This picture is from the top of the Petrovaradin Fortress toward the city of Novi SadFriday, July 20, 2007
Well, I got into the computer lab tonight before they locked it up and I can type this on a real keyboard instead of painstakingly pecking it out on the Blackberry--hooray!!!!
I was lazy this morning and got up and had breakfast, but then went back to bed until 10:40--what a slug I was. I took a shower and knitted for awhile. One of the ladies who works here walked by and saw me knitting and indicated to me that she also knits. She was examining my pattern but I was on the phone with Will and didn't get to speak with her. I got on the internet later and found a Serbian-English dictionary and looked up the words to write out the pattern. It's a simple 4 row repeat--hopefully it was intelligible for her the way I wrote it out. When I took the pattern to her, she showed me a sweater vest that she knit--that is WAY out of my league! It was neat to have that attempt at conversation though in the shared commonality of the hobby. I have knitted two pairs of socks and have both with me. I'm thinking they might make a nice gift for the ladies in the kitchen that we share coffee and "conversation" with daily--they won't let me pay them for the laundry so this might be a nice payment if I can't get a price out of them--I could stuff some dinars in the socks!!!!
I then got a call from Debbie Grebel (Stevan's wife) about a change in the girl's schedule today. The character dance teacher (she was the one in the picture I sent yesterday that had her back to the camera in the front) was going out of town for the weekend and wanted to finish teaching the girls the combination they have been learning. As a result, they moved that class to the morning and the girls decided to continue through rehearsal and then be finished for the day at 3PM. That meant we wouldn't meet for lunch until that time. Brenda and I waited for them outside a little restaurant we have tried a couple of times and then decided we had missed them and sat down to eat lunch. The girls came walking along a little later. They wanted to go to a pizza place and a bakery though and went on alone. Brenda and I brought back a couple of slices of a chocolate/hazelnut torte to share with the kitchen ladies. Only Branka was working today and she is off this weekend. She shared it with us over coffee and she asked the caretaker's son to come in and translate.
He is starting an engineering high school program this fall--very smart young man (16yo) and very nice. It was very interesting to hear about how admission to high school works here (not everyone can go) and his plans. He had to make high grades and then pass a test with a high score to be admitted. He could choose up to 20 different specialized high schools to attend; he chose 10. He got his first choice. If his grades stay high, the state will pay for his schooling. If not, his parents would have to pay.
We also found out that Branka works on the weekend catering weddings. We talked with him about where we could find an electric fan (my kingdom for a fan!) and he gave us the names of a couple of stores and showed us where they would be on the map. We went to the office and talked with the secretary and she called the stores to see if they had any--wouldn't you know it, they sold out today! Too bad we didn't have that talk with him before this afternoon. Jeesh! Stevan said his nephew is going to some superstore here in the morning to try and find some for us. If he doesn't find them, we still have another alternative though. Apparently there is a big flea market/car auction, etc. place that is only open on Sunday mornings that is massive. Everyone we talked to thought they would probably have something there if you could find it. We were told which bus to take, and warned about pickpockets and thieves because of the crowds. Hopefully Mickey will find something in the morning and we can bask in a slight breeze without that experience! It would be nice to be able to close the windows occasionally--we are all eaten up by mosquitoes. The bug repellent is of limited usefulness--just like at home--although it does smell much better. Perhaps I'm not applying it as evenly as I need to...
As you all know, the Harry Potter book is being released tonight at midnight. We reserved a couple of copies at an English language bookstore here in town (for Eleanor and Vivian)--I just couldn't wait for London! The caretaker has to stay up and let us in and out though so I told the girls they would have to wait until the morning to pick them up. The store reopens at 9AM and we can go then--that will be 1AM in the US so they will get it about the same time as their friends. Too bad they couldn't get it tonight--they would be ahead of the US by enough hours to finish a good portion of it! :-) Eleanor and I may fight over who gets to read it first. Maybe I'll let her read this weekend and then I can read while she is in class on Monday. I also plan to buy a Serbian-English dictionary there in the morning to help us with those words that just aren't in the phrase book--which is lots of them!
Stevan has arranged for a tour tomorrow to take us to Szremski Karlovci, which is the oldest town in Vojvodina, the province we are in. There is a winery there and a forest area, not to mention the buildings and churches. They will take us on a double decker bus with an English speaking guide. The tour should be around 3-4 hours and costs about $15 each--that is well worth it in my opinion. The girls have been invited to go to Sandra's house on Sunday evening for crepes suzette. Stevan was thinking on something the adults could do then too. We may try to hit the museums here on Sunday afternoon--if Stevan can go with us, then it won't matter if there aren't signs in English. He can translate for us!
I think the girls may want to try and go to the beach or the public pool sometime this weekend too. I did buy Eleanor a bathing suit, so it might be nice if she uses it! Brenda is nervous about letting them go without us; Eleanor has been able to swim like a fish for about 8 years now though, so I'm not worried about that. Since it is a public beach, I'm betting there are lifeguards as well.
That is about all for today. We went out tonight and bought a Scrabble game (in English, we think) (we need something to do at night besides play cards) and some batteries for the tiny battery-operated fan that Brenda's daughter brought. We have been running through the batteries. She bought cheap locally made ones the other day and they didn't even last through one night. We found Eveready's tonight--yeah USA! We also stopped at a candy store that we pass daily and I bought some of those fruit jellies that have the hard "rind" and the sugar-coated jelly center (a treasured department store candy area treat from my childhood). I guess I need to learn how much a "kilo" is--that is how it was priced so I asked for that much--holy moly, I have a lot of candy! I hope the girls like it and want to share. Otherwise, I'll never finish it and that seems so wasteful--at least I have contributed to the local economy. After that, we stopped at the corner market for water. The ladies in there know exactly what brand we like now. It is called "Vodavoda" water-water. The store is smaller than my foyer but they have an amazing variety of goods for their size. Brenda has learned how to say "see you later" in Serbia and said that as we left--they were quite impressed! :-) It was a definite "smile" moment.
Ciao!
Kellye and Eleanor
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