In
August 2006 I went out to Montenegro with a group of Christians
from Warwick University Christian Union to work with a church there for
3 weeks. We went to encourage the believers and help them in
their work in
Nikšić,
including helping in the completion of a new building for the Pastor
and his family, to be used as an English language and
Christian
resource centre as well as accommodation for future mission teams.
This is a video I put together on returning - bear in mind it's the
first time I've tried this, so forgive the amateurishness, but I think
it gives a good overview of what our stay was like: Crna Gora (30Mb wmv) Or
a smaller
version (5Mb wmv)
Colin followed suit with his own style of movie. I hope you
enjoy it as much as I did: Montenegro
(2.2Mb wmv)
Following is a log of our activities over the three weeks:
Fundraising Before leaving we had to raise
money to pay for all
the feeding and TLC we hoped to receive once we arrived at the hands of
Pastor Staniśa and his
family. Much of the €750
we each had to raise came from our local churches. Queen's
Road
Baptist Church, in Coventry, which Colin, Andy and I attend, was very
generous, and I was also granted £150 from the Catenian
Association through my Catholic Church back home (see here for the subsequent report). To make up
the
full amount, Colin and I undertook a sponsored hitch-hike
to Scotland, a trip of 300 miles. Diary (Apologies
for bad spellings. I try - I really do. Let me know and
I'll get them changed!)
Monday 7th
Our flight was due to leave at 6:30am, so I was dropped off in Heathrow
the night before and soon discovered Adam, settled down for a 7 hour
wait, with a bag full of dirty washing as a result of coming direct
from a camp to the airport. We dozed and chatted till 4, when
we
met up with Andy, Lucy and Jen who had come down from Sheffield
together, then Colin came along and the party was complete (in both
senses of the word).
Flights are always fun - I had never been on a jet before, and I
couldn't catch up on sleep with those fantastic cloud-scapes
just outside the window. I love the impression you get of a
country from the air (note the assumed air of a seasoned traveller),
and you can see where Montenegro (or Crna Gora, both of which mean
Black Mountain) gets its name. The houses and farms looked
somehow different, and the
rivers looked gorgeous.
When we arrived we were greeted by Maša
(pronounced Marsha) and Filip
(pronounced Philip!), who had made a big 'Welcome
to Montenegro' sign
which they left in the taxi-bus. We were probably the most
unusual looking bunch of people to come through Podgorica airport since
independence, and as such attracted their notice without really trying.
On the way to Nikšić
they pointed out ancient Monasteries clinging precariously to the rocky
hillsides, and deep valleys with sparkling rivers and such-like.
We chanced our shaky Montenegrin and learnt valuable lessons
such
as Nikšić
being pronounced Nikschich.
We met our host family, the
Surbatoviches,
whose new house we would be helping to complete. Pastor Stan,
our
initial point of contact, is Montenegrin by blood, but married Vicki in
California, and the whole family moved back about 10 years ago to plant
a church in Montenegro. The eldest daughter, Anna Marie, was
in
America at university, but we got on well with their other four
children; Amy
(17), Christian
(15), Josiah (13) and Milijana
(11).
We dumped our stuff in the church building, which was a
minute's
walk away from their current house and, after being fed deliciously, we
were treated to a tour of the town. After weeks of beautiful
weather in England, with temperatures straining to 36 degrees at times,
we were treated to a homely shower of rain as we walked through Nikšić,
thereby rendering the Walking Street fairly deserted. One of
the
most interesting customs we noticed was that, probably due to a lower
disposable income, the young people, instead of binge drinking in the
local pubs, would walk up and down the pedestrian zone of the town
centre. You would wander down the right hand side of the
road,
chatting with friends and looking out for people you know (not uncommon
in a town of 60,000), reach the end, turn round and walk back.
Repeat till you get thirsty, grab a drink in one of the cafes
which open out onto the street with covered seating, then resume your
wholesome exercise.
The girls were put up in an annex of the house while the lads slept in
the church building round the corner. With plenty of blankets
provided the floor was quite sufficient for a well-earned night's
sleep.
