Kristina Recap

For all of you who missed out on our summer adventures, here is a quick recap and ode to Kristina's eight weeks here in Belgrade.

She was particularly fond of the flashy swimwear or lack thereof.

We went to Budapest and visited hippies, ate mexican food, and posed with lots of statues.

We had Serbian Fourth of July, Friendaversary, and mild Pinterest success (see those watermelon stars?).

Kristina made friends with several Roma and showed them her v-ball skills.

We took numerous ridiculous photos.

#Griffinism

We slept next to each other, crashed to the floor when the air mattress slowly deflated during the night, and I ate a bug...all in South Serbia.

We went to Novi Sad so Kristina could eat a gross sandwich.

We made friends with a ninja.

And Kristina discovered she was a cat lover. And that my psychotic cat actually liked her.

We supported a great college team from North Carolina.

We discovered the Umbrella Corporation has branched out into cigarettes. New start to the zombie apocalypse?

We put our BFFness on hiatus. After eight glorious weeks.

Kristina slept in Danielle's floor a lot. She missed several movies.

This is after she cried for a while. We said lots of really sweet prayers for her and she bawled. There were tears shed throughout the summer. We are girls after all.

This is the last Gyropolis gyro before the big trip home. We went even when it was a million degrees outside. It was so worth it.

So here you are: eight weeks of Kristamy...or at least some highlights. Kristina, I do actually have a sentimental mushy post coming. Its just taking me a while to get it together without dissolving into tears surrounded by my cats. You know how I roll.

Terra Cotta Surprise

Walking up from the square. At this point there was skipping and hushed squealing. I love good randomness.

     Thanks to some informative tweets, I was ecstatic to learn that a traveling art exhibit was going to be appearing along the Walking Street. The fact that it was terra cotta made it even more exciting. From what I understand, these sculptures were created by students for an art festival a little while back and have been traveling ever since. I was really excited about them and made sure to drag Kristina along to check them out.

This one looks like a swimmer rising out of the water and shaking the water from their hair. A few days later this one was removed from the fountain for unknown reasons.

There were quite a few different sculptures. This was in the early days of the installation so some of them were damaged and being repaired on site.

Look at these little chubby ones.

Some of them were oddly realistic.

I especially liked the more fantastical ones.

This eagle looks a little angry.

These chess players were my absolute favorites.

An Accidental Dog Show

It was almost like a fashion show. We couldn't really understand what was happening, though. There were also tables set up, offering samples and things.

     One day, Kristina and I were trying to go to Pet Centar so my cats wouldn't eat me/us in the middle of the night. There was a lot of construction going on (and we were feeling kinda lazy), so we figured we'd just hop the first tram that came our way. Along came a 7A bus. When the trams aren't running, they sometimes send buses. So we thought,  "7A? Maybe it's a substitution for a 7- tram." So we hop on. We get to the intersection and make a wrong turn. No one else was surprised, so obviously we were the ones in the wrong. We ended up all the way out at the out-of-the-way mall. What do you do in that situation? Laugh and eat delicious chinese food. of course. Except we were in for a treat! In the middle of the mall was a dog/cat show. There were animals everywhere. It was weird to shop with people's pets around. Some of the dogs had little underwear on--there was surprisingly little mess. 

Check out that green carpet treatment.

They even had litter boxes for any cats involved. I'm not sure why anyone would want to let their cats loose in that sort of environment.

But look at this cat.

A hairless scary thing in a sea of dogs.

Maybe the dogs were too scared to attack.

Legit Mexican?

Well no. This is Serbia after all. However, we've found a new place (Nachos) that is actually pretty darn close. Much closer than our previous restaurant. This is also Connor's last week before leaving for boarding school, so I took him to lunch. Danielle was also there. Her participation was kind of sad though. I invited her without realizing that she was fasting. She accepted the invitation and ended up having to watch us eat. She did enjoy some sort of smoothie/shake thing though. So I guess it all works out. We also got to laugh with our waiter who spoke to us in a different language every time he came to our table. We never knew if it was going to be English or Serbian. All in all, a great experience. Very Serb too. It was not far from the location of the car bombing earlier in the summer. (Which should tell you who frequents this neighborhood.) There were also three restaurants side by side. All of them obviously owned by the same person, just themed differently. There were also a lot of tourists. Including a couple wearing a Michigan shirt and a Texas Tech shirt. I hope they weren't expecting actual Mexican. The place isn't far from quite a few hostels, so there were a lot of internationals.

Those Chicken Fajitas look pretty great right? They were basically. They did this weird thing were they cut all of my tortillas in half though. The guacamole was more of a mix of avocado and sour cream, still good. The salsa was better on things instead of as a dip. That other little bowl is a tiny bit of beans. Thats Danielle's shake thing in the background.

Connor had an enchilada. That was how his plate came, with a tiny garnish of beans. No rice in sight.

We were excited anyway.

So in Greece

we had this work thing. Basically every available worker in Europe came to Greece for a work conference. I'm not sure who thought going to one of the most beautiful places in the world would make people want to work, but I'm not the one in charge. I just get to go enjoy it all. It was a week of great fellowship with old and new friends (some of whom I haven't seen since training), challenging and refreshing sermons (in English with no translation) from J.D. Greear, blistering heat (olive trees offer surprisingly little shade), and a time for emotional healing with the Lord. It came at a great time and I left feeling more refreshed than I had been in months. We had to leave Kristina in Belgrade, but she did a great job of holding down the fort. I didn't take many photos, I was actually working. Here are a few though.

Waiting at the gate, well at the first (false) gate. Connor played his guitar for a while and I ate some chips. We're pros at waiting.

This would be the gate for the International Airport.

So uh, the Serbian is "Welcome to beautiful Serbia"...the English is kinda close. I guess.

In my hotel, I could buy tongues for a pretty fair price.

Chocolate bread. Breakfast of Champions.

The hotel that 75% of the people stayed at and where we had all our meetings had this fabulous pool.

It was like a lazy river, without the river part. It was spectacular and huge. My hotel's pool was smaller, but I had a condo that I shared with two other girls. AND a klima that blew cold air directly over my bed. Unheard of in Serbia. I could've stayed there forever.

The main hotel made doughnuts all day long. You poured honey and sugar on them. 

There was this weird dwarf like seating arrangement.

With a painted woodsy mural.

The sea out back of my hotel.

Part of it had sea grass. So you had to swim in the right part of it.

I managed to get a little bit of color. We had a few breaks, not for long though. One day I'll get back and actually vacation in Greece.

A better view of the lazy-non-river pool. Parts of it were shallow and then it gradually got deeper. It also had a middle island that the bridges connected to the main poolside.

Heading back to the airport. Hoping for a less turbulent trip this time. The landing in Greece was one of the worst I have ever experienced. Almost everyone was sick when they got off.

And off we go, heading back to Belgrade.

Greece was an interesting place from the plane. 

Greece is one of my all time favorite places. I look forward to any opportunity to visit. Even one that involves work. The Greek woman that ran my hotel's gift shop had actually been a nanny to a family in Baton Rouge. Imagine that! Such a small world. She was fabulous and sold me some wonderful pottery. I'm a sucker for Greek pottery.