Sidewalk Safety

When walking on the sidewalks of Podgorica, there are several obstacles to watch out for. The biggest one is cars. Often cars are parked on the walk, not just on the curb, but taking up so much room that the pedestrians are forced to walk on the road. There are even some areas where you need to watch out for vehicles actually driving on the sidewalk for as many as 50 yards!

Other things to be on the lookout for are the remains of sawed off signposts. One neat thing here is that they incorporate trees into the sidewalk, leaving a square or round hole for it to grow out of. But these create other dangers. The roots may push up the concrete, or if the tree dies the hole may or may not be filled in.

Then we have manholes which could have the standard fitted metal cover level with the pavement, or a giant slab of cement sticking up 6 inches above the rest of the walkway, or no cover at all, leaving a gapping hole to avoid.

Those who text and walk, beware.

Shoebox Showcase

Esther's goodies

Ruth peeking into her shoebox

Our princess in her shoebox "bling"

Passing out the Shoeboxes

The week of Orthodox Christmas (January 7th) there are Christmas programs and the children who register and attend receive Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We took the girls to a program. It was packed. Ruth really enjoyed it. Especially the present. We've participated on the "giving" side in the States. It was a neat opportunity to be on the "receiving" side now.

Entering the story

Continuing from the recent Christmas season, Ruth really enjoys pretending to be Mary. She loves to be wrapped in my scarf, or put a small blanket over her head. Sometimes she will ball up another small blanket and call it Baby Jesus. She spent hours playing with a toymmanager scene and loved watching "Larry Christmas" which is what she called any of 3 different Veggie Tales Christmas DVDs. She even watched one today.

Update: Picture added

Name That Book

This series of books was one of my Christmas presents this year. Can you guess what the English title is? If you want I can give hints:-)

Happy New Year

It's Christmas Day (again) here in Montenegro-this is the Orthodox Christmas. A week ago we celebrated New Year's Day with our friends here. There was plenty of food.

Ruth and Esther explored the drinks.

People have been detonating fire crackers and fireworks for awhile now, especially on New Year's Eve and last night (Orthodox Christmas Eve). I don't know if they're done yet, or if it will continue until Orthodox New Year on the 14th.

Doctoring Differences

On Wednesday we took Esther for the second of her "six month old" vaccinations (she is nine months old today). They are on a slightly different schedule here.
In the states, we went to the health department for shots for the girls. Here you go to a doctor (not our regular pediatrician here)who examines the baby then gives the shot. They do two patients at a time to speed the process up, so there was another baby and his parents at the next exam table during our appointment (they don't seem to have Hippa regulations here). The exam and shot cost 8 euro total-so about $10.50. The previous one was just under 20 euro (about $26) because there were several vaccines in that shot. I was told that if/when our girls are enrolled in school here, their shots will be free. Now she doesn't need more shots until she's a year old.
Ruth is on a daily anti-biotic because of a minor kidney defect. We brought a three-month's supply with us from the states, but knew that we would need a Montenegrin doctor's prescription to get more here. When we took Esther for her six-month well baby check up, we asked that doctor to write Ruth a prescription, which she did (she did examine Ruth's medical history first).
In America, a 30 days supply costs $20 after insurance. Here, a 20 days supply was 1 euro (about $1.30)!

Before you think that everything here is cheaper though, a baby-monitor is over 100 euros, and a simple rattle or teething toy (that you could find for $1 in the states) is about 5 or 6 euros.

I threw in a few pictures of the girls, just for fun

Gearing up for Christmas

Our Christmas decorating (along with the size of our tree) were downsized quite a bit this year. In Montenegro, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, and New Year is January 14th because they follow the Orthodox calendar for holidays. They also celebrate January 1st, so there are two new year celebrations. The two malls are decorated for the holidays, but most shops aren't, nor do people deck their halls to the extent done in America.
From our time before, we noticed that people put a dead oak branch (with leaves intact) outside their homes-and sometimes on the grill of their cars-before Christmas, and then took these branches to a designated spot by an old Orthodox chapel, on Christmas Eve, where they are burned. The tradition, as we understand it, is that the evil spirits trying to enter a home (or car) will get caught in the leaves and then be burned up. We actually visited the area where the bonfire was taking place, and saw that it was like a big party, there was music playing and food and drink were being sold.
What Christmas traditions do you and your family celebrate that might look strange to someone from another culture? Did you "invent" any family customs for yourselves?
Steve and I (Laura) started a custom back when we were dating which still continues, we exchange our gifts on Santa Claus Day (December 6th), since he is associated with gift giving, and then Christmas Day can be devoted to Jesus birth.
Interestingly, in most former communist countries, Santa is associated with New Year rather than Christmas-I guess since they didn't celebrate religious holidays, but wanted a winter figurehead.