There is a river running through the whole town, and it is absolutely breathtaking. Our host's are Figrete, Amila, and Almin. We are staying in a local Bosnian home. They are incredibly friendly and loving people, I am so blessed to be staying with them. I am living here with three other girls from the Liberty team, Melody, Britta, and Katie. Amila is the most amazing cook, (besides my mom) and she is quick to make us sit down and make us some of her famous coffee. Bosnian coffee is extremely strong, and boiled rather than made in a coffee pot. It is served in a tiny tea cup, with plenty of sugar and no cream or milk. The dainty little tea cups, plates and tea spoons are beautiful. We (the Liberty team) were careful not to admire anything aloud, because the Bosnians will definitely give you anything they have. For dinner the first night Amila made us a hearty and flavorful soup made with vegetables, potatoes, and sausage. It was really good, with the soup we had homemade bread. (I love bread). We also had chicken, potatoes, some kind of cole slaw, and juice. In Bosnia they serve bread with practically every meal, and it is SO good. Almin is 12, and his english is pretty good. He understands english pretty well, and speaks a little less. In the evening we watched tv in the heated sitting/dining room, and they helped us practice our bosnian. We also had coffee, and it was very good to my surprise. Coffee in Bosnia is a way of life, everyone makes coffee, and they have coffee bars, essentially a bar, but no dancing, no beer, just coffee, soda and some sweets. Also, everyone, even people who don't have money for food, owns a tv. The local favorite was a muslim turkish soap opera with bosnian subtitles. The turkish soap opera was pretty violent, but the bosnians seem to like that show. The only american shows in Bosnia are WWE, Almin loves John Cena, Sex in the City, and Big Brother. Basically thats the perspective they get on Americans haha. We also heard the call to prayer during dinner. Though the town is completely muslim, many of the muslims are nomilistic about their faith, never owning a Quran or praying. Other muslims are quite conservative, going to the mosque every day to pray, raising their children conservatively (similar to how I was raised!), and women covering their heads. We were allowed to shower as we liked, but of course used as little water as possible. On a funnier note, I have a european converter for my hair dryer, and the first night when I was blow drying my hair, all the lights in the house went out at once. I started freaking out because I thought I broke the house, but Almin quickly came out laughing and said "don't worry this happens all the time", pushed a button and voila! the lights were all back. Blow drying hair is practically a requirement for women in Bosnia, because Bosnians believe wet hair can cause serious illnesses. In the homes in Bosnia, there is one room with a wood stove, and that room is generally kept closed and very warm. In our host home, this was the room with the tv and where we ate. The rest of the house feels the same as outside generally. The first night we could see our breath in the bed rooms, but we slept under duve's and got warm eventually. We woke up a few times the first night, with the time difference and everything, but were so excited that it didn't bother us much.
I'll post more as soon as I can!
Amber
Here is a shot of the river, you can see one of the mosques and the mountains.
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