Tuesday 8th
Vicki clearly understood the nutritional requirements of large numbers
of students, and we regularly got through 2 or 3 large loaves of bread
with butter and jam at breakfast in addition to whatever else was on
offer. The whatever else ranged from cinnamon rolls to fried
egg
and bacon sandwiches, all of which were snapped up with alacrity before
a daily group devotional. We took it in turns to do a short
talk
on sucessive chapters of the Gospel of John, and then prayed together
before starting the day. This was really helpful in setting
us up
for the day's work and other activities. Andy did today's
devotional on John 1.
At 9 o' clock we set off to see the new house, or The Property as it
was known. It was about 15 minutes walk from the house, and
even
that short walk was enough to get a fairly good impression of the town.
A lot of the accommodation is blocks
of flats, and some of the streets look really quite pretty.
There are also a lot of new
houses being built - all from breezeblocks, and all with my
kind of makeshift wooden accessories. Most houses will have a
heap
of logsoutside
at some time or other during the week, either waiting to be cut
or split or laid out to dry. Men drive around on little
one-cylinder trucks with a big table saw mounted on the front to saw up
logs. They are split almost exclusively with a type
of bearded axe which I am unable to find a picture of Once
they
are dried they tend to be
stacked very neatly, and for people living in flats they are left
outside covered in a tarp in the wasteland.
About half the houses had some chickens, turkeys or a goat or
two, or even a cow tethered in the garden, with haystacks just outside.
I only ever saw baled hay once, out of the window of a bus on
a
long journey.
The work at the property mainly consisted of preparing floorboards for
the professional floor layers to use. The workshop we used
belonged to the next door neighbour, Milan, who ran a small business
making violin bases out of curly maple. Wood couldn't usually
be
bought ready machined, so people would go into the forests to fell
trees themselves. A tax was payable which varied depending on
whether the wood came from government land or private land, and the
trunks would be chainsawed up, left to dry and machined at a later
date. I was very impressed by the quality of the machinery in
the
workshop. I had been gearing myself up for a run-down
toolshed
with a couple of rusty saws and an elderly draw-knife, but they had two
bandsaws, one of which had a 2 inch thick blade, two thicknessers, a
table saw and a router, as well as two dust extractors. My
job
was to sort through the shaky and warped planks and cut them so as to
make the most use of them. Over the next week we got to use
most
machines and as a result have a good idea of the process. The
boards, which were anything from 20mm to 35mm thick, were cut to 12cm
wide if necessary and any shakes trimmed off. They then went
to
the planers who smoothed a face side and face edge, and then through
the thicknesser to produce 22mm thick planks which were then cut to a
uniform width (7, 8, 9 or 10cm, etc) on the table saw before being
routered into tongue and groove boards and carted through to the
house
for the floorers.
We had a break at 11, and then came back for lunch at 1:30.
After
playing some football we had a prayer meeting at the church.
Then
we found a couple of guitars and hammered out a few verses of Serbian
Christian songs which made the locals cringe, before hitting the town.
We would congregate around a bench
by the fountain
or under the statue of the horsie (some famous king or other may have
been sitting on this noble beast) and sing songs in both Engleski and
Srpski on a badly tuned 12-string and another guitar that kept snapping
strings. Andy and I were to blame for the guitar playing.
Wednesday 9th
Colin led a devotional on John 2, and then, with Josiah's help, I sawed
up the remaining stocks of wood in readiness for the next load.
It was my turn to go back a bit early to help prepare food.
The real cooking was done by Vicki and Christian (who
barbecued a
wheelbarrow-load of chicken), while I cut the salad and sliced the
bacon. We held fast to our tradition of one evening by going
into
town again to sing, after the mandatory practise and chastisement by
those who know what our Serbian sounds like. The reason for
singing in the centre was to attract in the team and the church so as
to bring people to God. Quite a
few people
would hang around to listen when the weather was nice, and those of us
unencumbered with stringed instruments would approach them with
leaflets about the church and attempt, in our severely limited Serbian,
to get into conversations with them. This frequently put a
strain
on the Surbatoviches or Simunovices who had to translate back and
forth some quite complex theological debates at times.
Thursday 10th
After my devotional on John 3, me and Andy were working in the new
house, building a mezzanine
floor.
