Happy Birthday Tomislav and Petra!

OK, so it's cool to have a birthday on St Patrick's day, and it's really cool that Tomislav and Petra have the same birthday. Too bad they didn't get married on St Patrick's day as well because seriously, how often would that happen?

So in honor of their birthday, I'm posting the pictures I mentioned on my birthday blog (see two entries below)

So, above you see Petra smiling, and Tomislav kind of just looking blankly...

Now Tomislav is smiling and Petra is kind of just looking blankly

And now they are both smiling thinking of their kids in college :)

See, I don't make this stuff up - it just happens and I am the grateful blog recipient! Do have a very happy birthday, and I'll see you latter!

Dogless for three hours

Wow... and it's going to be a long three hours. I love that dog. I took her to the vet this morning for her vaccinations, but I didn't know he was going to knock her out and do an IV drip! She was actually kind of very hyper (no surprise to people who know her), and so I don't know if this is normal, or he just figured it would be easier if she was sleeping. It just broke my heart to see her trying to fight the sedative while just sinking down on the table.

I have to go pick her up in three hours so I have the house totally to myself. It's just so weird to not have her sitting by me or following me or whining or begging or licking me or barking or playing or just being with me. She's six years old this month - I can't believe it! Oh, and they weighed her - good grief! She weighs 60 pounds! You'd never know it to look at her - she's got muscle :)

I also found out she needs a new microchip. He couldn't find the one we got in Bosnia. That's so frustrating because I was told the chip from Bosnia was good throughout Europe. Sigh. So, he's going to implant the new chip today as well... and check her ears and some other stuff. I'm going to make an appointment to get her teeth cleaned as well.

So in honor of my under-anesthesia dog, here is a video of her talking back to me :)





UPDATE!! Now I understand the anesthesia... I also wanted him to clean her teeth - I thought we were going to make a separate appointment for that, but he did everything I needed today! Poor thing is so traumatized... but her teeth are beautiful, her ears are clean, and she is vaccinated against every bad thing they have vaccinations for. And she takes her anti-parasite meds in the morning. The new microchip works fine, and she is such an easy dog to walk on the leash when she wakes up with some of the anesthesia stuff still in her blood :) It's the nicest walk we've ever had together :) She's napping now - it's so good to have her back!

Christmas in Varaždin

Christmas was nice... Below are some pictures and just some comments as the day went along.

The Christmas tree on Christmas morning after Santa came :)

Skoobi getting very excited about her presents

When no kids are involved, it's really fun to have a dog - she really got into opening presents!

This isn't the adorably cute video... I still can't believe I lost that one... but this one is the second cutest, but so far from the really good one where Skoobi was literally ripping into the gifts and throwing wrapping paper everywhere... sigh.

Skoobi waiting for more presents... can you say spoiled?

A very happy (and spoiled rotten) dog

Janice and I actually exchange gifts as well... but being in our pajamas and wild hair, I opted not to post pictures of myself - after all, it's my blog :) But we did have fun exchanging gifts and being in pajamas most of the day.

After presents we had special coffee from Dunkin Donuts and Christmas bread - it's SO good!

Later in the afternoon we walked to Anita's for some tea. Lots of kids seem to have received sleds for Christmas, and so it was fun to watch them slide down the steep hills of the moat by the castle. Not something I would do!

The castle in winter - very pretty

One of the trees decorating the town.

Me and Anita after tea

Anita, Janice, me in front of Anita's tree.

It started to snow as janice and I left Anita's apartment, and so we walked home with flakes falling. It was a nice, quiet, white Christmas - hope you enjoyed your Christmas!

Catching up... and some pics

So did you ever have one of those couple of days where you think - "Oh good grief - what else?" While nothing bad has happened, little things keep happening that make me think "If one more thing happens, I'm going to go insane!"

On Saturday, I put a bowl of soup in the microwave, turned around and heard a not-so-good noise coming from behind me. I turn around and wow - what pretty fireworks are taking place in and around my microwave! So, we quickly pull the plug (which so happens to be on the other side of the kitchen) and just kind of stand there thinking... "OK, well then, that was exciting!"

So for 48 hours I had heat up food on the stove. Totally not complaining, it's just... different. I can't just take the plastic bowl out of the freezer and make it hot. There are just more steps involved with out a microwave.

