Wow and Wow!

Wow. Next week is my last full week of classes. It's hard to believe that time has gone by so fast. I still have so much to teach; I feel like I need to stay another two months. Less and less time means fuller and fuller days. Tomorrow I will have eight hours worth of classes! I have easily put in at least 40-50 hours of work in each week between teaching and preparation work. The adults and I are starting to panic a bit because there is just too much to learn in too little time. I will have my one group from 8-9 tomorrow night just to cram in as much as we can before I leave. The next two weeks will be busy!

Another Wow! I have a front row seat at the Elton John concert! How unbelievable is that? A seat opened up just minutes before I was about to book one in another section. A front row seat here only cost a few more dollars then the seats in the back of most American arenas. I am so excited - this will be so amazing!

My friend from Padina cannot come to the concert so it will be just me and this girl that I haven't met yet. I still wish I could take another student, but I can't pay for 3 tickets. When I said I would pay for someone's ticket if they took me to the concert, I meant help me get from Padina to Belgrade to the concert and back. The girl I am going with is taking me from a meeting point in the city and back to a train station. I have to ride the bus to Belgrade in the morning with one of my students and walk 2.5 miles out to the arena and back to get the tickets before the box office closes. So for only having to take me to a train station in the city after the concert, this is a pretty good deal for an Elton John fan! Since she was 'promised' a ticket to the concert before I had the chance to invite my students or a Belgrade Rotaract member, I ended up telling them she could pay the $20 difference in the ticket prices to sit with me in a better section, or I would get her a cheaper ticket in another section. She said she was ok sitting by herself, so we won't even be sitting together.

In honor of the Elton John concert, here is a song lyric for Tom:
"I want love, won't break me down, Won't brick me up, won't fence me in"
Thank you for loving me enough to allow me to spend 2.5 wonderful months in Serbia and for not 'fencing' me in! See you soon!

Elton John Concert!

Elton John has been one of my favorite singers for as long as I can remember so occasionally I checked his concert tour page. You can imagine how excited I was when I found out he would be having his first ever concert in Belgrade while I am here! Going to an Elton John concert while serving as a volunteer through a church doesn't exactly fit in with what is expected of a volunteer. I debated for a while whether or not to even asks my hosts if I could go because I wasn't sure how attending a concert in Belgrade would be viewed. But, I figured it never hurts to ask, so I did.

Luckily, they said they didn't mind. I had two ideas on how to attend the concert without being a burden two my hosts. #1 - Ask my adult students if any of them wanted to go. If they got me there and back, I would pay for their ticket. #2 - Contact the 2 Rotaract Clubs in Belgrade. If someone could pick me up at a train station and then get me on a bus back to Padina, I would pay for their ticket. I thought my options sounded pretty good. I asked my hosts a few times to ask the women in my classes because its just easier if they hear it in Slovak. Instead of asking any of my students, it was "arranged" for me to go to the concert with a family friend in Belgrade. Turns out, my hosts would have to drive down to Belgrade and pick me up because I can't stay at this person's house as originally planned. This person works until 7:00 the night of the concert and wouldn't even be able to get me to the arena in time to pick up the tickets, meaning I have to navigate the outskirts of Belgrade myself. Yet, since she was "promised" a ticket to the concert I am still expected to take her. It's just really frustrating because I was looking forward to the concert so much and had so many different options that would make this easy. The concert is this Thursday, and I'm still not even 100% sure I can go. I decided to email a in my class to see if she is interested in the concert because I want to make sure I can go incse this other person's plans change again. I am very impatiently awaiting her response as I type this post. Keep your fingers crossed she wants to go!

