American museum of natural history / Američki muzej prirodne istorije

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

One of the places that we managed to visit, a couple of times even, is one of the worlds most famous natural history museums in New York city.
When my parents where here me and my mother took the metro to the city and it is the worst metro that I have ever seen in my life. It wasn’t really what we expected so we just had to take a picture of that…

Jedno od mjesta koje smo uspijeli posjetiti, čak par puta, je jedan od najpoznatijih muzeja na svijetu je Američki muzej prirodne istorije u New York gradu.
Kad su moji roditelji bili u posjetu ja i mama smo otišle metrom u grad i to je najružniji metro koji smo ikada vidjele. Morale smo to uslikati…

It looked a little better when we got out at the end station. Izgledalo je malo bolje kad smo izašli na završnu našu stanicu.

The museum is HUGE!
The first buildings were built in 1874 and buildings were added during the years. The last one that is built will be (planned) in 2022.
It has 26 buildings and 45 permanent exhibition halls. It contains over 34 million(!!) specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts as well as specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time, and occupies more than 190,000 m².

The one thing that impressed me the most is actually that it is financed by donations. It means that when you come to this museum you can donate 1 cent and enter. You don’t have to buy tickets to enter. Only special exhibitions are payed extra, but if you are visiting the museum once in your lifetime, I would not pay for the extra exhibitions but just go for the permanent ones. They are impressive enough.

Muzej je OGROMAN!
Prve zgrade su izgrađene 1874. godine, a tokom dug niz godina dodavane su zgrade gdje se muzej širio. Posljednja koja je izgrađena planirana je biti završena 2022. godine.
Muzej se sastoji od 26 zgrada i 45 stalnih izložbenih dvorana. Sadrži preko 34 milion (!!) primjeraka biljaka, životinja, fosila, minerala, stijena, meteorita, ljudskih ostataka i ljudskih kulturnih artefakata, kao i specijalizirane zbirke smrznutog tkiva, genomske i čak astrofizičke podatke. Samo mali dio svega ovoga se može prikazati jednom trenutku i ipak zauzima više od 190.000 m2.

They have a fantastic homepage where one can check out the museum in 3 D (link) or explore the exhibits (link)

Imaju fantastičnu stranicu gdje možete gledati muzej u 3 D format (link) i možete čak i vidjeti izložbe (link)

Library and the American (lack of) culture / Biblioteka i američka (ne)kultura

June 13, 2019June 19, 2019 ~ au ~ 2 Comments

One of the things I love and I want my kids to love is the visits to the library. I assume that every city has a public library and so I found out about the public library in White Plains.
The building seems to be built in 60’s which means it is really ugly (my opinion).

But like in many other things it is the inside that counts. Inside is ok. It is for sure not the most beautiful library but it works fine. The trick here was though that even if living in White plains we couldn’t register in this library but we had to go to another town to which our community belongs to and register as members. Means unless you know exactly to which library you need to go, check it up before going to one, or do like us. Drive her and forth to get a library member ship.
The thing that it is for free in the land where everything costs a fortune was motivating.
They have very nice exhibition of different things that schoolers have done which I find very nice of the city to show as proper art. It has a very big children area with toys as well as very nice books which is what I essentially need.

Jedna od stvarih koje volim i koju hoću da mi djeca zavole su posjete u magični svijet biblioteke. Pretpostavila sam da svaki grad ima neku gradsku biblioteku i tako sam pronašla jednu i u White plains. Zgrada je napravljena u nekim 60- ili 70-im što znači da je izrazito ružna (moje mišljenje).
Ali kao u dosta stvari računa se unutrašnji dio i tu je ok. Nije sigurno najljepša biblioteka koju sam vidjela ali haj, ispunjava svoju funkciju.
Naravno nije bilo samo ući i prijaviti se kao član nego su skontali da pod našom adresom pripadamo nekom drugom gradu tako da sam maksuz otišla u drugi grad da nabavim bibliotetsku karticu… Samim tim ako ikad dođete živjeti ovdje onda se preispitajte kojoj biblioteci pripadate jer u današnjenjem visokotehničkom dobu sa internetom i tako to ne možeš da se registruješ bilo gdje nego samo tu gdje pripadaš:P
U državi gdje sve košta jedno bogatstvo osim članstva u biblioteci (džabe) to me onda malo motivisalo da se vozikam tamo vamo.
U biblioteci imaju lijepe izložbe od raznih stvari od raznih školaraca što mi se baš svidjelo jer prikazuju školsku kulturu na lijep način.
Dalje ima velik odjel za djecu gdje imaju čak igračke i dobre knjige (što je u biti zbog čega smo došli). Slabi su sa “internacionalnim gradivom” što me dovodi do zaključka da ovdje naših ili ne postoje ili ne čitaju. Ali ne vrijedi samo za naše nego i za švede ako ćemo biti korektni.

