Hi all,

I'm going to try to catch you up to speed - I'm going to start back on 

Sat. Dec. 22 - we were invited then allowed/given clearance to attend a Santa party in the morning (10 - 12) at the DCM's house (Deputy Chief of Mission - she's is "the #2" just under the ambassador).  Of course, it was was this cool old house with gorgeous woodwork, doors, etc.   And it was within walking distance (for Bosian standards - not suburban American standards), so we bundled up and made the trek.  She invites all the employees from the American embassy who have children.  We secretly sent in gifts for the kids ahead of time then Santa passed them out to the kids.  We got to meet the American ambassador and his family and lots of other incredibly interesting people who have served all over the world. 

When we got home, Heath and Arthur took all the kids to the zoo while Jen and I stayed here to start baking.  We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon, and Freddy had so much fun showing his cousins the monkeys!

Sun. Dec. 23 - All 7 of us drove out to Butmir base.  I was wrong before in stating all the troops have gone from here. EUFOR (EU Forces) troops are stationed here but truly play a very small role.  In fact the only time we have seen "soldiers" is on that base.  Heath has high security clearance so he is allowed to accompany visitors, but that is only because of his position.  Most embassy workers are allowed to go to the base but can not accompany any others.    But it was pretty cool in that they had to take our passports (not the girls) and do this whole processing business before we were handed our visitor badges - then we weren't allowed to be anywhere without Heath - and needless to say we couldn't take any pictures.  The base was not that foreign feeling to Arthur, for obvious reasons, but he, as were all of us, found it interesting that that were PXs for many European countries - Italy, Germany, England, Bulgaria, etc.

Anyway, we  ate at Burger King, yes, Burger King - the single ONLY American food joint in all of Sarajevo!  Then we shopped at the tiny (just bigger than a 7-11) PX - it was full of Cheetos, Totonios pizza, and random other American junk food.   That evening Jen and I went out to Mercator again to finish up our holiday feast shopping.  It is soooo funny how much people  smoke - literally everywhere all the time.  We're convinced we've got black lung just from our short time here! 

Mon. Dec. 24 - Heath, Arthur and I had to do a few errands, so we left Jen with the kids and we drove to the American embassy. We didn't go inside, but we parked there as it was close to some of the things we had to do. It was cool seeing all the security measures in place, especially how they determine a car's access.  We drove through one solid gate, the door went down, yet there was still another gate closed in front of us - so we were in a little holding area.  The security guard did the mirror thing under the car around the whole perimeter, then he took a little wipe of some sort and touche each door handle, the trunk, and the hood and then he put the wipe into a machine to detect for explosive residue.  Finally he checked under the hood.  When we finally got clearance, the barred gate rolled back and a delta barrier went down to allow us through.  I thought the whole thing was just cool.  But I am experience girl!  

Then the 3 of us went to a "flea market" of sorts called the green market - you can buy just about anything.  

We stopped for cappuccino at  relatively low-smoke cafe.  It's been great to go out with Jen and/or Heath because they just teach us so much.  But Heath was saying there was 1 (ONE) - Jen has pointed out to us - place in Sarajevo that has  togo cups for coffee.  It is just a custom to go in, sit down, and enjoy a cup of coffee at least a few times a day - and we're not talking $6 Starbucks coffee, just your basic coffee/cappuccino for $1 - $2.  People are just not  "on the go" people.  They also don't eat food on the go.  It's actually quite refreshing (minus the constant smoke you inhale).  Of course, had another yummy lunch then headed home.

As I had mentioned to some of you, we were invited (along with many other embassy people, of course) to the Ambassador's house for a Christmas caroling that afternoon, early evening.  The residence of the American ambassador is a 7 story building (including underground parking) that is very modern/sleek/Scadinavian in design.  They had a neat 20 foot tree in the main room with all their own ornaments from home and a grand piano.  They remembered all our names, including the girls - I guess that's part of their job, huh?  They had a staff that took our coats, shoes, etc and that continuously served snacks.  Then we got our caroling book, and literally sang Christmas carols!  It was really fun!  As we were leaving the kids all got lollipops, so I asked Emma where she got it and she said "Oh, Patty gave it to me." (Patty is the ambassador's wife!).

We didn't do our traditional dinner for Christmas Eve due to the other event, but we did have a nice dinner at home, then the kids opened their tradtional matching jammies from Grandma - and this year Freddy was included!  They all looked adorable.

I'll finish catching in the next post.  

love you all!!!

peace,

m