A fish swims three times

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July 31, 2008,

Last day with Tata 😞 we spent the day hanging out with Tija's dad and all the neighbors. We visited the swinging cafe for one last whipped cream coffee. Tata took us to the grocery store and we purchased groceries for tomorrow's bus ride to Croatia- the usual, chocolate, cheese, crackers, and fruit, except we decided to pick the fruit from the pear tree.

Tata got these little whole fried fish for dinner. After visiting some fine folk at the top of the hill, we headed to the infamous couch for dinner. Fried fish with sweet neighbors. Tata got wine for the last night and we spent the night celebrating life together, singing Dalmatian songs, watching the neigborhood friends, and loving life. Tata never actually got James' name right and continued to call her Jenny all night. Cheers Jenny.

We headed home for some packing and a little rest before our 3 am wake up to catch the 5:15 bus to Sibenik.

We hitched a ride with the man living downstairs and arrived at the bus station with 45 minutes to spare. Of course, these 45 minutes were used in panic because they would not take our visa and Tija had to leave, go to the ATM and literally run back to catch the bus.

We waved goodbye to tata and off to Croatia we go? At the 3rd stop, two ladies got on and started raising hell because they had reservations and could not get their seats together. And of all the people on the bus, you guessed it, they woke us up and seperated us. Caused a lot of rucus. Seperated one behind another, we were off again. Then something horrible happened. A drunk driver wrecked into our bus! We both definately thought we were going over the cliff while we were wrecking. Chaos, people running out of the bus, screaming, ect. Everyone was unharmed and the drunk driver was amazingly alive, his car completely totaled. We spent the next two hours with our new 98 closest friends on the side of Bosnian highway waiting for a new functioning bus. A new, more ghetto bus finally showed up to get us. For some reason it didn't have AC in the back where our seats were, but at least we got to sit together.

We arrived to Sibenik around 3 pm, long after the ride Kuma had arranged for us had given up. Kuma is Tija's mom's best friend and Tanja's godmother. Her name is actually Duska, but she sort of gets stuck with Kuma by all us visitors, which actually means godmother in Croatian. Kuma has lots of godchildren now. Anyway, despite not having a ride, neither one of us cared too much. We were both just thankful we were in Tija's hometown safe and together. The Adriatic breeze made everything ok. Tija finally called her mom, who told us to catch a taxi. We got a taxi to Kuma's and arrived quickly. Kuma greeted us and she and Tija spent time catching up while we all sipped coffee. We were exausted and napped till 9:00 pm when we arose for a walk around the city.

August 2nd,

Sweet Sofija and Sinisa from Sweden picked us up at the bus station around 11:00 am. They are vacationing in Croatia during the month of August as well and we were super excited about our reunion with them. We spent some time catching up and after we explained to them the camera cord tradgedy, they took us to a store where we hoped to find a replacement. No such Luck! After getting groceries with them, we had coffee at a cafe that overlooks Sofija's village Skradin. It's a truely beautiful view! After coffee, we went to Skradin, to the house where Sinisa and Sofija are staying. This house and land has been in their families hands for over 400 years. Lots of cool, historical facts. Sinisa showed us the old winery and an old stone basement where they used to make olive oil. The key to the basement is at least 100 years old and looks like one of those spooky keys one uses to enter a spooky house. It's bigger than our head. Anyway, Sofija cooked us a delicious meal in her outside, summer kitchen and then we headed down to the village harbor. We relaxed with drinks by the water, overlooking lots of sail ships. We went to the beach afterward. When we came back they let us use their shower, which we were super excited about and then we got ready for the night.

Somewhere along the way Sinisa suggested taking us to Kistanje, Tija's family's village. After a little searching we found her grandma's home. Tija was suprised to see that the house has been repaired from war damage and that the roof is back on. A sweet old lady directed us to Tija's family's house and to some of her other extended, long lost family she hasn't seen in years. They graciously invited us into their home where we spent time catching up and looking at old pictures. Really amazing blessing. Hard to believe actually.

