Croatian #21

Saturday, November 28th, 2009 hey there folks - happy thanksgiving to everyone who is american and happy start to the holiday season....hope everyone had a fun black friday.....and tasty thanksgiving....and time off for those who got it :) i am well...this will be a very fast update as not much travel-wise has happened for me.... croatia is decorating itself for the holiday season and with advent starting tomorrow the xmas booths have gone up and my favorite chocolate covered gingerbread booth is back!! yummy....we also have our xmas sausage and mulled wine places back and things are getting festive.....school is crazy busy and things are quickly moving toward the longer winter break in three weeks.... so you might be asking yourself...no travel for dani....what the heck???? well here's a little story....the travel i was supposed to take to serbia for speech and debate was cancelled due to H1N1 in this part of the world....many international schools actually had to close for a period of time and therefore we did not go.... and then things here became difficult.... my good friend and travel partner suffered a brain aneurysm a few weekends ago....and luckily she survived and looks to be recovering without many side effects....may even be back at school by february..she is a rockstar...so more travel adventures affected....we were supposed to be in portugal in the moment for thanksgiving....but obviously that did not work out....and i have been dealing with expedia and lufthansa for the past three weeks fixing the freakin mess.....it has not been fun or easy....may never use expedia again... don't care about their reduced prices....it means really sucky customer service..... so that is my story......some of you were asking about me last time and what i am going to be doing next year..... me.....hmmmmmmm.....things here are okay and i am not really working to find a job....so i have tentatively accepted my contract....but not definite... i have not really looked at jobs for next year too hard...i did apply directly to seven places.... and have heard back from most as a no...one because i am not married....two places because i will not be at a fair... so that's where i am....i will look over things in the next week and make a final decision in the coming two weeks...but it really looks like i will be here....i am not soooooo excited about that....but such is life....it just may not be time for me to move on.....plus i have an "admin" title with my job this year and one more year in this position would look good.....so that is where things stand..... that's the quick update i have for folks....i am not going to send out another one before this years holiday card....but i did feel like i had to let folks know i was alive and well....just not traveling....i have included a few pictures from graz, austria....we were there yesterday for black friday - it is sort of becoming a croatian tradition...no one else is celebrating, so it's a quick drive up to ikea and their xmas market to start the holiday shopping season we had a wonderful day and the weather was fabulous....no snow this year...and we returned to a fantastic sushi place - conveyor belt....very tasty.....plus i have included some recent shots from around zagreb....the first is from the very large outdoor market dolac....love those chili peppers...the next shot is for my friends from bucharest times.... this spider is what the croatian's use effectively to deal with people who don't park correctly on the streets...there are about ten of these trucks that constantly roam the streets and pick up offenders...its amazing!!!! the next two shots are from the major cemetery here....mirogoi....all souls day happened again and again it was covered in candles....simply stunning....but before that there were chestnuts on many of the graves... which i just loved.....and then finally the pictures from graz....these are not from this year but sum up our trip from yesterday quite well....tasty food....fun shopping and awesome xmas lights and booths in their xams market.....the last shot....me with some of the young wine here in croatia....they have a celebration just for when they can open the bottles of new wine here and we went and celebrated.....yummy!!!!! so i wish you all a very happy beginning to whatever holiday you celebrate..... for those in the philly area....i will be in town for a short time & drinks will be happening in mckensies in malvern or somewhere in king of prussia on december 27th....will let you know more soon on that one....if you are interested in joining in the fun, please let me know with a preferred place to meet of those two....i am thinking some time around 7pm.... so after dinner....til whenever they close :) come have a drink and catch up :) talk soon....peace out..... Have a fab day :) dani "The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder." ~ Ralph W. Sockman