When I’m gone! / Kad me ne bude!

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I wrote this when we moved to USA but it kind of fits now in the Corona times also, so I decided to publish it 🙂

When the last carton was carried into the house I realised that despite my try to get rid of things I had dramatically failed in sorting out things. Over 260 cartons of our stuff, our time or someone elses time invested in each and every piece of junk that we could possible have.

The worst things are the small things I find. The ones that you feel sorry to throw away, you collect and it stands there for ages… or expensive things one has bought with no value or worth. Like old bags that are out of fashion and that are worn out. Clothes are the easiest to sort out I find. You can always give it to someone.

One person I know that is absolutely stunning when it comes to get rid of things is my kids uncle.  Before he moved he got rid of ALL things he didn’t need. That is for me more impressing than flying to the moon.

So we asked how he thinks when he throws or gets rid of the things because obviously it has to be some mental setting. So the question he asks himself is what does he want his kids to have after him when he is gone or in other words , to put it hard, what is there of value for the next generation? It is a freaky scary (horrible) but such a powerful question!

Of course no one wants to think of their own death but do you want your loved ones to take care of your stuff just because you yourself didn´t? What would you like to give to your loved ones?

I guess when someone would leave just one bag -a Dior bag, or any other luxury brand, would be so much better than leaving 10 bags of different no name bags. The price is approximately the same.
Not to mention the space they take in the apartment and the time when 30 different bags are “crossing your hands” every time you clean.

Do you have another better question motivating you for a more minimalistic life style and not being owned by your things?

Prevod: Ako se dovoljno bojimo da izgubimo nešto, na kraju će stvari koje posjedujemo da posjeduju nas.

Ovo sam bila zapisala sebi kad smo preselili u Ameriku, ali u biti isto se pitanje može postaviti sebi i kad su ekstremni događaji poput sada Corona virusa.

Kad su posljednji karton unijeli u kuću, shvatila sam da sam dramatično zakazala u sortiranju i razvrstavanju stvari. Preko 260 kartona naših stvari…ili ako gledaš drugačije našeg ili tuđeg uloženog vremena u svaku stvar.
Najgore su mi one male stvari. One koje mi je žao baciti, sakupljam i tamo stoje vjekovima … ili one skupe stvari koje sam nekad kupila koje sad stoje bez vrijednosti. Kao npr. stare torbe koje su iz mode izašle  i koje su iznosane. Odjeća mi je najlakša za riješiti. Uvijek je mogu nekome dati.

Jedna osoba za koju znam da je apsolutno zapanjujuća kada se tiče riješavanja stvari je tetak moje djece. Prije nego što se preselio, riješio se SVIH stvari koje mu nisu trebale. To je za mene impresivnije od leta na Mjesec.
Pitali smo ga kako razmišlja kada baci ili riješi stvari jer očito to mora biti neka mentalna postavka.
Dakle, pitanje koje sam sebi postavi je šta želi da njegova djeca imaju nakon njega…drugim riječima, šta je vrijedno za sljedeće generacije?
Iako je zastrašujuće da ne kažem grozno i ružno pitanje isto tako je jako moćno pitanje!
Naravno da niko ne želi razmišljati o vlastitoj smrti (pogotovo u Bosni je parola iza mene kako bude), ali želite li da se vaši voljeni brinu o vašim stvarima “vašem smeću” samo zato što sami niste bili u stanju razmisliti šta i kako?
Od svih svoji stvari šta biste željeli pokloniti’ ostaviti svojim voljenima?

Za mene je super primjer primjer sa tašnama…pokazuje jasno logiku 🙂
Kad bi neko ostavio samo jednu torbu – recimo Dior torbu ili bilo još bolje Hermes ili bilo koju drugu luksuznu marku, bilo bi za nasljednika/ naslijednicu mnogo bolje jednu takvu torbu ostaviti za sobom nego ostaviti 10 različitih prilično skupih torbi. Ukupna cijena je približno ista.
A da ne spominjem prostor koji dotične tašnice zauzimaju u stanu ili još bitnije vrijeme koje oduzimaju kada čistite pa 30 različitih torbi “pređe preko ruke”.

Kako se vi motivišete za izbacivanje stvari iz stana/kuće??
Kako vi budete gazda stvari a ne stvari da budu gazda vas?

