Never Play on a Broken See-Saw

Well yesterday I went to the playground with Filip. He is only 8 years old and much smaller than me so I thought it would be ok to play on the see-saw with him. Apparently he is more powerful than I thought. I went all the way up in the air and had nothing to hold onto because the handle was missing. I landed directly on my shoulder and had to get it xrayed. No break, but severely swollen, which causes a lot of pain. So Melanie has been my in-home nurse :) She has really taken care of me! Brian and Mandy have driven me all over the city from doctor to pharmacy, and I have had people calling to make sure I'm ok. My parents somehow found a florist here that would deliver on New Years Day!! That's pretty amazing! So even though I feel a liitle helpless, I have lots of help and lots of love :)

Celebrations

Team Ohrid spent most of this week in Skopje, with the rest of team Macedonia. It was such a good time! Melanie and I stayed with Gef, a retired English teacher and now a missionary in Macedonia (her parents were both Macedonian but she grew up in the states)who has more energy than most people I know. Let me tell you, hanging out with her is always an EXPERIENCE! That lady has spunk! She was so gracious to us! She took us to an amazing concert with an orchestra and some traditional Macedonian music too. Plus we got to hang out with all the other Americans like the Kirkpatricks and the Williams who we just never get to see as much as we'd like. Our last night there we got together with all the American missionaries for a huge party with lots of food and games.

REAL Snow!

Saturday night as Melanie and I were sitting by the wood-burning stove, we got a text message from Brian saying "look outside". And what did we find? Snow! Thick enough to make a snowball and a mini snowman!

Confetti? Shrapnel? No. It's Snow!

Well he had some snow flurries this afternoon. As I was walking to the town cetner to meet Mandy for coffee, I saw these white peices of something floating around in the air. And I thought to myself, "What is that stuff? Shrapnel? Where is it coming from?" They were teeny tiny snowflakes whisping around in the air. This Florida girl still has a lot of learning to do :)

Rockin around the Christmas Tree

Melanie and I found a great deal on a Christmas tree and few decorations! We had so much fun putting it up! Yay! Christmas time is here! Time to celebrate the reason for our hope!

Ok these are the last ones

More Pictures of Turkey Day

Blagodaram Den (Thankyou Day)

Explaining the American holiday of Thanksgiving was fun. We had traditional turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and even pumpkin pie! I volunteered to make the GB casserole and substituted onion rings for the friend onions! Haha. It was still pretty good. We invited 2 families and Jane over for dinner. They were all very skeptical of the new dishes. But I think they ended up liking them. While I was at Top Shop buying frozen green beans, I got to share with Roza, one of my fav ladies there, about how Thanksgiving is a day when we say Thankyou to God for all of the ways He has blessed us through the year. Well, I was kinda embaressed cause I got a little emotional. But she was really touched. It was cool how all day long I got to share with people about this day. Just one more way we can share our faith :)

Another Great Night!

Well tonight was interesting! Daphinka came by with her two 6 year old daughters(we nicknamed them the "Little Terrors" Ha ha. They are really cute and like to play board games without any rules. Then Tamara came by. She and Melanie tackled some tough Bible passages. Then Petar came in and talked to Brian. Jane came by! Yay! And at one time the back corner was full of people. Later, around closing, Nedan, a guy I met while I was taking a walk last week, came by. He talked mostly about this museum in Struga he went to where they have a lot of dead, stuffed animals. Ha ha. Oh and I got to meet the shop owner next door. I didn't have a key to the bathroom but she did. And it was an emergency! So it forced me to use my Macedonian or else... But it was great. She totally understood. And she is really nice. Well that bout sums up the night.

Ubava Struga!

Marija, our language tutor's sister, took Melanie and I on a trip to Struga! It's a small town, much like Ohrid, about 15 minutes away. She took us to a great underground kafich called the Republica, shopping, and to the beach. It was a fun day. Macedonia is just a beauitful place!

Pancakes with Tamara

Tamara and her son Philip joined Melanie and I Sunday morning for some American chocolate chip pancakes! Yum!

