The Pout Family Adventures

Snow and Sickness

2012-02-08T21:45:00.004+01:00

Daniel's still in bed sick. Elana woke up looking miserable as well. I took Aidan to school but when I got there I was told that there was no kids this week. At least that's what I understood. No school for the kids this week. Aidan and I headed home. The snow is crazy outside. I was really regretting not bringing my hiking boots. We went up and down stairs that were so covered in snow it would have been easier on a sled.

After I was home I received a call from Snezana that someone was coming for the car and could I go out and give them the key.

Look at the snow.

Snow, snow everywhere!

Daniel spent the entire day in bed, third day in a row. He thinks he's dying. He's pretty bad so I called the Davidsons and had them get in touch with the Browns to come give Daniel a blessing. Hopefully he'll be back to himself tomorrow. I'd really like the sickness and the snow to leave now. I'm done with you!

Five Months

2012-02-07T21:39:00.000+01:00

We've been in Skopje for five months now. Really when I went to count it up, I would have thought it had been longer. It feels like we've been here longer than that but nope, five months. I've checked. Perhaps it's the snow and other than leaving the house for a little bit yesterday I don't foresee myself leaving the house soon.

I'm definitely looking forward to the warmer weather. Hopefully it's not too far away. We have 106 days left here and I have some things that I'd still like to see and do. I should probably sit down and make a list.

But not today as both kids are home from school again and I am so behind on my school work. In fact, I should be doing that but wanted to make sure I documented our five month mark in Skopje. To celebrate, I sent in our ASU housing application. Hopefully we'll hear soon if we will have a house to move to when we get back to Arizona. Perhaps when I get back to Arizona I'll be wishing for snow but perhaps not. I think Montana did us all in.

Sorry, not the most positive post but it's just kind of how I'm feeling. I need to go back and read the posts from when we first got here so I can feel excited again about being here. Thanks for letting me moan a bit.

Almost Montana Cold

2012-02-06T22:52:00.001+01:00

I've been paying pretty close attention to the weather recently. I kept hoping that the weather report was wrong and that Monday wasn't going to have severe weather. Unfortunately it wasn't and we did. We aren't having as bad of weather as some people and it's not quite as cold as it was in Montana but it's cold enough for me.

My plan originally was to stay in the house and not leave. However, since we had the rental car I thought I'd take advantage of it and do the grocery shopping for the week. Since Eliana had a fever yesterday I kept her home. Aidan stayed home as well since Daniel was sick in bed and I didn't want to walk Aidan in school with a recovering Eliana in tow. Instead they came with me to do the shopping. We went to the Green Market and there were a few vendors there. I don't know how they could stand in the cold for so long. It was -4°C (24.8°F). I told Aidan we'd be quick and I hurried as quickly as I could but he said that it wasn't quick.

The roads weren't too bad but it started to snow heavier on the drive back to the house. After unloading the car and leaving the kids under Daniel's watch I took the car back to the rental place. The drivers were crazy. I got a taxi home since there was no way I was going to walk in the snowstorm up a mountain. I don't think the taxi driver's car is designed to drive in the snow up the mountain. I made it home to a crying child. Daniel said Eliana had been crying the entire time I was gone.

The rest of the day was spent inside hoping that the snow would stop. We are supposed to have two more weeks of this weather but hopefully not as severe.

Edessa, Greece

2012-02-04T21:57:00.000+01:00

We woke up this morning and had some breakfast of food I brought with us. I really was trying to be good.

We checked out of the hotel. Aidan and Eliana loved the elevator.

We drove to Carrefour (grocer store) to have a look and buy a few things like mayonnaise, Kinder Eggs with Smurfs in them, and pastichio noodles. Daniel went to pay and realised that he didn't have his card on him. We had to drive back to the hotel to see if it was there.

And it was. We then headed to Edessa. The roads were pretty foggy for quite a way. A little over half way there we realised that we didn't have Daniel's passport. When you check into a hotel you turn in your passport. They normally give it to you when you check out. We kept driving to Edessa and figured we would sort it out later.

Once we got to Edessa we stopped and had lunch at a restaurant near the waterfalls.

