Environmentalism!

I finally found something that Slovenians rush through that Americans are wise enough to savor: going to the bathroom.  The faculty-only bathroom here on the fourth floor has motion censors to save power, which is of course not that unusual in the U.S.  What is unusual here is the amount of time you have to sit still.  Here's a picture of the stopwatch I set from lights on to lights off:

FORTY ONE SECONDS!  You get 41 seconds to sit on the toilet and read or check your email or play scrabble on your phone before it is time to sit in the dark or get out.  I'm all for environmentalism, but come on!

Turning the corner

On our way downtown Friday night.

We are getting into the flow here in Ljubljana.  I am (finally) starting to adjust to the stressful life of full-time teaching.  I missed some days of exercise, so my 5-year streak is over, but I'm getting back to daily exercise.  

The girls are getting into the flow of 'normal' life.  They are both taking piano.  Georgia is in a knitting class.  Dahlia starts tennis lessons tomorrow.  All offered on the school premises, which makes things easy.  Ben's classes start this week.  We've found a good place for Bobo to swim.  With life being a little more settled, we can truly enjoy Slovenia!  

'Exposing' ourselves to new things
Last weekend we visited Rogaska Slatina, a spa town about 1.5 hours from Ljubljana.  It's been a popular destination since the Hapsburg Empire, and now seems especially popular among Russian tourists.

View from our after-dinner walk near Rogaska Slatina.

A magical time, thanks to Maja Roy and her family hosting us.  We walked around the historic gardens, sipped the healing waters, then headed up to this amazing spa, Terme Olimia.  Oh my.  Beautiful pools, waterfalls, hot tubs, steam saunas, dry saunas, every kind of water feature you can imagine.  In most areas people wore swimsuits, but for several saunas and some pools, swimsuits were prohibited.  The girls were sort of freaked out about this, and fled to the snack bar after a brief encounter with a sauna full of nude people.  But Ben and I just rolled with it and it was no big deal.  People here are much more relaxed about their bodies.

Maja's grandmother hosted us for a lovely meal at her farm that evening.  Homegrown everything, including the wine and Jagermeister.  Best grapes I've ever tasted.  They also made an amazing GF strawberry walnut hazelnut cake for Ben, which was delicious.

Quick Trip to Istria (Croatia)
This weekend we were going to stay in Ljubljana, but a colleague of Ben's invited us to join them for a day in Istria.  How could we say no?  So we drove to the Istrian Coast in Croatia, about 2 hours from Ljubljana.  It was our first time crossing a border that required a passport.  Luckily they didn't ask for Bobo's papers!  Beautiful day with Ben's colleague Katja and her extended family.  Basically we just hung out, prepared a large meal, ate, hung out, swam in the sea, more hanging out.  Wine.  Gardens.

  

Our lunch.

Walking to the beach.

Ben & Georgia doing yoga, Istrian coast.

People definitely seem to live a slower, more mindful life.  Not so much rushing around, not so goal-oriented.  It's very foreign!


Not-so-nice foreignness
There are so many more fees, fines, regulations and laws here!  There are laws that you have to have your car lights on all the time, even on sunny days.  You have to change your car tires to snow tires by December 1st.  You have to pay fees to accept packages.  Paying for things like gas bills is a huge pain because the meters are inside, and if you don't let the meter reader inside on the random day he comes, they just estimate your usage!  Maybe they send a letter about it, but it's in Slovene, so no idea what it says.  People are used to the idea that most everything is owned by the state (or the church), and they are accustomed to lots of bureaucracy.  The big exception is our school, which is tiny and private, so practically no bureaucracy at all, which probably explains how I got hired...


Empathy for immigrants
I have much more empathy for immigrants these days.  Everything is 10 - 110% harder when you're foreign - and this is true even though we aren't that foreign and most people here speak at least some English.  And we have google translate.

Everything takes a lot more time and a lot more patience.  I'm not used to feeling so incompetent.  My newest Slovenian phrase: Ne govorim slovensko... [I don't speak Slovene].


Teaching
I'm getting a little more used to the rhythm and flow of the classroom.  I still have lots of missteps and shortcomings, but I'm getting better at accepting them and moving on.  Of the 6 classes I teach, I most enjoy Writing and Cultural Studies.  I have a passion for those subjects, and that helps a lot.  Spanish is harder for me.  

