If you haven’t heard, Russia and Ukraine are having a disagreement about natural gas . In and of itself, that isn’t so bad; however, it has caused Europe to lose pressure in the piplines. I don’t know the ins and outs of the argument, so I won’t comment on that. But…just in case you have seen this….
Parts of Eastern Europe (Serbia included) are also severely affected. Especially after Russia quit sending (or Ukraine quit transporting) gas through Ukraine. Some countries (Serbia included) have only a small amount of reserves left.
I just wanted to let everyone know that Cyndi and I are still warm. We don’t have gas heat (only electric) so depending on what happens, we might or might not be affected. My guess is, at the worst, we’ll have rolling blackouts…who knows. We’ll keep everyone updated though.
But, while you are thinking about people on Christmas (you did know that Orthodox Christmas was today, right??), remember that some people now depend on natural gas for their heating needs.
[Update 01-17-2009 10:36:13] An update can be found here.
Wow! I’m not real sure where to start. I guess I could always do the obligatory…sorry I haven’t done one of these summary posts in a while, but I read someplace that you shouldn’t apologize for not posting. But then again, it isn’t that I haven’t posted…I just haven’t done one of these summary posts in a while. I guess I’ll start off by suggesting that you subscribe to our RSS feed and podcast. I normally post something of interest two to three times a week and we podcast tri-weekly (if we don’t get to it this week, we’ll try next week). But, you don’t read my blog so I can plug geek stuff I have going on…heck, it isn’t that good of geek stuff. I post to let you know what is going on with us.
Starting off, we weathered the election season well. The time of October and November for us was pretty much a non-event. There weren’t any political ads on the TV or in the paper. HA HA! We did register to vote; however, we never did receive our ballots. But, the government provides a way we were able to print off an alternative ballot and mail that in. Now that Obama is president-elect, we need to remember to pray for him and those he is choosing to be in his cabinet.
I have been able to get together with some friends who want to study the Bible and work up a lesson in sort of Serbian. It involves lots of work on my part and lots of dictionary work (I have to look up the word in English, find the Serbian word, look that word up to make sure it translates the way I want, then I have to read the passage in the Bible to see what word is used in the passage we are reading….well, you get the idea….). But, through it, God ends up and speaks more through His Word than anything because I typically allow the Bible to speak for itself. I simply point out a few points and try to get people thinking.
We are still trying to meet our neighbors. You’d never think it would be so hard just to meet people. However, here, you need to take a gift when you go visit people. We usually take chocolate chip cookies; however, that means we can’t go on Wednesdays or Fridays because those are post/fast days. On those days, people have the option to not eat meat, dairy, eggs, etc…. Well, what is in chocolate chip cookies? Milk and Eggs. We know that not everyone does the post thing; however, we don’t want to put people in a bad place and have to choose between a decision they have made and appearing friendly to us because we stumbled into their apartment on a post day.
We’ve also been able to do some practical things for people here. Most people here (even in our city of 100,000+ people) burn wood for heat. They get in meters of wood (a meter of wood is a stack 1 meter high, 1 meter wide, and 1 meter long. 10 meters of wood is a stack 1 meter high, 1 meter wide, and 10 meters long). Once they get it, it needs cut, split, and stacked. Well, most people here still use an axe to split their wood; however, we have a wood splitter that we use to help people with their wood. About mid-october, we went to a neighboring town and split wood for a guy who is recovering from a football injury (he broke his leg) and can’t split his own. This was really good and we had a good time with him and his family.
Another popular way to heat a home here is with Natural Gas. Now, for all who remember, I used to work for Columbia Gas Transmission and later NiSource. But before that, I really liked gas heat if I couldn’t get wood (the BEST). I forget exactly how much Cyndi and I started paying for gas in West Virginia; however, I think it was less than 50 cents a hundred cubic feet (mcf). By the time we left Columbus, we were paying 99 cents per mcf and thought we were getting robbed. Then, in Richmond, we were paying as much as $1.49 or so per mcf in the winter…HIGHWAY ROBBERY! But, just as oil prices have risen around the world, they have risen here too. I made this post about a month ago when the discussion around town was on the rapid increase of gas prices. Things have gotten slightly better here in the past few months; however, not by much.
I’ve also been involved with geek things. I had a friend here ask about studying Java so I worked up a few things. We are still working on getting our schedules in sync to meet, but the files are online if you want to download them. Then, I’ve been called on to do some random computer work other places too. On a slightly related note, everyone should be encrypting their e-mail. If you want some help on this, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll walk you through it.
I suppose the grandparents would like it if I would talk about Lydia a bit. She has gotten so so big. She’s walking readily now. She loves to go up stairs by herself regularly now. She wants to go down them by herself; however, she doesn’t really have the confidence yet…she can do it she just doesn’t want to. Her hair is getting long and Cyndi normally puts it up in a Pebbles- type pigtail. I can’t wait for the day it gets long enough to put into a real pigtail. Most of the time she is very cute when we go out together; however, when she wants to be a pill, she can be. She’s made friends with just about the whole town it seems. Even the lady at the coffee shop (who has been really nice to us).
