Afterthoughts

It's almost a year since I left Croatia and came back to this home of mine. I thought I have left the negativity behind but what awaited me here were more negativity. So it left me feeling, now that I'm back... so what's next?

Goodbye Croatia.

The title says it all. End of this chapter in my life. My brief two-year relationship with this gorgeous land. The time has come for me to continue with the pursuit of my dreams which was never possible here in the first place.

Goodbye to those that have hurled racist remarks at me Goodbye to the unwelcoming system that made it impossible for most foreigners to stay.

That's all for now. Ciao.

Bitter Ice Cream

Last evening we decided to drive ot Kostrena to get our Sladoled instead of the usual ones in Korzo. According to Mr M, this stall has been around for 10 years. And we had been faithful customers every summer. We would never forget to frequent this little ice cream shop along the Kostrena beach.

The Brko owner greeted us and we bought a scoop each. Mine was mixed berries and his Punch. We walked away happily licking our sweet cones when we realised that they tasted bitter. Real BITTER like someone added a bottle of glass cleaner as ingredients!! So Mr M went back and complained to Brko. All I heard was: "Ne Mogu! (Not possible!)". In a terribly unfriendly tone, he asked if we wanted another scoop. We said no and dumped our cones straight into the bin. We'll never return to this shop again.

What amazed me in this small situation that could easily happen anywhere to anyone is the owner's inability to accept his error as with most of the things here. Let's put customer service aside.. a concept that none here has grasped. But a simple apology would appease us. Of course this would not happen as people are too proud to admit their mistakes. I just hope they don't pay too dearly for their mistakes or realised it too late.

Have you taken your break?

Was chatting with a friend of mine and we were on the same topic about the passion of life. For me, it is clear that I wanted to be a patissiere and baker for the longest time. I spent years and money pursuing this interest which I've find most fulfilling and hence made my life meaningful.

With a passion so strong, some of my mates wanted to follow in my shoes. So I offered them a piece of advice to start with, take a break and Find yourself.

This break means not just going on a trip to France but it involves giving your soul a break from everything that used to tie it down to the current life. Family, friends and job. All these make us forget why ourselves. Like in some examples I saw, these obligations gave us excuses to break free from this mundane life that we so loathe.

Your soul searching trip can be as easy as finding an interest that you've abandon. You do not have to take big steps like moving away from your current location if you are not brave enough to venture out. But finding and doing something you like can help you nourish your soul. It is like a plant, it needs a little fertilizer to grow better.

Make yourself happy. Life is too short. Make it worth living.. for yourself!

U2 was here!

I wasn't there. Yes. It's the biggest thing since .. heaven knows.. MacDonald's opened its first "restaurant" in Croatia?

No offence to the legendary band U2 but what is driving us (non-Uber U2 fans) mad is the overplay by the Croatian media. For more than a month, we've been hearing the broadcasts on radio about the band. Few weeks to the actual performance, every single minute was dotted with U2 songs. On sunday (the day of performance), every news station took a good 15 or 20 minutes to report about the event. It was simply U2, U2 and U2 only.. not me too!

I'm glad the whole hype is slowly fading. Now let me just switch to one station that doesn't play U2 songs.

I'm back and kind of ...

I was contemplating about shutting down this blog that I was running for two years. As with all expat blogs, its fate is sealed by theme. I will be moving away from Croatia and back to my homeland and this blog seems to be no longer applicable.

However, it is such a shame as I've met some interesting readers from this side of the world who is interested to read about my point of view as a foreigner living in Croatia. But living and working here is not working for many of us foreigners who are struggling to keep afloat in this country.

After closing access to this blog for more than a month, I've decided to change the theme of blog from simply an expat blog to one where I share my thoughts on various issues. The title Sing-Cro still applies as I will be marrying my Croatian fiance. Hope the change is welcomed and I'll have a new group of readers. Thanks for passing by. I wish to see you here again.

A little story about Hvar and my friends

This is a nice article posted by another mate of mine living on island Hvar. In the article, my friend was mentioned. Yes, the man with the philosophy that Hvar is Heaven on Earth! Here's the link.

Something's new in Rijeka town!

