Car shopping tomorrow

Tomorrow (Weds) I'm driving a few hours north with a Bosnian friend to look at a car we hope to buy. It's an Opel Astra station wagon, and looks perfect for the three of us, and/or for a carload of students driving to a conference. It's been hard to find one that has the right engine and specs like we are searching for, so we really hope this is the one.

Please pray for it to be in good shape, for the dealer to be a man of integrity, and (if we decide to get it) for minimal delays and hurdles dealing with registration!

Deron:1, the system:1

Tonight I beat the system. Well, I evened the score anyway. This was Garry Kasparov versus Deep Blue. This was Sarah Connor versus the Terminator (the first time). Or better, John Connor versus Skynet. This was...

...this was me versus the fuse panel.

You might remember this embarrassing debacle from just after we arrived in Bosnia, more than a year ago. That day the system beat me. The score was 1:0.

Fast forward. Back in November I had to take some outlet covers off while we were painting our bedroom. When I reconnected them, a shower of sparks flew and two outlets stopped working. I thought the problem was in the outlet cover, so I took one from the guest bedroom and tried it in ours. No luck. When I replaced it in the guest room, that one showered me with sparks and now four more outlets stopped working.

I tried pulling some random fuses out of the panel (few were marked) to try to find a blown one, but more spark showers there caused me to re-think this. Instead we went without those 6 outlets for a month before leaving for America, planning to call an electrician when we returned.

Maybe it was the time out-of-country that bolstered my confidence. For whatever reason, today I bought two new fuses and decided to give it one more go with the panel, hoping the problem might be that simple and not something deep in the wall. Could save a few bucks, and what's the worst that could happen...electrocute myself? Pshaw. Already done that 5 times in Bosnia (seriously). But that's another story.

What followed was 45min--starting at 11pm mind you--of plugging lamps into all the dead outlets and then pulling and switching every fuse I could try, watching for light. Bottom line: I found the dead ones, switched them out, labeled the fuses, and now we have bedside lamps, outlets in the kitchen, and other modern technical wonders once again.

They say technology is taking over. I say once in a while you have to remind it who's boss. The score is now Deron:1, the system:1.

...I think I need to get some sleep.

Why it's nice...

...to have a second pair of jeans, second pair of longjohns, second pair of socks, second warm coat, and second sweater:

It's freezing here...like seriously cold, and snowing like crazy. I get ready to go out to coffee with students: bundle up in longjohns, jeans, thick socks, sweater, jacket, boots, gloves, cap, and boots. Ready.

2 hours later I return home smelling like smoke from the cafe. Clothes are burning my nose. Time to change everything. Clean longjohns, jeans, socks, sweater, etc...

Thanks to all of you who support us and make it possible to have backups! :)



*no mom, it's not like this every day.

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Baseball player leaves the sport to become a priest

Check this great, short article out.

My favorite part is this quote:

"Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. It took awhile to trust that and open up to it and aim full steam toward him ... I love the game, but I'm going to aspire to higher things."

This guy has his priorities straight. The lure of pro sports, offering fame and a lot of money for playing a game you love, is a strong draw indeed. But he understands that the believer's heart won't be at rest until it's submitted to God's call. Outside of his plan, even good things in life aren't satisfying.

What about you...are you doing what God is calling you to?

Back and re-adjusting

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, friends. While we were in the States we were focused on time with family and thus staying far from the computer, and since we returned I (Deron) have been down with a nasty cold. More coming your way as we get back into normal life.

Suffice to say that it is great to be back in Bosnia! We are thankful to say that we really missed life here, and were very excited to return to our apartment and friends. There's a fresh layer of snow on the ground outside, and it's beautiful. One of our prayers as we got ready to go to the USA was that we would be sick of it by the end of the visit and thus coming back to Bosnia would feel fresh and be anticipated. Thanks Lord--though we certainly weren't sick of our families, we were very ready to return here.

Now we're overcoming jet lag, healing from sickness, and moving through a large pile of mail and to-do items. EUS is getting into full swing soon, and it's time to prepare for the next round of English classes and staff training. And more personally, our baby is coming in less than 2 months! Ok, time to get ready for today's Bosnian class. More soon...

Benefits of a secret language

Remember when you were a little kid, and you'd speak in a secret pig latin or gibberish with your little brother or sister so that your parents wouldn't know what you were saying? It's good to know a secret language.

Along the same lines, we've discovered that while traveling it's pretty handy to know Bosnian. While our language is spoken all over the Balkans, as soon as you set foot outside of there people have little idea what you're saying.

This has become our way to have private conversations in any setting. When in public places, I'm kind of paranoid about people listening in to my conversations. Secret or not, I just don't like it. I know when I'm in a quiet cafe, I can't help but follow along with someone else's words. On the way to the USA, we were sitting in a coffee shop in Vienna airport surrounded by other customers. No prob...we talked for an hour in Bosnian and no one gave us any notice. When gift-shopping in another country and bargaining with the seller, we could stall and discuss our final price without him listening in.

And now, visiting our families, we can switch languages when we want to talk about a family member who's sitting in the room with us. Just kidding, mom and dad. :)

English language: so hot right now

We've often said that there's no substitute for knowing the native tongue of a country, and for that reason we're pouring ourselves into learning Bosnian. But it's remarkable how deeply engrained the English language is in many non-English speaking countries. It truly is the global language.

Just a couple of examples:

In Bosnian, there are many verbs that are merely the English word with a standard Bosnian verb ending pasted on the end: testirati (test), fotokopirati (photocopy).

Other words, like "training" have a Bosnian analog, but the English words are so widely used here that I can't even remember the Bosnian version right now (Don't tell our language teacher).

Still others, like retreat, have no Bosnian analog and are only used by a small subculture (like the evangelical church!) so the English word is always used.

Lastly, "stop" signs here use the word stop (not the Bosnian word) and look exactly like in America.

The other day, I noticed that Frankfurt airport's logo is the word "Fraport," obviously a playoff of Frankfurt Airport. But the German word for airport is flughafen, not even close to airport. I guess if you want your company to be truly international, you need to adapt the most-used language even into your name.

I'm not getting at anything in particular, but I can think of at least two implications of English's dominance:

First, an (albeit small-scale) loss of culture. Many young Bosnians have seen so many billboards and publications mixing English words with their own their whole life that they can't recognize when one language ends and the other begins. Over time, this contributes to grammar mistakes and general confusion.

Second, I am reminded what a blessing it is that English is my first language. It's one more area in which I hold privilege. When I travel, I can assume that signs will be available giving directions and important information in my language. Same for web pages. The people I talk to in restaurants, official offices, and on the street will probably know enough of my language to help me. And I can always find at least one TV channel that I understand.

It could be different: Imagine if wherever you went, information was available in the local language plus Hungarian.
Nem kell ilyen módon: Képzeld el, ha bárhol is járt, információ állt rendelkezésre a helyi nyelven, plusz magyar.

That's the last sentence, translated. We are lucky, friends.