Belgrade In Spring

In lack of any recent adventures, I thought I would share a little about life in Belgrade during spring.

It has been absolutely beautiful in Belgrade the past few weeks. The trees are blooming and grass is green. I am very impressed with the Magnolia trees in my neighborhood. The flowers are fantastic!

The other great thing is that after a winter of staying indoors, it seems as if most of Belgrade is coming out to enjoy the nice weather. The parks are packed with exercisers and families, and the bike paths become traffic jams. My neighbor and I went on a bike ride out of town and took advantage of a boat that will transport bikes across the Sava River for one US dollar. I like anywhere that lets you take a bike on a boat!

Additionally, my coworkers and Belgrade friends are all very excited to get outside to enjoy the weather. We have had barbeques in the local parks, and are now starting up Sunday Ultimate Frisbees beneath the town fortress. That's right, we play frisbee while looking at the Danube and the fortress that marked the northwest corner of the Turkish Empire. It is pretty surreal.

This week at school, we are celebrating Spirit Week. As Student Council advisor, I am in charge of trying to organize 70 unmotivated Middle School students into playing lunch games and dressing up. Every day students are a little more motivated. They especially enjoyed creating fun hairstyles with shaving cream. Today, I wore all of my kayaking gear for "sports day." Most of the Serbian students have never even heard of river kayaking, although they have seen sea kayakers in the local rivers.

The Roma in town have also been taking advantage of the spring cleaning. I was quite impressed that this man was able to transport a COUCH on his bicycle. I wonder if someone would make me a bike rack like his.

The exciting news here is that my brother is coming to visit next Wednesday. I can't wait to have a visitor!