We walked down to the waterfalls very, very carefully. There was about a few inches of slush and neither Daniel or I had the proper shoes.

The waterfalls were amazing and it was pretty cool how you could walk right behind them.

There was a couple there who were kind enough to take our photo for us.

It was beautiful even with the fog.

Daniel tried to recreate a photo he took while on his mission.

I wanted to get a photo of the slush.

Aidan was more than willing to pose in the tree.

With frozen feet and wet socks we went back to the car.

And drive back to Thessaloniki before heading back to Skopje.

Luckily it wasn't too cold so the roads weren't icy. It was raining and there were a couple of times we just couldn't see for a second. The truck in front of us was throwing water up several feet.

We made it back to Skopje safe and sound though. I'm hoping this cold weather will pass soon but I've heard it might be here for two more weeks.

Skopje to Thessaloniki

2012-02-03T21:19:00.000+01:00

We hired a car to drive to Thessaloniki to see Penny who was there for an exhibit.

Skopje has a layer of snow.

We saw a lot of fog but thankfully the roads weren't bad.

Two hours later we were at the border. The Macedonian border guys were quite impressed with Daniel's Macedonian and asked how many years we'd lived in Macedonia. They were quite pleased that he'd studied the language in the US.

An hour later we were in Thessaloniki.

After dropping off our bags and getting in touch with Penny, we went for a walk. Along the way we found a gyro place so stopped in and ruined our diets. Yep, so worth it.

We were close to the train station so walked down there so Daniel could enjoy some memories.

Inside the train station there was a little church area.

And the rest of the train station.

We then walked to Penny's hotel and waited for her.

We went out to eat and had a nice visit with her. Why does it have to be so expensive to fly from the US to Greece?

And then back to the hotel.

Snow Day

2012-02-02T22:59:00.001+01:00

We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow and it still falling. Before taking them to school, I put the kids snowpants on them. Eliana's are just a bit snug but worked for today. I'm hoping that this will be the last snowfall we see before leaving for Arizona.

Aidan decorated the window last night. I thought it looked nice with the snowy landscape behind it.

After getting the kids from school we went to the back to play (and take photos).

Aidan's a big fan of the snow.

Eliana had fun as well but at times she seemed a little concerned that she was getting snow on her shoes.

I was cold so we went inside for some hot cocoa. Well the kids, not me.

They didn't want to come in but as soon as I mentioned hot chocolate, I got a loud "yes" and a loud "da".

I also wanted to show you Aidan's favourite seat in the house. He likes to watch tv from the windowsill.

Oh and we've been having car problems. The car just won't start. We aren't entirely sure what it is. Daniel went out today to try and jumpstart it with our neighbors but that didn't work so they tried getting gas for it. It didn't work either. They didn't have tools so the neighbors will borrow some and they might try checking the spark plugs next.

The car keeps having odd problems. We've already had the engine fall on us when we were in Greece and a flat tire. The heating hasn't worked since we've been back from England and then one day the lights wouldn't turn off. We drove it to the dealership and they wanted to charge us around 500Euros to fix it. Daniel said no and the lights were out. We are starting to think that perhaps we shouldn't drive the car any more.

Twenty Two Months

2012-02-01T23:48:00.000+01:00

Eliana is now twenty-two months old. In just another 60 days she will be two years old.

She definitely changed my life. It's amazing what a difference a daughter can make.

She has her own personality and I just love it. I'm excited to see how she'll develop through the years.

By the way, this is how I found her. She put the pillow on the couch and pulled the blanket on top of her. She was just laying on the couch taking a minute to relax from her playing.

Love Bugs

2012-02-01T23:20:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to be more prepared for the American Corner Skopje Kids' Club. We will be having it on the 10th February. On Monday when I went shopping I picked up some of the supplies we'd need. I was hoping to find googly eyes but couldn't. We'll just have to draw them on.

I found the idea on Kaboose by Googling "love bugs".

First, I cut a piece of paper the height of an empty toilet roll and glued it on. Then I drew eyes and a mouth. Aidan did his own. Next I cut two hearts for the wings and let the kids decorate. The pipe cleaner was for the antennae and it was easy to curl by wrapping it around a pencil.

