Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnians are regarded as friendly, warm, and outgoing. They enjoy merak (a relaxed pace of life). Each major group emphasizes different traits. For example, Bosnian Serbs consider themselves proud and heroic, Bosnia Croats emphasize their courteous behavior, and Bosniacs consider themselves as having warm personal relationships. Ceif means to act spontaneously for enjoyment.

Upon meeting, Bosnians usually shake hands. Younger people greet older people first and offer their seats on public transport. Friends add the kiss- once on each cheek for Bosnian Croats, and three times for Bosnian Serbs. On parting, Bosnians might say: "Do vidjenja", or the more informal "Vidimo Se".

It is considered impolite to beckon with the index finger or shout in public. Friends wave to each other in the street. Bosnians usually offer older persons a seat on the bus. Eye contact is used in daily conversation, and is a particular point of etiquette when people raise their glasses for a toast.

Family and friends are fond of visiting, especially at weekends. People frequently sit for hours over a cup of coffee and a cigarette or some rakija (brandy), showing the leisurely pace of life. People drop by without notice. Invited guests often bring flowers, coffee, wine, or chocolates. A first-time visitor is almost obliged to bring a gift. Gifts are usually not opened in the guest's presence. Flowers are given in odd numbers, even numbers being strictly for funerals. Bosnians generally take off their shoes before entering a home. Hosts serve coffee at the beginning and end of a visit. Meze is a spread of pies, dried meats, cheese, and salads offered for arranged visits. Bosniacs tend to stay only briefly when offering sympathy or congratulations. Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats tend to stay and eat.

Western-style clothing is worn by most people, and urban residents pay special attention to their appearance and labels or brand names. Natural fibers are preferred over synthetic, while silk and furs are popular among some affluent people. Women often dye their hair. Some people in rural areas combine traditional with Western clothing. Berets and head scarves are traditional. Religious Bosniac women wear long skirts and full head scarves.

Pies are the centerpiece of the Bosnian menu. Burek or meat pie, zeljanica or spinach and cheese pie, cabbage pie and many more abound. Breakfast pies are served with cheese or cream, and smoked sausage. For lunch Bosnians eat a hearty soup, with vegetables and meat. Other favorites are chicken and stuffed peppers. Devout Muslims do not eat pork, whereas other Bosnians enjoy pork. It is a custom to slaughter a pig for the family in November. Part of the meat is kept for Christmas and the rest is dried or smoked. Bosnian cooking is influenced by Turkish and Greek cuisine. Sweets include baklava, a layered pastry with crushed nuts. Tufahija is boiled apple stuffed with nuts and sweet cream. Though Bosnians consume less alcohol than most, rakija is found all over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The day begins with black, strong coffee, leading to breakfast at mid morning. Lunch in the mid afternoon is usually soup, meat with a vegetable, salad and dessert. Supper can be served at about 8 PM. Bosnians eat with the fork in the left hand and knife in the right hand. Traditionally, especially in rural areas, pies are eaten with the hands. Hands remain above, and elbows off the table. It is not polite to speak with the mouth full, but friends can share off the same plate. When entertaining, more food is offered than can be eaten. Guests need to decline more than once.

Pies are the centerpiece of the Bosnian menu. Burek or meat pie, zeljanica or spinach and cheese pie, cabbage pie and many more abound. Breakfast pies are served with cheese or cream, and smoked sausage. For lunch Bosnians eat a hearty soup, with vegetables and meat. Other favorites are chicken and stuffed peppers. Devout Muslims do not eat pork, whereas other Bosnians enjoy pork. It is a custom to slaughter a pig for the family in November. Part of the meat is kept for Christmas and the rest is dried or smoked. Bosnian cooking is influenced by Turkish and Greek cuisine. Sweets include baklava, a layered pastry with crushed nuts. Tufahija is boiled apple stuffed with nuts and sweet cream. Though Bosnians consume less alcohol than most, rakija is found all over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A rural household typically consists of grandparents, parents, and two or more children. The grandfather or father has a dominant role. Urban families have one or two children, with the grandparents less involved. Both husband and wife usually work and share decision-making. Children may be cared for by family members, babysitters, or child-care. Parents often continue to support children into adulthood with housing or money. In turn, children are expected to care for their elderly parents.

