Filling up

Wow! I filled up yesterday for the first time in two months. I guess, when you travel around the world you don't get to use your car a lot.

Driving in Zagreb is tiring as the roads are really not designed for the amount of cars that try to operate around here. Another issue here is parking. We have a parking pass so that we can park anywhere around our building and surrounding area, but that just helps us avoid plugging the parking meter. We still have to hunt down a parking spot. There were times when we had to drive around for 45 minutes to find a spot. Not fun at all!

The price of gas two months ago was around 9 kuna, while now it is down to 6.39 kuna. It is weird that price of gas in Croatia has dropped not even 30%, while elsewhere in the world, the price of gasoline is down over 60%. Suspicious, suspicious...

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish Merry Christmas to all readers of this blog.

Carla and I just finished calling around to wish people a Merry Christmas. We're wiped and have to take a break. I think we'll watch a movie.

Last night we watched "Swing Vote" and loved it. Kevin Costner and the little girl did amazingly in their roles. A sweet movie.

Merry Christmas from Carla and Ivan!

Back from Budapest

I was going to do a write up about our trip to Budapest, but then I saw that Carla had emailed a great description of our trip to her colleagues/friends, which I am going to paste in here. :-) And I would like to add my favourite picture from the trip. Me and "Falkie the Falcon" (that's my nickname for him).
"So… trip to Budapest was really good. Actually, it was a lot better than I thought it would be, in so many ways. I was a bit nervous about going on a "bus tour". The tour was made up of everyone from parents and kids (say 8-10 year old kids), to university students/friends, to a few married 40ish couples. So, a good mix – that's for sure.

The bus left the bus station at 7am (on the dot) Friday am. We stopped a few times on the way… for the smokers to have a break and for people to go to the bathroom/grab something to eat. We arrived in Budapest sometime around 2:30pm. Budapest isn't all that far from Zagreb, but by the time you add stopping at the border (them checking every passport) and then the few stops – it did take a bit. The good thing though is that you could just relax, listen to your ipod, sleep, or do whatever.

When we got there they took us to quite a few sights: the Citadel (and lookout over the whole city – BEAUTIFUL!), went downtown and walked along Vaci street (the main street) in the old town. Great shops. We were hungry and not feeling adventurous… so actually ate at McDonalds. I know, I know… I am always one of those people saying – when in Rome do as the Romans, but you know what? Maybe I am getting older, but boy it is nice to have/know what you are getting : ))) Really, it seems the only time we ever eat at McDonalds is when we are on vacation : )))
Well, and one other neat things – is that trying the McDonald's in each country you get to try out their "localized" menu. E.g. Ivan had a "McRoyal" burger. We hadn't seen those before… and we had just been to a McDonald's not that long ago in Hong Kong and Beijing. hahaha.

After a quick stop at the hotel to check in… Ivan and I broke away from the group, took the subway and went to a mall. Always interesting to see malls in different countries – as this is where the regular people go. Budapest had FABULOUS malls. The choice/selection of stores was incredible. Also WAY better than anything I have seen in Ottawa – maybe closer to the Eaton's Centre in TO – but still way different. E.g. they had a JLo store (Jennifer Lopez store selling fashion shoes/boots). That night I again was very excited… ate at TGI Fridays… boy it was nice to have Western food : )))

Sat. the bus took us to various stops/sites: Fisherman's Bastion, Parliament, Heroes Park, various Castles/Museums… The architecture was just amazing. A LOT was built in 1896 for their centennial – and boy they poured $$$ into a lot of these things. You'll see when we send out some of our pics. Sat. night we went to a different mall – again very interesting. Ivan and I are really good at navigating around cities using subways. Budapest has a great subway. It is really easy to use and very efficient. You can get from one area to another in mins.

Should say that our hotel was ok. Nothing to write home about but a good clean 3 star… and came with free buffet breakfast. But man, for the price we paid (approx. $150 Cdn each – bus, tour, hotel/breakfast for 2 nights) the whole trip was an AMAZING deal (perhaps because of
the time of year as well).

Sunday, the bus took us past a couple more places and Ivan and I jumped off to go to a traditional Hungarian hot spring. Budapest is located on natural hot springs – so there are hot springs all over the city. The one we went to looked like a humongous fortress. You go in – pay
your $15 Cdn and have access to all of their indoor and outdoor pools, steam rooms, saunas, etc. The pools range in temp. from 20 degrees to 38 degrees. They had a couple of HUGE pools outside – yes you actually had to venture out of the main building in just your bathing suit in 4 degree weather – running to the pool. When you got in it was heaven – about 38 degrees with steam rising out of it. What is also very interesting is that in various places throughout the outdoor pools you will have old men gathered around chess boards playing chess – in the water!!! Very much like how you swim up to a bar for a drink at all-inclusive hotels. Chess is Very big in Hungary – you can find hand carved chess sets everywhere! Anyway, we didn't stay all that long at the hot springs – as the bus was leaving at 1pm. So off we went – took a subway back downtown and met up with the group for the bus ride home.

All in all it was a great trip! Poor Ivan did have to translate everything bit of info. the tour guide was explaining, but thankfully his English/Croatian is so amazing I don't feel I missed anything – with all the various stories/history, etc.

We arrived home to Zagreb about 8:30pm – and given that we live so close to the bus stain (couple of tram stops away) think we were in our door by 8:45pm."

I highly recommend visiting Budapest to all, as this city has amazing sights for all age groups and likes (history, museums, castles, opera, new malls and excellent shopping).

Updating goals

As you've read from one of my past blogs, I set a goal of doing 10,000 push-ups by June 1st, 2009. After 1,000 push-ups in 21 days, I believe that I have develop an RPS (repetitive push-up syndrome). If this condition ever gets an official name, it will be called Ivan tunnel syndrome (as opposed to a Carpal tunnel syndrome). :-)

My wrist would hurt every time I did push-ups. That was the first sign that this may be an ambitious goal and that I should stop. The second sign that I should stop pursuing this goal was that my pecs were feeling really tight. In fact, they felt so tight that I could feel individual strands of muscles going to different parts of my back and shoulders. Scary!

The good thing about my push-up binge is that:
1. The size of my pecs has increased considerably.
2. I did 120 push-ups in one day, six sessions of 20 push-ups.
3. I realized that I can grow my muscles only by going past the comfort zone.

All in all, this was a good exercise even though I did not reach my goal. It is ok to set lofty goals. Just give yourself the permission to change your goals if you realize that they are killing you. Changing is not failure. Killing yourself in pursuit of a goal, is.

MaxTV is here

We ordered the local MaxTV 'cable service' since there is a promotion going on for a free three-month trial period. MaxTV is actually provided over our DSL internet connection, but other than that it is just like any other cable TV service.

MaxTV gives us 75 channels in its basic package, another 10 in its Plus package, while the Premium package adds HBO and HBO Comedy. The basic package carries all available local Croatian channels, music, sports, nature (Discovery, National Geigraphic), History Channel, BBC, CNN Europe, CNBC Europe, Bloomberg. Not a bad selection at all.

I still don't think that we will keep MaxTV after the end of trial period. I realized one thing after having MaxTV for a couple of days - We just don't watch TV! We get all our shows and news from the Internet. I cannot conform anymore to the old setup of sitting and watching the show when someone else wants me to (ie. watching the show in its usual time slot).

We need to have our shows available when and where we want them. If that time is 9 am or 9 pm I want to watch what I want to watch. Why do I have to wait for a certain time and day of the week to watch the show that I like. And, if you are unable to be present in front of your TV at the proscribed time, you've missed it, never to see it again (or maybe years later during a re-run).

