English people love to brag about weather. They brag when it's sunny, they brag when it's rainy. They generally love to brag. But I understand why. Been there, lived there, done there :) And yes, the English weather is the thing I'm missing the least. Yesterday I've exchanged few messages with my good friend Donna and I have to quote her:''We are having an extremely wet and awful summer but glad you are having sun, it feels like winter here at the moment unfortunately.'' So I want to send some of our Serbian sun and warmth to England and to those wonderful mums and ladies I've met through Ian. Being a mum and a parent for the first time in foreign country, with no family and only one friend in London was a big thing for me but for Dejan too. This is why we've decided to start preparing ourselves for the biggest event in our lives. To actually create and bring that tiny thing to life is amazing but at the same time huge responsibility. We've decided to start NCT course (something like school for future parents). There were 6 couples in our group, including us and we actually managed to stay in touch and meet on a regular basis for almost a year. Of course mums and babies did, not dads ;) So I've already had my first circle of mums. Great! I was happy to have them around to exchange all our fears, impressions, expectations, cries and laughs once a week. We did a sort of rotation and met each week at other mum home. So babies didn't get bored and we didn't get bored either. Donna with Sophie, Laura with Hugo, Laura with Benji, Pam with Lucas and me with Ian. That worked well for most of the time and we've used every opportunity to take our babies outside in the garden, to the park, but weather was not always kind to us and I remember complaining that most of my photos are dull as there is no good light but it's grey and artificial. After my and Ian's 6 week check at GP, I couldn't wait to start Buggy Fitness in our Abington Park. That is absolutely the best thing I did for myself post post-partum, but also for Ian as we met brilliant mums and adorable babies with whom I'm still in touch. Fitness instructor Helen is amazing and she has great blog on the subject of healthy living, eating habits, staying fit and similar (http://www.starlightfitness.co.uk/).And the funny thing is that 3 of us had our second babies at about same time and all 3 of us gave birth to second son. Wonderful, isn't it?! So we had to form our Second babies group: Sue & Moya with their sons Maxwell and Dexter, Anna with James and Adam and me with Ian and Matija:)
On fitness sessions I met other great mums like Rachel with Holly, Jen with Teddy, Jan with Ethan, Zuzana with Christian just to mention a few. I miss you all, I really do! And then there is a third way to connect with mums in your area or town, through different play groups. I've mention these before in my posts. Have to stress once again that these sort of gathering of mums and babies are unique to UK and I was pleasantly surprised how this function and how you can learn so much, plus engage your child through singing lessons, story time, baby bounce (rhyme time) and other very often free activities. We had our base at Abington Library, plus Abington church. Even today I'm singing nursery rhymes to Ian and Matija and Ian knows quite few of them. He even tells me:''Mummy, do you remember this song?'' and starts singing in English. He knows about big and scary Gruffalo and all stories by Julia Donaldson, who I adore. His first book set was Peter the Rabbit and even today he uses the word Thomas instead of train. He started loving books and reading and stories in England and I'm extremely happy that my son still loves his bedtime stories. And last but not the least are our English-Polish connection friends who we met in Warsaw, but all ended up in England: Graza and Steve with Marianna and now son Alexander. My dear mums, hope this post has bring some sun and warmth to your hearts and your cold and rainy English weather :). Hope to hear from all of you. Love Ian & Co
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Sva moja znana rodbina je iz Vojvodine i to najvećim delom iz Subotice. Moja mama je tamo rođena, moja sestra, tata je iz Novog Sada a ja sam sticajem okolnosti jedina Beograđanka. Ali koliko god volela svoj rodni grad, mene srce vuče u Vojvodinu i mislim da mi venama struji ta austrougarska krv i šećer od svih tih preukusnih kolača i tekovina jednog minulog doba koje živi samo u sećanjima i na starim sepija razglednicama. Tu su još uvek široke aleje opasane duplim drvoredom i ona debela ladovina koja se ''uvuče'' u prizemne kuće pod čijim kapijama se lenjo razvlače debele mačke koje sneno prebace glavu kada putem prođu kola i podignu žutu prašinu u podne. Zvonko Bogdan bi otpevao da ''nema više konja, konja koji jure, a u stvari nikuda ne žure'', dok za mene nema dragih ljudi moje bake i dede, moje divne Tetuš i Teče, mog Uje i mog deda ujka i svih prijatelja koji su me odgajali i iskrojili i napravili me ovakvom kakva sam danas. Ostao je memljiv miris u našoj staroj trošnoj kući, poneki porodični portret i pregršt divnih uspomena.
Iako Subotice i Palića iz mog detinjstva nema, ima tu sad novih generacija, novih građevinskih poduhvata i oduvek sjajne budimpeštanske secesije koja daje poseban pečat i šmek severu Bačke. Te se moja porodica i ja uputismo nekim novim trasama da upoznamo taj najseverniji kutak nadomak Mađarske i ispišemo novu stranicu naše porodične istorije.
