First three days in Sarajevo

The flights were uneventful, except for a rain delay in Washington, D.C. The cats made it fine, and even had food and water in their bowls when we picked them up from the airport in Sarajevo.

The city is beautiful. Settled in a valley covered in trees, Sarajevo is a mix of old city and new with narrow, winding roads (think alleys for the major streets, except that the alley is super clean). After only several days of driving, I can say it is not as scary as it first seemed.

We upgraded the house from 990 square feet to over 1500. Two bathrooms, two living rooms, real parquet flooring, concrete walls, tiled floors and walls in the bathrooms, three balconies, high European ceilings, tons of closet space, rugs so thick you can sleep on them, marble window casements, red marble spiral staircase up to the apartment, a bigger than king-sized bed….

The cats love it. Kireina must have slept the whole way because she is exploring everything. Toulouse must have meowed the whole time because he crashed behind the washer for eight hours after we got here. Then he came and slept with us and Kireina. They are not sure what to think about the three balconies; noisy kids and birds scare them. I guess the sounds of kids playing outside is rare for them.

Our first dinner was with the director of the school, her husband, and several other teachers. It was a great way to meet who we are going to work with.

We picked up the car on Saturday, a Renault Elf (at least that is what the window sticker calls it). We picked up my first cell phone on Monday. I can indeed use the Target phone card to call home. Honey immediately sent me a text. It took me ten minutes just to figure out how to find the texting icon.

Honey cooked a great meal tonight on the 2 gas burner, 2 electric burner stove. She is doing great with not having jet lag. Since her shoes were all packed in the boxes that should arrive later this week, we went shoe shopping after school today. Her flip-flops were giving her blisters from all the walking- up hills, down hills, and on the cobblestones so old they are polished by the many feet that have walked on them. It was fun shoe shopping, and even though the sales person did not understand what we were saying, the lady was happy we found something that fit.

We also discovered a movie theater nearby. Tickets are $5 for current A list movies. Suddenly a $35 date is reduced to $12.

Did I mention that good beer is about $1.50 for 16.9 oz? Not sure if beer is for sale in the movie theaters….

Although Honey told me not to, I played with electricity. I only blew the breakers twice. I totaled a power strip, and then a single socket that had a breaker in it (sorry Dad) trying to figure out how to plug in the three-pronged computer without actually plugging in the computer. Sparks flew, I laughed, lights went out, I drank more beer, and life was good. Needless to say, we got it all to work. Our coworker, the miracle worker named Muamer, helped it happen through a little twisted piece of plastic and metal.