| It seems only a few weeks ago when we
sat down to write last year’s edition of our annual holiday greeting. Time
goes by faster every year…
 Our
family is still in Belgrade,
Serbia. We moved here last year and are teaching at the International
School Belgrade. Dave teaches math and social studies and Susan has
preschool. Breck is a very busy kindergartener and Alea is in 2nd grade.
We enjoy our jobs, our colleagues, our adopted Serbian community and our
travel opportunities. We encourage all family and friends to visit – our
door is always open!
Breck
turns 6 in January and is having a tremendous year in Kindergarten. His
teacher, Doriane Marvel, is a native of Montana and grew up a stone’s throw
from Libby! She is exceptional and we are so fortunate to have her time
and talent for our son. Breck’s K class is, more or less, the class Susan
had last year, so the continuity with friends has been nice. Breck’s favorite
parts of school are singing (the Dracula song, especially), writing stories
about Bionicles and Power Rangers, and computers. Breck takes soccer and
swimming as after school activities. Breck loves legos, tinker toys and
Lincoln Logs; Dave finally took an entire dresser drawer out of a bureau
and put it on the toy-room floor to keep all his tiny pieces in one place.
 Alea
turned 7 in June and is busy doing all the things 2nd graders do; asking
for a cell phone, pestering for an email account and wanting to have sleep-overs.
We (sort of) buckled on the cell phone issue just last week and entered
the 21st century. We bought one for mom and dad’s big solo adventure in
Paris (more about that below!). Alea’s class is heavy on the boys, but
we have had a few new girls join the ranks, so now there are four with
great names: Alea, Azalea, Aleksandra, and Alexis. Alea enjoys ballet after
school and takes swimming lessons, too. Alea also enjoys reading the Magic
Tree House series her cousin Nathan gave her for her birthday. Both Alea
and Breck think Shrek and Shrek 2 are the funniest movies on the planet
and they can recite - verbatim - the entire dialogue between Donkey and
Shrek when they meet in the swamp (this is their father’s influence).
 Susan
is as busy as ever with her class of 4 year olds. I also serve on the curriculum
council, am the representative for the health review committee, and help
coordinate the pre-school with my wonderful Principal Wendy McArthur. The
year goes well and we are as busy as ever implementing the IBO program
for the preschool. My colleagues are great and we enjoy our time together.
The kids are funny, busy, and smart. It was fun to watch their expressions
when I said to them on Thanksgiving Day ‘Thank you for letting me spend
my day with you.’ A bunch of my friends got the TV series Friends on DVD
and we get together every Wednesday over a bottle of wine and watch three
episodes; a very fun way to hang out and make fun of early 90’s fashion.
Dave’s just happy to be here
(to quote Brian Toomer). Teaching 6th
grade Geography, 7th grade Ancient History, and 8th grade math keeps
his days well rounded, and he sponsors the school chess club (quite an
undertaking since he barely knows how to play the game). When the school
day is over, he’s perfectly happy to come home and engage in hour long
swordfight-wrestling matches with Breck and play the fairy magic horse
kingdom ruler with Alea. Weekends give him a chance to play baseball and
football with some of the other expatriates in town – an entertaining way
to pretend that he’s still in his teens.
 January
’03 started off with a tour of
Greece.
We drove down from Serbia via Skopje,
Macedonia. Dave’s mom has family in the Peloponese and we wanted to
visit. We had a great visit with the home folks in the small village of
Spartia were Stella was
born. We enjoyed two full weeks exploring Greece: Corinth,
Delphi, Thessaloniki,
Sparta, Nafplio, and Gythio
to name a few. Alea and Breck could not get enough of running and playing
on old ruins. Mystras was the most exceptional – a must see for anyone
in the area. We avoided Athens because of Olympics hype and preparation,
though we did see the Acropolis in the distance during our drive home.
Another time…
February found us in Cyprus.
We rented a car and – with less than a tank of gas used over a week – drove
the entire (Greek side of the) island. We enjoyed the stunning Paphos
mosaics, the Castle in Larnaca
where Richard Lionheart (of Robin Hood fame) married his Queen, and the
beach where Aphrodite emerged
from the waves. We got caught up in a Carnival parade in Lemesos
and danced (mirror ball and pole included) the early night away with our
kids at a disco they discovered (also named Robin Hood) in Paphos. A great
winter break!
 April
was the busiest month of all because Grandma Wagner came for a visit! She
spent the month with us touring Belgrade and parts of Hungary,
including Budapest and
the Danube bend. Susan
took her to Timisoara, Romania
for a day trip and managed to keep the car on the road despite all the
gaggling geese roaming around. We were so happy to have her with us so
she could get a feel for how we live here in Eastern Europe.
The family returned to the USA immediately
after school was done in June so we could attend the wedding of Shari Stutz
to Dan Strachan in Missoula, MT. It was great seeing the whole family together
for such a fun event. While there, we spent some quiet family time in Sandpoint,
Idaho and also enjoyed time with Rob, Blanche, Sam, and Boyd in their new
home in Helena, MT. Breck
and Alea enjoyed the rest
of the summer was spent in MN with T-ball, swimming lessons and playing
with cousins, other family, and friends.
 Mid-August
brought us back to Belgrade and another busy year. It seems that once we
got into the swing of school, something always threw the schedule out of
whack (in a good way). Dave took off for much of a week in September with
the 7th grade class to hike
around southern Serbia. Mom and kids used that time to get in some
well-deserved bonding playing checkers and making chocolate chip cookies
with new commissary privilege stuff! The family had a long weekend in October
and went to Romania to
explore the infamous land of Dracula. We never saw any vampires, but sure
had a good time exploring medieval
castles and Roman ruins!
The school threw a delightful Halloween
party for the kids – Breck was Sir Lienenkuegel and Alea was a witch.
We’ve also enjoyed visits from the Crown
Princess of Serbia and pirates
(aka the 2nd graders) at school.
Dave and Susan went to Paris
for a long weekend mid-November. It was the first time we had ever left
the kids with someone other than Grandma, so it was a big deal for Susan.
We had a fantastic four days of tourist sites, museums, shopping, museums,
eating, and more museums. We visited all the "big" places in central Paris,
had an evening cruise down the Seine, had some fabulous people-watching
afternoons, and spent way too much money on cheesy souvenirs for the kids
(doesn’t every kid need a plastic Eiffel
tower???). Of course, Susan was most amused about seeing the Pyramid,
St. Sulpice,
and the Mona Lisa
along with all the other DaVinci Code breakers:)
December finds us preparing to go to Istanbul
and Ephesus, Turkey. Watch our webpage for continued updates! Of course,
you can already check us out at stutzfamily.com
for pictures from all this past year…
We are blessed as a family and have many
reasons to be thankful. We hope you and yours feel the same! Happy New
Year! |