I first attempted glue to hold them on but decided tape was much better.

Aidan used stickers to decorate his. Are we surprised he used Cars?

I glued the two hearts together and then put some glue on the top part and pressed the toilet roll to that.

Here's Aidan's finished Love Bug.

And mine.

And Eliana's (in the middle).

Aidan's been asking every day if we are going to the Kids Club. I'm so glad that he likes it. I'm guessing because it's done in English and there are other kids.

New Challenge

2012-01-30T11:16:00.000+01:00

Daniel and I have decided to give ourselves a BIG challenge. We both have a certain amount of weight we want to lose before returning back to Arizona in 114 days.
I've counted because I made a weight loss chart. It's just over 16 weeks. We started two weeks ago and have making progress. We've uped the anty a little though and are actually dieting. We had our farewell dessert yesterday and started our diet this morning.

Wish us luck!

To help keep me motivated I'm going to track my daily exercise, food intake and weight on my other blog. Have a look if you are interested. I don't plan on mentioning it much on here. At least not until we have hit our goals.

Venice to Skopje

2012-01-29T21:35:00.000+01:00

Two days in Venice with little kids is definitely enough time. We'd like to go back someday so we can explore some of the museums and see more of the city. Venice was just amazing. Daniel had never been in interested in seeing much of Italy, perhaps it's the Brit in him. This was the first place we've been to that it was totally my idea. It was nice to be able to introduce something to Daniel that he'd appreciate it. In fact, he wanted to see how feasible it would be to take the train to Rome.

While it was possible, it would have been too much money, especially with changing plane tickets. Instead we went to find food. We found a take away sandwich place and ate our food on the street and said good bye to Venice.

We then caught the bus back to the airport. We went to check in and were told that we'd have to pay another 25 Euros to Wizz Air since we had a child seat for Eliana and she wasn't yet two. The 25 Euros was to cover the cost of an infant flying. Yes it seems absolutely ridiculous since most normal airlines let you buy a child seat for an "infant" (she's nearly 22 months old). However, this was their policy and they wouldn't let us pass security without paying the money to the company. We tried to argue that we shouldn't have to pay any additional money since their policy says that if the price of the adult seat is less than 25 Euros then that's what we would pay. We paid that for the child seat. We were willing to hold her on our lap for "safety reasons" if that's what they wanted but the people at the airport said that they couldn't do anything. My frustration was that no where on the website does it say you must by an infant seat for under twos. It does say that you can't buy an infant seat for children older than two. We've put a complaint in with the company and hopefully will get some money refunded. I just wish they would have been more clear on their website. Hopefully if people are looking to book Wizz Air they will realize that they can't book an "infant" a child seat. The reason I double checked was that Easy Jet's policy clearly states this information but Wizz Air's doesn't... Okay I realise that most of you reading this blog are from the US and this won't pertain to you but I wanted the information out there. Maybe it will help save someone else 25 Euros.

After dealing with that and finally getting through security and passport control (another Italian stamp in the passport), we waited for our plane. This time it was not delayed.

We had a nice quick (hour and twenty minute) flight "home" to Skopje. We became a bit homesick when the infant belt for Eliana showed that it was made in Phoenix, Arizona. Also, I wanted to show how little I packed for our family of four for four days/three nights, one carry on and one backpack. Even Daniel was impressed.

Venice - Day Two, Part Two

2012-01-28T21:20:00.000+01:00

After riding outside on the vaparetto half way down the Grand Canal, the kids were frozen and started crying so we went inside so not as many photos. We went past the train station (top right corner) and to out where the car park is.

We then ended up at the island that's just south of the main part of Venice. I'm not sure if it has a name of it's own or not. This part was definitely less touristy. We stopped here to get food since they didn't charge a service fee. If it had been warmer I think we would have wandered more but instead we went back on the vaparetto.

Since the kids were freezing and I wanted photos, Daniel stayed inside with them and I sat on the back of the vaparetto. It wasn't too bad and I could take photos without a glare of glass. We decided to try and see the cemetery, which is on it's own island. They had a sign saying no photos but I took one looking out the gate back to Venice (bottom right photo). It's not the greatest shot but I was trying to be respectful and didn't hold the camera up to my eye.

