Whelp… we are here... for a little over a week now. And to be honest, it is pretty great. I am sure the Belgrade honeymoon will fade, but for right now I am really enjoying myself. Even more so since I finally discovered that we have internet!
Much to our surprise, when we arrived in Munich for a three hour layover from 7:30am – 10:30am our time… 1:30am – 4:30am US time… after spending 8 hours on the second most turbulent flight I have ever been on… and for those that know Serena… she is not a great flier. It was not very fun. But fortunately, Grayson slept the entire flight. He was really great. Unfortunately, Grayson woke up from a full night’s sleep at 1:30am in Munich. ARG! But don’t worry, somehow his battered and tossed around parents mustered the energy to take him on walks and buy him candy... and hey, I finally made it to Germany, although I only saw the inside of the airport. Hmmm… I’ll have to work on that.
But I digress… when we arrived in Munich we decided to splurge a little bit and purchased web access to check our emails… knowing that it might be a while before we had access again. Whelp, that is when we found out that when we arrive in Belgrade we would not be moving into our permanent housing, we were going to be in temporary housing for up to thirty days. At first we were pretty disappointed. But, you also have to realize that it is quite normal to start out in temporary house so we got over ourselves pretty quickly. The apartment is great by the way. Very roomy… and after a few days I discovered internet!
It’s pretty funny actually. After about two or three days cut off from the world, especially Serena being stuck at home with Gray, with no internet access, I decided that we needed to do something about it and got the ball rolling to try and get connected. Little did I know, it would be easier than trying to schedule an installer to come to the house. You see, in the apartment we have an office, and in this office we have a desk. And when I first looked at the desk I noticed that there were a ton of cables, a DSL router, and Vonage box. I thought it was pretty weird that those items had been left behind and didn’t think much about it… until Tuesday. On Tuesday night, after I had started calling around to get internet service started at our temporary residence, I started staring at all the equipment cluttering the office… and started putting it all together. It had been a while since I had dealt with DSL, but I gave it a shot. And about ten minutes later, we had internet access. It all worked, amazingly enough I hooked everything up correctly on my first try.
So now we have internet. Well, sometimes. It is not the most reliable service… but, we will survive. And via Skype we had the opportunity to call some of our family when the service has been running smoothly.
So, yeah, it is very nice to be connected. And my next order of business was to get the cable and internet up in running at our permanent residence. I heard that it can take up to a month sometimes to schedule a service call and after being in a temporary place for 30 days, I wanted to make sure we had everything up and running before that move. That turned out to be amazingly easy as well. On Wednesday I started bugging the GSO’s office (who handles resident issues) to see how to go about getting hooked up before the move. Well, later that day, the GSO received an email from the guy who is currently living in what will become our house. He wanted to know if the family moving in after him would like to transfer his DSL service into their name rather than turning it off. SCORE! So, we are totally set.
I am going to be getting together with the guy next week to transfer the name and he even invited us over to get a tour of the place this weekend. He will be leaving on November 30th, and after the GSO’s office cleans it up a little, we will be set to move in. So, the good news is that we should be receiving the first part of our shipment (the items we sent Air Freight) in early December and we will be moving into our permanent housing before Christmas. It will probably be January before the rest of our household items and car arrives. But we will survive. All in all things seem to be going very smooth.
-JP
5 DAYS LATER
Okay, so after I wrote this entry and just before I had a chance to post it… we lost our internet access. But thank god for Jasko! He’s a local tech guru that a bunch of us use. He totally fixed us up and we are finally back on line. And because of how great he was to work with, I no longer plan to continue that other guys plan, I am going to cancel it and let Jasko hook me up. It will be much more reliable.
-JP
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Day 110: Almost Time To Go
Man, I really need to start writing more. The time is just flying by. It seems like I left Atlanta… well, not yesterday… but not that long ago… and here I am, almost a 3rd of a year has passed. And we are still in Washington, DC.
Crazy.