SNOW!

Saturday morning Melanie and I awoke to find tiny white snowflakes falling outside our balcony window! What a surprise. We couldn't help ourselves. We turned on the Christmas music! What a great surprise :)

Kafichot, Ima Vreme

Yay! The kafich is up and running. We are now open Tues-Thurs 6-10. And it looks great with the new book shelves and some new pictures on the wall! Melanie and I will be in and out, because we are still focusing mostly on language.
The other picture is me, Melanie, and Philip. Tamra and Rumen invited us over for coffee and cake last week. Tamara is quickly becoming one of my best friends! She is so sweet and she speaks great English. Philip is her son. He's a little shy around girls ;)

Boza Grossa!

Part of the Scavenger Hunt Brian and Mandy put together for us was to try "boza". It's a favorite among Macedonians. I don't know why. It's a yeasty, unsweet, bitter drink. Bleh! But atleast we can check that one off the list! And the sweets we had to eat afterwards were delicious!

Okrid! We made it!

Melanie and I have been in Okrid now for about a week and a half, and it's even more beautiful than the pictures! Every day I am amazed at how beautiful this place is and even more amazed that I get to live here for the next two years! A wee bit of culture shock has set in. People smoking in our apartment without asking, the washing machine nob is broken so you don't know which cycle to put it on, and neighbors playing obnoxiously loud music just as my head hits the pillow to sleep. Oddly enough, these are all things that Melanie and I laugh about now! Right now we are still just getting to know the city, learning where everything is, and visititng as many kafichi(coffee shops) as possbile. Other than that, we are busy trying to learn Macedonian! Which is coming along but I still have a long way to go.
About the pictures:
Melanie and me trying sharska(hamburger patty with onions and cheese. yum!), at the duck cafe (theduckcafe.com.mk), and us again at the top of Fort Samuel(fort on my prayer card)
Also there is a picture of our living room :) and a picture of the lake on a really pretty day

I Made It!!!

I can't believe I'm really in Macedonia! Other moments I feel at home already. I was a little nervous about traveling overseas by myself. But it turned out to be a piece of cake. I had a stop in ATL and one in DC. Then I had a 6hr layover in Vienna. Well I couldn't just sit in the airport for 6 hrs. So I found a train downtown and walked around for an hour or so and then found aother train back to the airport. I slept most of the way to Vienna. When I got through customs, I was shocked to find a man loading my luggage onto a cart. He asked me if I spoke German in German. I didn't know what to say so I just smiled and looked confused and then we continued communicating through hand signals. I was met outisde the airport by Jeff, Amy,(missionaries in Skopje) and Jovan. They somehow loaded all of my "heavy" luggae into their van/station wagon. We saw some cows chillin on the roadside one we got there. Jovan left after he got his Dr. Pepper, haha. Jeff and Amy took me downtown before dinner to walk around. A very famous singer in Macedonia died 2 days ago so almost everyone is mourning and playing his music in their stores. We went to this awesome Macedonian restraunt for dinner. After dinner we walked by "Coffee Row" which is just this street with coffe shop after coffee shop where people get together and drink coffee on couches and chairs. It was so beatutiful! Next we went to see Brian, Mandy, and little Kate at the hospital! She is so beautiful! The Davises are great people! I can tell they are going to be great to work with. They have been working so hard, even with the baby on the way, to get ready for Melanie and I. Well, I went to bed at 9pm and didn't get out of bed till 11:30 am! ha ha. I guess I needed it. That's all for now. More pictures and stories to come!

O, FPO!

This is a picture of my small group in Williamsburg, VA

Zdravo! Well, we are well into our sixth week of training! It has FLOWN by but I have learned so much and I am still discovering how much I have to learn. Ha ha. And having a blast doing it. Last week we completed "contingency training". Basically they put us in hostage-type situations and give us helpful information about how to deal with these things. Just incase. It was actually really fun. Keep us all in your prayers Friday as we hit the streets of Washington D.C. to share our fatih and hopefully find people from our people group. Which for Melanie and I is Macedonians.