Winter Has Fallen

    Alright, so I guess it's time I announce the bad news.

    I officially lost my camera. It fell out of my bag somewhere between the tram, the French School for the Diplomatic Winter Bazaar, and going to school. That's a lot of ground to cover and not necessarily worth it. That camera was very old, so I suppose that's some sort of consolation. The downside is that I have to purchase my new camera and camera's are quite expensive here. Here goes the next month and half's stipend...

    In other news, on Saturday we volunteered for the Diplomatic Winter Bazaar (Dimplomatski Zimski Bazar) and that was great, but crowded, afternoon full of eating other nations foods (Switzerland, your gingerbread house looked INCREDIBLE) and viewing handmade trinkets and gifts. It was nice to see Christmas trees sprawled all around the building and it made me very, very excited. I'm even more excited that it snowed last night and Sarajevo is now a winter wonderland. It made me laugh though when I walked downstairs for breakfast and Nizama was staring outside intently.
     "Dobro jutro." I said, sitting down with my cereal.
     "Vidi, Katie. Snijeg." ("Look Katie. Snow.") She pointed outside, to the world covered in white.
     "Da! Znam!" ("Yes! I know!") I spoke, cheerily. I love snow. This day was awesome!
     "Ja ne volim snijeg." Nizama made a pouty face as she told me how she dislikes it. Seems like it's only Anna and I who appreciate snow... oh well.
    To top off another day of snow, Emma, Savannah, Anna, and I had a mini snowball fight in the street. It's sticky snow! You know what that means? Best. Snowballs. Ever.

     As for now, Christmas cards are sent and I'm going to be buying a mini Christmas tree or wreath soon and some Christmas lights to make my room a little more spirited. Irfan doesn't understand my love of Christmas, so I'm blasting some Christmas music right now to get him to understand. We'll see how that goes...

    Here are some pictures that I stole from my friend for what Sarajevo looks like right now. Winter in Bosnia!

    Also, today on the bus, an older lady sat beside me and had to squeeze some of her shopping bags between the two of us and she made sure that I was still comfortable and asked when my stop was. At first, unfortunately, I didn't understand her, but asked her to repeat. However, after still not understanding I had to regretfully bring out the horrible, "I'm sorry, I don't understand. I'm American" line (Izvinite, ne razumijem. Ja sam amerikanka if anyone was wondering). Instead of giving me the pitiful look and turning away, she simply spoke slower and clearer and used a few more actions to help me understand. So, lady on the bus, thank you for that. You didn't make me feel as incompetent as I think I am sometimes.

    I've also been regularly attending church (be proud, parents. Somehow I'm able to drag myself out of bed to go there on my own). Church has been fantastic for me because there's a little American corner with a whole other group of Americans who either moved there or this is their mission field. While most people would think that this would prevent me from learning Bosnian, I'm happy to say that you are wrong. The Americans there are some of the most helpful people and instead of coming up to me in English, they come up to me with some basic Bosnian and each week it's increased a little more. Plus, my friend and I had a small conversation entirely in Bosnian of why I love snow. Small successes each week!

    Anyway, I better go start my French homework... or my History paper... or my Bio write up... or something productive in general. Gotta love homework. *coughNOTcough*

    Until more Christmas things,
-Katie