Change of Plans = Changed my Mind?

I didn't plan to be in Zagreb right now. In fact, nearly every plan I've made in the last couple of years has completely fallen through. But I'm here now, and I'm really enjoying myself and living this new life in this new country with my fiance. Sometimes it's hard to appreciate what you have while it's happening. I'm trying to enjoy and appreciate every day here because I don't know how long it will last. It's important for me to continue remembering that, the fact that this is not forever, and that this is an amazing opportunity and honestly, it's what I always wanted to be doing. I always wanted to be abroad, traveling, being amongst anything and everything foreign. Yesterday, I took the tram and then a bus to work because our car was getting winter tires. I stopped to look at the trams and it's really amazing how far Zagreb really goes with the street art. There are several trams that have been painted with "grafitti" specifically with Dinamo Zagreb grafitti. It looks amazing and cool and I'm so glad the city allows the (old) trams to look like this:

The tram I took yesterday had a new, or rather old, design to it:

 There were pictures of old school Zagreb 

 It's really pretty and different

 If I stare out the window too much from inside, I get a little dizzy because of the design on the window!

 I snapped this one so quickly, but this is just to give you an idea of how the new trams usually look like.

Things are really great these days and it's so nice to take a step back and realize that this is what I've wanted and been waiting for all along. Tomislav and I have been through so much, going back and forth, and being apart from each other for up to 5 months at a time. It's hard to think about and remember those days because we can't imagine it ever being that way again. I can't believe we've been through that. But we made it through those long months apart and thanks to that, I think we have a stronger relationship than most because of the different course ours had to take. The heartbreaking good byes suck, the solo events and celebrations (that you often try to spend having together on skype (like Valentine's Day or raising a glass to say cheers behind your computer screen on an anniversary), dealing with the time difference and not being able to talk more than once a week because of work schedules. 

Example: in the spring while I was in my last semester of grad. school, I was teaching all day and then going straight to night class after school so I wouldn't get home until after 8PM which is after 2AM in Zagreb and T has to wake up early for work, so we had to rely on a lot lot lot of e-mails. We've written thousands of e-mails and sometimes, it's nice to take a look back and remember where we were at that time. What's even nicer is being able to finally be together. Our plans are still quite unclear but what we do know is that we're not going to be apart any longer and we're very excited to go back to the States for Christmas and New Year's! Together! :)

Dinamo vs. Ajax

In honor of last night's (disastrous) Champion's League Game in Amsterdam, I had to post about the previous Dinamo vs. Ajax CL game which was in Zagreb 2 weeks ago. Tomislav and I went to the game here in Zagreb at the Dinamo Stadium in Maksimir. It had been a birthday present for me from T and I was really pumped because I am a big soccer fan and I had never been to any matches in Croatia yet!

The city streets were completely packed on the way to the game, km long traffic jams, but we finally found a parking spot and headed over to the stadium. Tailgating is different here, because there are so many stands of people selling hot dogs, yummy treats, cold beer, and hot kuhano vino (Gluehwein, hot mulled wine with spices, or if you were at T's welcome back party in Philly last winter, you remember what we drank?). It was cold so we got a yummy hot wine and started walking in to the game.

 Thanks to Ivona for lending me her Dinamo Zagreb gear!

Hot dogs, Kielbasa

 
As we made our way in, we came to an abrupt halt that literally made me lose my breath because we were stopped and stuck. All of a sudden, we were at the back of a huge mass of people waiting to get in through first giant gates, then through 3 working (out of 10 possible) turnstyle exits. We ended up being stuck in this massive crowd, suffocating for nearly an hour to go 100 meters through to the entrance. I felt really claustrophobic and nearly became panicky towards the end of it. We were literally became pushed up against people, pelvis to pelvis, my face way below a lot of tall guys, with elbows and arms flying, smushed down. Again, suffocating. People pushing like crazy and it honestly felt like people were fighting for their lives just to get through the turn.

This is the last pic I could get, while I could still move my arms. You can see the entrance is orange. People just squished themselves in even closer because I couldn't get my iPhone out to take any more pictures after this one.

It felt demeaning to see how little respect the stadium workers had for fans and the unfairness that ensued when people tried to enter the stadium and why this had only occurred in the East entrance of the game. (All other entries were completely clear, no line waiting at all!)

After that nightmarish entry, we made it into the game, 20 minutes late, which really made me disappointed in the stadium's organization, but we shook it off and were ready to enjoy the game. I was really happy to see that they had beer and food vendors walking around the stadium to sell snacks so we got a couple of watered down beers and got into the game.

Despite the chaotic start to the game, we had a great time. It's always fun to watch live sports, but it's especially exciting to watch soccer in a country full of soccer hooligans (ok, they're actually more scary than hooligans if you're talking about Dinamo's Bad Blue Boys), huge fans who have a true love for the game, and are ready to sing and cheer their team on! Unfortunately, Dinamo lost the game 0:2 but we still had a lot of fun watching!