Welcome to Sanski Most.

View from the bus window

We left Sarajevo this morning by bus on a five-hour trip to northwestern Bosnia and the small city of Sanski Most. The drive was lovely—I sat next to the window and kept my eyes glued to the scenery, gaping at the forested mountains and soaring rock precipices. Homes and villages are scattered throughout the highlands of Bosnia, grouped in red-roofed clusters under a bright blue sky. It’s hard to believe people fled through these mountains a decade and a half ago—the hills are already ridiculously steep and would be even more treacherous filled with land mines. (Many still are.) Nowadays, the scenery is idyllic, with cute little towns and homes with cheerful, flower-filled windowboxes. But occasionally you glimpse the bombed-out ruins of a home on the hillside, or a cluster of grave markers memorializing the slaughter of a family, and the reawakening is a harsh one.

Such is life in a world recovering from war.

We stopped at a gorgeous waterfall midway through the drive—at just about the perfect time, actually, because I was starting to feel motion sick from the winding drive through the mountains. It was lovely. I’ll try to put up a few pictures eventually… but we all know how bad I am at taking pictures.

Hey look!  The waterfall!

Around lunchtime, we arrived at Sanski Most, which reminds me a lot of home. (I was being teased about Iowa again today… I think they’re just jealous. Or insecure, right, Mom?) It’s much smaller and quieter than Sarajevo, which is a pleasant change for me. I love Sarajevo—it’s beautiful—but I feel much more comfortable in this city. We greeted a group of about 15 Bosnian high schoolers when we arrived; together, our two groups will be working on conflict resolution exercises for the next few days through the Center for Peacebuilding in Sanski Most. Today we talked about the origins of conflict, primarily, and discussed the complicated, multifaceted factors which lead to internal, interpersonal, and large-scale conflicts. It’s important work which remains unfinished and is really applicable everywhere, not just in places which have been wracked by war. I’m glad to be learning how to more effectively be, well, a peacemaker.

Tonight after dinner we wandered around Sanski Most, getting our bearings and enjoying the city. It felt a bit like Nordic Fest, actually, with tons of people outside enjoying the summer night and walking around downtown with their families and friends. I love that we actually get to meet people in Sanski Most, and that there are almost no tourists, so we get to integrate into the life of the community itself a little bit. (Well, actually, I felt like we got rock star status tonight as we walked around—everyone’s like, ‘Whoa, a big group of Americans; I wonder why they’re here’… ha, if only they knew that we’re not as cool as they think...) But then it started raining suddenly, so we booked it back to the hotel and now it’s time for bed. I get to run in the morning!

By the way, speaking of… running? Bosnian ice cream is awesome. And Bosnian pastries. Mm. Mmmmm. I miss fruits and vegetables—it’s a lot of meat and bread here. But it’s delicious. And! I’m very slowly learning Bosnian. My favorite word is still jabuka (apple), which I learned from Jack—the girls who speak Bosnian think it’s hilarious that that is the one and only vocabulary word I came into the country. I suppose that is kinda weird… ha.

Oh, and p.s., Eric and I sent a postcard to the Calvin international relations department yesterday. I think that forever cements our nerd status. Woot.