So then let's back up 24 hours. Monday night I was so excited. The last episode of Survivor (I know - totally pathetic, but I can't stop watching it) downloaded and I had a busy yet quite productive day so I planned to heat a frozen pizza, hunker down under lots of covers on the bed, and enjoy the Survivor finale. I turned the oven on to pre-heat and jumped in the shower. Thirty minuites later, I'm so excited... in my pajamas, gonna have hot pizza and watch Survivor. I open the oven to put the pizza in - the oven is stone cold. AAARRGGHHHH! The light is in on like normal, but no heat. It's as cold as my refridgerator. I want to cry. No microwave and no oven = no pizza.

I was going to have that pizza if it killed me. So... I decided to pan fry it! I wish I took a picture. My two little baguette pizzas just a frying away in the pan. OK, honestly, it didn't work all that well. The bottom was very nice - hot and crispy, but the top, well, it was a bit cold. Although when I chewed it, it kind of turned a nice temperature in my mouth... My crappy appliances were not going to beat me!

So Anita took me to buy a new microwave today - it's a lot better then my old one - it really heats things up fast! My landlord called a repairman to come in the morning for the oven - kind of strange to ask for prayer for an oven, but with Christmas coming, I committed to baking a million cookies for presents and other things, and well, ya can't really do that without an oven! I'm really hoping it's just the element and can be fixed quickly. And I know when I hope about those kind of things, it usually turns in to a huge drama... please, no oven drama!!

Here are some pictures because I decided blogs without pictures are a bit boring...

Anita took the two pictures below in town the other evening.




Below is my Christmas grass... When I was out with Anita today, she put one in the cart. I eyed her suspiciously and said - "Why are you buying a pot of grass?" She said it was a traditional Croatian Christmas custom. So of course I bought one. I want to be traditional - when in Croatia... and then she said I had to tie and ribbon around it. So now I think I'm really traditional, but I have no idea the significance of it all. I'll get back to you on that!

Here's a picture of me by my Christmas tree.

And here is the puppy, kind of depressed that she has all these cool gifts under the tree but she can't open them till Christmas :) i found a store with cheap dog toys! i was so excited as she really needed some new ones, so I got her three for about $6 - very cool!


So, on Thursday I'm heading to Zagreb to visist my friend Ljubica - remember her? We used to walk together in the park every morning. And then I am meeting my friend Janice - she' s coming from Sarajevo to spend a week with me here for Christmas - yea! I'lm very happy to have company, especially someone for Christmas. Pray for safe travels, and a fun time with Ljubica and with Janice. Also please be praying for our Christmas outreach this coming Sunday evening.

OK, thanks for stopping by - Talk to you again soon!

I'm no vampire...

I'm having a hard time coming up with something clever for this blog title. Maybe the block is because I should be cleaning, but blogging is so much more fun. :)

On Tuesdays we have our Bible study at Varaždinske Toplice. Usually we met at Ana's house, but Kristina wanted us to come to her place so she could make us a meal. Apparently they slaughtered the pig over the weekend, and below is the pig feast she prepared for us.


The dish in the background is kind of like deep fried fat, except I think it's baked. Think pork rinds except these are soft with fat in the middle. They weren't bad, but I could have used a little salt on mine. The big plate upfront is holding some of the best pork I have ever had in my life. The outside ring of meat was amazing. I just can't say enough about how so unbelievably good it was - holy cow, or pig... whatever. It was amazing.

The sausage on the inside was... good. It was interesting. Sometimes you just need to eat the food without being curious as to what you're eating. I'm up for most things at least once. I mean, the worst thing is that you eat it and it kills you - and then I'm basically a martyr, right?

But anyways, it's basically blood sausage. Pig blood sausage. Anita told me ahead of time that Kristina prepared it, so at least I was prepared as well. So I told Kristina I never had it before but that I would absolutely try some. So then she started to tell me what was in it. Paraphrasing - "We don't use a lot of blood... there's rice... we use the meat from the head and of course the lungs..." I decided to stop listening at the lungs... Lung was not an organ I had eaten yet - I've done eye and kidney and face meat before, but not lung. My decision to stop listening was based upon my personal rule of only knowingly eating one organ per meal (yeah, I made up that rule yesterday).

But honestly, I actually liked it. It wasn't my favorite, but it certainly wasn't horrible. I won't be making it anytime soon, but it's one more food and one more organ conquered!

Below are a few other pictures from our time together (Oh, and it didn't go unnoticed by me that no one else ate the blood sausage!)

Dragica and Ana (please continue praying for Ana's healing from back pain)

Anita and Kristina the Chef!

