Decking the Halls

Christmas is in full swing in Kosovo as this will be the first time in 8 years we have not traveled for the holiday season. Although being a Muslim majority country, the city is (slowly) putting up all the lights and festivities in preparation of the New Year. At our household, the cookies are being baked, the snow is falling, the sledges are out, end of year school performances abound and gifts are slowing arriving via diplomatic channels.  Santa should be able to find us and we look forward to celebrating the day with other expats staying local. Happy Holidays to all!

From Halloween to Christmas

Wow, our apologies for having been so delayed in sending some great photos and stories about what the Kirkbrides have been up to this Fall. We cannot believe that the Christmas tree is already up and the holiday season is in full swing. It feels like yesterday we were scooping out the pumpkin and still wearing shorts. To say the least we have had a fortunate and busy year. Shortly after our Scandinavian vacation we did another 2.5 whirlwind tour of the US stopping off in Chicago first for my 25th Northwestern reunion, drvoe to St Louis to visit with Dad and Aunt Stacey, a flight to NY to see the Big Apple and finally bused to DC to visit with close friends, cousins and play tourist.  The list of friendly visits with close friends is too long but know that this was by far a highlight of the year for us all, despite the exhausting pace and extensive distances covered.

Meanwhile back in Pristina Adi has been fully engaged with early his Bear badges and participating in numerous Cub Scout activities. He continues to enjoy learning electric guitar and playing soccer with his school plus doing ICT and cooking classes after school. Rea loves her local daycare and is doing ballet twice a week and spinning around the house any chance she gets. Pranvera is rocking her Rule of Law project and drafting new laws and legislation for the Kosovo Judicial System. I had a slower year for work primarily focusing on a large MCC project based in DC but closed out the year with almost a 3 week partner training and brokering trip for USAID in Guatemala plus a local gig with the UN in Kosovo.

We couldn't be happier to spend the first time in 8 years not traveling for Christmas (except a drive to Albania for the weekend before New Years). We have fully decked the halls and the kids are gearing up for end of year school performances and for the upcoming snow storms we have been spared from thus far. We wish everyone the happiest of holidays and a New Year.

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Weekend Hike in Albania

Who would have thought less than a 2 hour drive from Pristina you can access this? A crew of 20 of us (including a 2 and 6 year old in backpacks) hiked up 6000ft to the mountain pass between Valbona and Theth Albania. Beyond the incredible views, small coffee shacks were located in the middle of the trails on each side of the pass for well deserved breaks. We were expecting to spend the night in a mountain hut in an open room bunk arrangement with food cooked on the open fire. Instead we had our own lodge room with the best homecooked Albanian lamb feast we have ever had (including homemade wine;-) So we certainly didn't rough it but the 12 miles each day have had a lingering affect;-)

On our second day we took the scariest cliff side drive about 30 minutes away for a short hike to the 'Blue Eye' waterfall. Incredible views with tree houses surrounding the fall for beverages and local music. Although they were missed, we were happy to have left the kids with the in-laws so we could truly enough the nature and the strenuous outdoor exercise we used to do more regularly. Guess now I know why we saw so many older empty nesters out on the trails too.