Greetings from Zenica

Katie and I are wrapping up our day in Zenica, and what a day it was.We left Sarajevo at 8 oclock and arrived here 9:30. The drive up was beautiful. So far Bosnia reminds me of West Virginia . It has a lot of mountains and streams. The haystacks in the fields are like Indian teepees. We were met in Zenica by Edina, Berina, Hana and Nermin. Darko was in London because of a family funeral and Alma was in Spain on the school trip. We toured Zenica which is very beautiful. The river Bosnia runs right thru the middle of the city. There are lots of shops , restaurants and cafes. We had a traditional Bosnian lunch at the restaurant called "Salcinovic" which is part of Edinas family. Katie and I had a sampler platter of Bosnian food. It was terriffic. We then went to the a trade fair that have exhibites from 32 countries. We get a sample of several food products. After the fair we went to the American corner at the library. The Bosnian teens presented their projects to us. They talked about their English classes that they taught for a month. We then heard of a teen club they are forming. In adittion to the five Bosnian teens, there were also eight other members. We presented them with 100$ donated by Sussex county 4-H. We then went across the street to the restaurant "Dubrovnik" where we met all their parents. It was really nice to meet the parents of such a great kids. After that we rushed to the restaurant "Wisa" where we had a traditional Bosnian Muslim meal at exactly 6:33 p.m., when sunset was. It is the month of Ramdan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sundown. The food was great, especially the kadaif, a sweet dessert of honey, nuts and noodles. We then crossed the street and had a drink called Boza, made only in 1 cafe in Zenica. Now Nermin and I are here writing to all of you. I think our day is close to an end. Tomorrow will be just as busy though as we see more of Zenica and Vranduk, an ancient castle, then its off to Banja Luka, three hours north of here in the mountains. Bosnia certainly is beautiful and the people are great. More to come tomorrow.