Bosnia-Hercegovina? Any NaNoWrimo People here?

Well, I'm from Spain, but I just wanted to greet you to Nano, a winner coming back! :-)

I can't say I know your country, but I'm reading Ivo Andrić's "Bridge on the Drina", and I am learning about it, and learning to love it! Višegrad (or maybe Вишеград, how do you usually write it?) looks very pretty and the Bridge really impressive (and the cultures, peoples, that have crossed it!).

Sarajevo just looks gorgeous!

And, well, from the times of Alexander the Great (and before!) we know Illyrians and Dalmacians were Very Very Mean ;-) so yes, it's absolutely fantastic...

I hope things are slowly getting better over there, big greet and best regards...

cheers!

First congrats on your Cyrillic skills, I don't do so well with Cyrillic! I only am partly Bosnian, there's people who lived in the Balkans on both sides of my family, actually they were relatively gentle people! :).

When I speak of over 5,000 years of really MEAN people, I am referring more to the Russian end of my family tree, the Scandinavians, and the Celtic part of the family. As well there's a Middle Eastern part of my family tree,(Jewish, and Turkish) and they were not gentle with people who opposed them! :).

I live in Sarajevo for now, it is a lovely city, but also a sad city. The people are for the most part really good and I am glad I came.
The recent war will affect Sarajevo and the rest of Bosnia-Hercegovina for a long time to come, but things are getting better in some ways.

I am glad you are reading Ivo Andric's work, he was a very great writer. There are many good books from the region available in English, in the local language and probably some in Spanish as well.

Hablo espanol un poco tambien! vivia en Guanajuato, Mexico casi tres anos cuando era nina.

Suerte durante NaNo! Adelante! :)

Saludades !

Eh, hablas español... :-)

Sorry for not replying for so long, lots of things keeping me busy, fortunately my novel-to-be plot has been one of those... :-)

I'm sad to know things are only slowly getting better over there, although it's something I could suspect, even after the informative silence that has generally fallen over the EU about the countries in the region after our shameful turning away... But they are getting better, so there's hope and that means there's new life...

Guanajuato, eh? :-) Interesting place, I'd like to visit over Mexico one of these days, but -alas- it's pretty expensive for just a holidays...

Anyway... Glad to meet you, cheer up and I'll add you to my buddies so I can prod you and help you get ahead on your wordcount if you need it, eh? ;-)

Cheers and un fuerte abrazo.

Thanks for the encouragement. I have the characters and settings, it's kind of a sequel to last year's novel. Probably it is the time I spent in Guanajuato that gave me a preference for the kind of city hat has old buildings, that has history, and a strong preference for a more modest way of dressing. Guanajuato used to be pretty famous for that when I lived there as a kid and I was informed still is like that. Guanajuato Spanish is supposed to be the purest in Mexico too. Mexicans however make terrible fun of the accent. If as a stand-up comedian in Mexico you can do a Guanajuato accent, well half your work is DONE! :).
The area is the cradle of the Mexican Revolution as well.
Yes I guess from Spain that would be an expensive holiday, but if you could manage it, you would see a city that displays a lot of really exquisite Colonial architecture, then there is the Panteon Dolores....Guanajuato is genuinely spooky. No city in Mexico is so haunted!
One thing gives me hope for Bosnia, and that is that at least some people on all sides clearly understand what has happened. Not all three sides were equal in destructive behavior in the time of the war, but all three sides suffered from bad bad politicians stirring up hatred.
Basically the people speak the same language, eat the same food, drink the same coffee, have VERY similar customs and traditions. This despite the presence of three major religious groups, and one less large religious group, Muslims, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats and a small community of Jews.

Whether a home you visit is the home of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, at the door you are taking off your shoes and putting on either slippers or little slipper socks, you are going to sit at a coffee table, or a regular table and the coffee is going to be Bosnian style coffee, the sweet dishes are basically the same, the foods people eat when they go out are the same. The only difference is the Christian Bosnians, whether Catholic or Orthodox can drink alcohol and eat pork. That is the only difference of diet.

I still haven't figured out with young people how you tell visually who is what religion or ethnicity. It's only discernible to a point with women. Muslim women dress in a specific way, but you can't tell with the men unless a man grows a beard and wears certain specific head-gear, like a skull cap, or a fez, (VERY rare btw!) you can't tell what religion a man is.

What I wish I could see happen in Bosnia Hercegovina is that the different groups and their different traditions would act as a source other of vigor to the country instead of a source of division. In the United States where I was born there is ENDLESS ethnic variety, and ENDLESS religious variety as well as ENDLESS racial diversity. For the most part, even for the most discriminated against of races, Black people, excellence in any field means one can rise above every possible classification.

Difference doesn't have to be a bad thing, it doesn't need to cause division. Bosnia has never had for example a State church, a great distinction from other European countries, a fact that makes Bosnia-Hercegovina a little similar to the United States actually. This means that except for times when the Inquisition attempted to coerce the people, there was freedom of conscience undreamed of elsewhere in Europe and a healthy freedom from religious interference in daily life.

Difference is one of the forces that made the United States a strong and powerful nation and I believe it contributed to the great strengh of Russia, both as the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Different traditions could have the same effect here under wiser leadership.

