Serpski Skoli Sistem (Serbian School System)

This week in language school we have been talking about the Serbian school system and with Kyleigh a part of that I thought this would be a good time to explain it to all of you. Ordinary school lasts from 1st till 8th grade.  The kids start 1st grade when they are 7.  1st through 4th grade all the kids stay in the same class with the same teacher.  This is great for stability but probably horrible if you get a bad teacher or don't like the kids in your class.  These years the kids have 5 classes a day and go to school for about 3 hours.  Kyleigh has math, Serbian, English, science everyday and they rotate in music, art and PE.  Starting in 5th grade the students day gets longer (about 6 hours) as more classes are added.  After 8th grade students choose (based on some entrance exams I think) weather to go to Gymnasium (sort of like American High school) or vocational school.  The neat thing is that vocational school does not stop one from attending university , although if you do go to vocational school your university choice must be in the same field as your vocational school. So one big difference in Serbia is you have to choose a carer path much sooner.  Also the upper grades are very test driven and university is all about exams, but in a very different way then in the US, it's more rote memorization as opposed to problem solving.  So far we have enjoyed K's schooling here.  Her math is really good but its gonna take some time to determine the quality, needless to say Jen will be home school supplementing this summer.
Any way hope that gives you a glance into school here in Serbia

  This is Kyleigh's school Dushko Radivich - it's named after a mand that wrote childrens television programs and books - he's kinds the Mr. Roger's of Serbia.

Adventures in Visaland!

Today I had to make our second visa run, but before I tell you the exciting story you have to have a little background.  It is very hard to get solid information here.  Things seem to change day by day (if not hour by hour).  We have been told we should get a year long visa for language but no one will give us one.  I found out today we cant get one at least not in Belgrade (but our friends in Novi Sad have one) go figure.  On Monday I went to the visa office to double check all the paperwork I would need before I reapplied for another 3 month visa (keep in mind these things are $500 a pop).  I spoke with Jelena and she said I just needed photo copies of the documents from my original application.  I was stoked, I had all that and figured I could run over there and pay the "fees"  start the application.  Oh if things could only be that easy.  So here is how my adventure to Visaland went today.
After language school I hopped on the tram and headed for the Office of Foreigners (OOF) where you get your visa.  I took my yellow folders with all my documents and stopped at the visa application office (which is two buildings away)and had the applications filled out.  (Here you pay - i know shocking- for someone to fill the forms out for you).  After I got the forms I walked down to the OOF to file the application.  As I sat down with the clerk she asked for copies of my documents which I provided except I had copies of the translations, not the actual english documents.  The clerk excused herself and came out with her supervisor.  Her supervisor asked me where the original documents were.  I told her i thought i just needed the copies.  She then proceeded to tell me what I brought was not documents but translations.  She did this while waving my documents and switching between English and Serbian I told her I did not have originals but could go get them.  She then moved on to Jen's application and started asking me where Jen was and questioning if she was even in the country.  By now I am getting a little hot under the collar but tried to explain Jen was at home. She then POKED ME IN THE CHEST!!! and grabbed the phone and started  yelling at some one in really fast Serbian.  At this point I thought great I am going to get arrested (which would have made a way better blog by the way).  I sat down and asked the original clerk if I could have my documents and go home.  Of course she did not speak English but by now I could not remember any Serbian.  She wrote a number on a piece of paper and told me to go to this room.  (now i really thought i was gong to jail or at least a really serious interigation), but instead I went to the visa boss, who said my applications looked great, next week I need to bring the originals, and go on back downstairs and finish the application.  WHEWWWW, dodged a bullet there.  All in all it turned out great and we can stay for three more months.  I hope!
Tune in next time as I explain the adventures of getting our crate here.

Spring Break in Review

The week after Easter was spring break for those of us in Serbia.  We did some FB updates but I thought I would blog our week in review.  Easter weekend started with a trip to the Belgrade Zoo.  If you want my opinions on that see my earlier post.  The kids enjoyed it and it was a beautiful day.  We spent Easter Sunday at the International Church.  This is an English speaking church that is made up of all kinds of people from all over Belgrade.  There are Americans, Brits, Austrailians, Finish, Iranians, and yes many Serbs.  The worship was really good but it was our first holiday away from home and we sure did miss LPC and worshiping with our friends and family.  Since we had the rest of the week off our main goal was to rest and let our brains recharge from our language study and let the kids rest a little bit.  We accomplished this by purchasing new mattress's for the whole family.  The mattress's we were all sleeping on were not the best - i would go as far as to say Kyleigh's was really bad.  So we all rested better with new mattress's!!  We did want to get out of Belgrade so we decided to head to Novi Sad and visit friends.  Novi Sad is about an hour and a half north of Belgrade so we got really brave and took the bus.  It was nice, a charter bus, and the drive was really pretty through the Serbian country side.  We had a great visit with our friends they just arrived here about two weeks ago so hopefully we were able to help them adjust.  We also visited another fortress.  This fortress is on the Danube and the last fortress built in Europe.  After our trip to Novi Sad we headed back home to finish up the week and get ready to hi the books again.  Here are some Pics from our week. 

