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| From our (Oregon) family to yours - HAPPY NEW YEAR! Enjoy every adventure that 2013 brings your way! Thanks for the awesome picture, David! |
Just a few of my thoughts on the new year:
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label America. Show all posts
18.1.13
2013 - We Welcome You!
15.5.12
Graffiti Be Gone?
Just a little note to our readers: We try to stray away from political topics on our blog because:
1) This is our story - not a local politicians campaign blog.
2) We know that the Balkan history is sorted and painful resulting in a lot of political unrest.
3) Everyone has their own opinion(s) when it comes to politics.
4) We really are not interested in offending anyone or even starting a discussion on the matter.
5) Ohhh yeah, and we can't understand Serbian well enough to follow what's going on in politics.
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| Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. |
All of that, and now I am going to briefly talk about something that may be considered "political." Last week, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in Belgrade, Serbia, and once he left, the image of Subotica started improving just a bit. Coincidence? Perhaps. But maybe, just maybe, one former politician had the words and suggestions to bring about positive change for another country. Serbians may not believe that he has any right to speak to them about improvement for their country, but he does have a proven track record in America. That's just my opinion.
As most know, Giuliani stands out as one of America's most memorable (former) Mayor's for his response and dedication to console and cleanup after the September 911 attacks. He also cleaned up the image of New York prior to those attacks by attempting to eradicate graffiti in the sprawling metropolis. He saw graffiti as a symptom of urban decay and he put actions behind his words.
Now days, Giuliani has his own consulting company (along with several other personal businesses) and while he says he visited Belgrade on "personal business" and was not paid by any political party, some in Serbia have their own suspicions and ideas. It is campaign season in Serbia.
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| Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Belgrade, Serbia. |
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| These are the posts in the center of Subotica, Serbia - covered in layers of Graffiti. |
When we first moved to Subotica, I was shocked by the graffiti that covers almost every building. Walls and windows are vandalized with gang tags, political bashing, hateful phrases, and a whole lot of words that I (luckily) cannot understand. From the outside, even our apartment building looked like a ghetto, but once inside the cozy, remodeled flat, you forget how derelict the exterior appears. I secretly wanted to take a bucket of paint and a brush and freshen things up a bit. . .
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| New paint!! |
. . . . But as soon as former Mayor Giuliani left Serbia, this guy (above) showed up and gave our building a fresh coat of paint. It's amazing how much better the center of the city looks now. I have no idea if Mayor Giuliani's presence in Serbia and his stories of New York improvement had any impact on Subotica painting over some of Her graffiti. Maybe there is no connection, but regardless, any improvement is good improvement.
3.4.12
Does This Make me a Sports Fan?!
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| 2012 NCAA Champions! |
I grew up in a house full of boys. My childhood home was always a buzz with sports, video games, action figures, fights and farts. I, on the other hand, was as girly as girly could be and I wanted nothing to do with "stinky boy stuff!"
Once I moved out, I could never be bothered to sit down and watch a sporting event. I guess you could say, 18 years of living with four boys sort of sucked the "sport" right out of me.
Then I moved to Lexington, Kentucky.
People are absolutely insane about the basketball tradition at the University of Kentucky. It is an electric feeling that permeates the air and you just cannot escape it. When the basketball team is winning, there is nothing quite like living in the Bluegrass State of Kentucky. Royal blue is called "Kentucky blue," banners and flags decorate homes, cars and businesses, girls paint "UK" on their finger nails, companies let out early on game days, and the saying around town is, "I bleed BLUE."
At first, I just sort of rolled my eyes and went about my busy life. . .
Inevitably, you sort of get sucked into the electricity of it all - even if you never actually attended the University.
I slowly became a fan - I bought a sweatshirt - attended game day parties - decorated blue and while cupcakes - and always had Kentucky winning in my NCAA brackets.
So naturally, the year that we move to Serbia, the Kentucky Wildcats win the NCAA Championship for the first time in 14 years.
Chris and I woke up at 3:30am in Serbia to watch the Wildcats defeat Kansas.
It was totally worth losing a few hours of sleep!
Homesickness hit me for the second time since moving to Serbia.
It made me really want to be in Kentucky - even if only for one night.
For my foreign readers, this is a huge deal for Kentucky. HUGE! The city of Lexington just goes insane! Some of the celebrating is passionate and respectful, but then there are some fans that get drunk, unruly and start burning couches and cars. (Yeah, that really happens.)
Let's not take away from how awesome this win is!
The fact of the matter is that this guy (below), Coach John Calipari, is a pretty rad dude. He inspired a group of young, talented boys to work together to accomplish a common goal. He coached them that they COULD, and they DID!
He is also super passionate, and everyone wants to follow a passionate leader.