I know, VCRs and PVRs do help with this problem of fixed time-slot, but VCRs and PVRs won't help you record past episodes of a show that you've just discovered. It is amazing that pretty much ANY TV show aired in the last five years can be found on the internet and watched. And all this is done for free by a bunch of volunteers, but TV studios and networks would like to make us think that this is impossible. Hogwash!

Back to the gym

Carla and I have finally started going to the gym again. Woohoo! It's been a while for Carla, and even longer for me. I have worked out for only two weeks in the last three months. Partly due to my foot injury, partly due to traveling, Carla being sick, etc.

Going to the gym on a regular basis has a great effect on our mood and confidence. You feel strong, powerful and more motivated. Exactly the kind of feelings that I need as I start looking for a job.

The push-up counter is increasing rapidly. On Monday, I did 120 push-ups, not all in one shot, but throughout the day, and I can see a big difference in my physique. It has been only two weeks, but my efforts are paying off. I have also found out that after you do 120 push-ups in one day, you should take the next day off. :-) Helps the recovery and prevents a repetitive-strain injury.

Visit to Beijing - part II

Beijing was pretty hard to get around if you don't speak Mandarin. So yes, it was pretty difficult for us. :-) It's a good thing that I am good with maps (unfortunately, my GPS did not have any maps for Beijing) so we did not waste any time getting lost in the city. Most of the time, we would take the subway. Their subway system is really good. It cost only 2 yuan per person to go between any two stations in the city, regardless of the distance. Much cheaper than cabs, which were not very expensive, but definitely cost more than 4 yuan for a round-trip.

We enjoyed Beijing food, dumplings being our favourites. Some of the other food that we saw but definitely avoided were skewers of non-traditional 'animals': scorpions, sea horses, cockroaches, and all kinds of other insects. For some reason, I did not feel vary adventurous in the food area on this trip. I was really trying to not get a food borne disease, and I succeeded. That is, until I got back home, and then I was out for a week. Well, better to be sick at home than while traveling.
Shopping was pretty good in Beijing, if you know how to drive a good bargain. Silk Market and Pearl Market are two popular places where you can find anything counterfeit. Last year, when I was in Shanghai, I definitely bought more than I did on this trip. But I realize now how much I overpaid last year as I did not know the unwritten rules of these markets. In Shanghai, I was always happy if I got an item for 1/3 of the initial quoted price. Now, if they did not go down to 1/6 of the initial price, I would not buy. The amazing thing is that they would still sell items even at 1/6 of the price.

For example, we tried to buy a watch for Carla and the lady started off at 250 yuan. Well, she would only go down to 150 yuan. Using a patented technique of pretend-that-you-are-disinterested-and-start-looking-at-the-neighboring-stall I offered 35 yuan. She first pretended to be insulted, but as I started walking away she yelled "Give me money" which I took as "We have a deal." :-)

All in all, the trip was a great success. We saw a different culture, had a great time, ate great food and would definitely like to go back again for a visit.

Visit to Beijing - part I

Our trip to Beijing was very different from our trip to Hong Kong. The first difference that we experienced as we arrived in Beijing was that it was cold! Somewhere around 10 C or even less in the morning and evening. This was a big change from the perfect temperature range (23 to 29 C) that we've experienced in Hong Kong.

Another big difference was to see how big and spread out Beijing is. It is huge!!! Streets are super-wide, buildings are spread out, and the subway has at least different 10 lines, if not more. That is what happens when a city has over 16 million residents.

The first sites we went to see were the Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest) and the Acquatic Centre (The Cube). Absolutely amazing structures! All olympic buildings in this area look like they are really close to each other, but they just look that way because they are so big. It took a while to walk from one building to another. The inside of the Olympic Stadium is huge, and both Carla and I could feel the positive energy in the stadium. Almost as if all the goodwill from the games had accumulated and stayed there.
We also saw the Forbidden City. Pack your good shoes because this place is BIG. You walk and walk, and then you walk some more! The emperors sure knew how to build walls and palaces. The place looked pretty spacious inside. I actually used Google Maps satellite view to check out the Forbidden City before going there, but not even that had prepared me for how grandiose this place is. Something to see, for sure.
Our first three days in Beijing were so cloudy and smoggy, that the visibility could not have been more than 500-1000 meters. We also found the air really polluted, since whenever we blew our noses, the napkins would be full of black stuff. I don't think that was supposed to happen. :-)

The Tienanmen Square in front of the Forbidden City was Chinese-big. Here is my gradation of big; there is big, then there is USA-big, and then there is Chinese-big (which is the biggest big in my dictionary). :-) The Square was surrounded on four sides by the Forbidden City, Museum of Peoples' something, Mao Zedong's Mausoleum, and Hall of the Peoples' something.
On our last day we caught a bus to the Great Wall of China, and according to my definition of big, it was Chinese-big. The wall went on for miles and miles. The surprising thing was that you could see people walking the wall all the way. The wall was pretty crowded so we kept bumping into people all over the place. Then, we took a wrong turn (I know, you're probably thinking how can you take a wrong turn on a wall) and ended our walk of the wall prematurely. Oh well, this is why I take pictures early, because it was not easy to get back on the wall.
More to come...

Hong Kong - Big Buddha

The last sightseeing trip we did while in Hong Kong was to see the Big Buddha at the Lantau Island. We took a long gondola ride to the top of the hill where the world's largest outdoor Buddha was waiting for us. Unfortunately, we got there when the sun was right behind the sculpture of the Buddha so we were unable to get good pictures.
The interesting part was getting back. Colin told us that there was a challenging path back from the Big Buddha, so we decided to take the path. Well, what an adventure. The path was a collection of uneven path with lots of steep ups and downs. At one point, I was ready to die. I had overheated so much from going uphill that we needed to stop and rest for a while. The good thing was that we had a bag of M&Ms as I needed energy. After we wolfed down the M&Ms, we were back on the path. At one point, the path turned into a steep drop of stairs. I don't have a fear of heights, but at this point I had to stop and calm myself. The stairs down were so steep and narrow that I had to go down the sideways. My foot would barely feet on the step, even when my foot was turned sideways. SCARY!!!

This path is actually built to be used for rescue crews in case the gondola breaks down. The path was about 6 km long, and even with all the breaks with took and hiking up and down the hills, we were able to finish it in hour and a half. The view from the path was breathtaking so I am really glad we took this path. You can see the airport to the left.
One drawback of this 'excursion' was that my knees and calves were killing me for the next four days. I could barely take the stairs my knees hurts so much. After a few massage sessions in Beijing, I was back to normal. Phew!

Hong Kong sights and shopping

We took a bus to the Peak (overlooking Hong Kong and Kowloon) at night, as the view at that time is amazing. The bus ride was a bit scary as the road was windy, narrow and with a steep drop on one side. After we got to the top, Colin led us up a footpath to a place with an amazing view of the city. Take a look at these pictures.

Another night we took a Star Ferry over to Kowloon. Standing on the Kowloon side, we had a beautiful view of Honk Kong. They really light up the buildings nicely at night. Other places of note in Honk Kong that we visited were Causeway Bay and Time Square Plaza.

There are a lot of shopping malls in Hong Kong. Causeway Bay was full of them. One building had two floors of just electronics. Yes, I DID enjoy it. :-) The electronics they had on display were not cheaper than here (much to my dismay). But they did have some things that I have not seen here (like various cordless Skype phones).

