Back in Bosnia...

It has certainly been a while since I last wrote a post. I arrived back on Monday after a 7 hour delay in sunny Vienna, due to a missed connecting flight. I would have gone out into Vienna, but they either gave you food or a ticket for the bus to the centre, so I opted for food. I am glad I did as a girl I over heard, who had taken the other option, got lost, ended up in a British cafe, and walked aimlessly for a couple hours before realising she had no idea where the bus from the airport left from and only just made the flight. Come on Austrian Airlines... you could at least provide a tourist map!

Chesterfield Crooked Spire

So here I am. 

I had a great time in the U.K. Although it was extremely busy. I was working in the lovely Chesterfield (a town made famous by an almighty cock up - see photo), stayed in 4 different houses (Manchester, Sheffield, and Chesterfield), caught up with as many people as I physically could, and hi diddle dee deeeed my way through the 4 weeks I was out of Bosnia. 

I was excited to be coming back, but also worried, as I knew that I was going to go from being crazy busy to doing nothing for most of the time. I had a bit of a bad day yesterday when Mr B's 6 day working weeks seemed to span out in front of me with no really fun stuff to break up the time. Just a bad day.

The weather is improving. The sun is shining. I am sure within a week I will be back into my routine here and feeling much more inspired. 

Saw the lovely Yank yesterday, for coffee and gossips, and am now back in school. 

It was good to be back in school. They have covered things that I will need to read up on and revise, but as we moved onto a different topic I didn't feel I was too far behind. I was surprised at how much I remembered without having had opportunity to do any swotting in the U.K. 

Quick congratulations to Drew Biggin, who won the Play writing festival, that I performed in, with 'The Balance'. I am sure he will go onto great things. 

That's all for now folks.

Flying away again...

Just a quick blog post to let you know that I am leaving Bosnia for just under a month to work in the U.K. The hi-diddle-dee-dee part of me has kicked in again and so I will fly back tomorrow to London, travel to do my theatre gig, with a few trips to see family and friends here and there, and be back towards the end of March.

Torte i To

The last month has been my most positive here since I came. I am attending a school that I like and the language is, very slowly, but surely, starting to make sense. We have started to get out and about and I feel I have been more pro active and happier this last month. Maybe it is because spring is on it's way, not that you would know it (it is -3 at the minute).

Just to mention a cafe that me and the lovely Yank have started frequenting, Torte i to (Cakes n that). It is a little pricey, but it is a non smoking place!! So much nicer and, as far as I am aware, the only non smoking place in Sarajevo. This is probably something to do with the fact that it is positioned directly opposite the massive, brand spanking new, American Embassy (A building I have nicknamed Guantanamo - think that might give you an idea of the style of this place).

The American Embassy

The side of the Embassy... excessive?!

Anyway... I got to run and make sure I have packed up ready for tomorrow. To those I know in the U.K - see you soon and to those here and wherever - have a fun few weeks.

Vidimo se uskoro!!

Our day out...

The route to Skakavac

What a brilliant Sunday we just had. Finally we got out and about to see stuff. We decided on Skakavac (national park), with Skakavac vodopad (waterfall). We managed to get the car all the way up to the entrance of the national park, which was not the safest road - it having rained and snowed the night before. The road was only tarmac to a point, almost as if the workers had said "ok lads, we will tarmac this road until we goddamn run out of tarmac", and then did.


It was beautiful up in the mountains. The day was cold, but clear and so off we set on our mini adventure.

We followed a car track for some time that eventually just became one set of footprints which we followed for most of the way... and then the footprints disappeared up the mountain and so we found ourselves in thick snow hoping there were no big holes anywhere en route to the waterfall. So much fun. The stairs of doom to the waterfall were a slippy slidey adventure. The waterfall is 98 metres high and we saw it from the top, where we built a snowman, aka Joe, and also from the bottom, where we lost the path due to heavy snowfall and boulders of ice fallen from the cliffs above us, so had to back track up the stairs of doom.

Joe the little snowman

Abandoned ruins with a view

I was so pleased to be out in the fresh air, seeing some of the beauty of this area. We hope to return in the spring when it will all be green and plush.

