About Croatia, An Interview with Maja
About Maja
Maja was born in Slovenia, but at the time it was part of Yugoslavia. She considers herself Istrian. She is 22 years old and works at Motovun Camping as a summer job. She works 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. If she wants 3-5 days off, she makes a request a month in advance. She speaks Croatian, English, Italian, some German, and understands Slovenian. In school in this part of Istria it is obligatory to learn Croatian, Italian, and English.
What places would you recommend people visit when coming to Croatia?
Dubrovnik, Plitvice, Gorski Kotar, and of course the islands. They are not expensive to get there, but the islands themselves are expensive.
What are some of the popular foods of Croatia?
In Istria: truffles, buskarin (type of cow), gnocci, frkanci
It is common in Yugoslavia to pickle everything. But, I don’t like it.
Many other dishes that are commonly eaten in this area are from Bosnia and Serbia and not typically Croatian.
Can you tell me about truffle hunting?
Most truffle hunting is at night. Especially for white truffles. Black can be done during the day. My boyfriend’s father is a truffle hunter. Is that a good business? It was a good business. The black truffle is not so expensive. White truffle is much more expensive, but it is slowly getting extinct because it is picked too much, there is no time to reproduce.
How do you think things will change in Croatia, now that it is part of the European Union?
Years before it was not popular to come here because of the war. Now everything is re-built. My dad was in the war and my boyfriend’s father was in the war. The war was for stupid reasons. Most of wars are for stupid reasons.
I don’t know how things will change with the European Union.
Croatia seems to be very popular for tourists now, but the prices also seem very high.
Yes, and the high prices are making the tourists run away.
Have you traveled to other countries?
Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and Austria. Every year my boyfriend and I and friends go to Austria for festivals. I really like beautiful Austria. And I haven’t been there but I love Ireland, and whole UK, and China, and New Zealand.
How do you celebrate Christmas?
Croatia is mostly Catholic. We have Christmas trees, but I don’t know if the protestants have Christmas trees. Do you have wise men or Santa? Yes, we have both.
Things are changing, It used to be for Halloween we only put candles on graves. But now, in bigger towns, the kids dress up and ask for candy. But in February we have Carnival it is much more common than Halloween celebration.
What would you like tourists coming to Croatia to know?
Most old cities, the old town is protected by UNESCO, so parking is separate.
We have found the people here to be very nice.
Yes, they are nice, but, Croatia is in hard financial problems, and there are many people without jobs. So when people are not nice, they are worried, that is why. Croatia really relies on tourism. Some people say that Istria should be a separate country from the rest of Croatia. They say that Istria is feeding the rest of the country.