BBI: Home Sweet Home

As a foreigner who doesn't have international calling or access to internet to my apartment yet, BBI has become my safe haven. BBI stands for Bosnian Bank International, which I think is the company that owns the building. It is essentially a Bosnian mall equipped with everything American malls have and more: a food court, expensive clothing stores, restaurants, a grocery store, and a fitness center. We went there our second day to get food and phones and were quite thrilled to discover that it also has free wi-fi. Score! That's where I have been for the bulk of my internet access during my time here. I am unsure how to truly convey the sense of security and comfort I feel going to BBI. It feels like a little piece of America amongst this strange land. Sure, they have inclined people walkers instead of escalators, but it feels nice and commercialized.

Besides free wi-fi, I think one of the coolest things about BBI is their giant chess boards right outside. I had to wait a week to get a picture of this because there is hardly ever anybody playing when I walk by. Jennifer, if you and Mark ever come to Bosnia, you have to play a game here. I haven't payed enough attention to the games to see if the people playing are actually good, but I imagine they would be. Who would go play a giant game of chess with lots of spectators if they weren't any good?

When we have double service days (translation: two 3-hour rehearsals in one day with a 5-hour break in between), I usually go to BBI to use the wireless. You can use it up on the 4th floor where the food court is without feeling too obligated to buy anything. BBI is equipped with a great DM store too. It's a German chain that has mostly beauty products and a little bit of food. That is where I have had the most success in finding American brands of things like shampoo. It's a bit more expensive than the Bosnian brands, but at least I know what it is.

The first time I went here was with the other Americans, Alisa, and Mattia. Mattia is an Italian horn player who also lives in our building. We were downstairs waiting for our id pictures to be developed when he and Tim decided to check out the arcade. Yes, there is an arcade in the mall. :) I should have snapped a picture while they were playing one of the car racing games. Oh well. I may have been distracted by the wi-fi.

Zdravo!

I've officially been in Bosnia for thirteen days, and every single one of those days has been an adventure. Luckily for the four of us who decided to move to a strange country for a year, the Bosnians are some of the most hospitable people I've met.

Enter Alisa. During our first two days, she set up our bank accounts, introduced us to our fellow musicians with the SPO, taught us how to say hello (zdravo) in Bosnian, and took us to m:tel to buy cell phones. Oh, and she was also the one who picked us up from the airport. She may not be a musician, but she did a fine job of helping us get settled into living here.

Then there are all of the people I met my first night: Admir, Arvida, Ingrid, Morena, and Ivana. Admir was the first person I started to get to know here, since all the girls had to be at a violin sectional rehearsal that night. Before running to rehearsal, they had made some bow-tie pasta with tuna and left it for us Americans to eat. I was quite grateful for since I had no Bosnian currency but quite the appetite. I dug into dinner while Tim, the trombonist who flew with me from Munich to Sarajevo, took a nap. Then I stayed and talked to Admir so I wouldn't fall asleep while waiting for Megan and Matt's flight to get here. Admir has played principal trumpet with the SPO for three years and is originally from Bosnia. He apparently learned English by watching American movies and tv shows, which is quite impressive, considering how good his English is. His girlfriend Arvida and the other girls are Albanian and study at the Academy of Arts in addition to performing with the Sarajevo Philharmonic. Everyone speaks English rather well, but there is always something for us to teach them. For some reason, I used the word noodles to describe the pasta they had cooked for us the first night. Now, almost every time I see them, they say, “Noodles!” with a rather long oo sound.

Perhaps not too surprisingly, I spend the most amount of my time hanging out with the other three Americans who came to Bosnia with me. Megan and I went to school together at Northwestern. She is here to play principal oboe, and sometimes I can't believe she came because she just got married about a month ago. We have worked great as roommates though. :) As I mentioned above, Tim plays trombone and just graduated from University of North Carolina. He tends to keep to himself quit ea bit, but he is quite the character when he's in the mood to be social. And finally, Matt plays french horn and has delayed his senior year at Oberlin to be here. He always cracks jokes and looks at the positive side of life. We were pretty inseparable for the first few days, but I think we are all starting to get used to being here and have become a little more comfortable getting around on our own.

I know it's already been almost two weeks, but I still wake up in the morning and have a hard time believing that I'm living here now. All of us have dealt with the culture shock in different ways: sleeping, writing, and socializing. I think I picked the socializing route, but as I get more settled in, I am becoming more of my old self. Adjusting to life in Bosnia is no piece of cake, so a lot of my entries will cover things that I found useful to know about during my time here. You'll be updated on more of my adventures in the days to come!

Sara goes to Sarajevo

About 11 weeks ago, I was accepted as the second bassoonist of the Sarajevo Philharmonic for the 2011-2012 season. This is the story of a 10-month adventure in Bosnia.

My flight leaves in 6 hours, and I have thoroughly messed up my sleep cycle. I got about 5 hours of sleep last night. Maybe that means I'll be able to sleep on the plane for once though. At least I'm packed and ready to go. It's still a little weird for me to know that I'll be in a country I know very little about in 24 hours, but that's what makes life exciting.

The thing that makes me the most nervous isn't the new country, language, and currency, but it's the fact that I'll have to play at A=442 Hz. For you non-musicians, the orchestra tunes to an agreed frequency on the pitch A before every rehearsal and performance. In the United States, most orchestras tune to 440 Hz, but in Europe, they like a little sharper, brighter sound, so they tune even as high as 445 Hz. The Sarajevo Philharmonic tunes to 442 Hz, which is much sharper than I have ever intended to play. Since I have had a history of problems playing even at 441 Hz, I decided to arm myself with shorter bocals. I made the trip to Edmund Nielsen's while I was still in Chicago to pick a No. 1 bocal from the largest selection of Heckel bocals in the world. It turned out to be a good idea, and I finally made my decision of which bocal works best with my instrument this past weekend. I am also armed with a No. 0 bocal for the year, so I should be set. (The lower the bocal number, the shorter and therefore sharper the bocal.) Two days after I arrive in Sarajevo, I have my first rehearsal with the orchestra. Then the next night is my first performance. I hope I can adjust to the new tuning quickly enough.

I am unsure how soon I will be all set up with internet in my new Bosnian apartment, but I should be able to post again in a week.