This was in the attic, a
spacious room distinguishable only from the other floors by its lack of
subsequent floors and lack of plans for wooden flooring. The
boxes of stuff that had already come over from the old house were
stacked up here, and we took planks of timber and fixed a surface in
the timber framing of the roof to allow them to be stored out of the
way during the moving process. Singing was cancelled today
due to
the rain, but in case any of the people we had met the day before
turned up, a few of us went into the centre. Jelena, Jen,
Lucy
and I went to the fountain, and after waiting for a while we went to
find a postcard shop. Jen was ill, so we came back early, and
that evening we went to the Simunoviches for tea.
They entertained us every Thursday for the duration of our
visit, and cooked some lovely food. We chatted with Jelena
and Maša, and through them to their mother and
younger sister, Anđela.
Jelena told us about the hyper-inflation of the 1990s, and how people
would get paid with huge wads of bills and barely have enough to buy
bread. She remembers how, after days with no proper food, her
aunt managed to get hold of some dough and the smell of the bread she
baked in their house for them.
Friday 11th
Today we had a day off, and spent the morning at a nearby
lake, where there was a place for jumping
off. Adam was one of the few who braved the higher
rock
(said to be 7 Amys high). Before swimming we had a packed
lunch
in the pouring rain, which is always an exhilarating experience.
We spent the afternoon playing a version of cricket in the
garden
(automatically out if you hit the ball over the wall, 6 if you got it
on the roof, etc) or just resting
from our week's labours.
Saturday 12th
We began the day with a 2-dozen egg scramble and bacon sarnies.
Amy had been ill the previous day, but fortunately Saturday
was
also a rest day, so we went to the lake again, and this time with more
people. Andy brought a guitar,
Adam displayed his prowess at skipping
before being buried
in the sand, and we even tried our hand at limbo
and volleyball
before sitting around waiting
for a bus for half an hour or so. On our return Sinead
had arrived to boost our numbers to 7. Due to our late return
we
had a take-away which consisted of burgers about 5 times the size of a
MacDonald's hamburger, which suited us just fine. Then we
spent
the evening reading Kipling's Just-So stories and playing games.
Sunday 13th
Our first Sunday in the country. The church service was good,
and
the fact that Jelena was translating the Montenegrin sermon helped me
to concentrate, though it was hard work. The singing was
enthusiastic, if still not particularly native-sounding, and bravely
accompanied by Amy and Andy on the keyboard
and guitar. We
were treated to beef for lunch before going into town with the
Simunovices, and then back to church for the evening service.
Afterwards Stan asked for a volunteer to help with the
driving
during our stay, and I leapt at the chance. After a short
trip
with Stan in the front to keep an eye on me while we dropped off
someone from church I was let loose on the highways
and byways of Crna Gora, winding the window down instead of changing
gear, and sliding the seat back instead of applying the handbrake.
Well, it wasn't quite like that, but driving from the left
side
of the cab took a bit of getting used to. After jumping into
the
passenger seat and grabbing at a non-existent steering wheel a few
times I caught on, though the relative position of the car meant I
nearly clipped fifty wing-mirrors. Great fun though,
especially
when you realise that honking the horn isn't a sign of displeasure in
Montenegro, but merely a friendly greeting.
Monday 14th
Jelena was due to fly back to America the next day to continue her
studies, so after another morning's work, punctuated this time by
activities surrounding a newly arrived table-tennis table, we said our
emotional goodbyes. It hardly seems like we've known her for
only
a week.
Tuesday 15th
I drove Jelena and her (almost) tearful sister, Maša, to the
bus station this
morning, where we said our final (well, hopefully not completely)
farewells, then back to the property where more chunks of tree needed
slicing into planks. Marc and Jenna, the final two members of
our
team, were due to arrive late tonight, but when they got to the bus the
driver decided he didn't want to go, so they stayed with a friend of
the church overnight.
Wednesday 16th
Marc and Jenna arrived during the day, and most of the team went up to
a hill
above Nikšić,
but Colin, Andy and myself went, with Rada, Dragan and a few remaining
Simunovices to their village in the mountains for the day.
