Adventurers

Last week, we went to the beach for my cousin's wedding. A wedding on the sand with a backdrop of the ocean, the blue sky, the rolling clouds. Lovely. A perfect excuse for an extended family gathering at the beach, and it will always be memorable, especially since my grandmother caught the bouquet. Twice.

After the wedding, we stayed for another day of play. My brother, his wife and his fifteen month old twin boys, Sammy and Davey, stayed in the adjoining room of our hotel room. Sammy is quite the adventurer already, constantly trying to escape from his car seat, his stroller, the hotel room. I decided to adventure with him one day and followed him out the door. He led me all around the hotel balcony, up and down stairs and into every open nook and cranny. A true explorer. I imagine he will be climbing out of his bedroom window at the first opportunity. Davey is more shy and sensitive than Sammy, but he does love flying through the air in someone's arms. Maybe those two will discover a new world together one day.

On our way out of Florida, we stopped at a tourist shop and bought two tiny little turtle buddies. Kyle quickly named his Magellan, but I had to think on it for a few days until last night I settled on Tumnus, because though Mr. Tumnus was not an explorer like Ferdinand Magellan, he was very good and brave, and adventurous. Kyle spent time yesterday building a turtle habitat in our aquarium, where Magellan and Tumnus joined a big goldfish named Jack and four or five guppies, who were spared from being bait on a recent fishing trip. We showed the aquarium to Petey, and now he is obsessed with finding a way to stick his snout through the glass and eat Jack the goldfish.

While we were at the beach, Petey and Opus stayed with Nanna, Kyle's mom. Opus escaped from the fence and started wandering the neighborhood. Luckily, he's old and slower now, so Nanna was able to quickly catch up to him and bring him back. Petey enjoyed exploring under Nanna's storage shed, where there must surely be badgers and monsters to battle. When it was time to go home, and Opus saw us packing up the car, he escaped the fence again, this time bolting to the open car door and jumping into the driver's seat. He usually needs a boost to get in the car, but not that time. I suppose adventurers get an extra burst of energy when it's really important. He did NOT want us to leave him again.

Should I change the name of this blog? The outdated title has kept me from writing for a year. Suggestions?

sleeping on a car

Will Feral is not my cat, but he begs to differ. I don’t feed him, but he doesn’t mind. All he wants is a warm car to sleep on, a hedge to hide beneath, and conversation. I got in my car this evening to go out and buy the thing of the day (you know, my new idea for the thing that will complete my house, although nothing will as long as Kyle's not here?). Will Feral was sleeping on the car, and was not phased when I got in the car and turned on the engine. I slowly backed out of the driveway, and could see him in my rearview mirror, calmly enjoying the ride from the rear of the car. I pulled up to the first stop sign, and he was still there, riding without fear. I got out of the car and told him to shoo. He stood up looking offended, but didn’t get off the car. So he rode another few feet, standing like that on the car. I used the brakes to jerk the car a few times, and finally he jumped off. Is he crazy? This is not the first time he’s taken a ride on my car, but it’s the furthest he’s dared to stay there. And I'm not really even sure he's a he.

I’m not in Macedonia anymore, obviously. (So maybe I should find a new name for my blog?) There are no stray dogs to greet on my way to work, but then how would I know, when I’m driving and not walking? There is, however, a tame dog in my house, and I am very fond of him. He is a dachshund named Petey. He’s on loan from my in-laws. He is my protector and companion until Kyle gets home, and maybe even longer. He barks at every sound, which can be annoying, but mostly reassuring. He’s very cuddly, and he sings and dances. He even praises the Lord! What more could a girl ask for? Now I understand those people who gush about their dogs all the time. What else is there to gush about when you otherwise live alone? Pillows from Pier One? I have those, too, and they’re propped up on my red couch. But I'm not going to gush about pillows.

A Macedonia Day

Today, I saw a horse-drawn cart make a left turn on a four way highway. The taxi I was in would have hit the horse head on if the driver hadn't been aware. The cart looked like it had recently been mostly emptied of something that looked like long, green grass. The driver looked old and tired. The white horse was dirty, and didn't look very happy or well cared for. This made me sad. It's not the first time I've seen a horse on duty in this city, but it's the first time I've seen one crossing four lanes of traffic. I wanted to rescue that horse.

