Lyon Hotel Pristina

... that. Last year at this exact time I had my bags packed in advance and was ready to get the hell out of France.

This time I can’t fathom packing my bags to leave. I know it’s a good seven months down the road but the idea of having to say goodbye to this time in my life and to the family who I have come to love as my own is unfathomable. Julie and I have grown so much closer and I adore that she sees me as a big sister. It was ...

... off that, which made the whole experience very nice. I even asked for more water and the bill myself, rather than making Lis use her (far superior) French.

That night we were pretty tired, Lis cooked again and we ended up watching some Pride and Prejudice in French (with English subtitles for me).

In the morning Lis took me to a beautiful park which had a series of themed glasshouses and an absolutely massive lake. It was pretty cold, but very clear. Actually, I ...

... sometimes. But oddly enough I have been working with children since I was 12. I started babysitting, then by 15 I was teaching kids by 18 I had several families I babysat for and my first full time nanny job plus Sunday school care. Now at 21 I am on my 3rd nanny position, this one being all the way in France! Point is that I have never intentionally sought out childcare, it has always sought me (this nanying position aside). So is there ...

... his methods can be adapted a bit but I can now see that I was misreading his behavior. I although made it clear that I felt at times that he treated me as a $ sign and it hurt my feelings so he should take that into consideration.

We went on to talk about the things I had always hated to discuss, like asking for money, and how I felt uncomfortable just hanging out and doing nothing. We tackled every issue and all agreed that communication ...

... deal with eating and I need to cut back on the sweets just because sugar= cellulite on my ass. They eat a lot of deserts here and I need to just stay away from them. They are good for my stomach anyway. So back to what the doctor, I went in and explained to her everything that is going on and she examined my stomach and immediately felt the problem. What is it? Well I am full of ****, LITERALLY ...

... And maybe Central America but thats for another day.

So this music and nicotine filled bus finally dropped me off in Kosovo at 8am and its a totally different world there. Its funny how only the driver smokes and no one else is tempted to until the bus stops for more than a few minutes enroute. The border between Kosovo and Serbia is actually administered by the UN because Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent nation and war ...

... to see much. However, it was impossible to miss all the auto-related business here. Seems like all we saw were gas stations (very modern), car washes and auto service shops. As we got into the city, these were supplemented by bridal shops, shoe stores, and hair salons on every corner.

We arrived at the Hotel Begolli and were shown our room. Much to our surprise, we had a 2 bedroom suite! Very nice for ...

... was great, on the way down to breakfast we saying how it was tough that there was no tourist office or guide maps around. Tash had said that it'd be great if we could just give some local guy 20euro to show us around town.... uncanny.

So for the next couple of hours Spencer, Scott, Tash and I went touring around town, saw some
local markets, an old Albanian Museum and to top it all off we saw "Bill Clinton Blvd" complete with a 3 story portrait of Bill on the ...

... they ended up with a country of their own, maybe two. The Celts were the big losers, despite Irish claims to their heritage. Mother Teresa is the Albanian region's main claim to fame and statues of her abound. We certainly needed some divine intervention on the bus trip out of the country. Usually when you cross a border you pass one country's gate and the other is a few minutes away- not here. Not only did we climb the narrowest ...

... of flux,with four armies and two sets of refugees on the move.The armies were themselves made up of various factions;the Serb regular army and police were leaving hot on the heels of their paramilitary units;the Albanian KLA were returning from hillside and rural bays to the towns and cities;and the international forces were represented by separate battalions from different nations,each assigned their own sector of Kosovo to administer during the ...