Thursday
Because our tickets were purchased so late we actually couldn't make the trip in one day. Another thing that was bad is that we flew over on a 767 which is not a good plane when it comes to entertainment. They only have screens for the whole cabin. They showed that Dave movie starring Eddie Murphy. What did I do to get punished? So we had to overnight in Munich. Pretty awesome right? Not really, we were staying at the Munich airport hotel which is about 30 minutes outside of town. All of my fellow co-workers weren't in the mood to go explore the city so we just hung out in the hotel bar. Lay-ame.
Saturday
Yeah there is no Friday; I lost too much time to report on Friday. We landed in Sarajevo and got through customs just fine. Boarded a very nice bus and went to the late-soviet Holiday Inn. A lot of browns and yellows, which I attribute to the smoke stains. Sarajevo and Bosnia y Herzegovina are still trying to recover from the war in the 90's. When you check out the pictures next week, you'll see there are quite a number of bullet holes, mortar rounds, and grenade explosions still visible to the naked eye. There one claim to fame is the '84 Olympics. The hotel still uses the china from the Olympics and you'll see various Olympics themed restaurants, bars, clothing, and flags around the city. After check-in and a quick nap we went to dinner at a steak house, it was pretty good; the décor was very nice.
Sunday
This was our first work day, didn't do much though. Just set up a server, rebuilt another one, said hello and made with pleasantries of seeing everyone again. Because I'm new on team, everything is new and exciting. Not to my coworkers, if they have seen one museum, church, castle, bar, restaurant; they've seen them all. They are perfectly happy just hanging out in the hotel bar and restaurant and then calling it a night. We had pizza, because pizza is "safe", that's all they ever eat. Pizza is "safe" because you cook it to 400 degrees F; the thought is all the bad stuff gets killed off.
Monday
This was the day of the pre-conference. I do the same thing at every conference, just server support for all the participants. No need to go into all of that for the 8th time. Monday a few of us went to a restaurant across the street. It was Italian, most countries have Italian restaurants. You really can't mess that up and who doesn't love Italian. Now, I am going to tell you why I didn't really care for Bosnia y Herzegovina. It was very, very smoky. More so then other places, generally in Eastern Europe you can smoke indoors and it's a nuisance, but here it just seemed tenfold. Maybe they didn't have good ventilation, I don't know. Further the Bosnian beer is not very good. I don't think I'm a beer connoisseur by any means, it is my drink of choice, but when it comes right down to it I don't know talk about ales, lagers, porters, and stouts and try to determine the differing tastes and contrasts. If it tastes good drink it. If not pass. Well I passed and the Bosnians took offense. I still ordered beer, it was the Denmark beer. You would have thought I ate their first child. You beer isn't good and I didn't feel like placating them.
Tuesday
More work. We had the ice breaker this night. It was held at some army building. Pretty good food. Lots of spiced meats and cheeses, all bad for your arteries, but they make your tummy happy. Its open bar and the poor bartenders are bum rushed for beer, wine, sodas, and juices. Here is another thing I don't like about Europe. Beer must be served in a glass. I understand that brewers want their beer showcased. That is why they provide bars and restaurants with logo glasses. I understand its tradition. I even understand that it is more high class. But when your only job is to serve beer and you're getting upset about the number of people coming to get beer, just give me the damn bottle. People just want beer; they don't want to look good doing it. So take a cue, only it certain instances, from your repressed cousins across the pond. If you can open 20 beers in 20 seconds, that will get you points. Beer pouring is not an art form at rush hour.
Wednesday
More work. We had our cultural tour this day. Unfortunately it also gets dark at 430 here, so when the cultural tour starts at 400 you aren't going to get to see much. Besides I had to work. We had a dns issue and I don't know anything about dns. Turns out it wasn't an issue, but when you don't know anything, you also don't know that you don't have a problem. Anyways I'll be back in march so I'll go on the cultural tour then. My coworkers are old remember and usually are in bed by 8. So I went for a walk on the town to find some dinner. Not the smartest thing in the world. It is safe there, but nobody knows where you are and you don't speak the language. It all worked out and I'll probably do it again.
Thursday
More work. This was the night of our cultural dinner. It was held in the hotel. It was one of the better cultural dinners. It was four courses, very good food. I don't know how to describe the food, other than that is was Bosnian. The singers and dancers were also very good. Check out next week's blog for photos. I wanted to behave myself seeing as we had work to do on Friday. I was well behaved with the wine, only had a few glasses. But as people started to mix and mingle, so did their bottles from the respective countries. The fins brought their version of jager; it's 32 times better than Jager. The French brought their Courvoisier, it was NOT good. Before you know it I was drunk from mixing alcohols again. So my morning was not that happy. My morning was also not that happy because my bed was pretty bad. The pillows were lifeless. No support. They just sat there. Couldn't fold them, couldn't roll them, and couldn't throw them out. That was my other big complaint, seemed jet lagged until it was time to go. In hindsight thought, if your biggest complaints are the pillows and the beer, that's a pretty good trip.
Friday
Was the last day of work. We packed up and all was well in the world. Coworkers stayed indoors and I went exploring to the old town of Sarajevo. This was the original Ottoman market place. This part of the world is known for their handcrafted leather, tin, and copper products. Especially Turkish coffee makers and slippers. Kind of an odd pairing, but it works. There were quite a few beggars in the street market. Very aggressive, very touchy. Its best to keep your hands in your pockets, avoid eye contact, and keep saying no assertively. You don't know want to be a dick, I have money, and my life is much more lucky, easy, and fortunate compared to theirs. But if you give one something, they will tell the network of beggars about and then it's on. Many of these people have handlers also. So if you give them money, some of it goes to their pimp. So just make a donation to a charity or give to toys for tots or something. You don't need the latest app on your phone.
Saturday
It snowed and was very picturesque. We had a late flight, so it was nice to sleep in. There aren't many flights into and out of Sarajevo per day. So when we got to the airport at 1030 it wasn't even open yet. I had to take some things out of my bag, because of weight excesses, but other than that Sarajevo did a good job. Returning, we had another layover in Munich. Again my old counterparts weren't up for adventure. Luckily they were having a festival at the airport. Food, carolers, skating, and drinks; all while it was snowing. Crazy Deutschlanders. Had some Donner kabobs and some crystal weizen . Then had some gluhwein and Feuerzangenbowle, the latter is way better if you ever get the chance. They are both like wine ciders, but the latter is lit on fire first. I also had a bunch of waffles. That's a popular dessert there. Get money, get paid!
Sunday
We had an ass early flight out of munich, where it snowed, we flew into London, where it was snowing, then we flew to DFW, where it was NOT snowing. Luckily though there were no major delays. Flew home on a 777, sat next to some crappy republican Austin-ites. Movies were good, I ordered the kosher meal and one of them looked at me like I was diseased. Now I know the plight of the Jews. Or not really. But I wanted to tell him to stop mean mugging me. I only choose this meal because it's better than the typical chicken or beef option they give you. Got back to Tucson, drove home, went to sleep.
Not too bad huh?
Thanks for Reading
Jake
