This will likely be my last post from this side of the Atlantic

We had a very nice, busy weekend. Friday night was an early Christmas party. Met with many people dh works with, had a lovely turkey dinner and said many good-byes.

One Saturday, dh and I were downtown. We were doing a little shopping. As we left the one store, we saw someone we’d spent a lot of time talking with the previous evening. He was very distressed that there wouldn’t be time to get together again before the children and I leave. This fellow was very encouraging of us coming back. He is a local man who works as an interepreter here.

Dh and I then went to have a drink on our own. The fellow we’d just been talking with was meeting a friend at that point, so he didn’t join us. As we left the side of the restaurant we’d been in, we looked across the the bar side and saw a couple of men who’d also been with us the previous evening. They invited us to join them for a beer, which we did. Our daughters had spent a good part of the previous evening entertaining and being entertained by one of these fellows in one corner of the party room. (Honestly, I’d been a little concerned that they may have been monopolizing the time of this obviously accommodating man!) They shared stories of Canada, card tricks, jokes.

As dh and I shared a beer with this man, he told us what a lovely time he’d had with the kids and how polite, and funny etc…that they were. Email addresses had been exchanged and he was determined to stay in touch with all of us. He asked if he could see us before we left…

Gosh it’s nice to hear good reports of one’s children!

We dashed out, as we were planning to attend Mass on the Base at 5pm. We did make it, although dh didn’t really hear any of Mass, as he’d been out tending our suddenly inconsolable baby.

After Mass, we again joined Father for tea, along with a couple of British fellows who were also posted to the base. We had a great chat and realized we’d see each other again at 11am Mass in Budzak. I was bringing the younger two children for St. Nicholas Day celebrations, the one British fellow was accompanying some comrades who couldn’t attend the evening Mass.

Well, on Sunday morning, it was standing room only at the Budzak chapel. There were several English from the Base, and many children there because of the party.

After Mass, Father corralled us anglos up to the meeting room for coffee, telling us it would be too crowded downstairs, where we normally meet after Mass.

We ended up staying until 2pm. We had a great visit with the British people and Father. The children were both introduced to St. Nicholas and Black Peter and given a grocery-bag full of treats! Airplane snacks!
It was nice discussing impressions of the area with other ‘outsiders’ who were in various stages of their stays here. It was also nice to be able to share with them some of what I’d learned in my time here. None of them are living ‘on the economy’ as we’ve been doing.

They gave us a ride home, which meant we showed up in front of our apartment in a ‘EUFOR’ van, which could be some cause for concern for our landlord if their affiliations are anything less than honourable…it kind of shows that we’re ‘connected’ or something.

From there, we soon left again to visit and say good bye to our Serbian tutor and her family. We shared coffee, rakija and a delicious cake made by our tutor’s mother with them. The evening was very enjoyable, but brought to an end by the requirement for us to return the car borrowed from the base.

All in all, I’d say it was a great set of memories with which to make our departure! I hope our trip is smooth, so as not to dispel the good feelings!

I will arrive back home with mixed feelings. It will be nice to see our two older children again. It will be nice to see our friends, too. But dh will be here for Christmas. And it will be another 6 months at least before we see him again.

So, until next time…

Mir Vama!