During the day they have some activities for kids which is nice when you have no where to put your youngest kid.
One thing though is their café which is also nice but they serve everything in paper mugs or plastic.
I do not like to eat soups from a paper mug unless I really really have to. But in a “everyday healthy” café with “organic coffee” I don’t see the point of using paper mugs, plates and plastic cutlery. It just looks very cheap!
Another thing is the soup doesn’t cool down so I asked for a porcelain plate for my son and they didn’t have one single normal plate in the whole café. I was asking in three different ways about the plate thinking they hadn’t understood me…then an old lady proudly (?) tells me that is American “culture”. I was looking at her and swallowed and fought with myself for a moment.
I wanted to tell her lady ” ballet, opera, wonderful art are culture. Culture is something positive for the environment. Drinking coffee in a paper/plastic mug is NOT culture it is actually LACK of culture! Maybe it turns culture the day all the Michelin star restaurants start serving their food on paper plates and plastic mugs… but until then… it is for sure not “culture”!
Then I remembered I was here to learn about new “cultures” , to open MY mind not someoneelses mind. So I took my kids out to the kids area and let them choose some books. These are the first books they borrowed in an American library 🙂

First borrowed books in an American library/ Prve iznajmljene knjige u jednoj američkoj biblioteci

U toku dana drže se aktivnosti za djecu koje su super kad nemaš gdje ostaviti najmlađe dijete.
Imaju i kafić! Everyday health (Svaki dan zdravo? ili kako to da prevedem). Ono fazon ekologija sa ekološkom kafom i hranom…koja se servira u papirnim tanjirima sa plastičnim escajgom? Nisam skontala to korištenje papirnih tanjira, plastičnih čaša i to. Meni to samo izgleda jeftino a da ne pričam o promjeni ukusa kafe, hrane itd. ili zagađivanju prirode.
A onda nastane problem da se supa neće da ohladi i hem tako ti ja odem pitati imaju li oni “prave” tanjire…ali me nisu skontale. Pa sam na više načina probala da objasnim da hoću porculanski tanjir… tu mi se onda jedna starija žena ponosno (?) obrati i reče da je to “američka kultura”. Nekoliko sam je momenata posmatrala i borila sama sa sobom. Htjela sam joj reći “ gospođo, balet, opera, divno slikanje su kultura. Kultura je nešto pozitivno za okoliš. Piti kafu u papirnim /plastičnim šoljama NIJE kultura to je, ako ćemo pravo, NEDOSTATAK kulture! Možda postane kultura tog dana kad Michelin restorani počnu servirati na papirnim tanjirima i plastičnim čašama…ali do tad… ovo sigurno nije “kultura”.
I onda sam se podsjetila da sam JA ta što sam došla da se učim o novim kulturama i običajima, da otvorim svoj um a ne tuđi. Tako da sam se (kiselo) nasmijala i djecu pozvala i otišli smo u magični svijet knjiga. A ovo su prve knjige koje su izabrali u jednoj američkoj biblioteci 🙂

