Grobo Mleta Kava

"Coarsely Ground Coffee"
I think those of us West Coasters that drink coffee are quite particular about it. Having been to Europe a couple of times now, and not being a big espresso fan, I thought I would come prepared. I brought some of my favorite coffee from home, and knowing I would not find a drip coffee machine here, brought filters and a filter holder to make coffee with. And I brought my 'To-Go' cup. (And yes, the stainless "To-Go' cup gets me some strange looks!) Making coffee like this is not not my preferred way, but I thought it would keep me going until I managed to find something to make coffee in here. A friend suggested I might find a French Press, so within a couple of days of arriving, I set about to find one.
"A what?" was the usual reply when I asked around. Hmmmmmm! This is turning out to be harder than I thought. Thanks to the internet I was able to show a picture of a French Press, but still I got the same blank looks in response to my inquiries.
Finally, last weekend, after much poking around in the shops here I was able to locate one! "Woo Hoo" I exclaimed when I found one, and had to restrain myself from doing a little happy dance right there in the store!
Next obstacle was the coffee. You see I only brought a few days worth of coffee from home and by the time I had spent 10 days here, my supply had dwindled to the point where I had to start looking for more. Again a bit of a language problem, but I finally found what might do the trick....... but when I opened the package I was concerned with the fineness of the grind. Yup, it took one cup of coffee, and one large mouthful of grounds to tell me that yes, this grind is too fine for the French Press. All week I have been treated to mouthfuls of grinds as I get to the end of my morning coffee. Again I asked around, and again the same blank looks. I can get a very fine grind used for Turkish coffee, or a very fine grind for espresso, or the beans themselves.
I am delighted to report that although it took a trip to Celje, and the patience, and the translating skills of my friend Tanja, but finally, we found beans, AND the means to grind them! However, even Tanja experienced difficulties explaining my request in Slovene because at one point she turned to me and exclaimed "you would think I just asked the strangest question ever!"
We found a large store that sells the beans, and outside this store, in the middle of the mall corridor there is a grinding station set up where one can grind nuts on one side and coffee on the other. After much laughter as we figured out the machine, I finally came home with the right grind, and this morning had an excellent cup of coffee, with NO mouthful of grinds to chase it down!

Gone to the Dogs

Ljubljana is a very dog friendly town. Everywhere I go I see people walking their dogs, or sitting at a cafe or restaurant with well behaved dogs at their feet. This makes me miss my guys a lot, but fortunately I get regular updates, and cyber kisses from them! :)
Today I was feeling just a little blue, missing their furry faces, when I rounded the corner in my apartment building stairwell, and what should be coming towards me but a little dog. I stopped to give him a pat, and immediately got lots of real kisses, and suddenly all was bright in my world.



This fabulous picture is one of the students and her dog Grin (a red merle Australian Shepherd) competing at an agility trial. There is a competition locally next month, and I will make sure I am in town that weekend to go and cheer her on.
And for those of you who might be curious, docking tails is forbidden here in Slovenia, so this Aussie, has a tail!

Look Up.... Look Waaaaaaay Up

On my way to work this morning, I was paused at a street light and while waiting looked up at the castle. Yes, I look at a castle every day, to and from work... now how cool is that? To my surprise, suspended in the sky close to the castle was a hot air balloon. WAY COOL I thought and paused to watch it until it disappeared. Hmmm I thought, pays to look up in Ljubljana. Now Ljubljana is a city of cobblestoned streets, so sometimes looking up can be a bit hazardous, so it pays to pause for a moment to look up, rather than blindly step forward, trip over the uneven stonework, making a spectacle of myself, arms flailing to keep my balance, feel foolish, grin at the passers by, and look up again! I counted not one, not two, but 5 pretty balloons in the sky this morning.








I later learned that these balloons offer sightseeing tours when it is sunny out, a tour lasting about 2.5 hours, for 82 Euros. My hosts for lunch today were kind enough to look this up on the Internet for me. Today the resident who is doing some Cytology training with the students, invited me for lunch. I wound up sharing the better part of the afternoon with Biljana, and her charming husband Simon, and delightful daughter Mila. Biljana cooked enough food to feed a small army, and sent me home with enough to last me the entire week! I particularly enjoyed the Macedonian Salsa, and the Strudel, all made by hand this morning by my hostess. Good food, good company, and Turkish coffee to round things out! Nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Ljubljana!


A bird's eye view.

All Work and No Play...

Yeah, yeah, they say it makes you dull! Hopefully the novelty of this Canadian and the funny way she talks has not worn off yet! I have been putting in some long hours, was at work today for a few hours and will return again tomorrow for the same.



I thought I should send you some photos of the people I work with. First off this is one hunking huge multihead microscope that you see here in the first picture. It has spaces for 10 people to sit around! This is twice the size of the multihead microscope I work with in Canada. I have greatly amused the staff and students here as the first thing I have done, when sitting down at a microscope is clean it. I've been cleaning lots of microscopes!


The next set of photos is the class of 2007-2008.
The second photo shows the teaching technologist, in white.
We share an office, and she kindly picks me up for work in the morning when it is raining.
I am enjoying her company, and her laughter, she has certainly gone out of her way to make me feel welcome.

The final photo is the resident that is also working with us. I have most appreciated having her sit in with our multihead sessions as she fills in some of the gaps for me, in Slovene.
My sessions are in English, but the lectures that the others give are in Slovene. All of the students have a good knowledge of English, and are gradually becoming more comfortable using it with me. They all get a chuckle out of my Slovene, but I am learning new words every day, and they are very patient with me, thank goodness.
The work is interesting and very challenging, as I am struggling a bit with the way they prepare their material here. Most of all though, it is rewarding.
And not to worry, the next two weekend I will be away.... so it isn't ALL work....