I have not spoken with any Bosnians that don't think this is so. Nearly everyone understands that all ethnic/religious groups have suffered from poor leadership, leaders who were looking out more for their own personal, selfish interests than even the interests of their own ethnic or religious communities let alone the interests of the nation as a whole. That people understand this is great, that next step though, I don't know when it could happen and it is just as important as rebuilding the physical infrastructure. Maybe it's even more important.

There also was always trade with lands further East and there was great abundance of natural resources.
Believe me the way the rest of Europe turned it's back on Bosnia-Hercegovina in the war years also was nothing terribly new. I don't think very many European nations could honestly have been impartial here early enough to have made a positive difference. Nearly every major European power had some influence here that was not for the best at some point in history.

Excalibur, given that there doesn't seem to be much representation for any single Balkans nation, I started a thread for the Balkans in general and you are more than welcome to join in there, because there are some nice people in that thread, and I feel it's good that people are together on this thread. I think the people in it are nice people and you would enjoy the discussion there a lot. I'll add you to my Buddy List.
Usually I don't get writer's block, but encouragement isn't bad.
A las luchas! :)

Just writing to say "Hi"....I am in Sarajevo...Rajvosa, for those in the know ;)

I am an American here working as a school administrator. This is my first time participating, but many of my friends have in the past.

Welcome! Excellent! I'm glad you joined! Wow! your job and doing NaNo, that is going to be a challenge! :). Right now I'm up in Šip, but I am moving down to the Bjelave area Sunday.
I don't have any close NaNo friends, not that many people in Yakima were in on it, something like 4, and I suspect of that number only a couple of us ever finished.

hi! i'm from sarajevo. i just signed in so i guess i'm new here. i'm so glad that there's people from BiH here... or partly from BiH. anyway, what's this page all about? i mean, i signed in because a friend of mine told me that she's writting a novel in november and she wanted me to write one too... so i'm here by accident!

Welcome Dunja Krvavac!, sorry for the lateness of my reply! I am at Easynet right now, in Baščaršija! Everyone here has decided to each write a novel of 50,000 words or more in one month. I have done this to myself twice before. We can hang out and make friends here. We now have 3 in Sarajevo! Tomorrow is Independance day for BiH so odds are I wonćt even leave my flat, I would have stazed home if it weren t for that fact.
We have enough Sarajevo NaNo folks that I think we ought to have a meet up someplace. I live between Bjeleve and Breka now, I am still getting lost a LOT because I am just this side of being legaly blind. It may be Friday or Monday before I am able to come here again. Please everyone, let us have a meet-up! ajde you know you want to! *smile*

Stefka R.

Hey!!!! i'm a bosnian nano too!! I invited dunja!

This is my second year doing it, but i also won script frenzy.

sure, lets meet up sometime!

~Emina

i thought that you would never answer... i wasn't so sure about these web pages... i thought this was all a joke or something... that there are any people in bosnia whose doing nano... anyway... sure, let's meet sometime!
pozdrav!!!

Another Sarajevo NaNo novelist and I are negotiating a meet-up place, please everyone, put down times of day that work for you, contact me privately as well, I will send my mobile number.

Another Sarajevo NaNo novelist and I are negotiating a meet-up place, please everyone, put down times of day that work for you, contact me privately as well, I will send my mobile number.

Welcome Emina! Good to see you back, I did not know there were ANY people doing NaNo from BiH when I started, or last year.

Just a shout out to all Sarajevan NaNo folks, I hurt my ankle pretty badly, it is hard ENOUGH for me to get around sometimes and this makes it real difficult, some of you have my number, I would like to hear from you all so we can arrange a meet up.

Just exceeded 10,000 words last night! ***knocks back a shot of good maraskino****

Just broke the 15,000 barrier! I feel kind of dizzy, but when I go home I am having me a shot of good lozo!

Well narodi, I am halfway there, it is snowing like mad here in Sarajevo. I have not been outside even as far as the quince tree in several days, I only went out to make sure the cell phone I got for my Significant Other was properly activated. Mobile service was down in my part of Sarajevo, due no doubt to the ridiculous Siberian Express type snow. I forgot the thingie so I can upload my photos too. I have many photos of the snow.

Do not expect to see much of me, in a few days I have managed to get halfway there with this novel, I will stay home probably until it is really finished. I can not make it to any meet ups, the weather makes it too difficult for me.

Well narodi, I am halfway there, it is snowing like mad here in Sarajevo. I have not been outside even as far as the quince tree in several days, I only went out to make sure the cell phone I got for my Significant Other was properly activated. Mobile service was down in my part of Sarajevo, due no doubt to the ridiculous Siberian Express type snow. I forgot the thingie so I can upload my photos too. I have many photos of the snow.

Do not expect to see much of me, in a few days I have managed to get halfway there with this novel, I will stay home probably until it is really finished. I can not make it to any meet ups, the weather makes it too difficult for me.

So far, I am beating my buddies, but the novel has turned into an exercise in totally abject , shameless word padding. The good news is at least I found the Internet club closest to my home! Club Bit, and I like it! I kind of wandered around in circles until I found it. It's a good place, and I was lucky, it is not crowded just now. Meet-ups could be problematic for now. I am only here long enough to do all my on-line stuff, then I need to go buy some food and go home again. At least I finally know just where to go though! :)

I hope everyone else is doing better than it looks! :)

Good luck Dunja! You look like you are closing in on me!

Good luck Dunja! You look like you are closing in on me!

Congrats Emina!

Congrats Emina!