We decided to try the fish market again. From the cemetery, we took the vaparetto to a stop and decided to walk to the next vaparetto stop on the Grand Canal.

When we got to the fish market it was closed so Daniel went without crab. At least we have a reason to come back. Instead for dinner, Daniel went to a pizza shop near our apartment. While he was out I took photos of the apartment. We were actually staying in a bed and breakfast but we were the only guests. I'm guessing that's what happens when you come during the off season. We had a double and single bed in one room with an en suite and then a large kitchen area with a couch. It was perfect for our needs. To get to our rooms, we had to go up two flights of really old stone stairs. The inside was very modern. It was a great hotel and I'd definitely recommend it.

Before we went, I had read that the pizza in Venice is not that good but I thought it was. Perhaps the pizza south of here is much, much better. I'll have to try it some day to find out.

Venice - Day Two, Part One

2012-01-28T21:04:00.000+01:00

I'm sure I should come up with something more clever for a title but it is what it is.

We started this morning by having breakfast in bed. Daniel had bought some rolls, cheese and meat so we had that for breakfast before leaving for our walk. Daniel and Aidan planned out the route. Both have a love for maps. We decided to walk toward Chiessa della Salute, a church we saw from a distance and wanted to see closer up. Of course, everything we saw was amazing. Eliana, who in the past has been such an independent walker, must have been tired out because she insisted on holding my hand or being carried nearly the whole way. Aidan was a trooper and barely complained.

When we got near a vaparetto stop, we decided we'd had enough walking and bought two 24 hour passes, at 18 Euros each we knew we'd spend the rest of the day on vaparettos. We got one and took it two stops down the Grand Canal. Look at the photo on the right, second from the top. It's a police boat. I'm kind of fascinated about what normal life must be like here.

We went in Chiesa della Salute as it was free. Plus they let you take photos.

After viewing the church, we went out to get another vaparetto. We wanted to go to the island that is south of the main part of Venice to have a look. We ended up going through the Grand Canal first. Not a bad thing since we wanted to do that at some point any way.

Here's a short video of riding the vaparetto down the Grand Canal.

Venice - Day One, Part Two

2012-01-27T20:52:00.000+01:00

When we booked our hotel/apartment through hostels.com, we also booked a Boat Tour to three of the islands near Venice. Since neither of us had anything specific in mind of what to see in Venice, we thought that this was a good idea. We met the boat tour at 2PM. Of course, Aidan had to go to the bathroom so Daniel quickly took him. I was quite anxious for them to return and they did just before the tour group started to walk to the boat we'd get on. This was our first view of Venice from the boat.

Our first stop was a glass making factory on the island of Murano. It was amazing to watch the glass being made. Both kids attention was kept.

After completing a plate, the glass maker then made a horse in about two minutes. I caught some of it on video.

After a quick look through the shop, it was back on the boat to head to the next island. We passed by Burano, which we would see on the way back to Venice.

Our next stop was Torcello which had a few houses and a church. Also some houses for cats.

Then back to the boat and one last stop on Burano. Burano is known for it's colourful houses and lace.

We were then taken back to Venice. The sun was setting by the time we returned. These are some of my favourite photos from the trip.

There is nothing like walking through Venice at night. I would recommend it to anyone and it's even worth doing it with two crying kids in tow. We had hoped to go by the fish market to get something for dinner but it was closed by the time we arrived. Daniel went to the grocery store nearby to get some dinner for us, pizza, ice cream and coke. We at the ice cream while the pizza cooked.

It was such a wonderful day.

Venice - Day One, Part One

2012-01-27T20:37:00.000+01:00

We all slept until about 8AM. The kids still looked tired but it beat their recent 6:45 awakening. We got ready and decided to head out towards the ATM to get money and find food.

For breakfast, we got some whole grain bread and cheese. The kids also chose a chocolate muffin to split. We bought some fruit for later. We'd been warned not to rely on eating in restaurants too much because of the cost, more on that later. We had our breakfast in front of a church, Campo S. Giacomo dell'Orio.

