Well well. The freezing rain of this morning has now shifted to snow! So, it's snowing!

Will it stay? Will we have a white Christmas? Time will tell.

Ah, back home in Zagreb. And it's Christmas time! Double happy yay!

Just went for a bit of a stroll. The neighborhood is packed with shoppers. Presumably, people stocking up on food, shopping for gifts and whatnot.

Konzum, our local mega chain supermarket, just opened a gigantic store nearby and I decided to walk over there for a look. Thought I might buy a few things. But, no way. Forget that. It was PACKED. People were lined up to pay in lines that would obviously take a half hour or more to get to the front of and I was not in the mood for that. So, I just wandered around and took a look. It's nice to have in the area because they really have a lot of stuff. Electronics, TVs, kitchenware, notebooks and papers, all sorts of food and a HUGE wine section. But, I will still go to the little local shops for most stuff. I wouldn't want this mega store to drive the little fish shop and wine shop and others out of business. I like talking to those folks and having a connection to the shop keepers.

I tried also to find a Christmas tree stand with no luck. It's not that they don't have stands here, but they're different. They're just an iron stand to hold the tree up. Nothing to hold water to extend the tree's life. I asked around at a few places and nobody even knew what I was talking about. They'd just point me to that iron stand. So, I guess iron stand it it. We're going to get our tree tomorrow.

I think we'll also do our food shopping. I proposed to Nara that we do some cooking on Christmas day. Maybe we'll make some soup or something. Don't know yet. We'll see what the market has. I'd like some squash soup, but don't know if they're still available. Sunday, we're going to our landlord's house with some wine. We'll pay the rent, but also hang out. I brought back a very nice Zinfandel to share and also bought a Dingač to bring, which is an excellent wine. One of the parent grapes of Plavac Mali, the grape that makes Dingač, is in fact Zinfandel. Zinfandel is originally from Croatia, as proven by DNA testing in the late 90s. If you think it's originally from Italy and is Primitivo, you're partially correct. It IS Primitivo, but Primitivo is ALSO originally from Croatia. In Croatia, it is called Crljenak Kaštelanski, which sadly seems to not be used to make wine anymore and is exceedingly rare. I've never seen wine made with it. Plavac Mali, on the other hand is used to make a lot of wine. It'll be interesting to compare the two.

Monday, Christmas Eve, we'll exchange some of our gifts, then go to a party at Smart Caffe, one of our local haunts. That should be a rager. Christmas day, we'll probably just have lazy times. Maybe we'll watch some movies, cook, sleep a lot and take it easy. Should be nice.

Na hrvatskom: Sretan Božić. Na engleskom: Merry Christmas to everyone!

We then went to Rafaelo to drink with some of our pals. Nothing unusual, just some drinking debauchery.

Esad at Rafaelo.

Neđo.

The sexy Rafaelo girls.

Nina.

Esad gives Nina love.

My pal Domagoj.

Jura.

Me.

Nina and me.

Domagoj and me.

Joža and Markoni.

Danijela.

Markoni, Maja and Danijela being retarded.

Me, Maja, Danijela and Domagoj also being retarded.

Giving Danijela love.

Happy Easter, Sretan Uskrs!

For New Years Eve, we stayed local and went to Smart Caffe, the same place we spent Christmas Eve at. Our friends there, Selma and Čiro, had a closed party. We paid an entrance fee, then they supplied tons of tray food; meats and cheese on platters and such. And we could drink whatever we wanted and help ourselves. So, everyone just drank and drank. A great group of folks. It was mostly the same folks as Christmas Eve, but my girlfriend Branka was there too. Her nickname is Nara and most of us call her Nara. So, you may see me use one name or the other. And, Esad is also called Esko and I am called Žujo. Anyway, Nara and I went together and Esad showed up a bit later. Nara and I are both fighting colds, though, so we only lasted until around 2:30AM or so before heading home and collapsing asleep.

Thanks to Čiro and Selma for hosting the party, to everyone who showed up for sharing fun and to everyone who's name I forget and don't put in captions below. I'm dong my best to remember names, but I've had a lot of new ones in the last 6 weeks.

Esad and Nara at Harvest, before the night really begins.

Selma and Čiro dance up a storm.

Beautiful Tea.

The sexy girls, Selma, Tea and Nina.

Tomislav and Domagoj.

Domagoj takes it off.

More dancing on the chairs.

Esko!

Domagoj.

Me and my sweety, Branka, AKA Nara.

Esko and Carmen.

Yeah, me.

Esko has to shit.

Esad, Selma, Me and Domagoj giving me love.

The lovely Selma.

Domagoj grips and pulls.

Do you really want to know what's going on here?

Oh god, no. Please no.

Madman Čiro

He knows.

Lucky and his girl. Somebody tell me her name, would you?

Need help wiht names, please.

The Queen and King.

Nara took many of these photos. So, I'm actually in a few.

This is a good one of Čiro.

The lifting of Lucky.