Of course they had the best intentions in mind when doing this, it's just not what I expected. I've learned that this is one of the biggest cultural differences here. People, with only the best intentions, will do what they think is best for you even if it's not what you ask for. They only do it because they care, so I have been trying to accept it as much as possible. Once at a person's house, they offered me water or blueberry juice (which doesn't sit well with my stomach.) I asked for water and was given the blueberry juice anyway. At a restaurant during one of the pastors meeting, the same thing happened. Someone asked me what I wanted so I said orange juice. She spoke to the waiter in Serbian and then said, "I got you something better." It was blueberry juice again. :)

PS. Here is one of the reasons my house is so creepy. This sucker was like 3 inches long!

Mommy, where are you?

The littlest one

Saturday Night Singing

Two of my adult students from the Nazarene church invited me to the Saturday singing at their church. They said it was a special gathering because people were coming from other churches in Serbia as well as Hungary. They are such wonderful people so I accepted their invitation. I must admit, I was skeptical at first. Singing really isn't my thing, especially a 2.5 hour long singing at a church.

Liljana reminded me earlier in the day that I should cover my hair for the service. The Nazarene women wear scarves or lace on their heads similar to what a Mennonite would wear. The first few inches of their hair is exposed, while the remainder is covered. I took her advice and wore a small scarf to cover my ponytail. When I got to Liljana's house wearing my skirt and scarf, she started to giggle and said I looked like a Nazarene girl and then gave me a hug for being "cute." My student/friend met me at their house and we walked to the church together.

Their singing blew me away. It was nothing like what I had expected. The songs that are sung in the Methodist church here sound heavy and traditional. Singing loud seams to be more important than singing in key. The songs in the Nazarene church were completely different. They were light, airy, and sounded very uplifting. I honestly felt like I was at a concert, but instead of sitting in the audience, I was sitting with the choir singers.

The men sat one one side of the church and the women on the other. The two sides faced each other. Each side was divided into two sections. The people sat according to whether they were a bass, tenor, alto, or soprano. There was no piano or any other accompanying instruments. Their voices were the music and sounded more beautiful than a piano would have. The songs were not sung just for the sake of singing. They were sung to perfection with everyone using their well trained voices to reach each note in unison. I was amazed at how they were able to sing sixteenth note runs with ease. Depending on the notes, the different sections would sing at different times creating the most beautiful music. The part that amazed me the most was that these were just the congregation members that have carefully honed their voices over the years. This wasn't a professionally trained accapella group, just people that loved to sing.

Hopefully I will have the chance to go again before I leave! This is probably my favorite memory of my time here in Serbia, except for my surprise party of course.

Kittens!

I forgot to post a kitten picture yesterday, so here are two!

This was my attempt to do some work outside with the kittens. They had fun attacking each other under my laptop!

A Wonderful Birthday Surprise

Yesterday started out like any other day. Right before my first class, my hosts gave me some birthday gifts. At first I was surprised, but they are such wonderful people so I should have known they would do something like that. I was surprised to get a Padina t-shirt! town is so small so I had no idea they sold Padina shirts. Liljana even knitted me two beautiful fish.

I was surprised again when one of the teen boys gave me a big chocolate bar and said happy birthday. His mother is in my adult class so I thought she must have remembered when we did a lesson on the months of the year and birthdays. The rest of the day continued as usual.

Usually, when my first adult class is over, they leave right away because most of them have kids at home. I was wondering why no one was in a hurry to leave. Then, I noticed the students from the second group were all waiting in the lobby area of the church. They all started to bring in gifts! Next thing I knew, my hosts were walking in with a birthday cake! I had absolutely no idea that they had planned a surprise party for me! I was so touched by their generosity and kindness. The women in my class are all so wonderful - I really wish you could meet them!

I couldn't believe how many gifts I got. I got way too much chocolate, three bottles of body spray/perfume, 4 shirts, some little decorations, 5 hand-made corn husk dolls, and a basil plant! I mentioned one time that I loved basil and that I grew it at home. One of the ladies that work in Belgrade found a basil plant at a market, and basil is not easy to find here! The gifts were very sweet, but the best part was just seeing how much they care. I know I'm not the best teacher, so I sometimes think that I am getting more out off this experience than they are. I'm putting so much time into the classes - I am so much busier than I ever imagined I would be. I am trying my best so I am just so grateful that they keep coming to class.

