....

3rd- That's me sitting on the overlook when we went to see the Kula Grad Castle ruins in Zvornik, Bosnia. The river separates Serbia (on the right) and Bosnia (on the left).

4th- Christina and I posing in the window over looking the landscape and river at the castle.

p.s.

ok, so real quick, this is more for my dad... but I had espresso! Me! I know! And I actually enjoyed it. I didn't just have it once either! I had it 2x throughout the day on Sunday!! hahaha ok

Love you all!!