Promaja

Everyday gets better and better at Radost Zivota (Joy of Life). Today, I learned a lot of Bosnian vocab, Balkan myths, and much much more. My face hurts from laughing so much. The energy in the centre is full of joy and love, and everybody is loud and genuine. We arrived at 9 for morning kafu with Hana and some of the mothers. The kids arrived around 9:40, and we started by playing the longest game of "čovječe ne ljuti se" or in Engleski, Don't get Angry Man, which is the Balkan version of "Sorry!". I am now proffecient in counting from 1-6 in Bosnian, but I am able to count to ten. For those of you who are interested:
1= Jedan (Ye-dan)
2= Dva
3= Tri (tree)
4= četiri (Che-tree)
5= Pet
6= šest (Shest)
7= Sedam
8= Osam (rhymes with awesome, O-some)
9=Devet
10= Deset

The game took approximately 1.5 hours, but of course it wasn't just playing, we were talking (or I was guesturing and smiling), laughing, making jokes and building rapport. We then did some group art with Olga (the art teacher/defectologist) and we did a group drawing of a city. We exchanged languages regarding colours, and casual banter continued between the group while drawing. This continued until Ana, myself, Nermin and Hana were called to lunch with the Mothers. Lunch normally consists of anything they have lying around. Previous lunches we've had chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, bread, and cream cheese. Today we had bread, chicken pate, cream cheese, yogurt (which is thinned, plain yogurt that you drink... and it's amazing), eurocreme (similar to Nutella or Nocilla), and Burek (homemade cheese and meat ones). Over lunch we were all laughing about one thing or another (whether it be something someone did or said, to a story someone is telling), and I'm starting to understand more little by and little, with some help from Ana. Hana (psychologist) and Nermin (SLP) are hilarious and around our age, and Ana and I have officially become friends with them. We are all going out on Monday for dinner, watch Fudbal (World Cup) and "drink beer, lots of beer" (Nermin, 2010). It is exciting to have friends, because although people in Sarajevo are really friendly and helpful, it's has been a challenge making friends (especially considering nobody speaks English).

After lunch, we went back to the group, and we had group discussion, and we decided to give everyone Canadian/English names, in honour of Canada Day (Happy Canada Day to ALL!!!). We were all laughing hysterically. Then they decided to give us Bosnian names. Ana became Ajkuna (I-kuna), and I was Dzevida (Je-vida).

I was then informed about Promaja, or The Draft, and other crazy Balkan fables. So, the weather here hasn't been as hot as it normally is in the summer (it's only about 25, when normally it's 35), but it's still warm out and Ana and I wear sandals to placement. Today, Suada (one of the Mother's) said in Bosnian "You shouldn't expose your feet in this weather, or your you'll get inflammation of the ovaries". Ana, being Serbian, has heard these before, but I almost fell over laughing. And then I was introduced to the rest of these crazy fables that are serious because everyone knows a friend of a friend of a friend that this has happend to:

1. Wet Hair: If you leave the house with wet hair (no matter how hot/cold it is outside) you will get inflammation of the brain.

2. Wet Bathing Suit: If you go swimming, and if your bathing suit doesn't dry before the sun goes down and you leave it on, you will get inflammation of the ovaries and/or kidneys.

3. Sitting on Concrete: If you sit on a curb or concrete block without placing a towel/blanket down first, you will get inflammation of ovaries and/or kidney's.

And last but not least (prepare yourself):

4. Promaja (The Draft): We have been at the centre for 4 days now, and I always thought we closed the door in the group room as a sound barrier. Boy, was I wrong. We close the door to protect ourselves from promaja (the number one killer of the Balkan people). Never, under any circumstances do you expose yourself to a draft. You are not supposed to have a door and window open at the same time, because this will create a draft and promoja will get you. Common symptoms of promaja are full body stiffness or a cold. More serious side effects of promaja would be your mouth permanently shifting to one side, inflammation of any body part, or death. People are known to change seats on the tram, or move spontaneously in rooms, because they fear promaja, and honestly, it is a big fear of the Balkans. So I warn you my friends and loved ones, protect yourselves before promaja gets you too.

Crazy enough, that wasn't the end of our day. Over afternoon Kafu, we were introduced to Adi and Mehmed, Suada's nephews or brothers (unsure based on translation), who specifically came to the centre today to meet us. Based on conversations and events, Ana is thinking that the Mother's are conspiring to set us up with Adi and Mehmed. Considering we've been at the centre for 4 days, and haven't met anyone that can speak English (other than Hi, How are you? and Bye Bye), I said to Ana "I love to watch grown men drink kafu from the smallest espresso cup", and then Mehmed looked at me, and had another sip of his kafu with a pinch grasp on handle, and pinky up and then laughed at me. So lesson learned, they understand English, and actually speak pretty well but are just afraid to do so.

So this afternoon, Ana and I (more Ana, than I) ran an English class, and I started my personal Bosnian/English dictionary (considering it doesn't exist in this country). Adi and Mehmed joined us, and the kids, and we had a blast. Adi added the following words to my dictionary (in this order): bowling, beer, street, car, drink, soul, mouth, party, "crazey", and ball. Based on those words alone, I know we're going to be friends forever. They then asked us to go for a drink with them tonight, and considering Ana and I don't have many friends, we obviously said yes. When the Mother's got word of this, they laughed, giggled, continued to conspire and talk behind closed doors (you know, promaja). Tomorrow's kafu will sure be interesting.

Life in Bosnia continues to get better and better and more and more interesting. Our first week of rapport building and getting to know everyone at Radost Zivota is coming to an end, and next week, we'll be starting our needs assessment, and working with the centre to create some sort of program.

I miss you all, and Happy Canada Day to you all!! xoxo