This building is the City Hall for Novi Sad. It is directly across the square from the Cathedral that is pictured in some other pictures on this blog.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
I had a very welcome and timely reminder (and also quite gentle and subtle) from a friend last night that the less pleasant aspects of my trip, a/k/a the heat, are a good reason to remember to count my blessings (like the fact that I am in Europe at all!). Thank you for that gentle reminder Barri. No more whining about the heat...enough said. I will truly appreciate my A/C when I come home though!
Brenda and I are planning to find the art museum this morning and then meet our daughters for lunch at the pizza place we found the other day. More on why they actually want to meet up with their mothers later. Update...we won't make the museum this morning. I can get ready in about 30 minutes...Brenda cannot. It is 12:07 and she still isn't ready for the day so I guess the first stop will be lunch.
We are covered in mosquito bites and I am going to the "Apoteka" (apothecary) today to find the local variation of calamine lotion or Benadryl cream. 'Off' would be a good idea too! Eleanor also needs some toe clippers. Apparently it is painful to dance 'en pointe' with unclipped toes! There is a section in the phrase book for drug store phrases. I guess I'll give that section a workout today! Yeah--I found my clippers in the deepest reaches of my toiletries bag. Eleanor will be happy to know that! Note to self: bring Chiggerex next time.
I'm starting to get a handle on the money. My 6's in school are coming in handy. There are 60 dinars to a dollar and I'm doing lots of math in my head...see Amelia, there really is a purpose to math class! ;-) You need it to calculate the cost of those cute shoes you want to buy! I bought some yesterday and actually got Eleanor's approval on the cute factor--they won my blessing on the comfort factor!
...I went to the Apoteka while Brenda was in the shower. Armed with a phrase book, I was ready to tackle the insect (inseckata) issue. The pharmacist spoke English! :-). She gave me a cream for the bites. She said it was natural and non-allergenic...made with chamomile. We can put it on 3X daily. I just tried it and the bites on my legs do look less inflamed 5 minutes later and feel a little better too--Chiggerex is far superior though. I also got insect repellant that is safe for kids. It is made in Italy--too bad I don't speak Italian so I could read all the warnings and instructions on the bottle. It is made by Johnson Wax, an American company. It probably isn't approved by the FDA which is why we get the smelly version in the US. I need to bring some home.
We are finding that lots of things here are imported from the U.S. The shoe stores (and there are lots of them in this town) are full of Skechers, Nike and Rocket Dogs. Of course, they cost at least double what they would at home and sometimes more. Too bad because they have different styles from home and I've seen some really cute ones! The shoes I bought were a brand called Liberty...I think they are British. They were "On Sale" and very European; also leather. I'll see if I can attach a picture...I know Amelia will want to give approval too! :-)
There are lots of chic clothing stores too...also having sales. Unfortunately, I appear to be quite large by European standards and I can't seem to find anything that fits! :-( Or maybe all the fat Europeans shopped early and there just isn't anything left. I think I will be skinnier when I get home between the walking and the sweating...provided I don't keep eating the Gelato! On the fashion front though, I now understand why European women don't seem to wear slips under their dresses/skirts. It's too hot! I have gone European on this issue...at least while I'm here.
We met the girls for lunch and then we browsed a few stores but didn't buy anything. We came back and checked email and surfed the web for awhile. I went into my room and ended up napping a little (siesta). Afterward it was time for the coffee hour with Spasenka and Branka. They had some sweet corn on the cob on the table that Branka had grown in her garden and boiled for us. They don't slather it in butter like we do--it was very sweet but I bet butter would be very good too!
We never made it to the museum. After dinner we are going to walk around the neighborhood the opposite direction from the town center and see if we can't find that electronics store and a fan or two. It wasn't cool enough to attempt sleep last night until after 11...we'd like to get to sleep earlier tonight.We also need to buy some more bottled "voda" or water. We are drinking it faster than we can buy it!
...No electric or battery operated fans to be found in this city...I now know to pack one if I come back--just like I did for Olivia for camp this week! We found the Kineska stores though. That is the word for Chinese. It was kind of like a dollar store. I bought some slippers, a deck of cards for the girls, some Chinese hand fans (better than nothing) for everyone and some hair clips so I can pull my hair off my face and neck. I think I spent less than $10. We then bought some bottled water and sat in the courtyard for about an hour and talked and waited for a breeze.I'm about to try to go to sleep now.
Ciao!
Kellye and Eleanor
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