Aestheics and Austria

The first obvious difference between Americans and Croatian is the good old weight issue. You do not see fat people, you just dont. Note>The computer I am typing this on does not have proper puncutation, so please excuse the mistakes. Sure, you see the occasional older woman who could afford to lose a few pounds, but never do you see people who are grossly overweight, as in America.

Most Croatians have dark hair and dark eyes. Allegedly, men from the coast are rumored to be the eptiome of tall, dark, and handsome. There are few natural blondes, and no redheads. I have seen about two in the past three odd months. Croatians are big people. At first I thought I was imagining that the men were absolutely enormous, but the average height for a Croatian man is 6 foot 1, and for a woman, 5 foot 7. Out of the seven boys in my class, only one is under 6 foot three.

People often assume I am Croatian, but more often then not, they assume I am English or German. Which I am I suppose. Mostly everyone speaks enough English to converse, though not enough to pick out accents. I got asked if I was Australian the other night. I have a great time picking Americans out of a crowd. Somehow, they always seem to make it obvious they are American...

Croatians are much better dressed then the average American, and extremely style conscious. People never go out of the house unless properly dressed. I am yet to see a woman walking around in lounge pants, which is normal in America. You see very few people who are not meticulously groomed.

On another note, I am off to Austria today, for the week, to visit my friend Paige Simpson from Dublin, New Hampshire. She lives in a small town called Sierning, which is close to Styr. We are going to Vienna at some point to visit her host sister, and then on Friday, we will go to Salzburg for the Chrstimas Rotary Meeting. I will be back in Zagreb next Sunday, and a week from Christamas break!

Hope everyone is having a pleasant Holiday Season.