Dragica and Ana again

Dragica, Ana, Me, Kristina

Ana, Anita, Kristina, Dragica (with her little bag of pig fat)

And since I live in a country that actually celebrates Christmas, I bought my first Christmas tree - yeah it's fake, but it was on sale for half price (only $13 for a 5-foot tree!) and I can use it every year now, so I thought it was a good investment. So below, I introduce you to my Christmas tree - I named her Maggie...

Happy Thanksgiving - finally

I took this picture this evening - the sky was so beautiful after an ugly, overcast, rainy day. I was very happy the picture came out so nicely.

So today I finally had a Thanksgiving dinner with some friends. Sanja, Anita, and Petra came over for turkey, stuffing, potatoes, candied yams, green beans, gravy, and apple pie. It was fun to cook a huge meal and entertain some friends. You all "know" Sanja and Anita, pictured here below.


Petra, pictured below with Anita, just moved to Varaždin last week with her husband Tomislav and her two sons ages 2 and 4. They have known Anita for a few years now, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more as they have come to be a part of our little church outreach. I met them a few months ago as they were deciding on where God was calling them to move, and so I'm glad they decided to move here and to become part of the fellowship.




I really need to get a tripod or something so I can start being in the group shots! I think we all had a good time of food and fellowship this evening. I had a great time - I love to entertain! but now, I must go to bed. There was a horrible wind storm last night, and my shutter kept banging into the windows and waking me up. I'm exhausted, and I must get up early tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

The dragon in my bathroom

Ok, so it isn't really a fire-breathing dragon, but it sure reminds me of one... I remember when I first moved into the house here and took my first shower - the water heater turned on automatically and scared the bajeebies out of me. So, here is my water heater turning on - it heats all the water in the house plus the radiators. It's really nice because I have a never-ending source of hot water, which is a super-bonus plus now that it's winter time! :) And make sure you have the volume up so you can hear the fire-breathing dragon in all its splendor!

Pictures

I thought I'd post some pictures for you. It's all kind of random, but pictures are always fun.


The tree is close to Anita's apartment building. I haven't seen much fall color being stuck in town, but this tree was pretty. I was in front of a store when I initially stopped to take the picture. I moved so people in the store wouldn't think I was weird for taking a picture of a tree. I didn't realize when I moved forward five steps that I was in front of a tinted window to a very crowded cafe. You can't win them all.


Anita's birthday was last Monday. She actually made that cake. It's just funny because the last few times I've eaten things over Anita's, her mom made the food and Anita warmed it up - which is totally fine of course, but it took a little convincing for me to actually believe she made her own birthday cake. It was really good, by the way, with chocolate and pureed chestnuts. Really, really good.



I take way too many pictures of Skoobi, but how cute is she here just sleeping the long, dark, cold, rainy day away?



I love eggs in the morning, and usually have at least one egg a day (except for tomorrow since even though I went to the store twice today, I forgot to buy eggs), and this is the second time I had a double yolk from one egg since I've moved over here. I just think it's so cool. I've been told by more than one person that means I'll have twins... so since it's happened to me twice, does that mean I'll have quads? Shudder... But even before I knew about the double yolk/twins thing I had a dream I had twins, and another that I had triplets. Shudder again...



Karin was our speaker at the women's tea this past Saturday. She gave a very moving account of God's love and grace in her life, and as she told her story she stopped and played songs on her cello and sang. Yes, I know that's not a cello, it's the litte itty-bitty guitar thing she used for one of the songs. It was really a nice evening.



Here I am with Ana and Sanja. Sanja is my language teacher... all of my language teachers have been so incredibly beautiful... Amra in Sarajevo, Donata in Zenica, and now Sanja in Varazdin. It's a fascinating trend. Sanja ia Ana's cousin, and I am so glad Ana introduced us. Sanja is great and comes over my house for a few hours a couple times a week. She came to the women's tea this past Saturday (where we took the picture), and is looking forward to the next one. She is hoping her mom can come next time. I hope so, too.



And here is a face shot of me and Sanja. I'm getting pretty good at those self portraits. I was showing Sanja the pictures on my camera and she was really laughing. When it gets dark before five (we changed our clocks back this past Saturday) and it's cold and dark and rainy and I have no desire to go out to town alone, I take pictures of stupid thing in my house trying to make them look cool. I even took a picture of my tonsils - I was actually impressed it worked. And no, I won't be posting that picture :)

Well, I must cook dinner. Hahahahaha... let me rephrase - I must open a can of chickpeas and mash them and pretend I'm Greek as I eat my poor yet tasty excuse for hummus. It's my last can of chickpeas. That's very close to tragic. Ok, not really, but I'm really into smashing chickpeas. OH! and I found frozen turkeys today at the store. I don't know how long they will stay in the freezer. I'm having a small group over for Thanksgiving, and I want to make sure I get one, but I couldn't buy it and carry it 30 minutes home with everything else I was buying. Hopefully it will be there next time.

