Croatian Update #4

January 11, 2009 - Hi there folks...well, i have fallen behind on all of my updates here, so I am trying to bring things up to date on my last day of vacation *sniff*....so below is my update from around voting day in November....enjoy and sorry its so late :)

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hey there all...how is everyone doing??? i hope those in the states are 
getting ready to vote for the big election...i am not saying which way you
should go, but i do hope everyone gets out and takes part...as for those
outside of the states, i am sure you can't wait for all of the hulabaloo 

to come to an end....i guess we'll see soon what happens...

here in croatia it has gotten chilly...the leaves are turning colors and
falling off of the trees in bunches....this weekend we "fell back" in time
and now it gets dark around 5pm....which is a bummer when you don't leave 
work before then..recently i have been staying late at school on weekdays
so i have less to do on the weekends...but this week will be a crazy one
as it is the end of the quarter and halloween all rolled into one...i 

found out i am headed to budapest next month with speech and debate (ms), 

so that should be fun...and i am headed back to austria over thanksgiving

as well...stock up on ikea things and shop at the christmas market....
should also be fun...more on my first trip to austria below...it was an 
adventure filled with many things....

the only other big news i have is that i am headed to africa over xmas 
this year to visit my friends greg, di, kelsey and alicia....they started 
living in ghana this year...so i figured it would be the perfect time 
to visit....getting my visa has been a struggle and now i have my yellow
fever vaccine up to date again....gotta love that....but everything seems 
to be coming together....wish me luck with the finalization of the visa
and my passport's safe return back to me....yep, i had to send it away to
be taken care of....a bit stressful, let me tell you...but hopefully all 
will go fine....

onto the pictures...this week i have included some shots from croatia and
some shots from my trip to vienna...it was a fast five hours up to vienna
and i know i will go back and see what i missed the first time around....

the shots from croatia include another sculpture shot, as promised....this
one is about a folk singer and is located just above the main market in
the centar of town....he was persecuted for what he sang about....imagine
that... the next shot is from a cool museum i visited recently...the 
mimara....this is shot out of one of its windows...nice groundswork...
they actually had a rembrandt, 2 degas, 2 botticellis, and a few other 
amazing pieces....with very few guards...it was crazy...plus they had a 
great photography exhibit and a modern art room....there was also some
book signing thing going on and we got to see traditional folk dancers
and singers....very cool....
the next three shots come from the main zagreb cemetery....i went to visit
on a beautiful sunday when the leaves were changing colors....it was crazy
busy...but i have been told next weekend...nov. 1st...day of the dead here
is when the cemetery will be insane...this is a very catholic country...
and everyone goes to the cemetery to visit their deceased....i hope to get
there to see all of the flowers and candles...it should be pretty 
impressive....it is a gorgeous area and very well kept up...the second
shot is a memorial to the fallen of one of the wars here....but the reason
i have included this shot is because of the cross of chestnuts in front 
of the memorial..these nuts have shown up everywhere here in zagreb, every
street corner...they even had a festival for these nuts in the past three
weeks as well...who knew....anyway....loved this cemetery...can't wait to
wander around in it again....if i make next week i will be sure to send 
out some more pictures from that visit....

onto vienna....wow...what a place...its is a beautiful city...a bit stuffy 
for me at times...and i definitely was not dressed appropriately...as
shown to me by viennese looking me up and down and shaking their heads...
whatever....it was pretty and i will go back...very clean...and very easy
to get around....its a classy place....the first shot in vienna is of the
fountain in front of the opera house....at this point we had been there 
overnight and i had already left my passport in the first restaurant we
ate at....stoooooooopid....but the owners held onto the passport/bag and
we had stolen a menu for our german teacher to use in class...so it was
very easy for me to get back an retreive it....also by this point, another 
one of the traveling crew realized she had left very important medicine
in croatia...and we had to get some for her that morning....did i tell you
it was an adventure of a trip????  we had five independent, traveling-
oriented women together...and we made some real stupid errors...it was
amazing....we stayed with friends of my director....so that was free...
which is good because vienna is expensive...although we thought we lost
one of the dogs of the houses...nope...another goofy move....anyway...