Ja sam se nakon svega motivisala da i dalje nastavim rješavanje stvari iako je psihički teško jer smo ipak sve stvari zaradili i platili…

2019 Summary of my stock portfolio!

~ au ~ Leave a comment

23.rd of January was the official poorest day of the year. After Christmas and New Year where people have been spending more than they should they have to eat water and “knäckebröd”.
To avoid that I have quite a good check on my/ our economy and also a goal to reach 100 000kr of dividends per year for our retirement.

I could hardly invest any money in 2019 because I needed all the cash we have plus more to finalize one thing and since October I have slooowly started to invest again. It is tricky now because the stocks are pretty expensive and one has to be careful.

I have on a monthly basis been buying a couple of different index funds be it American, European or Swedish. I am also continuing to reinvest dividends that I have obtained during the year. I reached approximately 5500 kr in dividends in year 2019. This is some 15% more than in 2018. I have been between 22-30 % plus on the value of the portfolio…but one has to consider that 2019 was an extremely good year for the stock market.

Anyhow, during this year Swedbank was dragged into a money laundry scandal resulting in a stock price sinking like a stone. I felt, despite the money laundry scandal, that Swedbank is still going stronger than in 2008 during the financial crisis. Also average loan takers are not that flexible to change their mortgage loans so the basic business will continue as usual.

Americans will most probably give Swedbank a juicy fine but in the end the bank should recover from that.

I decided to sell all my H&M stocks on the lowest possible price ( the worse move this year) and bought Swedbank stocks for this money (hopefully not the second worse move).
I am a longterm investor with more or less buy and keep strategy so I do hope that in a couple of years (2-3 years) this case will be a positive one.

Let the game begin for 2020!

Picture: In 2013 I sold of all the stocks I had and started in 2015 again to invest in stocks.

Jack o Lantern Blaze

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I just say wow! Such a wonderful event. Just the idea of using pumpkins as the material for different kind of arts is astonishing.

The only thing we didn’t think of was that the night are already getting freezing cold and we were a little it underdressed regarding to the temperatures. Otherwise we fully enjoyed our tour in the world of pumpkins.

Moram samo reći wow! Bili smo na fantastičnom eventu u novembru kad su moji roditelji došli nama u posjetu. Samo ideja da se koriste bundave za umjetnost je već nevjerovatno.

Jedino na što nismo mislil prije nego što smo otišli na Jack o Lantern Blaze je da su noći već postale dosta hladne a mi smo slabo obukli tako da smo se baš smrznuli. Osim toga ovo je definitivno jedno mjesto koje preporučujem da pogledate ako možete.

Par mjeseci sa “američkim ” snom

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Polako ulazimo u neke navike i rutine i odlučila sam da zapišem one moje prve doživljaje amerike dok ih nisam zaboravila. To su u uglavnom banalne stvari na koje uopšte ne razmišljam kad sam u Evropi a i ne odnose se specično na turistička mjesta…nego svakodašnji život.

Usluga

Prvo što mi je zapalo kad smo ovamo stigli je bila usluga u hotelu. Dok god sve ide po propisu svi su jako ljubazni ali ako iskoči neki problem onda ništa ne ide. Totalno nefleksibilna usluga bude…osim u restoranima. U restoranima su stvarno ljubazni jer znaju da ako nisu neće dobiti bakšiš od kojeg žive i na kojem plaćaju porez.
Znači, kako sam ja razumijela takav je sistem da se očekuje da će usluga biti toliko dobra da konobar uvijek dobije bakšiš i zato automatski računaju porez na bakšiš… ergo ako nisi dobio bakšiš svejedno ćeš platiti porez na svotu koju “si trebao” zaraditi ali nisi. U fazonu što se nisi potrudio da zaradiš…
Možda to nisam dobri razumijela ali tako je trenutačno kako ja to trenutno razumijem.

Pranje veša

Izpočetka me frustrirala mašina za pranje veša. Ne stoji koliko je stepeni nego “hladno” ” toplo” itd. Još nisam skontala koliko im je to otprilike stepeni i otprilike pogađam koji program paše.

Onda oni deterdženti za pranje koji ne peru. Do sad sam 4 vrste isprobala i ni jedan ne pere kako treba. Sigurno ima neki trik samo ga još nisam skontala.