We finished language study the end of October. The adjustment this month has been interesting. We both like it and don’t like it. we had some great times with our langauge teacher. In some ways, it is nice not to have to work around class…but in others, I miss the structured practice. We’ve had to build some time into our schedule specifically for practice so we don’t get stale. On a slightly related note, while English doesn’t have cases, there are remnants of cases in our language. I found a good example of cases in English and blogged about it.
The day after Thanksgiving, I had some guys over to watch football (WVU vs. PITT…live). We ended up and didn’t have sound, but I had 4 friends over. We had a great time watching football, talking, and eating.
Speaking of eating, I made “buffalo” or “buffalo style” or “hot” wings (whatever the right term is, I’m not sure). But, I was able to get everything locally. I’ll post the recipie I used for the sauce (I’ll call it the Flippin Sauce) from a freind. Here’s how I did it:
Cut the tips off the wings then seperate the drumette thing from the wing thing. Deep fry for about 10 minutes (note, the wings like to stick to the bottom of the pan). You want them done and crispy, but not overly done. Oh, by the way, leave the skin on. It gets nice and crunchy. Cover with sauce. Serve.
Here is the sauce recipie:
1 cup ketchup 1/2 cup vinegar 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons hot mustard 2-3 teaspoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon oil
I added about a tablespoon or two of tabasco sauce (that’s all we can get here). In the states, I’d use Texas Pete. It was spicy but not overly so. This recipie madeenough to cover 2 kg of wings (about 4 lbs).
Oh, WVU played a good game, but was defeated by PITT. I think the score was 16 to 19 or something like that.
Remember me blogging about cases way back when? Well, I got an example of a few cases we use in the English Language (although not the kind we speak in America or West Virginia). By the way, if you go read those articles, I don’t know how else you would say some of the things…of course father rhymes with bother. And pin and pen sound the same. I mean…come on!
Which rendering is correct in each of the following groups?
Veterans Day, Veterans Day, Veterans Day
Fathers Day, Fathers Day, Fathers Day
English Majors Society, English Majors Society, English Majors Society
Bankers School, Bankers School, Bankers School
International Executives Association, International Executives Association, International Executives Association
To ask which rendering is correct in these groups is actually to pose a trick question: if these were not proper names, all of these choices could be grammatically correct depending on the context.
Let’s begin by examining how these phrases differ from one another:
The first choice in each group is a plural noun in the possessive case (Fathers, Veterans, Majors, Bankers and Executives).
The second choice in each group is a singular noun in the possessive case (Fathers, Veterans, Majors, Bankers, and Executives).
The third choice in each group uses a plural noun that is not in the possessive case. We refer to it as an attributive; that is, it functions as a modifier and does not need to be possessive.
…
Unfortunately, one rule does not govern in all instances when it comes to deciding when to treat a noun as merely attributive and when to make it possessive. The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed., University of Chicago Press) admits that the line between a possessive or genitive form and a noun used attributivelyas an adjectiveis sometimes fuzzy, especially in the plural. This style manual suggests that writers omit the apostrophe in proper names (often corporate names) or where there is clearly no possessive meaning (p. 284):
Publishers Weekly
Diners Club
Department of Veterans Affairs
Did you catch that…the posessive, or genitive form. I thought it was interesting. If you want to read more, view it online.
Well, when Cyndi and I were living in Columbus, OH and getting our gas from Columbia Gas, we were paying the outrageous amount of 99 cents per mcf–100 cubic feet. In Richmond, we payed about $1.49 for that amount of gas. So, in Columbus, we would have been paying about $350 for about 1,000 cubic meters of gas.
I know the amount isn’t that much, but the rate of increase is huge. Imagine having your heating bill double within a month. At the start of winter! Now, imagine living on a fixedvery small income. Now you get the idea.
Oh, I just realized that most of those prices are in dinars. Right now, the current exchange rate offered by the banks in town is 60 dinars to the dollar. This is up from a low of 47 dinars to the dollar we saw about a month after we got here.
We had some friends over from the US. Today was a day for them to spend around Cacak helping people. One of our other American friends here goes to a gym and had talked to them about helping them out with some work they needed done. Well, we show up today only to find out they didn’t have supplies. Our friends hung out in the gym and I had a cup of coffee next door. I was able to spend some time talking to people…and I even ended up and got my coffee for free.
Then, we went and had lunch. A chicken Sandwitch. Very good!
Later on, we went back and helped a friend’s neighbor with some wood. While we were working (there was about 8 of us) another neighbor came out and started working on his wood. Well, after I tried to remember how to ask if I could help him–I got it all wrong if you were wondering, but he spoke some english–I went over and asked. We then, instead of working, we went back to his place and had coffee. And cheese. And Kymak. And bread. And Aivar. And eggs. And juice. And coffee. And garlic. And water. We didn’t get any work done on his woodpile; however, we had a good coversation.
