I severely underestimated how much we would sleep this past week.

Seriously, the amount of rest the human body asks for when undergoing change seems ridiculous.  As long as you don’t actually consider the details of the physical/emotional/spiritual transition, that is, and the energy that each requires.  Then the copious amounts of sleep make perfect sense.  “Sleep is for the weak!”; this used to be my motto.  Any of our college friends will confirm that in a heartbeat. However, the silly motto died last week, as we identified in the last post that there can be no shortcuts to transition and that includes sleep.  Ultimately we made the better of the two choices, I think.

 

Besides sleeping, this week consisted of the tricky yet somewhat enjoyable process of setting up a home in Kosova. We made multiple trips to phone stores in an effort to figure out why one of our sim cards worked and the other didn’t.  We went on several exploratory adventures through different parts of Pristina, led by our kind and generous neighbors.  We exchanged the cash we had brought for euros with a friendly fellow on the side of the road who “cut us a deal” after we refused his first offer.  We learned the bus routes that are relevant to our lives right now, as well as where to find the 50 cent taxis.

 

Some of our kind neighbors drove us to the mall in search of a trash can, hangers, a fan, and a few other immediately necessary household items. Another neighbor showed us her favorite ice cream shop and vegetable stand. Our apartment has gone through three transitions as we set things up, then take them down to set them up somewhere else.  We went grocery shopping at approximately three different stores, buying only a few items at a time due to the fact that we had to carry whatever we bought and walk at least four blocks back to our apartment.

 

But don’t forget, this was all over the period of seven days. And for every hour we spent running errands, I’d bet we spent about three hours sleeping afterward trying to catch up on energy.

 

The whole week wasn’t all work, however.  About halfway through the week, we were starting to recognize the need for a break when our friends Heather and Caleb invited us out to visit their new apartment in a village about an hour away.  The hour-long bus ride afforded another nice nap, and the rest of the adventure was equally refreshing.

Caleb and Heather graciously treated us to a lovely lakeside lunch and we got to snuggle with their little sweetheart.

Side note, the coolest part of lunch was hands down Bryan’s cook-your-own-meat-on-a-lava-rock order.  We had no idea that was what it meant when the menu said the meat was served on a lava rock. But it was pretty awesome and tasted Ama-zing.

We spent the afternoon milking our after-lunch coffees (a cultural habit that we have been enjoying immensely), enjoying the lake breeze, and exploring the lake on a rented paddle boat.

It was a much-needed reprieve from the city, and we returned home feeling ready to tackle a few more tasks. After another nap, that is.

 

All in all, the process of settling in has slowly begun to produce fruits.  This apartment is beginning to feel like a home, we’re slowly becoming familiar faces at our favorite grocery stores and coffee shops, and we made it to the bus stop on time today.

Even though the week kinda felt like a long nap with lots of little breaks, I’d say we’re doing pretty good.