OK, well, there you go... have fun - drop a comment if you can...

Definitions...

The following news story is from my Croatian news website -

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Fired Eight Shots In Unwed Spouse

Thursday morning at 8 o’clock AM in downtown Slavonski Brod, a man armed with a pistol fired eight shots at his 35-year-old, unwed spouse, after which he turned himself in to police.

It is believed that the incident followed a short argument between the two, possibly sparked after the end of their relationship.

The woman was wounded in the chest and stomach, and after undergoing surgery, is still in critical condition.

County police confirmed that the 41-year-old used an unregistered weapon, and will be charged with attempted murder.
-------------------------------------------------

OK, so what exactly is an unwed spouse??

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What famous person did you see today?

OK, so I actually didn't see him, but it was the fanciest and biggest motorcade I've ever seen. I knew he was in town for a meeting yesterday, and figured I would see his entourage heading back to the airport as my apartment is right on the main main road to the airport. I grabbed my digital camera too late, but the pictures I got are below. I only got the tail end... believe me, it was an impressive motorcade with a helicopter at the beginning and another at the end and lots of beautiful, shiny, black expensive cars with blacked out windows, and even more police cars - the new, pretty police cars... so here are the pictures. I'm so bummed my camera was in the other room, and I didn't get better ones.






Now, you have to guess who the famous person is... no hints. I'm sure you can find it on the internet... I haven't decided on the prize, but you know there will be one.

Skoobi still isn't feeling well, so I'm going to try and find a doctor to come to the house later today. I'm going to take her outside one more time (I just feed her after having her fast for 15 hours, but she's been drinking a lot of water), and then call the doctor. I hope she's ok... she's my pup.

OK, go and guess the famous person while I figure out how to make my dog well. :)

A funny story and some other stuff too...

Ok, here is the funny story I mentioned the other day... Skoobi and I were in the park early, before 7am doing our "lake laps." During our walks, I'm doing one of two things... thinking deeply/praying or yelling at the dog. It goes something like "God, thanks for today and the beautiful - SKOOBI STOP EATING THE GARBAGE! - sunrise. STOP PULLING ON THE LEASH! - Father - DO NOT JUMP ON THE JOGGER! And Lord, I thank you for your grace... SKOOBI!" You get the picture.

Anyways, we've been walking on the path that goes closest to the lake. Skoobi was actually behaving and I was lost in thought, when at the shoreline, there was a rustling and a huge commotion. Now, I don't know how this is possible, but within no more than a few seconds, all the following thoughts went through my head... "Oh my gosh! It's a gator! Why are we walking so close to the lake, I know better than that! We have to get away, I have to save Skoobi. She can run fast, I should just drop the leash, but NO! She'll try to fight the gator and then I'll have to watch her die... I have to pull her, where should we go? There's no tree to climb... I couldn't leave Skoobi anyway... wait a minute... I'm in Croatia... it's a pond and it's 30 degrees outside. There are no gators in Croatia... what the heck?" So I look towards the shoreline, sigh and shake my head "You stupid, stupid ducks..."

I guess it just goes to show you can take the girl out of Florida, but you can't take Florida out of the girl... :)

So lately I've been reading a lot of blogs. Not that I'm wasting time or anything, but I've run out of books to read, and there are some really great blogs out there. Some of them have really touched me deeply in the areas of where I struggle the most. There is a great series on Psalm 51 at Paul Tripp Ministries. There are two great blogs for single women at The Purple Cellar and Solo Femininity Two of my favorite theological ones are Between Two Worlds and Reformation Theology There are a few others, but this will do for now... I hope you can browse through a couple of their posts... it's really great stuff.

More soon!

Do you have potatoes in your ears?

Last night some of my students wanted to go out for coffee to celebrate my birthday because one of the girls won't be able to come to class next week (when we're supposed to go out celebrating) because she is going on vacation. We thought it was going to be a small group, but it ended up being a larger group. It was fun because they wanted to still speak English (it was my advanced class) and so they were using all their new vocabulary and idioms from class on "confrontational situations."

