Five emotions of September

Being blissfully happy.

Croatian food, or better to say food in Croatia evokes a storm of emotions in such a gastromaniac as me: classic burek s mesom and burek sa sirom, grilled(!) corn, ‘street food festival’ 40-sm beef hot-dog I could hardly hold with both hands, amazing cream cheese brownie a-la mode served with ice-cream in ‘The cookie factory’ and all kinds of sladoled from local slastičarnica with chocolate chili ice-cream on top of the chart.

I can’t imagine going abroad without trying something special, and consider every trip to be a good trip as long as it meets 2 criteria: 1. trying good food; 2. feeling happy for at least a few seconds. And there are moments that combine both: for example, accidentally meeting 3 Kazach people in Zagreb tram and having dinner with them in one of the best restaurants in Zagreb – ‘Mano’ with amazing seafood, perfect Croatian white wine (previously I was sure it doesn’t exist in nature) and long talks in Russian. Indeed, I need very little to feel happy.

Being curious.

When people hear I can’t ride a bike, the first thing I hear in response is ‘How come?’ Yep, shit happens. But I ride a horse, and wouldn’t mind getting one to go to the office)) Anyway, before coming to Croatia I decided this year to be the year of new skills, and one of them – riding a bike. Why not? It’s not learning a new language (although also planned), or getting my second Master’s degree, but small things also count, right?

I needed one hour with Andris as a coach to learn how to saddle a bike, ride straight, try to turn, almost hit 2 people, 1 sign, a police car and kill myself)) Today empty Dolac market in the evening is my favorite cycling pitch which seems to be safe both for me and people.

Feeling WTH?

No one likes police: policemen, who stop you on the road, fine you for drinking alcohol in public places or tell you the rules you’ve never heard about. While staying on the territory of Croatia for 3 weeks I managed to commit a felony – for non-registration in the police station within 48 hours upon my arrival.

If only Croatian embassy in Ukraine published relevant info on official website or border control informed me about this bonus-option… no one would be obliged to pay 65 euros. But of course, we decided to go Ukrainian way meaning to prepare a pile of documents, write an appeal and hope for the best. In the next 6 months (yes, thanks goodness, bureaucracy in Croatia works with the same speed as everywhere) we’ll probably get an answer. To be continued…

Inspired? No, superinspired.

When preparing our first Syncloud event ‘Get Inspired’, me and Cosmina were interviewing different interesting people to learn their inspirational stories and share them with others: a girl who made an Atlantic circle being 23, a member of Yugoslavian expedition who 35 years ago conquered Everest by climbing a new route, Vida – amazing mother and woman who shared her secret how to combine both. All of them told us that they are getting inspired by other people and their life stories. This is also true about me. One of the endless source of inspiration for me – 2 Ukrainian girls who crossed 40,000 km and 14 countries hitchhiking, with almost no money in their pockets but passionate wish to achieve their goal.

Of course, I’m far from being Morozova (80 level), but my first European hitchhiking trip just happened last weekends. Imagine a Bosnian guy coming to a Ukrainian girl in Croatia to make a trip to Slovenia and visit our common friend.

And then a few more episodes: us in the middle of nowhere waiting for a car to return to Croatia but seeing only tractors with corn passing by, going to Kidričevo-middle-of-nowhere to couchsurf, crossing border on foot, sitting in one car with a priest and his wife who spoke perfect German and were eager to share their life story, and a major componenet – getting stuck somewhere where I expected to be eaten by mosquitoes and starve to death. But actually I enjoyed it. Try to go for a weekend abroad for 20 euros (including 3-course meal in a restaurant). Not bad, not bad, right?

  And a little bit of nostalgia, of course.

Everything is perfect: the job of my dream I enjoy every moment, short weekend trips to countries I have never been before, lots of new and new people both locals and foreigners who use our couchsurfing hospitality; new things, new food, enough time for concerts, sport, dancing whatever.

But then this strange feeling of nostalgia inevitably comes. And it’s not about missing Ukraine or family (I’m used to seeing my family once in 3 months at least), but best friends. Those 2 people I used to spend much time with, and sometimes not even people but thinking alike, understanding each other from the first 2 words, doing the same things and sharing a lot.

But life is about finding and losing. And I hope I’ll meet, or even better – find my 2 dear people soon in Europe: Croatia, or Slovenia, or Hungary, the place doesn’t matter. And there will be a huge-huge reunion.

Kisses and hugs, Juliya.