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...

Wow... that could have been bad...

OK, so I'm sitting here doing my morning ritual of checking my news sites and blogs on the internet while I wake up. Now before I begin my rituals, I start Skoobi on hers. I prop open the front door (which stays open most of the day for her to come in and out as she pleases), she goes potty while I get her breakfast and fresh water, she comes in, eats and then either goes back outside to sleep in the sun, or she curls up on the couch.

So I'm sitting here reading a blog when I hear something in the kitchen. Skoobi's eating her breakfast... but then I think - "I thought Skoobi was in the living room." But she sneaks around sometimes, so I figured she was just finishing off her food before heading back outside. I continue reading the blog I was on, but then I thought - "Why is she eating so slow... I really thought she was in the living room." So I kept reading. Then I had to blow my nose, and when I took the tissue from the corner of the desk, my eye caught a glance in to the little sliver of the kitchen I can see from my desk. It so happens to be the part where Skoobi's bowl is. And it just so happened I could see a tail... not a black short-haired tail.. a white and orange fluffy tail that belonged to a white and orange fluffy cat!!

Oh my...

My dog doesn't like cats... that's actually putting it mildly. She abhors cats. That's actually putting it mildly, too. She's all dog when it comes to cats... she wants to kill them all, but she wants to maim them first and make sure suffer in the process.

So my next thought was... well let's not go there, but the thought after that was - "Where's the dog? The life of this cat is in my hands." So I quietly got out of my chair as to not alert the dog to the problem because I still think she is in the living room. The cat hears me and, thankfully, bolts out the door. But Skoobi hears me as well, and comes prancing in from the living room. I block her from going outside right away trying to give the cat a chance to escape, and so she goes to her food bowl - where she immediately smells the signs of an alien predator in her domain. She looks at me with eyes of betrayal and disgust... "you let the feline in, and you did not tell me... it ate my food. I kill you after the cat."

She ran out into the yard, and I followed hoping a smack down (or should I say a claw down) was not going to occur. Thankfully the cat was smart enough to quickly jump the fence.

Thankfully, I didn't have a bloody and screeching start to my day... cats...


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A phalanx of beef...

The below quote I found while reading a news article about official government UFO files being released to the public in France... I can't remember where it came from, so I hope I don't get accused of stealing anything... but I'm not claiming it as my own. I just thought it was one of the funniest sentences I've ever seen on a news website...

'A phalanx of beefy security guards formed a barrier in front of the space agency (CNES) headquarters where the announcement was made, "to screen out uninvited UFOlogists," an official explained.'

Because I had no idea... here is phalanx defined by dictionary.com - (in ancient Greece) a group of heavily armed infantry formed in ranks and files close and deep, with shields joined and long spears overlapping.

Maybe I should start a 'word of the day' category. Can you use 'phalanx' in a better sentence than the one above... and do you think the beefy security guards in France had spears and shields... shields, maybe.

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...

Phew...

My friend Sarah always has these little quizzes on her blog, so I finally decided to take one... I was a bit concerned. I mean, if I came back as a PC, I would have never heard the end of it from Donovan. Of course, I probably wouldn't have posted it since I"m now a die hard mac person. Not as die hard as Donovan and some others I know, but I'm learning :) So take the quiz - are you a Mac or a PC??

You Are a Mac

You are creative, stylish, and super trendy. You demand the best - even if it costs an arm and a leg.

Are You a Mac or a PC?

I'm not sure about the stylish and trendy (remember, I have the same hair cut going on about 10 years now...) but I like to think I'm creative!



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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??"

Did you say Baptist??

Ok, so I’m only out of bed to walk the dog and go back to bed, but I wanted to check email and write this funny thing that happened today.

Obviously I’m still sick (and walking to the store earlier because I had no food certainly didn’t help the situation) and pretty much have been laying down all day. Whatever I have has settled in my head and chest and is making me kind of woozie. But anyways, I was laying in the living room on the really uncomfortable couch (because the comfortable one is in the basement!) watching the news about Saddam’s execution. While there is nothing funny about that, I did accidentally take too much cough medicine. My nighttime medicine is 2 tablespoons... well, whoops. My daytime one is only 2 teaspoons... yes, I took 2 tablespoons. Needless to say on top of being sick, I was feeling kind of loopy as well.

So I’m dozing off, listening to CNN and I just have no idea why the Baptists are getting so much coverage concerning the execution. “The Baptists this...” “The Baptists that...” The Baptists, the Baptists, the Baptists... So then I’m thinking (and remember, I’m drugged and falling asleep), “Well, what about the Presbyterians? Why aren’t we getting any airtime about the execution? What about the Lutherans? Methodists? heck, what about the Adventists? What is all this Baptist talk?” So then I apparently fall asleep and start dreaming that I am at General Assembly asking why the Presbyterians don’t have people in Iraq so we can get some time on CNN instead of the Baptists. If they have a Baptist regime, I want a Presbyterian one...

I eventually wake up kind of confused. I sit up and squint at the TV. Then I started really listening to the news... Oh.. it’s not the Baptists.. it’s the Baathists... and their regime... whoops. At least it gave me something to laugh about today. And all my Baptist friends, you know I love you, I just wanted equal time :)

Please continue to pray for my health... I really can’t believe I’m still sick.

All for Breugger...