It's a Pom Free Bar. Oh should I say, a French Fries or Chips outlet. It sells only fries served in this cone-like container and even comes with two dips for a good 10 kns value. If you are living in Rijeka like I do, you will find that fast food outlets are restricted to only sandwiches and pizza cuts with the odd Hamburger joints. Nothing too interesting for a university town you would say. So someone has come up with a new concept (only in Rijeka or Croatia) that serves the students value food. I guess most students are not too bothered about the nutritional value and start fretting about the deep fried foodstuff.

I love to see new ideas like these in my town. This somehow remind me of the British Food (fastfood outlets) similar in concept to this Pom Free Bar in Singapore. Basically, the outlets are serves takeaways and everything fried. Fish and Chips, Ribs, Chicken and lovely Calamari! The founder of the outlets (Singaporeans) are making so much from this concept shops that they have expanded to neighbouring countries like Malaysia and even Australia.

Oh how I miss the variety of food and novel food outlets in Singapore!

A Job Interview in Croatia

I guess this is one of those I'm-not-trying-to-be-nice post. After a long one and a half years of job hunting, some hotel HR rang me up to arrange for interview. Mind you, I got the interview through "connections" which is impossible if you don't. That's the way it goes here. Good luck with job hunting in Croatia!

Here's how the interview went (or how I remembered it):
HR: Hi. I('d) received your CV few months ago but sorry I was too busy to call you.
**Fact is she rang me only after getting much pressure from her boss!!**
Me: It's all right.

HR: I know you are an excellent Pastry Chef....
**She repeated this statement 5 times.**
Me: Thanks.

HR: Do you have the papers to work in Croatia?
**Excuse me??? You are the HR of a reputable 4 stars hotel in Croatia and you have no idea if I can work on my current visa or not??!!!**
Me: Yes I can. Do I need additional papers?
HR: I'll check on that.
**Duh?!!!**

All right.. I've left out most of the conversation and got straight to what I'm trying to say here. I absolutely cannot understand how many times I've been asked by HR of reputable (4 and 5 stars) hotels in Croatia concerning my visa status and if I'm able to work here. In UK, any HR department can solve my work permit and all the necessary paperwork for me. All I need to worry about is getting myself to work.

Oh well, as Mr M commented: "This is Croatia. What do you expect?"

My Little Rijeka

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. There's nothing much going around here for quite a while besides the Riječki Karneval which took place in February and we had a good decent bit of fun.

Let's introduce a little about this town. It's not hard to find facts about Rijeka. Just do a google and you'll get plenty of results. So I'll just share my knowledge of what I as a Rijeci here for over year with you my reader.

Rijeka, or as the song goes "The River without a name". Yes, this town is named after a river. "Rijeka" is "River" in Croatian. The Italians called it "Fiume" which is also "River" in Italian. The only cargo port in Croatia which houses the 3 shipyards of the country and which the town depends on mostly for revenue. The town has refinery too and many Croatians will remark, this is nothing but an Industrial Town. But they can be so wrong.

Drive down the undulating roads of Rijeka (due to its unique geographical location, it is not flat like most towns in Croatia), and you'll see throngs of students walking down the streets or waiting for Autotrolej buses. This is a University town. Or the town mayor calls it a town for the Young. I'm not too sure how many faculties (Fakultet) this town has but I know it has Medicine, Law and Tourism in Opatija.

Not to mention, the beaches attract the German tourists to our town each summer. The number of campervans that causes major traffic jam along our roads is an evident of how much they enjoy our rocky beaches. Take a walk along the Kostrena beach with an ice cream cone (costing only 5 kunas) in your hand. The summer passes without you noticing.

Feeling a little posh? You can always drive to Opatija. The passe town of hotels and boulevard dotted with tourist souvenir shops. This is the only place where you can put on your faux furcoat and sit in a hotel lounge to try and mingle with the locals driving Porsches or BMWs.

This town may be small compared to Split or Zagreb. Wikipedia lists the number of inhabitants as 144,043. However, don't forget it is a halfway town (literally and geographically) between the Zagreb capital and the Dalmatian South. The attitude of Rijeci is open to new ideas and yet retaining the Croatian spirit in them. Gays and lesbians that are not tolerated in most parts of Croatia settle here in groups. Most other towns mock this phenomenon but it once again shows you the tolerance of Rijeci.

On top of the colourful punk rockers in this town, people of other nationalities find a little more comfort in making this town their homes. Where the war hatred cannot be forgotten in other towns, the Serbs and Bosnians live in harmony here. We are not "metropolitan" like in Zagreb but we don't have Hate groups going around beating other minority groups.