The path to Skakavac Vodopad

If you are coming to Bosnia it is well worth a visit to Skakavac. We intend to go hiking up to the mountain lodge next time we are there.

Skakavac Vodopad

A bit of drama to spice up a dentist trip

Mr B went to the dentist on Thursday and decided that a root canal was not enough of a drama to put himself through and decided to "nearly die". This is an obvious exaggeration, however it didn't feel like it at the time. I calmly sat reading my book in the waiting area, only to hear my lovely husband start to retch in the other room. "Aww" I thought to myself "Bless him, he is feeling a bit sick from the anaesthetic". He lay down again and only when his hands started to curl up and back and the dentist began to rub them, only to see them go straight back to seizure, did I get up and become a little alarmed.

To be honest he looked as if he was going to die and so after some persuasion from both myself and the dentist, the ambulance was called (Hitna Pomoc). They arrived very quickly - maybe 3 minutes, (well done Sarajevo paramedics) and gave him an E.C.G and tested his blood sugar levels. We were concerned that he had had an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic, which of course could lead very speedily into anaphylactic shock. However after checking him out, everything looked fine and the paramedics left. It would appear it was a mix of not having eaten much that day, combined with tiredness, anaesthetic, and his brain's reaction to pain, even though he himself could not feel a thing. I managed to stay pretty calm throughout, but afterwards I went a little wobbly.

I felt more sorry for the dentist as he had only just opened his new practice some 10 days previous and his wife had dreamt, the night before, that the emergency services were going to be called to the surgery. He looked so shaken, but handled it all really well. Highly recommended dentist. So that's a double tick for both the private dental surgeries, here in Sarajevo, and the emergency medical help.

A little catch up..

I realised that as I started this blog so late into my stay here that I never got the chance to talk about some of the places we have managed to visit.

Podhum: A small village where Mr B's Grandfather lives and Mr B's family name originates from. We spent a day there by the river, having a BBQ (rostilj) and swimming in the icy water. Mr B and I went for a walk up the mountain, but were barred by spiky thistles, bees, the heat, and the possibility of snakes. A local man even stopped to tell us to be careful of the slithery things. My in-laws have land by the river in Podhum, which they intend to turn into a summer house - one day. It is just beautiful around there. I am looking forward to going again when the weather gets better.

Grandpa B's house in Podhum. An old style Bosnian residence complete with exterior toilet and showers for flush. Gotta be seen to be believed. Gorgeous in it's simplicity though.

Here are some views from our walk up the large hill above Podhum.

Neretvica river in Podhum

Back to school

I got back from the U.K after my frenetic visit involving behaving like all kinds of crazy for money, bookended by 2 trips to Manchester. The first involving a party at my old flat and the 2nd involving a visit from the wonderful littlest Bevell. I was totally spoilt by my friends and family, for no apparent reason, and had an amazing trip.

Since arriving back in Sarajevo I have finally got off my arse and enrolled in a new school. The lovely Yank started whilst I was in the U.K and I got my books out again on Monday of this week. We are now attending every Monday and Wednesday for a couple of hours per session, apart from this Monday coming, as our tutor is heading to Belgrade to see family and friends. Our new teacher's style is far superior to the last place we were enrolled and it has given me the bug to learn again, which I think was fading. We will see how it goes, but so far I can highly recommend The Young Linguists as a relaxed, reasonably priced, and effective school for learning languages in Sarajevo. 

In other news we are forever broke, so the social side of things has basically involved nights in and movies. Hopefully in a month or so our financial situation should be slightly better and we can start going out for day trips etc. There is so much that I still want to see here. I really want to go back to Tuzla to see where I "lived" back in 1997 for that short time. 

The snow is still on the ground here, but the sun makes it feel like spring. I am looking forward to the nicer weather. Although, with my new North Face boots I can cope with any weather.... thanks girls! 

The weather channel

What a weird lot of weather we are having here at the minute! The other night we decided to take a trip out to the shops in the car. Everything was normal as we pulled out of the garage, but 10 metres down the hill we drove into, what can only be described as THE FOG! I have not seen anything like it since I was a kid. We had to take the speed down to about 5 miles per hour. People loomed out of the shadows at only a couple of metres away. Scary, but great fun. All the planes out of here have been delayed and or cancelled for the last few days. As I am planning to leave for work in the UK on Saturday I could do with a collective puffing out of the cheeks and blow from all the citizens of Sarajevo please?!

