It has been so long since I last blogged that you might not remember that I recently spent a few days visiting Mike and Pam in Novi Sad. Some of you, my fortunate facebook friends, have already seen evidence of our fabulous time and bore witness to our witty banter. For all of you that missed out here are some photos to help you understand how the weekend went:
This is a view of Novi Sad from the fortress. The fortress that is the site of the drunken musical festival EXIT and also home to steep cliffs and uneven pathways leading to possible death.
This is an example of a not so steep cliff...but you get the point.
Then we went and had fancy cheesecake and hot chocolate at McDonalds. They even decorated my plate with a heart balloon thing.
Then this happened. Thats Mike's super huge silver thing on the left and a cute super huge pink thing on the right. Look it even has matching rims. So cute.
Even cuter.
Then we looked around the square. I got to see the sights because I had never been before.
Then we argued over whether or not this was actually Johnny Depp. It is. Thanks America peeps for giving Mike some of his Celebrity Recognition credibility back.
Then Mike looked all creepy outside of the Orthodox Church and we went inside so quietly to look around.
That Sunday Mike preached an excellent sermon (in English) about prayer at the Baptist Church.
Then we went to lunch and took photos with the giant cheese man.
Then Mike turned on football and took a nap. According to him and some study it takes 8-12 hours to recover from every hour spent preaching. He also claims this study wasn't conducted by a pastor.
After Mike left for company business, Pam and I had legit American burgers at Harvey's.
And we went to the chinese market. I love the chinese market...or any sketchy market actually. Check out these hat holders, such expressive faces.
Or maybe some cats...possibly from Africa.
Or Cannabis scented incense.
They even had all the camo for your hunting needs.
If you'd like to see more photos and commentary from the weekend stop by this fantabulous link: Novi Sad
Its been more than a week since I last posted, but hopefully my life is somewhat back to normal and I'll be blogging more often. I have several super blogs lined up and all I have to do is get them on here. So sit back and enjoy the final installment of Kyleigh's school performance videos.
The girl who starts singing in this video is super talented all on her own. She opened the show by singing an opera like solo with the rest of the kids just sort of humming. THEN out comes Goca Tržan!
I really had no idea who she was until we asked Kyleigh's teacher after, but as you can tell by the screaming we were the only clueless ones. You should really click on her name and read the Wikipedia article about her. It is pretty funny all on its own.
Before the popstar we were treated to a wonderful cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". Personally one of my favorite songs, it was made even better by the Serbian girls in crazy hats dancing their fruffly skirts off. This was coincidentally the only English song and precluding Kyleigh's skit, the only real English spoken that night.
Sadly my video of the little long haired boy playing the air guitar refused to upload. I know you're all disappointed. Maybe I'll show it to you in person when I get back!
During Kyleigh's program they also had several girls perform a traditional Serbian song and dance while wearing the national dress. The video is awfully choppy and blurry, but you get the idea.
These are some photos of Serbs in the national dress. Check out the spectacular shoes.
These are the girls performing a traditional dance or Kolo. Watch the feet of the girl on the far left. She's got skill.
Last Monday I had the honor of attending Kyleigh's school production thing. Actually I had no idea what it was...even Jen wasn't quite sure. My expectations were admittedly, low. However! Leave it to Serbia to blow them right out of the water. It was all sorts of crazy. This will actually be a three part post. Mostly because I know my loyal readership wouldn't sit and watch six videos all in one go. AND you have to see them all. They are that life changing and revolutionary. So this first post is all about awesome Kyleigh, we'll get to the other a bit later.
This is the lovely Kyleigh in front of the poem/artwork the school displayed in the lobby of the theater. It was the 50th year anniversary celebration. We didn't know that till we walked in the door. We should've known at that moment that we were in for some kind of something.
Michaela smiling as usual and Wilson showing off his hat hair after we managed to get seats. Finding seats in the theater was slightly traumatic mostly because it looked like the photo below in there.
All the empty seats were already saved there were people standing for the performance in the aisles. So many people.
This is Kyleigh's Friendship skit. Yes, you are hearing English and French and Serbian and several other languages. Kyleigh was picked because of her excellent English lingustical ability, imagine that.
This is Kyleigh's recorder performance. I think its some sort of Medieval song. Serbs actually refer to the recorder as a flute.