We then headed to find Rialto Bridge and Piazza San Marco. Along the way I noticed the trash collectors (middle photo). They walked around with these carts picking up the trash that the residents leave outside of their homes. We also went past the fish market. We had fun looking at the crabs, sword fish, live shrimp and other various sea food. It was amazing to see Rialto Bridge and look down at the Grand Canal. It was absolutely beautiful.

We continued walking through windy roads and over bridges until we came out to Piazza San Marco. It was breathtaking and I must admit a bit emotional. We came out near the opposite end of the Basilica and just had to pause for a minute to take it all in. It's so impressive. In our pausing, the kids had a little photo session with a Chinese tourist. I had noticed a few of them taking photos of the kids and this continued on throughout our visit.

We decided to go in the Basilica di San Marco because we are in Venice and that's what you do. We first had to take my backpack to check it before entering but the Basilica was free and we didn't have to wait at all. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside but we paid the 5 Euros each (10 in total because the kids were free) to go up to the top.

After we had soaked it all in we continued along the water front. I'm not sure if it had a name or not. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.
It was now noon so we decided to stop for lunch. We knew that it would be expensive and we weren't starving so we split a pizza. I'm not sure if this was the best thing since we got three sodas and a 12 Euro pizza and the total price was 29 Euros. Yes, it's very expensive to eat in Venice. We paid for the experience to sit by the water front and watch the boats go past. It was worth it. Every time a boat went past Aidan asked what kind it was. We saw an ambulance and a few boats bringing in goods for the island. What an amazing way to live life! The birds were not at all afraid and came to eat our food. Daniel fed one by holding the pizza crust in his fingers.

Getting to Venice

2012-01-26T23:20:00.000+01:00

I've been looking forward to this trip since we booked it back in October. Even with all of the travelling we've done, I still get really nervous before we leave. Nervous and stressed. I worry a lot about things going wrong. I don't know why I can't just calm down and realize that even if things go wrong we'll still be alright and it won't be the end of the world.

I stayed up late last night finishing a paper for one of my classes and then got up this morning to finish off the rest of my assignments so I wouldn't have to worry about studying while we were away. This also meant that I could leave my lap top at home. This is the first time we've travelled without at least one of us having a lap top.

Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave Skopje until 6:20. We figured if we left the house by 4 we'd have plenty of time. However, we were kind of bored in the house so we left early and got to the airport around 4PM. They said that the plane would be late and we should wait to go through. We wanted to have Burger King so we said we'd go through now. As far as I know, this is the only Burger King in the country. They said that we couldn't smoke back there. We thought this was an interesting reason. In the end we were the only ones past security for about an hour. We started thinking that the delay wasn't just going to be an hour.
It turned out our plane wasn't just delayed an hour but three hours and twenty minutes. I had not come prepared to be in the airport for so long. Luckily there were other kids around and a big open space so I let the kids run.

We didn't take off until 9:45PM. On the plane, we met a family whose daughter goes to the same Gradinka as the kids. Her parents didn't believe her when she said that she recognised him. We ended up exchanging contact details so maybe Aidan will end up with a Macedonian friend.

Our plane landed just before midnight and we were among the first ones through passport control. I finally have an Italian stamp in my passport. We then went out to find the shuttle bus that would take us from Treviso to Venice, about a 45 minute drive. I was excited to be in Italy but I could barely keep my eyes open. The photo below is on the bridge headed to Venice. The bus dropped us off at Piazzale Roma. Our plan was to get the vaparetto (water bus) from there to San Stae stop. We were to meet the person about our hotel there.

However, we got there just in time for a strike. There was no vaparetto service so Daniel looked at the map and we'd try to find our way through the maze that is Venice. Thankfully, someone said they were going that way and would be able to show us the way. This was a miracle since part of visiting Venice is getting lost. It was freezing and nearly 1AM and with two kids in tow we didn't want to be wandering the streets all night.

Even at 1AM, exhausted and freezing, Daniel and I both appreciated the beauty of Venice. On our walk to our hotel/apartment, we went over several bridges and down small streets. At one point there was a group of young adults just hanging out on the street (street being a paved walkway between two buildings. Our guide (who grew up in Venice) told us that this is what kids do since there is no where for them to go.