I have really small classes, and generally pretty motivated well-behaved students, so that is a huge privilege.  Dahlia has me for 3 of her 8 classes, so I get lots of feedback from her.  I have Georgia for just one class, and she commends me for at least trying to establish some discipline with mischievous classmates.  I teach 5th graders up through high school seniors.  Well there's just one senior in the whole school, but he's in my Spanish II class.

Last week we did a dramatic reading of Gilgamesh with my middle schoolers.  The kids did so well, I'm thinking of taking them to a drama festival in December.  Could be fun, and I've always wanted to go to Bratislava!  This week we're tackling Hammurabi's Code.  Ancient Mesopotamia seems more relevant than ever these days.

I gave my 5th and 6th grade Cultural Studies class a very open-ended assignment on Ancient Egypt, and let them share what they learned to the entire class.  Their projects have been amazing!  I should let them teach more often.  We also did a formal debate on whether or not forced labor was a necessary evil in the course of human progress.  Some interesting dialogue, and they loved the format, so we'll be doing that again (good idea MCB!).

I learn so much from my students.  I have kids from France, Ukraine, Russia, USA, Canada, Mexico, Czech Republic, Japan, Albania, Slovenia, Croatia - it's very international.  My students speak many languages and are world travelers, and yet, under the surface, they seem pretty much like kids in Tennessee.

And now I hope my writing students don't read this post since I'm sure it's filled with the same mistakes I'm often accusing them of making!

Good night!

Indya

It's Not Them, It's Me

I will post about my quest for the best latte in town later, but for now it's important to know that I've gotten a latte or a machiato at maybe 20 different places in town, ever searching for the best one.  After the first couple of tries it became apparent to me that I was not doing it right.  I wanted to walk in, order an espresso at the counter, pay for it, drink it, and leave.  anyone from Knoxville who has seen me at Old City Java will be well familiar with this approach.  This is very much not the proper way to get coffee at a cafe in Ljubljana.  

First, you are supposed to sit at one of the lovely outdoor tables and wait for the waitress to come.  Then you are supposed to order the drink.  And then you wait at the lovely table.  Then the drink comes and you drink it, enjoying your seat and your view.  Then you have to find the very nice waitress and ask for the check, because for whatever reason they NEVER bring you the check in this country.  I think from asking Slovenian colleagues proprietors worry that they seem rude or pushy if they bring the bill, so they politely wait for you to ask.  

I'm not kidding about the lovely outside tables either:

After a few tries doing it the American way, I realized it would be less upsetting for folks if I obliged and sat down like a proper Slovenian.  And I could barely stand it.  Really.  I know I'm a horrible American, but sitting for 20-60 minutes just to have a cup of coffee drove me absolutely nuts.  I'm American, I have places to go!

But, the more I thought about it I realized that it was absolutely me and not them.  Look at these photos of people enjoying life al fresco:

And no one is looking at their phone or working on a laptop, they are just sitting still, often with family or friends, enjoying a beautiful day, and some good espresso (or wine or beer if it is any time after 9:30 am!). 

Seriously, who is the person who needs to rethink his priorities?  I'm the guy who rushes into a cafe, orders a drink at the bar, tries to pay before it is made, and then knocks it back and rushes out.  And it's not like I never waste time at work once I'm there (I'm writing a travel blog for God's sake), it's just that I am (so far) constitutionally unable to sit still for the amount of time it takes to properly order and consume espresso in this town.

Hopefully time will bring more wisdom and patience.  Or I could take what I imagine to be Glenn Reynolds' excellent advice: if espresso makes you want to rush off to work, give up on finding the best espresso and search for the cheapest and best glass of red wine to enjoy al fresco.  There are different implications to that path, but it would certainly encourage stillness.  

