Dobro Jutro!

The red bag is full of dragon beans...

The market near my dorm.

Saturday morning in my neighboorhood is absolutly lovely. The student dorms are in a neighboorhood called tresnjekva, a neighboorhood close to the center of the city but still residential. They have their own green market and large Konzum (the chain of grocery stores) and lots of little cafes. Walking to the internet cafe from my dorms takes me though the green market where tables and tables of covered in vegetables of various shades, carrots ranging from bright orange to a pale yellow, cabbage-raw, pickeled, and chunked, dragon beans spotted pink, bundles of carrots and root vegetables for making vegetable stock, the stench of fresh fish from the edges of the market. The venders ask you what you want as you walk by, as I eye the brussel sprouts and pickeled beets, yearning for a kitchen, i always shake my head no, maybe uttering a "ne hvala" (no thanks). Today I am just passing through for the free smells and smiles. The market on a saturday morning is bustling. Some of the venders are older women, their heads covered with printed scarves, their bodies round and stout and hardy, often wearing large framed glasses, and their skin wrinkled like wet laundry. Other venders are young men and women, with pony tales or buzz cuts, jeans and tennis shoes. I pass on through, following a man with a giant sack full of dragon beans over his sholder, his lady-friend carrying a bag full of chestnuts, heading towards the cafe we always frequent where the young server smiles when I walk in because I'm sure he's curious why I'm here every other day, sitting in the back checking my email.

other interesting sightings:

A family of secret cat feeders in the early afternoon feeding the strays who hang out around the market, spooning cat food out of cans to the colorful bunch of kitten-looking cats.

A middle-aged man wearing the exact same yellow fanny pack I own.

A women with a new tattoo on the top of her left foot, wearing strappy highheels even though her tattoo is so new its still wrapped in clear plastic wrap.

On wednesday we had in-country orientation, so the people who are teaching english in other cities were in town, it was a nice excuse to do some sightseeing, including going to the ultra-new contemporary musuem in Novi Zagreb, where one can take a three story slide down to the ground floor... (see photos above!)