Gdje se nalazi mjenjachnica za strane valute?

So I'm living in an apartment in Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb), the part of town where many students and young people live. Trams are filled with skinny jean-wearing Croatian hipsters, with stripes, huge sunglasses and all-together stylish ensembles. Things were going pretty naturally, as I figured out the tram system with little to no difficulty and can get to and from the main square. So today, in all of my confident glory, I go to the market, as I would in the States. Wonderful! No one speaks English here. Ok, so I struggle to ask for ham and cheese, but we work it out. I go to the cashier and lo and behold, I thought I had more kunas than I did. The nervousness/anxiety/embarassment associated with such encounters kicks in.... Thankfully the guy behind me in the line spoke English and was able to say, "She left her money elsewhere. She'll come back." How was I supposed to say I didn't have enough Kunas? So I frantically walk to the apartment, call my roommate, who tells me to take the tram three stops down to the mall to find a mienjachnica--an exchange office.
I get to the bank and exchange my money. Still feeling a little anxious, drop my money on the ground. And when I finally return to the store they have my groceries packed away nice and neatly while saying something about la Inglesa (the English-speaker?). But no! I'm a Spanish-speaker too, darnit! Oh yea, I forgot, that doesn't count for anything here.

Leaving Sarajevo

It’s raining here in Sarajevo. The morning reminds me of 8am’s in Boston, with the rush of the people going to work. Driven. Open shop! Gates opening and people waiting for buses.
Except there’s music playing in Downtown Sarajevo. Yes, music—on a Monday--early afternoon. And the Bosnian-British accent of the tour guide resounds, “We Bosnians love our coffee, and you just have to sip it for half an hour. Oh and, you never sip coffee alone. Always with friends.” “We can’t afford to be psycho here,” she says, “so our friends are our psychiatrists over coffee.” My racing heart, desperate for some slowing down, eats it all up; breathes the fresh air of slow pace and slows….

Anmelden

I assume that "anmelden" means "sign in" in German because it was on the same side that "sign in" and "entre la contrasena" appears on the top of my blog page.
See, I'm bilingual, so I have not had a real incentive to pay more attention to my love for languages. But here I find myself, not being able to hide under the cover of Latino bilingualism or slip under the radar as a member of the Latin American diaspora. I am foreign here. For the first time. I am completely foreign. And I'm American. So for the first time, I'm forced to squint at these words and handle the interesting looks and grapple with what seems like a whole bunch of consonants jumbled together.
Now where is the sign out button?
Abmelden.....

Silvio Rodriguez_Sueno con serpientes

Wow. This is beautiful.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88kZIM6zXn0&feature=related

I am in love with this song for so many reasons. [If you don't read Spanish, enter these words on google translator]

Sueño con serpientes
(Silvio Rodríguez)

Hay hombres que luchan un día
y son buenos.
Hay otros que luchan un año
y son mejores.
Hay quienes luchan muchos años
y son muy buenos.
Pero hay los que luchan toda la vida:
esos son los imprescindibles.
Bertolt Brecht

Sueño con serpientes, con serpientes de mar,
con cierto mar, ay, de serpientes sueño yo.
Largas, transparentes, y en sus barrigas llevan
lo que puedan arrebatarle al amor.

Oh, la mato y aparece una mayor.
Oh, con mucho más infierno en digestión.

No quepo en su boca. Me trata de tragar
pero se atora con un trébol de mi sien.
Creo que está loca. Le doy de masticar
una paloma y la enveneno de mi bien.

Ésta al fin me engulle, y mientras por su esófago
paseo, voy pensando en qué vendrá.
Pero se destruye cuando llego a su estómago
y planteo con un verso una verdad.


(Note: this is the best I version I could find sound-wise..Disregard the fact that its dedicated to survivors of snake bites... Unless you're down with that cause... That's not the reason this song is meaningful to me... No disrespect to snake bite-survivors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88kZIM6zXn0&feature=related

Weird..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7937483.stm

WAT?
"Receptionist robot, Saya, has her first proper day at work after testing in a real Tokyo classroom earlier this year"

So this is what my grandmother was talking about when she would make her predictions for the millenium....

Who knew?

If you would have known me as a freshman and if you would have told me, 

"Annery, you're going to spend an extra year at Gordon, and by the end of your time there, you're going to love it." 

I would have either a. cried or b. looked at you like you had ten heads. 

But its the truth! I am sitting here, during spring break, sitting in Lane--the student center. 

Yes. It's lame. And no, I'm not actually here because I want to be, but because I had to make up an exam. But the point I'm trying to make is that this is the second day I've been at the North Shore during my spring break. I actually hung out in the North Shore last night, for most of the day. And what does that mean? It means that my primary community is here. 

Weird. 

P.S. Since I've given up facebook for a month, I'm totally using this blog as a substitute. 

Slumdog Millionaire

First, let me start be saying: WHOA! 

This movie took me to film heaven. It was everything I could have asked for in a movie. Here's why. 

I'm a sucker for the rags to riches story, especially when it avoids being cliche and is as authentic as this one. To see the reality of poverty, religious conflict and the social factors that can determine whether one survives or dies, is powerful. 

There's one scene in the movie when Jamal encounters his childhood friend, the blind singer, and he says to Jamal, "I was not as lucky as you." Luck. It is the hope of those in situations like the ones Jamal and Salim are in. Their hope for a better life does not lie in rule of law, democracy or education. It lies in luck. And Jamal was lucky. He was lucky that the questions that were asked of him coincided with his experience. He was lucky that he and his brother were able to escape the children's camp they were confined in. Chance. 

So does chance and luck determine our fate to the same degree that it might determine the fate of those in the developing world? Perhaps. But perhaps the risk is more acute for them because they do not have other institutions or privileges to rely on. 

But there's another aspect to this movie, "It is written." And it brings me back to the idea of a telos, of our purpose--a telos that is pre-determined by something above ourselves.... Something that we cannot necessarily control. I'm not advocating for Calvinism in any way here, but I am saying that we do not control our purpose. We may control the extent to which we fulfill this purpose. We may control our choices, but the greater purpose for which we are here and the contributions to the world we are supposed to make are probably designed by something larger than us. 

 www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV912uIRM_A