Croatia – Day 5

Long, full day. Walked around the city and talked about the history and the challenges that the people face here in Trogir. As I have said before, this is an old, old town. It is full of history and the ravages of war have swept across this land and these people more than we can imagine. Because of this, they are a very connected culture. Relationships around here aren’t measured in years, but in decades, and sometimes in generations. That makes it especially hard for new-comers to the region to plug in and be trusted.

After lunch, JoAnn, Jenna, and Jill all spent some quality time together while Marcus and I went to our rooms and quietly meditated with our eyes closed. (No, we weren’t sleeping–really!) Living in a foreign country where you do not know the language fully can be very taxing–even if your husband and his family are nationals. So, Jenna & Jo really wanted to love on Jill and they all enjoyed their time together.

There were two English classes today, and all four of us participated in both. What is incredible about these classes is that many of the students feel a little intimidated because their English is not as good as ours. We all kind of laugh, because our Croatian is no where near the level of their English. They all learn functional English in school, so if they had to they would easily survive on their own in the U.S. if they had to. The cool thing about that is it give us the opportunity to be great encouragers. That’s one of the places where we get to build relationships–which is why we’re here.

One thing is for sure, being in a country where you cannot speak the language really stretches you. Things that we normally can do without thinking become major tasks. For instance, JoAnn wanted to mail a few things off yesterday. So I went to the post office to get stamps. I had Hrvoje with me, but I thought, “No problem. I can do this.” Well, not so much. In the U.S. we can buy stamps of different values. But in Croatia, we had to buy two stamps and two labels for each piece of mail. The conversation that Hrvoje had with the lady at the post office took around 15 minutes. There is no way I could have done that without help.

This is one reason why I feel it is so important for everyone to go overseas at least once. It is only in those times when situations are truly out of control that you learn where your trust belongs. You and I can easily fall into self reliance by playing it safe. None of us were designed to live in the safe zone, and if we never venture out into situations where we are tested we will never figure out what we are capable of.

Tomorrow we drive out to Bosnia to visit some more friends I made in 2001, Trent and Nikki. They’re currently running an English school in Livno and they also have a FULL day planned for us. We do not plan to get back until after 10pm. I plan to update then, but if I don’t it will because we are just plain worn out.

Dovecenja!