Monday, October 24, 2011

An Open Letter

Dear Friends,

After taking Emily and Petra to a local office to apply for our daughter's citizenship, I am not surprised that Steve Job's life was less celebrated here in Croatia than it was in America.


Believe it or not, this picture was taken in October of 2011.

It's not that the internet, personal computers, electronic handheld devices, or various other communication systems are not utilized in Croatia.  By no means!  It's just that they are not used in the places where they could arguably be the most useful.  This worker was very friendly.  And if he was confused, it stemmed more from our daughter being born into a unique (for small-town Croatia) dual citizenship marriage.

Yes, typewriters are still used all over Croatia.  I find this strange in a land that is becoming more and more like Western-Europe everyday.  My inclination is to hang this cultural difference in the closet that already holds most of the shocking things I've encountered, yet I have a feeling that "tradition" is not what gives the typewriter such a long shelf-life.

So I'll appeal to my Croatian audience.  Why in the world of iPads and blogs are we still using typewriters?

I'll be waiting by the mailbox.

Sincerely,

Jeremy

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

No money? Especially in a small Croatian town. In a country with enormous national debt? There you go.

Tom said...

I love your post Jeremy! This really is such a shame, especially because you can see sights like this even is a lot of administrative or doctors offices in center city Zagreb... but I guess when you have a government that steals all those millions instead of investing them into things like this people have to manage with what they have...