As you can imagine, yesterday was mostly a blur. After we arrived to Bjelovar (about an hour and a half drive from Zagreb) we spent the afternoon getting me settled into my apartment. Running on very little sleep and a 7 hour time difference, I was surprised I wasn't drooling when I spoke. If I did, Slavica was nice enough to not point it out. The furnished one bedroom apartment is plenty big for me and very comfortable. The radiator is close to my bed so I am warm and toasty when I sleep. I don't have a microwave but I don't use one much at home so it is not a problem. What I haven't said yet is my unit is on the 4th floor. Now, in Europe, the first floor is called the ground floor and the second floor is called the first floor and so on. So, the 4th floor is actually the 5th floor. I only mention this because I want credit for walking up 5 flights of stairs! By the last set of stairs the burn has set into my thighs. Hopefully this exercise will offset the kolaches I see in my imminent future.
When I woke this morning, the plan was to hurry up and shower so I could take photos around town before I was due at the language center. When I tried to shower there was no hot water. I tried and tried and ran it for a long time. I didn't want to make a complaint right off the bat and wondered if people took cold showers here. So I tried running the water on my feet, then my legs, hoping I could tolerate it. But I really needed to wash my hair and I knew I couldn't do it. I looked at the mop staring back at me in the mirror and decided I had to find a solution. So I heated up water in the kettle and poured it into a pot mixed with cold water and washed my hair in the sink by pouring the pot over my head. It worked fine, but I wasn't sure I wanted this as my everyday solution. I was going to have no choice but to mention it.
I got dressed and realized I did not pack very well. After living in Hungary you would think I would learn to be more practical. I guess you can take the girl out of the boutique but not the boutique out of the girl. The one thing I am very thankful for are my snow boots and my hiking socks from Cabela's. Money well spent. It hasn't been above freezing since I got here and the 14 inches of snow they just fell is not going anywhere soon. I do not have a car here, of course, so my feet are my transportation. My apartment is in the city center so it doesn't take that long to walk to most places. But I do have one English lesson that will require about a 20 minute walk.
My bigger problem has been keeping up with my things. I'm carrying a backpack instead of a purse and I'm wearing gloves. So nothing is where I would normally keep them. I'm not used to wearing gloves so there is the constant putting on and taking off. When I take them off I stuff them in a pocket. Well this turned into a really bad idea. Earlier I met Slavica at her language school so we could discuss some business. I needed to pay a large sum of money for my apartment deposit and other move in expenses. I took the money out of my wallet and put it in my pocket so I wouldn't forget to give it to her when we walked to the bank. We started our journey to the center of town and she took me into a couple of shops to show me around. When we walked across the street to the bank and got inside it was time to give her the money. I reached into my pocket and half of it was gone. I was missing 1000 Kuna. This is about $180 and a small fortune by Croatian standards. When I looked into Slavica's face and told her it was gone she went pale and couldn't speak. I already knew what had happened. It must have fallen out when I was fumbling with my gloves. In a breathless voice I said, "I'm going to back track and look for it and ran out of the bank." Well, I say "ran". Croatian banks have security doors that are more like containment vaults and there is no quickly entering or exiting. I doubled back to one of the stores we went to, kicking myself with frustration and convinced anyone that found that much money would surely keep it. When I made eye contact with 2 sales associates I had earlier spoke with they both had half smiles on their faces and I hoped this was a good sign. They didn't speak English but I was able to communicate enough so that they knew I was missing the money. They said they had found it but they could only return it to Slavica. I didn't really understand why but didn't much care either. I ran out of the store, down the street looking for where I had abandoned her. I yelled at her, "They found my money, come on!" I returned with Slavica and turns out the woman who turned in my money was the Mayor's wife! She left her name and phone number and asked for us to call her. I'm not sure if she wanted to make certain it was returned to the rightful owner or if she was looking for praise. Either way, I am the luckiest person in Croatia today. I got to explain to Slavica what a Forest Gump moment was.
We left the store, shell shocked. Slavica gave me the piece of paper with the Mayor's wife's name and number and suggested I call her personally to thank her. I stuffed it in my pocket and went back to my apartment. Later Slavica came by to see if she could help figure out my hot water heater. When I opened the door she said, "Do you recognize this?" She found that piece of paper on the stairs. I really need to not put things in my pockets! I guess I should confess that I have already lost my keys once since I've been here.
In the afternoon we had a lovely lunch made by Maria, Slavica's mother. We drank coffee, discussed the classes I will teach and decided I would go back to the apartment to begin preparing. She drove me back to my apartment and dropped me off in front. Now remember, I've only been a resident of Bjelovar for about 24 hours. This is my defense for what happened next. I walked into the apartment building and starting climbing stairs. The burn in my thighs was getting really intense and still I hadn't come to my floor. Surely I had climbed 5 flights by now. No, actually I had climbed 6 flights...and I was in the wrong building. Well, at least I made up for the 2 cookies I had after lunch.
We are going to blame today's comedy routine to jet lag and hope I can prove myself to be a capable teacher of the English language.
Enjoy these pictures of the beautiful snow here in town. I am really hoping to get some out in the country. It looks like a winter wonderland!!
MY FIRST DAY...A COMEDY OF ERRORS
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