The only thing that bothered me about the night was that my one host mentioned to to women that I quit my job to be here and that I even paid for my plane ticket and all other expenses related to this trip. They didn't need to know those details because it makes this sound like a really big deal and that I am making a huge sacrifice for them. I don't want them to feel bad that I gave up a lot to be here - those details are not important. I am here because I chose to be here and that's what should matter.

Here are some pictures from the party and of my gifts! I didn't include individual pictures of the people because I don't want to put their pictures on the internet without asking.

We can run!

The kittens' first time running in the yard! They were just too cute when they first started to run. They would run until they fell over or ran into something.

Native Art Gallery

Today, Liljana took me to the Native Art Gallery in Kovacica (the other city where I have English classes). The gallery was fairly small, but they even had an English speaking tour guide! The gallery featured local artists. The style here is very unique, but very fun and colorful. Next to the public gallery, there are smaller private galleries. I bought some really beautiful hand-painted eggs from a women. I really hope I can get them home without them breaking!

This painting was really interesting (and really big!!). The building in the upper left corner represents Bratislava Slovakia. The castle on the top middle represents the Spis region of Slovakia. There are 200 people in the picture to represent the 200 years of Kovacica. Both Padina and Kovacica were settled by Slovaks about 200 years ago.

My Little Angels

I am so lucky that I have been able to watch these three adorable little kittens grow up. They mean the world to me. I think I normally handle homesickness pretty well, but these kittens have definitely made it easier to be away from home. I still miss my babies at home, but I look forward to seeing the kittens every day. As soon as I get to my hosts' house, I go up to the attic where their mom keeps them and bring them outside to play. They are finally getting to the playful stage. It's almost as though they learned to play over night. The runt of the litter is still a little weak, but the other two are always fighting, attacking their patient mother, or running around. They really like to be held now, and will come running up to you as soon as they see you. Tom even got to meet all of them today via skype! I will try to post a kitten picture every day since I have such a short time left. This will definitely be a hard goodbye!

To go or not to go?

My time here in Padina is quickly coming to an end. I need to figure out my travel plans for the next few weeks. I was thinking about going to Timisoara, Romania for a few days and then flying to Italy. WizzAir, a budget airline, has very cheap flights out of Timisoara. Plus, Timisoara looks like a beautiful city! So, to go or not to go?

My other option is to fly directly to Italy from Belgrade. As of now. I am leaning towards this option. I would absolutely love to visit Romania, but traveling just isn't as much fun when you are alone. For me, going to Italy is almost like going home. Italy, specifically Tuscany, has the most beautiful little old cities surrounded by picture perfect rolling green hills. I will be spending the weekend with some friends in Siena. I can speak enough Italian to get by so I am really looking forward to being somewhere where I at least have a slight idea as to what is happening. And best of all, I LOVE Italian food! I haven't had pizza, mozzarella, fresh Parmesan, or fresh basil since I have been in Serbia. The food here in Serbia is not bad, but I really miss mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I cannot wait to take my first bite of yummy Italian pizza, or even better, gelato! My stomach may be deciding this one for me . . . .

Novi Sad!

I finally got to see the beautiful city of Novi Sad over the weekend! There was another pastors meeting and luckily they decided to have it a the church about 5 minutes from downtown Novi Sad! This was a special meeting because the Methodist Bishop of this region was here for the weekend. He was a very nice man and very down-to-earth. He is from Switzerland and is fluent in German, English, and French. I enjoyed hearing the Bishop speak because it was fun hearing a language other than Serbian or Slovak. With how German is pronounced, it is also a very fun language to listen to! I felt a bit "lost in translation" at times because he addressed the pastors in German. One of the other pastors was translating that into Serbian which Liljana then translated into English for me!

