24 August to 30 September 2015 Round-the-World Trip: Vojvodina (Serbia) and the Area. Dear Friends,

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1 Dear Friends, We have arrived to the region of my childhood and youth Slavonia (Croatia) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Weeks ahead of us brought visits to many dear places and cities, tons of wonderful memories and lots of great get-togethers with dear people in this part of the Balkans. First we visited my home town Vukovar (Slavonia, Croatia) and then travelled through half of Vojvodina (a province in Serbia). We spent a few days in Backi Monostor with my friend Valika and her family, went to Novi Sad for a day (to stay at the house of my parents in Bocke ), spent a weekend in Vrsac with our friend Natasha, travelled for a day to Belgrade to visit our Canadian friends Sneska and Lav and dear people in Belgrade, and then spent a month in Novi Sad socialising with many dear people from my high school and university days in this city. It was a few weeks packed with tons of old and new memories More about all that in the pages that follow

2 Quick Visit to My Home Town of Vukovar (Slavonia, Croatia) We arrived to Vukovar (from Ljubljana) with the night train around 3:30 am. We stayed at my mom s place and got a few more hours of sleep before the dawn we were not in a rush to get up early that morning Adriana and Oliver went to a playground in Vukovar with their grandma Mileva while Philip and I went for a walk in the city centre of Vukovar. We walked along the streets that I knew very well and visited dear places from my childhood. We walked through the residential area of Olajnica, passed by my formed primary school, walked along the Danube River with the beautiful views of the castle of the Duke Elts, rowing club building, former Hotel Danube and Vukovar s Water Tower in the distance a symbol of the town of Vukovar.

3 We walked through the city centre that after the war looked quite different from what I remember from my childhood. Anyway, a few renovated beautiful buildings from the past The Home of the Workers and famous Vukovar s arches were reminding me of the scenes from the past.

4 It was a wonderful walk in Vukovar with Philip. For me, that was the most pleasant was in Vukovar since the war years (I just could not figure out if it was due to the visit of this particular town or due to the fact that we went for a walk without children ). The scenes in between the renovated buildings were reminding the visitors of the sad history of this town

5 Bački Monoštor (Vojvodina, Serbia) That afternoon we travelled by bus from Vukovar to Sombor (Vojvodina, Serbia) and then continued to the village of Bački Monoštor to visit my friend Valika and her family (husband Saša and daughter Tisa).

6 We enjoyed many traditional experiences from Vojvodina these days from the quiet village atmosphere and traditional scenes to bike rides in the village and the area and traditional dishes (fish paprika, knedle, tomato soup, proja and freshly picked grapes yummy!). It was a real experience of Vojvodina for Philip, Adriana and Oliver while for me it was a wonderful reminder of a familiar life from my past.

7 Adriana and Oliver had tons of fun playing with Tisa One trip to the playground those days turned into an ice-cream trip on a rainy day. Nobody complained! Before we continued our travels, we stopped by to visit Valika s parents and a brother in Sombor. That was wonderful few days spent with an excellent company! Thank you very much, Valika, Sale, Tisa and Eva for being such great hosts and company!

8 As it usually happens in this part of world, we also had an unplanned surprise visit with my friend Jaca and her family (Vlada, Anja and Aleksa) in Bački Monoštor where Jaca spent her childhood. Long live the Internet and cars! (Although I still greatly prefer riding a bicycle! ). From Backi Monostor we travelled to Novi Sad for a day for Philip to have the opportunity to have a stroll in Novi Sad.

9 Vršac (Vojvodina) Visiting Natasha After spending a day in Novi Sad, we hit the road again. Our kids were so used to travelling by that time that Oliver decided that sleeping under his bus seat is more spacious than sleeping on it he was able to stretch better down there. After a 2-hour bus ride we arrived to Vršac to visit Natasha. With high summer temperatures of +37 C to +40 C in a shade, instead of walking and visiting Vrsac, we went to a nearby park. Adriana and Oliver immediately discovered a water fountain there. It would have been a better fun from being on a playground if mom and dad did not stop it after Oliver stepped into a muddy puddle in his clean white shoes after only a few minutes

10 Bela Crkva (Vojvodina) with Natasha We spent three relaxing days with Natasha in the cottage house of Natasha s family in the village of Bela Crkva. Swimming in the lake on the doorstep of the cottage house was a highlight of our stay for most of us. A boat ride was a bonus! It was an ideal place to during those hot summer temperatures of +37 C to +40 C those days. Here are a few smiles from Bela Crkva Thank you, Natasha! We had a great time

11 A Day in Belgrade (Serbia) In the last minute we decided to stop for a day in Belgrade on our way back from Vrsac to Novi Sad to see dear people in that city some of whom actually live in Canada. It was another hot summer day with +38 C. We decided to spend this day of socializing on playgrounds for children in Kalemegdan (a big park in the city centre of Belgrade). The children had a great time and parents got lots of chatting time it could not have been a better combination! It was another great travel day. In Belgrade we met my friend Vesna from my university days. We also met with our Edmontonian friend Snežana. Snezana and her family now live in Toronto. We met her one year old son Lav. It was so great that we managed to meet in Serbia since our paths did not cross in Canada this spring or summer!