Da ne budem previše nostalgična i da ne bih koju suzu pustila dok se prisećam tamo nekih prošlih vremena, krećem sa veselim tonom. Kako se u našoj kući u Subotici ne može boraviti, reših da nam po prvi put u životu rezervišem smeštaj na Paliću i to tik uz jezero. Vila Palić je bio savršen izbor: uz obalu jezera i Ženski štrand, na 5 min od zoo vrta i svih ostalih atrakcija. Pritom ima fenomenalno dečije drveno igralište u dvorištu. Dve prostrane sobe, balkon s pogledom na jezero i susedno dvorište koje ima bazen i koje nam je pravilo ''zazubice'' sve vreme a naročito Ianu koji bi svako jutro samo proturio nosić kroz prorez u obliku srca na drvenoj ogradi i tužno govorio ''Eno ga bazen!''. Nadomestićemo mi taj komšijski bazen sa 2 na Paliću i jedan u Subotici. Verovatno ste zaključili da se u jezeru ne može kupati i da je fine zelene boje od silnih algi, ali veći problem je bakteriološka neispravnost vode. Eh, a ja sam u tom istom jezeru proplivala. Behu to neka druga vremena.
Palić je odlično mesto za porodične izlete i odmore. Ima sasvim dovoljno atrakcija da zadovolji dečije prohteve za 2 do 3 dana a kada vam ponestane ideja, pravac Subotica, koja je udaljena svega 6km. Od fenomenalnog zoo vrta, koji je ujedno i botanička bašta, preko velikog igrališta tik uz jezero preko iznajmljivanja četvorocikla i pedalina. Nekoliko privatnih hotela i vila imaju bazene otvorene za javnost a prošle godine su renovirani i termalni bazeni na Muškom štrandu. Njih na žalost nismo uspeli da posetimo jer smo zapucali u ponedeljak i gle iznenađenja, bazen ne radi ponedeljkom kao i muzeji. Sasvim logično. Veliki minus celoj turističkoj ponudi Palića je radno vreme i nepostojanje sadržaja mimo vikenda. Od petka do nedelje uveče sve vrvi od života. Promenada krcata, igralište puno, restorani polu-puni, svi frižideri za sladolede otvoreni, kiosci sa suvenirima i hladnim pićima u funkciji a onda u ponedeljak jutro totalno mrtvilo. Nigde nikog, čak ni vozić Ćira ne saobraća na relaciji Ženski - Muški štrand, sve zatvoreno, samo se galebovi i bele čaplje izležavaju na molu. Nije znatno bolja situacija ni na bazenima. Otišli smo do Campinga, koji je divno zamišljen i projektovan u šumici sa 3 bazena, 2 terena za odbojku u pesku, drvenim klupicama i stolicama za piknikovanje, ozidanim mestima za roštilj čak i bungalovima u planinskom stilu sa spuštenim krovovima, samo to ništa ne funkcioniše. Rade bazeni u kojima je voda ledena ali sve ostalo je prepušteno zubu vremena i napušteno. Ne radi više ni bar te ako niste poneli svoje piće, ni vodu nećete pronaći. Na takvu jadnu situaciju smo naleteli i u zoo vrtu kada je u pitanju ponuda osveženja, hrane, bilo čega. Kafić pored dečijeg igrališta je zatvorila poreska uprava i oblepili su ceo prostor sa crvenom trakom kao da je mesto zločina. Sreća pa ja uvek vučem sa sobom jabuke, gricke, vodu. Te sitnice pokvare celopkupan utisak inače divne prirode, savršenih cvetnih leja koje radnici zelenila besprekorno održavaju i čupkaju travčice po ceo dan. Obnovljene drvene građevine iz doba secesije (1912. godina) na obali jezera stoje ponosito i prazno. Velika terasa na kojoj su se u davna vremena održavali plesovi a potom je bila pretvorena i u restoran, nema nikakvu funkciju. Jedno veče smo naleteli na grupu kostiminiranih muzičara koji su držali tu neki koncert, nigde promovisan. Ostalo vreme smo tu igrali fudbal - savršen brisani prostor za pikanje lopte. I Mala Gostiona, gde je radio moj deda Uja - Gazda i gde su moji roditelji imali svadbeni ručak, je u blagom propadanju. Hrana nije loša, ali nekada je bila mnoooogo bolja. Bar su se deca oduševila malim igralištem u sklopu restorana sa peskom i trambolinom. I onda pričamo Deki i ja kako bi to moglo mnogo bolje da se reklamira i da Palić ima čime da se diči i da bismo mi to ovako i onako uradili, kad... poslednji dan ja sa decom stojim pored fontane sa dva labuda (nisam sigurna da li su guske ili labudovi) i tu mama sa dvogodišnjim sinom i bakom. Podenemo razgovor i kažu one meni kako Beograđani vole da dolaze jer je mir i tišina i ja u momentu shvatih - neće Vojvođani nikad ovo promovisati više nego što im treba jer nema tih para da im kupe ovu oazu tišine i ovu debelu ladovinu do kojih gradska vrelina ne probija. Ovo je ipak ispao pomalo nostalgičan post, al' čekajte samo kad se raspišem o Subotici... Ih, ima i vama suza da kane ;) |
AuthorIstoričarka umetnosti koja voli pisanu reč, fotografiju, da putuje, da otkriva nove svetove i kulture, da boravi u društvu životinja i u prirodi, a ponajviše svoje dečake. Imam ih trojicu (za sada)... Categories
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