Lunch was nice. The secretary of the Church here is very sweet. She remembered that I am vegetarian so she made fried zucchini for me. yummy! After lunch, I went out to explore the town. Novi Sad has a very pleasant historical center. The buildings were very nice and many of them were different colors. It is a very nice city - just the right amount of charm. There was a really nice park and of course great views of the fort. Even though this is the second largest city in Serbia, I felt like there were hardly any non-Serbian tourists. I couldn't even find postcards! It is nice to be in a city that seems untouched by outside tourism.

I also found a nice outdoor market that sold fresh produce and clothing. I wanted to take pictures, but I decided not to. The rows were very narrow and it didn't look like there were any tourists there. When you are walking around a foreign city alone, its nice to to dry to much attention to yourself and taking pictured definitely would have made me stand out. A beautiful tabby cat was walking through the market and seemed completely unfazed by all the activity around him. He came up to me, got a little back scratch, and then was on his way.

The best thing about the day was just being in a city! There were cafes, restaurants, and real shops! Padina is a nice little town, but it sure does make you miss being near a real city!

I hope you enjoy the slideshow below!

Thank you for the Birthday Cards!

I got more birthday cards in the mail last week! Thank you so much for all the cards! I haven't got this many in a long time!
Thank you . . . . Aunt Blanche, Grandma & Grandpa, Dennis & Diane & Family, Dorothy Byard, Humma Family, Bev & John, and Mom & Dad!

Thursday Lunch

I was planning on Thursday being a relaxing afternoon where I could sit in my kitchen and work on lesson plans. A few minutes after I sat down, one of my adult students (who is learning English for the first time) came to my house. She said something about her husband's cousins from Denmark were here in Padina and they spoke English. She said "come," so I followed. She took me down the street to another house, which happened to be the house of one of my other students. My two students are not related, but their husbands are both cousins with the people from Denmark.

Anyway, I got to talk to a woman from Denmark for about three hours. Her husband's parents were from Padina, so they were just here visiting family. She was a really nice lady. Neither of us spoke any Serbian or Slovak, so it was nice being able to speak in English. I saw that they were getting ready to have lunch, so I tried to excuse myself, but my students really wanted me to say. I just couldn't say no, so I had a quick lunch with them. (I had to leave early because of classes). My students know that I am vegetarian, so she told me the soup was vegetarian. I tried to ask if it was cooked in chicken broth but she said again that there was no meat in the soup. As soon as I tasted the soup, I knew something was different. I didn't want o be rude so I didn't ask again and just ate it. The next day when I came into class, she asked me right away if I felt sick. I said no and asked why. She told me that she forgot she had cooked chicken bones and skin in the soup for flavoring. (She took them out before it was served) She felt really bad, but I told her it was OK and not to worry. If this is the first time in like 14 years I had some type of chicken product, I guess that's not too bad. I'm just glad I have been able to avoid almost everything else so far! Luckily Liljana makes wonderful vegetarian soups!

My Generous Students

It is easy to forget that I am here as a volunteer and not getting paid - this really does feel like a real job. Time has gone by so fast, I just never really think about it. Over the last few days, I have received so many things as thank yous from my students. They may not pay anything for the classes, but they show their appreciate by giving what they can. Here is what I received in the past few days: a gallon of milk (straight from the cow and still a little warm), a huge block of homemade cheese, homemade apricot jam, a jar of canned cherries, a pot of sweet pepper mashed potatoes, rice with pickled cabbage, three squash, "vegetarian" ramen noodles because someone saw some in a shop when they were in Belgrade, and a small table runner for my birthday. I think that's all this week. I usually don't get that many things - this week was just special. I feel a little awkward when people give me things because I don't expect anything from them. This may be a quite little town, but the people here are some of the nicest you will ever meet!

Create your own travel map!

There is a fun website where you can keep track of your international travels. My goal is to travel to 50% of the countries in the world. It is a big goal, but something to look forward to trying! I am really looking forward to experiencing the Middle East or Asia! Tom has been lucky enough to go to China with some friends, but I have not been anywhere in Asia or the Middle East yet.

