On the finding of Cole and Lola...

I've alluded to this story several times and have finally decided to give it a home here on the blog. It has taken me quite a while to gather up the energy to write this tale because it was such a surreal experience and because Cole and Lola are in their psychotic kitten stage. So here you go, hopefully this makes more sense now than it did as it was happening.

A few weeks ago I was coming home from language class when I was stopped by three Serbian girls speaking very excitedly in Serbian. (Story of my life.) I told them that I didn't understand and asked them if they spoke English. No. Of course they didn't. We tried to communicate, but it was obvious that my language skills weren't up to par so we said goodbye and they went on their way. I chalked it up to another bizarre language experience and didn't really give it much thought.

It just so happened that a few days later I found myself suffering from a head cold and some sort of new found allergy. I canceled my plans for the day, which included dinner with the Israels and a trip to the pet store with their daughter Brooke. We were going to look for kittens. Oddly enough you can buy all sorts of small rodents, lizards, and birds. Dogs and cats, however, either have to be bought from a breeder or picked up off the street.

So here I was stretched out on my living room floor, fairly certain I was dying when all of a sudden the doorbell rang. Now, I hadn't showered and I was on decongestants and I pretty much looked and sounded like I had died a few hours before. But, for some reason (I blame the drug induced haze) I actually answered the door.

I was suddenly staring at a blonde woman who looked about 40ish. I had no earthly idea who she was. She looked at me (to her credit she didn't look disturbed by my appearance) and asked me, "Do you speak English?" Now I had to think about this because nothing good ever comes of a strange woman asking about your linguistic preferences at 9:30 at night. I, however, said yes.

This is where it gets strange: She practically did a happy dance. I stood watching her and trying to make sense of what she was telling me, it went something like this: "Oh I'm so excited, I have these kittens, two of them, maybe you want them, the girls downstairs said you wanted some kittens, you only speak english, I'm leaving the country in a few days, I really want to rehome them, I'm so glad I found them, are you interested, would you like to come see them?" At this point I'm struggling to remember how I actually got to the door in the first place so I blurt out, "Sure, of course. I'd love to see them". Which is how I found myself two floors below my apartment on her balcony watching two silly little kittens run and jump all over the place.


The lady was really nice. She's Australian, by way of the Balkans somehow, and teaches English in Australia. She was leaving in just a few days and had been agonizing over what to do with these kittens in a country that probably has more cats on the street than people in the high rises. She was telling me all sort of things and I was worried about whether or not I was going to have to go in search of a tissue or if I could make it back up the stairs to my flat.

She was in the process of telling me about how she had prayed to God for an answer to the kitten issue and to ease her mind about leaving. As she's saying this I'm zoning out and watching Lola attempt to eat her tail. All of the sudden this breaks through my haze, "Are you a Christian?" I was all like, "Uhhhhh, well yes, I am actually". Cue another happy dance. Apparently my faith makes me a better pet owner, which I wasn't going to argue because the conversation and connection had just taken an interesting turn. She went on to tell me that not only was she a Christian, but that she was a member of a Baptist church back home in Australia. We talked a bit more about how I came to be in Serbia and found her to be really curious and interested in what I had to say. I ended up having to leave after a few hours because I quite literally could not keep up with the conversation. I promised to come back the next day for Lola and crazy Cole.

The next day I went to pick up my new furry children and had the opportunity to not only hear her testimony, but also share mine as well. It was an interesting experience and I got quite a lot of insight into how the Orthodox faith still plays a role in her new life. Over the next few days we talked several times and I was encouraged to know that there were people here who were genuinely interested to know my story and to share theirs. I just need to be more patient and open minded to who God brings into my life. 

We've decided to keep in touch and I look forward to seeing what fruit this long distance connection will bring.

I haven't even included all of the extra interactions with those Serbian girls. They came to my door several times in order to "oooh" and "ahh" over the kittens. That part translated at least. Now they say hello to me every time I see them and still speak to me in Serbian even as they apologize for not using English. I only get about every tenth word, but I'm not complaining. I'll eventually get there and I won't be the silly American who can't communicate, but has cute kittens. I'll just be the silly American with cute kittens. Which is progress in my book.