Kolo, kolo, naokolo

I’ve been to Croatia three times — the summers before second, fifth, and sixth grades — and by the second or third trip, my sister and I were both playing simple online games. So we’d convince our mom to give us money (not exactly cheap for a brief half hour) and go over to the nearby tourist campground, passing the tents amid the evergreens, and go up to the internet cafe that was there.

From left to right: replica of Crkva sv. Nikole in Nin; the same alongside replicas of Crkva sv. Donata and belfry; photograph of the latter, in Zadar; the flag; a donkey souvenir. Click to enlarge.

We stayed with family each time we went, and managed to go to a few of the nearby tourist spots. But most days were spent going to the beach or walking along the boardstonewalk. I resisted the midday naps for a while until I gave in.

Credits to Google Street View. This is Pakoštane, where my uncle lives in the second house from the beach. Croatia has over 1000 islands.

For a more zoomed-out view. Screenshotted from Google Maps.

I’ve written about some of the food before, and have mentioned the language elsewhere; my parents tried to make sure we knew some of what they grew up with. My mom would take us to the foreign language section of the library and check out every Croatian children’s book she could find. We had Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree in Croatian. (“Bajke” being stories for children.)

The language was visible in the old gray double-language dictionary my mom kept on the shelf, and in the miniature yellow copies that littered the bottom, moving from srpskohrvatski to hrvatski. It was present in the copy of the anthem that was hung up on the inside of my parents’ armoire, and on the international calling cards my mom would buy. In the details scribbled on the backs of photographs.

I’m 10 or 11 in this photo, by my uncle’s house.

Recently, my mom remembered this poem she’d had to learn in school as a kid, in what was then former Jugoslavija. Written by Branko Radičević, who lived from 1824–1853, it was later set to music and was part of the kolo dance that people played at. Expanded lyrics (in Serbian but with latinica) can be found here and here.

— Lora