Our language instructor in Colorado told us: “You’re going to make a million mistakes so get started!  Here is one of my million.
 
Ellie Beth and I were taking Frodo, our puppy and people magnet, for a walk one day when two girls about Ellie’s age started talking with us: “Baš je slatki!” He’s so sweet/cute!  “Muski ili ženski?”  Is he male or female?  “Kako se zove?  What’s his name?   “Koliko je star?” How old is he?

Ellie Beth answered them all!  But then they asked us another question – one we hadn’t heard before…we had no idea what they were saying.   Ellie Beth and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.  I gave my typical answer – “Ne razumijem."  I don't understand.  Then after a second to think it through: "Tvoy hrvastski nije dobar."  Our Croatian is not so good.  Well that’s what I meant to say!  They looked at me strangely, smiled and walked away.  We walked on. 

About 20 meters later I stopped, looked at Ellie Beth and said, “Oh, no! I just told that girl that her Croatian wasn’t good, didn’t I?!!”

 “Yep – you did.” Ellie Beth smiled at me and we started laughing.  It’s better than crying! 

Ellie Beth and Dubravka in the kitchen

After looking up the Croatian words for mold, wall and found; we called our landlords, Dubravka and Stjepan, who came over right away.  They called the builder who came over the next day.  He could not find any leaks so Stjepan cleaned up the mold and repainted.  We learned that we must air out the house morning and evening- basically we turn off the heat and open all the windows for five to ten minutes to let the apartment breathe.  We have been keeping a much closer eye on our walls lately!

You might be wondering how this relates to making sarma.  Well, when Dubravka and Stjepan came over to clean up the mold, Dubravka brought over a recipe for sarma, in Croatian.  She started to translate it word by word from her dictionary.  Stjepan suggested she just come over and make it for us.  So, a few days later she came over with all the ingredients, and showed us how to make sarma (stuffed cabbage) – the Croatian way, and I wrote down the recipe.  It was delicious!

Some of my Croaticum class at the Fakultet

I was told this semester by my teacher, Sanda, that she would be teaching us so much Croatian and giving us so much grammar, that it would be coming out our nose.  Now that is quite an image! 

My teacher, Sanda

Language learning has been interesting, challenging, and at times very funny.  There is so much grammar and vocabulary to learn.  It is frustrating to realize that after a month long course in the summer and a semester of Croatian, I still can’t hold much of a conversation in Croatian and I still get “the deer in the headlights” look when someone asks me a question.  But, I am making progress.  Sometimes I actually say a Croatian word without thinking and it is often the right word.  Last week, I answered a question at our women’s Bible study in Croatian!  I had to write it down and look up a word or two, but I knew most of it and best of all – the other women understood what I was saying! 

Of course, I have also had many good laughs over what comes out of my mouth.   When I was asked what I wear in the winter, I replied, “Nosim toplu dijecu – I wear warm children” instead of “Nosim toplu odjecu – I wear warm clothes.”  And trying to pronounce some Croatian words like “istraživačica”, "jedriličarska reprezentacija", "srednjodalmatinski" and "člankonošce” makes for tongue twisters! And what about those words with no vowels like "smrt".

Like I said it has been a challenge but I am making progress.  A friend from church just called and invited us to a piano concert his daughter is in, and although I didn't understand everything - I got the general idea.  So tonight at eight, Ellie Beth and I will be at a children's concert.

If you read our February 2008 newsletter, you saw some pictures down the sides.  Here is a little bit of information about each picture.

Ellie Beth, Naomi, and Lina

Ellie Beth invited Naomi and Lina, girls from our church, over to play and make cookies. There are 5 fourth grade girls at the church.  Ellie Beth is planning to invite them all over for a game night.

Ellie Beth, Bonnie and Maja

During the summer, Maja came almost daily to our house to help Ellie Beth and I with Croatian.  We always ended our time by playing Swap, a card game.  In late September, Maja told us her other job was increasing in hours and she just couldn't do both jobs.  We were sad about loosing her as a language helper.  We still get together occasionally - we miss her!

Dan on Medvednica

After Christmas, we had a lot of snow!  We went to Medvednica with the Meekers to go sledding and ended up having a big snowball fight.  The kids loved getting Dan.

Ellie Beth and Lydia hiking on Medvednica

Lydia, Ellie Beth, and I made several hikes up to Spilja Veternica, a cave near our house on Medvednica.  The girls would bring a backpack filled with nature notebooks, magnifying glasses, forceps and other "scinetific" things.  It was very fun.  For a while, we were going once a week but then language school started...

Shay, Debi, and Lydia at Severin

Lydia and I went to the junior high girl's retreat at Severin in November.  It started snowing as we drove up and continued to snow all weekend.  It was beautiful.  All the girls had a good time playing outside, as well as discussing what the Bible says about self image and relationships.

Dan's Croaticum Class

Dan took the evening class at Croaticum the fall semester.  His teacher was Antonia, the women in the picture.  His classmates were from all over the world.

Christmas with Dubravka and Stjepan

We spent Christmas afternoon with our wonderful landlords, Dubravka and Stjepan.  They have a very friendly and beautiful dog, Don, who loves to be petted.

Viona, Mio, Bonnie and Brenda

I took the morning class at Croaticum.  We went on several field trips.  This picture is from our day trip to Varaždin and Tragošćan.  Viona, Mio, Brenda and I were standing outside a castle.

Sledding on Medvednica

Another picture from our sledding excursion after Christmas.  The girls enjoyed the wooden sleds!