Two Very Distinct Shopping Experiences

I mentioned that the law school is located right next to the large Ljubljana market.  Every day except for Saturday farmers, produce sellers, random clothing stalls, and purveyors of tourist junk all set up in a large square. Here's an aerial shot:

I actually found the experience sort of overwhelming at first.  There are a lot of stalls, and some featured produce that was clearly not local or farm fresh, like bananas.  I asked my colleague Katja and she suggested that I shop "with her farmer," Dovč.  Here is a photo of the stand and the farmer:

Very friendly, and the vegetables are electric every time.  And as a regular, she will slip me a few extra carrots on the sly, which invariably makes me happy.  It is a super personal and likable experience all the way around.

The weird thing about the market from an American point of view is that it appears that many or most Slovenians buy their food daily, from small producers, in a manner that has not changed all that much for the last 700 years or so.  I LOVE the Market Square Farmer's Market, but it is a reaction to the dominance of the American grocery store and a twice a week special occasion, while the Ljubljana market is an unchanging, everyday part of life here.

For comparison purposes, consider my other regular shopping experience: the very American (although French owned) E.LeClerc.  The girls actually call it the French Walmart, and that is about right.  It is in a large mall next to the ring road.  It is huge and carries everything from shoes to housewares to groceries and baked goods.  Here's a shot of the interior:

Here is what is awesome and super cheap at the LeClerc: Wine, cheese, chocolate, and coffee.  Seriously, check out a shot of my cart:

Here's what's expensive at the LeClerc: Everything else.  But if the wine, cheese, and coffee is good, you know I'll be back.  

The juxtaposition of the two experiences tells you a lot about European living.  There is a strong resistance to fully embracing ecommerce and the Walmartization of retailing.  Ljubljana still has about 15 different small bookstores, for example.  And yet, time waits for no one, as the various very American style malls ringing the downtown prove.

Generosity

Before we ever came to Ljubljana Dahlia and Georgia had a really good impression of Slovenia because of one person: Maja Dvorcev.  She is a lovely Slovenian woman who studied at the University of Tennessee and was dating (and has since married) my former student Tyler Roy.  The girls met Maja and Tyler when I had one of my torts classes over to my house and they have been big fans ever since.  She is a warm and kind person and ever positive in all regards.  When the girls worried about moving here I would remind them that Maja was from here and was basically representative of the country.

In 2013 we had a visitor from China at the law school and we had her to our house a few times and she seemed to really appreciate the gesture.  When the girls asked why we did this, I tried to explain that when you are a visitor to another country the very best thing that can happen is when someone invites you to their home.  You can see how others live.  You can see their family photos.  And you know that these people have welcomed you to their home.  Here are Georgia and Dahlia with Visiting Professor Cuifeng He at our house in 2013:

This weekend Maja invited us up to her home town of Rogaska Slatina, a beautiful old spa town on the eastern border with Croatia.  We went to see the sights, but mostly because Maja invited us.  She toured us around the town, found us a place to stay, organized a dinner for us on Friday, accompanied us on an amazing spa adventure (including european style nudity!) and even had us out to her Grandmother's farm for dinner on Saturday night.  Here's Maja and Dahlia at the spa:

 
The dinner at Grandmother's was one of those magical evenings you can only have when you visit someone's home in a foreign country.  The meal was delicious, the farm was gorgeous, and the company was the best.  Maja's sister Sonja and her boyfriend Gaspar and Maja's dad and grandmother (who spoke almost no english) all joined us.  The girls got to see the coolest kind of working farm, one with heaps of things ripe and in bloom and right next to each other.  Here they are checking out the grapes:

We ate them right off of the vine, warmed by the sun.  They were so much more delicious than grocery grapes, they just exploded in our mouths.  Georgia was particularly psyched about the walnuts, which gave me the chance to crack some by hand:

Maja's Dad met us with homemade Jagermeister (in a "Don't Mess With Texas" shot glass no less!):

Which was followed by house made wine, aged in these barrels:

After dinner we hiked up a small hill to the local church, which Maja asked the caretaker to open for us.  The view was amazing:

The company was even better:

We returned for a homemade gluten free strawberry walnut cake that blew our mind:

The cake said it all.  We were indeed welcomed.

Am Cham Breakfast

Earlier in the month I went and met with the super nice people at the American Chamber of Commerce for Slovenia.  Here they are known simply as AmCham.  BTW, they should totally rebrand themselves with that name in the US.  AmCham is awesome.

