1:30 am in Croatia and the Rants begin

I shipped home some things today. I found a place that used FedEx, so I thought that would be a little more reliable than Croatian Post, since the people in the international sector of Croatian Post always seem to be on a break, or "at the other location." Although I think the girls at the FedEx place would have preferred I go to the post office instead of giving them the headache.

I now, however, look at customs in a whole new light. I had to do a piece by piece breakdown of the contents of my box, as well as the cost of the things I was shipping. Um... this is a bit tricky when one is shipping things home that one brought with them. Since I bought them in the US, do I have to pay customs on them because I am shipping them home? It is not as though I am shipping home tens of thousands of dollars in hard Croatian cocaine and don't they have dogs that sniff for that stuff. Well at first the girl didn't understand what I was saying about shippinghome things I did not buy abroad. One she understood what I was doing, she was just as confused about what to do as I was, but we did our best. The funny thing, though, was that when doing the itemized breakdown, the girl asked "Where was it manufactured?" This is the question that makes me now question the validity of International Customs. If I buy something in Spain that was manufactured in China with materials produced by an Italian company, and then try to ship it to the US, why do I have to even think about customs? This stupid "I (heart) Madrid" t-shirt has been more places in the world than I have, and yet the government still feels the need to know that it is coming into the U.S.A. Why? Just because I didn't "buy" it in the U.S.? As Ralphie from "Lord of the Flies" would say, "Sucks to your Customs Agency!" But this trip to CityExpress in Zagreb did produce one of my favorite quotes from my time in Zagreb. The girl told me that my package would arrive in Texas in two days. This shocked me, because I thought the package would take weeks to get home. You know, sit in some bin in Paris for a while, take a long flight to Nepal, get carried to Hong Kong by a Sherpa... etc. So when I looked at the girl in amazement and said, "wow... two days", she simply replied in her thick Croatian accent (imagine Russian mixed with Southern France) "YA, dis is FedEx!" I laughed for a while at that one, I guess you had to be there, but the thought of this Croatian woman being so proud of her FedEx (Federal Express, an American Institution) just gave me the giggles.

I have really enjoyed my time in Zagreb. Apparently so did a few other travelers staying at my hostile, since they would say every morning, "I am leaving today, I swear" then go down to the bar across the street, throw back a few pints (or a few dozen over the course of the day) and then say "I stay one more night, I am too drunk to travel today. I'll be at the bar if you need me." One specific gentleman did this three days in a row. Today when I left, he was sitting in the common room of the hostel, drinking a beer, looking up times for trains to Zurich. I think he will be there one more night, at least.

I met this really nice bartender my second night in town, named Zeljko (or, Jauuuelko, or Jac as I called him since I could never get Zeljko right). He has lived in Zagreb his whole life, formerly a dancer with a company in Croatia, fought in the military during the war with Serbia, and was just a general all around nice guy. He showed me around the city for two days before work, giving me a little tour of the well known and then "not so known" parts of Zagreb.

The most interesting thing for me when talking to him was his opinion of the US. Croatia is a very young and small country filled with history. But because of its size and youth, people don't pay it much attention. Recently, due to the fact that Croatia was joining the United Nations, President Bush made a two day trip to Zagreb. It was quite a big deal for the people of Zagreb, dealing with Secret Service, FBI, and our lovely first family. Zeljko was impressed, but more appalled. He said, "This is the most powerful man in the world, coming to visit our little country, a country that we have worked very hard and sacrificed many lives to get. Yet this one man, with so much power, makes us change our ways and close shops and stay off the streets for a two day visit. Does he not realize that with his job comes the risk of death? You have replaced presidents before, no? So why does he send so many men to risk their lives in another country, but be so fearful that he must risk his own. If he is killed in office, he died serving his country and the world, on honorable way to die. Why does he then not have the courage to step outside without a massive team of armed men around him?"I thought this was a very interesting point he made. Why does the president need so much security? It is paid for by our tax dollars, not his own money, and we elected him to serve our nation, not hide behind secret service. I understand a need for security, he is a well known and sometimes hated figure, but would it not make our president a much cooler guy if he just sucked it up and risked his own life the way he does our brothers and sisters. Plus, if the president didn't have the entourage of security details, he would probably be a lot more careful about the political choices that he makes, thinking "If I do this, is this something that will get me killed?" I think yes. Zeljko also said to me that for many years he was afraid of Americans based on what he referred to as the US's "Politics of Terrorism." Starting wars, making wars worse (he used Vietnam as an example), and terrorizing the rest of the world like a bully. This came out of his mouth after he fought next to our soldiers in the Serbian War.

His fear of America upset me. I don't think I am a scary person, heck I don't think most Americans are scary people, but because of the way that our government deals in political affairs, not just during the Bush Administration, people around the world have learned to FEAR us. Fear begets hate, hate begets war. It reminded me of when dad told me about the Russian guy that came to visit you when you had the two Russian women staying with you. He said he hated Americans, but now that he has met Americans he does not think we are so bad. Is this how we are viewed in most of the world? Probably, maybe not the larger countries like the UK, but the French certainly don't like us, I am sure most Middle Eastern countries don't like us, and I would bet money most African Countries don't like us. I did not like the idea of being feared. I try to live my life in a way that results in the exact opposite, making people enjoy me. I did not realize until I got the Europe how important US. domestic politics was to the rest of the world.

The dispute about votes during the Bush v. Gore election made the world cringe. Billions of people around the world, non Americans, watched the news on pins and needles because no one knew who the next most powerful man in the world would be. It put a sour taste in many people’s mouths. I thought the electoral college situation was something that only Americans fretted over, but many of the people I have met ask me how it works and what is its purpose. I have gotten pretty good at explaining how it works (generally a number of differently sized beer mugs are involved), but the purpose is something that I am not very good at explaining. People around the world think that our votes do not count, that these "electoral college votes" are something that can be bought by a candidate. Sorry to get so political on you. It just hit me hard when I was told "I used to fear your people" I didn't like the way it made me feel. It was not "I used to fear your government" but "your people." Please remember this when voting in future elections. You are electing someone to represent you in U.S. politics, someone to fight for the things you want. But you are also electing the most powerful man in the world, someone who will represent the way you are viewed by people around the world. Having a bad president could prevent someone like me traveling the way I am because the fear people see in Americans, quickly turns to hate. Sarah Palin is on the cover of many newspapers over here. This is an important election to EVERYONE! Please don't let your choice be determined simply by the party for which someone runs.

OK... you have put up with my political rants long enough, I promise that I will keep such posts to a minimum, you want to read about the funny things that happen to me. So I leave you with this: Two priests and a Croatian walk into a bar, no no no, I jest.

When in Croatia make regular stops at the main square in the center of town (ten minutes walk north of the train station), you never know what you will find there. One day there was a big concert, the next time people were getting free heart examinations, but today it was "Croatia got Talent." There was one act after another of old Croatian people showing off their "talent." One group of four did a dance routine with canes to traditional Croatian music. I have never seen my mother perform live in one of the tap recitals, but I hope it is something like what I saw those four people do. It was totally uncoordinated and at one point I think all of them just stopped what they were doing, conversed, and waited for the melody to start again and get to choreography that they actually knew.

Peace and Love, Mark