Tomorrow, I’m going back to see him in the afternoon. Pray that I’d have the words to say.
Over the past few weeks, I had met this guy who lived in our building. I had met him outside and in the stairs; however, I didn’t know what apartment he lived in. I asked him and I thought he said 35. Awesome!
Yesterday, Cyndi made some chocolate chip cookies–try saying that in Serbian. I put some in a ziploc bag and went to apartment 35. Well, he wasn’t there. In fact, that was the wrong apartment. In apartment 35, there was an older lady and her daughter–about my age. Well, I couldn’t back down, so I told them that cyndi had made the cookies and we wanted to give them to them.
They invited me in and we sat and talked for about an hour and a half. In Serbian. Mostly. Her daughter spoke english; however, I only had to look to her a few times for a translation. They were very very patient. And very nice (they told me that my Serbian was good…and also that my падаже–cases–were very good. I told them they weren’t but that they were nice). It was a good time.
One story then I must go. The older lady was talking about people around the world. I was following the conversation (that means catching about 1/2 of it and it looked like I was guessing the other 1/2 mostly right). About 1/2 way throught that, my brain just…well, it rebooted. All of a sudden, I had lost the conversation, where I thought she was going, etc…. It was a very strange and surreal experience.
In the end, I heard lydia coming up the stairs and so I told them that I had to go help Cyndi with Lydia.
Thank you for your language prayers. Keep them coming.
I wrote yesterday about Cyndi trying Kvas for the first time. Today, she pointed out that it looked like she was drinking beer and that I had better write something about it. No, Cyndi hasn’t turned into an alcoholic (nor have I). No, we don’t drink alcohol…or beer (Serbs seem to think of Alcoholic drinks only being hard liquor….for the most part, they don’t seem to lump beer into that category.). Firstly, our company forbids it and, secondly, we don’t see how that honors Christ. Moving on….
I can’t really describe how it tastes. Kind of malty. Kinda like a flat pop but with a bit of carbonation left. Kida heavy. Kinda bready. It tastes about like it looks…very dark brown…darker than the bear in the picture above. Almost black. It has tons of vitamins and most people drink it like a vitamin supplement. In fact, according to this article, the Russians–it’s a Russian drink originally–used it exactly that way. They would drink it in the winter when they couldn’t get sufficient vitamins from their diet.
How does kvas compare with pop? Well, let me say that I doubt in the US it will be a hit. Well, let me take that back…perhaps it will be a hit with the healthfood nuts (the same people who brew twigs and dirt as some kind of coffee substitute). However, with the huge sweet-tooth we have in the US, I doubt it will go anywhere. But, this article talks about how the makers of Kvas made a comeback after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Here in Serbia, we have 1 choice for kvas. However, according to the Wikipiedia article on Kvas, in Ukrane, they sell the stuff out of water buffalo type containers. We have some friends there who have tried it and said they like it (although one of them falls into the health-food nut category. I won’t mention names, but they know who they are.). They tell us that there is a wide range of kinds and flavors (probabaly depending on who made it, when, how they like it, what they think it should be like, etc….
Want to try your hand at making kvas. Here’s a recipe I found online. I don’t know what it tastes like or anything about it. But, feel free to give it a go if you want to try it.
Full-disclosure: I know that the wikipedia article says that kvas has alcohol. If you do a generic search for kvas on the internet, you’ll find about 1/2 of the articles saying it does…and 1/2 saying it doesn’t. Our supervisors have told us that it does not…and, everyone I’ve talked to here says it is alcohol free. (Note from Cyndi…I just double-checked the label on the brand available here and it says “bezalkoholno”-which means without alcohol.) Now, I understand that isn’t a fool-proof test–see the discussion of the local view on beer above. This actually proposes an interesting question: should we or shouldn’t we drink kvas. What do you think? Leave a comment and we’ll see where it goes. Right now, I’m leaning towards the there’s nothing wrong with it end of the spectrum; however, for anyone that knows me knows I am consistant. What position do you think I ought to take on kvas? Why?
Well, tonight, I helped a few of my friends learn a bit more about this Bible…in Serbian mostly in Serbian. I’ll post my notes shortly; however, I wanted to get this post up. Here are a few things I learned:
1) Doing it with friends was great. They helped me with some words and pronunciation. They were also very patient. 2) Make sure everyone has the same copy of the Bible. We had a few times where someone read and the other person would say something to the effect of…mine is different. Next time, that isn’t happening. We are all using the same. 3) My notes helped…but I needed to explain tons more things that I ever thought I would have to. Even after having some other friends help me with my notes to make sure it said what I wanted.
If you haven’t heard, Russia and Ukraine are having a disagreement about natural gas . In and of itself, that isn’t so bad; however, it has caused Europe to lose pressure in the piplines. I don’t know the ins and outs of the argument, so I won’t comment on that. But…just in case you have seen this….
