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We are travelling to Belgrade today to meet with a friend. Pray that while we are there:
1) We would have opportunities to share
2) We would meet some people that would provide lasting friendships and connections while we are here.
Because of this, we may not get to blog over the next few days. Rest assured…when we return, we’ll let you know about our trip.
Thanks in advance!
I bought me a bike today. I had been borrowing one from our other teammates, but felt bad doing that day in and day out (especially putting thousands of miles a year on a bike). So, I went looking and found one. I bought the Capriolo Cobra (23″ model). That raises an interesting question…why do they measure bikes in inches here just like in the states…you would think they would use centimeters or milimeters, etc…. Oh well….
Here is a picture if you are interested:
[Update 04-20-2010 17:25:55] The links in the article are broken. I guess capriolo doesn’t make this model any more. I also found a picture on the net and replaced the image I had here from them.
In this post, I gave everyone a tour of our apartment. Well, since summer is here, I wanted to show you some more things about our apartment.
Here’s a view from our living room window. Notice anything? (or not?)
Here is a closer view. Do you see it…or not see it now?
Well, here is a very closeup view. Do you still not see it?
Well, we don’t have screens in our windows. No one does. Why? Who knows…it’s just different. But we don’t have A/C either.
Need to know how to be safe on a bike? Watch this video for some tips:
This is an update to this post on wearing a bike helmet.
Before we start, I want to talk about what we are making. Some people would say the thing I’m talking about making is Turkish Coffee (турска кафа). Some people would call it Serbian Coffee (Србија кафа). I don’t think it is turkish coffee so I’m going to call it Serbian coffee. Why? Well, go have a look at these directions for making turkish coffee then compare them to what I’m doing. You’ll see differences all the way through…starting with the pot.
If you are interested, read more…
I just wrapped up reading 1 and 2 Kings in my quiet time. You know…the two books that have an overview of Israel and Judah after David and Solomon were kings? Well, I got lost a few times about who was king when so I went looking on the internet for a timeline. I found two that I thought were helpful to me. I’ll link to them for future reference and also just in case you need them.
This first just lays out who was king when. http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/kings.html
This next one has a graphic that shows a nice timeline thing. it also attempts to show the spiritual state of the two nations. http://www.flester.com/blog/2008/03/14/the-kings-of-israel-and-judah
It rained today. Hard. Really poked it down. Here is the video I took of it:
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In the US, when we wanted milk, we would go to the store, stand in front of a very large section of the store that was behind glass doors. It was refrigerated. We would choose whether to spend our $4 – $5 on whole, skim, 1%, 2%, chocolate, no fat, store brand, or name brand milk. It came in gallon or 1/2 gallon jugs, or quart or 1/2 gallon paper containers. Sometimes you could find pints or 1/2 pints too. We would make this, most of the time, our last stop at the store (even though it was all the way in the back) and our last stop of the day. That way, we could go home and get the milk in the fridge before it got warm. Get it warm and it would last less than the week or so on the drink by/sell by date. We’d never buy milk sitting out in the middle of the store.
Well, here in Serbia (and most of the rest of the world I would imagine) you don’t buy fresh pasturized milk. You buy UHT milk. What is UHT milk? Basically, instead of just removing some of the microorganisims in the milk (like pasturezation), everything is killed in the milk. For more than that, follow the link to the wikipedia article. What’s that mean? Well, basically, until it is opened, you can keep it on the shelf. For months! (Yes, I know you can keep fresh milk for months in the freezer and just thaw and shake when you are ready to use it, but…it isn’t the same). So, basically this is trez convienient. You can go to the store, buy milk, and shop the rest of the day and not worry about your milk.
Does it tase bad? Well, it doesn’t taste the same, but it isn’t gag-you-to-death like powdered milk.
Here is Lydia walking around outside of our apartment complex:
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For the most part, the differences between the US and Serbia aren’t that bad: we can turn on the tap and get drinkable water, we can go to a (sort of) large grocery store, there are (mostly) all of the convienences we have in the states, but there are differences.
Here is one…when you go to the grocery store, all four wheels on the cart swivel. Here are some pictures:
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I tried to take a video, but I couldn’t bring myself to swing the cart around in the middle of the isle with people looking on. Perhaps later…who knows.