A brief update

The hunt is over. I have now found an apartment. I hope to move into the apartment on Thursday or Friday. It's not perfect, but it's home.

In other news, we had a woman from Russia join our Serbian language class. She just started (and we are in our fourth week) and she is better than all of us combined. Apparently, Serbian and Russian are very similiar. Only Russian has 6 cases instead of 7 cases. Making Russia look like a very good place to live right about now.

However, in order to keep up with the Russian (ok, impossible task -- I'm aiming for having some clue as to what her and the professor are talking about) I now am trying to spend even more time studying for class meaning that's all she wrote (for now).

P.S.
I might add that it is very difficult to study Serbian when there is a massive choir practice going on in the next room. On Sunday evening, as I was trying to have an intensive study session I was assailed by the sounds of ten to fifteen voices raised in a joyful song. Of course, I have no idea what they are actually saying (which might be a hint as to how badly I need to be studying), but it sounded great. In fact, one of the songs they practiced was actually two or three words said over and over. Someone kindly handed me a copy of the lyrics (they were in Cyrillic), but it is very unhelpful to have the lyrics (even if I can now read them in the Cyrillic alphabet) if you have no idea what the actual words mean. They are practicing for the December 10th (Human Rights Day) performance; they will be peforming as a portion of the various street actions WiB is organizing for the day. There were also two teenage girls at the office painting large signs to be used on December 10th (They returned this evening just as I was pulling out my books for another study session). So admist the hum of activity in the office, there I was sitting with my notes and my schoolbook trying to memorize the new vocabulary words and understand new grammatical concepts. Interestingly enough, some people did not get the hint that I don't speak or understand Serbian even though I had a large book in front of me that said Serbian for Foreigners posted boldly on the front (in both Serbian and English). I still got asked several questions at which at first I blankly stared at them and then realized I needed to seize this moment to practice. So, I pulled out the ever handy phrase, "Ne govorim srpski" (I don't speak Serbian). Unfortunately, this phrase was from five lessons ago and not the new vocabulary I was having trouble committing to memory. Oh well...I mean, what better excuse for not studying can a girl come up with in class other than, "I was just so caught up in appreciating the rich, beautiful music of Serbia to study."