Not all work...

I just returned from 3 weeks in Tanzania (Dar and Morogoro) working on a USAID water partnership project. Aside from missing the kids and great routine we have in Kosovo, it was a great hands on learning experience and a way for me to keep my field skills sharp. And as you can see, we found our moments of fun too.

Greek Vacation

We are blessed that with only a 5.5 hour drive we can arrive here... A local beach town for surf, sea, and sun. Intense heat each day with not many clouds in sight. Nice seafood restaurants in nearby local villages. Minimal waves to tip the kids and a huge water park (apparently the highlight of the 'beach' vacation) less than 20 minutes away. Rea has become fully comfortable on her own in the water including going down some slides by herself (first time was not intentional). My father has joined us for 3 weeks and became the star with with kids playing in the sand. As anyone with kids knows ironically the beach vacations are not as relaxing as one might think. For collecting all the gear to applying repetitive sunscreen to feeding to naps to playing, almost no time to make it through even a chapter in our books. And the evenings too worn out to make it just down the strip to the local evening outdoor bars. But overall we loved the time away as a family and hope this will recharge us till our next seaside trip early Sept where we will meet up with my sister, Stacey.

4th of July in Lake Ohrid, Macedonia


Happy Summer Everyone!! Sorry it has been so long since an update from the Kirkbrides. I guess pattern proves that we typically post only the exciting trips /events where we remember to bring along the camera instead of relying on our selfies (my ancient iPhone 3 doesn't actually take reverse photos--the horror). This said, life has been great and busy over the past 3-4 months where we have primarily been in Pristina Kosovo, with the occasional day outings.

Adi just graduated from Kindergarten with wonderful marks and a tendency to excel in reading and the sciences. He still loves ILG where I actively serve on the Board with a wonderful international community as well a fair amount of local families. He has been playing soccer weekly and loves after school cooking and Albanian class.

Rea is at a local daycare where she is known as the most independent and determined child but with the charm and smile to get whatever she wants. Unfortunately our 1 minute walk to her school will now involve daily drives as they relocate across town this summer. She is still not speaking complete sentences but solidly interchanging words between Albanian and English (most Albanian so I have to ask her brother to sometimes translate for me;-) She loves to come home daily and jump on our trampoline before going in to read or play with dolls. Our 'new' nanny helps out each afternoon as I am usually at  home still working outside on the deck when the kids arrive.

My consulting practice/lifestyle has been great. I juggle about 4-6 clients/projects but have managed to have about 3-4 hour average workdays from the comfort of my outside office looking into the green hills of Germia Park surrounding Pristina. I travel about every 2 months and spent 2.5 weeks in Kenya recently and am preparing for 3 weeks in Tanzania end of Aug. The long trips are hard but where I am able to really 'do' my work whereas my 'remote' work keeps me busy but not around the actual partnerships I build and support. I have complemented my job with guest teaching at several Universities, consulting with local NGO's/projects on development work in Kosovo, just got new studio space to teach yoga once/week and sit on the Board of the international school here. Any 'free' time involves the gym, shopping, yard maintenance, playing with the kids, preparing the dinners and most often bath nights.

Pranvera on the other hand has been rockin her new USAID Rule of Law project where she seems to spend more time as Acting Director than her Deputy title. Her new boss has been relocating to Kosovo for what seems forever and she has been managing the office along with having to accomplish huge deliverables for USAID under tough project micro-management conditions. Her days are long and tedious but she loves getting back into the technical law work she is so good at and feels that she is making a difference in a country that matters more to us (vs. Mozambique). She is able to connect with old friends regularly and we see the family weekly as they drop by or we walk to their house.

Another great thing about Pristina is its central location. It only took us 3.5 hours on good roads to take the long holiday weekend off in Macedonia to enjoy fresh fish, clean blue waters, pebble beaches, a nice hotel room and great long walks through the lakeside town of Ohrid visiting ancient churches, amphitheaters, castle and quaint cafes. The first 'break' for Pranvera in along time and we all enjoyed each others company and the sun! So nice when the kids get old enough to entertain themselves while we complete our sentences to each other or a drink for that matter. But only a couple days more till my father arrives and we take our official summer vacation in Greece for a week so another post will be arriving soon.

Already 2

Hard to believe but it is true. Had a wonderful family get together and she loved all the attention. Now we are realizing more that it is not only about celebrating the special day but reflecting on the past now 2 years ago that we were staying in South Africa for her birth. Such wonderful memories and lucky times.

Spring Break for Adi and Daddy

Well, what to do when one of your kids is off for an entire week and your wife still has to work? Well drive to Bulgaria to go skiing of course??

Actually this was an impromptu decision on my part only booking a hotel 2 nights before we left for a 3 night 4 day mid-week trip to catch the very end of a short and warm European winter. With a 5.5 hour drive we ended up in the ever so UK popular Bulgaria ski resort town of Bandsko. End of season skiing has its trade-offs. On the one hand, it is empty with very cheap hotel rooms (30euro/night for 1 bedroom apt) and no worry to get a meal out with no reservations and very short/no cues at the lifts. (we loved the place we found the first night so returned the next (3rd was making mac n cheese in the apt.)

On the flip-side, there are no people (we were 1 of 3 rooms at our hotel so never saw anyone else at breakfast, pool, etc.), the snow is very icy in the morning and melts quickly to slush for the afternoon limiting good skiing to maybe 2 hours, ski school has less instructors so Adi got lost in the shuffle for half day and the other times he got very little attention (but still advanced to be a solid intermediate skier already).

Funny enough English was almost the first language there with so many Brits you could have sworn we were in the UK (direct flights and VERY cheap ski holiday). It was nice to actually catch all the side conversations around on the lifts, in the lines, at the ski lodge and restaurants. Bulgarians are not know for their hospitality, especially end of season but we found them to be great and welcoming. It was also the first time father and so had this much time alone and for the most part was awesome. He did great in both car rides and was so much fun to catch-up with on the mountain at lunch break from ski school before daddy went off on his own to do the black runs from the top (2600m). We played chess each night in the room and I treated him to an indoor water park the final day when we got off the mountain. The final remarkable feature of this town is it is actually 2 mountain ranges away from the resort but they built a gondola lift so everyone can just walk with gear from their hotels with no need to drive. We look forward to our next season but at least got in 9 days this year