Dalje, vešmašine su ogromne!
Uvijek se sjetim jednog članka gdje je dijete strpalo brata u mašinu “da ga opere” ali mi nikad nije bilo jasno kako je dijete uspijelo ući u mašinu.
Sad mi je jasno. Dijete bez ikakvih problema može ući u mašinu i drugo dijete može upaliti mašinu ako ne blokiram tipkanje. Zato pazim 100 puta da je sve blokirano da ne mogu djeca slučajno šta utipkati.

Usisavač

Ovo je priča za sebe. Nemaš onog “normalnog” usisavača za kupiti nego su svi oni cool stojeći (barem ovdje gdje smo mi). Super izgledaju i dobiješ utisak da su super. Kupiš i baciš nekih 300$ jer nemaš ništa ispod i počneš usisavati…i psovati!
Usisavač je toliko težak da se zglobovi razvale kad usisavaš. Nisu pokretni kao “evropski” i skroz loše usisavaju sa parketa. Doduše moram priznati tepisone dobro usisavaju.
Uglavnom meni onaj naš usisivač svaki put iz pete izvuče živce.

Putevi

Putevi su blago rečeno užasni oko New Yorka. Haj što im autoput ništa ne valja u poređenju sa Njemačkim autoputem koji ipak ima najbolje autoputeve na svijetu.. ali ovdje su rupetine toliko velike da bukvalno mogu da izvale točak.
Kad su bosanske ceste bolje onda možete zamisliti kvalitet cesti…
Priznajem to nisam očekivala.

Vozači
Vozači su katastrofa! Ustvari oni nemaju pojma uopšte kako se ponašati u saobraćaju.
Nije ni čudno što ne smiju po Evropi voziti. Staviti žmigavac je znak slabosti. Kad neko drugi da žmigavac to ne znači da dotična osoba hoće da promijeni traku.
Ne!
To je signal za one iza tog auta da pritisnu gas i preteknu. To što može udariti i napraviti sudar tako to nema veze JER njihovo je PRAVO da prođu…Totalni kreteni.

Ili ovo, što sam vidjela na nekim kamionima…Ako te slučajno dotakne onda si gotov…


Struja
Malo, ustvari malo više me začudilo da im kablovi od struja vise kao dalekovodi. Na nekim mjestima su veliki čvorovi kablova i uvijek su neki kablovi iznad glave.
Kasne jednu 30 godina iza Evrope što se tiče toga. Malo me podsjeća na ono poslijeratno vrijeme kad su svugdje visili kablovi.

Kafići

Osim što ih možda u New York gradu imaju, ovdje nemaju kafiće u smislu da sjedneš i u miru popiješ kafu iz porculanske šolje. Sve je iz papirne čaše. To mi baš nedostaje.

Događaji

Moram priznati tu su me pozitivno iznenadili ameri jer su jako aktivni i dolaze na pripremljene događaje. Vjerovatno im je to mjesto gdje se druže a ne kao mi po kafićima

Hrana

Hrana je užasno skupa. Izpočetka sam računala tačno šta kupiti ali nakon nekog vremena sam se već naviknula na cijene. Sad više pazim da ne kupim njihovih 100 vrsta čipsa.
Izračunala sam (otprilike) za istu korpu što smo u Njemačkoj plaćali oko 80 eura ovdje placamo oko 150 Dolara.
Ameri nisu “sirožderi” pa mi nedostaje sira da valja. Najviše me međutim začudilo da im je toliko loše meso. Nakon 4 mjeseca još uvijek tražim nekog mesara ili bar prodavnicu koja prodaje dobro meso. Osim steaka u restoranu, što priznajem, stvarno znaju dobro napraviti.

U restoranima im je hrana (tamo gdje smo jeli) ukusnija nego što sam mislila. Iako je i to preskupo. U biti ako izadjemo nas četvero u cheesecake factory što nije neki “fin” restoran (imaju plastične čaše) izadje nas oko 80-100$ ceh.
Onda uvijek dodaš bakšiš. Minimalno 15 % cijene a obično i do 22%.

Sladoledi su im fantastični ali pretjerano skupi. Jedna kugla, iako velika, košta oko 7 dolara, u Njemačkoj 1.2 Eura a u Bosni 1 KM 🙂 Ali ja bih ih mogla svaki dan jesti 🙂

Moving in…/ Useljenje…

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There is one thing I have noticed here in US and that is don’t take anything for granted. Be foolproof.
For example we got a pretty threatening mail from the moving company that we have to take the furniture on the exact day that they had planned or we have to pay for the storage. Since it is a ship container that can easily cost over 1000 USD per day. Of course we agreed to take the furniture.