Kowloon side had a larger collection of stores carrying cheaper merchandise. I hit the jackpot when I got off at the MongKok MTR (their subway) station. They were selling electronics EVERYWHERE. Cell phones, laptops, TVs. Crazy! I found an electronic mall called Sim City few blocks from the station, and this mall had four floors of only electronics stores. Heaven!!! And this stuff your could bargain for. Some of their web cams were no name, and thus the quality was questionable, but the rest of the stuff looked legit. I loaded up on memory cards, USB hub, headphones, and computer memory. I wanted to walk away with a lot more, but I had to keep it together. :-)
Ladies Market in this area had a lot of good and inexpensive items. Knock-offs were also on display (purses, suitcases, watches, etc.) Good place to go shopping if you don't mind bargaining. If you are not willing to bargain, you will pay too much.
More to follow...

A new goal

I was doing some thinking and thought that I needed a tangible goal to work on. Something where I can see progress every day, but at the same time, something that will have a great impact on my health.

I decided to set a goal for myself of performing 10,000 push-ups by June 1st, 2009. That means that, on average, I will have to do 55 push-ups a day. That's quite a few push-ups, but just think of the effect that this will have on my body!

I am setting up my life so that I align the things that I like to do with the things that I want to achieve. I love tracking things, but I also love to see progress on a daily basis, so a goal that can be worked on every day is perfect for me. Also, having a goal which can be worked on from anywhere is another way I am setting myself up for success.

Finally, I am posting the goal and the current progress on my blog page, so that I have the accountability and motivation to achieve the goal. Encouragement is appreciated. :-)

Visit to Hong Kong

This is a summary of our trip to Hong Kong along with the description of Colin's wedding. I will write another blog entry specifically about our visit to Beijing.

We arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport after a 11 hour flight from Frankfurt. The airport is located on a man-made island as there was no room to put it anywhere else. The airport is a super-modern place, and is connected to the city by a comfy Airport Express train. HKD$100 will get you to the city in 30 minutes.

Our hotel for the first night was located in the Western District, on the street known to locals as "Dried Food Street." The reason it is called like that is that the majority of stores on this street sold dried fish and other dried food items. At times it smelled REALLY overpowering! We even saw a huge dried shark fin. You want it, they have it dried!

The next day we moved to the MetroPark hotel where we stayed for the duration of our visit in Hong Kong. This hotel had an amazing pool on the roof with a great view of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the Victoria Park. Victoria Park is a huge area with parks and courts for various sports (tennis, basketball, soccer). Every Sunday, this park is packed with Filipino nannies. I mean, you cannot walk through the park, as it is so full. This is the only day off for most of the nannies (which are predominantly Filipinos) so they all go to the park to chat with friends, call home (saw a bunch of phone cards and cell phones) and eat Filipino food.

Our first fancy supper was to a restaurant called Golden Bauhinia. Peking Duck is considered a delicacy here so that's what we had. They slice up the duck so that each slice contains a piece of the duck skin, which is considered to be the best piece. Then, you are given these thin rice wraps to make a tortilla with duck, lettuce and some sauce. Tasty! After that, we had some more good Chinese food. All in all, a great meal.


More details tomorrow...

Time for me to open a currency exchange store

You know you've traveled too much when you look in your wallet and find 8 different currencies. Yes, eight!

After our trip to China, I find myself holding (small amounts of) Chinese yuan, Hong Kong dollars, US dollars, Canadian dollars, Euros, British pounds, in addition to the Croatian kunas and Bosnian KM.

They won't exchange Chinese and Hong Kong currencies here in Croatia, so I'll save them for my future trips to that part of the world. We had a great time there and are definitely planning to go for another visit.

Car is up, Carla is down

It's a case of good news, bad news.

Good news, the car back window has been fixed, though at our expense. If we had submitted the claim to the insurance company, it would have increased our insurance cost for the next year by a lot. Also, if something else happens to our car this year, we would have to pay a high deductable. On a positive note, it feels so good (and warm while driving) to have all car windows.

Bad news is that Carla is not feeling well. She's been sick for a week now. I took her to a doctor yesterday (another long process of run here, run there). The doctor prescribed antibiotics, so we'll see what happens over the next few days.

As such, I have not had the time to even look at the pictures from our trip, let alone chose the nice ones and post them. Not to worry, they are coming.

Back from the trip

Well, we got back to Zagreb on Saturday morning, and had a surprise waiting for us. Our car's back window was broken! Nothing was stolen, but the back window was completely in pieces. Lucky me, I now get to figure out how Croatian insurance system works. :-(

The trip to Hong Kong and Beijing was amazing. I took over 1,500 pictures, so it will take me a few days to go through them all. I also plan to post summaries of visits to each of the cities, so that people can get a nice descriptions of what is worth seeing in each place.

Carla and I are not feeling well, so other then buying groceries (empty fridge!) I don't think we'll do much else today and tomorrow.

Update from Hong Kong

We have been in Hong Kong for 5 days already. The weather here is great, varies between 24 and 29 C. It looks like it will cool off next week, but by then we will be in Beijing, where the temperatures are between 0 and 15 C. It will be quite a change going from here.

Hong Kong is a big place. Lots of really tall high rises, and lots of people everywhere. We have been taking subway, trams and buses everywhere. The transit system is really well setup so it is not a problem to get around.

Colin and Edith's wedding is on Saturday so Friday and Saturday will be a busy days for us, as we are helping with a lot of wedding activities. On Monday, we leave for Beijing, and I think we are going to see a lot more traditional chinese buildings as Hong Kong architecture looks very western.

We are just now watching the results of the American election, and are excited to see what happens. I am hoping that in the next four years we have fewer wars than we've had in the last eight. World needs more peace!

UPDATE: ABC News just predicted (based on the votes in so far) that Obama will be elected president in Election 2008!!! A truly historic moment.

Shopping in Graz

Carla and I went for a short shopping trip to Graz, Austria yesterday. It took us about two and a half hours driving to get there. Not bad.

The thing about traveling in Europe is that you have to cross country borders (well, at least you do if you live outside EU). Our closest border with the EU is Slovenia, so you never know what kind of difficulties you are going to run into when you drive up to a border agent.

This time, when the Slovenian border guard saw our Canadian passports, he asked for Carla's driver's license (as she was the one driving). After seeing that she had a Canadian driver's license, he went on about how Carla needs an International Driver's Permit to drive in the EU. According to him, "Canada has different categories of vehicles so the license is not valid in EU." Whatever, someone needed to feel important. I used my Canadian personality, profusely apologizing in Croatian (as he was not comfortable speaking English). I said that we did not know about this rule, so sorry for our ignorance, where could we get an International Driver's Permit (IDP), and that we will do this as soon as we get back. After uttering one more threat that next time we won't be allowed to drive into Slovenia without an IDP, we were let into Slovenia. Wow, they just can't live and let live.
Now, for the more relaxed part of the trip. We arrived at Centre West shopping centre, which had a large Interspar (Loblaws/Superstore -equivalent) store attached to the mall. Nice mall, two stories, nothing too fancy but decent stores. IKEA was located in the same area, so we walked over to checkout the selection. This IKEA was a lot bigger than the one in Ottawa. Different styles and colours. More conservative, as that is the sense I got about Austrians during my half-day stay there.
After shopping, we visited downtown Graz. It's a nice little town with a beautiful square. An amazing collection of buildings rounded out the square. A brass band was in the square playing classical music, roasted chestnuts were available on one corner, and bratwurst (sausages) could be had 10 different ways. There were quite a few stores with beautiful clothing. All custom made, one-of-a-kind dresses.
We walked around for about an hour and a half and then we headed home. In another 2.5 hours we were home. What a fun day-trip!

