My Short-lived Time in Fondi

When I got to Heather and Lynnea’s apartment, I realized that I was definitely not in Montenegro anymore. It looked much more “European” with little windy cobblestone streets lined with old Italian apartment buildings, complete with little flower-pot lined balconies and tons of old world charm that is so apparently lacking in Bar. 

The girls live in a building that is rented as a bed and breakfast when they aren’t living there. It was four floors and they lived on the third floor technically. It was strange to think about how they have daily interactions with roommates. I’m so used to living by myself at this point, that it seems strange to have a language barrier with someone you have to share your personal space with. 

Anyway, after I dropped off my things, they told me that there men’s club had a match that night. I was excited to watch and see what they do for entertainment (they always go watch their men practice and play so they seem to know that team pretty well). When we got there it was really apparent that Heather and Lynnea are really well-liked by everyone involved in the club. Many old Italian men seemed very excited to see them (it was mostly coaches, owners, and members of “the society”).

doing our fan duties! 

       After the match we wanted to hang out with some of them, but they all seemed to be going home or out with their families, so instead we went to a little pub to grab some dinner. There was a soccer match playing so it was PACKED (i forgot how into futbol they are!) with people yelling at the tv when something good--or bad--happened. The restaurant didn’t necessarily serve Italian food so we got chips and salsa, french fries and little sandwiches. It was really good food and SUCH nice company. I really forgot how nice it is to be able to speak as quickly and informally as I want to hand have people not only understand me, but speak back the same way. I think they were also happy to have a little dose of familiarity. 

After dinner we went to this place that Heather had been raving about all day. It was this little pastry bakery (I forgot the name) that sold these italian pastries that are injected with whatever filling you want such as custard, cream, chocolate or all of the above. I just got chocolate and with the first bite I knew why she had been bragging about how good it was. YUM! I wanted to turn around and buy about 20 more for the walk home. They were so good, and they’re now on the list of things my family will try when they come over in the summer. 

The next day Heather and I walked around and I got my tour of her city. It is about double the size of Bar so there was a lot for me to see. It’s funny because when they were telling me about it at the beginning of the season they were like “its soooo small!” but compared to Bar, it was a good-sized area with a lot to see. For some reason all of the stores are closed on Mondays in that town so we just went to get a cappuccino and pastries. 

Apparently in Italy the mindset while drinking coffee is much different. For example, when we went to get coffee the first time they didn’t even want to sit down. I thought this was entirely too strange considering in Montenegro they can sit with the same cup of coffee and talk and waste time for a solid hour.

 I made Heather sit down and actually enjoy her coffee rather than inhaling it and then we continued on our way stopping in the few stores that were actually open. Once again, it was nice to be spending time with someone I’ve known for a while. 

you WILL sit down and you WILL enjoy your coffee! 

We came back and decided to cook lunch. (does it sound like I was constantly eating? I’m pretty sure I was...) Heather cooked herself some pasta and pesto and recruited her Italian roommate to make me some carbonara. Words cannot explain how delicious that dish was. It had pancetta and was awesome. Heather said she was glad she didn’t make it because I wouldn’t have had the same experience. Well mark that one off the list: eating pasta cooked by a true Italian...I recommend everyone find a way to make this happen at some point in their life. 

        There was a little bit of down time before the girls had practice, so we took the time to just talk and compare different aspects of our lives and we found that even though we were in different countries, dealing with different people, and doing different things, we really have so much in common. Every time they would say "oh it's weird...here they _____" I found myself saying "I KNOW!!". After we wasted some time (much like my typical down-time in Bar) we headed to practice. The gym was FREEZING and since I was getting sick I thought it would be best to rest, although they all wanted me to practice. As a whole, their practice was very comparable to mine. When they finished, we went to an "american food" stand. This was clearly NOT american food, but more what they envisioned us to eat. Obviously Italians think Americans have HORRIBLE eating habits (which I don't completely disagree) because what we ordered was a hot dog, french fries, mozzarella, mayo and ketchup all in a baguette sort of thing. It was called a wurstel, and I will gladly admit it was delicious. 

delish. look at those innards...

heather has obviously been around the block a few times. she doesn't have the excitement in her eyes like I did. 

Lynnea's was subpar from the beginning. She opted for her french fries on the side. 

