Right outside our room is a stack of fishing netting and we wondered what it was doing there.

Yesterday this old man shows up quite early, sits down on his stool and starts working on the net. All day long he sat, sang to himself and every once in a while would engage in a conversation with someone passing by. We went down to see this process close up and found out that the skill set of repairing fishing lines is very old and not practiced as much as before.

We live in a “replaceable” world and when something is broken or in need of repair, it is discarded and a new one is purchased. In Croatia they don’t have that luxury since many live an impoverished life. This skill of net repair is one that remains, but we don’t know if it is taught to the younger generations. This takes patience and time, both of which are lacking in today’s world.

This is just one example of what I love about being over here. Things are slower than in the US (certainly in California) and trying to get a CHECK from the waiter/ waitress at the restaurant takes an Act of Congress! People eat slowly, sit and talk and a meal can take hours. No wonder they live longer over here.

Video courtesy of Kathleen Plumley