First day

My first  full day in Varazdin, Croatia has finally come to an end. I arrived at the Zagred airport yesterday afternoon after an eight hour ride from Calgary to Frankfurt (During which my neighbour had a small dog and a large weakness for airplane wine.) and a two hour ride to Zagreb, where I arrived in 38 degrees. I was greeted by my host Mother, Father, Cousin and brother, and also my Rotary supervisor and his young daughter. After Nikola (supervisor) and his daughter said their hellos (and goodbyes) they left, and I drove with my host family to Varazdin. I was pleased to find that my host cousin spoke english, as the rest of the family in the car spoke little to none! We arrived at the house, and I was quickly greeted by their dog Boss. I also met my older host sister, who also speaks english. I was given enough time to shower (a shower which, quite frankly, I still don´t understand), and then it was off to a traditional Croatian wedding.

The night was fun, with dancing and meal after meal. I met more of the extended family. The only problem was my inability to keep my overly jetlagged eyes open. We went home, and I quickly fell asleep. The next morning (nearly afternoon to my surprise) Nikola (my host brother, same name as my rotary supervisor) offered to take me into town, as the biggest festival in Croatia happens in Varaždin, and today was the final day. We biked to the main square, and the walked around. He showed me my too be school, a beautiful cathedral, and the castle in the middle of Varazdin. It was fantastic. We returned home, and much to my chagrin, my jetlag hit again and I fell into the clutches of sleep. When I woke up, Petra (my host sister) offered to make me spaghetti, and Lidjia (mother) told me tomorrow we´d go for my visa (more on the visa dilema later). After, Petra and I went back to the town square to go to a small coffee bar where we talked and drank lemonade. She took me to meet Donata, a girl who will be in my school, and Donata and I walked around the festival, where we met up with Katie, the exchange student from Virginia. We walked around the festival for hours, laughing, eating, dancing, until ten thirty.

I´ve learned how to say a few things in croatian, such as thank you, hello, please, orange, etcetera. Hopefully I´ll learn enough by next monday to be ready for my first day of school!