Old Town School – On The Road

Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.

Dobar dan stari grad skola!

(alright, I probably completely mangled that potentially grammatically scary sentence. All apologies)
Its supposed to say Afternoon Old Town School!
Although I’m sure it isnt anywhere close. Hey, what can I say, my teacher is basically a book. And books don’t correct you (or laugh at you condescendingly)
Friendly neighborhood Desk-ite checking in from Sarajevo today. Spending my days walking about in eerily familiar climates, but wondrously different geography has me exhausted, a teeny bit homesick, but greatly invigorated.
I was hoping to see the Old town (Bascarsija) here teeming with crazy street musicians and vendors. However I think the cold and snow probably are to blame for sometimes near empty plaza’s and promenades. Nonetheless, there are still occasional characters to be found roaming about the streets. (and you know I’m chasing them down for photos like the good little tourist I aspire to be)
Tomorrow, or perhaps over the weekend, I hope to find my way to what is known here as “Seljo” (or basically “academic cultural centers” or even more basically, “ensemble classes”). I guess there are quite a few of them, consisting of groups of (mostly elder) Bosnians who got together to perform and maintain old folk music and dance. Seems appropriate, ya?
If that turns out to be a success, be ready to see some photos, or maybe even a short video, of something..um..folksy? I’m on a hunt people!
For now, a few photos from the road…

Filed under: Bosnia,Notes from Becca,Uncategorized by Rebecca | January 29, 2009 | Comments (0)

Live and Direct from Capital Hill!

Howdy All!

Your friendly neighborhood deskperson checking in from our nation’s capital. I’ve just spent the day traipsing around the D.C. area which, compared to Chicago last week, was downright balmy at roughly 20 degrees. The city is absolutely electric. There are lots of people, but strangely enough no real “crowds”. Everyone is sporting some form of Obama-gear from bright yellow homemade t-shirts to bedazzled skullies of our new first Fam.

And, similar to that memorable night in Grant Park, EVERYone is friendly. We made a beeline for the mall today in attempts to take in some of the Smithsonians, only to discover a line around the block at most of them. But it didn’t matter because all around us the mall was buzzing with…well…everything. CNN, MSNBC, NBC and more were taping all over the grassy area.

Vendors selling…well..everything. Various characters of all types, from folks dressed in period outfits from Lincolns day, to big burly bearded guys boasting their group as “Rednecks for Obama”.

soledad o’brien

I probably annoyed our gracious hosts by flitting about from one photo-op to the next willy-nilly without warning them that I was straying from the pack but really…how could I resist these guys?!

It was a long day of soaking in the blustery air and the frenetic energy abundant in every space we happened upon. Now, late on monday night I kick back in the kitchen of this D.C. home taking in the local news interviewing commuter residents about the massive surge in public transit ridership and not one of them are tossing disparaging comments about the burden of out-of-towners that have swarmed their city. They shrug non-chalantly as if it’s just par for the course of being a D.C. native.

Many times throughout the day I thought about all the people in Chi at OTS who worked so hard to campaign for this to happen and how much all of them would love to be right here in the moment. The least I can do is hope my photos can give you guys a piece of the action.

Tomorrow at 5am is calling in way too short notice for my tastes. But its all in the name of OBAMA!…so its worth it.

(ppsstt, oh yea…and just in case anyone thought we all forgot…Bush, you may now be gone but, you’re far from forgotten: )