12 Here are a few more smiles from our get-together with Snežana and Lav that day. At the end of the day we also met with my uncle Vaso. While I was socializing with friends, Philip went for a walk in the city centre of Belgrade for a couple of hours and enjoyed visiting the city. And everyone was happy! It was a busy and wonderful day of socializing with friends. After so much heat and running around the playground, Oliver did not stay awake for two minutes on our bus ride to Novi Sad that evening it was another successful day of parenting for us

13 Bocke (Sremska Kamenica, Vojvodina) And then we arrived to the suburb of Bocke (near Novi Sad) for a month. We stayed in the house of my parents where I lived during my university years at the University of Novi Sad. It was so wonderful to see Adriana and Oliver running in the garden among the trees and bushes. They played with the water, picking up (and spilling! ) walnuts, climbing onto the gate, being scientists and doing experiments with ice It was endless fun

14 They also made their campground and tents, played with the fire, made faces, set up market stalls and shops where they sold everything from fruit and veggies to the bus tickets and mobile phone credit

15 They kept themselves busy cooking, chopping, painting nails with markers, drawing and writing. They were drawing even on the outside house walls so one white wall got an airplane drawn on it with a colouring pen one day fortunately, we managed to wash it off! Philip started to figure out how to write and read in Cyrillic so Adriana joined him in studying. Here are some moments of children s fun in Bocke this fall

16 We had fun in the city of Novi Sad too

17 We spent a few wonderful weekends with my mom. Adriana and Oliver had tons of fun playing with their baka Mileva [grandma Mileva].

18 Just before leaving Novi Sad, my dad Vladimir also came to visit us. Adriana and Oliver had a great time with grandma and grandpa.

19 The month spent in Novi Sad was an excellent opportunity to meet with tons of dear people in this city and to introduce to entire McKague-Mandic team to them. Here are few smiles from those wonderful get-togethers (Jaca, Vlada, Anja and Aleksa; Djordje, Zorica, Tara and Kristina; Dana, Saša, Milica and Mihajlo; Marija and Nikola; Valika; Višnja, Srećko and Marina)

20 And more wonderful moments spent with dear people who are the main reason for my regular travels to this part of the world I would like to thank all of you who made an effort to speak English for at least a part of our visits this fall so Philip could participate and get to know you better too. (Jaca, Dejan, Djordje, Jovica, Valika, Danijela)

21 And a few more get-togethers (Sesa and Steva; Višnja, Srećko and Marina; Minja) We also visited my hairdresser Ceca two times and made a whole party in her hair saloon especially the second time when we showed up with both children. Fortunately, it was a rainy day so Ceca had more time for us. Those were two wonderful afternoons of socializing and great haircuts. Thank you, Ceca!

22 I also had a few academic meetings at the University of Novi Sad with former professors and colleagues I had a chance to show Philip the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport where I finished my undergraduate degree. One of the outcomes of those academic meetings is that I already have an airplane ticket booked to return to Novi Sad in six months again this time for academic reasons. Also, my academic work in Spain this summer seems to be bringing new academic trips around the world already too. More about that in some of our upcoming letters (Dr Saša Dejanović, Professor Nikola Grujić, Professor Djordje Nićin, Professor Bora Obradović)

23 And many wonderful moments of playing with our little friends in Novi Sad (on the photos below are Marina, Anja, Djuradj and Kristina)

24 During that month we celebrated Philip s birthday with tons of grapes instead of a birthday cake and a family barbeque in Bocke that evening. We also celebrated Oliver s 3 rd birthday. Adriana remembered that for her 3 rd birthday we made Thomas the tank engine cake so we had to make the Thomas cake for Oliver s 3 rd birthday too. When I was decorating the Thomas cake with the grapes and wanted to write number 3 for Oliver s 3 rd birthday, Adriana told me that I couldn t write number 3 on the Thomas cake since Thomas is the engine number 1!