I met the lovely Yank in the city yesterday. It would appear that this fog is mostly pollution as we both started coughing once we were in the bowl of the city centre. I wish I had had my camera on me the other night to show you how strange the world looked.

As I mentioned I am off to become all sorts of mental for money over the next week or so. All to aid the psychiatric field of expertise and the lining of my pocket, so will update on my return.

I have been approached about giving one to one English conversation classes. We shall see about that when I am back in the country.

I really have to get back to school for Bosanski. I am trying to do a little each day on the computer using BYKI software (great little tool for learning languages when you travel and far cheaper than the likes of Rosetta stone etc), but without school it is hard to keep motivated. The Yank has looked into Saros school and I have approached another so hopefully we will be back in school in no time. Talking of time... isn't it flying by? I can't believe it is already nearly the end of January 2011 and 7 months since I tied the knot!

Sretna Nova Godina!! (Happy New Year)

And here's to a successful and happy 2011!


I visited the U.K over the Christmas period, to see my family and friends. I can't really say it was a holiday as I was running back and forth around the place, but such is the festive time of the year. I had decided to go back to the U.K as it is not a holiday here, being predominantly Muslim. Sure, the occasional tree was decorated throughout Sarajevo, but the idea of sitting on my own on Xmas day, whilst Mr B goes to work, knowing that my family were pulling off the usual over excited Christmas, was totally unappealing.

Decorations in the B.B.I Centre, Sarajevo.

It was great to be back in the U.K for a while, to be able to speak to everyone without trouble, to be able to understand everything that was going on, and to be with people I really care about.

The snow in the U.K

The snow was thick in the U.K and it made for a truly lovely white Christmas.

As promised though I was back in time for New Year. We had intended to go into the city and watch the concert and fireworks outside of the B.B.I Centre, but as New Year approached we decided to scrap the idea of standing with thousands of others, freezing our asses off, unable to get a beer, and instead head up to the top of the hill, where our house is located, with a bottle of something fizzy and watch the city explode at midnight. All of these plans fell by the wayside when Mr B came down with some sort of stomach bug and so New Year comprised of me and Mr B, some booze and our lounge. Mr B falling asleep at 1am due to illness and me staying up and finishing the bubbly. 1...2...3.... awwwww! We went up to the top floor of the house at midnight to see if we could see the fireworks over the city, but the fog had descended and so covered most of the activity. The noise was unbelievable though. A lot of comments were passed about the war having restarted. Without seeing the fireworks, you could believe it had. The whole city whizzed, banged, and exploded for an hour or more.

The following day I came down with what Mr B had had. He, however, handled it like a man, I handled it like a GIRL. Some slight stomach upset with cramps for him. Vomiting and the other for me, which went on for 24 hours. What a way to see in the new year!

The lovely Yank and I have had some major problems with our language school in the last few weeks. We have been forced to ask for a refund of sorts and we have had to write several formal complaints to the head of school, who has been anything but helpful and understanding. Naming and shaming will follow. All I need to say right now is that if you ever wish to study Bosnian, or any other language for that matter, in Sarajevo do not use Interlingua (associated with International House).

So all in all the new year, so far, has not been the best, but I am not letting that be a sign of what is to come in 2011. From here on in it is to be fan-bloody-tastic!

Tis my own fault

When they call a place "the poisoner" you would think to avoid it, but NO, 2 hamburgers and 3 days later and I am still having issues. Still it was tasty whilst it lasted.

In other news I received a parcel from my folks, for my birthday. It was sent in an Amazon box and Amazon obviously have terrorist ties as we found this on the box when we opened it;

I have now taught 4 classes and am really liking it, although it is not clear how much more work I can get out of them as I am only useful for conversational practice and they have other aspects of English to study. I have, however, been asked if I will give private lessons, so that may keep me going. Am also exploring options back at home, in regards to the hi diddly dee part of me, so hopefully I can bump up Mr B's income in one way or the other.