We later went to the Krka Monastry that we had planned to visit. It was built above an underground cave where the apostle Paul preached and where first century Christians had lived underground. They actually let us go down there since Tija's family works in the monastry and her family's name is engraved on the monasty wall. Her great, great grandfather centuries back gave money for the building of the church. After saying goodbye to the family, we had coffee with Sofija, headed home, and crashed from a long , lovely day.

August 4th,

We woke up to coffee with Kuma and went to town with her afterwards. She took us to the china shop in hopes of finding sweat pants and a dress, no such luck. We then went to the pijaca, which is always fun. James offically declared today the beginning of little Tija's 10 day birthday celebration! We spent the rest of the morning walking along Riva. We stopped at a cafe and shared a hazelnut frappe as the beginning of birthday bliss. Kuma made us the most amazing cabbage for lunch and we took a nap afterward. Sweet Vacation time.
That evening we walked through the old Sibenik. Beautiful. We purchased post cards to send to all the loved ones and went to the internet cafe. Somehow we spent the equivalent of 17 US dollars emailing and researching train tickets to Sweden. When we found out we just started laughing hysterically becuase we didn't know what else to do.

We walked down by the Riva and stopped at the bench to watch a beautiful sunset. Always the best conversations.

August 5th,

Tija had an awful back ache right on the 2nd day of birthday celebration which was super sad. We decided to take it easy for the whole day because of all the things planned for the rest of Croatia. We were fairly bored most of the day. James did make one adventure out to get some post cards, chocolate, and a super sweet suprise for Tija, an Adratic T-shirt, just to ensure day two of Birthday celebration wasn't a total loss. We ended the night chilling in front of the TV.

August 6th,

Today we woke up to a shower and clean clothes. Sweet living. Kuma is the sweetest and brought Tija a red Croatia coffee mug. So fun! It had a cute little spoon with it too. Yay for day three of Birthday celebration! We visited Knin, which is the town where Tija's family lived from 1991 and 1995. We saw her kindergarden, apartment building, and of course her dancing studio. We grabbed a necafe and caught the 6:30 bus home. A really wacko experience in the cafe. The ride was lovely as the sun was setting and we had sunflower seeds as our perfect snack. We walked Riva a couple of times upon returning to Sibenik and returned home for sleep.

August 7th,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIJA!!!!!
We woke up to coffe and Tirimasu for breakfast. Then we found the perfect 80's mix CD and jammed out all morning. English music is hard to come by guys. We soaked our feet on the balcony and James gave Tija a birthday pedicure. She also purchased some nasty wine that ended up down the sink.

That evening we attended the long awaited Klape in the old Sibenik. It was a quartet of lovely, traditional, Croatian music. Tija and James enjoyed the experience as they sang about the beautiful Adratic.

August 8th,
We read the Word and journaled alot during the morning hours and just hung out with Kuma. We are beginning to reflect on our trip, the good beautiful times we had, the memories shared, and the things God has taught us about the world, ourselves, and His plan. We are each seeking his work in our lives and how to best serve him in the fall. Enough about Fall though, only 10 more days left in Eurotrip 2008! It's a good thing we like reflecting, as we spent the whole freaking day waiting for the blessed camera charger cord that never came. DO DO!

August 9th,

We spent the morning researching the cheapest way back to Stolkholm. Winner: 22 hour bus ride from here to Frankfurt and a plane from Frankfurt to Stolckholm. Yay for exploring Frankfurt for a day. We visited Pijaca and made ourselves a lovely lunch. Also got a whole basket of figs. Yummy!

