you've been out of the country too much when...

I just got an alert from the US embassy in Serbia about Georgia having a runoff election and my first thought was that it was Georgia the country, confusing me as to why US citizens in Serbia would need to know about such an event.

Also, today I entertained (at least I hope so) a colleague at work with my exclamations over the "new" nickels and George Washington dollar coins - there are vikings thinly disguised as Lewis and Clark on our money. Curious. Her "where have you been?" was abruptly stifled when she realized that, in fact, I've not been here.

Oh, and it's been in the 70's this weekend.

Other exciting news has me hanging out with a Serb (from Belgrade) I met at the coffee shop a few weeks ago, he's working in catering so we munched on leftovers from his most recent job as I tried to put the past few years into a succinct chronology without too many digressions. I'm excited to have someone to chat about Beograd with, he's not been back for awhile so hungry for news. Plus he knows about a big gathering that happens monthly with trumpet music, the whole party atmosphere. Woohoo ex-pat communities!

And Mike is here this week - what joy, what bliss.