Moussaka!

We had Moussaka today! Some of you may have heard of this food from the movie - My Big Fat Greek Wedding:) It was very tasty to me but it's not going to be one of Eric and Sawyer's favorites.

Precious Children

Today I attended a clinic. This clinic was set up to help refugee children from Kosovo be able to start attending school here in Macedonia. It's a two day event. I attended today and Eric will attend tomorrow. The purpose for us attending is to practice our Macedonian. Today about 40 children were seen and tomorrow about 50 are suppose to be seen.

Fun with Friends

Here's a few pictures from Saturday. We had this family over for dinner. Sawyer and their daughter played in the pool.

Stuffed Peppers and Tomatoes

Evka and Blaze came over last Saturday to spend time with us. They are our landlords. They have been very kind to us, especially to add an AC unit in the living room and a washing machine in the bathroom:) They have been helping us to learn more about the Macedonian culture. They are both retired teachers.
First they took us to the green market to help us select the best meats and vegetables. When we got back to the house, Evka and I started cooking. She showed me how to cook the onions, meat, Vegeta seasoning, and parsley together. This mixture is what I used to stuff the tomatoes and peppers. Honestly I did not expect to enjoy this meal but it turned out really delicious! Actually I'm going to try to cook this same (by myself- without Evka's help) this Saturday for guests. :) Hopefully it will turn out just as good!



http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/ethnic-recipes/greek/greek-stuffed-peppers.htm

My language tutor Maya

Here's a picture of my language tutor, Maya. She and I meet Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. She is very patient with me as I struggle with learning Macedonian. She also takes me on cultural field trips to teach me about Skopje and how to do things here. Monday she will be taking me to the post office to teach me how to buy stamps and she will also go to the Gradinka (Sawyer's school) to translate for me to register Sawyer. His class starts Sept. 1st. So, she is a big big help! I am thankful to be blessed with a tutor and friend like her! Eric has also found a great tutor! His name is Traiche. They meet in a park several times a week.

A Taste from Home

To my delight I found some okra in the grocery store this week! I had been telling Eric that I wanted some kind of home cooking from home. So I fried me up some okra last night and had a yummy taste from home. I'm about to take some to Maya to see if she wants to try it:)

Berlingo!

Eric says that driving here is very challenging! I, Jill, have not even been brave enough to try yet! Here's pictures of the Berlingo that we will be driving some.

A Piece of Cake

I wish I could say that cooking here is "a piece of cake" but it is still very challenging for me. Therefore, I chose to buy this cake instead of attempting to make it myself:) I took it to an American potluck gathering.

Shopska Salad

I made my first Shopska Salad! This is a very popular salad here. At first it seems like an odd salad because it has no lettuce but it's really good. I've never been much of a cucumber fan but in this mixture it is nice. If you want to make your own Shopska salad check out this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopska_salad

If you're wondering about those small posters hanging on my kitchen cabinets...those are my Macedonian verbs I'm working on memorizing. Our kitchen is going to be full of little posters until I can speak Macedonian!

sladoled! (ice cream)

We are enjoying ice cream on these hot days. Sawyer is very determined in these days to hold his ice cream cone until he has finished the whole thing! He does NOT want help! So, as you can see from this picture, the best place to eat ice cream is outside because he is very messy:)

Gas Prices

Several of you have asked me how much gas costs here. They sell it by the liter here and the price is equivalent to about $7/gallon!