August 10th,

We took a morning walk on Riva, which is basically a beautiful cobblestone road by the sea. It's still so pretty here and we each had two coffees at a cafe on Riva overlooking the Adratic. We caught an afternoon bus to Knin, and then walked thirty minutes or so to the Raskovic Village. George and Cika Nidzo greeted us with warm welcomes. They came to Croatia a little over a month ago and have been staying with Nikola's dad. George is Tija's brother and Nikola be the step dad. Such warm welcomes and such a blessing to be reunited with them in Croatia. We had the best time there. Nikola fixed us grilled fish, Tija's favorite, a salad and then took us on a walk through the Raskovic farm. So freaking fun! We got to pick apples, plums, and blackberries along the way and eat, eat, eat! So yummy. The scenery was beautiful, nature everywhere, seated in a valley, surrounded by huge mountains, with the Krka brook stream. We walked past a little soccer field and got a taste of local entertainment. We also got to sit on the bench Nikola built a couple of years ago to rest after picking apples. The man actually climbed the tree and made James stand below it and catch the apples he picked. Such a fun sight, at least for Tija.
We returned home, cracked some walnuts, and had bond fire with roasted corn. That evening we walked through the countryside to get to our sleeping place, a family's cousin Jovo. He welcomed us with coffee and dinner. We tried telling him we were stuffed to which he replied by going out to cut cabbage and putting pork in front of us. People here don't take no for an answer. Tija and he chit-chatted for a while. Tija loves this man becuase she remembers wanting to eat chicken so badly during war times and him working his butt off to get it for her one day. Anyway, just as we were ready to turn in for the night, he told a very interesting story. A couple months ago he woke up to a snake underneath his sheets. James freaked out! He also shared that he had a mice problem. Tija freaked out! We went to bed terrified and had to sleep with the light on. Redonk!

August 11th,

We thankfully woke up alive! We had coffee and fried egg plant for breakfast. It was a beautiful cool, crisp mountian morning. Jovo decided to carry us back to the Raskovic village by tractor. So fun! It might have had something to do with wind blowing thorugh our hair just the right way, Jovo driving us around, or a slow tractor that wouldn't go more than ten miles an hour, but we felt like such princesses. On the way back he stopped at the Krka river spring. So beautiful! We got off the tractor to snap a few pics and get some refreshing mountian spring water. After a beautiful ride through the countryside, we arrived to Cika Nidzo cooking lunch. Since it wasn't quite finished, George wanted to take us on an adventure and show us how he learned to shoot the bow and arrow he made this summer. Very impressive by the way. On our little adventure, we encountered the little friend we had managed to avoid the night before, sneaky snake. We were possing for the ˝perfect pic¨ in ankle deep water at the top of a mini-waterfall when a snake came scooting down the river. James yelled snake and jerked Tija out of the water. We ended up snapping a picture we didn't really want to take any more, but George made us. We continued the adventure to another part of thr river where we took George's famous ½river walk½ and watched him dive off the river bank to the ice cold water below. We also did a little ½skipping of the rocks on the river by the rail road tracks½ We returned to the Raskovic farm to delicous lunch and bags of plums, apples and walnuts to carry with us. Yay for free food!

After bitter-sweet goodbyes, we all left for the bus station together, as we were headed back to Sibenik and George and Nikola were headed to Split and then back to the US. Goodbyes again, and then we boarded the awful bus. We're back in Sibenik Chillin. 😊

