Oct. 1 -- Explore Vukovar and Osijek, Croatia

Overnight, our boat docked in Vukovar, Croatia. We took a short walk in the morning to the local market with a mission and 10 Kuna (about $2) -- with a group of about 10, locate and purchase the item named in our envelope and then develop a story about the vendor and our experience to share at the end of the day. We have done this on a couple other trips, and it is kind of interesting. The first time, in Mongolia, we only had the spoken word to go on and Mongolians were more than willing to claim anything they happened to have was the item we were seeking, so I have become somewhat suspect when the very first thing I find is purportedly what we seek. In Chile, it turned out to be accurate, and it was here too, but I encouraged our group to keep looking to verify. It turned out that kupus was cabbage, like the first guy said, and what we ended up buying was marinated cabbage (mladirani kupus) instead. Too bad I don't want to pay for data access on my phone! I am constantly being reminded of why I love it when I don't have it.

Many homes have not been rebuilt as the damage
was too great or there were no jobs to come
home to. Population is down by a third compared
to the beginning of the war.

In this area during the 'Homeland War', local people were told by their government to leave and they coiuld come back in a few days to get their stuff. But they were kept away for 7 years. In the meantime, Serbian soldiers moved into their houses and used or destroyed everything. Many of the homes we saw were repaired on the outside, but lots still had work to do. The Vukuvar area had a population of 45,000 and a large shoe factory, which since moved and now there are 30,000 in the city because there just aren't enough jobs.

Ruined Vukuvar water tower left as a reminder.

Then we hopped on buses and headed inland to Osijek and spent some time in the old fortress part of the city. We have bigger groups on this trip and are provided with a receiver and headset so that the guide can talk in a normal voice and we can hear him even if we are wandering around. A couple times, it has been helpful when people are scattered and it is time to go.

Wine fountain in center of fortress

Menorah in Monastery

Today, as the guide was talking about something boring, I started chatting with a woman from another group who is from Minneapolis and sort of tuned out the guide. Once I realized I couldn't hear him anymore, I looked around and discovered my entire group (including Jim!) was gone and I had no idea where they were. I darted out of the monastery where we had been, and started picking him up on the receiver, but couldn't see anyone, and then lost the connection. I pretty much gave up finding my group and determined I would head toward where the buses were to meet us, when my receiver picked them up again, and I could see the group heading toward me -- I couldn't find them because they were inside a church and Jim hadn't missed me at first because there was someone else right behind me. Way more excitement than I needed!

Back on the buses, we went to a local elementary school supported by the Grand Circle Foundation, where we were treated to a vocal concert by the students. We spoke with some of them afterwards, as they were eager to practice their English, which is a required subject in their elementary years. In secondary school, they often learn German as well.

Our lunch hosts.

Then we headed further inland to a small village where we split into 4 groups and had lunch with a local family. Our family spoke no English at all, so our local guide came along to translate. Our family was lucky because the wife's employer was able to offer her an apartment elsewhere, but when they came home, half the roof was gone, the doors and windows were gone, and they have had to totally rebuild in the time since 1998. After lunch, we were invited to take a look around their gardens, then walked back to the bus and the boat for the evening.