The Belgrade Zoo, Hmmm.....

As some of you may have read on FB, we visited the Belgrade Zoo last week.  The kids had a good time but it was an interesting experience.  The animals are in cages and on concrete - it was very unamerican as zoos go.  To be honest it was pretty sad.  One of the things that was really shocking to Jen and I was how easy it would be to get in the animal enclosures.  Most of them were bars or fence - thats all that seperated your childs hand from the lions and wolves.  The bear enclosures were insane.  The bears wer below you in a concrete pit sort of thing and all that seperated you from the bears was a 2 1/2 foot wall.  Kids were sitting on the wall and looking down.  It was crazy, if they survive the fall then they were dinner for a bear.  We were "lucky" to be there at feeding time.  Which consisted of a guy pushing a cart full of raw meet and just flinging it over the top of the cages - again all I can say was insane.  Anyway as we left Jen and I kind of joked about how we had not heard of anyone getting hurt at the zoo.  I chalked it up to winter - now that people were out, it was bound to happen.  1 week later :
BELGRADE -- A man has suffered serious injuries at the Belgrade Zoo today, when he got inside the elephant enclosure.
B92 has learned that the accident happened when the man tried to rescue a child that had fallen inside the enclosure.

The child is said to be his grandchild, and has not been hurt.

When the man got inside the enclosure, the elephant attacked him.

A Belgrade Emergency Center spokesman said that the man suffered serious internal injuries, and also rib fractures. He is said to be stable after the surgery. 

Welcome to Belgrade!

Friends for Lunch

Since the weather has warmed up the girls have been out playing nearly everyday.  They have made a few friends, but there faves are Dzordza (Georgia) and Trdora (Terdora). Dzordza is the dark haired girl in the yellow and Trdora is the girl waving in the picture.  Today was a super rainy and cold day (46 for the high) so the girls came to our flat to play and brought new friend Ljubitca ( in the pink)    It was pretty fun listening to the mix of Serbian and English. They colored, played games and little pet shops. Jen invited the girls to stay for lunch - which elicited cheers of excitement.  She made fajitas and chocolate pudding.  The girls tried the fajitas and liked them I guess, but the pudding was a huge hit.  It was a great opportunity to have the girls in our house and spend some time with them.  Jen got a chance to talk with Dzordza's mom and we were invited for tea and coffee later this week.  Please pray for these relationships to continue to grow, and for the girls to continue to make friends.

Easter In Serbia

Easter is the most sacred holiday in the Serbian church.  I found this ironic, because I could not find any one to take me to an orthodox service.  I talked to several people and they were like "yeah we celebrate Easter we just don't go to Church".  Non the less Serbs do have many traditions and we did see what constitutes a small crowd at the Church near our flat (I mean more then 5 people there on a Sunday).  Like in America they dye eggs, and the Easter Bunny does make a visit.  There is no egg hunting (as far as we could tell) but the eggs are very important.  You exchange eggs with visitors, but red eggs are most important.  You keep a red egg in your house all year.  A friend told me it keeps evil spirits away and brings good luck.  It also represents the blood of Christ and is a reminder of his sacrifice.  Most people have a wooden egg they paint red and keep.  The Easter service in the orthodox church starts at 11 on Saturday night and ends at midnight with the priest chanting "Hristos Vaskrse" (he is risen) three times.  Almost all the stores, cafes etc were closed today so it was different in town.  This place is usually hopping. Overall it was sort of a surreal experince for me.  They celebrate this huge holiday, and say all these things, but they really don't get it.  Christ came to die and to live, but in that he seeks relationship, and that was missing here.   We celebrated Easter with an international congregation.  It was good worship but we missed LPC and family.  Check out our Facebook for pics of the kids.

Lesson 5 - SUNDAY'S COMIN'!!!!!

On this Friday 2000 years ago (give or take) Satan laughed, Death rejoiced and demons shouted in victory...... BUT SUNDAY'S COMIN!!!!!