Interesting Articles - Ecological Corridors and Gabon

If you read either of the articles in this post, read this one about creating corridors for jaguars in Costa Rica. This is why I loved studying biogeography and have such a hard time deciding on a career in geography versus a career in the medical field - I just love this stuff! According to the article, "scientists have realized that connecting corridors are needed because many species rely for survival on the migration of a few animals from one region to another, to intermix gene pools and to repopulate areas devastated by natural disasters or disease. Placing animals in isolated preserves, studies have found, decreases diversity and risks dulling down a species." We need to do everything we can to save these species. By clearing land, we are destroying THEIR HOMES to build ours so we need to take responsibility for our actions. I get really frustrated when people complain about wild animals coming into urban areas or farms. Where else are they supposed to go when we took their land from them? Animals cannot speak for themselves when their homes are cleared for human benefit. I wish we could all learn to coexist with our fellow creatures on Earth. These beautiful, amazing animals need to be cherished and recognized for their value, otherwise we will lose them before we know it.

Too often when we think of Africa, the first things that come to mind are all the negative stereotypes of poverty, famine, and war. It is easy to look past the cultural and environmental treasures throughout Africa. This is a nice article about Gabon and their attempts to preserve their land. conservation efforts unfortunately sometimes conflict with local interests, but hopefully Gabon will be able to find a balance between the two. If they do develop an ecotourism industry,, I'm sure I will go there some day!

Typical day with my host

Janko was fixing the washing machine and decided to take some pictures. He claims it is our "secret" as to how we got inside the washing machine. This picture pretty much sums up life here with my hosts.

Also, I changed the blog settings so you should all be able to leave comments now.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

Saturday Conversation Class

I had an optional conversation class for my adult students and it went really well. There were even two new women that came to the class! I really wish the adult classes had been advertised before I came here so I could have had more time with the women. At first we only did easy questions. But since some of the women already spoke English before my class, we switched to more difficult question. They had a lot of fun with "What would you do if" questions like "what would you do if you won the lottery." From now on, I am going to start or end each class with 15 minutes of conversation practice. The beginners know enough English now to be able to form basic sentences. I can't say I'll miss the kids, but it will be really hard to say goodbye to the women here! They have just been so wonderful to work with.

The weather the past few days has been terrible. It is really cold, windy, and rainy. None of the older kids or younger kids came to class today because it's so bad. I am glad they didn't come because they all walk or ride bike here and they shouldn't be out in this weather.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday! I couldn't resist putting this up, at least for a few days. :)

Novi Sad

Ever since I found out I was coming to Serbia, I was really excited to see the city of Novi Sad because it looked so nice in all the pictures. I have been able to kind of see the city twice and wanted to share the pictures with you. The first time was after that youth retreat. We passed through the city on our way home and stopped for about a half hour at the fort that over looks the city. The fort is located on a hill across the river from the center of the city. The sun was shinning down on the city and everything looked so nice - it made me ever more excited to see the city itself. I was really excited when my hosts said that we would go back to Novi Sad the next day to taker their son back to his church. I thought we would have time to visit the historic center, but instead we went to lunch with the secretary and pastor of the church in Novi Sad. Then, they had a meeting with the Superintendent of the Church here in Serbia in a suburb of Novi Sad. I enjoyed meeting the pastors again, but we unfortunately ran out of time to see any of the city. Hopefully I will get to go there again and see the city before I leave!