Our guide dropped us off at the San Stae stop and we tried to phone the guy we were to meet for the apartment. Unfortunately, my phone was out of money. We were at a pay phone but couldn't quite figure out how to work it. It might have been broken but we weren't sure. I sent the guy a text and a couple of minutes later a guy poked his head out and said down here. So we walked down and at first couldn't see where he went. We then came to a small walkway and went down. We were so glad to finally be at a place to sleep.

We weren't staying at the one that we originally booked because of such a late arrival. Nicola Arici (at least I think that's his name) from Fabbri Apartments explained that because we were so late that he needed to meet us at this one. We were fine with this as it was closer to the bus station and right next to a vaparetto stop. Nicola explained everything we needed to know and left. It was time for sleep.

Bored...

2012-01-25T21:51:00.000+01:00

While working on homework this morning my mind was not focused. I've been thinking about my hair a lot. It's in that growing out stage and I'm not too thrilled with the way it's looking. I'm a bit nervous to go and get a trim/style fix right now because of the whole language barrier thing. I'm sure there are hairstylists that speak English but it's just a matter of doing it. Have I ever mentioned that I'm a bit scared of going to new places? Yes, we wouldn't be in Skopje if it weren't for Daniel. Nor would we have travelled as much as we have. I'm a home person. I know this about myself and accept it but back to my hair.

I decided to give myself bangs/fringe. I didn't cut too short so I can still blend them with my other hair.

I think I did a decent job considering and it's taken a little of the weight off the back.
Works for now but I still need a haircut. Yep, the last one I had was in late August.

Home Sick

2012-01-22T17:56:00.001+01:00

Eliana woke with cold in her eyes. She looks so sad. Since she had green stuff coming out of her body where green stuff shouldn't come out, she and I stayed home from church. Aidan had left out one of his ties and she put that on and wanted his belt on as well.

She and I aren't often home just the two of us and I found out that she plays by herself quite well. She found our washing basket and took it over to where her books are. I was trying to work on some homework and I looked up and this is how I found her.

She is so cute!

Just a bit ago, she brought me another belt. I asked her if she wanted it on and she said "da". I asked if she was a little fashionista and she said "da".

Snow!

2012-01-21T17:51:00.000+01:00

Aidan woke up this morning and came into our room to tell us that there is snow all over the ground.

My hope for an early spring is nearly gone.

Daniel and Aidan went out to play in the snow and build a snowman.

Here's the finished snowman. Aidan had in mind what he wanted and wouldn't rest until his snowman had a mouth and eyes and a carrot for its nose and arms.
Eliana was napping. The kids have been waking up way too early so she was very cranky and got put to bed before noon.

I think Aidan has been missing Arizona more than the rest of us. This is how he was dressed today. He is wearing pants but we rolled them up so he wouldn't trip on them but somehow they ended up near his knees. He hates socks and shoes and wears flip flops around the house.

Best Cake & ACS Kids' Club

2012-01-20T20:30:00.000+01:00

We had some bananas that needed to be used up so the kids (& Daniel) helped me make some Banana Cake. I would have made Banana Bread but I don't have a bread pan. The kids (& Daniel) were ready to eat it as soon as it came out of the oven. Part of it stayed in the pan when I tipped it onto a plate and the eating began from there. Aidan's comment was that it was the "best cake ever" and both kids sat at the table picking pieces off of it. That is until I cut them each a piece and took the whole thing away from them.

Tonight we went to the American Corner for the third kids' club I've done. We read a few stories before beginning, No, David, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and If You Take a Mouse to School.

The theme for the night was snow. We read a book called The Mitten which is based off of a Ukrainian Folk Tale about a boy who's grandmother knits him a white mitten and it gets lost in the snow. A lot of animals climb into it and then a bear sneezes and it goes up in the air and the boy finds it. It was really quite cute. We then played a snowman game with dice. The kids had to roll dice and say the number to get the parts they needed to complete the snowman. We then made penguins. I think it was pretty successful since three of the girls wanted to make a second penguin. Daniel even enjoyed the stories. His favourite was "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". He'd never heard it before.