I have to apologize for the video quality. My good camera died about ten minutes into the variety show. Isn't that always how these things work?! I had to use every other available device to bring the experience to you. So I won't be offended if you just close your eyes and listen to these next few posts!
This weekend I'm blogging from the wonderful home of the even more wonderful Mike and Pam. My fearless team leaders live in what I'm assuming to be a beautiful city...tough call because my bus ride was in the dark and fog. So next week will be a Novi Sad tribute, but today is all about some great photos of Mike and Pam.
This is the post Thanksgiving meal nap. No word on how long he was out before dessert was served.
When we were leaving the first mall in Budapest, Pam had a bit of a wrestling match with her scarf. It won. Its victory prize was her purse. We still can't figure out how she did this to herself.
This was the next morning when Pam was trying to decide if her feet would get too hot in her new boots. The answer was to obviously take a photo of her asking all of us.
This is Randi's most favorite delicious shake thing...Should we be shocked that Pam's was the only cup that said "Mojito"? That might explain her wardrobe issues.
*Photo credit for Mike's Big Nap goes to Julie. I just laughed, I didn't actually take that photo. I gotta give credit where credit is due.
All of these photos are courtesy of my trip to Budapest this past weekend, check 'em out.
I'm sure playing this game in Hungarian wouldn't make it last any longer than usual. Family game night?
Two things: 1. Check out the hair on these three. 2. Who knew a wheelchair could make someone so happy?
Marilyn Monroe spoke Hungarian too. One of her many talents. No idea what is actually happening here, I'm learning Serbian, remember?!
Hungarians don't play. They dub this stuff. So good luck figuring out what those hilarious chipmunks are saying unless you've got the gift of tongues.
False Advertising: they do not sell armadillos in these stores. You can buy parrots...that are speaking something other than English. Still not as cool as a Hungarian Armadillo.
These were the most awesome things. They were in the mall and Randi and I creepily stalked people to see what they did. Long story short, you pay the attendant and then you get on your animal of choice. Then you drive it around the mall like a giant plush car. It lasts about five minutes and they give you a surprisingly large area to cruise around in. Sadly I didn't ride. Next time I totally will.
This is so adorable until you see creepster Hello Kitty chilling behind Strawberry Shortcake's knee. Disturbing for children of all nationalities.
Multi Ethnic Awareness in the Ikea showroom.
This is my all time favorite for two reasons. One because I think these are dried turtle bits you feed to your cat. Secondly because dried turtle parts apparently give your cat a crazy eye.
One of my absolute favorite types of food is Mexican. I haven't had the real stuff for going on six months, that could kill a person's soul. Luckily the families here are suffering from the same affliction and they often cook a pretty darn good replica. There are a few Mexican-like places here in Belgrade. But they've all got too much Serbia running through them and they aren't quite as satisfying. So one of the greatest parts about Budapest was going to eat at Arriba and getting pretty close to the real thing. Close enough that you wonder if those were really Hungarians working in the kitchen. Check out my giddy photos:
A little Spanish lingo mixed in with Hungarian on the street side menu.
This is a view of the counter where you ordered and chose your toppings/fillings. The guys behind the counter were tattooed Hungarians that spoke excellent English. Which was a great thing because most of the people in the place where speaking either American or British English.
I've waited six months for this grilled chicken burrito and chips and salsa. Randi was overjoyed at her corn tortillas (they don't have here) and the guacamole...she pretty much licked the bowl. Jen had fish tacos, which seemed to be delicious and everyone else had either a burrito or taco. We were all just so excited.
Julie and Kristen
Pam and Julie posing under the interesting artwork. I almost felt like we were in East LA gang territory with all the angels and things, not Budapest. The atmosphere was just fantastic. Between the ridiculous wall art...some of which was slightly racist (the little Spanish looking girl with a uni-brow and a mustache)...and the little British family sitting close by, it was a surreal experience.
Jen and Wilson
So I could've taken a million other photos, but I was slightly busy and the place was packed. We also looked slightly dumb because Randi taught us the wrong way to sort our trash and the employee had to come re do it. Thats cool though. I feel much better after the food and can make it another six months in foggy Belgrade! (then I'll need an Arriba booster)