But, that number is quickly dwindling. In six days we will finally be moving on to our ultimate destination: Serbia. It is all very exciting. But so much to do. So much in fact, that it will be impossible to complete everything on my to-do list. Oh well, if I don’t get it done in the next 60 days, it wasn’t worth doing, right? Or at least, I can do it in two years when we come back.
Hmm. When I started writing this, I thought I would have more to say… but I don’t. Sitting along in an apartment (Serena and Gray are out of town again) in Washington isn’t nearly as interesting to me as arriving in Serbia. It’s kind of like Christmas as a kid… it has almost been two years since applying for this opportunity… and now, finally… the day is approaching. But, it still isn’t real. The surreal feelings that had had when I first arrived in DC have long since faded and now, simply put, this is what I do… but unfortunately… actually getting on a plane and going has eluded me. In six days… the time will come… and I am sure I will stop sleeping sometime in the next four days.
Oh, some great thing since I last wrote. Halloween! We had a wonderful Halloween this year. Grayson has become obsessed with superheroes and on a trip to the stop picked out the coolest Batman costume I have ever seen. For those that know me… you know that Batman is my favorite superhero… but, please keep in mind, I was not on this shopping trip and had no influence over Grayson’s decision. But I will say that I must be doing something right when it comes to this fatherhood thing.
So, yeah, dawned in his Batman costume, Grayson went trick-or-treating for the first time. It was really cool. He was so excited. Anticipating the night like it was Christmas. For about a week before the big night, Grayson was obsessed with practicing. He would pick-up his little pumpkin candy bag and close himself in one of our bedrooms and shout “trick-or-treat!” It was very cute stuff.
The apartment complex we are in allowed residents to sign up as “trick-or-treat” houses and then we picked up the list and went out for the night of our lives. Now, I will say that trick-or-treating in an apartment complex is kind of weird… we all have very well lit interior halls… to it didn’t really have the “feel” of a real Halloween, the Halloween of our youth, running around dark neighborhoods. But, Grayson didn’t care… he was simple interested in a five day sugar high. Which he got.
Take care,
JohnPaul.
Crazy.
But, that number is quickly dwindling. In six days we will finally be moving on to our ultimate destination: Serbia. It is all very exciting. But so much to do. So much in fact, that it will be impossible to complete everything on my to-do list. Oh well, if I don’t get it done in the next 60 days, it wasn’t worth doing, right? Or at least, I can do it in two years when we come back.
Hmm. When I started writing this, I thought I would have more to say… but I don’t. Sitting along in an apartment (Serena and Gray are out of town again) in Washington isn’t nearly as interesting to me as arriving in Serbia. It’s kind of like Christmas as a kid… it has almost been two years since applying for this opportunity… and now, finally… the day is approaching. But, it still isn’t real. The surreal feelings that had had when I first arrived in DC have long since faded and now, simply put, this is what I do… but unfortunately… actually getting on a plane and going has eluded me. In six days… the time will come… and I am sure I will stop sleeping sometime in the next four days.
Oh, some great thing since I last wrote. Halloween! We had a wonderful Halloween this year. Grayson has become obsessed with superheroes and on a trip to the stop picked out the coolest Batman costume I have ever seen. For those that know me… you know that Batman is my favorite superhero… but, please keep in mind, I was not on this shopping trip and had no influence over Grayson’s decision. But I will say that I must be doing something right when it comes to this fatherhood thing.
So, yeah, dawned in his Batman costume, Grayson went trick-or-treating for the first time. It was really cool. He was so excited. Anticipating the night like it was Christmas. For about a week before the big night, Grayson was obsessed with practicing. He would pick-up his little pumpkin candy bag and close himself in one of our bedrooms and shout “trick-or-treat!” It was very cute stuff.
The apartment complex we are in allowed residents to sign up as “trick-or-treat” houses and then we picked up the list and went out for the night of our lives. Now, I will say that trick-or-treating in an apartment complex is kind of weird… we all have very well lit interior halls… to it didn’t really have the “feel” of a real Halloween, the Halloween of our youth, running around dark neighborhoods. But, Grayson didn’t care… he was simple interested in a five day sugar high. Which he got.
