Catching Up and Fudbal

Snowy day at the Sebilj Fountain in Bascarsija ("main market") of Sarajevo

Despite all my determination to keep up with my blog and keep everyone informed on my Bosnian adventures, life happens and here it is nearly 4 months into my year and I have only a little to show for it. I hope to remedy this in the new year, but I am not making any commitments that will certainly be broken, so please enjoy the occasional posts as they come. Here is one. I hope you enjoy.


At the Bosnia v. Spain football game

Like the rest of Europe, football is huge in Bosnia. Some friends and I were able to get tickets at the last minute to see Bosnia play Spain. We drove to Zenica, a city about an hour away from Sarajevo to the stadium there that was packed out to see this big game. It wasn't too much different from my sporting event experiences in the States. They even had some sausages in bread that looked almost like hot dogs.

This was my first European football experience. Before that, all I had seen were Clemson soccer games. I had heard about the rioting that sometimes goes on at games like these and about "hooligans" and all that, so I didn't know what to expect, but it really wasn't bad at all. The fans were intense, but well-behaved. Everyone was very respectful during the Spain National Anthem and at one point in the game, Spain was cheering for Bosnia and Bosnia was cheering for Spain in a half-mocking cheering battle.

I'm no football expert, so I can't tell you all about the game, but it was amazing to see the Bosnian and Spanish players' athletic abilities. Spain as the number one team at that time was especially impressive. The highlight of the game was when, as my friends and I ascended the stadium steps to leave and with only about a minute or two on the clock, Bosnia scored two goals to lose the game honorably.

The Bosnian Football cheer:

"Hajmo Bosno, Bosno, Bosno. Hajmo Hercegovino!"

The Sarajevo City Hall

City Hall, 1992

One of the most beautiful buildings in Sarajevo, in my opinion, second to the Art Faculty, is the City Hall. A shell hit the building in 1992 at the beginning of the war, destroying the ancient documents it contained.

Well, 14 years after the war, this building is currently being renovated and is fenced-off and locked-up to tourists. That is, unless you just walk in through the open gate.

I had been spending the afternoon with my friend who had been showing me around the city's historical buildings-- the Franciscan Church, Sarajevska Pivara (the city brewery), Zestra (the olympic stadium), and other great spots around town.

I followed him through the gate and into the magnificent rotunda of the city hall. We noticed a couple of people talking in an adjacent room, so we quickly took the makeshift construction stairs up to the upper floors of the city hall. Most of the plaster was chipped off the walls revealing the brick and mortar construction underneath, but there were small patches of the original plaster that showed the ornate paintings of this Austro-Hungarian relic. To an architecture enthusiast this was an adventure.

We explored the floors, ducking underneath low-hanging wooden beams, carefully ascending the precarious wooden stairs, and entering the dark attic with our cell phones as flashlights.

After a while, we remembered the two people downstairs and how we could get caught for trespassing. (If anyone is reading this who is with Sarajevo police or government, please forgive us.) We hurried downstairs just in time to see the man and woman who were the only other people in the building exit through the only exit, the front door. We ran to the door to avoid being locked in and were greeted by a friendly man in his 40s taking a smoke break on the porch of the city hall.

My friend greets him in Bosnian and begins a conversation with him. My Bosnian at that point was limited to only a few phrases, so I didn't understand any of it, other than it appeared very cordial. My friend introduced himself and shook the man's hand and then introduced me. I shook his hand as I heard Mirza say something that sounded like "architect" in Bosnian. The handshake was firm and longer than normal and the guy had a big smile on his face as we were introduced. I thought it was a little strange at how friendly this guy was being, but I am in Bosnia and people are very friendly here.

After we said our goodbyes and walked away from the city hall, I was relieved that we weren't reprimanded for trespassing, but I was also curious. I asked my friend, "What did you say to that man?" He responded, "Oh, I told him that we were both architects and were inspecting the building before the next phase of construction begins. He was the head of construction on the project. I told him you were an architect from America who specialized in Austro-Hungarian art restoration."