August 12th,
We woke up super excited about visiting with Sofija, Sinisa, and visiting the Krka waterfalls. Tija was especially excited to see Nikola, their son, who had been in Ireland working and came to Croatia for family vacation. We caught the 9 am bus to Skradin and got picked up by Sinisa at the bus station. After coming to their lovely summer home, catching up and big time chillin, NIkola woke up and came downstairs to greet us. Tija, Tanja, and Nikola were all childhood friends until with war seperated them. He had the fireworks excuse. Ask later. What a sweet beautiful reunion and reliving of lots of fun memories, most of them about Nikola pulling Tanja and Tija's hair and acting like a big protective brother all at the same time. Since he is fluent in English and could actually talk to James, we all chatted the morning away, ate prsuto and bread, got ready, and drove down to the Village center to catch a ferry for the waterfalls. The line for the ferry was huge, so we all sat down for refreshments. We got on the ferry around 1 pm and set out to explore one of Croatia's prettiest national parks. We had such a lovely time. Most of the day was spent walking around the park and admiring the beautifully situated waterfalls in the rocky hills. Words cannot describe. The water is crystal clear and lingers over pretty river rocks. We also saw a couple of mills, another little snake that James spotted first, poor thing. We also saw a few ½wahsing machines½ which are basically big, deep rock barrels that are turned by the water pressure from the falls. Tija's mom used to bring her big blankets and wash them in there. Sinisa also showed us the spot where a little boat incident took place- Tija untied a boat from its bank on one of the family- friend outings when she was about 5 years old, and Sinisa had to get in the water and chase it. He remembers it being very cold. Anyways, we really had a wonderful time filled with warm conversations and very warm weather. After the Krka explorations, the five of us (the two idiots, Sinisa, Sofija and Nikola) went to another waterfall sight and ended the afternoon in the longest drive since Sofija and Sinisa couldn't figure out where to eat dinner. They ended up dropping us and Nikola at Skradin and Nikola treated us to a yummy dinner of grilled chicken and vegetables. We ended the evening in town walking around by all the pretty sail ships, talking, and enjoying a little ice cream treat. It should be noted that Nikola is pretty awesome, wonderful, full of wisdom, fun stories and we just like him a whole lot. Tija can't believe the person he has become- it's been 17 years since they have seen each other. Since it was too late we decided to spend the night at their house and head to Sibenik in the morning. Sofija, sweet, sweet, Sofija, changed the bed sheets for us and we slept in the most comfortable bed ever, in a century old house made of rock, the door wide open, and a fresh country breeze lulling us to sleep. Perfecto!

We woke up the next day to two cups of Cappachino, some cookies and went on a walk around the village with Nikola. We picked and ate blackberries along the way and talked, talked, talked. We came back to lots of excitment at home. Their extended family had come over to grill fish and share a meal together. We had the best lunch on the porch in the summer kitchen-fish, bread, salad, wine, beer, and a watermelon for dessert. Tija opted for wine, where-as James had a rather interesting incident with beer. Sofija asked her if she wanted beer to which she replied ˝no thanks˝ Nikola looked at her and said ˝no option, it's either wine or beer˝ James opted for beer, and after Sofija brought out this huge beer bottle, James just looked at Tija and said, ˝this is huge,˝and just stared drinking. Turns out the bottle was to be shared with other beer lovers at the table. James was incredibly embarrased and Tija vowed to never ever let this one go. After the lovely lunch spent with the most lovely, fun loving family, we said our goodbyes to Sofija, Alexandria, and headed to the town with Nikola to catch a bus for Sibenik. Haha, not quite, a little adventure to be had first. Nikola suggested going to a nearby bridge, know to be a jumping point for many locals, so we could chill out and cool down. The bridge is situated over water, where the Adratic and Krka river meet, so neat! A couple minutes after getting to the bridge, perhaps due to a combination of too much sun, and a whole lot of Nikola's encouragement we mad an offical decision- we shall join the local spirit and make the jump off the bridge, in our clothes and all since we didn't bring a bathing suit. We had our doubts of course, especially while climbing up this narrow bridge and watching Nikola demonstrate the jump first, but you only live once, right? We asked the lady chilling at the dock to take pictures of us, climbed back up and stood there for about 5 minutes trying to get up enough nerve to do it. We asked Nikola like 150 questions and with him on the left, Tija in the middle, and James on the right side, we counted down 1¸2, 3, and made a jump right as the ferry to Krka passed by and the tourist cheered us on. So fun! We surfaced the water unharmed, congratulated ourselves, played a couple water games and just laughed. Just for laughs, ha, ha, ha. When we got out of the water, James spotted another freaking snake. We still went back up for another jump. We spent a couple minutes swimming and James showed off her amazing gymnast skills and climbed up the rope swing. We dried off and headed back to town with Nikola for a Nescafe and then we had more ice cream, walked around some more, and after saying goodbye to Nikola borded the 5 pm bus we had to chase down the street. Runners! We have so many beautiful memories with this family and we will forever be grateful for them. We came home exausted and chilled out in front of the TV.

Much love from us both!

Sorry for the mistakes, no time to edit it all.
one half equals quotation marks.

˝A fish swims three times, in water, oil and wine.˝

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