A quick little update

Nothing new to report, but I have a few little tidbits that might be worth sharing?

• In my first ever match I was super excited and trying to pump everyone up and everyone just laughed at me because my jersey was on backwards. AWESOME layne, you're an idiot
• So far in our season, we have won both of our matches. The last one was pretty crazy and was against our rivals (who are the only other club in Bar). We pulled out the win in 3 sets, but the scores were 25-23, 28-26 and 27-25. PHEW! 
• I'm starting to plan my New Year's trip!!! This is exciting. As of right now, I'm leaning toward Egypt  but the destination changes daily. 
• I now have insomnia. I go to bed pretty much when the sun is rising everyday, which is clearly not good. I think I need to use more energy during the day!
• I have mastered the train system. Even though there is only one train that goes to one place (haha), I can successfully order a ticket, find my train, and converse with the trainman (do they have official names? conductor, maybe) completely in Serbian. This is a huge step forward.
• Eat, Pray, Love comes out on November 4th here. Yea yea, laugh it up for all of you who saw it like a million years ago. But I am very excited and will be making the trek to the capital to go to the cinema.
• Tomorrow is Halloween and I am going to skype with some girls that are playing in Italy because they will also be alone...in their apartment...dressed up. I think it's going to be a great time. My striped sweater is going to make an awesome Where's Waldo, now I just need to locate a cane. 
• I am ready to do some serious traveling. I'm getting antsy to see new things! Bar has become pretty "normal" to me and I've explored every square inch. The other day on my run I came to a dead end that overlooked some train tracks and literally about 75 sheep. I thought they were going to attack.
• Rose and I have become BFF. I go to her fruit stand and I am greeted with a kiss and showered with edible gifts. It is awesome and she continues to mention that I need to meet her son who works at the pizzeria (there are about a million in Bar, so I don't think I will realistically run into him)

I think that's about it for now. I have a match later today that I should start getting ready for, It's about an hour away and I promised my team I would make them banana bread for the drive (they're obsessed). Cao!

boredom

So.... I always wish that people would post on here so I have something to do to pass the time, but then I realize I am just as guilty. I have nothing significant to say. It has been raining like crazy here, which is accompanied with power outages and leaky floors so I have pretty much been cooped up in my apartment. It could be worse (like no cable or internet), but it means there is no new adventure to blab about. The weather is starting to cool off, which makes me bust out a cheery pair of socks to sleep in (my favorite thing about winter: sleeping in socks) and make a daily cup of coffee and/or tea. Both are very exciting things that come with cool weather.

Lately I have been reveling in boredom, and have subsequently made alterations to "the typical day" that everyone (still!!) asks about. So here is the updated list:

wake up
go for a run (refer to footer 1)
go to the fruit stand (refer to footer 2)
whip up a healthy meal
kill 5 hours via facebook/twitter/skype/tv
practice
socialize
sleep

how awesome is it that my blog now officially has footnotes?! That's a definite upgrade in my opinion.  I wish I had some more exciting news to share, but unfortunately my life right now is kind of a stalemate. Just lots of the same....and when you thought it could get any more repetitive, I wake up and do the same thing again. Tears, people, tears of boredom have been shed. Don't get me wrong. Still a great experience that I'm so thankful for....just hoping for a much-needed day of breaking the cycle (hopefully that will come on my day off Monday). For now, lets get to those footnotes!

is this small enough? I'm going with it. Prepare the magnifying glass (the sad thing is I know my mom will actually take that advice to heart and use the one that is conveniently by the computer desk)
1. When I go for a run I am CONSTANTLY stared at. I think the only time they've ever seen a human being run is during a futbol game. I am constantly stared at. It doesn't help I'm wearing tshirts in english, using my iPod, and occasionally singing along. One man (bless his Montenegrin heart) clapped for me as I passed him, but for the most part people look disgusted that I am running...voluntarily. 
2. I have met the most wonderful fruit vendor named Rose, a ~55 year old Montenegrin woman. She is awesome and pimps the fruit that her husband grows on their farm. She is constantly giving me whatever she has a surplus of and winks at me while saying "for free" and stuffing it in my bag. I made her some applesauce a little while ago and she now loves me. She even dropped a hint that she wants me to meet her son by telling me he works at the local pizzeria, his name, and that I should "stop to see him". Rose speaks English very well and is always sharing her cooking tips with me. My goal in life is to someday eat a meal in her home...with her farmer husband whose labor I have very much appreciated, Rose, and her son. Unrealistic? Not sure, but I have high hopes this will happen by the end of the year. 

power outage

So the past couple days (excluding today) we have been having CRAZY storms, complete with flooding and power outages. It started out as a typical lazy day, knowing I didn't really want to leave the house because there was a decent amount of rain. I spent my time just laying around watching some TV and surfing the internet (typical daily activities). Then, around lunch time I raided my food cabinet and found absolutely nothing. ----you know those times you have been meaning to go to the store for days but just haven't gotten around to it, so you only have bits of everything you dislike? I think there was one pack of saltines, and these really gross oatmeal crackers and some spreadable cheese in the fridge---- BUT, the I remembered Jaci left me a box of funfetti cake. Her parents sent it to her as part of a thanksgiving meal, but she never got around to making it and I inherited it when she left. All of the sudden I was super pumped, because I rounded up some eggs and oil. LET THE BAKING BEGIN! I prepared the batter and put it in the oven...only 30 minutes until I was enjoying a little slice (literally) of home.

ERRRRRRRR... (that's the sound of my cooking coming to a screeching halt) THE POWER WENT OUT MID-BAKE! Great, now what was I supposed to do? I had sudden flashes of me holding a candle lighter under the pan, hoping that it would help bake. Anyway, I took the cake out of the oven and the sides were done (a little doughy, but edible) but the middle was a complete disaster. Complete liquid in the center. NOOOOO! I ended up salvaging the little slivers of edges and consumed them. The power came back on, but only for about ten minutes before I had to leave for practice. Tears almost came from my eyes as I had to throw away Funfetti. I think that's a crime in some states.

So Maja and I take a taxi to practice...you can't imagine how hard it was STILL raining. When we got there, I peeked inside the gym because I remembered we have leaks in the roof and wanted to assess the damage. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw about ten buckets and twenty towels strewn all over the court. Are you serious? How were we going to practice?! Luka said it wasn't leaking anymore because the rain had slightly died down, but we still could only practice on one side of the court where the leaks weren't so major. It was business as usual (for them, for me I was thinking this was the craziest thing ever. Can anyone in the states imagine a half-court practice due to a leaky roof?) and we were doing a hitting drill. The ball was set to me and BAM literally out of nowhere the power is once again cut off. AWESOME! the ball ended up hitting me in the face because I was seriously mid-air when this happened. We were instructed to go put our jackets on and run around to stay warm. We were going to wait it out for 15-20 minutes just to make sure we really had to end practice. Of course, the lights never came back on (and apparently the power was out in the entire city) so Nikola and Luka drove all of the girls home so no one had to walk. It was an eventful night to say the least.