Eliana ripped an eye, a wing and the beak off of hers. Aidan was very focused in his colouring and seemed to enjoy making the craft.

I found the snowman one here and the penguin one here.

I'll be doing two kids' clubs in February. Any great craft ideas or theme ideas for February?

Haircuts

2012-01-19T22:30:00.000+01:00

Aidan's hair has gotten long and it was time for a cut.
For about the past week I've been threatening to cut his hair but the evenings seem to pass and it's time for bed.

Tonight I made sure it was time. Last night he got out of bed a couple of times, one of which was to tell me that he wanted his hair cut like his dads. I knew I had to get it done. I'm not sure Aidan would look good with such a short cut. I also noticed the sunset so I took some photos.

I was a little nervous to cut his hair since it would need to be cut with scissors. I don't fully trust my skills in this area since the only cutting of hair I've really done is my own bangs/fringe. After watching Aidan's last haircut from the Turkish barber and then fixing it myself I was a little bit more confident.

I should have gotten a back shot. His hair was almost long enough to go in a ponytail. I took at least two inches off. I like his haircut a lot and he approves of it as well.

Of course, since Aidan had his haircut Eliana wanted hers done as well.

She wanted to sit on the chair and have the towel around her, just like Aidan had. Here's her before shot.

And here's her after.

I just trimmed a little bit off of the front so she could feel like she had a haircut. She then wanted her nails painted so we did that too... bright red.

Водици - Voditsi

2012-01-19T20:00:00.000+01:00

Today is a holiday in Macedonia and the kids school was closed. The holiday is called Voditsi and is a religious holiday celebrating the baptism of Jesus. A blessing of the water occurs so we walked down to the Vardar River to watch the blessing occur. We left our house just after 10:30 so that we could take our time and Aidan could walk. The blessing was to happen at noon.

By the time we arrived, about 11:20, the sides of the river were crowded. The priest will stand from a bridge (a few photos down) and will do the blessing from there and then throw a cross into the water. Then people, normally young men although I was told that this year there would be a young woman, run into the water to be the one to catch the cross. I think the cross has to touch the water first for the blessing to occur.

These photos are of the area around where we waited. In the photo below, you can see the medical people in red.

Aidan had a view from Daniel's shoulders.

And Eliana had fallen asleep so she slept through it all.

As the time got closer the crowd got larger. There are people standing on the bridge all the way down there.

The next photo is a view of the bridge the priest will stand on to do the blessing. We were about three or four people back but we could see since Macedonians generally are short.

There was a lot of singing for a while. Sorry for the wobbly filming. It might make you seasick if you watch it. I filmed it more for the sound anyway.

My battery started flashing at me so I got a bit worried and didn't want to film any longer. The main priest (dressed in white) spoke for a while, a lot about water. Daniel said that he must have been quoting every time the word water was used in the Bible. He then started flinging water around at the people near him, the river and he took his hat off and put water on himself.

There was a man standing near to me that told me that the priest was going to throw the cross soon so I was able to start filming it. This is the moment everyone came to see.

I was filming this while holding the camera above my head so I didn't really know what I had captured. I managed to get some after shots of the guys getting the cross in the water. The person who gets the cross is blessed for the year and also wins some prizes like a TV.

Yes and it's cold here. Eliana had her warmest clothes a coat, gloves, hat, scarf and was under a blanket and her hands were still freezing by the time we got home.

This is a shot of the crowd greeting the winner.

We left shortly after that to go and get some food. There were a ton of people there.

On our walk to find somewhere to eat, we saw this. I'm really curious what type of Indians they were but I didn't stick around to talk to them. I think this is filed under odd things I've seen in Skopje.

The Triumphal Arch has also been finished. I guess it was officially opened a couple of weeks ago but we haven't been down to the center.

We met up with Cassidy and her mom who is in town visiting for lunch. We went to The Havana Club or The Cuban place. I'm not sure what it's called but the food was pretty good. Daniel got pork covered in peach sauce, the kids and I split a spaghetti carbonara and Cassidy and her mom both got pumpkin soup. They also ordered carrot chips which they kindly shared with us and were pretty good. Aidan really liked them while Eliana preferred the dip.