Postoji jedna stvar koju sam primjetila u Americi ai to je da ne uzimam ništa zdravo za gotovo. Morate napraviti plan takav da svaka budala može da ga prati…ergo automatizirati sve. Nije ni čudo što su najuspješniji u programiranju. Njihov mozak je takav. Kao kompjuter…Ako je x uradi y, ako je y uradi z. Čim je nešto komplikovanije ode sve u vraga.
Na primjer dobili smo prijeteća pisma iz kompanije koja donosi naš namještaj da moramo uzeti svoj namještaj baš tog datuma kojeg su oni planirali ili moramo na svoje trošak platiti  skladište. Priča je o brodskom kontejneru koji lako može košta preko 1000-2000 USD… dnevno!
Naravno da smo rekli uzeti namještaj.

Since, there is a company that is taking care of everything that has to do with us moving I expected that they had it all organised means…we have the temporary living furniture in the house that first has to be removed before our furniture is placed.
I would then expect this company to organise it in such way that this rented furniture, obviously, is removed before our own furniture comes.
I was thinking of asking/ reminding the lady in the company to double check both the “rented furniture company” and the shipment company to avoid any mistakes but then thought this company deals with such things every day. They know this and they would get angry with me making their job.

Budući da postoji firma koja se koordinira sve što ima veze s našom selidbom, očekivala sam da su sve to organizovali …jer imamo privremeni pozajmljei namještaj u kući koji se prvo mora iznijeti prije nego naš namještaj bude postavljen.
I naravno očekujem da ova firma organizuje sve toi na takav način iznajmljeni namještaj sklone prije naš namještaj dođe
Razmišljala sam da pitam / podsjetim damu u firmi da ipak provjeri i dogovori sa firmom 1 koja sklanja iznajmljeni namještaj i firmom 2 što utovara naš namještaj iz kontejnera. Ali onda sam kontala pa to svaki dan rade, (valjda) to znaju i reće da sam ona naporna čvaka koja joj pametuje.

The day our furniture came was rainy. Really rainy. The container was standing in front of our house and I was asking the guy where the other group is that will remove the furniture inside. He didn’t even know there is furniture there. Such a mess.
The guys loaded tons of things and the house transformed from empty to overfull. We had over 250 cartons of stuff !!

Dan kada je namještaj stigao bio je kišovit. Onako kiša je padala kao iz kabla. Kontejner je stajao ispred naše kuće i pitala sam vozaća gdje je druga grupa koja treba iznijeti iznajmljeni namještaj. Šofer nije čak ni znao da u kući postoji iznajmljen namještaj. Koji haos ! Toliko sam se iznervirala da sam ih sve mogla od zid lupiti.
Kako su počeli tovariti stvari iz kontejnera u kuću, kuća se polako pretvarala iz prazne kuće u kuću gdje vlada haos koji ni u univerzumu ne vlada i gdje se ništa ne može naći. Imali smo preko 250 kartona stvari!!

The funny/ weird thing though is that these guys that were bringing our furniture knew that the other guys removing the rented furniture will not come and despite that they brought all the furniture to all the rooms.
Then they announced that they couldn’t assemble our furniture due to limited space and will be back in 2 weeks. I said there is no chance we can live like this with boxes everywhere. In some rooms you couldn’t even enter. So then these poor/smart guys where told by their chefs to move anything that was in the way into our garage. Sometimes it is good to think before doing something or you end up doing it twice…

Smiješno / čudno je to što su ovi momci koji su donosili naš nameštaj znali da drugi momci koji trebaju skloniti iznajmljeni nameštaj neće doći i ipak (???) su sav nameštaj u sve sobe prenijeli.
Kad su to uradili najavili su da ne mogu montirati naš namještaj zbog ograničenog prostora i da će se vratiti za 2 tjedna!! Rekala sam da nema šanse da ovako živimo u haosu sa kutijama i gdje trebaju i gdje ne trebaju biti. U nekim sobama se čak nije moglo ni ući!!
Zvala sam curu u firmi koja organizuje sve, koja je dalje zvala i naredba je stigla.
Sve što ne mogu napraviti ili što smeta da smjeste u našu garažu. I tako su ti oni sav onaj namještaj ponovo morali nositi nazad u garažu.
Ponekad je dobro misliti prije nego što nešto uradite ili završite dva puta … 

