calling from some city...

Today was a different type of day for us. Instead of visiting a museum or archeological ruins, or going to the beach,. Scott and I were traveling to Osijek, Croatia, a city about three hours away, and then onto Plavna, Serbia. In Osijek, we would be touring the library named after his grandparents that was dedicated in 2006. In Osijek, we would be meeting up with some of Scott’s family, who would then be taking us to Plavna, Serbia, a town where Scott’s grandmother lived when she was 4-10 years old. Understandably, Scott was very excited to see his family, who had visited him about 8 years ago. He had been unable to go to Croatia in 2006 when the library was dedicated to his grandparents (other members of his family made the trip) and he was disappointed to this point he had yet to visit Croatia. This was a very special and unique opportunity for him. I was excited to do something different for a day and to see towns that I likely never would have had the opportunity to see. Scott had been trying to plan this day for several weeks now, which proved difficult. His grandmother basically went back and forth between Scott and his relatives, trying to make everything work out. Up until yesterday, we thought we would have to take a bus to Osijek, which was making planning very difficult. We also did not have a lot of time to spend with his family, because we were only in Zagreb for 2 days. Once we got the car yesterday, Scott was relieved he could make the phone call to his grandmother to tell his relatives we were going to Osijek the following day, and to expect us around noon.

Scott was still a little nervous about the trip, however, simply because he had not seen his family in 8 years, and was a bit anxious as to what to expect during the day. But naturally, everything would work out even better than we expected. The day started with us waking up early so we could be on the road by 8 am. We had breakfast and started the journey in our Smartcar! I was a bit nervous because I do not like riding in cars- I always feel sick. I much prefer to be in an SVU or truck. Secondly, I was worried about us getting lost in a foreign country and having difficulty getting to Osijek. I trusted Scott and his driving abilities, but it was a different experience than him driving me around in his Highlander back home. But the ride could not have gone smoother. The highways were incredibly well-signed so we knew we were going the right way the whole time. The car was also far roomier than I expected- we had tons of legroom and the ceiling of the car was not close to our heads like I anticipated. It felt just like being in a regular car- unless you looked behind you and realized that was the entire car.

Nevertheless, the car ride was a pleasant experience. My medicine made me sleepy as usual, so I dozed off and on for the three-hour drive. We got to Osijek at about 11:15. As we drove up, Scott told me to keep my eyes open for the library because he did not know what it looked like. It was very easily noticeable, however- a huge building with all glass windows that looked much more modern than its surroundings. It was very impressive looking, and when I looked at Scott any anxiety he had seemed to lift right off his shoulders, and excitement took its place. He called his contact in Osijek, who told us where to park behind the library and that we would be met by a woman named Maja, who was going to be showing us around. 

The Lena and George Hendrickson Library is part of a seminary in Osijek. In addition to the library, which also has classrooms, and the church itself, there are dorms for students and other offices in another building. Maja and Andrew met us and explained they both went to the seminary and now work for the school. The seminary has about 30 students that live in the dorms, and another 100 or so that commute and take classes. They showed us around the library, which is beautiful. It’s very bright and clean, with several floors stacked with books, and large tables for students to work on. The classrooms are really big, with very nice tables and chairs for the students- better than some of the classroom amenities at Dartmouth. It was interesting to notice that most of the books were in English; Maya and Andrew explained that most of the classes were in English as well, because the teachers come from the United States, so its necessary for the students to learn English. We also got a tour of the dorms as well, which were currently being remodeled, so things were a bit messy. Our guides explained the students were on vacation until October, when classes would start again.

During the tour, Scott’s family arrived- Djuro and Ljubica. Djuro and Scott’s grandmother Lena are cousins; Scott met Djuro and Ljubica when they visited the Hendrickson family 8 years ago. I immediately could tell they are warm, friendly people, as they greeted us with excited smiles and gave Scott hugs. While Ljubica does not speak English, Djuro is fluent so we had no problems communicating with him. After the tour, we got into Djuro’s car to head to their home in Plavna, Serbia, which was an hour and a half drive. On the drive over, there were relatively few awkward pauses: Djuro was full of questions about how Scott and his family were doing, and we were eager to ask questions about their background (after all, Scott has only met Djuro and Ljubica once before, so we wanted to learn about their life as well). We talked about our travels on the trip, and they kept telling us how happy they were we came to meet up with them today. We got through the Croatian-Serbian border, and after examining our passports, we passed through with no problems.