Street Busking... Good For The Soul

I have discovered that Ljubljana is no different from other major cities in that on major street corners and walk ways, there are various street performers. Yesterday it was a quartet of pretty girls singing Amazing Grace that made me pause.

Today was my first day at work. It began just after 6 am, and ended just after 3 pm. I have to admit to feeling a little overwhelmed, but I am very sure that this will settle down in the next day or so as I slip into a routine. I had an offer of a ride home, but decided I needed to walk, to clear my head. I was mulling over the day, and making a check list of things I need to do to prepare for tomorrow when a sound intruded into my thoughts.
I paused and thought 'that sounds like a Didgeridoo!' and then I thought 'ok, Gwen, a bit too long on the microscope today, this is Slovenia, not Austrailia!
But my feet followed the noise, and when I rounded a corner, what did I see, but a chap doing a very good job of playing the Didgeridoo, and keeping time with one drumstick tapping on the sidewalk. This made me smile, and I stayed to listen for a bit. Eventually I meandered on, thoughts of work having been replaced by the deep melodious tones I had heard.
As I drew closer to the Square, I paused again, this time drawn by the sound of various aboriginal wind instruments being played, very well. Again I stopped to listen as a trio of traditionally dressed performers entertained us with hauntingly beautiful music.


My half hour walk managed to take an hour today. But somehow I came home much less tired than when I left. Music.... good food for the soul.
Today is my Dad's 76th Birthday. Happy Birthday to you, my dear Daddy!

Street Baskets and Vintage Cars

While walking to and from OI yesterday evening, I noticed that the heart of old Ljubljana was all a buzz, with various platforms and temporary fencing being set up. Hmmmm I wondered, what is going on here this weekend?


This morning I decided to venture down to the market (open every Saturday morning from 9-12) and possibly try my hand at buying some fresh produce right off the local farms. WOW!!! this place is hopping! There are a couple different markets here on weekends. Saturday is devoted to the regular market where the farmers come to sell their wares. There also is an Art Market here on Saturdays until the end of September. This features local talent, which is quite something. I did manage to pick out some fresh veggies and a small posey of flowers for my place, and felt I handled it like a local! Not that any local would start the transaction with "English?", but they do finish it with "Hvala" (thank you in Slovene) which brought me beaming smiles from the vendors!
It was the noise that drew me...... Of course I couldn't understand a word from the chap with the microphone, as he was speaking in Slovene, but he sounded very excited, so I decided to check it out.


To my astonishment I came across a very spirited game of hoops, set up right in the centre of the square. Now the square is made of cobblestones, so I would never have expected to see basketball being played there! Overnight, they had covered the surface with a nice platform, set up the nets and Basketball lives in Slovenia! There were two courts set up, so I hung around an enjoyed the view! GRIN!!
I don't think the nets are as high as they are at the North American games I have attendeded, but the rules seem the same. Finally the announcer switched to a little english, long enough to welcome visitors to Ljubljana and to tell us he hoped we enjoyed celebrating sport in Slovenia, with "Street Baskets"!


Between games I wandered further down the street to find a vintage car show in full swing. My favorite was the beautiful old Ford, which had to be cranked to get it started again when it stopped to let in passengers.


On Sundays the Market changes. It transforms into a flea market, full of antiques. I was out walking this morning, map in hand to find a different route to work, and came back through the flea market. Many things I would love to buy, in particular a beautiful wooden chest, but how on earth would I get it back to Canada? I will have to look into this further. What also caught my attention this morning was a box of old vinyl albums, featuring Hendrix, Prince, Bob Dylan, ZZ Top (who recently played in Vancouver), Bruce Springstiens 'Born in the USA' and even Saturday Night Fever!
The vendor rattled off at my interest, so I quickly turned my backpack around, pointed to the Canadian Flag patch I have on it and said "English, please?" He gave me a blank look, but the younger chap with him smiled and said in perfect english "you like the rock and roll?" Yeah, I smiled, I do!

Well it's 2:00pm here on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I think I will go and take my book, my camera, and a snack down to the river and enjoy the sunshine.

My Room With A View

After a long flight on a large plane, and then a short flight on a small plane, I was met at the Ljubljana Airport by fellow teaching technologist Janja (pron. Yanya).
The Airport is very small, with one luggage carousel, and a very pleasant customs officer who asked me for my passport, and then if I had anything to declare.... "YES I MADE IT!!!!" and all of that took about 5 minutes!

Janja took me to my appartment, and while we waited for the landlord to arrive, we walked around to find the grocery store, a couple of Pubs, a fruit stand, a DVD rental store and a pet food store!
Finally the landlord arrived and took over from Janja. My landlord is expecting their first child at any moment, so he was quite frazzled!

There was a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine waiting to welcome this weary traveler, and after a bit of explanation as to where everything is in this little studio, and getting me hooked up to the internet, and writing down my street address in case I get lost, Matevz (he graciously agreed to let me call him Matt!) raced off back to the hospital.

I have a nice balcony, with a pretty view. I will be spending much home time out here I suspect! I had forgotten that Ljubljana is a city of church bells. The bells are ringing as I write this.
I live on the 7th floor, and they even provided me with a bicycle!








Note to self: Here in Ljubljana when one buys fruits and veggies from the supermarket, one must weigh them oneself, and then enter their number into the scale and it will print out a price sticker! OOOOOOPS! My confusion caused a few giggles with the people in the check out line!

What is also interesting is that my blogger template is now written in Slovene, but it posts in English. I'm going to have to ask Matt if my computer is now bilingual! LOL In the meantime, please excuse the spelling errors, I cannot figure out how to tell it to check the spelling in Slovene!