Things in motion

Things in motion stay in motion...and boy is the ball rolling. Everything has started moving and I am so excited to see what I am going to be doing over the next eight of months. I've had several meetings with my colleagues as the department of philology, the staff at the American Corner and the Embassy. I now know what I am going to be doing, but I am still trying to figure out how I'm going to be doing it. buildings downtown

I have one course that I will be teaching at the University, Essay and Conversation, which entails teaching writing, conversation and dictation. I have around 190 third year students that are split into six groups. I see each group once a week for a 90 minute class. I sat in on some oral exams today, and it was very inspiring. I will tell you more about it in a later blog.

Then I will also be teaching several courses at the American Corner: conversation for high schoolers, conversation for elementary students, idioms and slang, play acting for kids and story hour. I want to offer something for elementary and secondary English teachers, but I might have to do that in their classroom. The American Corner is just too busy. street signs

Besides the American Corner in Belgrade, there are six others throughout Serbia that I will be going to and speaking at as an additional resource. It will be a great way to see other parts of Serbia and meet more people. I hope to be doing this on Mondays. After all the papers that I think I will be checking, I might have bit off more than I can chew....but I love to be busy so maybe it will be just the right amount.

And from a technological point of view, I have come to terms with my hardware and software. I realized that I have to look at technology like learning a new language; you need to practice it to learn it. I want to do all of these great things for my class and for you guys, but I don't want to actually do it myself because I don't know how to. So after sitting in my wicker lounge chair with my computer on my lap for 6 hours every night this last week, I feel like I am half way to where I want to be. Good thing I have another week to reach my goal. I guess the best motivators for me are time constraints and wanting to make my life and my students' lives better by having some coursework on the Internet. That, and one shouldn't let technology get too far ahead of them, especially in my profession. English is an international language, so I should be familiar with the tools that are available to me to make it more international in my classroom. park

It will be a whirlwind year and I can't wait! I'll keep you all informed, unless I am so busy that I'm too tired to post any information. You might get some one-liners that state, "I'm still alive" just so you don't panic. outdoor cafe

With my new attitude towards technology, here are some pictures that I have taken of downtown Belgrade. I hope you enjoy them. I will take more to post later. Belgrade is a small and lovely European city where people wear what they want, talk on cellphones, window shop, sit at street cafes and live their lives.

Below are some pictures of some downtown architecture that I love to look at when I am walking from here to there. The first picture, the glass building, is the newly remodeled theater which is playing Les Miserables in October. The sign is an example of the street signs that are posted on the sides of buildings....makes it a little hard to navigate around without asking for help.

I'm connected!

Right now, I am lounging in my dining room typing this post. Today my Internet was hooked up. When I was talking to the computer guy on the phone, he asked if it had taken a long time for my service to get hooked up. I of course said "Yes, around 8 days" and he said, "Oh. That isn't long at all. Some people have to wait months." I should count my blessings that I wasn't one of those. We Americans don't really appreciate our customer service. I have been realizing this over the past several years.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Head of the English Department at the University to go over my schedule. I can hardly wait! After that I have lunch with the public relations officer from the Embassy and then I have a meeting at the American Corner to discuss my classes I will be teaching there. It sounds fancier than it really is. What it basically means is that my work is starting. Finally my creative talents have a focus.

Well I have lots more to say, but not enough time to say it. Working with this new computer set up is driving me crazy. Here are some pictures I took when I was out over the weekend. I hope you enjoy them and there is more to come.

AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh! I just waited for one hour for these pictures to upload and now they are gone. Sometimes technology is a thorn in my side. I will try again tomorrow. Sorry everyone.

3-on-3

Since Friday, I have been fighting off a small cold which I feel I got because of the change in the weather, the jet lag and pollution in the big city air. I don't think the pollution is that bad compared to some of the cities I have visited, but there are no emissions standards yet in Serbia, so there is lots of room for improvement.