Take care,
JohnPaul.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
I can't believe it's fall already! The high today was 67. The trees will begin to change anytime. I love this time of year.
My friend, Julie, visited with her daughter last week. They drove my VW up from Atlanta and then flew back. We spent last weekend in Baltimore for a wedding of one of JP's 50 cousins. We have another to attend next weekend. Then I think Gray and I will fly off to Indy for a last visit before we leave. It will be nice to be home for a while.
Apparently our neighborhood in Belgrade gets foggy and spooky around mid October. Too bad we'll miss Halloween there.
Yesterday Grayson and I walked into our building with a friend. A man had entered the elevator and was holding it for us. Grayson reached the elevator first and stopped outside the ope door. He looked up a the older man carrying a grocery bag and asked, "Are you going up or down?" Of course he was going up because we were on the first floor, but that is beside the point. It was really cute.
Grayson is really big. And he'll be 3 in four months! My goodness. There's no going back now. We just treasure him--one silly phrase, look and bruise at a time.
My friend, Julie, visited with her daughter last week. They drove my VW up from Atlanta and then flew back. We spent last weekend in Baltimore for a wedding of one of JP's 50 cousins. We have another to attend next weekend. Then I think Gray and I will fly off to Indy for a last visit before we leave. It will be nice to be home for a while.
Apparently our neighborhood in Belgrade gets foggy and spooky around mid October. Too bad we'll miss Halloween there.
Yesterday Grayson and I walked into our building with a friend. A man had entered the elevator and was holding it for us. Grayson reached the elevator first and stopped outside the ope door. He looked up a the older man carrying a grocery bag and asked, "Are you going up or down?" Of course he was going up because we were on the first floor, but that is beside the point. It was really cute.
Grayson is really big. And he'll be 3 in four months! My goodness. There's no going back now. We just treasure him--one silly phrase, look and bruise at a time.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Finger Picking Good
A couple of weeks back Grayson really wanted this penguin toy at a toy store in the mall. There were three little penguins that all took turns climbing up an automatic escalator and then back down again. Grayson loves escalators so his fascination made sense. I just didn't feel the need to spend $15 on another plastic toy made in China. Not that I have anything against China, but you know what I mean. Eventually all of this stuff just gets thrown into the same pile in the same room and it may as well all just melt together.
Well, JohnPaul spotted a Grayson-sized guitar and saved the day. After two days at home two strings were busted (both oddly at the hands of JohnPaul), but it's gotten some good play time. And a guitar store is across the street so re-stringing the little guy has joined my official to-do list.
Well, JohnPaul spotted a Grayson-sized guitar and saved the day. After two days at home two strings were busted (both oddly at the hands of JohnPaul), but it's gotten some good play time. And a guitar store is across the street so re-stringing the little guy has joined my official to-do list.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Day 50 – How The Time Does Fly… While Standing Still
By JohnPaul
Day 50? Could it really be day 50? Good gravy, has it really been 34 days since I’ve last written. Okay, I’ll stop acting surprise… yeah, I know… I’m sorry… I’ve been a little distracted ever since Flag Day. Go Serbia! And then, of course, Grayson and Serena finally got here. Go Grayson and Serena! And finally the Cyrillic alphabet… Go “Д”!
To be honest, I started writing a post on day 38… but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it until now. I will try to be more forthcoming with our life in the days, months, years to come. But then again… I am sure you are all coming to this site for the Grayson goggle montage more than my meandering words.
Anyway, we’ve had a lot to adjust to… which is a bit annoying… but something we are used to… things never seem to stay the same for long when it comes to us. Much like our stay in Washington, DC. Some of you have been asking when we will be leaving… and if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have said September 18th. But, that has changed. Apparently, they, the Foreign Service, were looking over their files and realized that they had called me by mistake. They were really looking for a Juan Pablo Schlutz. Anyway… we’re packing our bags and we’ll be back in Atlanta by the end of the week.