The
drive took a good couple of hours, but when you've got lakes
like this
or this
to look
at,
you can't complain. On the way up the mountain we passed a
relative of the Simunovices atop a trailer of hay with half a dozen
other men with pitchforks. It looks a bit old-fashioned when
I'm
used to carting hay in bales. We finally arrived at their cottage,
a small, thick stone-walled house which kept deliciously cool despite
the heat of the day. These houses up in the mountains aren't
ideal places to live unless you actually work up there, but many
families have ancestral homes out in the countryside even though they
usually live in the town for work. The Simunovices lost their
father aged 42, and they had planted a memorial walnut grove of 42
trees which we were helping to tend. We
dug
around each tree to get rid of other plants, and put fertilizer beside
them before covering it with wood shavings. Being on a slope
it
is easy for nutrients to leech out of the soil, so it was necessary for
the young trees to have some extra encouragement. We were all
grateful for a
rest once we finished in the early afternoon, especially Andy.
We were fed on cold roast lamb and tomatoes as well as salami
and cheese sandwiches, all of which was lovely. The view
from the grove was beautiful, and on the way back we took a detour
through about twenty tunnels
to see a dam
which we were told off for photographing, and of course some more beautiful
lakes.
Thursday 17th
After my devotional on John 8 we headed across to the cabinet-maker's
to pick up some kitchen
cupboards,
and rode in the back of the truck with them to the property.
We've started to make flooring for upstairs, and, in order to
make use of more timber, have reduced our benchmark from 22mm to 20mm
thickness. After lunch a few of us went to visit Milan, the
next
door neighbour with the violin base business, and his family.
We
showed them our photos and played games, and chatted till it was time
to rush back for tea at the Simunovices - mashed potato with this one!
Meanwhile the rest of the team had been singing in town
again.
There were rumours of the local TV station wanting to do a
feature on us after seeing our singing, but they didn't get round to it
before we left, unfortunately. Not quite as impressive a
story as
my sister having a half-hour interview on Beijing radio or a friend
from Warwick Christian Union in Brazil whose voice actually became
incorporated in the local radio jingle.
Friday 18th
Today was spent mostly sorting out eligible planks of wood for the 20mm
flooring from the 22mm reject pile. Colin was planing the
usable
planks when he got his t-shirt caught in the blades.
Fortunately
it tore easily and came right off his back into the machine instead of
dragging him in, but it gave us all a bit of a shock. Risk
assessment outcome: we remember to tuck our shirts in now. We
had
our usual elevenses
break, then did some weeding for a change from woodwork till
lunchtime. The
girls brought back carrots
and maize every few days, which was lovely.
We climbed the hill above Nikšić
as a whole
team, along with Amy and Maša to pray, admire the
view and find the outdoor gym, whcih consisted of chin-up
bars, sit
up bars, a bench
press and so on, all built into the trees of the forest.
Adam treated us to his Golum
impression, though no video evidence is available.
We sang
in the centre
again, and got into some good conversations with locals. The
girls followed up some contacts they made with a visit.
Saturday 19th
This Saturday we had planned a trip to Durmitor, one of the taller
mountains about 2 hours away. Most of the church came along,
as
did some friends of church members, so we took a coach. As
usually happens on these long drives, somebody or other felt ill half
way along, so we all got out to play frisbee
on the grass nearby. We arrived at the chair lift, and after
some negotiations
by Milan we all headed up the slopes of Durmitor. Chair lifts
are fun, and I was posted with
Mili so she could catch me if I fell. Everybody
enjoyed the ride
to the top, especially when compared to walking it.
The view
at the top was stunning, but there was still half an hour's walk
to where we were headed. We struggled
up to the
snow line, where the thin air does strange
things to people, and found a big, flattish area
of snow where the Montenegrin half of the group challenged
the English to a football
match
on their own terms. On the slippery snow, playing with an
empty
plastic bottle against people who had played like this before, we had
no chance. I think the score was 8-0, but it could have got
much
worse if the game hadn't descended into a snowball fight in the English
defence and a subsequent pile-on. It was a bit surreal with
the sun
still burning down on us and snow down our necks. I
think the football match did a lot to bind the two great nations together.
Useful to have a hatful
of snow with us on the walk back down, too.
Back at the base of the mountain I saw the only flock of Montenegrin
sheep I have ever met, and then we headed for a nearby lake,
the Black Lake, to have lunch. During lunch I gave my
testimony,
punctuated by breaks for translation, of how I came to know Jesus and
what he means to me. After lunch we headed down to the
lake itself where we went swimming.