Here is their seal, with the red and white stripes plus the Slovenian Triglav mountain and the three yellow stars:

Here's an even friendlier version with shaking hands:

It is their fifteenth anniversary this year and as far as I can tell it is a pretty big deal here.  It serves as the voice for the international business community, as well as a general force for privatization efforts and pro-market reforms.  I've met with various Chambers of Commerce in the US and once gave a speech at one about deregulating the American legal profession, so I was happy to meet these folks over here.

They were kind enough to invite me to their first "Business Breakfast" of the fall, where they had a panel discussion of privatization experts.  It was fun to meet and greet with what I think were some of the Slovenian business elite and also to learn more about the country's economy (at least from one very specific point of view).

I'll blog more about the economy and privatization later (hold your breath!), but for now I'll focus on the event itself.  It was really well attended and fancy:

 

They held it at the pretty new Sheraton Four Points, naturally, as it is easily the most American hotel in town. Why do I say it was American?  First, it is located outside of town by the ring road and only accessible by car really.  No walking or biking here.

Second, the breakfast was a CLASSIC fancy American hotel buffet:

I almost laughed out loud at the pan full of bacon.  America!  It was also the first time I had drip coffee since I landed here.  And btw, it was pretty bad and weak drip coffee, so lord knows what they think we drink states-side.  I would personally hesitate from taking privatization advice from anyone who drank such bad coffee, but maybe that is just me.

Lastly, the conference room was big and beautiful and has an entire wall of windows that look out over . . . the highway and the parking lot.  Here's the view:

The view is particularly hilarious and American because the other side of the hotel actually looks out over beautiful fields and a forest, so they could have oriented the conference space towards a lovely, bucolic scene.  Instead, we watched commerce drive by at 120 kms an hour.  America!

Still in all it was a great experience and as per usual everyone was very kind and welcoming.  It is always good to imagine the impression we give off overseas and this was an excellent place to view it.

Hiking Slovenia

HIKING!
I finally got to hike!  Saturday Bobo and I hiked up Smarna Gora.  It is sort of like Ljubljana's House Mountain, except there are lots of shrines and of course a nice cafe on the top.  Apparently both Jesus and Mary hiked up this mountain outside Ljubljana - I even saw indentations in a rock where Mary knelt.  There is a bell which girls ring for good luck in love.  I rang it, but Ben did not appear.....  My favorite shrine was to a saint who stopped the onslaught of a Turkish infidel.  As soon as the Turkish leader's body hit the ground, all his followers turned to stone.  It's woodsy most of the way, but pastures on the top, complete with cows and their bells.

Sunday all 4 of us went to this amazing canyon on the far side of Lake Bled called Vintgar Gorge (Soteska Vintgar).  Really cool boardwalk along a rushing series of waterfalls.  Crystal clear water.

A good weekend.

Sunday nights are hard, with the week looming and so much to do to feel minimally prepared for 6 different classes.   But it's getting a tiny bit easier.  Or at least I'm growing more accustomed to the chaos of being a new teacher.  

Below Dahlia presents her model of a complex village.  Good bye paleo times, hello neo-lithic era.  Next you can see Georgia's class making hieroglyphics in clay, just like those Ancient Egyptian scribes!  I think Georgia has done this exact activity 2-3 three times before, but she still liked it.  And overall playing with clay was a HUGE hit.   The two kids who tend to be the most disruptive were super engaged.  So more hands-on stuff.   We don't have smart boards, but I am learning how to use Apple TV with my iPad, so that's been super helpful.  

No easy smiles, but yummy cakes
People here don't greet you unless they know you.  No casual smiles or 'hey howya doing'.  People do make eye contact, but with a straight face.  I know it's just a cultural difference, but it's sort of disconcerting.  I keep wondering if they can tell I'm foreign, if I'm doing something inappropriate or what.

We were looking forward to amazing gelato here, just because we're close to Italy.  Turns out the gelato is only so-so.  But the cakes are AMAZING.  And they have tons of gluten free and raw cakes, which are all tasty.  So when in Ljubljana, get the cakes, not gelato.

Ok, back to grading.

Indya

Relearning Microsoft, with bonus keyboard adventure!