Sr. Dorothy Stang

On Tuesday, I posted about a documentary I saw on the Amazon. I left out one very important person in my posting. For my former job, I worked with the Sisters of Notre Dame. Sr. Dorothy Stang, a Sister of Notre Dame, served in the Amazon for almost 40 years trying to help the locals live sustainably in the forest. She ultimately sacrificed her life for the land and the people that she came to love. Here is a quote from her website:
"Sister Dorothy Stang. She was Dot to her friends and family and Irma (Sister) Doroteia to the people in Brazil who took to calling her the "Angel of the Amazon" because of her passionate support of poor farmers' rights to the land and her protectiveness of the rainforest. Dorothy, a Sister of Notre Dame, devoted almost 40 years of her life to the people and land of Brazil. On February 12, 2005, two hired gunmen shot her six times thinking they had finally silenced this gentle, tenacious crusader for the poor."
If you are interested in reading more, you can go to this website, check out this BBC article, or simply google her name.

Thanks for the reminder Sr. Barbara Jean!

Updates

Class attendance this week has definitely improved from the past three weeks. Luckily, one of my adult students didn't know that I had classes for teens and brought her son to one of the adult classes for extra English practice. I told him to come to my teen classes and bring friends. He came and brought three friends! Wow - there is such a difference between 9-10 year old boys and 12 year old boys. The 9-10 year old kids are difficult to work with at times. These four twelve-year-old boys could not be sweeter. They listen and try so hard. I really hope they keep coming back and bring more friends that are just like them!

Donation update:
About a month ago, I told you a story about a family here in Padina who lost their barn and supplies to fix their house in a fire. Thanks to very generous donations from my family, we were able to raise about $470 for the family! They were very appreciative that people that don't even know them were willing to help them. I got more good news this week. The two original volunteers here in Padina were about to raise about $300 through their church. This will be a tremendous help for this wonderful family! Thank you!

My new job

In addition to teaching English, I now get to take care of two pigs! Well, at least for a few days. Most of the houses here have a small farm/courtyard. Because the yard at my hosts house is used for a Church, it's not a good place to raise pigs. So, they are raising two pigs here at my house. The pigs will eventually be dinner at festivities later this summer, but I don't want to think about that.

Normally, my host's 85 year old father takes care of the pigs. He will be out of town for a few days, so I offered to take care of the pigs while he is gone. It is a smelly job, but they are really cute animals. They remind me alot of my parents' dog Oliver: friendly, a little smelly, naughty, and they like to wipe their cold wet noses on you just like he does! I cleaned their pen for the first time yesterday and it was a funny experience. I decided to wear my flip flops into their pen because I figured they would be easier to clean than my sneakers. Well, the pigs never saw toes before, especially toes with purple nail polish. The female pig was so fascinated with my toes. She kept trying to sniff them so I ended up hoping around then pig pen trying not to get my toes nibbled. After I put on sneakers and came back, it was time to shovel the manure. It only would have taken a minute or two, but the pigs were in a playful mood and kept trying to play tug or war with the shovel and broom. It may be a smelly job, but I love animals so I don't mind.

Most of my adult students clean houses in Belgrade for work, so naturally, I taught them the verb "to clean." They really thought it was funny when I told them I cleaned the pigs' pen. At least me taking care of the pigs is making my students laugh!

Documentary on the Amazon

Often, when I am planning my lessons, I listen to American TV shows through a website called Hulu. I just listened to/watched a really good documentary on the tribes of the Amazon. Although the beginning was the typical history of all the explorers that tried to find the lost cities, the last 10 minutes were the best. The devastating effects from the rapid deforestation in the Amazon are too great to even really be counted. A football field is lot every 10 seconds to unsustainable agricultural fields. Not only does this have dire consequences for the surrounding biodiveristy, but it also threatens to erase remote Amazon tribes from existence. When fields that cannot possibly be sustained due to such low soil quality replace the forests, farmers are forced to use fertilizers and chemicals. These chemicals then seep into the rivers where they change the balance of that delicate ecosystem and poison the fish. Less fish means less food for these tribes that have learned to coexist with nature for thousands of years. This is one of those things where you wish you could stop it, but unless all the loggers, large agricultural producers, and governments felt the same way, you are pretty much helpless. Click here if you want to watch the documentary.

This a picture from our honeymoon to the Peruvian Amazon. You can't possibly capture the beauty of the Amazon in pictures.

