closing out 2010

I'm sitting here in the airport for my New Year's trip and decided it was a perfect time for a little update. For those of you who don't know my plans (although I'm sure I've told each and every one of you because I'm so excited), I am going to Berlin for New Years, then Dresden and then meeting up with the volleyball tour in Prague (where I'll end in Maribor) to get my new teammate and bring her back to Bar! It'll be very different to have another American around, but I'm looking forward to the change of pace. I hope she appreciates how well I cleaned my apartment! haha

Срећан Божић!

It's Christmas Day in the 382! (and that's the country code, not area code) and it has proven to be an awesome one, even though I'm away from my family. The title of this post obviously means Merry Christmas in Serbian which is said somewhat similar to this: srechan bojeech. Fun, right? Gotta love serbian!

Last night, I had my christmas party (refer to the previous post) and didn't go to sleep until around 5am. I was woken up by SANTA!! I repeat, SANTA came and rang my doorbell today!

Ok, so maybe Santa looks a little different this year, but this is him!! 

Juuuuust kidding. This is my owner Nikola (you know, like Saint Nikola --told you he was the real deal) and he brought my packages that have been lost in the mail. TWO HUGE PACKAGES from my family for Christmas! I was so excited...it was such a surprise!!

yessssssssss!! As I opened them my apartment was immediately Christmasified. It was nice to have some comforts of home, even if most of them are silly things like Oreos, Luna Bars and new socks! I still have some wrapped presents but I'm waiting for my parents to Skype me to open them with them. But check out the little Christmas corner I've made:

Precious, right? I think so too. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas!! I'm off to Berlin for New Years on the 30th, so I see many more updates in my future!

Christmas Eve!

First of all, I realize I REALLY should start posting more so I don't get carpal tunnel as I write these ridiculously long updates. They aren't necessarily fun to write, and I bet they sure aren't fun to read. Maybe the first paragraph, but perhaps you lose interest quickly. I'll try to keep it lively and throw in some jokes  to keep you on your toes!

Last night was christmas eve!! Because most people in Montenegro are Orthodox (don't ask, I don't know details), they celebrate Christmas on January 7th. At first I thought would be awesome because I have a biological christmas and an adopted one, but au contraire my friends. It really just means that my real Christmas, that I have known and loved for 22 years of my life is just another normal day in Bar. Businesses are open, people are busy, there are volleyball tournaments, and other things that would never happen on a REAL christmas!

Luckily, two of the volunteers Laura and Renata were in town (one is from France, and the later from Poland) so they were here to celebrate with me. They also had a friend from Kosovo staying with them for a few nights so we decided we were going to throw a Christmas celebration. Unfortunately I had practice until about 10:30 so I hurried and got there as soon as possible. They had all already eaten because the tradition is to eat when the first star appears in the sky. When I got there I was greeted with many foreign foods that are customary for Christmas.

First, I had some foie gras. This alone was an experience I wasn't expecting. For any of you who don't know what it is (I thought no one knew, but apparently I'm in the idiotic minority) it is fattened duck liver. Apparently it's all the rage in France and other parts of the world. It comes in all forms like a meat, a mousse, and a patee. YUMMMM, right?! I had recently heard how this little concoction was made and let me tell you it was NOT enticing. But, in the spirit of adventure I took a huge first bite!

yummmmm foie gras (said like fwah graw)

Do I look excited?! (I was trying really hard to put on a great face). I knew it was a very expensive delicacy so I ate it and loved every bite...but never again will that body part of ANY animal enter my mouth. The other thing on the plate is some tuna with pavlaka and vegetables maybe? Not sure...just tasted like tuna. 

After this I had some Polish soup that Renata made. It was made from plums soaked in hot water, cold water, etc. Definitely hard work! It was good and kinda tasted like warm applesauce...the color at first creeped me out (and it didn't help that I was still thinking about the fact I had just ingested foie gras). Here it is: 

After this, we had dessert that Laura made. I was a little skeptical, but it looked really good! It was her first christmas cake to make on her own and she wasn't very enthused with how it turned out (which is why she is holding the knife...she wanted to stab it), but I was very proud of her! It was like an ice cream cake with chocolate frosting and something called Scottish cake on the bottom. It was delicious!! 

