The Past Few Days....

For anyone actively reading my blog, sorry I haven't posted!!! I am  starting class this week and I am more concerned about getting the swing of things than writing the blog. BUT ! Do not worry you didn't miss much!

On Saturday some of got together to cook for one another. But when the day came we all did not know what to bring or who was cooking what. So I brought a pre-made pizza (it was the saddest pizza I have ever seen!) then we had some garlic bread and someone brought a little bit of stuff to make pasta. It was a small but enjoyable time. Especially since the people who couldn't cook brought liquor from their home countries. It was a really fun time. After we set out to a dancing. I love that we go dancing so much! I really enjoy dancing and the people here are just beautiful. I am glad to be spending my time with this group of people. They are just really wonderful people. For example! After we went dancing all night only the night tram was working. The tram only comes once and hour and I missed one and had to transfer to another one. So my friends who lived close by offered for me to sleep at their place tonight. They did not let me say no, they just made me stay. It was really nice of them, I would have taken two hours just to get home.

Now for those of you didn't know Serta, my Croatian Brother, is a coach for a hockey team here. It is really cool because I get to see all the games. So Sunday was my first time going to the game. They picked me up early so we could have lunch with Serta's parents. Little did I know his father is an official for the games also. Their whole family lives hockey! It really is refreshing to see a family work so close with one another. We had some really good food while I was at Sertas parents. We sat down and I had some Rakia, a local home made liquor. It was really, really strong this time. They all were watching me as I drank it, it was funny because I played it off like it was just regular tasting and they all were very impressed! It burned, but it was good! We had country fried chicken and ham. It was basically soul food, reminded me of back home a little. After eating until we could not move again we headed out for the hockey rink. Now keep in mind, this is probably the worst day I  have ever seen for snow in a while. I mean visibility was barely a hundered yards, and snow was in the streets up to your ankles. That is what was plowed! I mean it snowed really hard. But the stadium was still almost filled! I could not believe so many people came out to the game, only a few seats were empty! Also cheering in Croatia is not like cheering in the USA. They sing, and cheer and chant THE ENTIRE GAME! In the US we cheer for good things and then sit back and watch. Here they had two huge drums that the played the whole time, the crowed barely sat at all. They have some seriously dedicated fans here! I also have a video below that shows the opening of the game too. I really look forward to watching the games more often, I just need to learn the rules a bit more before I go back. On a side note, sitting only about 20 feet from us was the US ambassador for Croatia. How awesome would it be to be able to meet him!  

Picture of the Fans after a goal

Also earlier last week Zvonko and Nada came with a birthday cake! They hadn't seen me on my birthday so they brought me a fresh orange cream cake. It was simply gorgeous, I would have thought it came from a cake shop because it looked too perfect. But I know how well Nada cooks so that simply must be it! Luckily it was also Mario's Birthday, Setra's brother, the same day. So we let him blow out the candles and we shared our birthdays! It was really awesome! But i get ahead of my self, before we had cake we had stuffed cabbage. It was made in true Croatian homestyle and was also very tasty. It reminded me of meat that is stuffed in grape leaves. But this had a better sauce for sure. I ate like three huge helpings of it. I always forget they make desert so I eat so much that when the sweets come out I can barely eat any! But if your wondering I still do! I walk alot here but I think I am going to need to cut down on eating badly and drinking so much beer. All the food is fresh but so rich! Either cut down on what I eat or go to the gym, knowing me ill just stop eating so much, easier than a gym! :P

Yesterday was Valentine's day and also my first day of real classes. Luckily the realization that it was Valentines day had escaped me for half the day. The second half of the day did not treat me so well. This is the first valentines alone for me in nearly seven years. That mixed in with some other things that happened recently and I was feeling very alone. Not to mention everyone went to the last day of the chocolate festival here and it was all couples! Bleh! oh well! I bought the best dark chocolate Ice Cream I think I ever tasted in my life. Then I walked around the old downtown for a bit with some friends giving them a tour. Tomorrow I have free so I think I am just going to take a break during the day. I know we will be going to a club tomorrow and it plays all oldies. So it is really fun to dance too. Other than that I think that is it for me! Sorry for the late post!

Benda out!

A French Snow man:P