At least someone has fun 🙂 / Bar je nekom zanimljivo 🙂

And the one thing that beats my mind… when they carried the wardrobe up the stairs they hit the wall on a couple of spots. In Europe the wardrobe would be damaged…here the walls got damaged hehe unbelievable…:D

I jedna stvar koja mi je pala na pamet … kada su nosili garderobu uz stepenice, udarili su od zid na par mjesta. U Evropi bi oštetili ormar a ovdje su zidovi oštećeni ostali …nevjerojatno …: D 

And on top of all this…the kitchen was so dirty we had to use spatula to get off the grease from the kitchen cabinets…

I vrh toga…kuhinja je bila tako prljava da smo sa špahtlom morali skidati masnoću sa viseći u kuhinji…

Update dividends 2018 / Ažuriranje dividende 2018

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My goal is to achieve some 10 000kr (ca 1000 Euro) per month in dividends until my retirement and to reach that I am investing in different stocks. Last year I had an increase of approximately 45% (sounds more than it is) of dividend achieving over 4500 kr (ca 450 Euro) in dividends that year.
This money is all reinvested and will (hopefully) generate more dividends for this year…like Einstein said the compound effect is the 8th world miracle.

Cilj mi je dostiči 10 000kr (oko 1000 Eura) u dividendama mjesečno do moje penzije i zato ulažem u razne dionice.
Prošle godine sam povećala sumu dividendi za 45% (zvuči više nego što jeste) i dobila sam oko 4500 kr koje su ponovo investirane u nove dionice.
Kao što je rekao Einstein da je kamata-na-kamata efekat osmo svjetsko čudo.

Half year has passed and I am until now having only 15% less dividend this year than the whole last year which is motivating even though I admit I haven’t been buying as many stocks as I wanted lately due to movement and adjustments in US. In any case when I see the bars I do get a little motivated for the future 🙂

Pola godine je već prošlo i sad već u polugodištu imam samo 15 % manje dividende nego što sam imala u čitavu prošlu godinu što je motivirajući iako nisam kupovala toliko dionica koliko sam htjela. Ipak je tu bila i selidba i privikavanje u Americi. U svakom slučaju kad vidim diagram motivirame to za budućnost 🙂

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

~ 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 🙂

White Plains – stay in a hotel

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After arriving to the hotel and then experience the first chock with one bed to little we made a complaint and got a bigger room with two beds but from the next day. It is not a catastrophy but after such a long trip that is the least problem you want to have… where to sleep :/
So can someone please tell me how someone comes to the idea to book one room with one bed for 4 people?
Anyway… the rooms where nice and it is more like a small apartment, since we are stying here for a week or two that is ok. Funny thing is though that in each bedroom there is a tv. All in all three tv:s in one apartment… People seem to like watching tv here.

Since we are living in hotels since a couple of days we had a lot of laundry to do so imagine my chock when I heard that each wash is like 2.5 USD and additional 2 USD for the laundry detergent. 4.5 USD for one wash :/

At least someone liked to put in coins…:P

One thing I couldn’t even imagine was that they don’t have the plastic bottle deposit for all plastic bottles but only for some bottles in some places.
I hope I have misunderstood it and there is a system that I still haven’t found out but for the greatest economy in the world it is a disgrace if they don’t have it for each and every plastic bottle.

Today we also went to see the house we rented. It was in much worse shape than we expected and it was left very dirty so we got approvement from the company that we can paint the worse rooms.
Let’s see how that turns out!

Arriving in USA- Newark

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In the morning we ate breakfast and immediately went to the airport with all our luggage. We had all in all 5 big suitcases , two small and additional backpacks, and two car sits for the kids… and two small kids that were, to say the least, excited.
We had to give back the rental car and it took some time. Then suddenly all the baggage cars where gone. Like vanished. No where to find. After some 15-20 min we finally got some and could than continue.
We made the check in (sounds like it took 5 min but in reality it was an Odyssey) and then we finally entered the business lounge. We prepared the kids for the flight, talked and wondered why only our kids run, scream, dance, climb, hide and so on.
I couldn’t tell if people smiled at us because the kids were fun or because they felt sorry for us. In any case the wilder the kids got the more I feared that this will be a long…very long journey.
I mentally prepared for the worst on top of the feeling of actually not liking to fly.
Taking our seats we were served whatever we wanted in real glass not plastic! So much about the “security” and the prohibition of bringing all possible things on the plane.