Young married couples go out to fairs, cinemas, cafes, dance, and disco clubs. Rural youth gather in town squares. To be legally married, there must be a civil ceremony. Many also have a religious ceremony. Rural marriage celebrations often mean days of feasting and large tents for guests.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is known for winter sports. Its excellent ski slopes became especially popular after the 1984 Winter Olympics were held in Sarajevo. In warmer weather, it is popular to fish and raft in the rivers and hike in the mountains.

The very start of our day often will shape what we do and how we do it during the day. The morning routine is a highly important factor in a school kid’s life. The typical start of a kid’s day will prevailingly depend on the shift (there are early morning and afternoon shifts, regardless of grade) and other factors. Getting up varies between six and nine A.M. If both parents are working, the school kid(s) will get up with their parents; grandparents, older cousins, or paid person will take care of the kid prior to school. Parents will insist on kids' necessary morning hygiene until it is a regular part of their daily routine, which will include washing their faces, brushing teeth, and dressing up themselves. The majority of today’s parents will teach their kids to wake up alone with the help of their alarm clocks, in order to acquire a proper sense of time and its distribution. Prior to school, children nowadays are not required to do any hard work but prepare for their school (books and proper clothing). On occasions, they will take care of their pets. Most children will try to avoid breakfast, especially if they are in the morning shift, which makes it very common for them to start their day with a cup of cereals and a juice, or simply fruit. Not many children will eat heavily in the morning. The provided usual lunchtime varies between 3 PM and 5 PM, children who go to school in mid-day will start their day with cereals and fruit but will have an additional meal before they go to school; it will usually consist of home-made sandwiches, soup, eggs or other meals more substantial than cereals and fruit.

Depending on the area, transportation to school will vary accordingly. In bigger cities and urban areas of towns, parents will drive their children to school in their own vehicles whenever possible. However, not every family possesses a car and not all parents have time to drive kids to school. In such cases, they will use public transport. Children from town suburban areas will use organized school transportation, which will be the bus. The transportation prices are set up at the beginning of each school year and paid in advance. In some cases, parents with more than one child attending the same school will have to pay only one price for two or more kids.

Most primary schools are approximately thirty to forty years old; there are also unintentional buildings turned into schools. The number of students depends if the school is a combination of elementary (primary) and secondary (high school) education. For strictly elementary school, the approximate number of children will be 25-30 in each class and classroom, 3-4 classes per grade. Considering the fact that primary education lasts for nine years, it would end up in approximately 800 – 1,100 pupils per school. For the school that encompasses both elementary and high school education, the number will increase by approximately 300 - 500 additional students in higher grades. A typical classroom is equipped with wooden desks and chairs (two children occupying one desk); a plain blackboard is still in use in almost every school, be it elementary or higher, along with chalk and a plain sponge for cleaning. Several newer schools will have modern plastic boards, which allow teachers and pupils to use markers and similar writing materials. Most schools have computer equipment, out-of-date but sufficient for beginners, including a World Wide Web connection for educational purposes only. Children usually share a computer – two per one PC unit. Some schools have TV sets or CD players in each classroom, though not as a rule. Classrooms will not be equipped with any kind of toys or puzzles. Children start their first grade at the age of six (“Nine Years Obligatory Education” as opposed to the former eight years); the first grader’s classes are serious from the very beginning. Almost every classroom is shared by younger children in one shift and older in another.