After we waddled home, it was just another relaxing night at the house. I had to wake up early to get to the train station in the morning (told ya it was a short trip!) Nothing exciting to report from the trip home, just lots of traveling, which was uber tiring. I had to get an early train to make sure I caught the plane on time to get home for practice that I had that night. Eeeek, I hope this post wasn't just a lot of rambling! 

it's not about the destination, it's about the journey

     When I got to Rome it was still surreal that this trip was really happening. I even kinda had a thought about my plane crashing because I just couldn’t picture myself actually making it to Italy (weird, I know..) Anyway, I made it safely to Rome and met an awesome lady in the airport who helped me to navigate my way through the train station and airport shuttle tram to get to Fondi. I didn’t have a train ticket so by the time I bought one, I had only a few minutes to get to the next Naples train which was on the same line as Fondi. Perfect, I bypassed a long line, got to the station, and walked right onto the train. I snapped a picture of the big “Roma Termini” station sign and I thought to myself “haha. I win at life. I am going to put this on facebook with a caption that says ‘I am the navigational queen. I mastered Roma Termini, what next?’” (refer to the first picture below) Then, I asked the lady next to me if she knew approximately how long of a ride it would be to my stop so I could rest and know that I wasn’t going to miss the stop. Her response? “Um, this train doesn’t stop in Fondi. You’re on the wrong train” (obviously this cued a panic attack as I pictured myself alone in Naples). She then said “you needed to be on a regional train because that is a small stop, but don’t worry... you can just go one stop further and come back to Fondi”. PHEW! At least it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought, but still. The theory of being the navigational queen was clearly out the window. I went to Formia which was the next stop and planned to take the next train back to Fondi, but fortunately Heather’s manager said they would drive to Formia to get me. This was a relief because now my train confidence was a little bit deflated. We drove about 20 minutes along the sea and arrived at her apartment in Fondi

(this is the part where I'm still optimistic about my transportation skills)

(......and this is the part where I realize my skills have failed me)

better luck next time, layney!

Best (Last-Minute) Decision I’ve Made in a While

The second I found out I had pretty much three days to go somewhere, the cogs in my mind went into overdrive. I went home and abandoned showering, eating, and pretty much everything else while I searched frantically for flights. (Note that by the time I got home it was about 1a.m. and I was hoping for an early early morning flight to maximize my time off).

So for this little trip, my realistic options were to either head somewhere within driving distance and splurge on a few nights in a hotel so I could really explore the area, or head to a few places around Montenegro for little day trips. Even though these are both great ideas, I think you all know I usually think on a bigger scale than this...and also like to create ridiculous situations for myself. So, step one was to think of all of my connections I had with girls playing throughout Europe. The most logical of these were the girls in Italy. They are close enough to be able to get in and out in only three days, but also far enough to be going on a true vacation and getting a few stamps on the passport, which is always an awesome feeling. There are two girls playing in Fondi, which is about an hour and a half out of Rome, and also two girls playing in Reggio di Calabria, which is much more southern and in my neck of the woods. Fortunately, I didn’t have to choose. It was impossible to get down to Reggio Calabria because there was no flight or ferry service. Although I wish I could have seen those girls too, it will give me another reason to get down there on a separate trip. 

There was a flight to Rome that left early the next morning, but because it was such short notice I was supposedly unable to book it. This had me in a panic because I was soooo close. I could taste the gelato and pizza and now I was determined to make this happen. (I think it runs in the Brosky blood that when we get an idea, even if its on a whim at first, we can’t stop obsessing until it becomes a reality). Lynnea, one of the girls in Italy was helping me look for flights and we finally found one. PERFECT! I was leaving in 5 hours for my Italian weekend. I couldn’t have been more excited and I felt so accomplished. Booking a last-minute flight for a little bit less than outrageous...I call it success.

Budućnost Match

The other night we had our last match of the first round of the league. It was against a team we had previously had a friendly match against, but both of us were undefeated entering into the official match, so naturally there was a lot of hype and speculation. Apparently everyone in Podgorica thought they would end up winning, but it was really a toss-up. When we played them in the friendly match, we won 25-12, but then lost the second game 25-15. That meant it was clear that both teams had the potential to win depending on which team was having a good day. 

