Blogging late at night but at least I'll get to finally refer to what we did "today" instead of the day before.
This morning we got up a little earlier than usual and met our new friend from our third class at a nearby bakery. We got some Serbian apple pies and a couple Serbian donuts and we were on our way. Where, you ask? To the most magical place in all of Kraljevo. The market.
People had set up tarp covered booths as far as the eye could see in any direction on the far side of town. There were fruit stands, clothing stands, pottery stands, and even a stand that just sold slightly used oil kept in different cola containers. We found some festive things and our friend helped translate the prices and mediated between us and the vendors which was extremely helpful.
We all left with at least one bag in our hand - I won't give away what we bought in case any of the purchases were intended to be surprise gifts. After that we dropped off our stuff, said goodbye to our friend and prepared to meet our popcorn vendor friend, Paul in town for coffee.
We drank with him, chatted and watched some Olympics on a nearby TV. We came to find out that he is pretty good friends with All-Star Center Vlade Divac. My jaw dropped. They grew up together and weren't best friends but definitely hung out from time to time. They played on the same club team when they were younger and Mrs. Divac, who Paul referred to by her first name, frequents his shop every time they're back home in Kraljevo. He said the same for Nenad Kristic (another NBA star). He could call either of them up at any moment and chat with them. I asked if they always get together when Divac is in town and he gave me a very quick, "Oh yes." as if he were almost offended that I had to ask.
He talked about everything. Where he'd lived, who he knows, about his family. It was a really nice conversation. The only foul came just before he arrived. Our group was sitting down and I got "Shelby'd" by a pigeon flying overhead. The demon got me right on my shorts and it was a mess; a warm gooey white mess. Without getting too graphic, let's just say I finally got what was coming for me after laughing and taking pictures of Shelby during her surprise in Frankfurt.
We talked with Paul for a couple hours and then met up with the party girl for lunch. We had pizza, and found out that pizza comes standard with mushrooms because the last three times we've had pizza ordered for us, no matter how specific we've been, it's been layered with mushrooms. I tried to be discreet in pulling most of them off but I got caught. We had a long discussion about what mushrooms really were and how uncommon they are in the states vs. here and how it wasn't a big deal, yadda ya. Long story short, I've looked up the word for mushrooms to avoid any future encounters.
Everyone had a plan for tonight but one girl didn't call and my guy didn't feel up for it and moved our time to tomorrow at noon so we ended up eating together as a group and then going home fairly early.
Tomorrow we're having devo, and then I'm meeting new friend who went to the market with us to compare music and maybe get some help in downloading some classic Serbian jams :) he said he loves music so I'm confident in his choices being exactly what I'm looking for. We also have another clubbing date with party girl friend. Probably the same place and the same experience but it'll be fun. Now we know what to expect and can feel safe about what we're getting ourselves into. Naps will definitely be on the agenda tomorrow afternoon to prepare for a long night.
Continue to pray for this city, our friends, and us as we deal with those things and each other. Pray that we will constantly be reminded that this trip is about Christ and not ourselves or our experiences and that things we may deem important may not actually be if it's distracting us from making a conscious impact during our brief time here. We love you guys and are doing everything we can to not be homesick. We love you all.
Ciao.
This morning we got up a little earlier than usual and met our new friend from our third class at a nearby bakery. We got some Serbian apple pies and a couple Serbian donuts and we were on our way. Where, you ask? To the most magical place in all of Kraljevo. The market.
People had set up tarp covered booths as far as the eye could see in any direction on the far side of town. There were fruit stands, clothing stands, pottery stands, and even a stand that just sold slightly used oil kept in different cola containers. We found some festive things and our friend helped translate the prices and mediated between us and the vendors which was extremely helpful.
We all left with at least one bag in our hand - I won't give away what we bought in case any of the purchases were intended to be surprise gifts. After that we dropped off our stuff, said goodbye to our friend and prepared to meet our popcorn vendor friend, Paul in town for coffee.
We drank with him, chatted and watched some Olympics on a nearby TV. We came to find out that he is pretty good friends with All-Star Center Vlade Divac. My jaw dropped. They grew up together and weren't best friends but definitely hung out from time to time. They played on the same club team when they were younger and Mrs. Divac, who Paul referred to by her first name, frequents his shop every time they're back home in Kraljevo. He said the same for Nenad Kristic (another NBA star). He could call either of them up at any moment and chat with them. I asked if they always get together when Divac is in town and he gave me a very quick, "Oh yes." as if he were almost offended that I had to ask.
He talked about everything. Where he'd lived, who he knows, about his family. It was a really nice conversation. The only foul came just before he arrived. Our group was sitting down and I got "Shelby'd" by a pigeon flying overhead. The demon got me right on my shorts and it was a mess; a warm gooey white mess. Without getting too graphic, let's just say I finally got what was coming for me after laughing and taking pictures of Shelby during her surprise in Frankfurt.
We talked with Paul for a couple hours and then met up with the party girl for lunch. We had pizza, and found out that pizza comes standard with mushrooms because the last three times we've had pizza ordered for us, no matter how specific we've been, it's been layered with mushrooms. I tried to be discreet in pulling most of them off but I got caught. We had a long discussion about what mushrooms really were and how uncommon they are in the states vs. here and how it wasn't a big deal, yadda ya. Long story short, I've looked up the word for mushrooms to avoid any future encounters.
Everyone had a plan for tonight but one girl didn't call and my guy didn't feel up for it and moved our time to tomorrow at noon so we ended up eating together as a group and then going home fairly early.
Tomorrow we're having devo, and then I'm meeting new friend who went to the market with us to compare music and maybe get some help in downloading some classic Serbian jams :) he said he loves music so I'm confident in his choices being exactly what I'm looking for. We also have another clubbing date with party girl friend. Probably the same place and the same experience but it'll be fun. Now we know what to expect and can feel safe about what we're getting ourselves into. Naps will definitely be on the agenda tomorrow afternoon to prepare for a long night.
Continue to pray for this city, our friends, and us as we deal with those things and each other. Pray that we will constantly be reminded that this trip is about Christ and not ourselves or our experiences and that things we may deem important may not actually be if it's distracting us from making a conscious impact during our brief time here. We love you guys and are doing everything we can to not be homesick. We love you all.
Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment