Week-end Wrap up!
We met a good guy yesterday, Second Lieutenant Petkov of the Bulgarian army, serving in EUFOR. We talked about plenty of unimportant things, like weather and Bulgaria's impending admittance to the EU. He said that EUFOR didn't know we were here until yesterday, we didn't know it was an issue. I figure that if the local police or the Canadian embassy don't think it's an issue to tell EUFOR, we shouldn't either. I think the only reason why it was important was so that the Canadian soldiers in Bihać would know we're here. We're planning on visiting them, by chance they are stationed near the whitewater rafting, certainly a bonus.
In other news, Croatia got kicked out of the World Cup last night. A lot of people here are sad about that, on both sides of the town (though all of Uskoplje is upset). I watched a bit of the game in Uskoplje, at the cafe that Lindsey's host family owns. After Croatia's second goal against Australia, everyone was standing up clapping and chanting the striker's name, it was quite the festivity. I left with about 20 minutes in the game so that I wouldn't get any hastle crossing back over into Gornji Vakuf. I didn't see any EUFOR soldiers that night, and except for the the copious amounts of firecrackers and fireworks going off all over the place, things seemed pretty quiet.
We have plans to travel to Travnik tomorrow, which is the capital of our canton (province). There's a castle there, the house of some famous writer and most importantly of all, lots of shopping. I'm excited to get some new strings for the guitar here, and hopefully more peanut butter.
As for everything else, things are good, some reps from an NGO coalition are outside gathering signatures for a petition. The have some objectives they want the new government (elections are in the fall) to follow. They aren't favouring any party, they just want a quicker improvement of the state's administrative capacity, more jobs, more money for pensioners and things of this nature. The government will have to make big strides in their four year term if they want to bring BiH into the European Union. The petitioners have been playing music all day in the centre of town, last time they only had one song, now they have lots. Even if they for the most part are terrible, we are appreciative of the variety.
One last thing of note, the Privredna Banka a.d. Srpsko Sarajevo has been involved in some nasty stuff. It seems the the High Representative (OHR) has absolute power over the country, and has found it within his mandate to liquidate the bank. I can assume this might cause some controversy, though I haven't heard of anything yet. I'm not sure what is involved in liquidating a bank, but I hope that in keeping with the OHR mandate, it improves financial accountability and democratic institutions in the country. The OHR is maintained by the EU primarily and is set to expire in the near future, so I hope that a proper state begins to emerge by then.
Till Monday then. Send pictures of me you think should be in an e-scrapbook to Jmikelittle@gmail.com
In other news, Croatia got kicked out of the World Cup last night. A lot of people here are sad about that, on both sides of the town (though all of Uskoplje is upset). I watched a bit of the game in Uskoplje, at the cafe that Lindsey's host family owns. After Croatia's second goal against Australia, everyone was standing up clapping and chanting the striker's name, it was quite the festivity. I left with about 20 minutes in the game so that I wouldn't get any hastle crossing back over into Gornji Vakuf. I didn't see any EUFOR soldiers that night, and except for the the copious amounts of firecrackers and fireworks going off all over the place, things seemed pretty quiet.
We have plans to travel to Travnik tomorrow, which is the capital of our canton (province). There's a castle there, the house of some famous writer and most importantly of all, lots of shopping. I'm excited to get some new strings for the guitar here, and hopefully more peanut butter.
As for everything else, things are good, some reps from an NGO coalition are outside gathering signatures for a petition. The have some objectives they want the new government (elections are in the fall) to follow. They aren't favouring any party, they just want a quicker improvement of the state's administrative capacity, more jobs, more money for pensioners and things of this nature. The government will have to make big strides in their four year term if they want to bring BiH into the European Union. The petitioners have been playing music all day in the centre of town, last time they only had one song, now they have lots. Even if they for the most part are terrible, we are appreciative of the variety.
One last thing of note, the Privredna Banka a.d. Srpsko Sarajevo has been involved in some nasty stuff. It seems the the High Representative (OHR) has absolute power over the country, and has found it within his mandate to liquidate the bank. I can assume this might cause some controversy, though I haven't heard of anything yet. I'm not sure what is involved in liquidating a bank, but I hope that in keeping with the OHR mandate, it improves financial accountability and democratic institutions in the country. The OHR is maintained by the EU primarily and is set to expire in the near future, so I hope that a proper state begins to emerge by then.
Till Monday then. Send pictures of me you think should be in an e-scrapbook to Jmikelittle@gmail.com
posted by J Michael Little at
11:29 a.m.
4 Comments:
another additional note, I talked to the women here at the centar, and they said that this isn't out of the ordinary, though the High Representative is not prone to making big decisions, rather trying to leave everything up to the national authorities. This is hardly a big issue, Police reform is the biggest current problem.
By
J Michael Little, at 12:15 p.m.
Hi Sweetie
How are you doing for money? The haircut sounds like a bargain, but how expensive is peanut butter? let me know.
stay out of trouble love your mum
By
Anonymous, at 1:21 a.m.
Hi Mike:
Sounds like you are starting to get the real flavour of the country and
not just the tourist aspect of the place.
ttyl
Linda
By
Anonymous, at 4:58 a.m.
Okay so I MUST ask: Where was the white water rafting??? I've ALWAYS wanted to go! :D
By
Georgie_Bosnia-Herz_09, at 6:24 a.m.
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