just home after a longish wanderwalk, during which i covered the rest of Sarajevo (ie. not the airport, southwest side again). it's quite a small city, actually, laid out primarily west to east rather than around a true center. historically, it has "spread" along the Mljacka river from the east--such that i went back in time the further i walked. beyond Stari Grad (the old city), ascended into the hills, where i found an Islamic cemetery. being surrounded in every visible direction by white markers with dates of death between 1992 and 1999 wrenched me from this slow backwards amble. there's a circular truth to this pattern, the jolt from far east back to the airport. the river and the tunnel from the airport that enabled Sarajevo to survive the recent war.

photographically (and otherwise), i've been doing a lot of detail studies. It's difficult to think in any other way, especially concerning violence. if you can see the entire building, it looks undamaged; too close up, and the shell indent looks either isolated or the product of brutal but disinterested erosion.

orientation-type activities all day, over at the MCC apartment/office—with clark and heather. better than general orientation in akron for two distinct reasons: small group and specificity. the congeniality has a great deal more substance. and, besides, i am (in some respects) *here.*

made my first meal here: bread, pickles, ajvar (red pepper, eggplant, onion spread), mustard, and vegetables.

this is not a place to give up the drinking of coffee, so i'm glad i never made anysuch healthy stomach resolutions. i'll just be making it differently from now on....