Later, I saw an old, yellow, ear-tagged stray dog limping quickly down the road. We exchanged smiles as I walked past him. Then, two older men talking on the side of the road noticed the dog and called him over. He did a little dance as he ran happily over to them, smiling broadly. I am happy that the stray has human friends in his neighborhood. I think that must be key to the survival of strays in this city.

This place fascinates, perplexes, delights and saddens me. There are mansions on the hillside and shacks in the poorer sections of the cities. There is such a diversity of people here, and without knowing the language, I can't begin to understand the culture. I get different views from every Macedonian I talk to.

It has been a very strange day. Walking upstairs to my apartment when I got home today, I saw the lady who cleans our hallway knocking on the door of the pastor who lives below me. She was holding a Bible in her hand, so I thought maybe he had been sharing the Gospel with her and had given her a Bible to read. But I noticed it was an English language Bible, and I was confused because I know she doesn't speak English. I said hello and kept walking.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. I wasn't properly dressed, and I wasn't expecting anyone, so I didn't answer it. It rang again, and I ignored it again. It rang a third time, and I put my robe on and went to look through the peephole. It was the cleaning lady, holding the Bible. I opened the door and she started explaining (as far as I could tell) that she had found the Bible downstairs. I thought she was telling me she had to leave for the day, but asking that I give it to my neighbors, so I took the Bible from her and noticed that it looked a lot like mine. I opened it and saw my name. It was my Bible, complete with the little notes from friends I keep between the pages. How in the world it got outside my apartment and into her hands, I may never know. I am very, very perplexed. My friend in China sometimes says that she has "China days." I think this has been a Macedonia day.

Carry on...

My brother's twin sons have arrived! Samuel Levin and David Gardner, at six and seven pounds! My sister-in-law is amazing! It's strange that I can't be there to coo at them, but I will be soon enough. Who knows, maybe they will be holding their heads up by the time I cross the ocean to visit them...such precious, beautiful little babies. Kyle and I will have our hands full every Christmas, shopping for four nephews of the same age. I can't wait to see Samuel, David, Aidan and Kellan playing together. I hope that happens often.

Having lots of thoughts to think today, I took advantage of the sunshine and rode my bike along the river. It does my heart good to see so many people out there having fun, and especially all the dogs smiling and playing, delighted to be with their people. Dogs are necessary to me. I also found a thoughtful spot bench near one of the streams and journaled for awhile. The frogs have already started their croaking and there are a few flowers growing. The ducks are out in full force again, too...though when I took my class to the park yesterday, we saw a female duck floating upside down. I wonder what happened to her?

I have been exhibiting the signs of a woman missing her husband. I've been eating lots of chocolate, and drinking coke more than usual. But don't worry, my chocolate binges never last long before my body decides to boycott sweets and doesn't want to even touch a piece of chocolate for like...a week. Also, I plan to get as much dental work as possible done here in Macedonia before I leave the country in June. It's much, much, MUCH cheaper here.

I've started going to my Pilates class again. Tuning out incomprehensible instructions from my Macedonian instructor, silently counting to ten repeatedly in Macedonian, listening to fun love songs and stretching. It's an excellent setting for thinking.

When I miss the sandwiches Kyle made me while he was here, I go buy lunch meat to make my own sandwiches. When I miss Kyle's guitar serenades, I play guitar to myself, but pretend he's there to listen...and sometimes he is, like when we're on Skype and I can see his sweet face on my computer screen.

For St. Patrick's Day, I went with Rachel to a local Irish-themed restaurant where there was a live band. There were so many people there, and there were song sheets to encourage everyone to sing along with the band. I had told the owner I would come, but when I got there, there was nowhere to sit. Luckily, someone important had just cancelled, and we got his table. Some friends from work joined us and bought wine for everyone at the table. We tried to order food, but they said it would take an hour and a half, so we just said bring us anything you've got, so they brought us a steak rejected by another table, and sliced it up so we could all share it with bread. Yum. The band even played Be Thou My Vision. Lots of my students' parents were there, and everyone was super friendly. It made me see my students' parents in a new light. Who are they when they're not being parents?

I have three more months here in Skopje. I want to enjoy it, not just bide my time. There's so much to think about. I found out that shipping my clothes, shoes and books home would cost more than the price of replacing everything...like$400 a box! So now I have to choose my very favorite things and give everything else away. God really doesn't give up when He wants to teach us a lesson. I am praying for a generous, thankful, happy heart. Spring helps a lot.