Egoizam

September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

Egoizam, ili sebično ponašanje. Egoist priznaje sebi više slobode nego ostalim ljudima. I upravo to uništava Bosnu…
Na odmoru sam se zgrozila kako je prosječno društvo u Bosni (a ni Hrvatska nije nešto bolja) toliku regresiju doživjelo da samo mogu sanjati o nekom “normalnom” životu. Ovo je par mojih doživljaja.
Vidite, prvo što me dočekalo je bilo jedno brdo gajbi na kapiji do kuće. Naš komšija koji drži “Eki restoran”, da bi prekoputa na Adi spriječili dostavku pića u konkurirajući kafić, jednostavno je blokirao prolaz nama kući.
Da se nešto kod nas desi, da recimo hitna ili vatrogasna mora doći, njih čisto zaboli jedna stvar za tim.
Kad sam ih lijepo zamolila, nađe se kćerka gazde da mi ofirno kaže da koristim drveni most. Za one koje ne znaju, drveni most se popravlja jer je dotićni gazda kad je pravio svoj restoran koristio taj most da bi svoje tone materijala prenio na Adu. Naravno, drveni most niti je za to koncepiran niti je to izdržao.
Iskreno, žao mi je te cure. Nije ona kriva što živi tu i što je neodgojena i bez empatije i razumijevanja.
Uglavnom, toj curi nikad nije palo na pamet da se može nešto od dobre volje uraditi. A kako će? Kad joj prvi otac to ne zna.
Jer znate isto tako svaki dan oko 2.00h noću njegovi radnici dođu, nakon što drnda debilna turbofolk muzika sa 200 dB, i počnu bacati flaše u kontejner koji je odmah postavljen do naše kuće. Kontejner koji je ljeti pun muha i koji je čudo da nas nije do sad zarazilo. I to smo lijepo komšiji rekli da skloni, ali naravno to je već viša matematika za dotičnog. Nije kontejner kod njegove kuće, ergo jebe se Esi.
Pitam se gdje je tu u svemu gradonačelnik da svoje radnike malo zaposli da prate malo takve događaje.
To je jednostavno opasno za zdravlje!
A da ne kažem kako je lijepo svaku noć prvo ne uspijeti uspavati djecu jer ne mogu da slušaju tu debilnu muziku i drugo kad napokon od umora i plača zaspu srčani dožive jer ih razbijanje flaša probudi.
Ali nije to sve! Imate onda onih lobotomirani cool tipova koji sjedaju u svoje auto i onda počnu turirati u 3.00h ujutru, da bi pokazali kako njihovo “bijesno” auto od 80-190 PS prži. Ne znam koje se cure na to pale uglavnom, nikad im nije palo na pamet da ima tu ljudi koji žive, spavaju i kojima stvarno nije stalo do toga da slušaju auta kako turiraju.

Idemo dalje…

Znate ne mora se imati bogatstvo da se lijepo živi, ali brate mili u Bosni čak ni ono što imaju ne znaju da koriste na optimalan način. (Ili da barem čuvaju.)
Npr. Kad imaš dječija kolica, ili ako si u kolicima i napravi se put-rampa da možeš gore povući kolica bez da ih moraš dići, onda ti se nađe neki glupan koji postavi stolice na toj rampi. Egoizam tu je što neće da pomjeri te stolice pola metra na stranu da ljudi koji su u kolicima, ili dječija kolica mogu proći…jer to je ipak pola metra dalje i teže za prenijeti. A to što svi koji dođu se nerviraju oko toga to ga boli dupe za tim.
To se NIKAD neće desiti u Njemačkoj ili Švedskoj, jer su ljudi naučeni da rade da bude svima dobro pa i njima samima…

Dalje…
WC:ovi pa to je fuj. Jedan prljavi od drugog. Ja ne kontam, ako već radiš na jednom radnom mjestu da nisi u stanju održavati WC čist, pa ako ništa radi sebe. Egoizam je tu da neće da radi. Veli drugi će neko to uraditi!
Kod kuće hoće.
Kod kuće će mame i sestre to raditi, ali j-a na poslu treba biti muško pa očistiti WC.
A onda ono naj naj što neću razumijeti. Došli mi kod Ekija na kafu i sad treba platiti. A fiskalni račun ni za lijeka. Nigdje. Kad smo rekli da hoćemo fiskalni račun onda su se počeli još svađati sa nama.
Znači to je ultimatni dokaz zašto država nikad neće funkcionisati. Kakvo plačanje poreza kakav doprinos državi. Bitno je da JA dobijem što više, sa što manje posla. Jadno!
A vala i financijska inspekcija nek se postidi. Sve bih im dala otkaze…Očigledno ne rade svoj posao!

