Archives for December 2017

Dear Readers and Friends,

 

This blog is about you, as much as me! I want to bridge the gap because when I first came to live in Croatia in 1999 I experienced some major culture shock! I honestly felt like a dog, I couldn’t speak or understand anything.

But of course, I eventually caught on.

If you want to save this for later, you can pin it to Pinterest here:

Anyway, people have been asking – why in the world did you leave the “richest country in the world” to come to live in obscure Croatia? and so to save time, I decided to write a blog post about it.

Yes, that’s right!!  It’s time for some basic fun facts about me!!

How this Blog began:

In 2015, at the suggestion of a colleague, I start blogging! He said why don’t you start a blog? What shall I call it? Amerikanka in Croatia. End of story!

Due to life’s demands, I was basically an “accidental blogger”.  Now I have started blogging much more regularly, as my time has freed up a bit more.  This blog is about the expat lifestyle.  As emigrating to the European continent has gained popularity, particularly life in Croatia, I thought I would share my experiences about it.

Maybe I can share you a few misadventures along the way, based on my own experiences with getting to know how things work here.

But you also have to do your part and let me know what you would like to know more about.

 

When have people been asking me – where are you from originally?  Are you an American or are you Croatian?

Well – both!

Yes, I’m Croatian, and although I have been in Croatia for many years, I came from California.  My hometown is Los Angeles, and I spent 10 (wonderful) years in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco / Split connection

In my opinion, SF is a lot like Split!  It shares many similarities – like a very European lifestyle with good public transport. The love of coffee, the arts, newspapers, walking and talking by the sea brings people – the ability to live like a king or queen on very little cash.  There are free concerts, libraries, and museums on designated days of the month.  With a little effort, even the poorest of students can attend art galleries and foreign films.  To sum it up – Simple and elegant.

2018 Motto

By the way, my motto for 2018 is – “UNFOLD”  Do you have a motto for the upcoming year?

 

And now, time for those fun facts about me:

1. My dad was an actor and my mom was a concert pianist.  They met in LA and married less than a year later.
2. I used to work for   Van’s Tennis Shoe Co. and Disneyland while going to college.
3. I earned my degree in Business Administration and worked in Silicon Valley as an accountant and financial analyst.
4. I helped with the UN50 celebration (1945-1995) at Golden Gate Park and met some very interesting and influential people,  including Rosa Parks, Queen Elizabeth, Desmond Tutu, and others.
5. When I first visited Croatia in 1999 I came as a tourist – but I kept rescheduling my return flight!
6. I believe in the expression, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” – in other words, try to be a good guest and adapt to the culture of the people you are living with.
7. I got my love of travel from my mom, who cycled through Europe in the 1950s at only age 22 years of age with a group of other young people.  It’s a good thing she did because a year later, she married my dad :).
8. My Mom is mainly French-American and my dad is 100% Croatian American so I had some relatives to meet when I got here.  (OK, dozens of cousins!)
9. My first time to leave the country was in 1983 when I flew to Australia and visited friends for the summer. I climbed Mt. Ayers and visited the Great Barrier Reef.  Basically, it was an unforgettable experience.
10. I spent the first 12 years in Croatia living on an island in the Adriatic Sea. Since jobs were scarce, I ended up worked five years in a grocery store. After that, I began working online as a native English proofreader and as my Croatian improved, as a translator and eventually was appointed by the courts as a “sworn translator” or as “sudski tumač” as it is called in Croatian.
11. I’m the only one in my American family that speaks Croatian.  I only knew two phrases when I got here – “Kako si (KAaaah-ko Seee) ?” which means, How are you? and Do Viđenja (Dough Vid-jenn-yuh! which means, See you later!). I learned by hanging out, listening, and watching American TV programs with Croatian subtitles.  When I got serious, I plunked down some money and went to school 😉
12. I had my first child at 39 years old, and everything was just fine.  I had my second kid four years later at the ripe old age 43.  Both were born completely naturally here in Croatia and it was great.  My personal experience is that Health Care in Croatia rocks! (Now, is that a fun fact or not?  Most people shuddered when I told them I planned to have babies in Croatia.)
13. Being a mother has been one of the best experiences of my life.
14. After 12 years of living on the island, we moved to the city, where I spent an unforgettable 2 years in Split, where I worked as a tour guide around the Palace.  (I paid at EFST (Split University of Economics) for quite an intense course which cost around 1.000€ and now I have a professional license.) Many expats make excellent tour guides.  There are many historical sites (Klis, Trogir, Brac and Hvar islands) all around Croatia and no less than 8 national parks.
15. I now live in Zadar area with my family. It is estimated at being over 2000 years old.
16. My teenaged kids are bilingual and have dual citizenship, as do myself.  It is not so hard to do, just a lot of paperwork, and things here take time, so plan to be patient.
17. I am self-employed, and besides blogging, I dabble in real estate, linguistics, and tourism. I opened my own business, it cost me a little over 100€ and this was also a great idea though I was scared when I did it.  I pay into a pension fund and will draw a pension here in Croatia, eventually.
18. I traveled back to the USA in the Fall of 2016.  The best and cheapest flight I found was with Norwegian Shuttle and I give them a hearty thumbs up. The cost of airfare has really become more reasonable – a round trip ticket cost me 600€ (basically half of what I paid in 1999).
19. While in America, I reinstated my American driver’s license and had it transferred it over to a Croatian drivers license.  Here in Croatia, you are expected to get an eye exam and take a psychological test!! Imagine that!  It is quite simple, so no worries.  For those who want to convert their driver’s licenses, the best place to start is the local police department.  I have to say – I spent a fraction of what I would have paid had I retaken the test here.  I paid 100€ which is 750 Croatian kunas for the light examination and fees plus ID photo and taxes, compared to 10,000 kn.  It tends to be very costly and time-consuming because a driver’s license is treated like a luxury, but in reality, it is more of a necessity.
20. Last but not least, I hope to provide an insider’s view of life abroad – particularly here in Croatia.  Compared to other places, it still seems to be one of the cleanest and safest countries. The only “downside” is that the economy so if you feel a bit of entrepreneurial spirit flowing through your veins, working on the world wide web is a viable option.