Before we came over I bought a new Apple laptop and loaded all of my documents and programs onto it from my desktop at work.  Theoretically I would have a seamless transition here, as my new laptop would work just like my computer back home.  The complication?  Indya desperately needs a laptop for teaching, so she's taken mine.

It's not that big a deal, my office at the faculty of law has a relatively new Compaq desktop running Windows.  The main problem is that I abandoned Windows for a reason, I hated it.  Here's a great example why:

Yep.  When I do a search for files I get some "help" from "Power Pup," a super hero dog.  It's not bad enough the stupid search did not find what I wanted, I needed power pup to deliver the news to me, while wagging a nonsensical flag (with LSU colors no less) and grinning at me like a moron.  I still like the dog better than the talking paperclip though.

The adjustment is also slightly slowed by the Slovenian keyboard I'm using.  See if you can spot the differences:

The biggest problems are that the Y and the Z are transposed, presumably because Z is a much more important letter in Slovene than in English.  As far as I can tell the Slovenian "y" is almost completely useless, as they use "j" for the "y" sound.  Further, they've hidden the @ sign on the "v" key, requiring the use of control and alt to use it.  But at least I have easy access to č and ć and ž and š, all favorites in my scholarship.

The Faculty of Law

So a short word about the law school outside of my office.  In Slovenia, like virtually all of the rest of Europe, law is primarily an undergraduate study and the law school is just another department (or "faculty") of the University, like the Faculty of Sport or the Faculty of Art.  It seems an especially appropriate name for the law school, since the faculty seems to really run the show here.  

Examples?  When I arrived they gave me a key to my office and a key to the "faculty elevator."  I'm on the fourth floor, but elevators are locked and only for faculty use.  I've had two different colleagues remind me about the elevator when they've seen me take the stairs.  "The stairs are for the students."  Silly Americans staying in shape and saving the environment!

Same with the bathrooms on the fourth floor.  Locked and only for faculty.  Students can walk down to the classroom floors to use the bathroom.  

My favorite example is the Dean's office, which is locked to the public and to the students, but opens with a faculty key.  Seriously, when I took the tour I asked what happened if a student needed to talk to the Dean and I was told that they would have to make an appointment and be "buzzed in" through the locked door.  I am definitely going to suggest this to the new dean at the University of Tennessee.  Although I think a wise dean would rather lock out the faculty than the students . . . .  

Everyone on the faculty keeps their doors closed.  The only way to tell if anyone is in their office is if the light is on and you can see it through the frosted glass.  It is so unusual to have your door open that when I met several of my new colleagues they said "Oh, you're the American.  That explains why this door is open."  I even received an email from the Dean's office asking me to consider closing my door in accord with their "security policy."  So far I've stayed a rebel though, an open door policy is my thing.

One reason to close one's door is that it is exam time for the summer session and a bunch of students have oral exams with the faculty, so at points the hallways are filled with nervous looking undergraduates cramming for orals.  Apparently it is super common to have an all oral exam or a mix of written and oral. My office neighbor was explaining that she'll give the students a short written test and then at an appointed time she'll have the student in her office and she'll grade the written exam right in front of the student and then ask some follow up questions to ensure that the student actually understood the material.  She said it takes about 30-40 minutes per student.  When I noted that this sounded like a lot of work and time she responded that it only took all day everyday for several weeks. Ouch!  Here's a photo of a bunch of closed doors and some sad students getting ready for their oral exams.

The law school has a lovely espresso bar and a small cafeteria.  In both places there is a clearly demarcated table and seats for faculty only.  The tables in the commissary are actually blocked off from the students with a really hilarious bamboo wall.  (It's tiki night every day at the faculty of law!).  

The espresso bar is a great innovation:

Alright, back to work.  But first maybe a latte.