Police

I have lived in Canada for the past 16 years. In those 16 years, I have never been pulled over by police. Never!

I have been here for less than 6 months, and in the last two weeks, I got pulled over twice!

First time I got pulled over was when I was driving from Pula back to Zagreb. It was Sunday night, roads were clear and I was hurrying to get home as Carla was to arrive in Zagreb the next day. So, I am going really fast (faster than the speed limit) when I see a policeman standing in the street waving his little paddle indicating that I should pull over.

First thing that went through my head was, "damn, how fast was I going, and did I get to slow down enough in time". Oh well, gotta pull over now. If I keep driving it will only get worse. :-) So I pull over. The policeman then asked me for my driver's license and prometna dozvola (vehicle registration). I gave him my Canadian driver's license and that surprised him a bit. He asked, "You moved here from Canada?", meaning "Are you dumb or something?" :-)

The policeman then went over to his buddy in the car to verify my documents. I was still concerned about my 'excessive speed' but then I realized that these guys don't have radar guns. They're too expensive! Phew! Close call. The policeman returned with my documents ten minutes later and I was back on the road. No drama. (As my favourite British fiction hero - Nick Stone - likes to say)

Second encounter with police happened yesterday, when we were driving back from Sisak. I knew that police was up ahead because three people had flashed their high beams at me a kilometer ahead. Ok, the first guy flashed me because my high beams were on (oops) but the other two were trying to warn me to slow down. And I DID! :-)

So, the pulling over routine was the same. Guy standing in the middle of the street, with a paddle saying STOP (which I only saw when I pulled over) motioning me off the road. Asked for my driver's license and registration. Took them, went to his buddy in the car and returned five minutes later. This guy also asked me if I had the required safety equipment in the car (safety triangle, first aid, and a reflective vest). Luckily, I bought those items as soon as I found out that they were mandatory, about a month after buying our car. The policeman returned my documents and we were back on the road.

As we got into the city, we saw another cop pulling people over for a 'random' inspection. Too much inspecting going on if you ask me.

Online backup

I am a big believer in backup. The problem that most users encounter with backing up is that they forget to do it, don't have time to do it, or find the backup process too complicated. I completely agree with them. Backing up is complicated, but I have found three applications which will simplify backup for you.

The first program, Foldershare, is what I am currently using. I recommend Dropbox for free (2GB) storage, and JungleDisk if you are a more serious users with GBs of data to backup.

I have been using Foldershare for the last couple years. Carla and I each have a copy of this software installed on our laptops. All our documents and pictures are kept in-sync between the two computers. If I add a file to my computer, it will be copied to Carla's computer within seconds. I really like this setup as it keeps our documents in sync and backs up our information to each other's computer. I can access the files from the Internet only if the computers are left online, so that is not an ideal solution.

The ideal solution needs to do the following:
-sync files between multiple computers
-backup files to an off-site place
-allow remote access to the files (even with the computers off)

Dropbox allows you to do all three at once (backup, sync and remote access). You can install the software on multiple computers and keep them all in sync. The free account on Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage. To store up to 50GB you need to pay $10/month or $99 a year. Sounds reasonable to me. Seems easy to use, though I have not tried it yet.

JungleDisk uses Amazon S3 service to backup your data. Yes, that's the Amazon.com Amazon, so I trust those folks to keep your data secure and available 24/7. You still get instantaneous syncing between multiple computers, data storage to an off-site place and web access to data.

You are charged monthly based on your storage and download/upload throughout the month. Rates are something like $0.15 per GB of storage and something really small for download/upload of data monthly. Cost-wise, I think that JungleDisk with Amazon S3 is the cheapest backup option for large amounts of data.

I will try out the free 2GB of space with Dropbox to see if it is worth switching to. My impression is that I will end up using JungleDisk, as it's price/security/features seem to be the best choice for heavy users.

If you want free, definitely use DropBox. It will be easy to use, and you'll sleep better for having your important data backed up.

Carla is back!

Woohoo! Carla arrived back in Zagreb yesterday around 13:30. Her flight from Frankfurt was delayed by a couple of hours, but the wait was worth it! :-)

You know the feeling of arriving in a foreign airport and seeing all those people holding up pieces of paper with important peoples names (waiting to pick them up)? Well, I've always wanted a nice welcome like that for me, so I thought I would welcome Carla that way. Check out the sign I made for Carla. :-)


I think that the warm reception worked! She was very happy to see me.

It is so good to have her here. Now we can start planning our trip to Hong Kong and start applying for jobs in Australia.

Painting our place

Carla thought that the walls in our place are too white (they looked fine to me) so we decided to paint a few walls. Finding the paint and painting equipment was not too hard as BAUHAUS (Home Depot copy) carries it all and has a pretty good selection.

Our ceilings are 10' high, so the first challenge was to find ladders that are tall enough. Luckily, my cousin had a tall ladder at his place so that problem was quickly solved.

The next problem was painting the walls. The paint looked pretty thick, and it definitely did not drip off the paint roller during painting. Later on, as I shared my experience about thick paint with my cousin, I learned that we were supposed to water down the paint. And not by much. We were supposed to add 1 liter of water to 10 liters of paint (10%).

What perplexed me was, "Where and when am I supposed to add this water to the paint?" The can in which paint came was too small to add water right then and there. Should I add water to the paint when it is in the paint through (where you use the paint roller)? Not a good system, if you ask me. I like buying things premixed, prepared and precooked. :-)

Well, all the effort was worth it, as our place looks magnificent. Carla did a great job of picking out the right colour for our apartment. Good work, Honey! :-)

Legacy

I spent a great weekend with family in Banja Luka (the city where I was born and lived for 16 years). It was really good to see them, talk to them, and eat GREAT food with them.

This weekend also made me think a lot about how life happens, whether you have plans or not. That made me think about my plans. What kind of a legacy do I want to leave?

Good questions to ask yourself are:
1. If I died today, who would care?
2. Will the world in 10, 50 or 100 years after my death be any better because of what I have done in my life?
3. What kind of impact do I want to leave on this planet and its people in the course of my life?

Most people think of their legacy only at the end of their life. That is too late. The end of your life is when your legacy is evident, not when you should start thinking about leaving one.

Your legacy is a sum of all the things that you've done and accomplished throughout your lifetime. I believe that most people try to build their legacy through words, but forget to follow up with their actions.

You can only judge a person by their actions. Nothing else. Not their words, not their promises, and definitely not their appearance. There is a great quote that sums it up "watch what a man does, not what he says."

What are your answer to the three questions above?

Learning a new language - Part II

... continued from here

3. Learn the basic grammar rules for tenses and genders (genders are more important in some languages than others).
In Croatian language, if you where to say a blue man or a blue woman, the word blue would look different (plavi muskarac vs. plava zena). This is why it is important to understand genders or you may use a wrong adverbs to describe yourself. If you like to be a source of entairtainment for the locals, then go right ahead and forget about using the right gender. :-)

As for learning proper tenses, I would encourage learning the present tense immediately. If you feel brave, learn the past tense (as you will talk a lot about the past) and then future (as you talk less about the future). Other fancy tenses can be left for when you feel comfortable with the past, present and future tenses.

4. Learn the 'connector' words.

What I mean by 'connector' words are all those words that are left in a sentence once you remove all the verbs, nouns and adjectives. These words are the glue of language.

