Daily Archives: August 31, 2008

Family Journal: Sunday August 31, 2008

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We had a nice relaxing weekend. After the ISB Welcome BBQ we headed down to Dorcol suburb of Belgrade. This is a trendy area of bars, cafes, restaurants, and really expensive cars. We went down to an Italian restaurant and had a nice pizza with some Serbian red wine.

Sunday morning Owen and I went for a bike ride. I then took the kids to “Ada” the sport island and my current favorite place in Belgrade. Everyone went for a swim, we ate popcorn, ice cream, and the famous Serbian “palacinkes” which are crepes. We had the nutella with biscquit and I thought of Andy when we had them. The last time we were in the Caribbean Mall in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela and it was a flat crepe covered in a jar of nutella. This was the perfect crepe so I took a picture of Owen eating one. I have a food theme with Andy in this blog! It is sooo great to spend time with my children. Precious moments abounded this weekend. From watching Owen hoot with exhilaration as he is riding down a hill on his bike, to Ocean waking up, sitting in my lap with a bottle and caressing my arm as she drinks. Then to top it off, when she is done she turns around gives me the biggest hug and falls asleep in my arms. What an angel! Ollie was his positive crazy self and he drank eagerly from my wine glass. He talks with everyone and is always in a good mood. I am a lucky man.

 

Ollie Enjoys a Hot Dog at Ada Ciganlija

Ollie Enjoys a Hot Dog at Ada Ciganlija

 

 

Nadia survived her first week in the PYP. Despite her freaking out, she is doing great and will have an excellent year of teaching. She went to school this morning for a couple of hours of work.

We finished up the weekend by going over to my friend Tim’s house for pizza. He has two daughters that take care of Ocean and the boys, so it is so nice to go over and socialize with them.

Well, it is to bed and a fresh week ahead of us.

School Starts at ISB

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I have not been blogging much lately because our voltage reducer blew a fuse and I can’t recharge my camera batteries. It was also a busy and draining first week of classes. We decided to throw out the 10-day cycle, 7 period day a few days before classes began because it was unworkable. We switched to a 4-day cycle, 4-period day which incredibly worked out well. It makes for a less hectic day and the students have more electives.

It was an exhausting start of the year for Nadia and I because everything is brand new. It was also challenging for the boys to get up and walk to school with us. Yesterday the school held the welcome back BBQ which was a really nice day and today we finally have a chance to catch our breath.

Last week during the orientation, we took the all-staff photo in the garden of the high school. Nadia and I are together in the second row from the top, near the center on the right side. The secondary staff has 32 teachers and administrators that I am responsible for. The staff has been very helpful and supportive to me. There are a lot of good teachers here.

The students are more diverse and worldly from the students in my previous schools. There are 57 nationalities in the student body and they are from affluent and educated families and it reflects in their achievement.

I plan on blogging more often after I get my tech set up at home.

Owen likes his classmates although he is a little bored to be in kindergarten again. Oliver fell off the monkey bars the first day and kept running over the Mom’s classroom, but is now fully participating and enjoying his class. It was tough on Nadia to leave Ocean and I hope we can get a good balance with that.