People ask me all the time what a normal day is like for us here. I am not sure that I have had a normal day...week...or month since we arrived! No two days look the same. With that said, let's look at today.
Had a big plan that included grocery shopping and a fun outing in another town....shortly after flipping pancakes for breakfast my plan flew out the window (that IS a normal day). A team mates van broke down and Jason had to drive him to another city to have the repairs made. This only took 11 hours!
Suddenly I had some time (without a van) on my hands and no plan. So, the kids and I headed into the city on foot looking for adventure. The kids notice everything on the way...bottle caps, wild flowers, stray cats, a drunk man passed out, children begging for money, a women hearding goats on the sidewalk, and a watermelon stand. We indulged in an early scoop of icecream from a street vendor, followed by a short walk to the market. We were drowned in the sound and smell of the busy market, finally choosing some fresh carrots, ears of corn, and onions. I couldn't resist buying some fresh bread and couldn't believe that a 60 year old woman cut right in front of me in line! The kids and I were tired as we turned to go home. It is quite a hike and the final leg is more than 300 stairs straight up the mountain. Jake summed it up well at the top, "I HOT!"
During the afternoon, a neighbor and her children stopped by for coffee and stayed for a couple of hours. The kids helped me pick ripe plums from our tree....mmmm...so good. They insisted that I should make "plum pie"; I'm not quite sure how to do that! I visited with a couple of other neighbors over the fence, one of whom is a known witch. During the afternoon, Rachel let her imagination go wild and drew some really original pictures. One was of a kind horse named "skee-bo", another of a princess and her pink castle, and one of our family riding on a camel with 4 humps touring the great pyramids of Egypt.
After his nap, Jake asked me for some juice. I said, "Just a minute." He replied, "Don't 'Just-a-minute-me!'." Needless to say we had a "discussion" with the wooden spoon. Brent was busy spying out the sweet corn patch, pointing at each one that was ready. He is kind of like the "garden gaurdian", keeping unwanted chickens, birds, and brothers out of the patch. We ended the day with a sweet corn feast at 9:00pm. That is a good supper, right? Well, that is a glimpse of our normal day. The one thing I know about tomorrow...it won't look anything like today.
Montenegro is known for is sunny weather and pebble beaches. After a hectic summer we thought we would spend a few nights there. As chance would have it we only had sun one day, followed by lots of rain and cold. The kids still managed to have fun though. Favorite things...BRENT: skipping rocks, searching for money on the beach,eating fish soup...RACHEL: finding "treasures" and special rocks, getting cozy under all the towels...JAKE: scooping rocks saying "look at dis one!" and going for icecream. Jason and I really enjoyed the beauty of the sea meeting the jagged mountains and the lush vegetation (pomegranet, fig , and olive trees). Hopefully next time will have a bit more warm sunshine.