So that's my Singaporean take of Rijeka town. I'm happy to be part of it.

About the relationship between Singapore and Croatia

Ever wondered how the diplomatic ties between the country of your birth and that of your residence make a difference? I wouldn't know until I tried the Croatian system.

To those that do not know much about this either, let me tell you that Singapore and Croatia do not have direct diplomatic ties. It's complicated to explain and I shall not attempt to since I'm not a law graduate of any sort. Anyway, this put a heavy toil on us, the Singaporean-Croatian pair who tried to get married.

In simple terms, all the documents required for marriage or visa application (issued by Singapore authorities) have to be legalised in order to be recognised in Croatian law. And getting it legalised is not as easy as making my way to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore or a Singapore embassy (obviously there are no Singapore embassies or anything close to that in Croatia). It means we have to get all my documents stamped as true and original in a third country where both embassies (Singapore and Croatia) exist. Well yeah.. complicated? The story's not completed.

If only someone would have told us to go this route in the first place, we wouldn't have to run around from Zagreb ministries and Rijeka wedding registrar to seek advices. Due to the "bizarreness" (as the Croatian wedding office puts it), they didn't exactly know what to do. So they directed our queries from department to department, making us run around like mad ants for 6 months till we finally got a kind soul at the Croatian Foreign ministry who told us the answer we needed. But while we were waiting and running around for answers, my documents that were required to file for marriage in Croatia ... EXPIRED. And of course, no one was willing to bend the rule to accept my documents and we had to start the whole process all over again.

Why do I put this up on the blog? I hope some authorities will one day read it and heaven knows some future Singaporean-Croatian couple who seek the same untrodden path like we do get some sort assistance from the authorities concerned. In the meantime, we will continue to run around like crazy ants again till we get the paperwork done and finally get married after years of running...

My thoughts about President Obama

Just my few kunas' worth about this new President of USA (or SAD as it is known in Croatia) that has shook the world with his landslide win in the Elections. I'm usually not too bothered about politics but this worldwide phenomenon "The First Black President of USA" has affected Croatia too. Although my grasp of the language is still not there, I can still make out the meanings of headlines in the local newspapers.

Someone asked, "Can there be a Obama in Croatia?" My first thought is "No." I think many would agree with me if they throw away all the nationalistic thoughts for the country and really take a good look at what's going on around the world.

Let me explain myself, not that I'm being cynical (as I always am) but if one has lived in this country long enough (and you are not White), you'll understand what I mean. Not that there are no Blacks in Croatia (erm.. not many) or "coloured" people like me, but the overwhelming thoughts that most Croatians do not welcome foreigners (gathering my daily observations in my "village") and let alone anybody that look distinctly different ... in skin colour.

I recall hearing someone when he saw a group of tourists "Oh look at those Blacks!". Hm.. How on earth do you interpret that statement? Mind you, at that very moment, there were lots of other tourists on the road. Why the need to single out any particular group?

Living with a skin colour that is opposedly "different" also brought about a lot of opposition from the older generation here. No, you are not allowed to date a Black. It's humiliating and your parents will be the joke of the town. You'll be the constant scrutiny of family members and friends who pop by your place. I was lucky I'm not any darker (I was told) as I could pass off as a local with sunglasses. Oh well.. thanks for the tip!

Perhaps you can see my point now. I really hope foreign influence get stronger in this country and people open up their hearts to welcome "us". Till then, I'm just another non-white foreigner living in this country waiting to watch the inauguration of the First Black President of USA.

Rijeka in Old Postcards

A Resident of Rijeka created this You tube Video. If you like to see how old Rijeka looked like, take a look at this link.

Croatian Products in Singapore?

Before I left Singapore, my cousins told me that the NSmen in Singapore are getting new uniforms and look a little more different than the ones they are used to for so long.

And when I chanced upon an article on Javno.com, I realised the new uniforms might actually be a Croatian export. Hm... I wonder if anyone can confirm this?

Here's the article for those interested in this news.

Did they go?

Remember my previous post regarding the protest against the Croatian PM Ivo Sanader? Were you curious if anyone did turn up for the event across the country despite of yesterday's horrible weather?