Looking forward to visiting the UK for Christmas time. Am determined to see the Christmas markets and drink more than my fair share of mulled wine. Flying out on Friday, so probably won't be blogging till after my return. Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it!

Birthday treats

I turned an unmentionable number on Tuesday of this week. For this grand occasion Mr B, unfortunately, could not take any time off. With him working 6 day weeks we were hoping for him to get a couple of days off so we could go up into the mountains, but alas his bosses were not going to budge, so I ended up going to Hotel Central for another swim, sauna session with the lovely Yank and then onto to Zlatna Ribica once again for wine. 

The weirdest pub toilet

Zlatna Ribica W.C 

Mr B had already bought me boots for my birthday, proper snow boots for the highly anticipated snow that has apparently abandoned Bosnia and descended upon the U.K instead, but he came home with a perfume as a surprise. We had cake and coffee with my in-laws and then Mr B attempted to make dinner for us. It actually turned out very tasty, I say "actually" for obvious reasons. Veal meat with suho meso (cured meat) and cheese inside, mushrooms and cream and a side salad. Huge round of applause Mr B! I managed to speak to my folks earlier in the day, if only for 10 minutes as the internet connection here is playing up and just can't tolerate Skype, but it made my day. Thanks to the lovely Yank and Mr B for making my day lovely. 

I went to observe a few lessons at a local language school on Monday. There they teach kids, so the classes range from eight year olds to fourteen year olds I would say. I now have to desperately think of things to do with them to help them learn the language, but without really being a teacher. The kids were great fun. I got up in the second class and led them through a few simple games that I remember from drama clubs and warm up exercises. The classic Zip Zap Boing went down a dream. We shall see if I end up working there. In Bosnia you just can't push these things and NEVER believe a job offer until you have been paid!

Working for a living...

Saturday 4th December.

Yesterday I started "working". I was offered a Speaking club by the school I am learning Bosanski with, but so far nothing has happened. However it planted the seed, that being the only Brit in Bosnia(?) could have its' advantages. A couple of days ago I mailed all the other language schools in Sarajevo to let them know that I was here, had varied, possibly useful, experience (i.e, workshop skills, theatre in education experience) and to ask whether they could ever use somebody such as me.

I had two email responses within the day and had set up meetings with two schools by the next. On Thursday I had a day that I have wanted since I have been here.... a busy one. I attended two meetings about work and met up with "An American in Sarajevo", and the lovely Ms Loca for coffees and chats. At one of the meetings I was offered work for the very next day. Two classes with government officials and civil servants who are all being put through and English course for their work. As it was government based I was asked to go to the Parliament building, which is the tall building by the National Museum and was nicknamed by myself in 1997 "the ghost". I could not believe that out of all the buildings in Sarajevo that was where my first day of work was going to be.

Parliament Building December 2010 - The Ghost

I remember that building so clearly from my first trip here. It had a house sized hole in the side and, being one of the tallest buildings in Sarajevo at that time, it loomed over the rest of the city as a stark reminder of what had happened, hence the name, and this was where I went to work yesterday.

The classes were a joy as the conversation was easy flowing and they were all interesting and intelligent people. I really hope I get chance to do more of the same.

Swimming pool in Hotel Central (camera steamed up)

After "work", if you can call 3 hours of chatting work, I went with the lovely Yank to Hotel Central, where she has a gym membership. It is a luxury gym, very new, and very expensive. They have a bring a friend on Fridays for free policy, which suits me well as I could never afford to go myself. We went swimming in a glorious pool, although a tad cold, sat in the sauna and steam room and generally behaved like ladies who lunch. Including lunch and a coffee in Nivea (yes as in the cream) near the B.B.I centre.

As for my quest to find another Brit, not a sausage. I asked the classes and no-one knew any other British person. There are lots of Americans here because of the huge embassy, but the British Embassy looks like a semi detached in Sale and as far as I can tell no Brits actually work in it bar the British Ambassador and he isn't here too often.

