Adventure #4

Here it is, the last adventure while Kyle was an 8 year old. It was a very big deal to him. A very important milestone for sure. Next adventure, I'll be with a brand new 9 year old.

This was kind of a milestone adventure. To celebrate his impending birthday, we went to test out a new food stand. We are (to our knowledge) the only people in Team Serbia to have visited Krompiwood. The name is a Serbian play on Potato and Hollywood. The sign looked like the Hollywood sign and the decorations were all of old movie stars. The idea is that you get some sort of fried something (three different types of fries, fried mushrooms, and two types of onion rings) and then you get to pick two dipping sauces. The sauces included ketchup, mayo, mustard, hot ketchup, chocolate, caramel, and cheese. No joke. The fries were better than the sauce choices. And you got a ton of fries for about a dollar.

The "proof that he was there" photo.

We were cautiously optimistic about how delicious they might be. Verdict: fries were good, sauce was debatable.

We sought out drinks and warmth in the McDonald's across the street. We also watched a Premier League game on the tv next to our table. The universe was aligning perfectly for Kyle. 

I had dinner that night at the Israels and after dinner Kyle had to go to Soccer training. When he left, we played with his birthday gift that I had gotten him. It was awesome and had tons of plastic weapons.

This is Halloween...

I know, I know. This post is crazy late. However, it was so wonderful I have to show you the photos. We had a party for my bible study guys. They got all dressed up, we played games, and then I killed them all in two rounds of spoons. That last part made them all a little upset. I've learned that people are happier losers (when we play cards) if they have a full stomach to start with. So we also had wonderful mexican food and plenty of sugary snacks.

My contribution: cupcakes.

A close up of Brooke's demon cookie. She made mummy cookies and then went a little crazy on her last one. It looks a bit like a demon sheep.

I also made myself a t.rex costume.

It was fabulously realistic.

Last year, Jen created a fabulous bobbing for apples game that didn't need water. We did it again at this party and the guys really got into it. Brooke is showing "the trick" to managing to get your apple. Except you have to keep your arms behind your back.

This looks like a win, but Boris had the most difficult time.

I don't even know if I should caption this interaction between Filip and Boris.

Or this one.

We also had a mummy wrapping contest. Brooke and Danielle struggled.

Kyle and his friend did too. Kudos for proper arm placement.

Boris and Baka Filip.

The two asian-ish participants.

The study crew. A t. rex, an anime character, an Asian Nina, and a Baka (grandmother).

While taking these group photos, Boris started giving me modeling advice. I wish you could see him acting out the poses behind the camera.

Trey and Andy, the mummy winners. Also the oldest participants. Age lends itself to experience.

After bobbing for apples and wrapping mummys, we played spoons. No photos because you would only see the sad faces of those who didn't win. We all had a great time and Filip even rode public transportation wearing an old woman's night gown. That is truly commitment.

The very first MK Monday

Today was the very first MK Monday hang out. Winter means dreary cold weather and the kids usually have to stay cooped up inside. Since I live so close to everyone now, I can have the kids over more often. So MK Monday was born. Today was a lazy day. We hung out and watched movies. And we snacked. Girls love to snack when they hang out. They also love to play with Cole and Lola.

Kyleigh and Lola

Brooke and Cole

Watching "A White Christmas" and "Diary of a Wimpy kid 3" and snacking.

Even Wilson stopped by for a while.

And Miki showed up for a while when she finished afternoon school. 

So there you go: girls, movies, snacks, and cute cats. Perfect hangout.

So I was wrong.

My mom has always told me that I need to fess up when I get things wrong. Especially since I'm so fond of getting things right. Last October (as in, 2011), I wrote a post about questions I had received regarding Serbian life. Question number three was "Are there vampires in Serbia?", I incorrectly answered "No."

Check out that post here: http://twoyearseast.blogspot.com/2011/10/wednesday-wonderings-pt-2.html

Well, my bad. I was wrong. Check out this news story: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/vampire-loose-serbia-article-1.1211539

For those of you that are are a little link shy, let me give you some highlights.

"ZAROZJE, Serbia — Get your garlic, crosses and stakes ready: a bloodsucking vampire is on the loose. Or so say villagers in the tiny western Serbian hamlet of Zarozje, nestled between lush green mountain slopes and spooky thick forests. They say rumors that a legendary vampire ghost has awakened are spreading fear — and a potential tourist opportunity — through the remote village."

Also, it should be noted that he doesn't sparkle. However, he did survive in the form of a butterfly after being staked through the heart. Way to put your pride aside for the greater good of immortality. 

So, sorry about that guys. Apparently vampires are highly prevalent in Serbia. Especially when their homes (i.e. abandoned mills) collapse. I'll try to be a better source of information in the future.

I'll leave you with some advice for dealing with very old homeless vampires:
1. Remain calm.
2. Don't frighten him.
3. Don't make fun of him.
4. Treat him like a neighbor.
5. Think vampires are silly? Better to be safe than to end up a victim.

Remember guys, remember. 

Adventure #3

Kyle and I have something in common. We LOVE the Belgrade zoo. As I said in the previous posts, we have to finish our adventures in time for Kyle to make it to school in the afternoon. Because of this time limit (and the fact that we needed to eat) we were only able to see one half of the zoo. So we plan on Zoo Part 2, to happen soon. After this particular zoo visit, we visited a new burger place across the street from Nina's university. It tastes just like Mcdonald's. Except they have onion rings. The frozen kind you'd buy in America, but still. Onion rings.