Yes, and you can see it on the image that we've taken off the TV (oops). But the number that were interested in this event on the Facebook group amounted to more than tens of thousands, the actual number that attended the event in various towns.. Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osijek... was only a few thousand in total. Mostly youths who were really unhappy with the current state in the country.

So this event did not cause any major harm to the PM's political seat. He is still sitting comfortably there waiting for the next election. Well.. I'm just an outsider. What can I say?

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Wonder how Croatian Christmas Songs sound like? Well.. let me give you an idea. Imagine the English versions but translated into Croatian.

So here's an example... "Jingle Bells" will go something like this:
"Zvončići, zvončići, zvone cjelu noć..." which is translated as "Little Bells, little bells, ringing through the night...".

That's it. Hope you are having a good time preparing for Christmas!

How do you get 10,000 people to hate you?

It is 11,400 registered users to be exact. This has got to be the most interesting piece of news that I've ever seen on Javno.com (a news portal in both Croatian and English). Apparently, there is a registered group on Facebook calling for 10,000 haters of Ivo Sanader (the Croatian PM) to join it. The end result was more than what the administrator of the group expected. 11,400 users joined it. There was even a date for an official protest against the PM. The PM was furious of course and called this an act against the government. Now I wonder how many will turn out for the protest this week?

Here's the news link for those interested individuals!

International airports

Well.. coming from a country that boasts one of the world's best airport, I always have pretty high expectations of any airport that is ranked an "international airport". Sad to say, the Zagreb Pleso Airport which is located on the outskirts of Zagreb (Velika Gorica) is closer to that of Pula airport that serves low budget airlines than one that hosts international flights in and out of Croatia.

First of all, the route to the airport is badly marked. We were driving around Zagreb centar looking for the sign of a plane. We had to ask around and after 20 minutes of driving out of ZG did we see an sign of airplanes.

Next, the airport charges exhorbitant prices for parking..15 kn (approx. 1,30 GBP) for one hour. Rip off!

There were only a few small planes at the airport. One departure and arrival gate were designated for international flights. And only One check-in counter for international flight was opened. What's next? Really rude customs officers. And a Bombardier?! What on earth is a Bombardier... well.. look outside your flight window and you can see the propeller! Something new for me! Not to mention half the flight was empty. Repeated announcements in Croatian concerning the usage of mobile phones (with emphasis on Blackberry!?). Though I have to point out the service crew were pretty commendable. I did get catch a few eye-rolling from the stewardess and steward when I attempted my limited Croatian but they did try to squeeze a smile. *Applause*

I do hope this airport gets a little more touch ups. Who says small airports are all bad?

Some quirky things about Croatia - Nothing is free!

Just one to start off with. Look at the receipt from MacDonald's in Croatia really carefully. Notice something strange? Yes, if you dine at MacDonald's in Croatia, you will have to pay 2 kns (equivalent to 20 GB pence) for a pack of Ketchup. The same applies for Mayonnaise, BBQ sauce and all the other condiments.

This is our first time in MacDonald's here. It is so scary how no one cares that they are overcharged or charged for something that don't exist elsewhere in the world!

And to end off somemore quirky things about this land, if you ever travel to the south of Croatia in summer, be prepared to pay 100 kns for a plate of Fruit Salad. I'm telling you.. there are plenty of cases like this around here! So watch your pocket while on a Croatian "dream" holiday!!

Rijeka's Mayor

His name is Vojko Obersnel and he has been serving this town for three terms (ending next year). Because of this hardworking Mayor (who resembles Family Guy the cartoon), this town has seen many projects completed and new ones springing up like mushrooms all over it! The most significant has got to be the Rijeka-Zagreb highway. The government here is well known for being slow in the construction of anything in this country. So the Mayor of Rijeka took pictures of crowded Rijeka road and sent it to the relevant offices constructing the highway EVERY single day. Yes.. imagine how this irritated the hell out of the people in the offices! Good job!

The most amazing thing is I found his Blog. In Singapore, one will never find a Mayor or blog belonging to any MP (Member of Parliament). Don't ask me why. And in his Blog which unfortunately is written in Croatian, he wrote posts about the upcoming projects in Rijeka. His love for the town. And he even answered any comments left by his citizens on his Blog. That is such a wonder to see. The Mayor listening to his citizens!!! Without further ado, here is Obi's Blog for your pleasant viewing!