No… not really. The position I am taking in Serbia is not what they call a “language designated” position. What does that mean? Well, it means that I am not expected to speak Serbian in order to perform my day to day job duties. But, as you can probably imagine, whether or not your position in “language designated” it helps to know as much of the language as possible… just to function. Most people in Serbia, young people that is, speak English. But street signs are still in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet… some in the Serbian Latin alphabet (not as common). That is correct… two alphabets… I don’t have time to explain… maybe I will try to explain it over a “ПИВО” when I come for a visit.
Anyway, because of this functional need for the language, on a whim, I requested the Serbian Fast course (8 weeks). And I got it. It’s pretty cool. Now, we leave on November 14th. I have never studied a language in this way before. .. Learning it is my job… and my only job responsibility. Frankly it rocks. One cool thing in that about half of the other people in my class are also going to Belgrade, 38 weeks after I arrive, but they are coming to Belgrade just the same. (They are in the year long “Basic” course). That’s right folks… the year long course is called “basic” and the 8 week course is called “fast”. But it makes sense if you think about it… I’m sure you can’t call the course, “We really only have time to teach you enough to get into trouble”, I’m sure it wouldn’t have fit on the book cover.
My days in class seem to be cycling from absorbing, to deer in the headlights, to total frustration, to breakthroughs… since I finally have the Cyrillic alphabet down… which I have discovered may be something to be proud of… but not exactly a great party trick… I am hoping for more breakthrough days... fast!
ЛАКУ НОЋ,
-JohnPaul
Day 50? Could it really be day 50? Good gravy, has it really been 34 days since I’ve last written. Okay, I’ll stop acting surprise… yeah, I know… I’m sorry… I’ve been a little distracted ever since Flag Day. Go Serbia! And then, of course, Grayson and Serena finally got here. Go Grayson and Serena! And finally the Cyrillic alphabet… Go “Д”!
To be honest, I started writing a post on day 38… but I haven’t gotten around to finishing it until now. I will try to be more forthcoming with our life in the days, months, years to come. But then again… I am sure you are all coming to this site for the Grayson goggle montage more than my meandering words.
Anyway, we’ve had a lot to adjust to… which is a bit annoying… but something we are used to… things never seem to stay the same for long when it comes to us. Much like our stay in Washington, DC. Some of you have been asking when we will be leaving… and if you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have said September 18th. But, that has changed. Apparently, they, the Foreign Service, were looking over their files and realized that they had called me by mistake. They were really looking for a Juan Pablo Schlutz. Anyway… we’re packing our bags and we’ll be back in Atlanta by the end of the week.
No… not really. The position I am taking in Serbia is not what they call a “language designated” position. What does that mean? Well, it means that I am not expected to speak Serbian in order to perform my day to day job duties. But, as you can probably imagine, whether or not your position in “language designated” it helps to know as much of the language as possible… just to function. Most people in Serbia, young people that is, speak English. But street signs are still in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet… some in the Serbian Latin alphabet (not as common). That is correct… two alphabets… I don’t have time to explain… maybe I will try to explain it over a “ПИВО” when I come for a visit.
Anyway, because of this functional need for the language, on a whim, I requested the Serbian Fast course (8 weeks). And I got it. It’s pretty cool. Now, we leave on November 14th. I have never studied a language in this way before. .. Learning it is my job… and my only job responsibility. Frankly it rocks. One cool thing in that about half of the other people in my class are also going to Belgrade, 38 weeks after I arrive, but they are coming to Belgrade just the same. (They are in the year long “Basic” course). That’s right folks… the year long course is called “basic” and the 8 week course is called “fast”. But it makes sense if you think about it… I’m sure you can’t call the course, “We really only have time to teach you enough to get into trouble”, I’m sure it wouldn’t have fit on the book cover.
My days in class seem to be cycling from absorbing, to deer in the headlights, to total frustration, to breakthroughs… since I finally have the Cyrillic alphabet down… which I have discovered may be something to be proud of… but not exactly a great party trick… I am hoping for more breakthrough days... fast!
ЛАКУ НОЋ,
-JohnPaul
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