I was told I "have a screw loose" many times. I really need to be careful about the idioms I teach.

But anyways, Anita was giving me her cell phone number and I just couldn't hear her. So I kept saying "What? What?" Finally she said "How do you say" Are you hearing?" I laughed and said, "Well, we say 'Are you deaf'" "Ah yes, yes... so LeAnne - are you deaf?" So we laughed and talked about some things we say when people don't hear us when we speak. So we went over "Clean the dirt out of your ears," "You got potatoes growing in your ears?" and so on... we even talked about that nasty wax build-up...

So a bit later, Anita wanted to ask me something but she didn't want Hrvoje, one of the guys in the class, to hear what she was going to ask me... so in English she asked him - "Can you make yourself deaf? You know, ...uh... put potatoes in your ears!" The look he gave her was so funny, and I just died laughing. Being the good teacher, I told Anita "We usually say, 'Can you please cover your ears' or 'Can you plug your ears for a moment.'"

I still can't get the image of him stuffing potatoes into his ears out of my mind...

Donkey benches and other random things...

Ok... before we get to the donkey bench, I must thank my wonderful sister for the beautiful watch she sent me for Christmas... it's gorgeous, wonderful, sleek, modern, sexy... ok, I guess Winnie-the-Pooh isn't sexy... but I seriously do LOVE my new watch very much. I wore it yesterday, and it was the first time since 1999 that I wore a new watch. I seriously need to update my life... So thank you again... it's amazing that you're 27, less than 3 months till you're married, and you still manage to be such a twerp :)



OK... I double checked something today with the amazing Kelly Pedroni... and my dad was correct... a donkey bench is a dunce seat. But initially I didn't realize that fully because being the politically correct person I am and all, I would never call a "time-out" table or a detention table a dunce seat.. but that is indeed what a donkey bench is - go Dad go! I'll bring you a prize in May... I have no idea what, but it will be good. Kudos also goes out to my friend Pat who made me laugh the hardest with her email response - "obviously it's a seat where you sit your a_s!" How's that for a direct translation? :) Thanks to every one who commented - I love comments!

Even though it's only 8:30pm here, I'm thinking I'm going to walk the dog and go to bed. It's a rainy day and Skoobi's rhythmic snoring is lulling my eyes to close. One day I will have a life and go out on a Friday night. I did go to the grocery store today... that was exciting. I bought an advacado... How's that for the highlight of my day? Ok, that's not true. I talked to one of my pastors from orlando on the phone today. That was definitely the highlight of my day. It was great to talk to Mike and just catch up on life there.

The highlight of my day yesterday was that while walking Skoobi, FOUR different people stopped to pet her and tell me how pretty and well-behaved she was! I kind of gave them strange looks about the well-behaved part because she was making me crazy, but she is very pretty, and I was glad she got some good people time in. She's also been GREAT around other dogs lately, and I'm actually able to converse with other dog owners while Skoobi plays with their dogs. She still gets a little rough sometimes, but she improves some every day. It's really a blessing and answer to prayer.

Ok... I will hopefully have some fun updates to come, and I will certainly ask you more questions as they come up!

Do you have a donkey bench?

Before we get to the real point of this blog, I have two quick things... first, Branimir took the pictures I posted on my last blog... he takes great pictures, and I'm thankful he sends them to me since I don't have a digital camera. Second, I got the best birthday package ever from my mom and dad today - woohoo! It was so good I'll even forgive them for sending me poison peanut butter (I always knew they liked my brother and sister better). I can't decide if I like the two big bottles of tobasco sauce or the two packages of socks or any of the many fun surprises they threw in the best... it's a toss up. I'm so excited to wear new socks tomorrow!

OK, on to the point of the blog. Before church started Sunday, Daniel and Visnja and I were talking. Daniel looked at me and asked me a question in Croatian... I apparently proceeded to give him one of my best "What the heck did you just say?" looks because he started to repeat the question in English. But I stopped him and said... "Daniel... I know every single word in that sentence you just said, but I have no idea what they mean together!" So then Daniel explained to me what he was asking, and I was able to answer the question... And we were also able to laugh about it, cause the whole conversation was just really funny. But, that's one of my biggest frustrations of the language - I know all the words but they make no sense when you put them together. I mean, think about it. If English wasn't your first language and someone came up to you and said "Wow, I'm rolling in the dough today!" wouldn't you expect to see a flour covered, kind of sticky person standing next to you??

