[OnyxCougar]

Day Four (Wednesday)

Every day started with an agenda. "What do we have to do today?" was the first question of the morning, usually right after, "How did you sleep?", "Is the heat on?" and "Can you make me a hot chocolate, please?". The sky was cloudy, and on the agenda for the day was our trip to Kutina, for the sole purpose of getting me registered at the police station, so I wouldn't be deported. Yay. I was excited, I got to see a city other than Zagreb (which I hadn't seen much of), but more than that, I got to be on a train, something I hadn't done since my visit to England as a teenager. I had been on the underground, but that didn't count, that was more like Zagreb's trams. This was a no shit TRAIN, and I was pretty excited.

Turns out it was actually not all I had hyped it up to be, and the scenery out the window looked SO much like England, I was nearly disoriented. Had the clown cars been on the other side of the road, and the signs in English, I'd have lost it. That's how much they look alike. It was so weird. We arrived in Kutina, and got off the train and called Hrvoje. He gave Ivan directions and we started walking. (Just so you know, I weighed myself when we got home, and I was literally 10 pounds lighter. I blame the walking.) As we walked, I picked up 2 leaves right next to each other, one big green leaf and one big orange leaf. The benefit of going to Croatia in the fall was the colors of the trees. The leaves were still turning, and we saw the riot of colors. I can only imagine what New England looks like, but I think it's similar to what we saw in the Croatian countryside. Simply gorgeous.

Went up over the hill and passed by an elementary school. A window on the second floor was open, and there was a music or choir class in session. Children were singing with a piano and although I didn't understand the words, it was very beautiful. Thier voices rang out in the afternoon air, and I looked up to the window, wishing I could see the children, and wishing my command of the language was such that I knew what they were singing about. Sounded rather national anthem-ish.

We entered the market place where Hrvoje and Kelle were selling flowers for Hrvoje's mom. (A note on the flowers over there: Remember the bouquet of flowers that Ivan bought me on Day One at the market? When we got back to the house I put them in a big blue vase with some fresh water and put them on the table as a centerpiece. Those flowers stayed alive and hadn't even started wilting when I left 10 days later.) We walked through the little market, and I was struck by how much this was like a swap meet back home. At the end of the row were our partners in crime, and after exchanging hugs, Kelle and I went off for a coke at the little cafe at the top of the street. Girl talk time!!

The first thing I noticed was the large blue stone set in the gold ring on her left ring finger. Yep. She's engaged. It had been in his family for 4 generations now, and he had given it to her the night before, in front of his mother at the dinner table. It's a longish story, and it's her story to tell, so ask her about it when you see her next. I ordered 2 cokes in Croatian ("dva cola, molim te"), and we sat at a little table in the cafe and got stared at for speaking English and laughing and squealing and going on. This skrungy looking guy that wandered into the cafe said, "Ahhhh...Amerikanki." I half looked at him and said, "Da, je sam Amerikanka." He nodded and said something really fast that I didn't catch, so I replied, "govorim malo Hrvatski" (I speak little Croatian). He nodded and acted like he wanted to come on to us, but wasn't quite sure how since he didn't speak English. We purposely turned from him and resumed our conversation and he wandered away. Catching up on the story and the events since we parted in Zagreb at the Police Station, we finished our cokes and Skrungy Dude came back and asked us something else (I forget what), and I managed to answer him, and shortly after, we got up, paid our tab and left.