Pet peeve 1

Let me demonstrate one of my biggest pet peeves about Sarajevo:

In the city you cannot actually walk on the pavement, because that is where everyone parks their cars. So little old pedestrian (me) has to walk in the road... the Actual domain of the car to get beeped at and feet nearly run over on a regular basis. When the walk from our house to the centre of the city is 45 minutes that can really get up your nose. When I speak of parking on the pavement I am not just talking 2 wheels on the kerb, I am talking the entire width of the pavement blocked by each vehicle.

Rant over. There are many pet peeves developing, but this one is already fully fledged. As others develop I will, no doubt, feel the need to unburden myself then too.

So it begins...

This morning, as I saw Mr B off for work, the snow started. It seems to have stopped now, but that means that winter has officially arrived in Sarajevo. Here we go for 4 months, at least, of freezing temperatures, ice and snow. Ah well, at least we installed central heating.

Winter is here.

The zoo and other stories.

They have a zoo here in Sarajevo. Mr B planned a Surprise Sunday for me which basically involved taking me to somewhere I had not been before. When I say zoo I mean a park with a few animals in it. Let me sum it up like this; the first enclosure we came to was a racoon enclosure. I took a walk up to the side of the enclosure to get a better look and lo and behold a racoon was out... heading right for me along the OUTSIDE of the cage. It ended up being fed by a kid somewhere near the cage.

A Bosnian Turkey in Sarajevo Zoo.

The next enclosure contain CHICKENS.... chickens in a zoo! Ok, so some were fluffy and cute, but chickens? Followed by a horse, a donkey or two, some goats, and some highland cattle. I couldn't help but have a little giggle at the exotic creatures the zoo had. It was basically a farm. To be fair it did have a couple of zebras and two large brown bears as well.

The bear enclosure just made me sad though. The enclosure itself was a fair size, but people were throwing crisps and the like over the edge to the bears, who just sat there begging for food. The worst bit was the fact that people had actually thrown whole  packs of crisps in there including the plastic packaging. Who does that? That made me mad. I read that before the war the zoo was full of animals. Mr B told me how there were lions and wolves. There is a sad article in the New York Times talks about how the animals were all killed during the 4 year siege.

 www.nytimes.com/1992/11/04/world/at-sarajevo-zoo-the-last-survivor-dies.html

All the animals looked healthy enough, but it really took me back to how zoos were in the UK 20 years ago. Not really about the animal's welfare although in the local newspapers they do say they are trying to work with environmentalists and acquire new areas and creatures for the zoo.

www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2009/01/12/feature-01

A lot of Sarajevo reminds me of the U.K 20 years ago. The smoking everywhere, which I have mentioned before, the economy here, the view of women and other ethnicities, the view of homosexuality. The fact that it reminds me of how it was though,  means that there is a possibility it could change in the same way.

The market in Ciglane

That said it was a beautiful hot and sunny November day and it was great to get out and about. We wandered for sometime around the "zoo" and then finally went off to the market to buy some proper coffee and fruit and veg. The market in Ciglane is massive and full of local produce and definitely worth a visit although prices for clothes are not much cheaper than the shops. Mr B tried on a jacket which looked like a cheap, but nice item of clothing, only to find out it was 100km. (50euros), to me that is not market prices. The food is all reasonably priced however and I love to wander the market stalls.

So there are a few Irish people here (S. Ireland doesn't count though, does it?!)

I went out with the lovely Yank on Saturday night. We went to Zlatna Ribica near the Eternal Flame. It is a great bar decorated with memorabilia and randomness throughout. The toilet is wonderful... I realise that is a strange thing to say about a toilet, but it has a mini T.V, from the 80's in it. It feels like you have just stepped into someone's household bathroom. A load of towels hanging up, hairbrushes, make-up and perfumes.

The waiters serve you with drinks in mismatched glasses and if you order home made wine it comes in perfume bottles and the like. The music is 20's - 60's anything from Doris Day, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, to Bosnian folk music. It reminds me of the burlesque nights I used to attend every so often in the U.K. As you come in the door you can choose from an array of hat wear for your evening. Just marvellous.

Zlatna Ribica

The evening was lovely, full of chats and beer, and for a time we were sat next to an Irish couple... so no Brit yet, but pretty close. Also met a girl from the International school here, who suggested that we both visit to see if we can help out with supply teaching or teaching assistant work.

