It's been a long time since March when I last posted and my Bosnian life evolved, climaxed and transitioned as I returned home just last week. So much happened and the intensity of it all partially explains why I was not my blogging self. It is not a dramatic story to be told but I would like to share the nuts and bolts of my spring in Sarajevo and where I am at today.
As most of you know I am a landscape architect trying to work within the community development sector in Bosnia and the way to do that has developed through Fondacija Mozaik which is a community development foundation based in Sarajevo. I was volunteering with them last winter where I started developing one of their projects involving an Ethno Restaurant and I was able to jump back on board that project to bring architectural plans of renovation through the conceptual and design development stages. To help the foundation get this project into the fundraising stage, it was decided a model displaying what the restaurant could and would look like would be most helpful in "selling" the project so I decided to tackle that need. And thus I became a model maker and sold me soul to hundreds of hours of sometimes frustrating, other times groovy detail work over my last two months in Sarajevo. It was worth it and the model developed well as I left Mozaik with an almost finished product. The idea is that they can introduce potential donors and partners to the Ethno Restaurant project when they visit the office and see the model on display or we can take it to a presentation and plop it on the board table and say, "This is it!" Additionally, in taking charge of this project and it's development, I was able to explore my architectural design capabilities and show to the foundation what I can do and how I can assist them in the future. Here's the model!
And so, some other thoughts about the last months in Bosnia. Overall, life was normalized and routine as there was a mix of work and play. Some friendships kind of dissolved while others gained strength due to increased shared experiences and a looking ahead to the future. I was also able to interact with the city with more background knowledge and appreciate it as part of the daily grind. My ability to speak was increased and with that I felt more comfortable in the office and more inclined to deeper conversations with friends and entertaining encounters with strangers. These thoughts were kind of chaotic and mismatched. I would love to get together with many/any of you and tell you more about Bosnia and I. Also, over the next few weeks I would like to reveal some of my journaled thoughts and gut feelings about Bosnia and potential development there. So...stay tuned.
Feel free to give me a call or send an email so that we can get in personal touch!
luke.kasitz@gmail.com 484 941 2450
much love
Luka
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