I onda odem u “susjednu” državu. Nigdje sine nisi mogao nešto kupiti a da ne dobiješ račun. I jednog dana sjedimo u restoranu kad dođe financijska inspekcija. Zatvoriše restoran u roku od pola sata. Nabiše kaznu od 200 000 kuna i zabranu rada nekih mjesec dana i to u sezoni. Zašto?
Jer nije davao račune kad je sladoled prodavao!

Eh tako se pravi država, i zato Bosna nikad neće biti jedna funkcionirajuća država. Jednostavno ju je ponašanje zvano egoizam ubilo.
R.I.P Bosna…

#Metoo

November 29, 2017 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

All these campaigns on Facebook kind of pass me ignoring it, because I find it toothless. Usually I find it irritating. I never really see any change after a campaign.
When the metoo campaign started I got surprised how big it turned out. I found it very good actually. I don’t believe there is a single woman I know that hasn’t been at least once put in an “awkward” situation by a man.
However, reading the paper about the poor prostitutes I got freaked out. I mean horrors these women experience, in “peaceful” SWEDEN are so bad I cannot even grasp the horrors a human mind can come up with. I hope for their sake that this metoo campaign will have an impact on their lives but as with many other things I think unfortunately that the poorest and the most vulnerable people in our pyramid of society will never reach out to get or have a voice…
Reading how it all started I got sad, angry and horrified….Here the story of the first “metoo” move.

Sve ove kampanje na Facebooku većinom ignorišem, jer mi je to bezobzirno. Obično mi je to čak i iritantno. Nikada ne vidim promijene nakon neke kampanje.

Kada je započela #metoo kampanja, iznenadila sam se kako je postala velika. Smatram to dobrim. Ne vjerujem da postoji ijedna žena koju znam da nijednom nije došla u “neprijatnu” situaciju sa nekim momkom ili čovjekom.

Međutim, čitajući članak o siromašnim prostitutkama mene je presjeklo. Mislim užase koje ove žene doživljavaju, u “mirnoj” Švedskoj su toliko grozne da moj mozak ne može da shvati užase koji ljudski um može da izmisli.
Nadam se zbog toga da će ova metoo kampanja imati uticaj na ove živote, ali kao i mnoge druge stvari, mislim da će, nažalost, najsiromašniji i najugroženiji ljudi u našem društvu -djeca i žene, ostati bez glasa .. .

Čitajući kako je sve počelo, postala sam tužna, ljuta i užasnuta …. Evo priče o prvom “metoo” potezu.

Iz nekog razloga mi nece link da proradi pa sam kopirala tekst.
Since the link for some reason doesn’t work Ii copied the text.

The me too Movement™ started in the deepest, darkest place in my soul.

As a youth worker, dealing predominately with children of color, I had seen and heard my share of heartbreaking stories from broken homes to abusive or neglectful parents when I met Heaven. During an all girl bonding session at our youth camp, several of the girls in the room shared intimate stories about their lives. Some were the tales of normal teenage angst and others were quite painful. Just as I had done so many times before, I sat and listened to the stories, and comforted the girls as needed. When it was over the adults advised the young women to reach out to us in the event that they needed to talk some more or needed something else – and then we went our separate ways.

The next day Heaven, who had been in the previous night’s session, asked to speak to me privately. Heaven was a sweet-faced little girl who kind of clung to me throughout the camp. However, her hyperactive and often anger-filled behavior betrayed both her name and light, high-pitched voice and I was frequently pulling her out of some type of situation. As she attempted to talk to me that day though the look in her eyes sent me in the other direction. She had a deep sadness and a yearning for confession that I read immediately and wanted no part of. Finally, later in the day she caught up with me and almost begged me to listen…and I reluctantly conceded. For the next several minutes this child, Heaven, struggled to tell me about her “stepdaddy” or rather her mother’s boyfriend who was doing all sorts of monstrous things to her developing body…I was horrified by her words, the emotions welling inside of me ran the gamut, and I listened until I literally could not take it anymore…which turned out to be less than 5 minutes. Then, right in the middle of her sharing her pain with me, I cut her off and immediately directed her to another female counselor who could “help her better.”

