Miracles

"The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen" G.K. Chesterton

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Acerphobia - The Fear of Sour Milk

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At the risk of downplaying the trepidation with which some who have been diagnosed with acerphobia pour their milk, I would suggest that many Americans who have experienced the shocking zing of sour milk would admit that the next few times they see the milk out on the counter they exert a phobia-like reflex to get it back in the fridge ASAP.  At least I do. Not so in Eastern Europe.  Here in Croatia, most milk cartons, like the ones below, have the words "trajno mlijeko" written somewhere on it.  The adjective "trajno" means "lasting" or "permanent".  Pretty revolutionary when it comes to describing milk huh? So what does this mean? It means that when you go to the grocery store all of the milk is unrefrigerated.  It also means that once you buy the milk, it has a long shelf life. The stamp on the milk I opened this morning indicated that it would be just as good on October 12th as it is on June 1st. And that's s...
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Citizenship

Would you give up your citizenship? I've been going through the mandatory five year process of acquiring permanent residence in Croatia. Every year, I've renewed my visa. Last month I passed a language test. Turns out, my last obstacle will be passing a culture test I wasn't aware of until a few days ago. My knowledge of the Croatian constitution, amendments and laws will be the difference between attaining residence and having to go through the whole five year process again. Despite the bureaucratic inconvenience that would be, a phone call with a friend caused a bigger discomfort to situate itself in my psyche. See, attaining residence would allow me to apply for Croatian citizenship in a year. My wife and three kids already have dual citizenship. In my thinking, in another year I could become the bi-cultured individual I'd always dreamed of becoming. That's just a half joke. There's something about the idea of dual citizenship that nudges the ego up a no...
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How Do You Say Compromise in Croatian?

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Photo by  Jackson Simmer  on  Unsplash Throughout my 18 years in Croatia, there are generally three ways I've dealt with the cultural differences I've encountered:  Completely accept the new culture's way of doing things. Coffee culture comes to mind. Completely reject the new culture's way of doing things. The draft is a prime example. Make some sort of compromise.  This post is about one of the compromises I continue arguing with myself about making. It still causes a degree or two of tension in my mind when it comes up. In fact, I sometimes end up talking to myself (in English) while speaking (in Croatian).  Since a year or two after I moved to Croatia, I have worked towards learning Croatian as well as I can. There have certainly been ebbs and flows, mountains and valleys, but the progress has generally looked like the sort of economic growth chart a company would strive for. But there's one thing I have to - and often do - push against when it comes ...
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