A Nice Surprise!

After I finished my lesson with the little kids, Liljana told me I got some letters in the mail. I was only expecting something from my mom, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Four of my grandma's friends sent me birthday cards! That was so sweet of them to send me cards all the way over here in Serbia! Thank you so much Fran, Gloria, Patti, and Sharon!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the other mother's reading this!


How could you not love a face this precious!

Chuch in Jabuka

This morning, Liljana took me to a church service at the Methodist Church in Jabuka instead of going to the morning prayer service here in Padina. Jabuka is about a half an hour away in the direction of Belgrade. The church services in Padina are very traditional and use slower hymns. The average age of the congregation here is probably around 65. The church in Jabuka is bigger and with all the children, the average age is probably around 35. Because the majority of the congregation comes from Roma/gypsy decent, their music was much more lively and fun. It was a really enjoyable service. I was just surprised that there were probably about 20 people there under the age of 20. Except for Easter, kids and youth never seem to come to Church in Padina. Gotta go. Time for the second church service here in Padina.

5 Weeks Down, 5 More Weeks to Go!

Wow! I can't believe I am half way through with my time here in Serbia! I wish I could say that class attendance was as high as it was in the beginning, but it's not. Class attendance is actually my biggest frustration right now. I used to have about 6 young kids, now I am down to one. About 6 older kids used to come, now only 2-3 come each class. My teen class has gone from a high of 10-12 down to 4 regulars with sometimes a fifth if I am lucky.

This is just really frustrating because I really thought I would be teaching more kids. I know kids are unpredictable and you can't expect them to attend an English class three times a week in addition to school, but you think there would be more than a handful of kids in this town that want English lessons. It's just hard knowing that I had to quit my job to come here and have such small classes.

Luckily, the teens are really great to work with and really want to learn. I especially love the adults - they are making this trip totally worth it. I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for them. The adult classes are also really small, but they are just such a joy to work with.

I have talked to Liljana about the small class size. She talked to the kids to see if it would be better to have the classes on the weekends, but they said during the week is still the best. She even made the comment tonight that the adult classes seem like the only thing that is worth being here for. I suggest that we put a sign in front of the Church advertising free English classes. I don't know if that will help. I tell the kids everyday that they can bring friends and kids from school, but no one knew has come yet. Keep your fingers crossed that next week will be better! At least we know now that an English teacher is probably really only needed in the summer.

He reads . . . . . toilet paper!

The women in my second adult class make me laugh. Not just a little smile and laugh, but to the point where class has to stop so we can all regain our composure. First, there was the lady that said "Bread Pitt!" when I showed a picture of bread. Then, today in class I introduced the word "read." I asked the class for examples with read. One lady said, "He reads . . . toilet paper!" I don't have the slightest clue what made her say that, but it was hilarious. It took us a few minutes before we could get back to work. :)

Letters from Sierra Leone!

I am so excited! Tom told me this morning that I got a package of letters from Sierra Leone, West Africa. My great aunt was a Methodist missionary in Sierra Leone many years ago. Although I never met her, I feel a special connection to the schools where she served. I got to meet the headmistress, Jane, of the June Hartranft Memorial School for Girls last summer. We exchanged contact information and earlier this year, I sent a letter to the girls at the school. I told Jane that I would write to any of the girls that wanted an American penpal. I wasn't even sure if they received my letter until Tom told me I got a huge stack of about 20 letters in the mail. I cannot wait the 48 more days until I can go back and read each letter. He said they even sent pictures! I am just so touched that so many of the girls took the time to write to me. I intend on responding personally to each letter as soon as I get home. I can only dream of the day i will get to go to Sierra Leone to visit them.

