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Written by Lydia Nelson
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Saturday, 02 June 2007 |
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I will put some differences here between Croatia and America that I've noticed.
America Croatia
Almost no public transportation People ride public transportation (trams, trains, and buses)(or walk) EVERYWHERE
sliced bread Almost no sliced bread
Almost no bakeries LOTS of bakeries
these are the main differences I've noticed, besides the language.
Also, if you've ever watched the movie Cars, I think that California = America, and Radiator Springs = Croatia
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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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Even though our language learning is going slowly we are picking up some useful phrases. We have included a few so you can give it a try!
But remember...
the “a” sounds like the “a” in father
the “e” sounds like the “e” in pet
the “i” sounds like a long “e”, as in bee
the “o” sounds like a long “o”. as in boat (only a shorter sound)
the “u” sounds like the “oo” in book
the “r” is trilled or flapped
the “j” sounds like the “y” in yet
the “š” sounds like the “sh” in ship
the “đ” sounds like the “j” in jam
the “č” sounds like the first “ch” in church
the “c” sounds like the “ts” in cats
I won’t go into declensions, or how to conjugate, or the six cases, or the gender of nouns, or which syllable gets the accent because I have not figured all that out yet.
Hello Bok! (for children or people you know)
Dobar Dan (for everyone else)
What is your name? Kako se zoveš?
I’m . Jesam .
Pleased to meet you. Drago me je.
How are you? Kako si?
I’m good, even great. Jako dobro, čak izvrsno.
Do you have bread? Imaš li kruh?
No, I don’t. Ne, nemam.
Not a problem. Nema ne čemu.
Where is the church? Gdje je crvek? If you ask that question, you must pull out your map – well, at least I have to!
See you tomorrow! Vidimo se sutra!
Goodbye Bok! (for children or people you know)
Doviđenja! (for everyone else)
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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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A month before we departed for Croatia, Dan and I realized that we needed to have dental check ups. A friend told me about a couple from our church, Jim and Kim Harms, who were very good dentists and could help us. I made an appointment for Wednesday, April 18th – about a week before our departure. At the check up and cleaning, Kim found I had a cavity and possibly a cracked tooth which might need a root canal and crown! A year ago, right before we left on our eleven week road trip, I had an old filling replaced and it had bothered me since then – but as we were on the road, I learned to live with it and had never gotten around to doing anything about it. So here we are – eight days before we leave for four years, with some major dental work. Over the next week, Jim and Faye, his dental assistant, spent hours on my teeth!
Thursday, 4/19: Cavity filled, pressure and ice cube test on my back molars. OUCH! I had two cracked teeth! Two back teeth filed down, temporary crowns put on and a very numb mouth. Took Advil.
Monday, 4/23: Root canal on one tooth that was still aching and one very numb mouth. Took Advil.
Tuesday, 4/24: Checked on still aching root canal tooth and delayed permanent crowns for a day. Took Advil.
Wednesday, 4/25: Two permanent crowns put on at 6:00 in the morning. Took Advil.
Thursday, 4/26: Left for Croatia, still taking Advil.
The lab they used to make crowns was also owned by Christians and they did a rush job - the crowns were ready on Tuesday morning. What a whirlwind! And what a testimony to God’s provision! Needless to say, I had to cancel a few plans and didn’t get quite as much done as I wanted but my teeth are doing much better now, and I am so thankful that God provided the Harms. Maybe next time I won’t leave the dental appointment until the very last moment!
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Written by Bonnie Nelson
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Monday, 28 May 2007 |
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"Znate li hrvatski?" "Samo malo." The translation for this is: “Do you speak Croatian?” “Only a little.”
Language learning is going slowly. Our tongues are stumbling over unfamiliar sounds and words, while our brains are trying to adjust to different letters and grammar – declension, conjugation, gender, and all those cases! Thankfully, we have a few people to help us including Mirna, our language helper, who meets with us a few times a week, and Danka, the teacher at a private language school, who is helping us with grammar. We hope to be increasing our time with Mirna and decreasing our private lessons for awhile until we know more words and phrases. While we are at the language school, Ellie Beth spends time with Kati and her son, Aron, who is six months old. Ellie Beth has enjoyed taking walks with them to the market and playing games in Croatian. Lydia will soon be joining them. In July, I will be taking an intensive language class at the university while Dan is at camp. Then in the fall, Dan and I will start language
school at the university while all four of us continue with language helpers.
Please continue to pray for our language learning. Although many people speak some English, especially the younger generation, we want to be able to communicate to the Croatian people in their heart language. It has been frustrating to not be able to connect with people because we can’t speak their language.
 Aron, Kati, and Ellie Beth
 Language Learning is Messy
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Written by Dan Nelson
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Sunday, 27 May 2007 |
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We finally have internet access! It came earlier this week and we are now able to update this site a little more frequently and also send out updates to our faithful prayer partners. We are pretty excited about this. Rather than try to recap the last several weeks, I think I'll just fill you in on our day today since it was a typical day for us.
 Botanical Gardens on our Cell Phone camera
We had decided to attend the church of a co-worker of mine. Daniel and Kati go to a Brethren church in Zagreb, so we had asked them how to get there and what people typically wear. This morning I grabbed my man-bag (the girls love to call it a purse) which has my passport, cell phone, language note pad, Bible, wallet, camera, and keys in it and left an hour early in case we got lost on the way. We hopped onto the bus to Crnomeric and from there grabbed the number 2 tram into Zagreb. We made it in 1/2 hour. Since we had time to kill, we walked to the botanical garden which are free to enter and explored them briefly. We had not planned on the botanical gardens but as we left, we all mentioned that they were a wonderful way to start church.
The service was all in Croatian. We are getting better at Croatian, but it is still very difficult to follow anything other than greetings and simple phrases. Praise songs are great though, because we can pick up lots of phrases that are repeated over and over until we learn them. One I caught this morning was "Ti si moj kralj!" which means, "you are my king". It is an exciting moment when you can lean over to your family and say, "Hey that means you are my king." However, it is a little frustrating when they all say, "Yeah, we know". I'm getting used to that as well.
When it came time to take communion, we encountered another of those
extra decisions we have to make a lot. One cup was passed around to
everyone and it was wine. Do we give it to the girls or not? Bonnie
and had a quick discussion and made a call (I'll leave the decision up
to you if you ever have to make it) just as the cup came by.
Unexpected things keep popping up in places we don't expect them.
As the sermon started I was thinking that my time here so far feels
like surfing. I have never actually surfed, but I often feel like I am
on a little board on top of a huge wave that is constantly moving
forward. There are times of beauty when you relax and look around, and
times of intense activity as you struggle with your board, knowing that
the wave won't stop to let you get back on. Even the falling in is not
bad, but riding the board is a heck of a lot more fun than struggling
to get back on to the board.
After church we relaxed a bit, and then I drove Bonnie to an empty
parking lot so she could practice driving the stick shift and then
Bonnie drove home for the first time in Croatia. This was her first
time to drive in Croatia. The traffic here is more intense than in the
States so it took her a little while longer to choose to drive.
Thats the day and it was actually very typical for us. I am looking
forward to the time when things like going to church are more of a
routine process for us. However, I am also thankful that we are here
and acclimating to this new culture so well. It is truly a blessing in
the way God has orchestrated so many events around us to make this a
smooth transition. He is good.
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