Sadness

I showed up for my class with Vuk, the 16 year-old pianist who wants to study in US next year, only to learn that his father Dušan had died on Tuesday. He had cancer that they'd discovered only 2 months ago, apparently it was faster than they'd imagined. The funeral's on Friday. Vuk's taking the TOEFL on Saturday. Please keep the Jovanović family (Vuk's younger brother and mother) in your thoughts and prayers, they need it.

Since we've established that France is a country... is Europe?

Just as I'm getting all excited and ready to head back to the states, I see this:



And suddenly I'm a bit a feared. And inspired to brush up my geography once again.

Thanksgiving and the aftermath

I actually found a pie plate and fresh ginger, allowing me to begin my Thanksgiving the wee smalls of the morning with apple pie making. (Kate couldn't resist the pun that she was glad it panned out.) I'd gotten good news Wednesday night - one of my students wants class 5 days a week, 2 hours a day! - and had gone to Dragana's to gush a bit, ended up chatting with folks there, going for cevap... yes, yes, you've heard this all before. What was different though was getting home at midnight with a pie to make for a dinner that started at 3 p.m. that day. So I watched "Funny Face" as I peeled apples, talked to some folks back home and had a pie ready to go around 3:30 a.m. or so. The joys of night baking.

I had a class with my printer student, then came home with the TV he's loaned me (super rad) before gathering things to go pick up Cassandra, my Thanksgiving date. Once again the taxi had no idea where Eric's street was but managed to get there nonetheless. It was a crowd of mostly embassy types, Cassie and I were exceptions since she's running a NGO here and I'm, well, an English teacher. Made some friends that I hope to see soon - we're going to start cooking together with Andrea, from Chili and married to an American (she claims to be one of the few Latino women who doesn't cook), had someone else tell me to take the foreign service exam (ummmmm, don't think so), also planning on a Beastie Boys inspired games night. Yes my friends, I might appear to be classy but that never stopped games nights! Thankfully. I also realized as the afternoon wore on that Cassie and I were basically the only non-couple there; do you have to be married to be in foreign service? This is my question. But we were definitely fun, there's no doubt about that. Any gathering where you end up reading picture books to 5 year old twins, well, heeelllllo? MAJOR party action there.

We ate a TON of food, I've not been that stuffed in a long time. Turkey was 25 lbs. and fabulous, they did it in brine and then with citrus, no stuffing. And the desserts... truly wondrous. Pies and brownies and peanut butter cookies... yum. Perhaps I'll take up Sally's idea of becoming a food columnist sometime sooner than later, we'll see. Got a ride to Cassie's with the thought of continuing the festivities but I was exhausted (little sleep + turkey = fatigue) so headed home instead. Then had the joy of talking to the Qualls crew gathered at my home for a good long while; I really hope to be there next year if it's at all possible.

Unlike most of my fellow Americans who work here, I did not have a four-day weekend (being a "private contractor") and went back to the grind of classes the next day. Thankfully I was able to get outside a bit in the sun on Saturday since I had a huge hole in my schedule with teen classes and had lunch at this new restaurant Wok to Walk - clever eh? It almost felt like a real weekend... until I had to go back to class. Again, a lament you've heard so I won't repeat it too terribly much. Or at least try not to. But it looks like I'll be working everyday before I get back to the states; that's something to be thankful for as well I suppose.

Hope you also had a fine time with food, friends, and family. I'm getting excited about Christmas time festivities now and all the fun that'll be.

Prvi sneg!

It's been snowing for 2 days now - so beautiful in the morning, the fresh cover of white over everything. We've gotten a good couple inches, although once I get on the street the gray slush becomes less appealing as the day wears on. Also sidewalks don't seem to get cleaned off here, the streets barely scraped as well, so it's treacherous walking. Oddly enough the paths in the park I cut through to get to my Saturday classes were perfectly clean with plows in view and everything. Also saw a cute little kid and his parents playing; they were some sort of Asian and it appeared to be his first snow, lots of pictures happening. Shaking the trees to make more fall, snowballs and laughter - brilliant.

The weather gives me then the perfect excuse to make banana bread and soup, not go out any more today but read instead. I've made a new American friend, Kate, who's Mennonite and doing volunteer work here for a year. She has friends who went to Earlham and we know at least one person in common - the world is way too small sometimes. But then again I never know who I'll meet when I do something like go to Urus's book group to talk about Poe. It was nice to just chat over tea and be all warm in the kitchen together.

Excited about Thanksgiving (although I need to find a pie plate) and my upcoming trip back home. But for now I think hot chocolate and a good book are in order; encourage you to do the same. Snow's good for this kinda thing.