For about 2 hours. It was a lovely warm day, and the
water was gorgeous. We even encouraged Amy to join
us despite a lack of swim-wear. Afterwards she
borrowed my
shirt,
which looked a lot bigger on her than it does on me. After
some
more piggy-back wrestling type antics Andy managed to cut his toe, so
we finally got out for a group
photo or two
(notice how I slipped those in seamlessly) and some sympathy for the
big guy, whom I took great pleasure in dousing
in iodide later that day.
Sunday 20th
A fairly quiet Sunday, as Sundays go. Marc and Colin gave
their
testimonies at church, which was very encouraging, and in between
times, while the team was in the town I invented a card game, based on
poker (which I had been introduced to the previous day), which turned
out to be very popular. It's called Take 5, and I
won't bore
you with the details here. Maybe here
instead.
Monday 21st
Today was the official Moving In Day, and as such we were busy all day
piling boxes into the truck, driving across, unloading and picking up
more boxes. We moved shelves, stoves, chairs, tables, boxes,
and
more boxes. My
hammock
went up under the mezzanine floor, and became a popular spot for break
times. We spent a happy couple of hours searching for a shop
that
sold rope for completing a big A-frame piece of scaffolding
for painting the south wall of the house. Apart from anything
else, this scaffolding provided some great photo
opportunities. We discovered a nearby nail factory
as well, which was very handy. The painting, though I wasn't directly
involved, was one of the other major tasks, and, armed with
old clothes and baseball
caps, large swathes of the team spent
many days whitewashing
the outside of the building. The downstairs floor has been
completed, and the sanding was done this afternoon, with the first coat
of polyurethane applied this evening once Lucy had dusted
the overhanging chunks of timber that might have spoilt the varnish.
Tuesday 22nd
We borrowed Rade's truck today to move the piano, along with most of
the rest of the heavy stuff. In the afternoon I went to visit
Marija Bošković, a past student of Stan's with Amy, Adam and
Dragan.
We had fun trying to find her flat in the block where the
lights
went off in approximately the time it took to climb a flight and a half
of stairs, but got there in the end. We were fed about 18
watermelons (or so it seemed), and the burden of consumption fell
heavily, though not ungratefully, on myself and Adam. I was
wearing one of my pairs of work trousers which had, over the course of
the trip, developed a huge ungainly tear in the knee. I
tried,
for the sake of propriety, to disguise this oversight by casually
resting my hat on my knee as we chatted. Maria's mother,
however,
wanted a better look at the hat, and as a result revealed my shameful
dress-code. The only comment she made (as translated for me
by
the bi-lingual members of the group) was that we were very 'natural'.
Maria was so taken with the hat that she said "How much did
you
pay for it? I'll give you double". I explained that
I
couldn't part with it for sentimental reasons, but it was indicative of
the attitude of many people on the trip. Due to the unique
size
of my head those
who regularly borrowed the hat were almost exclusively
limited to persons of the female persuasion.
That evening, much to Amy's amusement, I attempted to mend my trousers.
It took quite a long time, and wasn't the neatest, but I was
confident it would last a goodly while at least. Afterwards I
headed across to the property as the advance guard to spend the night
in my hammock. It would have been easier if I had known there
was
going to be a local working there overnight, or if he had known there
would be a foreigner making free with the house, or if either of us
could speak any of each other's language.
Wednesday 23rd
The trousers didn't last. In fact, it took a lot less time to
rip
than they had to mend. Eventually Vicki got hold of them and
applied some fearsome blanket-stitch, guaranteed, as they say, stronger
than the wood itself. When they finally gave way again, I
must
admit it was the cloth and not the stitch. When those
trousers
rot to dust, archeologists will be left with an enigmatic trailing
length of unbreakable blanket-stitch to puzzle over. But I
digress.
Today my driving 'skills' were called upon to move the stove and gas
tank along with sundry other items from the old house including beds
and matresses. Yes, the family were moving in today, despite
the
fact that the as yet undried varnish wouldn't allow them to enter via
the front room. In practice this meant I had to climb a
ladder
and squeeze through a window to get to my attic dwelling place, whereas
most of the family rooms opened more or less directly onto the outside.
I got the advantage of a lovely
view, though, even if my
bathroom still had half a wall missing. The girls
from our team moved across too, and were installed in the school
room.
With the whole family now officially Moved In, there were
other
jobs to be done. I was assigned the heady title of Wardrobe
Substitute Designer, and got cracking with a bunch of planks which had
to be cut into laths and then nailed together into the semblance of the
skeleton
of a closet.