At last, my prince has come.

Oh, happiness! Kyle got his R&R vacation, and we got to be together for two weeks and two days!!! Oh, how I love that man! I worked three days so I wouldn't exceed the personal days I could take from work. He stayed at home and rested when I went to work those days, but then came to the school to eat lunch with me and hang out awhile. He sat at the table with the kids and they adored him. Funnily, it took them awhile to figure out who he was. I gave them clues (such as our matching last names) and asked them questions until finally, one of the kids thought to look at my wedding photo. I saw a light bulb light up behind the kid's eyes and he said, "oh! he's the...the...husband!"

It was fun having my dearest Kyle in my classroom. On the 100th day of school, we used glitter sticks to paint "100" on all the kids' foreheads. Somehow, the glitter got all over Kyle's face. :) He played some silly guitar songs for them until they got a little too wild for this mean teacher. I hope that’s not how it will be when we have kids of our own.

Kyle went to church and home fellowship group with me, too! It was so wonderful to have him meet the people in my life. Now he can put faces with the names I talk about, and they can see that my dear husband is not imaginary, after all. :) And…I got to take him to lots of my favorite places in Skopje! Now he will be able to picture my stories better!

After spending the first five days of his visit in Skopje, we started our journey to Rome...and boy, was it ever a journey. I booked tickets via Thessaloniki, because they were about a third of the price of flying Skopje-Rome. Then I booked a van to take us to the airport in Thessaloniki. It sounded like a great plan! But then we found out that the border to Greece was closed due to striking. The van from Skopje was able to take us to the border, but then we had to walk across the border and call a taxi. Luckily, we were with a friendly Macedonian man who spoke Greek, called the cab for us and split the outrageous price with us. The following day, all the taxis in Greece went on strike, so we really were kind of lucky in the end. And hey, if the borders hadn't been closed, Kyle would not have had the chance to make friends with a pack of Greek puppies, and I wouldn’t have been able to take this photo.

We had to wait a long time in the airport in Thessaloniki, but it was OK. We had movies on our ipod, and there was gelato. We connected in Athens, where I was able to use Skype on my ipod to call the hotel in Rome and tell them that we would be arriving after check-in hours. Super exciting.

We were delayed once again in Rome, because I was too impatient to wait for the bus to the center, so we went to the train and that was delayed almost an hour. When we finally made it to the metro stop nearest our hotel, we couldn't find the hotel. I called the three times to ask for assistance, and the lady did try to help, but it was like playing a game of hot and cold every time I called. We were close, then too far, then she didn't know where we were at all. So I smiled and asked some ambulance workers who were hanging out on the sidewalk. They didn't know how to explain it to us in English, so they gestured for us to hop in the ambulance, and we did. Five minutes later, after sixteen hours of travel in three countries, we were very near the entrance to our hotel. :) Thank goodness for emergency services.

After that, everything was great! The colloseum was super close to our hotel. There was free breakfast available at almost all of our hotels. We took two guided tours in Rome, one of the Vatican and one of the “ancient city,” including the colloseum and the forum. One tour was just three people and the other was four, which was great!

We ended up staying in Rome two nights longer than expected, and switching hotels, which was good, because the second hotel was much nicer! We had planned to go to Munich, but the only train ride was overnight. It was way too expensive, and an overnight train defeats our purpose of watching the scenery as we traveled, so we booked a flight to Frankfurt with RyanAir, which is way cheaper than the other airlines, but if you ever book with them, remember to read the fine print.

Germany was wonderful, too! We LOVED the food. Kyle said he never really felt full in Italy, but in Germany, he could have manly food he wanted. We spent the first night in Frankfurt, then took a train to Heidelberg where we saw the castle and spent a night. Then it was back to Frankfurt to catch our flight to Skopje. We stayed in an airport hotel on the outskirts of town that last night, and the only nearby restaurant we could find was Italian. Funny.