I remember, when I was learning French, one summer long, long time ago, our teacher gave us several pages of 'connector' words (in, like, as, with, of, at, ...) in French. Try learning these basic words and then take a look at an article in that foreign language. You will be surprised to see how much of the flow you understand with even little understanding of the main words.

... to be continued.

Back in the driver's seat

Today was the first time in a month that I took the car out for a drive. My foot is finally feeling better. Not good as new, but good enough that I am able to drive.

It sure felt nice to drive to different parts of town. I felt too cooped up over the last month. Spending all that time in bed and not being able to go places can sure bring you down.

It is a beautiful autumn day here. Warm, sunny, and leaves changing colour everywhere you look. The autumn lasts a lot longer than in Canada. Well, definitely longer than in Saskatoon, and a bit longer than in Ontario and Quebec.

I like the sensation of a autumn wind on your face. It's not the harsh Canadian wind that chills you to the bone, but more of a gentle breeze bringing you the smell of nearby trees. I completely forgot about how autumn used to feel in my childhood and I am really happy to have a chance to experience it again.

Yesterday was kind of a stressful day dealing (again) with the Croatian bureaucracy. I guess that Carla's immigration papers were just sitting on someone's desk because the bank statement (???) in her application was not translated. Not like they would follow up and let us know that something is missing. Since Carla is scheduled to be flying back in 9 days, I was trying to get them to hurry up, but that's like trying to get maple syrup to flow up a tree. Impossible! There's a good chance that the paperwork will now be done on time, but there is a holiday on Wednesday which is not going to help the matter.

That's another thing that I noticed here. All holidays are fixed to a specific date. I remember moving to Canada and initially thinking how a 'third Monday of May' was stupid way to fix a day to celebrate a holiday. Over time, I began to appreciate the logic in this as it is kind of hard to have a long weekend if the holiday falls on a Wednesday. I am a full convert now to a fixed-day-of-the-week holiday as opposed to a fixed-date holiday! :-)

Book report - The McKinsey Way

I finished reading a really good book on management consulting, The McKinsey Way. Let me first say that McKinsey and Company is a Ferrari of management consulting, in the sense that they get the coolest engagements and charge probably the highest rates.

The book is written by Ethan Rasiel, who worked there for three years in the early 90's. Ethan covers several aspects of McKinsey and tries to explain why McKinsey is so good and sought after.

First, McKinsey is very thorough in its research and analysis. Facts are triple-checked, and analysis is thorough. The author even goes in depth on the proper way to hold a brainstorming sessions. He also has a few tips about how to perform a good analysis (use the 80/20 rule, don't boil the ocean, make sure your solution fits the client)

Second, the author talks how McKinsey does not "sell" its services, but markets instead. Meaning that McKinsey people and their work are seen and heard about, so when someone has a problem (and is willing to pay dearly to get it fixed), they come to McKinsey.

Third, they treat their employees "relatively" well for a consulting firm, so there is light at the end of the tunnel of sleepless nights and living away from home for months.

The book reminded me of a lot of experiences that I went through in my MBA. One of the requirements for the completion of my MBA was to do a Management Consulting engagement and solve a business problem. I did this at my work, but the project was something outside of my regular duties. All of the experiences of dealing with clients that were mentioned in this book were the things I had experienced myself on my management consulting engagement. In hindsight, I am glad to say that I made a lot of right decisions (sure, a few were wrong, but it was my first consulting experience!).

I would recommend this book for anybody who deals with clients, solves problems and wants to be more efficient in their life. There's something for everyone. It's a quick read, so if you don't want to buy it, just read the relevant chapters in the bookstore! :-)

Feelin' better!

I was not feeling very good over the last few weeks. Isolation and not being able to leave the house got me down, so I had to come up with a few things that will give a longer-term boost in optimism (as opposed to escapism of The Simpsons).

So what did I do? I called people (friends, family) and talked to them. It is amazing how much better a person feels once they feel connected to other human beings. A piece of advice, if you do know someone who is feeling down, make a point of talking to them over the phone, or even better, take them out somewhere fun. Don't wait for them to ask for your help, because they won't. They are feeling too low, and you as a friend/family member need to take that step.

Another thing that happened was listening to Rocky 5 inspirational speech (link provided by my brother). I find listening motivational books and reading motivational literature incredibly uplifting. The trick is to make this a part of your daily routine. It does not have to take long. Even a quote a day will make a difference. Here is a link to my sister-in-law's collection of great quotes.

Cabin Fever

It has been three weeks since I sprained my foot. In those three weeks, I have stepped out of the apartment only a handful of times. I can't even move around the house. As soon as I start walking around the apartment, I feel my foot swell up. Then, a few minutes later, it is blue and hurting.

I can't even watch TV shows. The whole first seasons of Heroes and Prison Break are just waiting to be watched, but I just have not felt like it. The only show that I have been able to watch are the Simpsons. Homer makes me laugh. :-) I need something to make me laugh these days.

I looked up some good rehabilitation exercises for a sprained ankle and I have been doing those diligently. The foot has been hurting more than usual in the past couple of days so I had to slow down (not like I was racing around, anyways) and keep my foot elevated.

I had so many plans for these weeks that Carla is in Croatia (see family, scope out Zagreb and the surrounding area, go to the gym) but all these require a functioning foot, or at least an ability to stand upright for more than 5 minutes.

Oh well. Things like this happen in life, no need to feel bad. But I do... Now if I could just get myself out of this funk.

Car - take me home!

Everyone who knows me is aware of my passion for efficiency. It drives me absolutely crazy when things are done in an inefficient manner. One of those inefficient things is driving a car.

Imagine how much unproductive time humanity spends in a driver's seat every day. You may say that the time is used productively, as it is used to get from point A to point B safely. I would have to disagree. If a machine can do it better and more efficiently then let the machine do it. Sure, the machine that can drive your car does not exist yet, but I believe that in the next 10-15 years, we should be able to buy cars that drive themselves.

Imagine how much time would be freed up for all those that commute to work. ABC said in a 2005 article that an average American commuter (about 200 million of them) spends about an hour and a half in a car per day. If we could free up that time by having a machine/computer drive the car, we would free up (5 days*48 weeks * 200 million commuters =) 48 billion person-hours a year! You could do a lot of creative work in 48 billion hours a year. Imagine how much more productive would a country become if you freed up that much time. Wow!

There are several reason why I believe that the day is approaching when computers will drive our cars. First, computers, cameras and other equipment that could make this a reality are getting more powerful and more inexpensive every day. Second, DARPA (the organization that developed an early version of the Internet) has been funding competitions for this kind of development (GRAND CHALLENGE). Third, even private citizens with interest in robotics have been able to have their cars drive themselves on the roads.

I look forward to the time when you can sit in your car after a long day at the office, say "Car, take me home" and start watching the latest episode of 24. :-)

Phone company hell

I used to think that Bell's telephone bill was had a poor layout and was very convoluted. Well, I've found something even worse than that. Croatian Telecom's telephone bill. Arghhhh!!!!

They have been overcharging me for my DSL service for the last three months. I called, and they said that it will be fixed, and then it was not. So by the time I really got fed up (I know, I tried not to get mad too quickly; it's a character flaw). :-)

I was given a fax number and an email number where I could file my complaint. And I did. Three weeks later, as I did not hear anything about my complaint, I emailed another complaint, this time asking for a response in the next 48 hours. Ten days later I get an email that they will credit me the overpayment for the three months and that they will correct the bill so I don't get overcharged the next month.