We then walked to Ramstore to pick up a few items for the house. Daniel suggested that we get a treat so we went upstairs and got cake. Aidan got ice cream.

Македонски Јазик - Macedonian Language

2012-01-18T22:22:00.000+01:00

Aidan has always had a bit of an aversion to speaking a foreign language. When he was younger and Daniel would try and speak to him in Greek or French, Aidan would throw a mini-fit. He would shout and say no. Overtime, Daniel stopped trying to speak to Aidan in anything but English.

Recently, Daniel and Aidan were having a conversation that went something like this.

Aidan: Do Macedonians move?
Daniel: Yes, but it's not as easy for them to move as it is us. We have American passports and It's harder for them to move because they have Macedonian passports.
A: Can they move to Arizona?
D: No it's really difficult for them to move to America. Why?
A: They might make friends with AnaLyn (Aidan's cousin).
D: That would be nice.
A: No. They will speak to her in Macedonian and they'll make her speak Macedonian and I won't be able speak to her any more.

So he's struggling with the language but on the upside he counted to 7 in Macedonian without any prompting while we were reading a book tonight so there's progress.

Eliana, on the other hand, understands Macedonian pretty well and her two main words, yes & no, are spoken in Macedonian all the time. It's cute to hear her say da & ney.

Our Little Model

2012-01-16T22:26:00.000+01:00

Since the kids both got clothes for Christmas I thought we should clear out their closets.

Aidan had over 15 shirts not counting ones in the wash. For me, that's too many since he tends to wear the same ones over and over again. There are a lot of kids here that could probably get some use out of the clothes. I found out last week that there are some kids in state care that are allocated one pair of underwear for the year. It really made me think of how much we actually have and how much we have to give.

I wanted to see if he'd grown out of a shirt. I held it up to him and then Eliana wanted me to hold it up to her as well. She then insisted that I put it on her. In the end we went through most of her clothes and she wanted to try on nearly everything. I would put it on her and she would go out to show Daniel. It wasn't until I was nearly done that I thought I should be taking photos of it so here are the last few.

I think she might be fun to take shopping. She even wanted to try on my sweatshirt.

Baked Egg Cups

2012-01-14T20:09:00.000+01:00

I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try. I tried to find the link but the Pin wouldn't work. I bought a cupcake pan today just so I could try this. I'll just have to justify it by using it several more times before leaving.

You'll need:

Cupcake Pan

Chopped Veggies (I used mushrooms & broccoli)

6-8 Eggs

1 Tbsp Milk

Butter

Salt & Pepper

Grated Cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Chop your vegetables and set aside. Mix eggs, flour, milk, salt & pepper in a bowl.

Place some butter in the cupcake pan and place in warm oven to melt. If you have cooking spray you can skip this step. I'm not sure if they even sell cooking spray here and am not really sure where to look.

Place chopped veggies in the cupcake pan.

Pour egg mixture in each cup evenly. Top with grated cheese.

Bake in oven for about 20 minutes.

Finished egg cups.

I made these so I can keep them in the fridge/freezer and reheat them for breakfast this week.

Thank you again Pinterest for the idea. I wish I could credit the original blogger for this but as I said the link wouldn't work for me.

Snow

2012-01-14T19:55:00.000+01:00

We woke up this morning to the snow falling down. It was pretty to watch and Aidan was very excited. I thought about taking a photo but by the time I got around to it the sky had cleared and it was just beautiful out. We are very spoiled by our view (when it's clear). After running some errands, the kids wanted to play for a bit in the snow.

While the snow is beautiful I'm really looking forward to Spring. It's a good thing my classes are the first 7 weeks of this semester. I'm hoping by the time I'm finished with them the weather will be beautiful and we can explore more of this country and taking advantage of living on a mountain with some hiking. I'm hoping Spring it's way. I noticed a couple of days ago that it's not completely dark by 4:30. It really gives me hope. And yes, I am very jealous of Arizona weather right now. Especially since we will be back just in time for the real heat to begin.