The rest of the weekend was spent watching copious amounts of bad Sci-Fi T.V. When I say bad I mean brilliantly bad of course.

The Wedding part 2.

Seeing my female friends and family members wear the scarf and come into the mosque was amazing. The fear of Islam in the U.K is constantly pushed into our faces through papers like the Daily Mail, and yet there they all were sitting in a mosque watching their friend marry a muslim, in Bosnia, of all places.

So the deed was done and the party could begin.

It was such a relief to get the bulk of the formalities out of the way and just enjoy some dancing and food with everyone.

As I write this I can hear the horns of another wedding convoy beeping over the hill from here. Over the summer months it was every Saturday from dawn till dusk.

The UK lot had called their Sarajevo experience BBB... (Bosnian Big Brother) as they were all packed into an apartment. The ultimate winner of BBB was Mr Hassan. My sister made a great quip about this the day before she left..

"Well they weren't gonna NOT have a muslim win it were they?"

So that was the wedding, in short. There are a million other little memories, but as time has gone by it feels less relevant to talk about the past and I want to start updating this blog more frequently with adventures on a more regular basis. From here on in it will be a more random blog and less linear. I want to tell you about the weird and wonderful people here and the massive culture differences as well as great places to visit and places to avoid should you ever want to visit Sarajevo.

This blog is mostly for my family and friends so they can keep track of what I am doing all the way over here, but if anyone else should happen upon it then so be it.

The Wedding pt 1

All my preparations for the wedding were made from the U.K, bar infrequent trips over here to look for venues. We explored all over the city as we were on a very tight budget. The place we nearly went for was Hotel Bosnia in the middle of the city, but we couldn't quite manage it with our finances. We took a trip out to the Hotel Sporta in Vogosca and found it was the perfect place.

I was certain that we should have outside space, as people REALLY smoke in Bosnia. The load of Brits coming over for the occasion I was sure would not appreciate this. Seriously though, they smoke everywhere!! The only places I have found that are free of smoke are the hospital and the cinema... and even in the cinema there is a cafe bar where you can have a cig. I remember when the smoking ban came to the U.K and everyone was saying that all pubs and bars would die a death as noone would be able to smoke in them. Couldn't imagine a time when clubs would be smoke free, and then within a few months we were all used to it and actually preferred it. It is weird, even after my time here, for me to go into a coffee shop and see ash trays.

I digress. So when we found Sporta we were both really happy. Massive place with gorgeous grounds. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere, yet only 10 mins drive from the city. Perfect. It also had accommodation for the U.K contingent above the reception area, and across the road in a guest house, that we were assured would be finished by the time we got wed.

View from Sporta

On the Monday before our wedding, however, we called at Sporta to double check everything and found that the guest house across the road was not finished at all. They had sort of forgotten about us. Ahhh Bosnia! So we had to come up with a plan to squeeze nearly 20 people into the apartment above the reception. In the end the manager of Sporta spoke to his neighbours, a normal Bosnian family, and they agreed to let a few of our guys stay with them.

Other than that it went off well.... Mr B did the majority of planning as he was here. It was a bit like that programme "Don't tell the Bride" that we have in the U.K. I had very little knowledge of how the day was going to go. I had my dress and the bridesmaids had theirs, but that was it.

The volcanic ash threatened to stop everyone flying over, but in the end they all got here safe and sound.

I think everyone had fun... I was in too much of a blur to thoroughly enjoy the day until me and Mr B got back to the flat that night. Then we had chance to reflect on the days events and really take it all in. It was only then that I realised how much fun it had been.

There are a lot of little differences between the U.K way of doing things and the way they do them here. For example the groom and the wedding party (not the bride's side) come to collect the bride on the morning of the wedding. Everyone comes by car and as they near the brides "house" they start to beep their horns to let her know they are arriving. I remember hearing the distant horns for the first time and knowing that it was about to start. That is the first and only time my stomach churned. I was still getting ready! Everyone went a little manic then, running here and there and trying to catch a glimpse of the convoy as it approached the venue.

