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This funny thing happens sometimes when you’re talking to people here - people are a little hesitant to name the language they are speaking. Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian are all very similar to each other, and people used to call the language “Serbo-Croatian.” After the breakup of Yugoslavia, however, there was no longer political pressure to ( Read more... )

The movers came on Tuesday. By my count, I have unpacked almost 60 boxes/items, and there are about 100 more to go. Some things we are already deciding to get rid of, some I actually have set out by the dumpster ("recyclers" come by regularly and take whatever they can use or resell), and many more are in the "we'll keep this only if we can find ( Read more... )

I inadvertently learned the Serbian equivalent of еще (esche -meaning "another, an additional," which in Russian is distinct from другой/drugoj, meaning "another, a different one") today. I was ordering a second glass of milk for Alex today while we were at lunch, and I said, "Molim vas, druge mljeko za bebu." (Forgive me if the grammar's ( Read more... )

Children.Montenegrins are very tolerant of children. Tuesday night we were eating dinner at Hemera, an amazing restaurant right next to our hotel, and Alex spent the entire time running around, and instead of glaring or ahem-ing, the waiter, Vlado, was playing with him. He lifted him up to the bar so he could see the bartender frothing milk, and ( Read more... )

Being a diplo-spouse ( Read more... )

Bill had to get up and go to work this morning, and my "work" today consisted of watching Alex while also attempting to get things done. Luckily for me, Alex slept until 9:15. He went to bed last night at 10:30, so he got almost 12 hours of sleep, which makes up a bit for his lack of sleep the night before due to our travel ( Read more... )

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I'd like to get back to updating LJ regularly. We've just (as in, yesterday) moved to Podgorica, Montenegro, so now is as good a time as any ( Read more... )

Bill and I took a long weekend in Cartagena. It's a charming city, by the sea, and at sea level - so, very hot and humid. It was a nice change for a couple days from Bogota. The architecture of the city is very interesting. The city has taken care to maintain the look of the old, historic section of town. A typical street might look like this ( Read more... )

Bill and I did Thanksgiving dinner for 11 guests yesterday (I'm not counting the babies, who didn't eat any adult food). We've done dinner parties, even for large crowds, but Thanksgiving is definitely more high stakes and requires a lot more planning and cooking - maybe because there are so many more things you actually have to cook and can't ( Read more... )