There are no secrets in the Balkans

Look Look! Tiana and Sarah are Tan!

Well the subject line was our motto, and I'm sticking to it. Sorry (especially to mom) it's been so long, but I've been in Croatia/Montenegro with Tiana and company, and haven't had a free moment to write. After the month straight of rain we've had here in Ireland, the beach was much more tempting than the front of a computer screen :) I've written this blog in the airport in Zadar, Croatia out of pure boredom for my delayed Dublin flight. It seems there are two loopholes in having a blog instead of a journal: 1) no paper to write on, ever and 2) I don't actually get to write down the "full truth", because this is public. However, I've decided to write slightly more of the "full truth" because I know that only people who really love me actually get to the bottom of these epic blogs :) So read on; this might be juicy.

My holiday from my holiday started out rocky. I couldn't money out of the ATM in Croatia (This is a very familiar pattern. Screw you Chase bank.) and I got there too late to exchange money. Hence, I was left at the airport with no money for a bus into town to meet Tiana and her brother Stefan. Luckily, a very kind soul, his name is Niall, paid my way for me. I think he is an angel. We are actually sitting next to each other getting ready to board the plane right now because, as it turns out, we are also on the same flight back home. I finally met up with Tiana and Stefan in Zadar, Croatia. Most people pass through without stopping, but we were here for 2 days and it really is spectacular. We did a lot of beaching and walking around old architecture. We took a day boat trip (complete with all you can eat, all you can drink!) through a thousand islands in a National Park off the coast of Zadar. Amazing!
This is Tiana and Stefan and the amazingly clear green of the Adriatic Sea in Zadar.

I was surprised, however, about how much blatant racism towards Serbians goes on in Croatia. I guess the war only ended ten years ago, but, people could tell that Tiana and Stefan were Serbs as soon as they spoke, and people, at times were very mean to us. (Wrong directions, Yelling, Threats!) We did, of course, also meet some wonderful Croats. Also, the Balkans have a surprising number of Nazi skinheads. I actually walked into a jewelry store that had a swastika necklace! I wanted to take a photo for the blog...but I decided that would have been unwise.

While in Zadar we sat outside a Kultur Shock concert. (They are from Seattle...and sitting outside concerts loud enough to hear is all the rage, apparently.) It was pretty wild. I met this guy Anton, who has matching pencil wounds with me! How people find these things out about each other, especially with a language-barrier, is always a shocker.

Then, Tiana and I took an 8 hour bus ride to Dubrovnik. I definitely will go back there when I have a chance because it is gorgeous and I needed more time there than just one day.
This is us crossing the Croatia/Montenegro border on foot. I will just say that how we crossed was not exactly legal, but the crazy Montenegran bus man left us no other choice. To make matters even better, Montenegro stamped directly over my Irish visa because, gasp, I have no more pages left in my passport. (Yes, you worry-warts, I am going to the embassy tomorrow to see what they can do for me. Ireland didn't bother to stamp my passport upon return. I think they just thought I was crazy to keep coming back in the rain and gray, and they took pity on me.)

We spent the rest of our trip in Herceg Novi, Montenegro where we stayed with Tiana's cousin Mila and her boyfriend Ivan.
This is Alex, Ivan, Mila, Tiana and Myself. Pretty much the Montenegro crew, plus or minus some people every day. Alex is Tiana's London friend, who many of you have met at various "Dress Like You Mean It" parties over the years. I am staying with him next week in London.

Montenegro was a BLAST because Ivan's family owns a house there and 1/2 of Belgrade was vacationing so "we" knew many, many people and it was a giant beach party every day and every night. I actually saw the majority of Montenegro b/c it is so small and one day we rented cars and drove through many seaside/mountain towns and went out to Ivan's friend's bar in Budvar. I think the Adriatic is quickly becoming my favorite body of water. It miraculously remains perfectly cool when it is a blazing 102 degrees every single day. I wish I could remember all of the teeny towns' names, but, because everyone else spoke some sort of Croatian/Serbian/Montenegran, I never really had to know where we were going. It was great to just be led around and not have to do any thinking. Knowing people is the best way to travel, by far.
This is a view of Herceg Novi from a boat, complete with Fortress, Mountains, and Adriatic.

Now for the realizations/confessions part of the blog. The things I've decided this holiday are as follows:
1) I'm not doing the TEFL class in Galway. (Because, damnit!, I already HAVE my Masters in Education, and, as Marisa so eloquently put it: "It's like going back to paralegal school when you've already passed the bar!")
2) I'm going to hang out in Dublin/Malahide until late September and try to dome some volunteering since I can't get a job. I will then be coming back to the states for an unspecified amount of time. There will be a NYC birthday party. Details to come soon :)
3) I am applying for my UK Visa so I can teach there. I have devised a mostly legal way to begin my paperwork before I get back to the states. I probably shouldn't write down details about that on the interweb ;)
4) I'm going to England on Saturday for a week and hanging out with Tiana and Alex. I will not be seeing Eamonn because he totally sucks! (Here's the juicy part...) Eamonn, in case you hadn't gathered, is an Irish guy who may have forced me into having a crush on him even though I have been really trying NOT to because it is highly impractical. He may or may not have invited me to stay with him in London. He may or may not have planned for us to go to Oxford together. And, he may or may not have a girlfriend/exgirlfriend (who really knows?) or something in between. So, needless to say, someone please remind me that next time I decide to think someone is too good to be true, they are. Thanks :)

See, if you made it to the end, you got the good stuff! (Thanks for the comments and for the lovely response emails. Keep em coming!)

Love you all,
Sarah