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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Friday, 19 October 2007 |
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 You know the routine. You get an envelope in the mail addressed to you. It’s from the electric or the gas or the garbage company. You know it’s a bill so you get out your checkbook, write a check and mail it back in the self addressed envelope.
It is not quite that simple in Croatia. We do get our bills in the mail. However none of them are addressed to us – they all have our landlords’ name on them – and weren’t you taught not to open other people’s mail? We were only late on one bill before we learned that we do need to open all envelopes addressed to our landlords that come to our address!
We get the normal bills that we got back in Minnesota- rent, water, garbage, gas, phone and internet service, and electricity. In addition to those, we have a monthly bill for the cleaning and upkeep of the apartment building and one we haven’t quite figured out yet. They don’t use checks in Croatia. So we can’t just send our payment in. Most Croatians pay their bills through the post office. When we have bills to pay, we walk, drive or take the tram to a post office, stand in line at the “isplata” counter and wait our turn to hand over the bills (računi) and the money in kuna. There is a small fee on most bills for this service. Today I went to the nearest post office to pay our bills and mail a letter. When I got there, I counted twenty three people in front of me, all with bills in hand. The line for mailing the letter was minuscule. I decided to pay bills first before the line got longer. About thirty minutes later, the bills were paid but by then the line for mailing letters was long. Sigh… I decided to come back another day!
Our favorite bill to pay is our rent. When our rent is due, we drive to our landlords’ house and spend about an hour, drinking juice, eating wonderful desserts, laughing with them at our stumbling Croatian and getting to know them before handing over the rent- in euros not kuna. What a delightful way to pay bills!
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My Time at Croatian Camp by Ellie Beth |
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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Friday, 07 September 2007 |
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 Everyone at camp
At first, when mom and dad talked to me about going to Croatian camp at Severin I thought it would be okay but when I actually got there, I did not want to stay!! I felt nervous because I only knew three people, Debi , Tea and Petra. It was all in Croatian. Only a few of the girls spoke some English. I was glad that my room counselor, Beka, spoke English really well. She is also an MK and her dad is Croatian and her mom is from England.
At camp I played ping pong and volleyball, did archery, climbed on the rock climbing wall and tried to go swimming but the water was freezing! My favorite sport was archery. I had a Bible group and Beka was my leader. She translated the Bible verses for me and told me what to do. I learned a Croatian song and met some girls. The food was great.
I listened and watched the skits at night but I didn’t understand what
they were talking about. The main character was Professor Tutu. He
was the camp leader and a pastor from Split. The two funniest parts of
the skit were when Beka was a mummy and Professor Tutu was baking and
using her as a table. He accidentally cracked an egg on her head and
then spilled flour on her. The other part was when a leader named Ana
had just gotten a package full of make-up and Professor Tutu used a lot
of the make up and scribbled all over her face! Then he tried to make
a facial mask by putting shaving cream on a paper plate and then
smearing it on her face!
At the end of camp I was glad I went. Some of it was fun, some of it was terrible and lots of the time I was confused!
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A story in Croatian (and translation) |
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Written by Lydia Nelson
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Tuesday, 28 August 2007 |
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 I wrote this story a while ago, but I will put it on the web now.
On je Daniel. Ona je Bonnie. On je njezin muž, i ona je njegova žena. Lydia je njihova kći. Elisabeth je njihova kći. Lydia i Elisabeth su sestre. Daniel je njihov tata, i Bonnie je njihova mama. Daniel i Bonnie su roditelji. Lydia i Elisabeth su djevojćice. Oni su obitelj
Whew! Click read more to get the translation.
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Little Summer School at Filozofski fakultet |
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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Friday, 10 August 2007 |
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 My Little Summer School Class
I attended class with seven other students and our teacher, Goranka. It was a very diverse group with students coming from four different continents, ranging in age from 18 to 40, and coming from a wide variety of backgrounds – including students, a Catholic priest and a young man trying to start a business. In addition to language learning we also took several field trips and tours in Zagreb. In October, I hope to be back at the Filozofski fakultet for the fall semester.
But for the next two months, Ellie Beth and I will be working on our Croatian several times a week with Maya, a university student studying for her exams. She is an answer to pray as she is patient and kind with our mistakes while pushing us to improve our pronunciation, word base and communication ability. Please pray that Christ would clearly shine through Ellie Beth and me during our time with Maya. Dan and Lydia are working with another university student named Ana, who is also studying for her exams.
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Written by Lydia Nelson
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Monday, 02 July 2007 |
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Well, now that we have been in Croata around 2 months, I thought that you might like to know some things about it. It will be easiest for me to make a list here.
1.Camp is Super! While I was at EBS (English bible sports) camp, me and some other kids made a fort in the woods, out of some branches and things. It could fit 4 or 5 people! Also, I met a girl who lives in the apartement buildings behind us, and some other neat friends. It was great!
2. language is easier and harder than I thought it would be. At camp I picked up some important phrases, like - "Kako se
kaže _______________ na hrvatskom" means "how do you say _______________________ in croatian." But, language school is really boring and sometimes frustrating.
3........................I dont know!
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