So I leave you with Daniel's question to me - let's see if you can come up with the correct answer (and if your last name is Pedroni, or you've lived or are living in Croatia, give other people a chance to answer first!)

"So, in America, do you have donkey benches in your schools??"

I'm alive...!

But I can't even begin to tell you how sore I am!

Oh goodness...the cable cars are like... I don't even know. I thought it was going to be a big car that like 50 people fit into... oh no. They are only big enough for four people! What the heck? But it was a smooth ride up, actually, and I didn't panic at all. I even managed to look out the window a little and enjoy some of the view. OK, enjoy is REALLY stretching it, but I looked and I didn't free-fall and I'm alive.

We then walked up for a bit when we got off the cable car of death, and then walked to a restaurant. I just ate some almonds because, well, I wasn't hungry. But everyone else's food looked really good. Then we started the hike down. Oh goodness... it was such a a good workout. My knees are KILLING me. There were some really steep parts and I knew I was going to wipe out, but one of my students came along with us, and he made sure I didn't kill myself as I slowly but surely made my way down the mountain side.

Oh, let's see it was me, my student Zvonko, Branimir, Daniel and his girlfriend Magdalena. I was so glad Magdalena was there. It was so good to have a girl to talk to. I didn't realize how much I missed having some estrogen in my life. :) Here we are pictured below:
Zvonko, me, Magdalena, Daniel

It took about 2 and a half hours to walk down the mountain. It was a very nice day, and while I am so tired and in pain, it was definitely worth it. Afterwards, Daniel and Magdalena took m to her house and her mom feed me stuffed cabbage... what a delicious way to end the day! It was so good! And I was really glad to meet her family was well.

OK... well, just wanted you to know I didn't fall off the cable car :)

Post 100

I didn't even realize this was my 100th post... and to think I have nothing profound to say... Oh well. :) Happy 100th post to me!

I thought I should post in case anything happens to me tomorrow... Not that anything will, but... well... ok, if you know me at all, you know I'm kind of sort of scared of heights. Sigh... ok, I'm terrified of heights. Not all heights - I'm not afraid of airplanes, or looking out the window of a very tall building. But I'm afraid to climb ladders, or stand on a ledge, or drive up a scary mountain road with no guard rail and a semi barreling down towards you with a 1000 foot drop off to your left... Actually the only thing more frightening to me than that would be to go up a mountain on a cable car... guess what I'm doing tomorrow. Yes. A cable car of the mountain overlooking Zagreb. It takes 23 minutes from bottom to however high we're going. T-W-E-N-T-Y T-H-R-E-E M-I-N-U-T-E-S. That's a lifetime in gadfly years. I want to vomit.

I've only been on one cable car before this. It was in 1993 in Latvia. I sat on the floor the whole time, inhaling deeply. I have pictures I took from the floor, holding my camera above my head and snapping pictures here and there. People wonder how I can be "afraid" of things like this if I really believe in God's Sovereignty. I'm not afraid... I'm scared. I think there is a difference. Scared is kind of "in the moment." Afraid is more dwelling on and being paralyzed into not doing things because of fear. Now, while I have been dwelling on this since Wednesday, I'm not so afraid that I'm not going to go (although calling in sick did cross my mind). I am scared though. It's a freaking wire... air air... inhale... breathe... Who ever thought of putting a large metal box on a wire to get people up a mountain was insane.

But anyways... I'm sure it will all be fine... Funny how I decided to update my will this week though... and that was before I knew about the trip. Maybe I will call in sick tomorrow...

I was thinking today that since January 15, the only Americans I have seen were the two Mormons that were at the police station the same day I was working on My visa stuff. I guess I've seen myself in the mirror as well, but it's just not the same. So it's been 40 days without seeing an American or interacting with one in person. Wow, I can't believe I've been here 40 days. That's kind of cool.

Skoobi is doing well. She's being a bit nicer to dogs every day. She played with a cute German shepherd puppy today, so that was encouraging. I need to take her out for the night in a few minutes. The night walk is always tricky... we're much more likely to run into dogs in the apartment building, and she still doesn't like that all that much.

I had coffee today with one of my students and that was really fun. She thought I was visiting her after another appointment, and was just so happy to know I just came to spend some time with her. So it was fun to sit and let her practice her English while we talked about Croatia.

Well... I really do need to write an interesting blog. I'm going to lose readership if I don't get more exciting. I really will try to post some pictures next week. But for now, I'm going to walk the dog, watch one TV show, and go to bed... hopefully not being jostled awake by yet another free-falling sensation dream... hmmm... I've had about 10 since Wednesday night... the same night I found out about the cable car... I sense a connection :)

Guest blogger - Skoobi's Back!

