Almost there... (and the longest blog ever)

For those of you following my move, here is the latest chapter... Sorry it’s so long... i condensed it as much as i could without losing the flavor of the story :)

On Tuesday morning, my friend Meti came with a van to load as much of my stuff into it as we could. Some other friends came the night before and filled their van with my suitcases. They were going to Austria to take their son to the airport, and were going to spend the night with me in Zagreb Tuesday night and bring me back to Bosnia on Wednesday. So, most of my things were out of the basement Wednesday morning.

The drive to the border was great. Meti was a good driver, and confident we would get through the border with no problem. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck thinking about getting through the border. During one of the conversations we had, Meti talked about being from Montenegro - and having a Montenegrin passport. So, then I got really nervous... “Great... an American and Montenegrin with a Bosnian van full of stuff trying to get into Croatia... this is not going to be good.”

So, we got to the border, and the Bosnians just kind of waved us through - you gotta love the laziness of it at times. I was so sick as we approached the Croatian side. They took the passports, and looked in the van and told us to pull over. That I totally expected since we were obviously bringing a lot o something into the country. So we got out and Meti just immediately starts chatting with the guys and getting them laughing... so they start asking what’s in the van and where we’re going. Meti explained what happened when I got turned back and how they said I could just bring up a van full of stuff... yada yada yada... so they had us take some boxes out for them to look through, and then the one guy took me to the van and pointed to boxes and asked me what was in them - thank goodness I have a good memory. Meti explained how I was working for a church, that I was really nice, and was helping him by hiring him to drive... he was very a very good talker.

The one guy said, “Well, you’ll have to pay some customs, and I just don’t know... let me go inside and talk to people...” I was kind of nervous, but Meti just smiled and said, “it’s ok...” So they guy came back out and said “You know, it’s fine, load up your boxes and go, you don’t need to pay anything - have a good trip.” I couldn’t believe it - I was actually taking things to Zagreb!

So, we get there, and Meti and I load everything out - was I tired! And poor Meti just turned around and went back to Bosnia! So, I started unpacking and waited for the Summay’s to arrive with my suitcases - all six of them came - was my little apartment packed! But it was fun...

They decided to do some shopping that evening. So I was at the apartment and Branimir came over to visit, when my phone beeped... it was Beth saying - the van broke down we need a mechanic! Ok... thankfully, Branimir was there. So we go and find Jeff on the side of the road with the van (Beth and the kids went to Subway and shopping). We called a tow truck, and everyone piled into Branimir’s small van. The mechanic shop was way across town, and then we went back to my place.

The biggest problem was that Rusty had to be in Austria the next afternoon (Wednesday) for his flight back to the States. Thankfully, Branimir was able to offer to drive them, so Jeff, Rusty, and Ben went with Branimir, and Beth, Will, and Becky stayed with me, waiting for the mechanic to call and let us know what was wrong with the van. Well, he never called! So, I took them to the bus station in the early afternoon and we sent them home on the bus. I was going to leave Thursday morning on the bus, and Jeff and Ben would just stay in my apartment till the van got fixed. Well, Jeff calls a bit later - the van was fixed! And at a very reasonable price. So, Jeff got the van, picked up my washing machine, brought that back to the apartment, and then the three of us left to come back to Bosnia.

About an hour into the trip on the highway, Jeff asked me “Do you hear that noise?” I did, but I denied it... “No, nothing’s wrong.” A minute later... “LeAnne, do you not hear that?” “Yes, I’m in denial, but I’m pretty sure we have a flat tire” “Yep, so do I.” But thankfully we were right by a rest stop, so we pulled over, and sure enough... a nice bulging tire. So Jeff changed it, and 10 minutes later, we were on our way. It was so funny. Ben said something like - Oh, another problem. Jeff and I just laughed - flat tire?? NOT a problem! :) We got back to Bosnia last night... safe and sound.

Jeff (bless him) is going to take me, Skoobi, and the rest of my stuff up Monday morning. Finally... I’m going to Zagreb for good. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a plan that really may work and that I will be living in one place and have my things and my dog... So... pray for us Monday... One more border crossing to go...