A Day at the Beach

    This is one of our favorite summer outings here in our new home.  On the banks of the Danube River is a small stretch of beach that we refer to, here in Novi Sad, as the Штранд (Shtrand).  For only 50 dinar (currently $0.58) we have access to the beach and all it has to offer.  There are several places to eat...both sit down and to-go type places, several playgrounds, lots of nice grass with benches and tables, showers, pretty decent public restrooms, lots of old men in speedos...I'll stop there.
     We live in the center of Нови Сад (Novi Sad) on this side of the river.  You can see one of our bridges in the background that leads to Фрушка Гора (Frushka Gora) the small range of mountains on the other side of the river.  (A storm was brewing, blocking the view of the mountains.)  
     This is the bridge we crossed on March 26th...three months ago as we entered our new home for the first time.  God is teaching us so much.  Probably the biggest thing we've learned is how little we know.  I was reading in I Corinthians one morning when we first arrived and ran across this verse, "We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."   I began laughing to myself as I realized this must be my great "deflating".  
     As time has passed we've come a long way in knowledge of our new land, but we have sooooooo much more to learn.  Our prayer is that we will not be puffed up with our own knowledge, but that we will allow Him to build us up with His love.
    Here is some of the knowledge we've gained during our time at the beach...
*bathing suits are optional until about the age of 6 or 7
*bathing suits are small and tight until about the age of 106 or 107
*you can choose your topping on the pastry they sell at one of the stands...pizza ketchup or chocolate sauce.
*sometimes old men sprint down the beach (as a form of exercise as best as we could tell) in their speedos...not pretty
*big screen tv's come out of nowhere when the world cup is on
*families rent little garage type storage places to keep all their things in so they can just enjoy hanging out on the river with their peeps...Serbs have huge love for community
*we live in a beautiful city where we still have much to learn

Language, Language, Language

Wow, Sunday night seem to come quickly for a new blogger like myself.  I think this is going to be a short and sweet post...because guess what I still have to do?  You guessed it...Language Homework.  An old friend sent me this link and it made me laugh so hard this afternoon.  Just watch the short video and imagine us as some of these people...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LysS2s14YdY


Okay, I hope you've watched it.  I am definitely the "It's okay for you all...I have a very small vocabulary" girl mixed with the emPHAsis on the wrong syllABle guy.  Trey were grammar guy.

Our goal is one day to know enough language  and culture to be the mixed metaphor chickadee.  But, we don't want to count our chickens before the milk spills.

Seriously, this is probably our single greatest hurdle and pr-yer request right now.  We want to know the language, but it is so hard some days.  It is hard to find the time (and let's be honest here...the motivation) to study as much as we'd like.  It is hard to find the motivation to go out and butcher the language and make fools of ourselves in front of perfect strangers all the time.  It's hard because often the people most interested in talking to us want to practice their English with us...good for relationships, but not for our language development.  It's hard because their are about 25 ways to mess up a sentence that you have all the vocabulary to say.  Of course there are the different verb tenses, but aside from past present and future there are six or seven (I'm being real here...I really don't even know for sure) different ways to say every noun and it depends on how it is used in the sentence.

For example:

I live in Serbia. - Živim u Srbiji.
I am going to Serbia. - Idem u Srbiju.
Serbia is a nice country.  Srbija je lepa zemlja.

Did you notice how even the proper noun had three different forms here!  Joy Joy!

Okay, enough of the negative...we are thrilled to live in a place where we can find some people who speak enough English to help us do things like register the kids for school and get our visas...(which Trey picked up this week! PTL!)  We are blessed with a great group of instructors that are helpful in and out of the classroom.  The owner of our language school took great care of us this week by setting up a doctor's appointment for me so I could have someone look at my famous foot "condissue".  We are honored to have to opportunity to be supported by many of you out there so we can study full time for a while.  We can't wait to be able to listen and learn from the great people here and to share with them all that is most important to us.  We love this place and the chances we have to grow each day.

View of our city from our apartment balcony.

When stand on the balcony and look out over the city I can't wait to learn my new language so I can talk to all my new friends...someday I'm trusting brothers and sisters even.  

Okay, to end this post here are a few of our favorite language blunders from the first few weeks here:

I (Randi) got the words for come in and I'm sorry mixed up for a few weeks and often told people I was trying to communicate with, "Come in,  I'm learning Serbian"  I also, used it correctly on the bus one day, only I mixed up my verbs this time and told an old lady on the bus, "I'm sorry, I'm learning English"   She didn't look very impressed.  Trey tends to over use thank you.  He uses it as a greeting, as please and thank you and any other time he's at a loss for words "hvala" is just what comes out.  We both throw in a lot of Spanish.  I even used a little in my first official language evaluation.  But, I was thrilled last week when an American thought I was a Serb and complimented me on my English.  At least I look the part even if I don't speak it very well yet.  

Fifty Yards of Meat...

