Aliways and Ulice

Life is a little bit different  here from the life of teenagers in NZ. Recimo, families have a big lunch (rucak – with a ‘ch’), maybe a sleep and then something light in the evening, with the family heading out to walk on the riva (promenade) with a coffee or an icecream. Mediterranean style. It’s very safe (I feel completely safe walking around at midnight through the dark little streets) so kids are free range. There are some rules though. Up to the age of 16, you are not allowed out after midnight. My friend’s daughter is 12 and she was picked up by the police the other night at 11.07. The ramifications are a conversation with the parents and a counsellor. The conversation went along the lines of ‘do you understand that there are rules, and if you break the rules, then we think that you have a mother/father who isn’t doing their job properly. If this happens again, we will need to get a social worker to work with your family to make sure that everything is ok..”. ...

Funny how I always get back into the same delicious routine here. I raced out in my exercise gear (and jandals because I binned the running shoes at the end of the Rallye) and walked down to see if there were any rowers down at the rowing club – it’s nice to catch up with the coach and those boys that I coached 6 years ago – I have been watching the medal haul on the rowing club Facebook. No, obviously too much wind. But I did manage to get a photo of these two squirrels – something I tried to do many times when I lived here – check out how cute these two are – they were actually playing a chasing game around the tree! After about ¾ of an hour, I stopped for coffee (yes, in my exercise gear, throwing caution to the wind) and just breathed it all in. I love being part of this town. And then I became a peglarica again! This means sitting in the konoba working the ironing machine, ironing the towels and pillowcases. It’s a standing joke with Annette  (the day befo...