Jane had sent me a CD with video clips from the school over Christmas. It was so wonderful to see some of the girls and to hear them sing. I am always so amazed by their spirits and how they can find ways to be happy despite living in a country with such a difficult past. With the recent economic crisis in the US, you may think you know what its like to have your country go through tough times. Our worst can even begin to compare to their worst. Our country has money problems. Big deal. Make cutbacks and learn to deal with it. It may be tough and hard but it cannot compare to the unimaginable terror and violence that Sierra Leone faced during their civil war. These people lived through years of a cruel and torturous civil war where amputations were a form of punishment, children were forced into rebel armies, and women and girls were raped so badly that to describe what happened to them is to hard to put into words. Despite these hardships, these beautiful little girls are able to carry on with their lives, and although the scars of the war are still visible today, their spirits remain so strong. With countries like Sierra Leone, it is important to not forget the past, but even more important to focus on how far them have come. I may be volunteering in Serbia, but my heart is in Sierra Leone.

Beautiful Park in Belgrade

On the way to the retreat on Saturday, we stopped in Belgrade for about an hour. Daniel and his fiance Elana took me to the fortress that sits along the Danube and Sava rivers. I had seen pictures of it before, but it really exceeded my expectations. It was huge! The fort and its walls never seemed to end. There was plenty of greenspace making it the perfect place for picnics or for families to spend time together. Of all the capital cities I have ever been in, Belgrade definitely ranks #1 for having a beautiful, family friendly park that just happens to have a really cool fort and overlook two rivers. Daniel is very knowledgeable about the history of Serbia and Belgrade so it was like having my own personal tour guide. The park contains military vehicles from the two World Wars so those were really neat to see. Enjoy the slide show below. I cannot wait to see more of Belgrade!

Weekend Retreat

This past weekend I went to a three day retreat for Methodist youth in Serbia along with the Pastor's son and his fiance. It was an OK weekend, not the most exciting time but certainly not terrible. This weekend was set up to be a relaxing weekend for the youth, mainly teens. There is a more formal Bible camp over the summer. For me the weekend was like one of those "alone in a crowded room" type of things. I don't speak any Serbian, so unless there was a translator, I didn't really know what was going on. I intentionally did not sit with English speakers during some of the services because I feel like a burden when people feel like they need to translate everything for me.

The best part about the weekend was meeting other people. I just assumed those that wanted to practice their English would find me and they did. I was really impressed with some of the teens and their English skills. The school system must not be as good here in Padina because none of my kids could speak at the level of some of these teens. One girl was 14 and talked so fast in English that it was hard to keep up with her! It's wonderful that these kids could speak English so well, but it is also a little sad that some of them speak better English and have better grammar than kids their age in the US. My favorite conversation was with a shyer girl. She came over an sat next to me and didn't say anything at first. I asked her simple questions and then she eventually got comfortable with her English. I asked her what her favorite animal is. She responded by saying that she doesn't have a favorite because each animal has their own special beauty. I could have hugged her! It was so sweet and exactly how I feel!

There were a few downsides to the retreat other than not really understanding what was going on. I have never really enjoyed retreats. Most of the teens seemed to get so much energy from being around other teens from the Church. I am not the type that gets energy or motivation from being around other people - I find it more exhausting. Other than Sunday Church service and a walk through the small town, there were no planned activities. The main activity throughout the weekend was singing. It was an excellent chance for those that played instruments to come together and make music and for the rest of the group to sing. I have never enjoyed singing, I'm not really sure why but it is just not for me. I am also not the outwardly emotional type and a number of times many of the people started to cry during the songs. (This could have had something to do with the majority of the people there being emotional teenage girls). So it was a bit awkward for me at time being the only one that didn't know the words to the songs and that wasn't teary eyed. Oh well.

The important thing was that all the teens there seemed to have an amazing time. This was such a great chance for all the youth from the Church to come together, get to know each other, worship together, and sing. This retreat was meant for them so as long as they all had a great time, that's all that matters.

Kitten Pictures!

The darling little kittens are almost two weeks old. They are growing so fast. They have almost doubled in size in just this short amount of time. I cannot wait for them to get a little bit older so I can start to play with them. Enjoy!