Greetings all and Merry Christmas! The Octave of Christmas ends on January 1st. The Christmas Season goes on for some time after that!
We celebrated back in Canada without our father/husband, which was certainly not usual. As dh commented though, given our extended contact with military life, it's surprising this is our first Christmas apart.
Having been back now for almost a month, I've had some time to mull some things over.
I've discovered that I enjoy writing, and some of you have encouraged me further. I have come to the conclusion that the story of the Balkan Wars, particularly the Banja Luka area (which was not actually in the war zone) needs to be written. Does it need to be written by me? Oh, I don't know about that!
The story of the Balkans, even if limited to just what is now Bosnia, or limited further to the Republic of Serbia, or further still to Banja Luka, is so complicated that I'm not sure an outsider could understand it.
That said, I wonder if the story needs to be told by an outsider who can attempt to see what someone too close to the story may not.
We have already seen and heard the denial of some of the people in Banja Luka with regards to what happened there. People who will not admit that many mosques in B-L were blown up...they'll say that there were never so many mosques there in the first place! We've heard people say that people in B-L always got on well. I'm not sure how these people reconcile that with the huge number of people who suddenly felt compelled to pack up and leave.
I have a number of questions forming in my mind. And primary sources are still easy to come by.
Well, I had a funny little incident, sort of, after we returned. The baby was ill when we got back to Canada. I ended up meeting our Doctor in Emerg at the hospital (it just happened to be where he was working that day). In the process of checking in, I told them that we'd just come back from Europe. They asked if we'd been anywhere where there was Avian Flu. Initially I said no, then I recalled we'd been in Croatia in October, so I told her this. She says "That's okay that wasn't one of the countries affected". I corrected her of course! Was having our car sprayed not one of the reasons for our late return from Zagreb?
Anyway the baby didn't have Avian Flu. A course of antibiotics caught the ear infection and possible pneumonia. He's fine and becoming quite accomplished as a bi-ped!
Mir Vama!
We celebrated back in Canada without our father/husband, which was certainly not usual. As dh commented though, given our extended contact with military life, it's surprising this is our first Christmas apart.
Having been back now for almost a month, I've had some time to mull some things over.
I've discovered that I enjoy writing, and some of you have encouraged me further. I have come to the conclusion that the story of the Balkan Wars, particularly the Banja Luka area (which was not actually in the war zone) needs to be written. Does it need to be written by me? Oh, I don't know about that!
The story of the Balkans, even if limited to just what is now Bosnia, or limited further to the Republic of Serbia, or further still to Banja Luka, is so complicated that I'm not sure an outsider could understand it.
That said, I wonder if the story needs to be told by an outsider who can attempt to see what someone too close to the story may not.
We have already seen and heard the denial of some of the people in Banja Luka with regards to what happened there. People who will not admit that many mosques in B-L were blown up...they'll say that there were never so many mosques there in the first place! We've heard people say that people in B-L always got on well. I'm not sure how these people reconcile that with the huge number of people who suddenly felt compelled to pack up and leave.
I have a number of questions forming in my mind. And primary sources are still easy to come by.
Well, I had a funny little incident, sort of, after we returned. The baby was ill when we got back to Canada. I ended up meeting our Doctor in Emerg at the hospital (it just happened to be where he was working that day). In the process of checking in, I told them that we'd just come back from Europe. They asked if we'd been anywhere where there was Avian Flu. Initially I said no, then I recalled we'd been in Croatia in October, so I told her this. She says "That's okay that wasn't one of the countries affected". I corrected her of course! Was having our car sprayed not one of the reasons for our late return from Zagreb?
Anyway the baby didn't have Avian Flu. A course of antibiotics caught the ear infection and possible pneumonia. He's fine and becoming quite accomplished as a bi-ped!
Mir Vama!
posted by JP | 12:54 pm
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