This trip was all the more entertaining because there were grown up peacocks wandering the place...instead of the mobs of babies that Connor and I saw. They were also further along in their construction efforts. You can see that trip here: http://twoyearseast.blogspot.com/2012/01/once-upon-last-december.html

Last time there were just a ton of ugly little grey babies.

This peacock is badgering (see what I did there?) a set of rabbits hiding under that wheelbarrow. Kyle and I were literally two feet away and none of them were bothered by us.

The poor rabbits were trapped.

Proof that Kyle was at the zoo and that he saw the peacock invasion.

Three. One of them stepped on that white one while attempting to fly. It was almost a disaster. They were everywhere.

When I want to make sure I get enough to eat, I always stand in the middle of my plate.

I can't even think of anything clever to say about this sadness.

I call this, "Agitated Wolves." There was a man in the cage, cleaning. The wolves were so agitated. So was Kyle. It was distressing and we didn't stick around to watch.

The famous white lions. Belgrade is famous because no other zoo in the world has had the success they have experienced in breeding endangered white lions. You can see the evidence of that success.

The cutest little monkeys with cute little monkey faces. Anyone that knows my monkey fears knows that is quite a lot coming from me.

Some monkeys be chillin'.

This wolf would run around its tiny cage and jump on the partition irritating the big cat on the other side. The cat was pacing and would hiss every time the wolf would bounce off of the fence.

Look at that! Another Mississippian in Serbia!

You can't see, but he's really excited.

I think this snake was dead. His friend in his cage was acting a bit insane as well.

The elephant was snacking on old loaves of bread.

As Kyle says, "The Turkasauraus."

Adventure #2

I was told not to take Kyle on "boring adventures", but I really wanted to check out the Ethnographic Museum. When I told him our destination, he took a few minutes to decide if he was excited. Pretty soon he looked up at me and said, "Its okay if we go there. We can go check it out and then decide if  we should take the girls later. If its boring, they would just think it was boring and terrible. If we go and its boring, then we'll still think its awesome. We just won't take anyone else." Spoken like a true adventuring best friend.

I tried really hard to get him to dress up. He refused. He said "maybe next time." I will eventually get him excited about being ridiculous in photos. Eventually. Its currently a life goal.

The museum was an interesting place. It did have both English and Serbian on the exhibits, but there wasn't a lot of information in either language. They had a huge collection of national dress, which is always cool to see. Part of it was also under construction. It just had a feel of being half finished and under utilized, but thats to be expected. We enjoyed it. I don't know that either of us learned anything, but it was cool to walk around and see the history of our current home.

This is another "proof that you were there" shots. 

This was Kyle's favorite part. They had a huge open room on one of the floors. Around the walls/in them were replicas of the inside of different types of house in different time periods. In the middle of the room were all of these scale models of the houses. We spent quite a while figuring out which family would live in which house. 

This was my house. Cozy, right?

This was the Stevens' compound. It had a house for each of the girls, because Wilson would get his own house (when he married) since he was a boy. 

This was the Israel compound. It has a well and a chicken coop for Brooke to live in. (according to Kyle) It even has two other houses for Kyle and Connor, for when they move out. It has a well because Connor needs to drink so much liquid all the time. 

This was going to be the office. Looks a bit dodgy to me. 

The clothing exhibits were really great. It was really neat to see the details and accessories that are so different from anything you see now. 

This was my favorite. When I have kids, this is exactly how they're going to spend their time. Kids don't need exercise bouncy educational things! Stand them up in nature. Let the world teach them. Or put them in a bowl if they're unable to stand for long periods of time. 

Adventure #1

With Connor abandoning me for education, I was forced to find a new adventuring best friend. Kyle was the perfect choice. He's currently the only boy hanging around and all of these girls can really put a cramp in an eight year old's style. So we've been adventuring. He told me, "Don't take me on any of those boring adventures that Connor went on. Like museums and stuff." Message received. Kinda.

We go every other week, when he has afternoon shift in school. We go check a place out and have lunch then he goes on to school. Then he has to write about it. There is the catch my friends. This is a clever ruse to get him practicing his writing skills...and also for me to knock some places off of my adventure list.

Adventure #1 took us to a robotics exhibit that was being held on the walking street. They had the famous Japanese robots doing tricks, but they creep me out so we didn't go see their shows. Also, you had to pay for that. Kyle and I are cheap. Sometimes. Instead we went to the exhibit where they were showing off less creepy versions of robots and allowing the kids to touch them.

This robot was so smart that he would "see" the juice box fake robot and move around him. 

Kyle doesn't really like to pose for pictures. I'm working on that. When we took this he actually leaned forward on the cut out and the head flopped off. We had to stop and reattach it. Apparently that happened often because there was flimsy tape holding it on. 

We watched this robot move along its paper track for a while. 

This one was moving these crazy heavy blocks around. Also, there were some obnoxious school children filming it with their camera phones. Kids. 

Kyle loved these things. If you used the remote, you could make them dance. 

In case you were wondering what I'd look like as a Gameboy inspired robot. 

Or if I had robot muscles. 

This guy was showing the kids his award winning robot. He would turn it on and it would move around the board and use its robot arms to scoop CDs and gold bricks into itself. Then it would return to base (the corner) and empty out its catch. The CDs didn't matter. The points came from how many bricks it could get in a certain amount of time. 

A robot and a bean bag. 

Kyle told me he didn't want me to take any more pictures of him. I told him that I needed one of him with the giant blow up robot to prove that he was there. He was convinced by my logic.