Chapter 3 - beginning in bosnia

The long flight to Europe was exciting, I had not been back in Bosnia since a little girl. The airport was impressive---glass, steel and gleaming with pride. Taking the train to our mountain village, I noticed that everyone looked like me. In the United States I almost always towered over all the women, and pretty much all the guys. Here I could see eye to eye with most guys, and smiled at every tall sister on the street. For the first time in my life it might be possible to buy pants at a store, and shoes without making a special order! I also noticed an abundance of everything; the entire economy had changed since the war. Arriving back in my hometown was quite a surprise. I had left as a child in the middle of the war, and it was also a time of famine. My parents made sure I brought enough food to share for our family so as not to be a burden. I remember my grandmother with hallowed out cheeks and sharp hips. Arriving in the village, I saw a similar looking lady who looked maybe ten years older, but had a very full body. She ran up to me, gave me a hug and was so happy to see me. I was a little taken aback, it was clear that peace had brought prosperity to my village.

That night my family had a big welcome home party. The food, the music and love reminded me of all of my childhood dreams. Although I do not speak much Bosnian, I kept hearing the same word, "mrshav." It turns out that not only was my family from the heart of the Dinaric Alps, but we also happened to be from the famous "tallest village in the world" where the average man grew to over 191 cm (that's 6'3), and the average woman grew to 180cm or 5'10. Being surrounded by so many people who looked like me, and enjoyed much of the same food was just an incredible experience. By the end of the night I was stuffed with love (and also food), and excited to start this experience.

My grandmother was a little taller than me, I'd guess around 6'4 and clearly well fed. If I arrived weighing less than 140, she must have had at least a hundred pounds on me. (I'd later learn she was more like 280.) Although her English was not very good, it was clear that she looked forward to spending more time with me. She was clearly comfortable around the kitchen, and slowly introduced me to all of the local specialties like Ćevapi (a meat kebab dish), Popara (bread soaked in milk) and Musaka (a baked dish with potatoes and meat). She kept on bumping into me and uttering mrshav. After a few weeks I was starting to get a hang of it.

One day one of the neighbors came over for dinner. He had graduated from university about two years ago and was the typical Bosnian tall dark and handsome. Needless to say I started swooning. Turns out that he had played for the University basketball team, and had started working at an office in town. Five or six inches taller than me, I could see his athletic body had grown a layer of soft love after a few years in the village. Just as he noticed me checking out his cute tummy, he put his hand on it and said in perfect English, "I love our hometown, but the food does have a way of catching up with you." Sounded like he had a fighting weight of about 230 pounds in college but was not closer to 136 kg 300 pounds. My grand mother joked how happy it was when he passed her 127 kg. I asked him about how my grandmother kept on saying mrshav when she poked me, he laughed and said that it was a shame that America was having such a famine. I looked with a wry smile. He chuckled a little and said otherwise why would you be so skinny? I laughed and showed him some pictures of me before art school, and it was clear he liked that look more. The rest of the evening was lovely, and it was quite fortunate my grandmother went to bed early.

By the end of my first month at home the neighbor had developed into a boyfriend. It was also clear that my clothes were getting a little tighter. Although not one to work out, one morning I decided to head to the town pool for a swim. Stepping on the scale in the women's room it read 66 kg which meant I'd put on about five pounds. Not sweating that much I continued with my swim and thought I should be careful about portions so that it would not interrupt my larger mission.