Hello again... Mom decided to let me write about our “little experience” this morning. Let me give you a little background first... Ever since we’ve moved in, we’ve heard a dog at the end of the hall bark every once in a while. We’ve never seen it, but figured it had to be a bigger dog because it has a very deep, throaty bark - the kind that would freak you out if you heard it in a dark alley all alone. But yeah, we hadn’t seen it in the almost month we’ve lived here... that is until 7:15 this morning...

So we leave the apartment for our morning walk and since it’s 7:15am on a Saturday, we try to be extra quiet. Not that I make noise going to the elevator or anything, I just tend to pant loud when I’m excited. Anyways, so we go and mom pushes that button that makes the magic-blue-room-that-moves appear. So we’re waiting (for what my mom now tells me is an elevator), when we hear someone come out of their apartment. And then we hear the unmistakable sound of dog nails walking down the hallway.

I immediately feel the collar around my neck tighten, and I hear mom whisper “Oh dear God, where is the elevator?” And then it happens... the dog paws I heard become visible as they come around the corner and I meet my elusive neighbor for the first time. My collar got tighter as mom said “Oh, this is not good”

If I turned around to see my mom’s face, I’m sure it would have registered a mix of three thoughts... 1) Oh my gosh! It’s a Mastiff! It’s so beautiful! I want to pet it! 2) Oh my gosh! It’s a Mastiff! How can they have such a huge dog in such a small apartment? 3) Oh my gosh, it’s a Mastiff! If Skoobi had pants she’d be crapping in them now... Where is the owner? Why is this dog not on a leash!!!!!

As my choke collar gets tighter, I hear mom say, “Ok Skoobi, it’s ok... don’t bristle your hair like that... no no, growling cannot help the situation... Skoobi, shut up... be calm, it’s ok, it’s ok... WHERE IS THE ELEVATOR? Ok big puppy stay there... wait for your owner... oh no no no... don’t come closer, no please don’t smell my dog... go away... you’re pretty we love you... go away. Where is your owner, no no.. don’t try to smell Skoobi’s butt... Oh Lord thank you the elevator.. oh no, the mastiff is in front of the elevator... NO! NO barking Skoobi... Oh Lord everyone hates me cause she woke up the whole apartment building ... Skoobi don’t pull, you already can’t breathe... STOP SMELLING MY DOG... Please leave my dog alone, please go away... Oh thank God the owner... Hi... yes, my dog doesn’t like big dogs... oh it’s ok, no no - you all take the elevator... no problem, she’s fine...”

My thoughts on the situation were: “Oh... so you’re that dog I hear barking... think you’re so hot, don’t you? You think you’re so big - ha. I’ll take you down, I’ll take you down to Chihuahua town. You’re not so big, you’re not so big... of course I’m getting tunnel vision cause I can’t breathe because my mother has a death grip on my choke collar... You want that magic-blue-room-that-moves? You’re gonna have to take me down first. Oh you wanna smell me? You ain’t smelling my butt big boy... You see the hair standing on the back of my neck, yeah, buddy you so lucky my mama is holding me back, you wanna here MY bark - grrrrrWOOOOOF (echo, echo, echo echo...) let me at him mom... I’ll take him... Aw dang it... the woman put a leash on him... aw man... why do they get the elevator? What? Don’t apologize for me - I’ll kick that mastiff in the... ah air... thank God - mom finally let go of the choke collar.

So anyways, we waited for the elevator to come back and I sniffed that thing all the way down eight flights. The rest of our walk was quite uneventful, for which I think my mom was very grateful. Mom was talking to herself most of the walk... she says my name a lot... Skoobi... blah blah blah... I pretend to listen but am more concerned with finding the perfect blade of grass to pee on... I do remember her saying “We do NOT go after dogs that weigh 200 pounds more than you do... are you freaking INSANE? We also do not antagonize German Shepherds like you did yesterday” Sigh...

All’s well that ends well... I could’ve taken the mastiff... and the shepherd...

Random update :)

I just got in from walking Skoobi for the night and was planning on heading to bed. I decided to flip channels just to see if there was anything interesting on TV... So, now I’m sitting here watching the New Orleans v Chicago championship game - live American football - who knew? Ok, what’s really weird is hearing the Croatian commentators speaking with the American football phrases thrown in... “On ima first down!” "Ovo nije fumble..."I may actually get to see the super bowl without traveling 9 hours and crossing 4 borders. What a concept!