Guess what? T-Com's latest bill overcharged me for my ADSL service$%!@&!! I quickly called T-Com about this and they said that they cannot do anything about this, that it looks like the bill is updated and to give them a call next month if it is still like that. OH MY GOD!!!! I can't take this anymore...

And that's not all. They send me a bill for ~400kn and stupidly, I just pay what they specify on the bill. During my latest conversation with T-Com, I found out that there is a number printed in small print which shows if I have overpaid my previous bills and how much credit I have on this account. My credit has accumulated to 500kn. That still does not stop them from sending me a bill for services and hiding my overpayment from previous months.

That's when I asked them why they don't just print the number that I have to pay minus the credits on my account. She said that the computer can't do it. Yeah, sure, aha. The COMPUTER can't do it! ;-( So now, every month I have to look at the number that they tell me to pay, then subtract how much I've overpaid from before, and then pay the final number. SIMPLE! (sigh)

Bah! - part 2

I went for a check-up of my foot today. The doctor did the x-rays again and confirmed that nothing is broken. But the ligaments on my left foot are sprained and hurting a lot when I try to use them.

I am booked for another visit at the doctor's in a week. They reused the half-cast on my foot, after taking it off to take x-rays. The half-cast is not giving me much support now, though.

I also received my bill for medical services. It was for 870kn, which is about $200. Not bad for 8 x-rays, two visits to a doctor, and a half-cast.

Thanks to connections, I was able to get crutches. Otherwise, I would have had to buy them. They don't rent them here.

I have been spending my days laying down in bed with my foot elevated (because it hurts really bad otherwise). In the last couple of days I booked a flight to Hong Kong, flight to Beijing, and hotels for the two cities. That's a lot of research and emailing/booking, but someone's got to do it. :-)

Bah!

Monday evening, I was playing basketball and landed on my cousin's foot. His foot won. :-(

Now I have a sprained left foot. The thing hurt really bad, especially as I hopped home for 15 minutes. I know, Carla offered to pick me up, but I figured it would take longer for her to come and pick me up than for me to hop home. People were staring at this hopper with a pained look on his face.

I was not going to go to a doctor (just ice it, rest it and keep it elevated) but Carla was concerned that I broke something, so we went to the emergency (hitna pomoc). It's been a while since I've been in a Croatian hospital (ok, Ive never been in a Croatian hospital but I've been to a Bosnian one and it's not much different). Not much has changed. It did feel weird to be in this really old building but to be worked on (x-rayed) with state-of-the-art equipment. Well, at least they're investing in equipment, if not in the decorations and new paint. :-)

They x-rayed the foot and told me that it does not look like anything is broken but that they want to x-ray again in 7 days just to make sure. They also put my leg in a half-cast. I call it a half-cast as the top of my foot is just bandages that they used to wrap around the leg and the cast. That should immobilize my foot and hopefully help me help me heal more quickly.

I will end up paying at least $150 for that visit as I have no Croatian health insurance. But you have to admit it, that $150 is not much for seeing a doctor in an emergency ward, getting 4 x-rays done AND getting a cast. There is going to be an additional charge for the next visit on Monday, but it should not be as much.

I've been spending the last few days laying down in bed with my poor foot elevated. As fun as it sounds, the novelty wears off. I have not been able to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Even the trip to the washroom is painful and slow. At least I am in one piece. :-)

Carla leaves on Sunday, so it's going to be a bit tricky to get by every day as a hop-along. I hope that my foot gets better or that some of the family and friends can help.

Two years ago

I was just thinking how, two years ago, I started my Executive MBA program with the Queen's University. What an interesting time that was. I was filled with 10% apprehension and 90% enthusiasm at the beginning of the program. We spent the first 14 days from morning to midnight learning business concepts, meeting interesting classmates and enjoying great food (catering was pretty good).

It was not all fun and games, but I made sure to enjoy every minute of it. I still remember when the team had to write the first team assignment. Who would do it? The shortest straw (and baldest head) got the task. :-) Luckily, we decided to cut off the work on the paper at midnight, or we would have been at it until the wee hours in the morning.

Then came the time to submit our first individual assignment. "What is the prof looking for?" and "How do I impress him?" were two questions that were on everyone's mind. How silly it was to worry about things like marks and points.

It is only in retrospect that we understand what is important. I have been using a new technique: Look back at today's moment from 10 years in the future. How (un)important will this event/calamity/occurrence appear then? Thinking in this way will help you save yourself from a lot of emotional pain and anguish, as most of the things that happen in our life are not worth worrying about. More happiness, less worriness! (not sure that worriness is a word :-) but it rhymes)

As for my MBA program, I enjoyed every minute of it. I know that some other people would not share the same opinion, but I believe that life is what you make of it. If you CHOOSE to have fun, you will have fun. If you CHOOSE to succeed, you will succeed. But if you CHOOSE to be miserable, you will be miserable.

What will you CHOOSE for your life?

Booking flights

Today was time to book flights to Canada for Carla. She is going back in about three weeks and we cannot delay buying these tickets any longer. The longer we wait the more expensive the tickets will be.

I did the searches on my two favourite sites for booking flights: Expedia.ca and Travelocity.ca. Both of these sites come up with very similar prices and options. As none of the choices met our requirements (Carla had another flight booked in Canada that she has to connect to) I searched for alternatives to these two sites. I wanted to share the sites that I discovered as it can be difficult to find websites that will provide you with good prices/options.

I ended up booking a flight on ebookers.com (great connections and a decent price). The lowest price available was CAD$920, but we had to pay more to get the right flight times. Being flexible helps! :-( Other sites that also provided good prices/options for the flight to Canada were: cfares.com and ultimatefares.com.

For North Americans, I would highly recommend hotwire.com for great deals on hotels and cars (they also sell flights and vacations).

If you are trying to plan out a car route anywhere in North America or Europe, the best site to use is ViaMichelin. I love using it for figuring out how much I will spend on toll charges while driving through Europe. It gets kind of confusing driving around here as some countries charge you toll based on kilometers driven (you pay at a toll booth, e.g. Croatia) while in other countries (Slovenia, Austria) you need to buy a vignette (sticker for your car). With a vignette, you can drive without stopping at toll booths. The reason that I am paying attention to all these rules is that fines are extremely high (330 Euro fine vs 55 Euro vignette).

What I've learned from Travian

For the last few weeks, I have been playing a browser game called Travian. The nice thing is that you can play it from anywhere as all you need is an Internet browser (ie. Internet Explorer) and an Internet connection. In the game, you choose a specific nationality (Gaul, Teuton or Roman) and play until your alliance builds a World Wonder to a level 100. Sure, it may sound easy, but on your way to building the World Wonder, you encounter a lot of different game dynamics.

I found that I was able to relate almost each game concept to life, so I thought I should share my lessons with you.

Lesson 1 - Everyone is good at something. Figure out what it is that you are good at.

Each nationality in the game has different characteristics. Gauls are very good defensively, Teutons are good for attacking early on in the game, and Romans can build two projects at a time (good multitaskers).

This is true of people in real life. We are all good at something. The trick is that we either forget what we are good at, or feel that we need to do those things that we are not good at. My philosophy now is to trade off or outsource the things that I am not good at, and focus on the things that I am really good (and I enjoy).

Lesson 2 - You need friends! It is better to have a few good friends than a lot of mediocre friends.

In Travian, as you start playing, you will quickly be approached to join an alliance. Players don't win games, alliances do. You allies will be there to help protect you when you are being attacked. They will also provide resources when you are in need. You are also expected to do the same for the benefit of the alliance. Being friendly with members of other alliances helps as you being nice can prevent them from attacking you or may help if you later want to join their alliance.

