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Ok! I admit it, I am living in Croatia for 1 year and 4 months and half. It’s kind of hard to admit because it seems too much time. Then I read that quote which is in the title and it made me think...
And yes, I agree, there are now many things which I don’t even realize anymore that I wouldn’t do, say, accept, understand or like if I was in Portugal. Yes, I am losing conscious of the cultural differences and I take many things already has granted in my life in Croatia. So I decided to make a list of things I got used to and other things which I still haven’t got used to it.
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Sorry if it’s too long but I didn’t have much time ;)
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Things I got used to:
- To travel daily by tram without ticket
- To live in a city with no hills, which is opposite to any place I have ever lived
- Think in Kunas (Croatian currency)
- Travel by train anywhere including many other countries, basically to live in central Europe!
- Ask for a beer and expect a half a litter beer at least
- Drink coffee with milk and not expresso
- To say “Bok” and “Dobartek” instead of “Oi” and “Bom apetite”
- Cabbage salad (couve!crua!)
- Enter the bus in any door, including the back door
- To live in a very green city
- Comfortable seats in all coffee shops
- To read “ž” like “j”, and “j” like “ie”, “nj” like “nh”, “lj” like “lh”…
- Being random
- People singing anywhere anytime
- People speaking loud
- Being open-minded about sexuality (mine and others) and sexual jokes
- Accept sexual jokes of people I have meet 30 minutes ago
- Tell sexual jokes everyday
- Guys opening the door for me
- Lack of political games in AIESEC
- To have an MC office with window heheh
- Make fun of Slovenia size
- To wear a Croatian t-shirt
- That people think I am Croat and that people speak in Croatian with me
- X-cards and going to cantines
- Dorm life
- Balkans humor
- Croatian hospitality and nationalism
- Take the shoes off when I enter a house
- To “sing” Croatian music and enjoy it
- To be everyday out of my comfort zone
- To refer to Croatia as “my country” when referring to AIESEC
- Not to understand what people talk in the tram or in the streets and not care about it
- Bakeries with a lot of salty stuff and pizza slices
- Not to read subtitles
- To think (and dream) in English
- The security level even at night, even in parks!
- To buy something in a bakery and then eat it in a bar (basically a different place from the one which I bought it)
- Not to be polite
- People calling me “bitch”
- To have internet at home
- Go to supermarkets and not understanding the name tags
- Being called Cata and even introduce myself as such
- Too many things which I can’t recognize anymore…
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Things I still didn’t get used to:
- To have my best friends "living" in my PC
- The weather
- The lack of cultural diversity
- Not having sea near Zagreb
- To be with AIESEC’ers and to do AIESEC 24 hours per day
- People judging others based on first impression
- “Bitch is good, polite is not” mindset
- To be the only girl without makeup in faculty or in a party most of the time
- The fact that people don’t wait for me to answer their questions and continuously interrupt me
- To have friends here that I know that in one year from now won’t be part of my day to day life anymore
- Their wine (shitty) and wine with Coca-cola
- Lack of waves in the sea
- The fact that all the people with whom I work with were born in a country which does not exists anymore
- The kids speaking in Croatian so easily and I can't!
- Their “Turkish” coffee
- To use Croatian keyboard (Z and Y are opposite)
- Not to do other stuff besides AIESEC, not to attend concerts, not to go to non-aiesecers parties...
- To update my blog :p
- Not playing Boat Race every week
- Not having Bairro Alto once per week
- To drink Rakija
- Borrow money instead of lending money
- Snow :)
- To have posters with my picture
- That some people “pity” me because of my choice
- That I can’t read newspapers
- Expressing myself in English...
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3 comments:
Hi Cata,
Its funny how people are adapting quite fast when living in different places and the things that at a first glance were like "What are they doing?"...become after some months.."WE are doing this way".It happen the same when moving in Portugal and at the end was all "loss of consciousness"...But I believe the people that are easily adapting are taken much faster the benefit of cultural differences, altought sometimes they take this as fact and treat the whole world as their home.
Ah yes, life.
The twists and turns, the experiences we learn and hate, one thing you got to admit, your enjoying most of it, if not all of it, so enjoy the ride.
Just never take anything for granted though.
Identity is the only thing you've got when stripped of "valuable" possessions, know who you are, what you are, lose that and you're just a walking carcass of flesh and bones.
Nem sei porque "carga de água" falei em inglês. lol :P
Força ai.
Hello! Great blog! Sou do Brasil, tu se importaria de dar algumas dicas sobre a Croatia?? Thanks! =)
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