we wandered around the city center...visited two art museums...the 
albertina and the belvedere...and my director had her purse stolen, right
outside the romanian embassy...ironic doncha think....she was not feeling
well and stayed in the car outside the belvedere...and two guys pulled a 
scam on her to get her out of the car checking her tire...they grabbed her
purse, which had her passport in it....which meant she couldn't come back
with us over the border...this did mean i got to drive a very nice audi
back to croatia....very quickly....what a ride....but....as i said it was
an interesting trip....

the second vienna shot (hahahaha) is of st stephens....wowowowow...what 
a beatuiful church....it was very crowded though....so i was inside of it
for a very short period of time....the third shot is of the brahms hall
where we saw the vienna boys choir perform...a dream of mine....it was a 
small version of the boys...but very impressive none-the-less...the next 
shot is of the center of town as night is starting to fall...it was 
stunning....


the next shot was taken outside of the city....we went to this cute town
where we could go to a flea market and buy polish pottery...many of our
crew spent some dough....then it was back into town to have hot chocolate 
at demels and wander past the hapsburg....okay....if you haven't heard
there are these two places that fight over who invented the sacher torte,
a dry, tasteless chocolate cake in my opinion...we had it at both places
and i have to say i didn't like it....i also tried the hot chocolate in 
both places...much better...although demels beat out the sacher hotel by a 
landslide....demels also had amazing ice cream....demels won in my opinion
but as for the sacher torte...you can keep it :)

from demels we headed to the belvedere to see the exhibit on klimt...yep, 
i have now seen the original of the kiss....wowowowowow....simply amazing!
this palace is now an art museum...and as you can see from the shots....
this art museum is stunning...from the grounds, to the statues, to the 
smaller and larger buildings....just incredible...although this is where
my director's purse was taken....so outside of it leaves a bad taste in 
my mouth....but inside is amazing....the exhibit was very impressive as 
well...loved his style and the style of the time in austria....

the last shot of this series is of me....having a glass of sturm...which
is red sweet wine...the first picking of the grapes....they were selling
it outside that evening and we had to try it....it was quite tasty, but
also a bit sweet....needless to say...i had a fun time....it is a 
beautiful city that i will visit again....it is pricy, but doable....

okay...enough rambling...hope everyone is well and has a fun halloween...
drop a line and say hi....and don't for get to vote stateside folks....
talk soon.....

peace out...dani

ps....i dedicate this update to my dad's friend mr. melle who passed away 
this past week....he loved reading these missives and especially loved
the pictures....my sympathy to those who knew him....

Croatian Update #3

hi there....i am back after a crazy three weeks since my last update....
i went to the coast with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders, and went to munich,
germany for oktoberfest....& of course i have been exploring zagreb to get 
to know it better for when all of you come to visit :)  plus, later this 
week we are on october break....and i am headed to vienna with four other 
women i teach with....my first time....i am very excited....so things over
all are going well....

i finally also started to focus a bit more on my teaching & curriculum...
i decided i needed to see the big picture of the year & now can focus 
more on all of the topics i will be covering....my trip with the kids was 
great....i got to know a lot of them better as well as the super cool middle 

school team i teach with...very excellent people....the kids
surprised me & got me birthday gifts as my birthday fell during the trip.
it was very sweet....and the coast again was amazing....it was bit too 
cold for swimming...so i am not sure if the water in istria, the coast 
area we were in, was a salty as the last place...bt it sure was as 
beautiful....and i have been told i haven't even come close to being in 
the most beautiful spots....can't wait to get there....on this trip with 
the kids we visited a school (roc) where they study the ancient croatian
language and alphabet (glagolithic alphabet), the smallest town, according
to the guiness book of world records, in the world - Hum, a coastal 
town with an ancient roman arena - pula, a great seaside town with an
ancient basilica - porec, an old mining town on a hill with an excellent
view - labine....we stayed on the coast in a quaint town known as rabat...
it was a fun filled trip with lots to see and do...the only thing that was 
tough was all of the bus riding....but i saw some amazing sites, as you 
will see in the pictures below....

