Day 90 - Zadar - Rotary Dinner at the yacht club
Saturday, September 30, 2018.
Again, we got up late, had a late breakfast, and stayed home. Everyone seems to be enjoying quiet time after breakfast. I'm not sure what the kids are even doing or watching but I know that Gregory and I are finally getting that free time that we both needed and wanted. On the bus, I was thinking about all the things that I wanted to write about but haven't even started. Every day, I only write this blog and maybe I'm using it as an excuse, but my goal was to start writing a book about this trip.
Other things that I haven't been able to do is read more, mostly because we have been reading about the places we go, but reading a book just for the joy of reading would be nice. I did manage to finish Walden on Wheels and it made me reflect on our lifestyle back home. We hope that when we go back, we will simplify our lifestyle and buy less. Not because we want to save money, mostly to do planet Earth a favor. Traveling and seeing how middle class working people live in Europe made me see how wasteful we are in Mexico and the US.
On the other hand, Sunshine said that when she goes back, she wants to go shopping and have so many clothes that she can wear something different every day! It's funny to hear her say that because back home, she didn't have many clothes and didn't care! I guess having only a few outfits makes her miss having more. The rest of the family is happy with their clothes. Daniel has even said how comfortable it is to wear the same outfit twice, which he would never do back home. "You don't even have to get clothes out of the suitcase except for underwear and socks," he told me. I like not having to think about what to wear. Since I was a kid I always had a problem with that and it was worse when I was a teenager. On the other hand, sometimes I do feel sloppy and touristy wearing sporty clothes ( and REI pants that dry fast). I sometimes miss dressing up and looking stylish.
Anyway, this is the kind of reflection that I would write in my book and not on my blog. I don't want to bore my readers. We read for most of the afternoon in the patio. Around 3:00pm, the kids came out to say they were hungry and I went inside to prepare lunch. When we were about to sit down to eat, Gregory got a phone call from a local Rotarian inviting him to go to their meeting at a yacht club about 30 minutes away. I noticed he was a little bit hesitant. I told him I would go with him if he wanted. The Rotarian said we could bring all the family but of course, the kids preferred to stay home.
The Rotarian, Zvonko, came to pick us up at the grocery store near our house and we drove to Biograd. Before we got there, he drove us around the small town where he had grown up and showed us his father's old cobbler shop, now a beachside bar. The ride was very pleasant because we got to see the beautiful sea surrounded by trees. We saw a few houses which probably had a small boat in the calm bay. Nothing fancy or luxurious, just nice and simple.
We got to the yacht club early, so we sat under the awning to have a drink and conversation with Zvonko. Gregory and I had lots of questions about life in Croatia under Communism and how it is now. This is my favorite part about meeting people. I love to hear their personal stories and how they lived. We learned a lot!
After a while, some Rotarian friends and the Rotary president came to join us. We were happily impressed. The president, Valentina, was very sweet, young, and had many questions for Gregory. After that, we went inside to take some pictures in front of the Rotary banners and Valentina gave us two white shirts embroidered with the Rotary regatta logo. We had dinner around 8:00pm. They had grilled sardines, chicken, meat, rice, potatoes, olive bread, salad, and vegetables. Very tasty, and for dessert, they had donut holes. Zvonko brought a plateful to the table and told me to take some to our kids! Dinner was very pleasant, during dinner, a local duet played guitar and mandolin and sang all the traditional Croatian songs. Everyone in the room sang along.
After dinner, Zvonko took us home. We had a nice chat about education in Croatia. He told us that he was an engineer and his sons were a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer. Higher education, even today, is completely free for students with good grades.
We made it home by 10:00pm and Sunshine said, "you're home early."
Again, we got up late, had a late breakfast, and stayed home. Everyone seems to be enjoying quiet time after breakfast. I'm not sure what the kids are even doing or watching but I know that Gregory and I are finally getting that free time that we both needed and wanted. On the bus, I was thinking about all the things that I wanted to write about but haven't even started. Every day, I only write this blog and maybe I'm using it as an excuse, but my goal was to start writing a book about this trip.
Other things that I haven't been able to do is read more, mostly because we have been reading about the places we go, but reading a book just for the joy of reading would be nice. I did manage to finish Walden on Wheels and it made me reflect on our lifestyle back home. We hope that when we go back, we will simplify our lifestyle and buy less. Not because we want to save money, mostly to do planet Earth a favor. Traveling and seeing how middle class working people live in Europe made me see how wasteful we are in Mexico and the US.
On the other hand, Sunshine said that when she goes back, she wants to go shopping and have so many clothes that she can wear something different every day! It's funny to hear her say that because back home, she didn't have many clothes and didn't care! I guess having only a few outfits makes her miss having more. The rest of the family is happy with their clothes. Daniel has even said how comfortable it is to wear the same outfit twice, which he would never do back home. "You don't even have to get clothes out of the suitcase except for underwear and socks," he told me. I like not having to think about what to wear. Since I was a kid I always had a problem with that and it was worse when I was a teenager. On the other hand, sometimes I do feel sloppy and touristy wearing sporty clothes ( and REI pants that dry fast). I sometimes miss dressing up and looking stylish.
Anyway, this is the kind of reflection that I would write in my book and not on my blog. I don't want to bore my readers. We read for most of the afternoon in the patio. Around 3:00pm, the kids came out to say they were hungry and I went inside to prepare lunch. When we were about to sit down to eat, Gregory got a phone call from a local Rotarian inviting him to go to their meeting at a yacht club about 30 minutes away. I noticed he was a little bit hesitant. I told him I would go with him if he wanted. The Rotarian said we could bring all the family but of course, the kids preferred to stay home.
The Rotarian, Zvonko, came to pick us up at the grocery store near our house and we drove to Biograd. Before we got there, he drove us around the small town where he had grown up and showed us his father's old cobbler shop, now a beachside bar. The ride was very pleasant because we got to see the beautiful sea surrounded by trees. We saw a few houses which probably had a small boat in the calm bay. Nothing fancy or luxurious, just nice and simple.
We got to the yacht club early, so we sat under the awning to have a drink and conversation with Zvonko. Gregory and I had lots of questions about life in Croatia under Communism and how it is now. This is my favorite part about meeting people. I love to hear their personal stories and how they lived. We learned a lot!
After a while, some Rotarian friends and the Rotary president came to join us. We were happily impressed. The president, Valentina, was very sweet, young, and had many questions for Gregory. After that, we went inside to take some pictures in front of the Rotary banners and Valentina gave us two white shirts embroidered with the Rotary regatta logo. We had dinner around 8:00pm. They had grilled sardines, chicken, meat, rice, potatoes, olive bread, salad, and vegetables. Very tasty, and for dessert, they had donut holes. Zvonko brought a plateful to the table and told me to take some to our kids! Dinner was very pleasant, during dinner, a local duet played guitar and mandolin and sang all the traditional Croatian songs. Everyone in the room sang along.
After dinner, Zvonko took us home. We had a nice chat about education in Croatia. He told us that he was an engineer and his sons were a doctor, a lawyer and an engineer. Higher education, even today, is completely free for students with good grades.
We made it home by 10:00pm and Sunshine said, "you're home early."
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| Gregory and Valentina, President of Zadar Rotary Club |
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| The regatta participants picking up their supplies. |
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| Getting a Rotary shirt |
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| Gregory and Zvonko |
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| Gregory exchanging Rotary banners with Gordan, chapter president of the IYFR |
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