25 Adriana in Action Adriana has become our little princess. She is spending more time in front of a mirror, changing dresses, picking up her clothes, putting hair clips in her hair and now she decided also to grow her hair long. Our little princess also wanted to pierce her ears those days and wear earrings like mommy. She was really brave when piercing her ears. Well done, Adriana! Adriana also started to speak Serbo- Croatian amazingly well during this month. It was fascinating hearing how her vocabulary was expanding day by day. For me, it was the most interesting to hear my phrases coming out of Adriana s mouth. Here are a few Adriana s saying in Serbo- Croatian during this month (some of them will be impossible to translate in English without losing the nuances of the original language but I will try my best! ): Pa to stvarno nema smisla. [Hm, not sure how to translate that one! ] Sandra: Adriana, da li znas sta znaci blabla-bla? [ Adriana, do you know what it means when someone says bla-bla-bla? ]. Adriana: To je kad neko priča engleski a ne zna hrvatski pa kad drugi pričaju hrvatski on ne razume pa je sve bla-bla-bla. [ That s when someone speaks English and doesn t know Croatian so when others speak Croatian he doesn t understand and then everything is bla-bla-bla ]. My heart melts listening to Adriana speak Serbo-Croatian. That language has become a special bond between us. Before sleep Adriana would tell me stories in Serbo-Croatian about a girl with the red hair that had a garden and in that garden she had the most beautiful flowers in the world. Adriana enjoys drawing and writing letters. She even started to study writing and reading Cyrillic with Philip - so cute to see her making that effort! It is truly amazing to see how much Adriana has grown in these few months of travelling! She will be our big school girl when we return to New Zealand in a couple of weeks.

26 Oliver in Action Oliver does not stop all day long. There are simply too many things to touch, lift, throw, climb onto, spill, stretch (or break in some cases) Pens and colouring pens have many different uses in addition to scribbling on the paper such as making trains on the floor and why not also drawing on the walls and furniture? those are great surfaces too Oliver is currently fascinated with the stickers so the stickers are ending up on furniture, floor and other suitable locations. Oliver is captivated with things around him. One day when we were at the Strand Beach in Novi Sad, Oliver found a small bottle, filled it up with water and sand and said to Philip: Look, daddy. A beer! Oliver is also starting to speak Serbo- Croatian. He is learning the language by repeating what Adriana says so it sounds like this: Mama, ja sam pojela ja sam popila ja sam skočila [ Mommy, I ate I drank I jumped - with all verbs being in a feminine form in Serbo-Croatian] One time when Oliver pied a bit in his underwear, he said to me: Mama, ja sam upiškila u gaćica. [ Mommy, I pied in my underwear. - but with a few cute mistakes in verb and noun conjugations in Serbo-Croatian language. ]. Keep talking, Oliver The only problem is now when all three of us start talking in Serbo-Croatian, Philip will not understand any more what is going on around him!

27 Visiting Novi Sad Somewhere in between our dental appointments, academic meetings and socializing, we managed to visit Novi Sad. We walked in the city centre, visited the Štrand Beach

28 We also visited Petrovaradin fortress with Natasha from Vrsac.

29 Here are a few more scenes from walking around the Petrovaradin fortress with Natasha and our little munchkins.

30 Hikes to Popovica (Fruška Gora) On two occasions Philip and I went for a walk/hike from Bocke to Popovica on the slopes on Mt Fruska Gora. (Thank you very much, my dear mom, for playing with Adriana and Oliver during those times! ). The views of Fruska Gora, Danube River, Novi Sad and Vojvodina s plains were spectacular as always

31 Here are a few more wonderful views from Popovica Philip managed to get out for a few quick bike rides on Fruska Gora too

32 It was great six weeks spent in the Balkan region where I lived the first 23 years of my life. What a wonderful opportunity to meet again with dear people in this part of the world and connect the entire McKague- Mandic team with this region. Thank you all for many wonderful get-togethers and unforgettable memories that we are taking with us from this trip! Adriana and Oliver had tons of fun in Bocke and socializing in Novi Sad. On this trip they also got new nicknames. Adriana became Nedriana Palčić (from Ne [ No ]- Adriana and palac [ thumb ]), while Oliver got (and confirmed many times! ) a nickname Noliver Prljavko (from No-Oliver and prljavko [ messy/dirty little boy ]). By the way, these nicknames sound way cuter in Serbo-Croatian than in English! Just keep playing, our little munchkins! So the time came for Philip to say good-bye to the Balkans and return to New Zealand (with 3 days in Singapore ). Adriana, Oliver and I still have 3 more weeks in the Balkan region before heading back to New Zealand. So we all went together to the Belgrade airport on 01 October Adriana, Oliver and I flew to Ljubljana while Philip went to Frankfurt. We look forward to the next get-together with Philip a month from now in New Zealand. Until then we got a bit more socializing to do in the Balkans. More about that in our next letter. Another big thank-you to all dear people in Vojvodina (and the area) with whom we sent so many wonderful moments on this trip. It has been amazing to be reminded yet another time that our friendships reach over the time and geographical limits Tons of happy autumn greetings from Vojvodina from the McKague-Mandic team! Sandy, Philip, Adriana and Oliver 02 October 2015 Ljubljana, Slovenia