Ok, well, my friend Andy preached today at the Baptist church here in Zenica. He asked Lina to videotape his performance :) Of course I sat by Lina, and thought.. "hmmm video camera... this could be fun!!" All these great things that I should say on tape while Andy was preaching just popped into my head left and right... but uncharacteristically of me, I decided not to do any voice-overs - mainly because I didn't know who Andy was going to show the tape to, and while I didn't mind making a fool of myself, I didn't want to embarrass Andy. But I'd thought I'd share a few of my favorites... I wonder what Andy would have thought when he played the tape tonight and heard me whispering to Lina...

- Wow... Andy sure is hot when he preaches. What verse are we on?? Was that Song of Songs??

- Should we somehow signal Andy that his fly's down?? Is that Batman underwear??

- I can't believe Sladjan is sitting in front of me... it's so hard to hide my feelings for him... should I talk to Tiffany about it, or just eliminate the competition?

- Was Andy trying to say that Isaiah was God's messenger? Because what he said translates into Isaiah text messaged the people of Israel to have turkeys lay golden eggs for Easter...

- When Andy preaches, he reminds me of a little black kid from Africa... Oh wait, I dreamed about that... no... Andy dreamed about that... I'm so confused...

OK, I guess that's it... I really wish I could use my mind for more productive things...

You really did a great job, Breugger! And no, your fly wasn't down :)

Hopefully I won't offend...

Ok, so people have been asking me what the "about me" over on the side says (see comments under the "So..." post). I was talking to my friend on Skype the other night and she decided to run it through an on-line translator to see if she could figure it out. Here's what it said:

Vjerujem into a Cripple Oca omnipotent , Maker neba plus countries. PLUS into a Jesus Crystal , Synagogue his merely , Mr ours , who had lips per Duhu Holy , borned with Bezique Virgin , tortured under Poncijem Saw , schedule umro plus buried sašao over hell ; third day resurrect with neutral uzašao at an heaven , Take a seat about desnu Cripple Oca omnipotent ; thence would come think žive plus mrtve. Vjerujem into a Tobacco Sacrilege , holy general lectern , public saint , shrift sin , rising body , curriculum vitae unfading. amen

Oh my gosh... I was horrified and died laughing at the same time... What it really says overe there on the right is the Apostle's Creed in Bosnian/Croatian. Of course the above translation says I believe in "Tabacco Sacrilege" I'm not even sure what that would be, but I think it would make a great rock band name :) The "holy general lectern" is pretty funny too. And I seriously want a "Jesus Crystal"

Never trust on-line translators...

I'm still laughing...

I found this quote on the sidebar of a blog I read - www.internetmonk.com. I don't even remember how I found the guy, but I am still laughing at this quote:


"Feeling screwed up at a screwed up time in a screwed up place does not necessarily make you screwed up." - Mark Hunter, Pump Up The Volume


OK, I stopped laughing, read it again, and now I'm laughing again! What a great quote!! Skoobi thinks I'm an idiot for 1) being awake at 11:30pm, and 2) for laughing so hard at 11:30pm... Maybe it's all so funny just because it's 11:30pm. However, when I dressed Skoobi up the other day, it was in the afternoon and not 11:30pm... Any guesses as to who she is supposed to be?




OK, it's now 11:35pm, and I have GOT to go to bed!! Laku noć!!

Donata's thoughts on America...

I have had the funniest conversations on the phone lately with Donata... I can't remember everything she has said about her visit to America, but here are some of my favorites:

On eggs and other food: "Oooooooh... American eggs are sooooooo much better than Bosnian eggs..." (This blew me away because if you ask any American in Bosnia, we now really don't like American eggs because the ones here are so much better!!). She went on... "I like your milk and your sour cream, I know what we have in Bosnian is good, and I don't know why, but I like American better." "Everything is fast to make here... i bought brocolli with two cheeses at the store and it's done. Preparing food is so fast here. I don't even have to cook and I can eat. i cooked for my family yesterday and it took only 15 minutes, and they thought it was a long time... everything is so fast..."

On coffee: "i dont' understand... i go to satrbucks and get a coffe for like $5 - do you know what that will buy in Bosnia?? $5!! And then I sit at the table, and then when i go, I leave my cup there... and my aunt tells me I have to throw the cup away! Me! In Bosnian I pay 50 cents for coffee and I am a queen. I don't clean off my own table, i am a customer, i don't clean my table... what is that? $5 and I have to clean off my table, I do not understand."

On neighborhoods: "America is boring... no one goes outside. No one walks. Why don't people go outside and talk to each other? No one goes outside and talk to neighbors. What am I supposed to do here all day? People in America are boring.I am boring... no, I am not boring, I am bored"

On dogs: "My aunt, she has two dogs... they are stupid. They don't bark. They like talk. i dont' understand why they don't bark. How is Skoobi? Tell Skoobi hi, can she hear me?? Oh Skoobi I love you I miss you! Skoobi is a good dog. I miss Skoobi"

On living in a foreign country: "Now I understand you more, LeAnne... now I understand." WOOHOO! Thank you God!!!

And my favorite:

On Church (funny how she hasn't been to one yet): "I talked to the neighbor about going to chuch. There are so many, and some are so big. And some are only for the black people, you know..."

I wish you could actually hear the conversations. They are so funny. I know most of these sound really negative, but she does say them with a light heart. She makes me bust a gut everytime I talk to her. And yes, we will be working on American and church history when she comes back... I'm so glad I go to a multi-racial church!