Ugly Americans

It is now officially bidding season for our household. Which means I will be busy looking up more information, and in general digging deeper about posts already on the list than I had previously. Some days, I wish that sussing out the facts about a post were easier. Alas, there is no FS hobo marking convention to go by. I suppose that if it were easy to get the information, it would make staffing some posts difficult.

We had been planning to go and see the pyramid for awhile now, but invariably someone in the house would be sick or get sick, and we'd put it off. This weekend we finally got around to it. The site is about a 40 minute drive from Sarajevo, most of it via highway. The pyramid(s) and Klisa are actually within Visoko. So if you find yourself in Sarajevo for a posting or vacation, putting in Visoko or Klisa will likely pop up in the results window for your gps. You can also go the google maps route, if you only have a smartphone and service. For those of you who have never heard of this place, or have never seen an episode of Ancient Aliens I give you two links to visit at your leisure. One, an article from Smithsonian magazine , the other a lovely YouTube video of the specific episode featuring the Bosnian Pyramids . Whether or not you are a skeptic or believer in the pyramid(s), the fact is that the hike up the path is nice (if a bit steep with little kids) and the view fr...

This weekend we decided to take a short trip out of town, to some local caves. Bijambare is a park about 50 minutes outside of Sarajevo. One of our neighbors had visited the park a few weeks ago, which is how we came to find out about its existence. Since it wasn't far outside of town, relatively child friendly (as child friendly as a park with caves can be), and we could take a shuttle masquerading as a 'train' to get back to the car, we decided to go.  Purple hills on the way to the caves. They were brighter in person. To be honest, it probably helped that the kids woke up at about 6:40 in the morning. I think that, had they not woken up early, we would have likely stayed home. But they woke up, so we went. Which is good, because no matter the destination, it is good to leave early when you are going somewhere in Bosnia, because people generally don't leave the house or begin their day till about 9-10 in the morning. So, if you wake up early and get out ...

June marked the midpoint in our tour, which means we have been here now for one year, one month of a two year tour. One year is enough time to find your footing at post, make friends, and ferret out what kind of a post you're at. If you came in during the summer, it also  means that Summer Transfer Season has begun. Most of the old people leave, and a lot of new people arrive.  It's kind of like a reset button.  If you were unlucky enough to have a social sponsor that dipped out on you not long after you arrived at post or did the bare minimum, you get a chance to sponsor someone else the right way, make friends, and build up your social base for the remainder of your tour. If you have kids but have lived nowhere near anyone with kids, your neighborhood dynamic may change at this time. Or, you might still be out of luck. Regardless, your disposition towards post is set by the end of the first year. As such, it shapes your remaining time at post.  That's wher...

We have had an eventful last two months. I have enough material for probably four or five entries, but writing them means I need to carve out the time to do so...which is sometimes easier said than done ... Yesterday, after dropping off my eldest at preschool (which she loves), I went grocery shopping with my youngest. Everything was going so well. Then, we got home. Since the kiddo had fallen asleep on the ride home, I decided to unload the groceries first, then remove him from the car.  Then I opened the back of the car, and our watermelon decided to make a break for it.  It rolled into the street, and was promptly run over by a car. Aside from the watermelon casualty, everything else made it into the house without complications, including the sleeping toddler.

As I have mentioned before, food is a pretty big concern for us, and for most people overseas and far from home. When I was younger, I loved sweets. Nowadays, I still like sweets, but overall I tend to gravitate more toward savory foods. In Germany, we were very lucky  (depending on how you look at it) to a) have a great bagel shop across the street from us and b) have a lot of Dunkin Donuts.  Here in Sarajevo, aside from the oddball 'Italian doughnut' booth at a winter market, neither are present. So if you have a craving for one or the other, you really have only one option. DIY.     That was my day yesterday. The end result being we had donuts and bagels, and a house that smelled like a donut shop.    Today has not been that ambitious. It was, for the most part, an ugly grey rainy day where for a brief ten minutes we saw a ray of sun. And then it went away. I did end up making more bagels today (because, bagels ), but not the d...