On Saturday, I decided to get out and get some air and exercise. To my surprise, they had shut down one of the major streets in the city. There was a 3-on-3 basketball tournament going on. It was a lot like the Gus Macker that's held in Wausau, but this was more spread out throughout a mile of street. It was nice to just walk down the middle of what is usually a very busy street. Kids were riding bikes, some were roller blading, people had balloons and eating popcorn. It was very pleasant and festive. It was also sponsored by a humanitarian organization, which I also thought was great. They had large speakers at the courts and were blasting R&B or hip hop music during time outs. The weather was perfect for the event. I managed to take some pictures before my battery died, so I am now armed with a recharged battery and hope to set out and take more pictures today.

There is one more week before university courses start. I am preparing as much as I can, but don't have enough information on my courses yet to really dig in. It is frustrating, but I was warned that this may be the case of how things work here. I am flexible and will work with it. At least I have a lot of time to settle in and explore.

Hopefully my Internet will be up and running on Monday. It will be nice to work at home and be able to call people. There isn't much else to say currently. I appreciate all your emails and comments on the site. It is good to see that people are dropping in. Like I said in a previous post, after I get the Internet in my apartment, I will put some of my pictures in the blog.

Stay healthy in the changing season and Happy First Day of Autumn!

Interesting Answer

Today I spent 7 hours interviewing 10 professors and associate professors for a junior development program that the State Department hosts every year. College teachers from all over the world apply and if selected, will get to teach and learn along side professors at US universities. The ultimate goal of the program is to let professors here see how professors in the US write curriculum, assess and evaluate student needs and work/relate with them. Eastern Europe (and a lot of other countries) use the old school method of teaching...teacher speak, student listen. Getting to the point, today I learned several new things:

When asked, 'Why you are applying for this program': "Well, I got my PhD so the next step is to go abroad." ....(just to let you know, not a good answer.)

When asked, 'Do you have an evaluation form for your students to fill out at the end of the semester so the students can give you feedback?': "Why would I do that? They don't have anything positive to say."

And my ULTIMATE favorite....When asked, 'What are the characteristics of a good teacher?": "Well first of all, they have to have children."

Needless to say, today I practiced my neutral political face and the 'smile and nod' move. We all laughed at the whole thing in the end. I look forward to more exciting comments tomorrow when we interview 9 more candidates.

Grocery Shopping

One of the greatest adventures when moving abroad is going to the local store and buying food. Not just chips and soda, but food food. The kind you need to live on and not clog your arteries. I went to the store and thought I bought some milk, salt, butter and some peaches. After pouring a rather heavy creamed milk over my breakfast cereal, this would be the yogurt drink, I realized that what I actuality bought was yogurt drink, baking soda and some type of seasoned spread. The peaches, obviously, were peaches. I just had to laugh and learn from it. It happens in every country I live in.


I want to challenge you, the next time you go to the grocery store, to actually look at the packaging that your food comes in. If you couldn't read the words, how would you know what you are buying. Thankfully most products have pictures.

I have since learned that mleko means milk and voda means water. The first day I was here, I was going to buy a bottle of voda from a street vendor, but I hesitated because I thought it might be vodka. Thankfully one of the other bottle of voda said 'sparkling spring water' on it in English. For a moment, I thought Serbia was a little loose with its drinking laws.

Getting Internet in my apartment in 5-10 days. Hoping to put up pictures at that time. Stay tuned!

All in a first days survival

Again I have positioned myself to be the outsider. After a five hour walking tour while in a jet lagged state, I assured my landlady that I was confident enough to walk to my new apartment on my own. I just kept repeating her words, "Go straight and turn right." I could do this. There was enough light in the sky and I had over 4000 Dinars in my pocket...I had 95% confidence in my navigational skills.

I walked straight for a while. Probably too straight. I realized I was in an area that we hadn't walked through before. My heart rate increased. The sky was a little darker than before. Confidence level: 80%

I retrace my steps. I note stores that I saw earlier. Where was I going wrong? I showed a newspaper kiosk lady my police registration with my address on it. She came out of her booth and spoke in Serbian while gesturing down a road and then at some point turning left. I thanked her and noticed that I still haven't lost my Asian bow. She just looked at me funny...or maybe sympathetically. Confidence level: 50%

I walked in some circles and then ventured down a road. After a block, the area looked like something I had seen before. I continued down the road. Once I saw the market on the corner of my block, I heaved a big sigh, said a small prayer of thanks and gave myself a small pat on the back for making it through the first day. Confidence level: 95%