then i was off to oktoberfest, where i met up with two of my friends from 
romania - kathleen and bonnie....we stayed with excellent friends of 
bonnie's right in munich and enjoyed two days of craziness....i never have
seen so much beer in my life...plus i really didn't understand the sheer
magnitude of oktoberfest....yes...thee are ten tents - which hold upwards
of 5,000 people each for beer...but outside of the beer tents there is a 
huge festival going on with rides and games & food and fun for the entire
family....one of the coolest things about oktoberfest was seeing the older
couples in their 70s and 80s, dressed in drndls and lederhosen, going to
the beer garden for a some beer and tradition...we made it into a tent on
friday....from about 3pm on....and on saturday we couldn't get in due to 
the crazy people that had started dinking at 9am....we couldn't get in a 
tent throughout the day and early evening....instead we were outside of 
one of the tents at the beer garden....and it was a beautiful sunny day 
so it was perfect....but i have to say if i go back, which i hope to do
as it was such a blast, i would try and reserve a table for the nights i
knew i would go downtown to the tents....they are where its at....the 
ooohm-pah-pah bands were great fun and the atmosphere was sooooooooooooo
darn festive....it was incredible....if you ever get the chance....do it
you'll love it....

on to the pictures....the first shot is my zagreb art shot...the cool 
thing about this shot is that it is of my friend's from the ice amy and 
stefan who stopped by for two days to say hi on their trip around the 
area eastern european trip...they are standing with one of the most 
famous croatians of all time - nikolai tesla...and his story is pretty 
cool....what a smart guy....amy and stefan enjoyed their time here in 
zagreb and i was very excited to have my first house guests....

that week another friend was in town - rick from bucharest....he came to 
the school as a consultant for outdoor education and team building...
we had a fun two days together before i hit the road with the kids...so 
good to have seen him :)
the next two shots are from the first town we stopped in called roc...in 
this town they teach their kids to use the old style croatian alphabet
as well as modern day croatian...the kids from the school worked with our
kids, which was really cool to watch...they knew how to speak english and 
they taught our kids the glagolithic alphabet....the second shot from this 
town was this cool sculpture on one of the buildings...i just really liked
it :)

from roc we went to hum (pronounced hume) - the smallest city on the 
planet and it was way quiant...the next two shots are from there...the 
first is from the bronze doors to get onto the city - if you look at the 
top set of letters you will see the glagolithic alphabet symbols and the 
bottom set are modern day croatian....the second shot from this town was
one of the houses people live in....they take great pains to make their 
town quaint and cute and very clean :)

the next shot is a view from the town we stayed in- rabatz...look at that 
crystal clear, cold, salty water....simply stunning....again you can see
how hilly croatia is....again, it was stone beach, no sand to be seen...
the next shot is from pula - where they have an ancient roman colesseum you can wander all through....we brought a rope and the kids actually played tug-o-war, and the rest of the visitors cheered them on...it was tons of fun....

from pula we headed to prosec and saw one of the oldest basilicas in this part of the world that is excellently preserved....it is an UNESCO site and quite amazing....they have a mosaic of a pregnant mary - one of the only in existence on the planet...

and the final shot from my trip wth the kids is of labine - a hilly mining town...its a pretty shot of the countryside....very hilly and quaint little town..
the next shots are from oktoberfest....the first is kathleen with ron and bonnie...all in traditional dress...nope, i did not dress in a drndl...not for me...but i wore a traditional hat that my grandfather wore when he went to oktoberfest many, many years ago...as you can see it in the next shot of me and ron and one of the HUGE pretzels they sell there....YUMMY!! the food and the beer were amazing...even for a veggie like me :) the next shot is me carrying some of the 1 liter steins....wowowowowow...it was incredible to see men and women waiters carrying between 12-18 of these at a time....talk about impressive....it blew my mind...i am holding just four and they are heavy....what a work out....the next shot shows you just how crowded the tents were...and this is what the waitstaff has to work through with the beers in their hands....it was mind blowing!!!!