Though obligatory, primary education is neither free nor cheap. Parents must buy books each year. The number of books will present problems most of the time due to heavy backpacks. The approximate weight of books for a fifth grader will be over 10 kilos, which is considered at least approximately 1/3 of an average kid’s weight at that age. Almost every school lacks space in general. With more classrooms, younger and older children would not have to share and classrooms that are more specialized could be built with different equipment. The locker system is what all schools lack the most, since children would not have to carry their books and exercise equipment on a daily basis. Schools in the area have under-equipped and out-to-date libraries, which mostly depend on donors. Children will get a list of books (fiction, poetry) to read and analyze once per month. Parents often search for books in public libraries, since children under 14 are not allowed to be members. Along with the locker system, the lack of free books would certainly be one of the main deficiencies, though the lack of space and fire escape is far more serious – not all schools have a fire escape. Most schools have small cantinas offering low-price and low-quality sandwiches and soda drinks. Children will mostly carry their own food from home, such as homemade sandwiches, energy bars, and water. Primary graders have three to four 45 minutes classes each, with five minutes breaks between. During the first five grades, children will have one teacher for all classes. The curriculum in the first five grades consists of native language, math, nature, environment, society, physical exercise, arts, and English in some schools. In sixth grade classes change to foreign language (or additional foreign language if English was introduced in the second grade), math, geography, biology, science (physics and chemistry), basic computer science, physical exercise, and arts (music, painting, designing, etc). With a variety of religions present, most schools introduce classes such as ethics, basics of democracy, and history of religions. Regardless of the number of classes a kid has per day, there will be only one 15 minutes recess for both primary and secondary graders, allowing them to eat whatever they brought from home or whatever they buy in school. Some schools introduce obligatory English language in second grade (two classes per week) and additional foreign language (German or French) in the fifth, though it is more common to have a second (primarily English, German and French) language in the fifth grade. English is required to be taught by persons with a University graduate equivalent degree, i.e. a professor rather than a teacher with 2 years of University education. Secondary (high school) education is not obligatory. Almost all children move from primary to secondary education, though every third child finishes all nine years, which ends up in the lowest rate of University entrances within the entire region, with every fourth high school student entering University. As for discipline, the matter varies from school to school. It primarily depends on the internal school’s regulations, where disciplinary measures are harsh but provides results. Children in all schools will get penalties for incessant talking during classes, and forgetting homework or books. As for severe violations, children may be expelled from school. Though the headmaster is the ruling figure in a school, the teacher and a pedagogue will deal with discipline issues first, talk to kids and parents and then transfer the problem to the headmaster. Children do not wear uniforms to school.

In smaller areas, children would go straight home from their school, where only a part of them will continue to music school or sports. There is a significant lack of extracurricular activities for children in smaller towns and villages, unlike cities, where various activities are available through all the systems. Children from towns will have to settle with a public music school and several school-based sports practices, where they play football, handball, ping-pong, and basketball mostly through school, within regular classes; organized practice is still lacking except for football, which is most common in the area. When not in school or during weekends, most of the children spend their time outdoors on various playgrounds - either improvised or those belonging to schools. They watch TV and visit Internet clubs but do not go out regularly until the age of 15, since some schools require their students out of the streets during weekdays. Most children return from school before their parents come from work. Depending on how disciplined they are, they will wash up, change their clothes and do some of their homework after a small snack. After having lunch with their parents, they will continue with homework. Depending on the time parents can spend, they will watch educational TV, go out for a movie together, play social games such as monopoly, scrabble, etc. Dinner is not as habitual as other meals but rather replaced with fruits or salads, though kids tend to eat light meals in the evening, consisting of various pasta, milk, cookies, and fruit. As for going to bed, there is no big difference between a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old child, since it depends on the shift. After their evening shower, kids will usually come into the living room with a “good night”, often accompanied by a kiss. They will go to their rooms, pack up their backpacks for tomorrow, and perhaps read a bit in their bed. They will go to sleep at approximately 9 or 10 P.M.