Anyways, I can’t believe I’ve been here in Zagreb a week already. Overall, I think it’s been a pretty good week. I was thinking the other day about when I moved to Bosnia. I don’t know how I did it. Minus the whole border fiasco, this move was relatively good... On one hand, it’s not so different here than in Bosnia, but on the other hand, it’s totally different. There’s always something that will get on your nerves. Some things I expected just from living in Bosnia. I’ve just been trying to observe how things are done here. I know how to live life in Bosnia and not look too stupid. For instance, I went to buy some fruit the other day, and I had no idea how. I know how in Bosnia, but I don’t know if they do it the same way here. Thankfully, there was a lady buying some fruit at the same time, so I just shadowed her and did what she did. And you know what? It was totally different than in Bosnia. I never would have figured it out if I wasn’t spying on that old lady. I’m glad that I tend to have good observational skills.

Skoobi is doing pretty well, I think. She loves our morning walks around the lake. She’s only tried to kill 3 other dogs (2 she could have taken, the other would have kicked her butt in a heart beat), and she’s kinda sorta learning to walk without pulling on the leash. I keep telling myself she’s getting better everyday... I really do think she is. I mean, for only being here a week, she’s doing great. I’m concerned about her barking when I’m not at home, but I haven’t received any nasty notes from my neighbors yet.

Church was this afternoon. I’m so thankful to be a part of a church body. I love the fact that we have communion every week (as does my church in Florida). I’ve missed that. I officially start “work” this week. I’m looking forward to it. Tomorrow (monday) I need to do some errands around the neighborhood, do some shopping... I am so far behind in email.
Also this week I’ll take all my papers to start my visa process. Do pray that goes well. I also want to get a yearly transportation pass because buying tram tickets everyday is going to make me old and broke. I’m 98% done unpacking... I won’t really be settled until my furniture comes - my couch and my bed and mattress - they should be here in a week or so. Then I can hang my pictures and make it more home. I also need to buy a cabinet or something for the kitchen, but that will have to wait a few more months. I’m really happy with the apartment and its location.

Well, I was hoping this update would be witty and full of fun. This is just kind of boring and rambling... oh well, it happens :) Oh. I did get my first package this week, and now have the package getting process under my belt - it’s so much easier than in Bosnia... go figure :) (And thanks for the package Allegra and Dave!) Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement... more soon!

(Side note - New Orleans just got a touchdown... Both commentators yelled “Touchdooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooown!” just like they would have yelled “gooooooooooooooooooooooooooal” if it was a soccer game. You have no idea how funny that was!!)

Um... Where's Croatia??

I thought I'd share with you some of the information I've been learning about Croatia. Below is a map of Croatia (Zenica is right in the middle of Bosnia, above Sarajevo and slightly to the left). It's the oddest shaped country, but full of charm, history, and interesting tidbits!




Croatia is a small country with 56,500 square kilometers (km) of land and 32,000 square kilometers of sea. Croatia has 1,777 km of mainland coastal shoreline. It also has 1,185 islands with 4,012 km of of island shoreline and 2600 hours of sunshine every year. Of the 1,185 islands, only 66 of them are inhabited. Croatia has a population of around 4.8 million, with about a million people living in the capital of Zagreb.



There are seven national parks - three in the mountains (Risnjak, Paklenica, and Plitvice (which has an amazing 92 waterfalls connecting 16 lakes!) and four in the coastal area (Kornati, Mljet, Brijuni, and Krka). In regards to the mountains, the Dinaric Alps and a few smaller mountain ranges (Velebit and Velika Kapela) are found in Croatia. The highest point is 1,831 meters. Medvendica is the mountain that overlooks Zagreb from the north. Its highest peak is 1,035 meters.

And now, every time you use a ball-point pen, you can pray for me! S. Penkala, a Croatian engineer, created the first ball-point pen and the first fountain pen in 1906. And who knew CSI started in Croatia? Ok, well, not really, but Ivan Vučetić invented dactyloscopy - identification by fingerprints!

Ok, I guess this is enough for now... I'll post more as the time for the move gets closer!!

Ok, this made my day...

So I came into the internet cafe about the same time I have every day this week, sat down at my usual table, and before I even had my computer out, my very cute waiter guy already had my iced coffee prepared and put on the table for me, all served up with a bright smile from him... I like Croatia...