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Current posting: December 2, 2009

  Greetings. I've just returned from a long weekend in Budapest where I walked for miles
every day and took a ton of pictures. A word of travel advice: take the train from
Sarajevo. There is no direct bus from Belgrade to Budapest. Click here to see my photos.
I'm pleased to report that my short story, "Split Decision," won second prize in a contest
hosted by Crucible Magazine at Barton College. It will appear in their Winter edition due
out in January, 2010.
  Teaching is going well here in Tuzla. I am glad to be working at the American University
of Bosnia in Herzegovina. Below are some photos of Tuzla.














     





  Above is the famous salt lake, the last remnant of a salt sea that once covered much of
this area. Tuzla means "salt" and was a trading site for salt as far back as five or six
thousand years ago. The lake  has a recreation of a Neolithic village based on
archaeological digs in the area. There was a Roman road that passed through the area
(presumably on its way to Greece) and ruins remain from the Middle Ages. Behind the lake
would be Old Town, and behind that (with the blue domes) is the Church of Peter and Paul
(If they had been fans of folk music they might have named it...oh, never mind). My
apartment is in a house on a hill in the far background.
   What I love about Tuzla the most are the bakeries. Oh, they bake delicious bread
here. Also the pita and the burec. Pita is not like pita bread as we know it, but rather, a
fine, flaky pastry which is rolled around a stuffing of meat or potatoes or cheese and then
curled like a cinnamon bun and baked. Burec is similar but is the size of a medium pizza.
While many things are expensive (rent,internet access, things imported from the USA),
food is cheap. And the coffee is strong and good, though they serve it in tiny cups.
The national past time seems to be walking around or sitting in cafés looking at the people
who are walking around. This can be entertaining, but now that it is growing cold, people
spend more of their time inside. The weather is very Seattle-like, with lots of clouds and
drizzle, but colder. We've already had a bit of snow.
   I'm teaching three classes, all composition (this semester), but my students are polite
and motivated. In a country with 50% unemployment, I don't think anyone has to persuade
them of the value of education. If they are going to get a decent job (here or elsewhere in
Europe), they'll need college-level communication skills.
For my part, I'm glad to help.
   I do miss some things about Kabul: the kabobs, the naan, my students. But it is cleaner
here, and presumably safer (though Bosnia is by no means on solid ground politically and
economically).
   A week ago I took the bus to Zagreb, Croatia, and had a great weekend there. Croatia
is visibly more prosperous, and Zagreb was a pleasant city to visit. I had the good fortune
to be there during the Zagreb Marathon, and I entered and ran the 1/2 marathon,
finishing in about 1:43:00. That's a far cry from my old, sub 1:30 times, but not bad for
an old man who isn't really in training!
   Here's a picture of me at a village in the mountains of Croatia.













                                                                                                          
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           
                                                                              


   And here's a picture of a 200 year old inn where we ate lunch. The whole place is built
in arches of stone. Incredible.

                                                                  
























 Anybody for dessert?








    Okay, okay, the dessert was from a chocolate bar in Zagreb, not the 200 year old inn.
Imagine that, chocolate bars. My kind of town! A view of the square in downtown Zagreb.
The race started and finished here. It was rainy and cool, but a half-hour before the race,
the rain stopped and the day was perfect.





















                                                                                                                                        Sunset on the Adriatic at Rijeka.
Melvin Sterne: Writer, Teacher, Editor, Photographer
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