This was for hanging coat-hangers of clothes on, with a small
shelf area (also of rough sawn timber) for catching the neck-ties which
would otherwise drop onto the lovely clean floor.
We sang under the monument of King Nikola I (I believe it was) again,
and this time we ordered a take-away pizza. We were aware,
from
the locals, that fast food isn't all it sounds in Montenegro, so we
placed our order half an hour before we expected to finish.
This
meant we only had a further 45 minutes or so to wait once we exhausted
our repertoire of songs. Very nice pizzas though.
Thursday 24th
I brought across the washing machines and tumble dryer from the old
house in the morning. Marc went into town to make a
phone-call,
and didn't come back for hours. It turns out he was held up
by
the Montenegrin equivalent of the Mafia in one of the pubs, who
insisted that, since he was English, he should sell them drugs and
guns. He got away eventually, and we missed singing that
evening,
but the fish and chips we had at the Simunovices more than compensated.
We tried some homemade herbal tea as well, which was lovely.
Very early on I earned the nickname Tony the Cat - a version
of
Tony the Hat which increased in demand directly in proportion to the
demand for my hat. This evening they found a
kitten to make the replacement official.
Friday 25th
Up bright and early to drive the lads across from the church building,
where they were still staying,
to the property, where we held our devotional (this time by Jenna, on
John 14). Colin and I continued to make our clothes racks -
we
churned out about 10 by the end, then we all went to play basketball.
This is quite a popular sport in Montenegro, and there are
hoops
set up all over the place in Nikšić.
Andy is a qualified basketball coach, and coupled with his
height made
it surprising that it was quite a close game all told. We had
been invited to Mileva's house for tea. She was a student who
attended the church and youth group, and had made us a delicious cake.
Off into town for more singing
in the evening. You may have gathered
that this
was a popular
pastime for us.
We got talking to a number of different people. At
one
point I was juggling a conversation with a man who was a Christian but
wanted to hear my opinion, via Mileva, my translator, on the name of
God and another man who was loudly declaiming in the ear of Amy, my
other translator, that rocks and plants have brains and that each man
is his own god. I hope what I managed to get across was
helpful...
Lucy and I went with Amy to meet four of her friends from music school,
and I spent a pleasant evening walking with them in the rain cogitating
on how much more difficult it is to understand women when they all
speak a different language. I was compared to Hugh Grant,
which,
considering his posh accent, wasn't quite as complimentary as was
intended.
Saturday 26th
Today was the day of the baptisms. These had been planned for
some time, and we were up shortly after 5 o' clock to get some food
before taking a coach to Herzig-Novi on the coast. On the way
we
stopped to admire the view
over the bay. Needless to say we took the
opportunity for a group
photo or two.
There was a fantastic thunderstorm over the sea. We
arrived fairly early, and sat around chatting
at the beach while waiting for others to turn up. Some coped
with waiting better than others,
and Anđela took the opportunity to drum into us the names for
various parts of the face - nos,
brada,
etc.
Finally we were all assembled,
including believers from nearby towns. Filip,
Rade
and Goca
gave their testimonies, ably translated for the more English among us
by Dragan. We sang a few songs as lustily as we could when
only
half-remembering the Montenegrin lyrics, and then Filip,
Rade
and Goca
were baptised in the sea. It was all very exciting, and,
after
the tradition of all good baptisms (don't quote me on that), we all got
to go swimming afterwards. Then, after carefully getting dry,
the
thunderstorm hit, and we
all got soaked by the rain. Nothing a 'Mixed Meat'
meal in a cafe wouldn't solve though. We also visited a cafe
where one of Goca's friends worked, and enjoyed an hour's relaxation
before we left.
Sunday 27th
I picked up Amy's aunt who had just returned from the coast following a
hip replacement and wanted to come to church. The service was
good, as usual, and in between morning and evening services we played
the piano and a bit of table tennis. Those not actually
playing
ping pong watched from the hammock, and a good time was had by all.
I spent some time teaching people poi,
which was great fun. Adam learnt quickly, and soon passed on
his knowledge to Mili.
And then I go and spoil it all by forgetting to indicate when
changing lanes in the evening and running into a BMW who was in my
blind spot at a junction. Considering I was a foreigner, had
a
broken brake light, an uncovered indicator, bare feet and no driving
license (back in England), the police let me off very lightly.
