Wednesday, September 1st

I feel like an update is overdue yet I don't have a whole lot to update on. I spent this past weekend like a regular weekend you would have with or without a European empire outside your door haha.

Friday we went out for dinner with a family from work - it was an 'international' restaurant, which means they just group the food by countries for you. I have been very adamant about trying Serbian food so I didn't even seriously consider other countries' choices haha. I had been working in the plant all day and it was around 35 outside so I was still in the process of trying to cool my body down to just a mild sweat instead of the pouring that had occurred all day. So I knew I wasn't going to eat much and I probably couldn't handle anything that would challenge my gag reflex. The resulting choice: Serbian boiled chicken and vegetables. Well the Serbian part was the portion size - a mixing bowl served over a hot flame, otherwise it was just a different version of Mom's chicken stew. I was mildly disappointed with my lack of an 'adventurous' choice but in reality the 'comfort' food was a nice change for a night and probably all I could handle. All in all a good night and another successful restaurant choice - there is no lack of options thats for-sure.

Sunday we just hung out and walked around Belgrade. One of great past-times that I haven't quite mastered is the 4-hour- café-sit. Most of the time when we go out to eat we are typically the only ones in the place actually eating. Meanwhile everyone will be drinking coffee or beer and/or smoking cigarettes - I mean each their own, but it may take me a while to enjoy such a past time - I'll sick to eating for now haha. It's weird to think that hour long walks through the streets of a city lined with cafes, single buildings more rich in history than my entire country and family customs so foreign to me, is starting to feel normal.

Meanwhile work is starting to fall into routine, which is a welcome feeling. About this time for the past 18 years I would be gearing up for the daily regime of school and activities, so it's nice to have a little bit of that feel towards my day. Don't get me wrong I'm loving the fact that I can come home and don't have to study or go to the next activity on the colour coded calendar but we are creatures of habit and it's nice to know somethings can always feel be the same.

The actual work I'm doing is mostly on the project management side - so just learning all the little details that need to be done for big scale engineering projects (price tags are in the million range). Small tasks and forgotten formalities are my calling at the moment haha, which on the bright-side is an easy way to not feel over whelmed by the fact I don't know half of what is going on, it's a pretty good learning environment and I feel I get to contribute. That vaguely sounds like the role the younger sibling gets that doesn't really mean anything …hmmm …haha … I do the little stuff that the important guys don't really like doing - so everyone is happy really. And apparently because I'm from generation Y, means I don't respect my elders well enough, I'm too sarcastic and not respectful. Meanwhile they seem to get a good laugh out of it … I can't help that it's way too easy to poke fun at some of the things that are said 'by-accident' because of the language differences. I'm the only female in the office, there is one Serbian guy who is just starting to learn english, one Serbian guy who went to university so knows his english from an academic perspective, another Serbian who lived in Canada for 10 years but is originally from Czech Republic, an Italian-Serbian who has just learned english through necessity of the industry and my Dad who has learned all of 15 words of Serbian over the past 3 years … need I say more. I'm not knocking my Dad in anyway he has made it work. My goal of learning a word a day is often a challenge in the fact that I can't even physically make the sounds with my mouth, resulting in a 'hooked-on-phonics' lesson, which usually results in me laughing yet again. Conclusion, I would bet that these guys think I'm crazy or on drugs haha.

But on a serious note, they have been very welcoming to me in the office and not made me feel like a hassle or than I'm an inconvenience. I am hoping with time the traditional female treatment (nor good or bad) changes a bit towards me on a professional level. After spending a few day in the steel plant I have come to the conclusion that I will always get stared at and looked at with the expression of "is this girl on a field trip for school?" from most of the workers, but I hope to change the guys' I work with perspectives that I'm not completely useless in the field and can help when needed. So I'm trying to find the balance between knowing when to step up and offer my help and to know my place when I know nothing about the situation haha.

Anyways that was a long-winded update. I have some pictures of me in my safety gear for everyone to laugh at. Talk soon.

"If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American" AO

- Truthful thought of most Europeans ... can you blame them? haha

Mich