In life, good friends will be there when you really need friends. Those times don't happen often, but when they do you sure learn who is a good friend and who is not. Good friendships take time to develop and maintain, but they are worth it!

Lesson 3 - Figure out what is important. Do only what is important.

As you play the game, you realize that it is important to have a lot of resources coming in. You increase your resources by developing your wheat fields, clay and iron mines, and a wood chopper. So for the next several days that is all you do. Keep clicking on those buttons until the resources are developed to the level that will support you in building other buildings in your city.

In life, we often do things just because that's what others do. We need to figure out what is important to us right now, and what do we need to do to make that come true. Once we know what needs to be done, all that is left is to do what needs to be done. Just focus on the prize!

Lesson 4 - Conditions change, change with them.

Another reason why Travian kept me playing for so long is that game dynamics change. At the beginning, the main focus is to develop resources in your only city. Then, you try and be fancy by building some military units. As you start getting attacked, you realize that an alliance would be nice. After you join an alliance, you would like to be one of the top dogs in the alliance, so you start building another city. As you develop several cities (and start believing that you are indeed a top dog), you start attacking cities belonging to other alliances. Soon, you attack someone whose army happens to be five time bigger than yours (oops) and you focus on developing stronger military units. And so on...

In real life, this is called change. Change in your workplace, change with your kids, change in the economy. Be aware of the change in our world. We cannot avoid it. We can either go with the change or go against the change. Or even better, we can be part of the change that is happening. The only way to avoid being run over by the change is to go with it and emrace it.

Lesson 5 - Do research before acting.

One of the unit types that you can build is a scout. Scouts enable you to spy on other players cities and find out how many resources and military units are in the city. I have learned to always spy a city with scouts before I attack it, as some players may have incredibly huge armies.

Same thinking should be used in real life. Don't go buying a first stock you hear about, or a deal that was "Avalilable only today." Do your research before going in anything with potential to cost you a lot in the future. Investments, electronics, houses, vacations. It pays to research. But don't research too long. You'll be able to find the best balance of researching just enough that works for you.

Lesson 6 - Use good quality tools.

Being a browser game, Travian does not have a fancy user interface. By downloading a few scripts on the web, you can make Travian look really snazzy, and the whole gameplay becomes easier. There is a script out there that will also help you schedule activities in the future, so that you don't have to be up at 4am to start building an improvement on your warehouse.

To relate this lesson to your life, I like to point out that if you spend your day working on a computer, get a GOOD computer. And not just a good computer, but also a good monitor, mouse, keybord, webcam . The whole deal. Same with other tools. If your livelihood depends on a certain activity, figure out what tools will increase your productivity and make life easier. Then go out and BUY them! Before you buy the tools, make sure to apply what you've learned in Lesson 6. :-)

Lesson 7 - Learn the rules, so that you know how you can break them (legally).

There are a lot of rules in Travian, so read them and learn them. For example, you cannot open two accounts and play them from the same computer EXCEPT if you report them and do some fancy stuff in the settings for each player. You cannot transfer resources to other players in quantity which exceeds one hour's production EXCEPT if you are building a World Wonder. You have to wait 48 hours before you can conquer a city from a player who leaves your alliance.

My point here is to learn whatever the rules are where you are (your work, union, city, country) and then play within, or legally outside those rules. There are grey areas everywhere, just make sure that you don't cross over to the black area.

Lesson 8 - Know when it's enough.

You can play Travian on a normal server and a speed server. The difference between the two is everything happens three times as fast on the speed server. Therefore, the speed server play can take up a sizeable chunk of your real life (especially if you are controlling 6 cities, as I was after a month of playing). After a while (a month), I had to stop playing as I could tell that the gameplay was taking more time than I was willing to invest. My ranking on the server was really good (67th out of 12,000), but in order to keep or increase my ranking, I would need to increase the amount of time I was spending on this game. At this point, I realized that I was putting in more into the game than I was getting from the game. It was time to get out.

In real life, people are often in situations where they stay longer than they should (ie. jobs, relationships, houses). It is important to become a good judge of your happiness, so that you can make timely choices on when to exit/enter different life situations (jobs, relationships, etc.)

----------

One of the nice things about Travian is that it is available in a lot of different languages. At one time, I simultaneously played on three Travian servers (American, Croatian and Bosnian). This is a good way to develop your language skills as well. Maybe I should get Carla to play Travian on the Croatian server. :-) That would be fun!

http://www.travian.com/ - click if you DARE!

Movie theater experience

I really did not expect to be going to the movies as often as we are! We discovered a brand new movie theater in one of Zagreb's malls with 12 screens. The place is new, spotless and huge.

I love the seating setup, as you have a good seat no matter where you sit. You never have to worry about having a tall guy with a big head sitting in front of you! In Europe, when you buy a movie ticket, you get a seat preassigned. Just like when you go to a concert or a theater performance. You can also book and pay for seats online.


Each theater has about a dozen love-seats strategically spread out throughout the theater. Yes, a love-seat, meaning that there is no arm rest between the two seats. It's pretty cool. We've been using the love-seat 'option' regularly. :-) So far, we've seen Iron Man (10/10), Sex and the City (10/10), Batman: Dark Knight (3/10) and Made of Honor (8/10).

They have a rule here that if the movie is longer than 140 minutes, then there is a 15 minute break in the middle of the movie. It's a great idea, as two hours into the movie with all that water/coke zero in your system, you are just begging for the movie to end so that you can use the washroom! With a short break in the middle of the movie, you can nicely enjoy the ending, without your back teeth floating. :-)

For the last movie we saw, we were the only people in the theater. Now I know how presidents feel like when they go see a movie. :-) Minus the bodyguards, of course.

The price of a movie ticket here is 29 HRK, which is about $6.5, but if you go before 5pm, the price of the ticket is 22 HRK. For example, last time Carla and I went to see a movie, we paid 44 HRk = $10!

Just recently, we found out that the same movie theater chain has another megaplex about five blocks from our place. So for those times that we don't want to drive to the other mall, we can walk to the closer megaplex in 10 minutes. I love living downtown!

Visit to Sarajevo

Carla and I visited Sarajevo (Bosnia) last weekend and had a great stay there. This was the second time that I've been to Sarajevo. The first time was about 20 years ago. Yes, things have changed. :-)

I was first surprised to see that many buildings and houses still had bullet holes on the facade. The war had ended 13 years ago but they still seem to be reliving it. You can see abandoned and burned out buildings throughout the city. Several of them have trees growing inside them. It is surreal.

Our aunt and uncle took us to a nice restaurant overlooking Sarajevo, and I was surprised to see how numerous mosques are in Sarajevo. Muslims make up about 70% of the population, while Croats, Serbs and other minorities make up the the rest. From where we were, over Sarajevo, I could count over twenty mosques, 4 catholic churches, 2 orthodox churches and one synagogue. The people of this city belong to at least four different religions, which was the main problem during the war.


During the war, Sarajevo was under siege for three years. A long time to be hiding from snipers and mortar attacks. That kind of life changes people. People of Sarajevo seem to be longing for the time before the war. They want to take back the time to the days of unity, happiness and innocence that they had before the war. It seems that people are stuck in the past and ignoring the present because they don't like the present and have nothing to look forward in the future.

Carla observed how we did not see a lot of smiling faces or people holding hands. The atmosphere was much different from what we've seen in Zagreb. Sarajevo is still a beautiful city, and I was surprised how developed Ferhadija (the main street) was.


