It's a culture thing

Photo by: MARINNYC

Weather permitting, every day (from 10am-1pm), you will find cafes busy with Mommies and their toddlers as they gather for a fun date with their friends. So after Beli had her breakfast, I packed a few snacks and headed to the nearest cafe to meet my friend and her daughter.

Like the locals I have perfected the art of taking a coffee, as it is called, often making a single cup of coffee last for hours.

It was a nice morning almost like a summer day. A few people were sun tanning and I even saw a man swimming! Brrrrrr...

You see, in Croatia all sorts of meetings from casual conversations to business discussions, take place over cups of coffee, never on the run. The concept of coffee to-go is not very common, which I believe was the main reason Starbucks reconsidered and indefinitely postponed opening its first store in the capital city of Zagreb (which was planned to open in October). And I was even planning a special trip, driving 4 hours, to have a venti white chocolate mocha. Yes, the things a dedicated coffee enthusiast will do! But for now I'll continue and be like the locals, sitting at a cafe and passing the time with a cup of coffee, it's a culture thing.

My trilingual toddler

Beli is doing amazingly well with all three languages. She is beginning to make the transition from asking me something in Spanish like, "que es Mami?" to walking over to hubby and asking the same question but in Croatian, " što je to?" As far as English is concerned, we aren't too worried, she knows the colors, and some animals, plus she listens to Mommy and Daddy interact and sometimes she repeats some phrases like, "excuse me" after she burps.

For right now we are concentrating on speaking our native tongues. I will admit that since Croatian is spoken all around her she tends to understand and speak it more often. It's quite comical though at times she asks me something in Croatian and keeps repeating it until I finally ask Hubby "what is she saying?!"

Yesterday, I asked her if she wanted uvas and she said, "uvas?" And I repeated in English "grapes" she replied "quieres uvas, no grapes!" I said, so you want uvas, but not grapes?"

Hubby and I only smiled!

Like all parents, knowing that we are providing a loving and nurturing environment is very important for us. Living overseas with hubby's family nearby is a decision we both made even before Beli was born. We both knew that we wanted to stay at home with her and this would have been quite difficult (but not impossible) to accomplish in the States.

We aren't sure how long our stay in Croatia will last so we take one day at a time until then, daily walks to the beach and afternoons with friends continue to be our routine.