A few nights ago, we bought air tickets to fly back to California for Thanksgiving as Kenric’s grandfather’s health has deteriorated. Tonight is our last night in Sarajevo. We spent yesterday doing laundry, scrambling for Christmas gifts, and tasting the must-try dessert of Bosnia (Tufahija). It might have been presumptuous but I was pretty sure Arna and her Mom would invite us over for dinner tonight. So, last night, we had our Goodbye-Sarajevo dinner at a restaurant that Arna recommended.

We spent today packing, tidying the apartment and baking a smorgasbord of all the perishable food we had left. Beef cubes intended for making fajita, sausages, kielbasa, leftover white rice, leftover roasted vegetables, frozen corn, chicken fat that was skimmed from a dish I made last week, one egg and half a stick of butter. It smelled really good. Arna and her Mom don’t usually eat meat so we could only give them our non-perishable food. This casserole delicacy was for the dog that we see quite often scavenging late at night.

Dinner with friends

An invite did come for dinner tonight at Arna’s apartment. We brought Tufahija for them and for Amra, their family friend who’s been helping with the cooking, to take home. They were sad that we are leaving early, especially under such circumstances. Dinner was delicious and her Mom gave us quite a few things as souvenirs. Kenric and I are so thankful we met these kind, generous and resilient people.

After returning to our apartment we brought the doggie dish down to the trash spot where we sometimes see the dog scavenging. He wasn’t there. I hope he’s the one who finds the food first before the other three rascals that we’ve seen. Goodbye, Sarajevo. We love you. We’ll see you soon, Grandpa.