As you walk down Ferhadija, you are enjoying the architecture of the Habsburg era. At the end of Ferhadija, you come to the old town (Bas Carsija) that was built during the time that Ottoman Empire ruled over this region. The transition was so sudden and obvious that it felt like you stepped back in time by 500 years. Short buildings with interesting looking rooves, stone path for a street, and mosques behind big stone walls. Cool!

We had our favourite Bosnian food here: cevapi and burek! Sarajevo cevapi and burek are the best. Much better than the average cevapi store fare in Zagreb (though we know of a few excellent cevapi places in Zagreb). I had so much burek and cevapi that I probably won't be having them again for at least a month.

All in all, it was a great city to visit, and we will definitely do it again.

Shopping experiences

You can tell a lot about a country by the shape and selection in the stores and shopping centres. Last week, I visited quite a few stores (looking for some furniture/paint/etc.) and had a few interesting experiences.

BAUHAUS (German store chain) looks like a complete knock-off of Home Depot, but it looked classier than Home Depot. The store I visited was HUGE! Everything you could buy in Canada (and more) was available here. Two thumbs up!

BAUMAXX is kind of like Canadian Tire and RONA mixed together. They have a good rug selection, but other than that, it's not worth shopping there.

PEVEC (Croatian store chain) was a really confusing store. I think that this store sells everything under the sun. You could find bedding, electronics, groceries, kitchenware, plumbing, tools, tires, building material, and GROCERIES!!! I had a headache after I was done walking through the store as it is HUGE.

SOLIDUM was another interesting shopping experience. This is a mall with about 70 furniture stores. I know, who needs 70 furniture stores in one space, but it did kind of make sense. Each furniture store focused on one thing (or two or three) like chairs, office furniture, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, etc. The styles that I saw here were amazing. Beautiful kitchens and bathrooms. European style really is something different.

There are so many grocery store chains in Croatia, that I find it overwhelming. Most of the grocery stores also sell almost everything else (kind of like a huge Loblaws or the Real Canadian Superstore). Grocery chains available here are Konzum, Mercator, Billa, Kaufland, Interspar, Ipercoop, Getro, Metro, Tommy, Diona, and a few more. A lot of these stores are from Italy and Austria, and expanded into Croatia as soon as Croatia opened to foreign capital. Selection in these stores is excellent (they have four-ply toilet paper scented that smells like a rose - try finding that in North America!). :-)

Shopping experience would not be complete without a trip to McDonalds, which we only make as we needed to use the washroom. Sneaky European McDonalds caught on that it is being used as a public restroom, so now all McDonalds in Croatia have a pin pad (you type in a pin number) to enter. The pin number is conveniently printed on your receipt which you ONLY get if you buy something. Oh well, I just waited for someone to walk in and then I followed them in. If that fails, I can always ask someone for the pin. The lesson here is, there is no point in having security if it is easy to circumvent it.

Learning a foreign language - Part I

After observing Carla in her efforts to learn Croatian, and from my experience in learning several foreign languages, I came up with a foolproof technique to learn a foreign language. Just because it is foolproof it does not mean that it is easy or quick. :-)

The following are the important steps that need to be followed in the process of learning the desired language:
1. Learn how to pronounce sounds of the foreign language.
2. Build a vocabulary of basic verbs and nouns.
3. Learn the basic grammar rules for tenses and genders (genders are more important in some languages than others).
4. Learn the 'connector' words.
5. Read newspapers and magazines in the area in which you would like to be fluent.
6. Listen to conversations in the area in which you would like to be fluent.
7. Start SPEAKING.

Below, I will provide more details about each of the steps.
1. Learn how to pronounce sounds of the foreign language. The main reason that people have problems being understood in a new language is that they are pronouncing foreign letters the 'native-tongue' way. This is the main reason for an appearance of an accent in the new language. For example, why is it that you can differentiate a Slavic person from an East Indian person in English when you talk to them over the phone. You hear an accent. They are both speaking the same language, but are making sounds the way they did in their mother tongue.

So, the trick to be understood is to properly pronounce the 'new' language sounds. This is why language tapes have proven to be very effective in teaching students a foreign language quickly. It does not matter if you 'don't have an ear for foreign languages.' Everyone has an ear for foreign languages, it's just that some take longer than others to perfect the pronunciation. Don't give up!

2. Build a vocabulary of basic verbs and nouns.
Once you've learned how to pronounce the sounds, you need to expand your vocabulary of foreign words. Learn the important words for your topic of interest. If you are in a finance industry, learn the terms for stocks, bonds, interest; if you are into fashion, learn terms for different types of cuts, clothing, etc.

Everyone should learn the essential nouns (numbers, colours, animals, fruit/vegetables, family relations (son/mother/etc), days of the week, directions, etc.) and verbs (eating, sleeping, and anything that you do every day). The basic vocabulary can be anywhere from 200 to 600 words and you would have a very good chance of being understood (or at least shown where the bathroom is) :-) in the new language.

If you are serious about learning the new language, I would recommend that you keep a small notebook of new words that you learn. Keep reading this notebook and quizzing yourself daily. Other ways to speed up learning of new words is to:
-write them out repeatedly
-put them on post-it notes all over your house/office
-make audio tapes of words that you can listen to on your drive to work/gym/shopping or during your walks
Try each of these techniques and do the one that works for you. We all learn in different ways (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) so find the way that works for you.

I realized that this topic will require a lot more writing, so stay tuned for other parts of the "Learning a foreign language" post.

Helping lost tourists

It's been a while since I posted last. I am realizing that I REALLY don't like writing, but since people enjoy reading the blog, I will try to post at least once a week.

You can tell that you are a local when people start asking you for directions AND you can provide them with correct directions. Well, I guess I should mention that my GPS device helped with the directions, but that's beside the point. :-)

Few days ago, as I was walking back home carrying grocery bags from my trip to the farmers' market, I was stopped by a francophone lady asking me if I spoke English. As a matter of fact, I do. :-) Lady's husband (waiting in the car with diplomatic plates) works for the French Embassy in Sarajevo. They were on a week long vacation, trekking from Sarajevo through Banja Luka and Zagreb on their way to Ljubljana.

Poor lady (and her husband) was looking for a Sheraton hotel, and everyone was sending her downtown. The lady did not realize that there were two Sheraton hotels in the city, and that she was staying in the one that was not located downtown.

Using my trusty GPS, I was able to find their hotel (2.5km away from where they were). For some reason, streets in Zagreb are laid out in a really wacky way so there was no way for me to give directions that these poor folks could remember. I told them, I'll hop in and take you there. It was just easier, and less painful for them.

Few minutes and several confusing turns later, we were at the hotel. The couple was so thankful that I helped them, they wanted to drive me back. I thought that it would have been kind of pointless for them to drop me off at home and get lost again. So I walked home (2.5km with grocery bags in each hand. I needed a walk.

The couple offered to take me and Carla out for supper that night, so I told them that I would check with Carla and get back to them. Carla thought that it would be fun to get together with them so we picked up the couple at their hotel in the evening and took them to a nice restaurant downtown Zagreb. Carla did most of the talking (in French) as the husband did not speak English and the wife was not comfortable speaking in English all evening.

The supper was lots of fun as the couple had a lot of stories to tell (they have lived in Beirut, Iraq, and a lot of other interesting places). After the supper, we showed the couple around downtown Zagreb and they were thrilled to have a 'local' guide them. I guess I'm a 'local' now. :-) This was definitely a time well spent!