House and Language

Zagreb update.

We have sent our request for needs and wants in our housing. We wish we could do the House Hunters International thing and go there ourselves to find our place. However we would like to have things settled before so we that when we get there we can focus on other things, such as finding the local markets, restaurants, figuring out how we get to work, and seeing some of the sites. So we will be doing a lot of thing digitally. There is lady at the school whose job it is to look for housing for us. She will be sending us pictures or video of the houses or apartments that match our needs and wants. Currently it’s a renters market there, so we will see what we end up with. Katie and I don’t want to be overwhelming spoiled Americans either. We understand they handle space and living quite differently than the states. However Zagreb living is said to be more spacious than other European cites such as Paris.

I’m coming along with learning the Croatian language and it’s been fun trying to think and trying to say things in context around the house. I’m currently on lesson 7 of 30. Each lesson is around 30 minutes long, however it takes me about an hour or more the first time I listen. Sometimes I split it over two days. Then I review the lesson, which takes about 45 minutes. I spend time pausing, thinking, answering and then hearing the correct answer. Then I get to the point of mastery where I can listen to it straight through without pausing. Then I move on to the next lesson. It’s cool sometimes because I will go to bed trying to think of the words I have learned during the day and I can’t seem to find them. Then the next morning the word is there and I’m able to say and think it quickly. The other day Katie asked me, “Do you know what time it is?” I replied quickly, “Ne znam” which means I don’t know. It came out of my mouth as fast as my thought. At first I didn’t know I said it. I asked Katie, “Did I say “ne znam?” She looked at me and smiled. J Crazy cool experience.