I love my family, they are the greatest:

I travel around a lot – for business and for pleasure.

That’s all for now.  Remember, if you do like my writing style, be sure to subscribe in the box below.
Have a great day! You can also follow me on Facebook + Pinterest and Instagram!

Till next time,

Anastasia

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2017

The holidays are upon us!  EEEEEkkkkkk!

I love the lights and scent of pine trees – hate to take them down when all this is over – but the pressure to buy, buy, buy can be almost overwhelming 😀  And now, for a little Croatian  history….(no blood I promise)….

CROATIAN TRADITIONS

In the olden days (up to about 15-20 years ago), the Christmas tree went up on Christmas Eve, known as Badnjak -(bad -un-yack) when it was decorated (not before!).  Christmas decorations included foil-wrapped pinecones – the foil was saved from chocolate bars.

The traditional Christmas Eve food was Bakalar (bacca-larr) – which is Cod Stew, and Pasrate (pah-sure-aught-tee), a fried donut hole. A large log was put in the fire and people would stay up late singing songs and exchanging presents, which was quite unusual for people who got up at dawn and went to bed at sundown.  Sometimes, people went to Midnight Mass.

The next day, families went to church and there was a big dinner at mid-day. The holidays weren’t officially over until the 6th of January, known as Three Kings, at which point the Christmas tree was taken down.

Hi!  The links in my posts are people who I follow and things that I like, including my own personal recipes and other tidbits.  Consider it an early Christmas present 🙂

Nowadays the trees and lights are put up a lot earlier but still much later than in California 🙂

GIVING TUESDAY

After all the Black Friday ads and Cyber Monday deals flooded my mailbox, I received an amazing post by a South African woman named Ann Wilson, also known as the Wealth Chef.  She is big on financial independence, advising people on how to live on their investments and free up their time away from the “exchanging time for money” routine.

She wrote about “Giving Tuesday” – the day after Cyber Monday, and introduced the most amazing project – a water project known as the Spring.

THE SPRING

(The video, located in sentence 3 of this paragraph, explains it all).  I am quite impressed by how a former hedonist from NYC got sick of the life he was leading and went to work as a volunteer photo journalist in Africa.  Here it is – right here in video.  To cut to the chase, unhealthy water filled with bugs, germs and diseases is the root cause behind many of the health problems poorer nations face, including parasites and huge facial distortions.  I also applaud Scott that every single dollar of this project goes to the water program itself – not to administrative expenses. Those funds are raised separately.

MAKING SENSE OF CENTS

I follow and subscribe to an amazing financial planner turned blogger, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner who always has great ideas for saving money.  Last week she sent out  a list of Eight Ways for helping others instead of buying often unused presents. To read her suggestions, please click here

DECEMBER – what does it mean in Croatian?

Today is December 1, and in Croatian, it’s called Prosinac. I was a bit shocked to find out that prosi means to beg.  It is a time of begging!  There are plenty of people whose basic needs are not being met, so it’s also a good time to think “what can I do to help”.

CARITAS

Here in Croatia, we don’t have Red Cross.  Caritas is the most common way to donate unused clothing (things your kids won’t wear, old “fat clothes” or things you hate in general).  In most large cities there are large bins to place a large bagful of clothes into.  It’s nice to think of another person getting some kind of benefit from it.

ADOPT A SHELTER

When I lived in Split there is an organization called MOST which means Bridge. They take care of homeless and nearly homeless people.  We also heard about a shelter that appreciated donated meals, so a friend and I made Komiška Pogaća and man, the men ate it right up. Where there is a will – there is a way, so that is what this post is about – the spirit of giving.

Meanwhile, if you do like my writing style, be sure to subscribe in the box below.  You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!

 

Stay well and see you soon!

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