We soon arrived in Plavna, the town where Scott’s grandmother spent part of her childhood. At that time, Plavna was part of Hungary; therefore, Djuro pointed out the villages that were primarily comprised of Hungarians. Other villages were German. Since the end of the Balkan War, Plavna has been part of Serbia, but Djuro explained there are not really a lot of Serbians in the area. Throughout the entire day, Djuro gave us commentary on Croatian and Serbian history, as well as the Balkan War and the break-up of  Yugoslavia. He summed up the conflict with an incredibly insightful comment (which I think explains the nature of conflict and war in general): “We don’t hate each other. But everybody just wants to be right.” Given that I love politics and history, it was fascinating learning from Djuro today. I also found it interesting that Djuro and Ljubiza have both Croatian and Serbian passports, and use a different one depending on the situation. For example, in their travels today, they used their Serbian passports. However, when they went to the US, they used their Croatian passports because its far easier for Croatians to enter the US than Serbians (given the conflict in Kosovo, and Croatia’s more advanced development). 

As we drove through Serbia, I could clearly see the differences between Croatia and Serbia. Croatia received a lot more tourists than Serbia because of its coast. As a result, it is more developed and is preparing to join the European Union (which Djuro just called “joining Europe” which I thought was both a funny and intriguing comment). As Djuro said, “Serbia has more work to do.” The buildings were older and more decrepit, and there were fewer stores and restaurants in the towns we drove through. Most of the area we saw in Serbia was farmland; Djuro himself is a farmer. He grows corn and soybeans. Still, many of the houses in Serbia were painted in the same bright, cheerful colors as the ones I saw in Croatia. 

We arrived at Djuro and Ljubica’s house, and it immediately reminded me of my grandparent’s house (my dad’s). Not in appearance, but in both how the house smelt and felt: very warm, homey, and delicious- Ljubica was cooking us a feast. They have a very nice house, as Djuro gave us a tour of their kitchen, bedroom, and living room, and showed off pictures of his daughters (2), grandchildren (4), and great grandchildren (2 beautiful baby girls). 

Our lunch was ready quickly, which was good news as both Scott and I were very hungry. Ljubica made us so much food, and all of it was homemade. First, we started with delicious noodle soup, with hand-made noodles. After we each inhaled a bowl, the main course was brought out: roasted chicken with potatoes. With the chicken came a really sweet and delicious tomato sauce. We took our time eating lunch, as the conversation continued to flow between us. At times, Scott and I had to sit as Djuro translated so Ljubica could be part of the conversation. They were both so animated and eager to learn about our lives, and I really enjoyed our conversation. I also wish Scott and I spoke at least Croatian so that Ljubica could have participated in the conversation more, though she seemed content to sit back and listen to us talk. Even though she didn’t understand the words we were saying, she was very adept at picking up social cues and could guess what her husband was telling us. At one point in the conversation, Djuro was making a small joke about her (In English) when she started responding to him. When Scott and I turned and asked if she understood English, Djuro replied, “No, she just understands me,” and we all had a laugh at that. 

After lunch was finished, Scott and I were both full. But then Ljubica brought our desert: a cake topped with whipped cream and chocolate bits. We asked what it was, but they were unsure of the translation in English. So we just dug into our pieces of cake, and it tasted just like banana cream pie- with the addition of blackberries. It was incredible, and I tried to savor every bite. But of course, it was just too good so I ate it incredibly quickly while Scott took his time to truly enjoy it. I think we all know I don’t have that amount of patience.