Well friends,
Here you go...this is what 50 yards of meat looks like...this is only the tubed meat section of the mega grocery store here in town.  That's right...Trey paced it off...50 yards of tubes of meat...We have not tried any of them yet.  I don't know if it's that the selection is overwhelming or the thought is appalling.  I'm not really even sure what it is.  I want you to know we didn't even take photos of the smoked meat counter, the fresh pork counter, the fresh beef counter, the fresh chicken counter, the fresh fish counter, the frozen fish section, the canned meat aisle or the meat pašteta tower.  These people love them some meat!
Connor is loving life in the land of meat.  He is in heaven.  A sweet friend from church has taken me to a mesara (butcher shop) near our štan (apartment) to show me all the meats and tell me what is good and how to tell the butcher what I want.
So far we have enjoyed:
*bacon--It is not the same...it has some sort of a rind still on it and I have to slice it myself, but it is still really good.  I chopped some up with eggs and salsa...thanks mom for the salsa...and we had some breakfast burritos the other morning.
*ham--in a hundred different forms...on pizza and sandwiches mainly
*kulen--this is Connor's favorite.  It is a pepperoni type sausage that this region of the country is famous for.
*sausages--not like breakfast sausage...more of a smoked sausage type thing.  We've had it on big meat platters you get at the restaurants and in a dish with white beans.
*ćivapi--this is Kyle's favorite...it looks like breakfast sausage links, only it is some mixture of ground meats that is then grilled.  I must admit it is quite tasty and easy to cook too.
*rostilj (grilled) bacon wrapped chicken kabob things--I'm not sure if there is a real name for them, but they are really tasty and it costs the same if the butcher cooks them for you, or if you bring them home and do it yourself...needless to say, Trey heads to the mesara around 5:30pm a couple of times a month.
*som (catfish)--it was quite good and pretty cheap since the Danube River running through town is full of them.
I could go on, but I'm starting to bore myself with all this meat talk.
Maybe next week we'll talk produce or something fun like that.

It's been a long time coming...

Well friends...here goes...my first ever post...
Trey did the first one a mere seven months ago.  It has been on my "To Do..." list for at least seven months.  I kept wanting it to be gorgeous and brilliant and so many things...but alas...it is just going to be.  My plan is to post every Sunday evening some the highlights (and possibly some of the lowlights) of our new life here in Serbia.
I've decided to just list some random observations that I've made during our first 10 weeks in the country.  Some are funny, some are sad, and some are kind of boring.  I hope at least one or two will be a little insightful.  I hope you enjoy...
*We serve with an awesome team of people who are fun and helpful and loving and forgiving.  I look forward to spending as many years as He allows on the journey with them.
*Sometimes you get offered whiskey really early in the morning from the principal of the school.
*Salsa, Dr. Pepper, and ziplock bags would make life here pretty near perfect.
*You really should wear tight jeans and big glasses to look like a native...I've embraced the big glasses, but am sparing the world the tight jeans.
*It is amazing and humbling and glorious to hear praises being sung to the God of the universe in new languages.  It doesn't matter that I don't understand the words yet, the message is one I know well.  Holy is the Lord who is worthy of our praise!
*It is fun to get your hair colored when you speak 42 words of Serbian and the hairstylist speaks 42 words of English.
*Sometimes it is nice not to understand what people are saying to you in a really angry voice.
*Tulips are beautiful everywhere.
*God is good, all the time.
*It is good to know the right chicken lady and egg lady and pasta lady and meat guy and banana person and cheese lady and plastic bin person and spinach guy and so on and so on...a wonderful woman named Lidija (Lydia) has taken me to the market and introduced me to many things and many people.  What a blessing to have someone teach me.
*Graffati gets less annoying after a while...I've learned to appreciate the stuff with cool lettering and no bad words.
*Organizing a cabinet and figuring out how to save 10% at the store still makes me very happy.
*Everyone needs to know Him.
*It takes longer to do everything.  I'm less productive, and so I'm learning to focus on what is important and not what is urgent.
*It sounds like the space shuttle is launching from our bathroom when the washing machine is on the spin cycle.
*Ice cream tastes better here.
*Lots of people say, oh...you are from Texas...John Wayne.
*Chad Marsh has a twin brother who drives a bus here.
*Nine year old girls have clothes drama in all countries of the world.
*Six year old boys still love star wars.
*Twelve year old boys still don't love to shower.
*An amazing forty year old boy still does super great things to keep his wife sane...(doing dishes, buying a cabinet for me to organize and figuring out how to call the special taxi to get it home, carrying the vacuum all over town because I asked if he could get Brooke on his way home, flowers for no reason...I could go on, but I don't want to embarrass him.)
*This thirty seven year old woman still has amazing friends and family and serves an amazing God who is teaching her so much on the journey.
*The sun comes up at 4:30 a.m.
*There is a hair salon, bakery and pharmacy every 15 feet.
*One kilo is a lot of cheese!
*We love it here.  When we are in the van coming to our new apartment 10 weeks ago Kyle said, "So, this is Serbia...I've been waiting my whole life to get here"  and that is how we all feel.  For such a time as this.

Here we go!

Hey world! Welcome to our family journey through this life. We are an average group of Texans who are embarking on a great adventure with our Wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ! You are welcome to join us via the web, as we take a leap of faith. We covet your prayers and welcome your interactions.