18 June 2010
Today, I celebrate the conclusion of a full week away from Australia, and a week here in the land where my life started – Croatia.
Normally a week is so fast when I’m in Melbourne, but somehow this week was like I was a chipmunk on speed, watching the world go past in slow motion. It was almost like something was a wrong – something was kind of missing. It took me a while to get over the jetlag, but it also took a lot longer than I expected to accept my present situation, location, emotions, surroundings and sense of now. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions with trying to get a grip of where I am and the path ahead in the next 5 months before Dane’s arrival, on top of actually having to be present, here, with the people I’ve come to see and actually be present with. Holy Moley. Bring it on!
I joined my family here in Croatia a week ago – unbeknownst to me it was their busiest week of the year. My dad’s younger brother Almir, has a beautiful family of 5, with Alma (23), Marijana (20) and Anita (17), and my lovely aunt Marija. Almir is sort of like a guidance counsellor at a dormitory for kids between 15-19in Zagreb, who are in a boarding school kind of situation for their senior years of high school. Marija is a school counsellor at the local primary school where they live – Ivanic Grad (about a 45min drive from Zagreb). Alma is a final year social work student in Zagreb, Marijana is a first year law student in Zagreb, and Anita has just finished the equivalent of year 11 at school. So they’re all very caught up in study, marking sheets, putting in the extra hours. Today was the last day for Almir, Marija and Anita, but the older girls still have exams coming up.
It’s been really cool watching them all go around their day to day work – their lives aren’t so different to mine in Melbourne – trying to balance their personal goals in amongst the people they love and want to include. They all have such amazingly open hearts, and I honestly couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome.
I’ve spent a lot of time with Marijana and found that we have quite a lot in common in terms of demeanour, but she’s also one of those people that seems to do everything they possibly can to make life good for you, and genuinely feel a sense of guilt when they sense you’re not having the time of your life. For a law student who’s about to go into an exam covering the overarching history of law in Croatia’s middle ages..covered in over 700 pages of text she’s reading (at first a one-brow-raising topic, but brain numbing after about a page..to put it lightly), I’m touched. This young lady is truly magic. I’ve learned a lot from her about patience, and what it means to truly give.
I’ve spent a bit of time with Marija as well and a lot of that time has been while she’s doing something, or we’re cooking together. She seems to always be doing something and using her time to be productive in some way. She never stops, and is the solid foundation keeping everyone’s belly’s full, listening to and caring about their problems, welcoming me with soup, delicious foods, bathroomy goodness and a bed to sleep in as soon as I got through the door. Absolutely amazing. So full of life, and so incredibly strong.
I’ve spent time with Almir, but I’m planning on video blogging that part.
Anita and Alma are still a bit of a mystery in some ways. Anita has spent most of the time that I’ve been here in her world, understandably. Alma lives in a flat in Zagreb so I’m going to see her next week one on one when we go to a music festival next to a man-made lake in Zagreb.
I’ve really come to love this family in many ways, and am so happy to have been in their home for a bit longer this time around. I’m looking forward to developing more of an ongoing connection with them from here on in. I don’t think I could have done that from Australia since starting a relationship of any sort is incredibly tricky when you have nothing to really base it on.
The next chapter of the puzzle will be in Zagreb and then I’m off to the Motherland for the first time.
Can’t wait!
Thanks for reading J
Hugs from Sejla
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