The girls told me that there were going to be a lot of people because everyone was very excited to see how the teams matched up. We played in a sport center that held about 200, and it was completely full. There were tons of younger members of their clubs that were (ridiculously) loud and were very excited to use their vuvuzelas. (you know those obnoxious horns from the world cup? yea, those). It was pretty crazy. The first game seemed like we had it in the bag. We were up 24-19 when Luka decided we should take a timeout “to relax”. I thought this was a little unnecessary, but knowing how euro coaches ALWAYS take all of their timeouts, I didn’t really think too much about it. In the huddle he said that we just needed to relax and make one more strong play. Wellllll, that didn’t exactly go according to plan. They ended up coming back and tying the game 24-24, but we won 26-24...thank goodness!

The second set we won pretty handily, and then the third set we lost--bummer. The fourth set was an exciting one. It went back and forth and was tied at least a million times. Late in the game we were up 22-21 and there was a weird discrepancy with a substitution. Luka wanted to send someone in, but the other coach thought he had passed the time window and it shouldn’t be allowed. This led to LOTS of arguing, game delaying, referee conferences etc. and eventually he got a yellow card for a delay of game. This put us up 23-21 and you would have thought he would have learned his lesson and let his team come play and hope for the best. But no no, this would have been the easy way out. The coach’s reaction was to go to the scoreboard, try to flip it back a few points, all the while yelling at everyone. Solution? RED CARD! Which once again gave us a point. Now his arguing had cost him two points, and had also given us game point. (Even though he was delaying the game which annoyed me, he was also giving us free points, which was awesome!) We ended up winning the next point when yours truly solo blocked a back row attack, which I was pretty pumped about and of course we were all really happy to have won the match. On the way home, Luka said something that I didn’t understand --naturally-- and everyone seemed really happy. Then, Bojana told me that we didn’t have practice until Tuesday, which was a full two days off, a Galeb first. My mind started RACING trying to decide how best to use my time and how I could go to so many places with this kind of time. It really seemed like an eternity to me and I was really excited I had a chance to finally get out for an entire weekend. So I went home and bogged down the kayak.com server while I created a master plan! 

halloween

Unfortunately Halloween isn't a holiday here. Not that I really celebrated it at home (although it was fun in college!), but it was kind of sad that there was no one here to do the usual activities with. The girls on my team knew about Halloween because they have seen it in american movies, on the disney channel etc. I was planning on just having a relaxing day for my day off, but then I got a message from Sandra (a girl on my team who speaks very good english) and she told me her mother wanted to prepare something for me. I WAS PUMPED! Her mom had driven me home a few times from the gym and always told me (but she speaks absolutely zero english she she really told Sandra, to tell me) that I am welcome in their home and she wants me to come spend time with their family. I never really thought too much of this because often times people offer things to make someone feel welcome but it's never acted upon. So needless to say, I was more than happy to accept the offer and come over.

I asked Sandra if she wanted me to bring pumpkins to carve. She agreed that this would be fun, so off I went to the farmers market to buy some pumpkins. Clearly they are not growing pumpkins to carve, so I had to make do with a pretty meager selection. I ended up buying three pumpkins: two were green, and one was so lopsided it could hardly stand on its own). I knew her younger sister would be there so I wanted to make sure she had one to carve too. Hauling these things home was not the most pleasant experience I've ever had (it was 28 pounds of pumpkins!) and since Sandra's house is about triple the distance from the farmers market to my apartment, I decided to take a taxi. This is the silliest thing ever because I swear I was only in the taxi for about 1 minute (including stoping at a light)...but SO worth it.

I met Sandra at the corner and she walked me to her house because I wouldn't be able to find it on my own. She explained to me that she is originally from Croatia, but was displaced because of the war when she was younger. Her house was in a little community of houses built for displaced Croatians. I thought this was really interesting When I got there her house was adorable! You could tell they really took pride in their house and everything was very neat and tidy. I received a warm welcome from her mom (in serbian of course) and she seemed very excited to see me and have me as a guest. She was making palačinke slani, which is different from the palačinke I always rave about which is slatka. The difference is that the former is salty instead of sweet. So follow me here: it was these thin crepe-like things rolled and filled with ham and cheese and then rolled in bread crumbs and cooked. They were delicious!

