Month: June 2008

At 8:30 AM….and the power just went out when I wrote that, and went back on about 5 minutes later. It is now 3:07 in the afternoon and I spent most of the morning putting together the first grouping of some pictures from Bosnia and beyond. I have put them in a new public folder that one can link to through my Picasa site. Find the picture of the guy juggling on this blog and click…search around, you’ll find it.

Still hot, but that does not deter the pilgrims from climbing the mountain and praying at the cross. The 12 Stations are on the way up, so I hope they bring water, sunscreen, hats, etc…very dangerous weather.

A group of Irish Travelers rolled into town last night. For those who do not know, they are Irish Gypsies and famous for their disrespect, thievery, and inbreeding. This is not a rumor. I can vouch for this. They are to be avoided at all costs. the children are taught early to emulate their parents and support them through begging, theft, and the old bait-and-switch game. You know, distract you over there and rob you over here. Once again, this is no joke. My Irish friends here tell stories about how the Travelers show up at night, pitch tents in a car park or field, and stay until they have completely despoiled the place with garbage and broken junk. I imagine they will be here all week. Spiritual paths can cross at the oddest times.

I have figured out why I was counting the days. Here in Me?ugorje, it can be pretty boring, the days all being the same, with nothing here that really interests me except for my work. The town itself has nothing to offer for me really (no museums, no culture, no music, etc…and it’s not home!) so I tend to while away my days reading, sleeping, eating…Just like jail. When I go away for a long weekend, however, the counting stops and I am engaged in the real world, where cultures mix and sometimes clash, and the streets are filled with local people, instead of a patchwork population of Catholic devout.

How hot is it? probably around 38* Celsius, so…about 102*F. Not a cloud in sight…

Johnnyboy

I’m off to Sarajevo tomorrow for a couple of days and have been given the green light to stay longer should some cool social activity arise. I won’t push that, but the possibility of staying there until Monday is there. My boss, however, told me that some of her friends are coming in this weekend and she could arrange for me to meet them for dinner Sunday night. That sounds interesting and fun so I will probably keep it simple and come back on Saturday evening.

It is hot today…and it will get hotter. It is about 33*C which is around 91*F (double the Celsius and add 26). The weather for Sarajevo is supposed to be the same this weekend, so I’ll leave my brolly in my apartment.

Today was a good day of emotional/medical support for one of the people we take care of. He suffers from congenital cystic myalgia, which presents itself in tumors all over his body which swell in the hot weather. His father died of this because it was left untreated, and both his brothers suffer from this and other mental and physical disabilities. So we went to the local clinic and waited while the rounds doctor made his diagnoses: some surgery and then biopsy. The people are scared of what might be, so our job is very important. It was joy to see Janet at work, both soothing worry and forcing the mother to stand up and deal with it. Truly a lesson in diplomacy and action. We will find out the news soon enough.

Tonight’s AA meeting will be on the topic of freedom and how once I surrendered to the disease of alcoholism and put the bottle down, I set in motion a progression of recovery that has freed me from my own disabilities . It is my first time chairing here in Me?ugorje, and I am a bit nervous, but we have a script to follow and we only use conference approved literature. I’ll turn the rest over to HP.

More to come…

Johnnyboy