AHHHH - nearly three weeks in Bosnia!

I mean this sounds a bit cliche but I CAN'T EVEN SORT OF BELIEVE IT.

The other day my host family and I were walking down the street and mentioned it had been two weeks since I arrived. I literally stopped walking and my jaw dropped. How on earth had it been that long?!?

Where to even begin.

Seriously. I have no idea. I felt home nearly three weeks ago and it feels like I’ve lived here for months BUT also feels like I've been here for like two days. Bosnia felt like home from the moment I stepped off the plane and Banja Luka has taken a special place in my heart for sure. I love this city :)

banja luka.

Life here is amazing… difficult at times, but amazing.

I am experiencing city life for the first time and I really like it. Being able to walk everywhere is wonderful (and often sweaty - it is way hotter here than I anticipated :). I’ve gotten lost twice now and luckily found my bearings the first time and had a friendly, God-sent classmate the other time. I am starting to be able to find my way around, though. I can find the big beautiful church in the centar (center :) and the big mall Boska. I know where the smaller park is with the big statue of Petar Kocic (pronounced Peh-ter Cottage - a famous writer born here). I can even find my way to some cafes and places to buy sladolid (icecream).

Cafe culture is huge! People just sit and drink kafa or chai (coffee/tea) all the time and for hours too. It’s quite nice. Besides the one day I got lost, I can get to school now as well. I even know some short cuts, but it's still a 20/30 minute walk to school one way. Speaking of which...

skola.

School is set up much differently at the IB program I attend within a national school (public school). I have three classes/five classes a day (each 1½ long) with a 5 minute break in between each 45 minute half and each class. However, most days I have a 2-4 hour gap between classes so all the students go to cafes, walk or go home in-between. I'm usually found at a cafe drinking caj (tea) or sok (juice).

Right now I am sitting in the school coordinators office because I was not told one of our teachers is out and psychology was not being held :). It was supposed to be at 7:30 but now I am waiting until 11 for my next class. That happens a lot here :) :)

People here are so friendly. Upon arrival, tons of students came and shook our hands and introduced themselves. It’s hard to pronounce everyone’s names though. All my classes so far are in English but sometimes students switch to Serbian to help them explain a question easier and then the teacher continues in Serbian - that is difficult obviously, but I don’t think I’ve missed anything too important yet. Everyone wants to hear about America and are interested in our perspectives. They all ask about the drinking age, why young people can drive :), and if some of the stereotypes are true; like if teenagers really go to football games so often and if there is a McDonald's and Starbucks in every town. We talk about politics, pop culture, history, Wisconsin ("Where is that exactly??" most people say :).

nova dome. (new home)

My host parents are the sweetest! I love coming home from school because our apartment feels so much like home even before I saw it. My favorite things there are the dining room table where we all eat lunch together (lunch in Bosnia is between 3-5 ish), the mustard yellow couch, all the beautiful pictures on their green wall in the living room and my balcony in my bedroom. The windows in Bosnia are super cool too. They open two different ways. :)

Mama Ruza and Tata Caslav (host mom and dad) only speak a little English, but (by God’s goodness) we understand each other well. We speak broken English-Serbian, sign language, vigorous pointing, google translate that doesn’t work very well and laughter and hey, it works! :) I also have a host cousin my age who speaks English well who comes over sometimes. We also call my host siblings away in college (in Austria and New York) and they translate too. :)

The last few nights we have been practicing language learning from a “My First Serbian Words” book. Yesterday we learned food words and quizzed each other over a cup of laku noc (good night AKA sweet dreams) tea.

bread - hljeb (j makes the ‘yuh’ sound)

cheese - sir (i makes the ‘ee’ sound and ‘r’s are rolled)

milk - mljeko

butter - puter

eggs - jaja

potato - krompir

strawberry - jagode

watermelon - lubenica (‘c’ makes the sounds ‘ts’ like at end of cats)

hard at work learning Srpski and Engleski :)

I taught Mama Ruza and tetka (Aunt) Boba how to play Dutch Blitz - a complicated, fast moving card game I love playing it in the US. Somehow they learned without us using each others language and it was very fun to all play together. We play nearly everyday now - usually with my cousin instead.

food.

Food here is good. Super hardy, flavorful and full of meat and dairy. Every food here tastes so different obviously, but all of it (even packaged food) has this underlying flavor that is the same - I have no idea how to even explain it, but it’s good and herby and very Bosnian I guess. :) Walking down the streets you can just smell it.

one of my favorite meals - Pita (pie) like a cinnamon roll but with cheese and flaky pastry. You spread Mileram on it (which is like sour cream but more buttery) and eat it with a yogurt drink ('normal' yogurt here is drank like milk and really makes me understand the 'live cultures' part of yogurt I had heard about. It is sour and odd, but pretty good with the contrast of the pita. Love it!

The portions here are very big and everyone is always concerned that I am not eating enough food even though I am stuffed at every meal. :) People eat very fast here too! My cousin informed me that its a joke that it takes hours to prepare a meal and 5 minutes to eat it in Bosnia. I am half-way done with my soup when everyone else has been done for several minutes - same for drinking tea.

Oh and the pizza Mama Ruza makes is so good! It’s not very cheesy which surprised me but it has two inches of spinach on top, a ton of good herbs and these thin slices of smoked (or maybe dried) meat. Delicious!

thank you.

I have heard so many people are praying for my adventure here and I am so grateful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Jesus is hearing your prayers and giving me so much comfort and peace during my first few days of school (which were overwhelming for sure). I didn’t feel like I fit in very well (and sometimes I still feel that way), but God has given a lot of meaningful conversations of late that I pray will grow into conversations about Jesus’ deep love for His creation. I’m so excited for today and for what’s next.

From Bosnia,

Love you all.

Sophie

p.s Thank you New Life Community Church youth group! Not sure if you’re reading this… but if you are, thank you for your notes! I try to read one a day (I usually do 2 because I can’t wait :) and they bring me so much joy.

p.p.s And to amazing people like my friends and family who send me amazing texts all the time. Even if I don’t respond right away… I love getting them!!

p.p.p.s I miss YOU. Text me on What’s App or Viber with my Bosnian number: +387 066 099 016.