the last shot in this series is me on the second day outside at the beer garden....we had a blast and met some cool folks to drink and "cheers" with....all in all i am sooooooo glad i went...i loved it :)
okay...another update has been told....thanks to those who have emailed
to answer one question....someone wanted to know if i am missing anything
from home they can send me....what's really interesting this time is that
they have just about everything i need - i have found tabasco, tortillas,
tofu in many flavors and even black beans....plain black tea is missing, 
but i am picking some up in austria this week...i even found some peanut
butter here....in many ways the stores have more for me than romania...so 
i am not missing anything as of yet....

i hope all of you are well and enjoyed this installment...happy fall and 
here's to the changing of the colors...the trees are incredible...drop
a line if you wish and more will come your way in the next two or three
weeks...peace out...dani

Croatian Update #2

September 14th, 2008 - here is me and my new car...nope, i haven't named her yet...but i will soon....below you will find my latest update from croatia...enjoy :)

hey there folks...how are you all doing today??? i have been exploring parts of croatia since i last checked in...and what a cool place it is...its been a busy few weeks...i am still getting used to the school...my apartment is coming together slowly but surely and i bought a car...that's the big purchase of the month...i have been shopping at the open air markets and testing my horrible croatian....its a hard language, but i seem to be improving and can now be polite when i ask for things and use the correct words for numbers....i also now how to ask for things without meat...which has come in handy for a veggie like me in a town that is very meat oriented

school is moving along...we had a picnic this weekend...even though its rainy and chilly....the parents all cooked homemade style foods from around the world....YUMMY!!!!! this week is back to school night...should be interesting....i have almost 80 kids...which is the most people can have....so it should be fun :) my room is coming along and so is my curriculum...although the kids work a bit slower than my last group and the schedule is a bit confusing....1.5 hour long classes for middle schoolers is really long....i have to change what we are doing every 20 minutes or so....its crazy....but i like it so far and the kids seem to like me...we have just started more difficult labs, so we'll see what happens when they have to write their first conclusion....the first bunch of pictures are from zagreb...the first is from this amaizng bakery around the corner from my house...that's a cake of a party animal...too funny and so excellent looking....this bakery has quite possibly the best gelato i have ever had....

the second shot is the house of croatian artists...its a gallery these days, but at one point before the war, it was a mosque...now there aren't many of those in this country, as serbia is where most muslims choose to live in the balklans

the next three shots are of my apartment - the first is the kitchen, the second is of my HUGE tub which would fit 6 comfortably....no, i don't know this for a fact....BUT its HUGE!!!! and the last is of my dining room and living room....i also have a balcony...office...bedroom and spare bedroom so come visit if you wish :)

all around zagreb there is tons of interesting sculpture...so i think i will be including a piece in every update of croatia....this one is of a woman taking her wares to the market and is at the dolac...which is the large outdoor market of zagreb...fun to go shopping there...i have a smaller market closer to me and there is one woman vendor who is a trip...she talks italian/spanish/croatian to me...its hilarious....

the next shot is a popular tourist restaurant in zagreb...called hansel and gretel...in croatian of course...very cute and they have excellent strudel...

last weekend i went out of town to the coast...to a town just above crikvenica (crick-ven-itza)...6 of us headed down to another teacher's place...lots of croatians here have a cottage somewhere...usually along the coast...this place was amazing....we got to go to the beach...although no sand was to be found....plus, we got to experience seeing some of the nude beaches from a distance...you had to climb down rocky paths...but the water was divine as was the view...absolutely amazing!!! the water was REALLY salty...floating was easy and you could see the bottom no matter how far you were out....it was just incredible....we went to an island for dinner one night....the town we went to was vrbnik....very quaint, really tiny cobblestone streets with an excellent view of the kvarner gulf...and had this delicious meal...homemade pasta....everyone in the town spoke croatian and italian....it was incredible....

