Tuesday, July 17, 2012

sarajevo living: a day in the life.

Recently I read a post by my sister called "A Day in the Life" talking about what her day looks like. I decided that I should do a blog post about a day in the life here in Sarajevo - just to compare.  We've been here for a few weeks now and a weekday pattern has emerged...


8am - groggily wake up. proceed to lay in bed watching others get ready for the day. The only person who has a western-based internship is already gone. Complain to team members about the noise and lack of sleep - particularly curse the loud, drunk Americans you heard outside your room all night long.


8:30am - decide it's time to start actually doing something - read daily Bible passages and do morning devos.

9am - get out of bed - most everyone is done with the bathrooms at this point, so you have relatively free reign.


9:20am - get breakfast together (Nesquik cocoa puffs - because you're too lazy to make eggs every morning and you have in fact not made eggs in over a week) and go on internet to catch up on emails and facebook as you have become very popular now that you have left the country.




9:40am - realize you have to leave in 5 minutes and frantically shut down the computer, brush your teeth, and put everything together for the day.


9:45am - leave for internship. It's already pretty hot, so walking in the shade is a must. Perfect the art of weaving through people as the "Sarajevo Stroll" is popular and causes people to walk at a glacial pace.



9:45-10:10am - Make sure you pay attention to the crosswalk signs as well as the cars, because drivers are a little crazy in Bosnia. It's best not to die in here - your mom would be very upset.



10:10am - arrive at the office - 10 minutes late (not to worry - you're in Bosnia so it's okay). Immediately open the windows to de-oven-fy the room. Be careful not to attract the attention of the Bosnians in the office as they believe a draft will cause you to become ill. Make a mental note not to become ill so as to confirm their erroneous belief and possibly cause the windows stay closed the remainder of the summer.


10:15am - set up shop to work for the day. Look at your background picture and dream of weekend adventures. Commence work on research regarding decriminalization of prostitution and human trafficking in the Balkans or organize and plan the fall Pitchwise event - do your best not to fall asleep.




10:20am - request coffee/cold water from the friendly older gentleman that works in the office and does this for us. Be sure to thank him profusely.


11:30am - it's really hot now. Go stand by the window in an attempt to catch a breeze.




12:30pm - decide it's way too hot to sit in this room any longer. Relocate to a cafe with air conditioning and wifi.




12:40pm - arrive at favorite haunt - make sure to say hi to Leden Pingvin on the way in.




12:41pm - find a table and sit down. Order iced coffee and look over the menu to decide what you want to eat - mentally cheer because it's written in both Bosnian and English so you won't have to use your limited Bosnian to attempt to figure out what things mean.




12:45pm - iced coffee arrives (it's really more like a coffee-ish flavored milkshake) and order lunch. Continue working in the air conditioned location. Lament over the fact that the internet isn't working, but realize that means you probably will get more work done.




1:00pm - food arrives - relatively quick by Bosnian standards. Eat up the yummy deliciousness.




1:15pm - continue working on research.


2:15pm - work is done for the day - head home to the hostel.


2:30pm - arrive at hostel. Either read for a while or take a nap - this completely depends on how loud it was the night before and for how long, affecting how many times you woke up and how long it took you to fall asleep.


3-5:30pm - other team members arrive at the hostel. Discuss ideas for dinner as everyone changes into clothing more suitable for lounging in the heat (generally a sports bra and workout shorts for the females and shorts and shirtless for the males - modesty has almost completely left the building at this point).


6:30ish - leave the hostel in search of food - most likely not having any clear plan of where you're going.


6:50pm - after having wandered around Baščaršija (buh-shar-shee-yuh) for a little while, finally end up at a restaurant.


6:52pm - giggle because when you first read this you thought it said Pot Ledom - friend who also watches ANTM giggles with you.



6:55pm - order drinks and food at the same time, because people in your little dinner group are quite hungry and don't wish to wait. Be the last one to order because the menu is completely in Bosnian and you have no idea what you're ordering.


7:00-7:15pm - enjoy the bread that comes with every meal. Discuss with everyone at the table how you should be exercising more, because this bread is going to make you gain 20 pounds by the time you leave. Consume 3 pieces regardless.




7:15ish - food arrives. It's delicious. Make a mental note for future dining pleasure.




7:20pm - you're out of water - attempt to get the waiter's attention for more, but realize it probably won't work. Get out your backup water supply in the form of your water bottle you carry with you everywhere here.



7:30pm - catch the attention of the adorable little kitten in the courtyard. Feed him/her food and name him/her Georgie. Play with Georgie.



8:15pm - meander back to hostel - exploring shops along the way while enjoying some delicious gelato.


9pm - arrive back at the hostel. Explore one of two options: stay in for the evening drinking wine that you bought on the way back while watching a TV show or movie or both with friends (on a teeny-tiny computer screen). Attempt to introduce some of the more nerdy people on the trip to Doctor Who and scare them to death with the Weeping Angels. Finish the night with Tangled because the Angels scared them too much to go to sleep or watch another episode of Doctor Who.




Option 2: go out and have a drink at a bar and smoke some hookah.



12:00am - if option 1 is chosen - head to bed at a decent hour. Realize you won't be able to fall asleep for a while, because the music and people are so loud outside - but you can't close the windows because it's still way too hot in the room to justify closing them.


2:00am or later - if option 2 is chosen - head to bed way later than you probably should due to the fact you have to be up for work in the morning. However, the noise level has generally decreased by this time (only because they have turned the music off - people are still very loud) - falling asleep is slightly easier. Also tell yourself that you can take a nap in the afternoon tomorrow - so staying out late wasn't a bad idea.


3:30am - wake up because of a loud noise outside - look around the room and wonder where some of your roommates are and why they have yet to return home...


5:00am - wake up again because some very drunk person is outside singing and yelling at the top of his lungs - make a mental note to purchase an airsoft gun for future occurrences. Lay in bed because you are unable to fall back asleep due to the bars outside breaking glass for some unknown reason. When mental capacities have returned, you realize it's probably garbage collection - but at the time you mentally yell at whoever is outside making all the noise once again wishing you had an airsoft gun...


3 hours later - repeat cycle.





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