I will never forget the look on her face.

I will never forget the look because I think about her all of the time. The shock of being rejected, the pain of opening a wound only to have it abruptly forced closed again – it was all on her face. And as much as I love children, as much as I cared about that child, I could not find the courage that she had found. I could not muster the energy to tell her that I understood, that I connected, that I could feel her pain. I couldn’t help her release her shame, or impress upon her that nothing that happened to her was her fault. I could not find the strength to say out loud the words that were ringing in my head over and over again as she tried to tell me what she had endured… I watched her walk away from me as she tried to recapture her secrets and tuck them back into their hiding place. I watched her put her mask back on and go back into the world like she was all alone and I couldn’t even bring myself to whisper…me too.

– Tarana Burke

Founder, Just Be Inc.

Bringing nature into the living room / Unijeti prirodu u dnevnu sobu

January 17, 2016 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

The chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz was out for a walk in Santiago in Chile, when he noticed and got inspired by a branch. Out of the branch he made this beautiful bookshelf bringing nature into the living room. The bookshelf got the name Bilbo after the street where the branch was found. Fascinating how simple things can be so beautiful 😀 Kad je čileanski umjetnik Sebastian Errazuris bio u šetnji u Santiagu (Čile) primjetio je jednu granu koju je ponijeo kući. Inspirisan, napravio je prelijepu policu za knjige s kojom je unio prirodu u dnevnu sobu. Polica je dobila ime Bilabo po ulici gdje je umjetnik našao. Fascinantno kako jednostavne stvari mogu biti lijepe 😀

pic fr. here

Positive things in Bosnia – Art / Pozitivne stvari u Bosni- Umjetnost

January 7, 2016January 7, 2016 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

A couple of years ago I visited my relatives in San Francisco where I experienced the joy of seeing the paintings of Mersad Berber and Midhat Jelkic Bosner. These two and Salim Ljuma have become my favorite three artists from Bosnia. I am no reviewer (nor expert) of arts I either like the paintings or not. Berber and Bosner I like because I find peace in the picture. They are beautiful and I like that they use the traditional dresses and patterns of Bosnia. Salim on the other hand is different. I find his paintings more interesting. When you first look at Salims painting you see the obvious. However, after a while you notice there are hidden things in the picture. I feel sometimes that I look at the picture and the picture looks back at me. I love it!
P.s. who is your favorite painter?

Paintings of Berber!

Paintings of Bosner

Art by Salim Ljuma
Prije nekoliko godina kad sam bila u posjeti kod rodbine u San Francisku po prvi put sam vidjela i shvatila da ima izvrsnih slikara iz Bosne. Vidjela sam radove od Mersada Berbera i Midhata Jelkić Bosner uživo i bila sam oduševljena. Berber, Bosner a i Salim Ljuma su mi postali vremenom favorit slikari iz Bosne. Niti sam ekspert slikarstva niti kritičar meni se slike ili sviđaju ili ne sviđaju. Od Berbera i Bosnera mi se sviđaju jer osjetim neki mir kad gledam njihove slike. Isto mi se sviđa što često slikaju tradicionalne nošnje i mustre. Slike od Salima Ljume su drugačije. Kad gledam njegove slike prvo vidim ono očigledno, da bi nakon izvjesnog vremena primjetila da u slici ima sakriveni motiva. Ponekad osječam da ja gledam sliku a slika mene. Fantastično!
P.s. koji je vaš omiljeni slikar?

