One Week

So much happens every single day that I know I miss a lot of details.  Before I update you on Hannah, I'm going to talk a little bit about how we are living here in Belgrade.  I want to remember the day to day things we did here. 

Belgrade is a big city with a lot of buses, cable car buses, taxis, cars and pedestrians.  The driving is crazy.  Everybody has smaller cars because the streets are very narrow and you park your car on the sidewalk.  There appears to be few rules for driving, so drive where you want to go, merge or let merge when you want, honk a lot, especially if someone is in your way or if they aren't going fast enough for you.  It's not road rage, though, like in the states, it's just telling someone to move.  We walk almost everywhere (so I had better see some scale numbers drop!) and usually take a taxi to the orphanage so we can get there faster.  We found a taxi driver we really like named Bena (Benny).  He speaks English very well, he is a safe driver and he doesn't smoke - yay! 

Shopping is different.  There is not a big Walmart every few miles.  There are small, small markets everywhere.  Did I mention they are small?  There is not even room to pass someone in the aisle.  There is a very small one directly across the street from our apartment and a slightly larger one down one block.  There are no giant sized packages of anything.  Milk comes in a 1 liter carton.  Anyone who knows how much John and Alexander love milk, knows we buy milk about every other day.  So if you go into Walmart you have the bread aisle, right?  How many different kinds of bread are there?  Bread here comes in very small loaves and you're lucky if you have 2 kinds to choose from, otherwise you just take what is there.  Eggs are brown and Alexander says they're brown because the chickens here lay their eggs earlier than the chickens in America lay there eggs.  He has an answer for everything.  One of our favorite treats here is peach juice.  It's amazingly good and we need to know who to bug in America to start making this stuff.  In the market are only groceries.  If you need soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.  you have to go to the apoteka. The closest thing we've found to a Walmart is the outdoor market.  We bought some really good fruit, vegetables, cashews and craisins.  But there was also fish, meats, cheeses, sundry items, clothes, sweets, plumbing parts, batteries, anything you can think of.

We live in a very modern apartment inside a nice building.  We haven't seen any single family homes.  I'm sure maybe on the outskirts of the city, but in the city it is just apartment building after apartment building.  We are one block away from Temple Square.  St. Sava Temple Square, that is.  It is a huge, beautiful cathedral that is currently being renovated.  We happened upon some sort of veneration service Sunday evening when we were walking home from the orphanage.  There were 2 Serbian Orthodox priests that were drawing a lot of attention from the crowd - people rushing to try and touch them.  It would have not seemed such a big deal had we not been right on their path towards the door.  We had little, old Serbian women practically trampling us to reach them, and we were trying to move as quickly as we could the other way.

Well, that's enough for tonight.  It's after midnight and I need to go to bed soon.  Without a lot of details, things with Hannah are going very well.  She loves me and wants my undivided attention, which may be another reason she's not so fond of John and Alexander, who knows.  She did allow John to feed her some bread at lunch time and take her out of a stroller.  She's trying to be so brave, but she can only take so much.  Tonight we went to a room that is on another floor of the orphanage and is set up for family interactions.  There are a lot of toys and bean bags, toys and books.  John and Alexander played a lot inside the room and Hannah led me out of the room - she actually wanted to go back down to her floor, but we stayed.  She wanted to sit outside the room and watch J & A from a distance.  She sat on my lap and we played a lot.  She smiled and laughed and had a fun time.  I was able to feed her dinner and she has come to learn that we leave after she eats dinner, so she starts crying.  Tonight we put her in her crib and got her ready for bed, and that seemed to help her not be so upset.  Me, on the other hand, not so much.  I would have slept on the floor next to her if they would have let me.

I keep thinking that it's only been a week since we have met Hannah and she has met us.  In that week, this little 2-year old girl has had her world invaded by strangers and been asked to change almost everything she has known in her reality.  What have you done this past week that has scared you?  Is it as hard as what Hannah has done?  I didn't think so.  Her life will continue to be turned upside down in the following days and weeks. Every time I think it's hard for me, I remember how much harder it is for Hannah.  What a strong, brave, wonderful, funny, stubborn, loving child of God.  She is my example and I love her so much!

And a little child shall lead them....Isaiah 11:6; 2 Nephi 21:6