What else can I say. . . .
I always thought that I was way too busy to care about sports, but
I think that now I too BLEED BLUE.
GO UK WILDCATS!
26.1.12
Happy New Year!!
I know it is a little late, but for what it is worth, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
How has 2012 been treating you so far?
We are almost all the way through January!
Can you believe it!?
This year is flying already!
Are you keeping up with your New Year's resolution(s)?
One of my resolutions this year (along with losing a few pounds, and perfecting my Serbian) was to stay in touch a little better (Skype!) with our friends from home as well as constantly building community wherever we happen to find ourselves.
Chris and I rang in 2012 not once, not twice, but THREE times! We are serious about tackling that New Year's resolution!
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| Two of my best friends from Kentucky. |
Since Chris and I were in the States on December 31st, we celebrated the upcoming year with some of our best friends from Kentucky. It was a fabulous evening!
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| Chris and his great friend trying out Chris' automatic bottle opener. This picture just makes me laugh! |
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| Great friends |
Of course we missed the December 31st parties and celebrations all over Subotica, but lucky for us, most Serbians celebrate the New Year twice! Since Serbia is primarily Orthodox, the county still observes the old Julian Calendar that places Christmas on January 7th and the New Year on January 14th. Most of the world follows the Gregorian Calendar (The one Americans are used to) and some families in Serbia, who are not Orthodox, follow that calendar as well. As you can imagine, there are many mixed families in Serbia where one parent is Orthodox and one Catholic (etc.). Rather than observe one set of holidays, most people just party through the entire season and celebrate two Christmas' and two New Years'. From December 1st - January 14th, Serbia comes alive with Slava's (Saint's Days - to be explained in a later blog), two doses of Christmas, Holiday markets, rakija drinking, two New Year celebrations and excessive gun shooting. Most companies significantly slow down as well and often people take vacation for several weeks at a time since little happens at work.
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| Crowded bar in Subotica for the Serbian New Year. |
By the time January 13th rolled around, we were back in Serbia ready to ring in the New Year AGAIN. Chris and I and 10 friends spent the evening at a bar in Subotica called "Bulivar." A 6-piece band played well known Serbian songs heavy with sounds of the accordion. I am not going to lie, Chris and I did not recognize much of the music, but it was fun to watch the whole place erupt with dancing and arm waving when a familiar song filled the air.
Towards the end of the evening, the band started playing a famous 1980's song by the infamous Lepa Brena titled "Mile Voli Disko" (Mile loves Disco), and I knew that song! In fact, I was able to sing almost every word in Serbian. As we all danced around and belted out the lyrics, I felt like I belonged. Chris didn't exactly have the same experience of belonging, but he did get a few good laughs at my expense. There is a video that may make it onto the blog soon.
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| Posers. |
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| Promotional girls - or Santa's little helpers (wearing very little) |
I just had to share this photo. On a busy weekend night, it is typical to see two "promotional girls" dressed in the exact same thing, selling cigarettes, lighters, or some sort of alcoholic beverage. I guess they make money because promo. girls show up everywhere. These two ladies cracked me up because they were dressed in dirty-santa-lingerie on January 13th and they were selling spiked cider. I was trying to discretely take this picture, but I think one of the girls caught onto what I was doing. Oh well. . . anything for the blog!
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| Torley Promotion at The Code Subotica, Serbia (pic from their website) |
The following evening, we went out AGAIN! I promise, we don't EVER go out this much! We said we were celebrating 2012 for a third time, but in all honesty, we went to The Code Nightclub because our friend, David, was hosting a Torley Champagne Party. Friends don't let friends promote champagne alone!
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| Chris and Champagne Dave. |
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| Yeah friends! (Pic borrowed off The Code website) |
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| Welcome 2012! We think you'll be a great year! |
After three celebrations, Chris and I are ready for 2012!
Hope you're ready for it too!
Make this year absolutely unforgettable!
Chase your dreams, and Live Your Like Like a Best Seller!
23.1.12
A Little Comfort Food. . .
Three weeks of American-Christmas-excitement-shenanigans completely pooped us out, and we were ready to REST.
Serbia = no crazy holiday hustle and bustle and space for a REAL rest.
We knew that we could not hop across the "pond" without first hugging Chris' Mamma McCoy.
Chris wouldn't board that plane without one of her home cooked meals.
Hmmmm . . . . hearty, rich, heavy, scrumptious food that instantly leaves you in a comma.
Don't you just want to pull up a chair and join us for lunch?
It may not be the healthiest food in the world,
but geeze, it's totally worth the extra calories.
I would call it "Southern" food, but that's not really an accurate description because Mamma lives in West Virginia, but it's close, right?