After desert, Djuro took us on a tour of the property. He also has a garden at his house, where they grow all the food they use themselves. We noticed a small blue fruit hanging in the trees, and wondered what it was. Djuro told us to eat one, and we saw it was plums! The plums do not turn their typical red-purple color until you rub them up a bit; otherwise, they are blue. We saw their animals: turkeys, chickens, and roosters. I especially liked the roosters, especially one tall one that had a lot of attitude. We nicknamed him Sassy. There was a moment of sadness, however, when Scott and I realized the chicken we had just eaten for lunch had previously frolicked around the same pens as the chickens we currently saw. In fact, the chicken we ate was probably alive in the morning. According to Djuro, the chickens were looking at during that moment were just about ready to be slaughtered. Poor chickens…but on the other hand, she was delicious!

Ljubica made us coffee and Scott and I decided it was acceptable to have a second piece of cake for desert. We are on vacation, after all. Scott tried several times during the meal to help Ljubica clean up the kitchen, but each time she shushed him and said “No, No!” It was quite funny- once she lightly tapped his hand so he would drop the plate he was trying to clean from the table.

It was then time to leave their wonderful home so they could show us around Plavna before driving us back to Osijek. Before we left, they brought out gifts that they had bought us- a toiletry set of perfume, shower gel, and deodorant. It was incredibly thoughtful and I was especially touched they bought something for me even though we had never met before and I wasn’t even a family member. But it just speaks to the type of caring people they are.

They made many stops in town, showing us important places and giving us other interesting pieces of information about Yugoslavian history and the war. We saw the house that Djuro was born in and the houses of Scott’s grandmother’s friends. We went to a grocery store in Plavna so we could see their stores. To our surprise, it was stocked with a ton of American brands. It was a small store, but it truly had everything, even though Plavna is such a small village. As if they had not done enough for us, they insisted on sending us back to Osijek with some mini croissants, coffee, and a bottle of sangria.

He took us to the Tvrdava Bac Fortress, which was built in 1338 and ruins remain today. In fact, one tall tower is basically intact, which is amazing. Djuro also took us a beautiful park nearby on the Danube River, and we wished we had more time to spend to there. In addition, he was sure to show us beautiful views of the Danube and surrounding country from both the Serbian and Croatian side of the border (The Danube River splits the two countries). One last final stop was a drive through of the town of Vukovar, which was the main site of the war. The whole town was completely leveled during the war, so it had to be rebuilt. So we would see the new buildings in town, but then we saw the remains of buildings that were never rebuilt- buildings that have just completely fallen apart but nobody ever picked up the pieces. Many other buildings were crumbling and you could still see the bullet holes. It really made me think of how terrible the war must have been for those affected and involved. 

We arrived back in Osijek and were extremely sad to say goodbye to Djuro and Ljubica. They were so welcoming and friendly and I immediately felt at home with them. They gave us hugs goodbye and Scott and I reluctantly started the drive back to Zagreb. I was really happy this trip worked out, especially for Scott’s sake. I knew this was important to him and it could not have worked out better. For my sake, I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to meet Djuro and Ljubica.

The drive back to Zagreb took a little more than 3 hours. We ran into an absolutely insane thunder and lightening storm on the way back. It was raining so hard it was impossible to see out the windshield, and Scott had to pull over and put his hazards on. The lightening was so frequent and widespread it was lighting up the entire sky for seconds at a time. It was pretty cool to see, though it was kind of scary because we were worried about hydroplaning, and did not know how well the Smartcar handle the amount of rain that was pouring from the sky. Luckily, the worst stretch of it was only about 20 minutes long, and we passed through the worst of it. For the rest of the drive, we only ran into rain. Like I said, I completely trust Scott driving and knew he would get us through safely. We were making good time back to Zagreb, but then we reached the toll booth. Apparently, Croatians do not know how to navigate through the toll booth efficiently. Instead of getting in lines behind the lanes that were opened (about half were closed) everyone just drove up and then had to merge over into lanes that were open, trying to cut the line. Of course, this just makes the entire process slower and we had to wait 45 minutes to pay our toll. That was extremely frustrating, especially since at this point Scott and I had been in a car for about 10 hours in the day.

 We finally got back to the hostel and are exhausted. Time for bed and to go to the Plitvice National Lakes Park tomorrow! I’m definitely going to bed with a huge smile on my face tonight.