Next we played a game. It was a lot of fun...it was played in partners and consisted of three rounds. We all wrote 10 items and put them in a hat. The first round was like catchphrase where you talk someone through it. The next round you can only say ONE word for the person to guess, and the third round is like charades. All of these rounds are with the same words so by the end you are very good at guessing because if you have any sort of memory you can figure it out. Laura was my partner and lets just say things got a little out of hand. 

sidenote: everyone knows how competitive I am, and in volleyball this is a great thing. In a fun Christmas game with non-atheletes from much more modest countries this is probably NOT the best attribute to have

Laura and I ended up winning in the last round!! Needless to say I was super excited because of how much I hate losing. We then played one more game and I said I needed to get home because Santa was coming!! 

Slava

Wow, I am terribly sorry to my four dedicated followers. It has literally been forever since I've last posted. This post is dedicated to the Serbian holiday called Slava. Each family has a patron saint, which is passed down from generation to generation on the male's side. So, if you're a male you have the same saint your whole life. If you are a woman you celebrate your father's saint while you're young, and once you get married you take the saint of your husband.

When I had dinner at Sandra's house a while back her mom asked if I would come to their Slava which was Nov. 21 for Archangel Michael (I think...although I could be way off). When I arrived at her house I realized it was much like our Thanksgiving. Her family had cleared out all of the furniture in their living room and instead there were tables. They were obviously expecting a lot of people to come eat and I was nervous I would be overwhelmed by Serbian and customs that were completely new to me. True, there were lots of Oluic family members greeting me in Serbian and asking about me, but they made me feel at home. I sat at the end of the table with Sandra, her sister, and her cousin who was studying to get her PhD and go into medicine. She spoke perfect english so we had our little english corner and that made me feel much more at ease.

One custom of Slava is to bake this "cake" (to me it was more like a loaf of bread) and they cut it into quarters and Sandra's father lit a candle while other family members cut the cake into quarters and spooned red wine onto the bread while they said a prayer. It's fun to see other customs that are so foreign!

After that happened, we ate! (and ate and ate and ate!) The first course was a platter of cold cuts with salami and cheeses, marinated peppers called paprika, and bread. It was good, but I knew more substantial food was coming up so I held out. Next was soup, which is super typical of a Serbian meal. They always have soup of some sort before eating a big meal. Next came a platter of roasted beef. It was good, but it seemed like no one ate that. Next was the sarme, which were DELISH! It was a leaf of sauerkraut filled with meats, spices and rice rolled up and cooked in broth. Kinda like a cabbage roll. Yum! I filled up on those because they were SO good. After that there was a huge platter of lamb and pork. My pants were bulging at the seams so I tried a few bites, but just to taste it. Then last, there was a huge plate of various cakes, cookies, sweetbreads etc. They were all delicious and made with fruits. We ate our fair share of those and then realized we had to go to practice.

Practicing when I was that full was beyond difficult!! I felt like I literally could NOT jump...and of course all we did that practice was hitting reps. Ooof. I think it was punishment for eating like a piggy!

After practice I went back because Sandra explained to me that it was a party that lasted the entire day. And she was right!! When we went back there were even more people there and they broke out the homemade wine and were definitely indulging. This part of the night was a lot of fun. The man that drives our bus to our matches made some wine and he definitely wasn't shy about sharing it with me. I guess I can check having homemade wine off of the list of life's experiences. All of the older Montenegrin men were singing old national Serbian songs (at the top of their lungs) and were having a great time! They sang one about America and then looked at me searching for my approval so I gave them a round of applause and said "Bravo, bravo!", which they liked a lot. It was a great night with authentic culture!