West Virginia is a whole lot closer to the "South" that Oregon is.
There is logic in that.
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| Sweet Mamma McCoy and by wonderful Husband. |
Mamma's a rock star. She is almost 92 years old; and since her husband passed away years ago, she maintains a 6-acre homestead all by herself. Her home is spotless, and she makes a killer "Southern" meal! Mamma started working when she was 14 years old because she was the main bread winner for her large family. Although she's (obviously) retired, Mamma still speaks well of her first and only employer. She must have been the dream employee because she is dedicated, energetic and positive.
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| You can drool . . . It was as tasty as it looks! |
This picture only shows a portion of the meal Mamma prepared. It was as tasty as it looks! Fried chicken, creamy, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, warm rolls, gravy and sweet creamed corn. It was the meal Chris had been dreaming about in Serbia. We ate seconds . . . and then thirds; we had way too much, but it was just too good to pass up! Needless to say, Chris and I were full for the next two days straight.
But again . . . it was worth it!
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| Between naps and football, we played a lot of card games. |
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| Chris' siblings and us. |
Back to Serbia!
19.1.12
Mega Zips Louisville, KY
Did you know that Kentucky boasts one of the largest man-made caverns in America?! I had no idea and to think, I had called Kentucky "home" for seven some-odd years! The 100 acre limestone cavern that quietly rests under the bustling metropolis of Louisville, was the proposed escape shelter for 50,000 people during the 1960's Cuban missile crisis. 50,000 people purchased entrance tickets . . . just in case; and a hospital was even built underground. Of course the location of the caverns was a secret for several years. That little fact alone made me super interested in learning as much as possible about the caverns. There are all sorts of fun little "factoids" about this massive hole in northwest Kentucky.
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| The entrance to Mega Zips is right behind this sign. |
Today, the cavern is privately owned, and six months ago, part of it was turned into the world's only underground zipline adventure tour. Ummm . . . . awesome!
When Chris' best friend asked if we wanted to check out Mega Zips, we said "YES" without hesitation.
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| Two of our best friends. |
The excursion was actually in honor of one of our friend's birthdays. It was a very unconventional (and awesome) birthday outing. I would expect nothing else from this group of friends. They are all pretty adventurous.
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| Hey birthday girl! Show us how these harnesses work! |
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| The whole crew posing before the first zipline "the Zipline to Hell." |
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| This is the best picture I could get of the "hellish" first zip. |
The tour takes you through a small fraction of the cavern, and in between stumbling across swaying bridges, you harness up and scream your way down five different ziplines. Our group had two knowledgable guides and they were both very attentive to detail and safely. I appreciated the safety aspect. The tour lasted two hours, but we were all having so much fun that it seemed like only 20 minutes had passed. We tried to convince the guides to let us go back through the course. They sort of laughed it off. . . "annoying kids . . . errrr. . . adults."
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| Chris and two of his closest guy friends. |
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| Couldn't get a normal face out of these two |
If you live in Kentucky (or plan on visiting the state), I would suggest checking out the Louisville Mega Caverns. Ohhhhh, and just in case this tid-bit of information ever comes in handy, "”Geologists say that this is the safest place in Kentucky," Jim Lowry, co-owner of Louisville Mega Cavern.
18.1.12
My Old Kentucky Home
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| Haystack Rock Oregon Coast - (Picture from google) |
Chris and I waved farewell to Oregon. (while we did not fly over the coast, the picture above is how I choose to remember my home) Next time we step foot in Portland, we'll be a year older, more traveled, and perhaps a little bit wiser. Who knows, Oregon, next time we meet, Chris and I should be fluent in Serbian and working on mastering a third language. That's a thought! Time to start studying!
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| How cool are the mountains that surround Las Vegas?! |
Hey Las Vegas . . . . there you are! Our only lay over was in Vegas, and we landed at sunset; just in time to watch the dry, pink, broken mountains give way to the flashy city of gambling and lights. The actual "Strip" looks a lot smaller from the sky than I had imagined. Chris assured me that it really is quite impressive when you're in the midst of it. No time for black jack or slots, we quickly made our way to the connecting gate and bucked up for the flight to Kentucky.
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| One of the many Kentucky horse farms - (courtesy of Google) |
Chris and I landed in Kentucky at 1:00 a.m., and we were greeted by Chris' parents and grandparents. It was so late for them, but we were ecstatic to see their smiling faces as we exited the airplane.
The next three days were relaxing and peaceful. It was exactly what we needed after a busy week in Oregon. Basically we holed up in Chris' grandparent's home and simply enjoyed the family. Between meals, we played card games, board games, golf and bowling on the Wii, Family Feud, exchanged gifts, shared stories about Serbia, showed everyone pictures and videos, presented the family Fantasy Football trophy, slept in, laughed, and exercised (just a bit).