Location, Location, Location

In the Fall of 2011 I moved into a new office at UTK Law.  I've been super happy in that office.  It is located right in the middle of the faculty hallway, so I get to see my colleagues and passing students daily.  It has four really lovely windows and a TON of natural light.  For the first few months in the office I was so pleased with the light that I refused to draw my shades even when I was blinded by direct sun.  The office even has a decent view: you can see part of Neyland Stadium, the pretty tower on the hill, and on a clear day the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

My visitor's office here is a pretty clear upgrade, however.  First, the building is right next to the Dragon Bridge, probably Ljubljana's most famous and scenic bridge.  Here's a view of the bridge from the river:

And here's a rear view of one of the dragon statutes, with the law school in the background:

It is also right next to the daily farmer's market, which is completely nuts and deserving of a forthcoming post of its own.  Suffice it to say that the surrounding neighborhood is pretty cool.

The building itself is a renovated printing factory.  Here's the front door:

Still, when I came for my tour I was a little apprehensive.  At the University of Tennessee we have sometimes put visiting professors in windowless rooms or even in the same office suite as George Kuney (I kid, I kid), so a pretty building does not guarantee a decent workspace for the year.

I think it is fair to say that my office exceeds my expectations.  It is on the top floor and looks out directly upon the bridge.  Here's the view straight out:

In the distance you can even make out the cloud covered Julian Alps:

And the windows are huge:

So yeah, so far so good office-wise.  Productivity-wise is a different story, so back to work!

Our unwitting move to Seattle and jaywalking

Before we came Indya and I spent a lot of time reading about Ljubljana and Slovenia, trying to figure out the good and the bad news about our potential new home.  Nowhere do I remember reading that it is cold and rainy almost every day, and yet that has been our experience since September began.  Don't believe me?  This is the weather prediction on my phone from last night:

Keeping hope alive for next Monday!  Woo hoo sun! 

Our Slovenian friends claim this weather is very unusual and that we are due for a late summer warm spell any day now.  I'll believe it if I see it.  Georgia captured it nicely when she said "I didn't know we were moving to Seattle, Dad."  I had to remind her that the weather in Seattle in September is actually very nice, the rain starts closer to October.  That cheered her right up. 

But at least Dahlia, Georgia, and Indya have been driving together to school.  Because I wanted to be a real European I'm biking to and from work every day.  On dry days it is a super fun 10 minute ride.  The bike lanes are well marked and mostly separated from the cars and a stretch of my ride even goes through the gorgeous Tivoli Park.  Ljubljana is in the foothills of the Alps, but unlike Knoxville, it is super flat and extremely bike friendly.  Except for when it rains incessantly.  Then my brakes hardly work and I arrive at work all bedraggled, sad, and wet.

Which leads us to jaywalking.  As Indya pointed out earlier, jaywalking is super unusual here.  The same goes for bike riders.  Bikers will sit patiently facing a "don't walk" sign even if there is not a car in sight.  This includes everyone from bike messengers to old ladies.  Two days ago I waited patiently next to a guy on a bike with a mohawk and a "F*** Authority" jacket with the anarchy sign on it. 

I grew up in New York City, so I find this behavior hard to understand and excruciating to imitate.  I had been doing ok until the rain broke my spirit.  Sitting on a bike in a slow, grinding rain, getting soaked before work while watching an empty roadway is apparently beyond my powers of self-control.  And when the levy finally broke and I crossed an empty street in the rain it was a sweet, sweet relief.  Anarchy from the USA y'all. 

In case you were wondering what Calvin and Hobbes would look like in Slovene

One of the very best things about parenthood is sharing the things you love with your children.  Sometimes these things are sadly rejected, but when they take, a special kind of magic occurs.  Take Georgia's love of Calvin and Hobbes.  My whole life I have loved comic strips, and to my mind Calvin and Hobbes is the definitive artistic statement in the genre.  Georgia agrees to the point where we have read and reread all of the comics, plus all of Watterson's published essays about his cartoons.  Georgia insisted on bringing her entire 4 volume Complete Calvin and Hobbes with us to Slovenia, all 12.5 pounds of it.  Georgia and I even had a hilariously deep conversation about art versus commerce after we read the introduction to the 10th Anniversary collection together. 

Anyhow, you can imagine our delight when we found the following Calvin and Hobbes books in a Slovenian bookstore.  Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons:

Weirdos From Another Planet:

 

Something Under the Bed is Drooling:

It makes me really happy to know that the brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes translates all over the world.  Sadly there were also a few Garfield books, but that is a rant for another day.