Now he’s gone and it’s Spring Break. I’m glad I don’t have to go back to work yet. I need some time to get myself together. At the moment, I’m in Bulgaria visiting a friend. I've wanted to visit this part of the Balkans for awhile now, and I couldn’t stay in my empty apartment alone, not when there are so many reminders of Kyle there. I’ve mostly put all his things away now, but it took a lot of willpower. Part of me just wanted to hide under the covers until he comes home. His clothes were on the drying rack. There were glasses half full of his coke in the kitchen. In the fridge, there were leftovers from the yummy food he cooked and a whole host of foods and drinks he likes that I neither wanted to eat or throw away. There's the DVD he bought at the green market for us to watch together. There was half a yellow pepper and some asparagus on the counter that will never be used now. I miss him. I'm sad. Deployment sucks.

Nevertheless, I am thankful for Kyle. I am so blessed to have such a loving, attentive, honorable husband. I wouldn’t want to be married to anyone else. I am thankful that he was able to come visit me, and that we finally had a real honeymoon. Now, it seems the snow has melted and flowers are starting to bloom. Spring is on it's way, and that will make everything so much better. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

no rules for sock drawers, no smoking in the EU

My socks are in the wrong drawer. I put them there when I moved in a year and a half ago, and every time I open the drawer, I think a different drawer would be a more suitable place to keep my socks, but I have never rearranged things to match my logic. That's kind of how it is with my teaching sometimes. Maybe I see that some method I'm using isn't working, and maybe I know what I could do differently, but I just don't, because the routine is already established, or I don't want to waste more paper making more copies, or I really just can't deal with that kid right now, or whatever. It's amazing how laziness can squash potential for success, or organization, in sock drawers, teaching, and every other aspect of life.

It snowed again today, without sticking. It was magical, as always, watching the snow fall from my classroom windows. It was lovely to look down at the sleeves of my black coat and try to discern the various shapes of the snowflakes. But really, I've had enough snow for now. If Winter would just retire, that would be great. I'm ready for Spring to swoop in and make me happy. Then there will be green grass, flowers, frogs croaking, birds singing, and sunshine. I'll be content just to see the snow on the distant mountains. I would love snowy days so much more if they weren't so cold. I really am tired of wondering whether my eyeballs will freeze. I wear long-johns and undershirts every day, and every day I freeze walking between work and home. This is just a little much. I really don't know how the stray dogs and cats survive the Winter, living outside with no more insulation than what they have all year. Poor dears.

My roommate, Rachel, made a delicious Thai dish for supper tonight. Very exotic with coconut milk and gluten-free soy sauce. I love that she always sticks to a healthy diet, because it means I eat healthy too most of the time. I am generally healthier in this country. I wonder how I will manage to avoid butter, grease and high-fructose corn syrup when I am living in the states again. I wonder how I will stay reasonably in shape when walking everywhere isn't practical anymore. Rachel should move to Thailand so I can visit her there.

The problem with Macedonia trying to get into the European Union is that Macedonians don't like to follow rules. They run red lights and park on the sidewalks. My theory is that, historically, they've almost always been conquered, and they never really enjoyed that, so they don't like being told what to do. They're sick of it. They're like Johnny Cash: "Don't give me rules. All I got are rules." There are laws here, but you don't have to obey them if you have the right connections.

Connections are EVERYTHING. Everywhere in the world, connections can help you get a job, but here, you absolutely, positively, CANNOT get a job without connections. You can't get an apartment or a doctor's appointment either, for that matter. If you don't have people, you're nobody. And politics, oh my goodness. When you apply for a job, you have to present a card that states the political party with which you are registered. If the employer belongs to the same party, then you might have a chance. But then, if there are elections and another party comes into power, you could lose your job, because your political party is no longer the top dog! If you want a job badly enough to switch political parties, you have to prove your loyalty to your new party, doing things like hanging posters around town and holding up signs in protests. There are lots of protests.

The coffee bars were on strike one day last week because the requirements for admission to the EU are just not considered reasonable. The EU says there should be a ban on smoking indoors, but this has been bad for business. People want to smoke, and they don't want to leave their food and drinks to go out into the bitter cold to do it. And that, my friends, is why a popular coffee bar on the main stretch in Skopje was closed when I wanted to get a hot chocolate before my walk home from Pilates class. I couldn't have hot chocolate there because other people can't have cigarettes there. So I was cold, because they didn't want to be. Personally, I think hot chocolate is MUCH healthier than cigarettes. But what do I know?