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| Chris' uncle with the 2011 family Fantasy Football trophy |
My dear, sweet husband loves American football, and since I want to see him on Sundays, I learned to enjoy the sport myself. There are still a few things that I don't quite understand about football, but regardless, I agreed to play in a family Fantasy Football league. Basically everyone in the league puts together a "mock-football-team" online and every time one of "your players" does something good on the football field, your team gets points. It is a little more complicated than that. . . but you get the idea. Most of Chris' family participated, and we discovered that Fantasy Football was actually a really good way to keep in touch despite the time difference. Much to my surprise, I sort of enjoyed playing, and the best part was that Chris' grandparents almost won the entire thing. In the last few games, Chris' uncle snuck in and nabbed the title of "Family Fantasy Football 2011 Winner." I found an old clown statue/trophy (that used to be in my childhood room) that must be displayed in the winners home for an entire year.
Now I know why I hate clowns!
That thing is hideous.
I am okay if I never win.
Chris better not win either.
That thing will not be back in my room ever again.
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| Gmama making breakfast. |
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| We brought some Serbian rakija (fire water) for everyone to try. |
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| Chris and his Aunt. Christmas gifts! |
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| Gmama made homemade stockings for everyone in the family |
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| Thanks for the great time family! We desperately needed it! |
After a few days, Chris' Mom told me that she could tell that Serbia was exactly where Chris and I needed to be. We were happy and content, well fed and healthy, and we had so many positive things to say about Serbia. Like all of our family and friends, Chris' family was initially nervous about our big move to Serbia. It was unknown, far away, and still recovering from war. . . but instantly, we loved Serbia, and she could sense that and see it in our eyes. She felt the peace that my mother had felt after her visit to Serbia in October 2011. After this conversation, I was even more grateful for the few restful days that we spent with Chris' family.
17.1.12
Home for the Holidays
"I have been very happy with my homes, but homes really are no more than the people who live in them."
- Nancy Reagan
- 27 Hours -
That is how long it took to get home.
Subotica, Serbia
Budapest, Hungary
Munich, Germany
Chicago, Illinois
Portland, Oregon
All of that travel in one day (or rather one day and 3 hours of travel) landed us in the majestic Pacific Northwest. Fresh air. Family. Friends. Childhood memories. Battling "Ducks" and "Beavers." Pinot Noir. Rain. Lots of rain. Evergreens everywhere. Mt. Hood. Home.
Chris and I were exhausted, but as soon as our plane landed in Portland, Oregon, I insisted on a meeting with little "JJ." Ohhh sweet, smiling little JJ, the newest addition to my family and the only person to truly make me cry of homesickness in Serbia.
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| Chris, JJ, Me, new Daddy and new Mommy. |
We were tired, but there was no better way to kick off Christmas 2011 than with a kiss from my new nephew.
He is perfect.
Absolutely content.
Alert at only 3 weeks.
Fabulous.
And he can already wear a mohawk.
How cool is JJ?!
Our short visit in Oregon was a whirlwind of family, friends, parties, Christmas songs, gingerbread houses, gift giving, food, and MORE food. The trip reminded me that no matter where I go in life, I always have a deep community that loves me and knows my story . . . no matter how long I have been away.
I truly am blessed.
My parents threw one party after another, and after the handful of dinners I've thrown in Serbia, I have to say that I have a new appreciation for my mother. She hosted three huge parties in a row, and didn't skip a beat. You go Mom! I have a lot to aspire to!
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| Sweet dear friends from middle school, high school, and church. |
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| All of my "Mom's" (minus Mrs. Dikih) |
Mom hosted an "Ugly Christmas Sweater/Gingerbread Contest Party." I didn't really know what to expect, but I am always ready for a dress up party. The party was non-stop laughter, and at the end of the evening we all went caroling around the neighborhood. How about that for some good-ol-American-Christmas-traditions!
The gingerbread "houses" got pretty creative . . .
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| My brothers and Chris decided to make a football field. Go 49ers! |
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| My team made a NASA spaceship. |
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| The annual family Christmas picture! |
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| Party #3 - we brought Serbian rakija to share. Our friends called it "Serbian fire water." |
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| My best friend and her hubby (and their soon-to-be-little-one) |
There are about 300 more pictures from Christmas 2011 in Oregon, but those can stay safely on my new little computer. Chris surprised me with an amazing computer for Christmas and a new camera so that I can better document our time in Europe. What a husband I have! Being home with Chris reminded me that I have so much to be grateful for.
"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to."
- John Ed Pearce
Next stop - Kentucky! Off to visit Chris beautiful family and the "home" we left to move to Serbia.
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