I
settled with the bloke whose car I had bumped without the (apparently)
customary Montenegrin fist-fight, and headed back feeling slightly
shaken.
Later that evening I thought I was reacting a bit much to what was,
after all, a fairly minor incident. I felt weak and shaky,
and it
got worse as the night wore on. When I started being sick I
decided it was probably an unrelated bug. Turns out Sinead
had
something similar, but, being a girl, she fought it off quicker than
me.
Monday 28th
Having said that, despite fainting dramatically in the bathroom this
morning, I was (almost) right as rain by the end of the day.
The
floor
in the living room is now complete, and looks stunning. I
spent a
(more or less) comfortable day being read to by Amy (Wodehouse in a
Californian accent - fantastic) and her mum (Laura Ingalls Wilder,
which fits American better). The piano had been moved to the
area
of the living room known as the music section, where it was much
appreciated
by all. I had the dubious privilege of watching the rest of
the
lads from the team putting a rickety ladder atop the rickety
scaffolding
in pursuit of higher painting territory. Apparently they nailed it on,
and put a few ropes here and there, so that's alright, Best Beloved.
Tuesday 29th
In my slightly enfeebled state I didn't get to
say goodbye
to Marc and Jenna, who left this morning. Sinead went with
the
team singing in the evening, and felt the worse for it, but I stayed at
home and avoided the rain. I was grateful for my
belt-and-braces
approach to tying the hammock up, since two of us together caused one
of the strings to break, but thankfully it didn't let us down.
More table tennis before turning in.
Wednesday 30th
The final clear-out and cleaning of the old house took place,
master-minded by Amy, myself, Jen and Lucy. Pete, an
Englishman
who now lives in Nikšić
as a
member of the church, arrived yesterday and was immediately roped into
the moving process. His car (typical of most of the town, it
was
a VW Golf) was filled twice with all the really final, this actually is
everything, last bits and pieces from the old house. The pace
of
work has slowed down somewhat, though. We moved a bunch of
boxes
from the attic, but spent much of the afternoon playing ping pong and lounging
around.
We went into town to sing for the last time, and Andy and I
froze
our fingers playing the guitar in the coldest wind we'd had since
arriving. We headed back quite briskly after talking with the
people there, and warmed up in the house. Andy found a book
of puzzles to amuse the girls with. Food
retained its high standard, despite losing sundry items in the move.
Up late talking. Our last night in Montenegro.
The
girls joined Amy and I playing
Take 5.
Thursday 31st
No rush to get up for the plane; it didn't leave till mid-afternoon,
and standard check-in times don't really apply at Podgorica, where the
staff spend their coffee breaks placing bets on how many days will go
by before the next tourist. The cold and sunlight got me up
for a
photo of the sunrise
from my balcony, and me and Colin (who slept on the Mezzanine floor for
a change from the concrete) played ping pong till breakfast time.
We decided to spend our morning taking some shots of the team
and
family. On the scaffolding. So after a couple of shots
by the house the lads moved it
from the front of the house to a more picturesque
place. Here we took a photo
of the
lads, then one of the
girls, then some team
photos. Very handy for a trick
photo or two.
The afternoon was whiled away with talking and
a bit of stop-frame lego
animation.
We headed to the airport eventually, after tearful farewells
with
everybody. Pete took Colin, Jen, Amy and I in his car, and
the
rest of the team went in the truck with Stan. Colin may have nodded
off for some of the trip. As airports go, Podgorica
is a pretty nice one, with mountains all around, and standing a good 5
degrees hotter than the rest of Montenegro.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my stay, and I am
determined
to go back to visit before long. I hear you can get a day's
skiing for the price of a cinema ticket, and that's as good an excuse
as any to see everybody again.
Till then, I would like to thank everybody we were with for making our
visit very special. Stan, Vicki, Amy, Christian, Josiah,
Milijana, Rada, Jelena, Maša, Anđela, Mileva, Milan, Filip,
Rade,
Dragan, Goran and anyone else we met who I'm afraid I can't remember
the name of, let alone spell. You all of you made it a really
special time, and I'm sure you've made an impression on the whole team.
Vidimo Se!
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Update: I returned for a visit the next summer, in June/July 2007. Read about it here.
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