Then there is the bartering for the bride. Mr B's brother had to "negotiate" with my dad for a fair price for his daughter. Personally I think I went at a bargain price, but then, to be fair, I am not the most comely and homely of brides so I guess it was reasonable. I remember when I first heard about this custom I was very hesitant and felt all women's lib about it, but taken in fun it added a certain traditional twist to the day.

The bridesmaids were given the job of going around pinning small flowers to all the guests and, whilst doing that, collecting money for the "bride's family". Traditionally this money would go to the bride's parents as they would have provided a party with food and drink for the wedding convoy. As we were staying in a hotel we just handed out juices and got on with the rest of the day.

At first I was handed to Mr B's brother and his best man, who then accompanied me to the wedding car. Mr B was not allowed to interact with me until after the ceremony. The drive to city hall was one that I will never forget. A convoy of over 30 cars all beeping their horns and driving according to no law of this land. Every car was decorated on arrival at Sporta by a dedicated team of UK lads. This job is normally done by the girls of the family, so when a group of suited guys stepped out to add flowers and ribbons to the wedding cars it caused a great deal of amusement for the Bosnian lot.

City hall was where things went a little more U.K style. It was a hall that seated around 100 people and we got them all seated before I entered, as I had insisted my dad walked me down the aisle. The rest of the ceremony was translated from Bosnian to English by a very average translator, who arrived slightly late so was a bit flustered throughout. Mr B would have done a better translating job. She couldn't really pronounce my name. I had to stop myself from giggling a couple of times.

"yeah and sooooo love each other and do good stuff and you will...ermmmm be ermmmm." blah blah blah.

Once City Hall was done it was time for the mosque and another noisy drive...

From the top...(08.06.10)

So here I am in sunny Sarajevo. The downstairs apartment is clean and very bare. It is surprisingly normal to be here - seeing as I am unable to speak to anyone properly.

There is a constant noise of construction from early morning - somewhere someone is always building something.

So this is my first day "living" here. Obviously I have been here several times before, beginning with a visit in 1997, shortly after the war ended.

What a different place it is now.

My abiding memory of Sarajevo, as it was, is leaning on a wall, in front of the iconic Holiday Inn, waiting for the rest of my U.K colleagues to come and meet me. It was a grey day and we had spent most of it walking through the scarred city that we had all read so much about.

As I was waiting I happened to look up to a building that I had named "the ghost" - an office building towering over the city with a house sized hole in the side of it. I glanced to the side of it, across the road from where I was perched, to the top of another building and noticed two soldiers on the roof with rifles pointed in my general direction. I looked around me and there was noone else to be seen. Unnerved, ever so slightly, I looked up to the top of the Holiday Inn - only to see two more soldiers with their guns trained straight down on me. At this point a slight panic set in... Why would they single me out? Is it because I had been loitering for more than a few seconds? Do I look overly suspicious?

Just then a huge tank came rumbling down the main road towards me again with soldiers aiming their weapons in my direction - I was about to put both hands in the air and plead for my life when I noticed a guy in the bushes near to where I was standing. He had come off his bike and seemed to be hidden there. Apparently I was not the one they were after. The soldiers in the tank jumped out and tackled the man. I have no idea what they thought, or knew, he was doing, but that memory will always stay with me.

The other '97 Sarajevo memory is of sitting in a cafe in the old town and ordering from a lady who seemed fascinated by me. The square itself, at that time. felt like it was from another world. The scarred paving showed evidence of snipers and explosions, as did the people missing eyes or limbs.

The lady serving us brought out the orange juice for everyone. Mine was thick and full of pulp whilst everyone elses was thin and watery. Then she spoke to me - I had to tell her I didn't understand and she seemed taken aback. Someone translated for me that she thought I was just like her daughter who she had lost just two years before during the conflict.

So here I am.... living in the place that has made such an impact on me for over 13 years.

Which came first... the chicken or the egg? Was I drawn to Mr B because he was from a country I had loved and a city that fascinated me OR was I drawn to the country and particularly this city because I was meant to meet my Bosnian? Who knows. Depends whether you believe in fate.... and as my first ever "professional" play (aged 15) I played a Bosnian Muslim in Sarajevo I can't help wondering.

So the adventure begins....

(The towers in 1997 and then in 2009)