the next shots are from the coast...the first is the view from the "cottage" stayed at...the second is a shot from the water looking back up the hill where the "cottage" is and the last is the place itself, with my cute car in front of it....i am driving a two door, black renault clio

it gets good gas mileage and moves pretty quick...and its easy to get around the city with it....the last shot in this set is from the town of vrbnik...its a place near the church where people can stop and pray and the building is considered to be a protector of the town itself..

this weekend i was in a small town just outside of zagreb for lunch...called samobor...on sundays its a big deal here to go to relatives or out for dinner around 1 or 2pm....because this country is so religious most places, except restaurants are closed on sundays...even markets are only open until around noon....blue laws are definitely in effect here...the town we were in was really cute...and all of the buildings had lights on them...so we need to go back and see them at night...plus, there was a ruined castle up on the hill overlooking the town, which we want to hike up to...today was too rainy and chilly...so sitting inside, eating a terrific meal and having a belgian beer was perfect...but i know i will get back there soon....

the last three shots are from the town samobor...such a cute centar section of town...cobblestones...pedestrian parts and a beautiful church..there is a stream that runs thru the center with walking bridges over it...there was even one covered bridge you could drive over...very quaint...the stork is a piece of art...i think they consider storks good luck, just

like in romania....so even though this one was fake i think it was good luck anyway :)

the last shot is of me...at my boss's place...she hosted a TGIF for the folks of the school and she has an amazing place with an amazing view of the entire city....we had a blast...

okay...there you have it...a second update...thanks to those who emailed me...if you have any questions, please be sure to send them along...someone asked about food....well, a lot of meat....but along the coast you can get fish and shellfish and i had some of the best calamari i ever tasted...plus, there is a bakery or three in every block of every city i have been in...lots of folks stop and grab a breakfast treat...luckily i don't have any on my route to school...if so, it could be deadly...also there is a dish called struckli which a crew of us are trying everywhere...noodles baked with cheese...its incredible...plus people drink lots of coffee and beer...its a cafe oriented culture....another person asked if zagreb looks ruined in places because of the war...i asked a few croatians about this and they said that zagreb was never really hit hard by the war...they said i can find places that are still in ruins, but that is not zagreb....thanks for the questions....feel free to email and say hi i will try to answer in a timely manner...but seriously...write.... hope all is well and happy fall :) peace out...dani

Croatia Update #1

August 31, 2008-

hey there all....well, i have now been in croatia for two full weeks...today is a beautiful day and

i am prepping for my first full week of school...no labor day here....below you will find my update from yahoo...with some added info and pictures...so if you get the updates, most of this will be the same....but in places there will be more...

for instance...the first shot below was taken this past summer in seattle, by my friend steven...we were on the way to whitby island to have dinner with his wife and daughter at our good friend gordon's restaurant...and per normal gordon did NOT disappoint....wowowowow....i did realize on that trip how much i miss living on the water....and although i am closer this time, next place i go i need to be on water i think...we'll see....

while i was in the states this summer my mom and i went to longwood gardens near where we live...it was stunning and definitely not crowded...we saw fountains and trees and amazing lily pad with dragon flies...this is shot is of the main greenhouse, beautiful....

during one of my first days in croatia we took a walking tour with one of the croatian teachers from school...jasna (pronounced "yaz-na" - the j in croatia sounds like a y)...it was great and that is where i got my first glipse of what a cafe town this truly is...although, unlike in many places, here you can only get drinks...no food....its wild...and people sit outside for long periods of time watching people and the day go by....talk about mellow....the "outfits" here are not as 80s as in romania...but its fun to watch folks none-the-less...and someday soon i will know what to ask for if i am looking for a latte...as they are not called that here.... below is one of the main cafe streets in zagreb....

