Sawyer's Party

Sawyer had a great birthday party! Here are some more pictures from the party. Maya's mother hand knitted the teddy bear for Sawyer! Thank you to everyone that made his 3rd birthday very special!

View from Mt. Vodno

Here is the view from Mt. Vodno overlooking the city of Skopje. Skopje is in a wide long valley.

Eric hiked Mt. Vodno

Eric took a hike yesterday to the top of Mt. Vodno. There is a huge cross at the top of this mountain that we can see lit up at night from our flat. I wanted him to take the hike first so I could see how sore he was from it before deciding if I want to go:) Maybe I'll take the hike soon. Right now is a perfect time for hiking because it's not too hot or too cold, just right! Last night we had friends over to eat spaghetti and watch Andy Griffeth. It was really fun!

Chips!

Every Sunday we go to the mall food court to have lunch with friends. Sawyer and Karen both really enjoy Amigo's nacho chips! Sawyer starts asking for chips from the time we pull up in the parking lot!

This mall where we like to go and eat is very nice and modern. It has a movie theater, pharmacy, grocery store, ice cream shop, coffee shops, food court, and much more all located in the mall:)

Sawyer turns 3!

Sawyer's Party! A little over 20 people attended. Both Americans and Macedonians attended.

Evka & Blaze came to the party

Here are just a few pictures from Sawyer's party. He really liked his Thomas cake. I took a Thomas the Train book to the bakery to have it made:) Sawyer's favorite food at the party was not the cake or the ice cream...it was the popcorn! He is crazy about popcorn! We don't have a microwave so we make it on the stovetop and I think it tastes even better than microwave!

Eager for school

Sawyer has been very eager to go to school every day! We're so thankful for his enthusiasm! After he is dressed for school he likes to wait by the door to leave for school:) I hope this keeps up!

Presents for Jill

Here are two more birthday presents!

I am so excited to have a new bed!! It is incredibly comfortable! I know the color is a little different. In this style bed there were only two colors to choose from and this was the milder of the two:)

Jill's Birthday

Maya's mom made a beautiful hat for me! The other pictures are of Eric and I having a nice lunch together.

Magdonos or McDonalds?

A couple of interesting Macedonian language facts:

The word for parsley (Magdonos) sounds very close to McDonalds. I was trying to ask for some parsley at the market and due to my poor pronunciation the lady pointed me towards the center of town where the restaurant McDonalds is located. She asked me if I wanted a sandwich from there.:) I really was just trying to buy some parsley which I found in the end.

We learned today that a word pronounced "house" really means "chaos" in Macedonian! Hmmm, pretty funny:)

Some of you have asked how our language study is going. I feel like it is going really well considering the short time we have been here. We both are now meeting with Maya. She is very good at explaining the grammar to us. We meet with her for atleast 20 hours per week. She went with us this week to order our new bed (Yeah!) and to order Sawyer's Thomas the Train birthday cake. Since our Macedonian is still limited Maya is very helpful to go help us with errands that require much speaking.

Luna Park

I had a great birthday yesterday!! I appreciate all your love and thoughts on my birthday! It truly was a special day.

Here are some pictures from Luna Park. We went there with our landlords last Saturday.

Sept. 8 Independence Day

Sawyer did not have school today because it's a national holiday - Independence Day. Eric and I had class this morning and then our family enjoyed a nice quiet afternoon at home. There are concerts going on in the center of Skopje to celebrate Independence Day.

Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991. If you want to read more, here's an interesting website http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3410700140.html

Macedonia 1 - Scotland 0

There was a big futbol game here yesterday. Macedonia and Scotland were playing against each other. Macedonia won!! Eric was unsure which team he was pulling for because of his Scottish heritage:) This weekend, there have been many Scottish folk visiting Skopje for the game. We did not attend the game but it was fun to see all the men in kilts around town.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=233605&&cc=5739

Gradinka

Thank you all for asking about Sawyer's first week at school. It's going great! I think it has been more of an adjustment for Eric and I than Sawyer because the school is organized differently than schools back home. For example, the first day I was planning on picking Sawyer up after lunch but the teacher said he only needed to stay for 30 minutes the first day. Then the second day he could stay for 2 hours. Now he is up to 4 hours a day! The students are asked to bring their pajamas to change into for naptime:) So far he is not eating much of the school food but I hope that will change over time. His teachers are very nice, but they do not speak much English, so that is more of a motivation for me to improve in Macedonian (fast!).