The kids got the cutest airplanes! I got champagne !

I promised Ada that she could watch as many cartoons as she wanted!
And shortly after taking off the food came. It was tasty like real restaurant food.

However, lucky me my back started hurting from all the bags I had been carrying and lifting up and down so I could hardly sit during the flight.
The pilots where really flying fast because we landed almost an hour before the schedule.

Finally we arrived in Newark!!!
After the most stupid and useless control I have experienced in any of my trips ever (of course we are not allowed to take picture there) we finally got out from the airplane.
A taxi waited for us and drove us to a hotel in White Plains. If you are an expat and deal with Americans my tip to you is to be VERY specific (foolproof) in what you want.
For example we needed a hotel room for four people and also said that expecting well beds for all…
We got one bed and a couch??
After paying business class tickets for the whole family they save money by booking a hotel with one bed for a family and that after a 20 hrs trip… No comment!
Welcome to America 😛

Trip to US – Day 1-3 / Put u Ameriku Dan 1-3

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We were supposed to arrive in US already on Saturday (Day 1) but Ada got middle ear infection and was forbidden to fly so we waited until she got better. That fit me because next day I got tonsillitis so both of us were on antibiotics. The only problem was that all the hotel rooms in Karlsruhe (?) where booked out so we had a serious problem finding one. In the end we ended up in Novotel in the city center.

Trebali smo već u subotu (1. dan putovanja) stići u Ameriku ali je Ada dobila upalu ušiju tako da nismo smijeli letiti i trebali smo čekati da bude bolje. To je i meni pasalo jer u nedjelju sam fasovala gnojnu anginu i obe smo zaglavile na antibioticima. Jedini problem u tome svemu je što su svi hoteli u Karlsruhe bili prebukirani tako da smo jedva našli mjesto za prenoćiti. Stan smo već predali tako da smo oficijalno bili bezkućnici. Prenoćište smo našli u Novotelu u centru grada.

Me in the emergency feeling fabulous …or not! / Ja u hitnoj osjećam se fantastično… ili ne baš

Since we were anyway in Karlsruhe we decided to go to the Karlsruhe Zoo one last time before leaving. We had tickets left for the boats so we enjoyed a boat ride.

Kako smo ionako u Karlsruhe bili odlučili smo se otići u Karlsruhe zoološki vrt još jednom prije nego se preselimo. Ionako su nam karte za vožnju sa brodom ostale pa smo i to iskoristili.

On Monday we had to go to the doctor with Ada and he gave us green light for travelling on Tuesday.
Monday morning was also the last day Ada and Adrian where in kindergarten and they had a fare well party. This was quite important for Ada to say bye to her old friends. Ada and Adrian got their portfolios and were so satisfied having them. Me on the other hand I felt sad and I hope we did the right thing moving to US.

U ponedjeljak smo otišli Adom kod doktora i rekao je da može letiti u utorak.
Ponedjeljak prijepodne je isto bio zadnji dan Adi i Adrianu u vrtiću pa su imali oproštajno. Adi je to bilo bitno da se oprosti od svojih prijateljica, dok je Adrian još mali i ne konta šta se dešava. Dobili su svoje portfolie i bili su tako zadovoljni sa njima. A mene je mala kriza uhvatila i nadam se da smo tačnu odluku donijeli da se preselimo u Ameriku.

After having everything done with the kids we took our luggage and drove to Frankfurt. We drove with two cars my car and the rental car. My car we left at a friends place to be picked up by Ensars brother. After leaving it we continued to Steigenberger hotel at the Frankfurter airport. My plan was to go on wellness and spa instead I was k.o with my antibiotics and I was diving in the bed as soon we had dinner.

Kad smo završili djecom strpali smo naše prnje i krenuli za Frankfurt. Išli smo sa dva auta: mojim autom i iznajmljenim autom. Moje auto smo ostavili kod jednog prijatelja a po moje auto će doći Ensarov brat. A sa drugim smo nastavili u Steigenberger hotel na Frankurt aerodromu. Moj plan je bio ići na wellness i spa ali umjesto toga sam bila nokoutirana od antibiotika i zaronila sam u krevet čim smo završili večerom.

Nice room in Steigenberger hotel/ Lijepa soba u Steigenberger hotelu