kubitsky.net

I’ve been to Croatia 4 times in the past. But each of those were just short visits, between 10 and 20 days. I’ve been here for almost 16 days now and the realization is setting in that I have about 124 more to go. Zagreb is my new home for a little while. It’s no longer feeling like a visit. So here are some things that I miss already

My Washer and Dryer
We have 1 small washing machine that holds only a third of the laundry from mine in Philly and it runs three times as long. It’s not a bad washer. It’s standard, like most other househholds that I’ve seen here.

Clothes dryers are not popular. When you look at shopping ads for appliances, there may be only 1 dryer (a washer dryer/combo) offered on sale and 10 washers. We must hang-dry our clothes inside on a rack. It takes about a day for them all to dry. Clothes dryers make your clothes soft and warm and smell like dryer sheets. Hang drying them can make them stiff and stretched out.

Microwave
Almost everyone has a microwave in Croatia. It’s a very common kitchen appliance. The microwaves here are super small, though. They remind me of the size you buy for college kids in dorms. We don’t have a microwave here and I don’t see any sense in buying one just for the added convenience. But it would be easier to reheat food and make quick stuff.

Living Space
I didn’t spend that much time in my new condo when I was in Philly. We only had it for about 3 months before I left to come here. But, nonetheless, it is my home and I miss it. I miss my bed, my home computer, the 1200 sq ft. The apartment we have in Zagreb is about 400 sq ft.

Personal Space
There’s really no sense of personal space when in public areas here. If people want to ride the tram downtown, they pack in like sardines and then some. When in line at the store, you can feel the breath of the person behind you. People bump you when walking and most don’t say excuse me. You’re lucky to get into a tram without being trampled. People don’t wait for folks to get off before getting on. I prefer to walk the semi-decent distances :)

But most of all I miss my family and friends.

One thing I don’t miss:

Getting up early for work
Although I enjoy the walk I had to work when it wasn’t raining, I never liked getting up early. With the time difference here, I start work at 2pm. Isn’t that nice ;) Now I get up around 9-9:30am and sip my coffee while watching TV. Then I can decide what I want to do for the rest of the morning. I could go out for a walk, watch movies, go to the store, explore the city, visit a museum or park, go running, anything really.

Living on the East Coast of the U.S. you don’t feel many earthquakes. In fact, in my 27+ years, I’ve never felt an earthquake anywhere until last night.

Earthquakes in Croatia are not common, but they do happen every few years. This one was centered in the Western part of Zagreb and registered 3.5 on the Richter scale. It’s enough to feel and see things shaking. I was lying on the couch watching War of the Worlds when the couch shook beneath me. We are situated on the Eastern part of the city, and didn’t feel the full strength. Dinko said that people from work commented about dishes shaking and glasses clinging.

I was really freaked out about the earthquake. You put a lot of faith in the ground after awhile, and when it becomes unstable, your faith in it does to. I’ll get over it. Maybe it’s good for people to experience earthquakes when they are young so they aren’t so afraid of them when they are older ;)

Today I had a special historical Croatian dish for lunch–Mlinci. I last had Mlinci on my first trip to Croatia in December 1998. While hiking, across Sljeme ontop Medvednica Mountain, we stopped at a lodge restaurant for some Mlinci, red cabbage salad, and mulled wine. It was an excellent lunch.

This time a friend of ours cooked it for us and it was everything I remembered it to be. Mlinci is a kind of pasta but it’s somewhat complicated to make. It requires baking thin sheets of flour/water/salt mix in the oven, then cooling, then drenching in hot water, then cooking in the juices of whatever meat will accompany it. Today it was chicken. Mmmm.

I’m not that fond of hanging out in the kitchen, so I don’t cook much. But there are some dishes that I really enjoy and I must learn to cook them (Mlinci, Russian Stroganoff, etc.)

Dinko and I went for a hike on Medvednica today. We were supposed to climb to Sljeme, the peak, but because of some time restrictions, we took another root to see the 13th Century fortress called, Medvedgrad. It was a nice hike. The path was pretty icy, so it was nice to have my new boots and trekking poles. Our friends, Ivan and Jelena, weren’t so lucky.

Medvedgrad is a very old fortress that overlooks the city of Zagreb from Medvednica Mountain. Part the way up, we stopped at a little lodge where we had some nice coffee, tea and pie.

Dinko wants to hike Medvednica every weekend. We’ll see about that. Maybe every other weekend ;)