In the meantime of her cooking, Sandra showed me picture albums, her sister's drawings and some mementos from trips she's taken. Her and her sister (who is 12 and speaks excellent english thanks to the disney channel and it's lack of subtitles) took this time to ask me about the customs of Halloween. After her mom was done cooking she sat down and joined the conversation and we talked about various things  and she said I was invited to their house anytime I wanted to come! She also offered to do my laundry every week and other chores (such a nice gesture) as well as invited me to their family's Saint Day which is coming up on Nov. 12. It is a Serbian holiday that celebrates the family's patron saint with an all-day party and feast with friends and family. I will definitely be in attendance but I think I might be overwhelmed with the lack of english.

Next in the order of events was pumpkin carving. At first I wasn't too sure how they would like it. I mean it's kinda hard work if you don't know what you're doing (not to mention the pumpkins were difficult to cut because they were underripe). I explained to them how to cut off the top and when that mission was accomplished they were so excited. They had never seen pumpkins in Bar and were confused at where I had purchased them. They were also surprised that the inside was goopy and fleshy and that it had seeds. Montenegro has pumpkin seeds in the grocery store, but I guess they had a disconnect of where the seeds actually came from..it was pretty funny. Then I showed them some examples of typical jack-o-lantern faces but told them to be creative. We all drew our faces and started carving. I finished mine in literally two minutes as they were on their first eye so I decided to carve the other side to say "CRNA GORA", which is the local translation for Montenegro. They really liked that I carved this and their mom especially was impressed by my pumpkin carving skills (although its not fair...I've had plenty of years of practice)

Once we were finished Sandra and her sister were SO SO happy with their creations. They were beyond proud that they had successfully made something so "american". We didn't have any candles so we made do with birthday candles. Once they were lit, we turned off all of the lights and they were shrieking with delight. It was cute. Here are some pictures of the adventure:

Sandra after coring the pumpkin and moving on to the face drawing. She went with triangle eyes and a mouth that resembles stitches. 

 Maja is pumped! I gave them the two green pumpkins because I thought that was better than having a severely deformed one. She ended up also choosing triangle eyes and a jagged smile.

 HAHA check out the tilt on that pumpkin! Clearly not picked from a pumpkin patch, but it'll work

 Finished product: Sandra's on the left, Maja's in the middle and mine on the right. They both chose scary vibes while I clearly chose silly.

 They decided we weren't getting the full experience unless we put them in the front yard. Once again, there was lots of excitement

Maybe now they'll carve pumpkins every year? The Oluic family has now been officially initiated into an american tradition. Perhaps I'll continue something they expose me to

Prijatno!

The word prijatno in serbian, roughly translates to "bon appetit". It means enjoy the experience of eating your meal and have a sense of comfort. As you all know due to my countless facebook posts/tweets/all other forms of notifying technology, I have spent lots of time cooking for many reasons: a) there's nothing better to do b) it is so cheap to buy all natural, local foods c) it's fun to have a certain challenge of roping up all of the ingredients (some of which aren't here) and making a good meal. Here are some of my favorites:

These honey pretzels KILLED me! I could not for the life of me get that dough to rise. It is truly an art. I had all but given up until I went to practice and came back to risen dough. It was awesome. It may have taken two failed attempts, but they were awesome.

This is potato and kale soup with sausage. It's delish

The "fruits" of my labor! hahah, get it? haha. Anyway, this is what I got from Rose one day. Doesn't it look delish?

 Whole wheat banana bread and homemade pear applesauce. Proud to say that Maja likes both of these. Of course she had to smell them before putting either in her mouth, but I got her approval. Score!!

My beer bread. You are all aware that I am NOT a beer drinker. It doesn't sound appealing to me...EVER! But there is a beer here that supposedly is the best. beer. ever. (although I'm sure they're just a little bit biased). It's called Nisicko, (pronounced nishichko). ---I should have taken it as a sign that in English its called ni-sicko!---I figured I would give the beer bread a go and see if this was a way that I could enjoy the taste of beer. Turns out I don't particularly like it, but maybe I'll try adding some herbs and cheese next time to try to jazz it up a bit.

Not the most exciting of posts, but just trying to keep you all up-to-date on the goings on of my life