here are some of the pictures from the update i sent out...the first two are of the school....we rent space from a seminary....and i guess they charge a lot of money from the school...the first shot is of the school from the front...

this next shot is of the courtyard of the school....its a mostly vertical school...which means lots of steps...and in order to get to school i hop a tram (2-5 min) and then walk up a HUGE hill...its good exercise and really beats sitting in traffic like in bucharest...although i am buying a car this week...so i can get out of town easier than relying on a bus or train....

the shot below was taken at the main square in zagreb...trg bana jelacica...i have not really figured out how to speak and read croatian thus far...its crazy...trg - no vowels...and its a real word...crazy...but i will start taking croatian classe son wednesdays after school with the other teachers who are interested, we'll see if it goes better than my romanian...although in the end i was doing okay...sort of :)

the next few shots come from the old part of town in zagreb...the first is what is left from the burning of a bridge that connected the old part of town to the new town...the only thing left was the madonna which is still seen here...

then there's st. marks church....isn't it pretty...i love the tiled roof...i guess they have renovating the building for the better part of two years....i'll keep my eyes peeled to see if they finish anytime soon :)

the next shot is a tower where a cannon is set off every day at noon...called the burglar's tower...we were actually on it when the cannon went off...freaked out this guy that was there and didn't know it was going to go off...it was waaaaaaay loud and made the building shake...but it was cool :)

this is the view from the top portion...and this is actually facing the school...you can see the silver domed building and then to the right, farther in the distance, you can see a greenish dome...that's the school...on a different hill....
i have already traveled outside of the country...to slovenia, its capital ljublijana...what a cute town...has a river running thru it where we had 

lunch...the reason i had to go was because i applied for my visa outside of the country...in romania....and it was approved...but i left the country before it was ready...it was not allowed to be sent to croatia...talk about crazy.... however...slovenia is an hour and a half away...and it was easy...and i am glad i went...i will go back for a weekend of fun...that much is true :) the next three shots are some of the pretty views of ljublijana...(lube-bli-anna)...love the water down the middle :)

i think this building was quite pretty with the river running in front of it...plus, if you look closely you can see a fountain going in front of it

this building was amazing...look at the tiles it is made from....so colorful and striking... definitely made the other buildings pale in comparison....i loved it :)

back in croatia...the next shot shows you how there are some amazing looking bldgs right next door to ones that are following apart...everyone in bldg has to agree to fix it up...and in many places there could be upwards of 40 different owners in the bldg...hard to make everyone agree

then the next shot shows a woman i bought some veggies from...check out her scale..
old timer...love it :) there is an amazing market just off of the main square called the dolac....i hope to get there more frequently, but its not really near where i live or where i have to go for school...there is a fresh fruit and veggie market around the corner from where i live, which i am excited about :)

the next two bldgs are to show you the graffiti and what my apartment bldg looks like...i am on the first floor...not the ground floor, but the first...more pictures of the place next time...

the last shot is of me...there was a beer festival here in croatia last 
weekend...piva means beer...and notice...my name is on the poster...just
too perfect i think...i didn't make it to the festival...but i have had 
some of the beer here...and like it so far....

okay...enough rambling....but i guess it has been a while since i updated the blog...per normal...feel free to send pictures and get in touch....please note....my parents have moved...so you cannot mail things to them and have them get to me from the paoli address in pennsylvania....please mail things for me to the school

the address is as follows:

The American International School of Zagreb
Dani DiPietro
Vocarska 106
10000 Zagreb
Croatia

you can also call my skype name danid769 if you have skype
and if you don't, you can call the following number of skype from
any style phone - 610-624-3727

there is a voicemail set up....so you can leave me a message and if my 
computer is on, i might even pick up :) that's from any phone....i am 
six hours ahead of anyone on the east coast of the states...

okay...hope all is well and good luck to those starting a school year...
drop a line when you can and keep me posted on your life :)