Christmas market / Bozicni sajam

December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

In Munich the city goes all in for the Christmas markets. In all corners there are different markets. We went to the medieval market at Wittelsmacher platz and the Weihnachtsmarkt in the München Residenz. One thing that caught my eye at the christmas market was this little Christmas ball. However the price of 18.50 € I found a little too expensive especially with a small child in the house demolishing things. Another thing I love at the christmas markets are the bananas dipped in chocolate and of course the Santa Claus. Which reminds me of the questions my niece, very seriously, asked me…How does the Santa find where all the children live, which ones have been brave, what they wish and how does he manage to find all children in one night 😀 ?? HoHoMinhenu pred bozic grad ulaze sve od sebe u bozicne sajmove. Ima ih na svakom koraku. Mi smo prosetali kroz srednjovjekovni sajam na Wittelsmacher placu i na sajmu u Minhenskoj residenciji. Na sajmu ima toliko mnogo cudnih stvari na prodaju da se uvijek pitam ko te sve stvari kupuje. Ali i meni je mala ona kuglica za jelku zapela za oko. Bas mi se svidjela, ali 18.50€ a kuglicu mi je ipak previse dati. Pogotovo u kuci gdje malo dijete rusi i razvaljuje i sta treba i sta ne treba…A jos jedna stvar koju volim zimi su banane umocene u cokoladi..i djeda mraza. I to me podsjeti na pitanja koja je moja necakinja meni jako ozbiljno postavila. Kako Djeda Mraz zna gdje sva djeca zive, ako su dobra bila, sta su pozelila i kako on sve poklone stigne u jednu noc podijeliti ?? 😀 HoHo

Tollwood

December 10, 2015December 10, 2015 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

Tollwood is a festival that I would cordly recommend for the ones that have the possibility to visit Munich. There are a couple of huge tents where bazaars are located. There is also one tenth called the world salon with exhibitions with new themes every year, and a tent with all possible international restaurants. The bazaars are full of unique handcraft why the price is according to that. Nonetheless there are beautiful things one can see. Between these tents there are stands selling souvenirs, sweets, food, glühwein and so on. There are also quite a number of bars where one can take a glühwein or good bavarian beer. This year at the entrance of Tollwood stands an army of humans made of trash (cans). It is impressive and made me reflect about the society we live in…how much trash we produce but also how we see human beings. As trash!
In the world saloon the theme of the year is the “value of survival”. How can we get a steadier life with one another? What is happiness? How much less is more?

Tollwood je jedan festival, kojeg bi preporučila svakom ko ima priliku da posjeti Minhen. Ima par šatora u kojima se nalaze pijace sa svakakvim ručno pravljenim unikatima, tako da su i cijene više nego na jednoj ”običnoj” pijaci. Ima jedan šator hrane, sa internacionalnim jelima kao i šator sa muzikom uživo. Između šatora su postavljeni barovi, štandovi robe, slatkiša, hrane i ”glühwein”, što je u principu kuhano vino. Šatori su ogromni tako da ima i sta vidjeti.
Ove godine na ulazu Tollwooda stoji armija statua napravljena od smeca (konzervi).
Dosta impozantno vidjeti i mene je navelo da razmisljam o nasem zivotu sto se tice koliko proizvodimo smece, ali isto kako danasnji sistem gleda ljude kao smece. Inace u salonu svijeta se ove godine prelazi tema “Vrijednost prezivljavanja”. Kako doci do mirnijeg zivota jedni s drugima? Sta je sreca? Koliko manje je ustvari vise?

Let it go – Light Dance

December 5, 2015December 3, 2015 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

Well tomorrow never came in Münchener Residenz…/ Sutra nikad nije doslo u Münchener Residenz

December 3, 2015December 3, 2015 ~ au ~ Leave a comment

It is not as drastic as that sounds. But in an old post I wrote that next round of pictures that I took in the grandiose museum Münchener Residenz would come tomorrow and that was a year ago. Since it is such a fantastic place t would be pitty not to show the pictures. Enjoy!

Nije tako drasticno kao sto zvuci. Nego sam u jednom starom postu pisala ako sam bila u Minhenskoj residenciji i toliko sam imala slika da sam drugu rundu rekla objaviti “sutra”. Medjutim zaboravih i od sutra prodje godina dana. Upravo naleti na te slike pa rekoh da ih objavim jer je muzej stvarno fantastican i vrijedan pogledati. Uzivajte!

Au

Au's personal blog

kultura