It might just be a miracle that I am alive. God really does love me. Rachel smelled electrical smoke in our kitchen. I have a cold, so I might not have noticed. The people in charge of our apartment repairs didn't believe us at first. They told us it was just a bad food smell. Nope. They took out the boiler under the sink. Nope. The pulled out the dishwasher and said, "Oh, you have a BIG problem." Yes. The outlet and the plug were melted and smoked. There is a hole burned into the wall beside the outlet. Again, it is a MIRACLE that the apartment did not burn down. They will replace the plug and all, but we suspect a much larger electrical problem, considering it took four trips for them to replace the fourteen light bulbs that were burned out in our ceilings because there were several different voltages installed. For now, we will hand wash our dishes and pray. Prayer works, and Jesus loves us.

Kyle should be visiting Skopje soon. Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOOOOO excited that he can come and see my world. I can't wait to show him everything! I can't wait to show him that Macedonia does, in fact, exist. I can't wait to travel elsewhere together! I am just indescribably excited and impatient! I don't think I'm going to let him go back when the vacation is over. Marriage sort of binds people together, ya know? What is all this deployment nonsense anyway?

It's a strange existence here...the epitome of time moving both too quickly and too slowly. I don't want life in Macedonia to be over, but I DO want this deployment to be over. I just have to remember to actually live, not just exist. I am learning, But I will probably never move my socks.

pollution, soldiers and kittens

You know how sometimes in movies, the bad guys will just swoop onto the patio and walk into the apartment through the open door, and it makes you wonder why people would be so silly as to leave their patio doors open? I thought of that this morning after I opened my patio door to let some air in and then walked away. A bad guy could just swoop right into my third floor apartment and there would be nothing I could do about it. :) Hah. I woke up almost stifling this morning in this stuffy apartment, but opening the door doesn't really help when the air outside is polluted. I'm glad I'm living here and not in Beijing or any such polluted city. Still, living in pollution affects a person in the same way as smoking a cigarette. Oh well...the price we pay to have fabulous lives. ;)

I went to two Christmas markets today...one with Macedonian crafts and with German traditions. The Macedonian crafts were BEAUTIFUL! I hope to collect lots of them before leaving here for good. At the German market, they had German treats and music, but no European-made nativity scenes, which is what I was hoping for. I have done a lot of Christmas shopping...first in Italy, then in Thessaloniki last weekend, and today at the markets, too. I hope people like their presents. I got Kyle a classical guitar like mine from Amazon.com, which ships to APO addresses. Don't worry, he already knows. :)

But as I've been Christmas shopping this year, I think of all the people in the world who could use the money I've been spending on people (myself included) who already have everything they need, and it makes me want to change my Christmas traditions to include more giving to people who are truly in need. I especially think of all the abused women all over the world, including the middle east. There is so much injustice in the world. When will Jesus come back and solve everything?

Kyle doesn't post many photos of his life in Iraq, so I look at the ones his army buddies post on facebook, and it gives me a much better idea of what life is like for the soldiers and even the locals there. I hope so much that what our soldiers are doing will effectively defend the lives and the safety of the locals in Iraq. So many of the women and children, especially, live at the mercy of evil men. It's even worse in Afghanistan, and I'm so glad that's not where my husband is. I don't really know what America's mission is in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know my Soldier is there because he wants to protect and serve, and I am everso proud of him. I just hope the government, and in turn, the military, respects the sacrifice and service of soldiers like him, and only asks them to do what is truly necessary to save innocent lives.

I miss Kyle. Here's a photo of him with one of his buddies over there.



I had a lovely Thanksgiving, though I was missing Kyle. I had to work that day, for a professional development day, but I left early to have an early dinner with three families whose children I taught last year. It was very nice talking with American adults while the children played. They had all the traditional foods, including a Butterball turkey, flown in by the Embassy. After pacing myself at that feast, I joined an Army family (whose son is in my class) for my second Thanksgiving feast of the day. His mother had made all Paula Dean recipes, and everything was delicious. After dinner, we watched their wedding video and looked at my wedding photos. They sent me home with leftovers and boxes of American cake mix and Wheat Thins from the PX in Kosovo. I am very thankful to have such generous new friends.
Walking home from the Christmas market today, I found a calico kitten on the street. I had promised to find one for a friend of mine whose cat was recently killed by a car, so the kitten is now on my patio, bundled up in my bathrobe with a plate of tuna, some water, and a makeshift cereal box and topsoil litter box. I sure hope my friend wants her, because I can't keep her in this apartment! Please pray!