So I had a pretty laid back weekend, and was bad and acted like a true American. Friday afternoon I went to a ˝Thai˝ restaurant, and then walked around Sarajevo's version of a mall. Basically the same as ours, with lots of salons, clothing, shoes, and cell phone shops. However, in their mall everyone is smoking and sitting in the multitudes of cafes.

Had a great sushi dinner with my friend Kim the other night, then met up with the other group of DU students here. If I haven't mentioned, there is another group of 10 graduate psychology students from our university here on an unrelated program. They're all much closer to my age (and have much more similar social lives) and it was nice to get to spend some time with them.

Saturday morning everyone in my group but me headed to Mostar, a city about 3 hours from Sarajevo, while I went to the US Embassay for the 4th of July picnic. Free beer, great salads and dessert, and probably the best cheeseburger I've ever had in my life. Oh yeah, and did I mention the Marines were manning the grill? I met some really nice Americans that work for the state dept. who have invited me to their softball games and ˝Marine movie night˝- apparantly the guys get sent new release movies the day they come out in the states. It should be fun. I can't imaging having the lives of these people though - they switch positions every two years, and have very little say in where they end up in the world. They definitely have a very strong community amongst themselves though, and I was grateful everyone was so welcoming to me.

Saturday night I went out for dinner with Emily (one of the forementioned DU students), then she, I and my friend Sharif went out dancing. Quite the experience!! The DJ played the most random music, including The Twist, the Macarena, La Bamba, Love Shack, and Justin Timberlake and the Black Eyed Peas. So much fun, and watching the Bosnians make me feel like a good dancer.

Remembered that yesterday I wanted to comment on the women /fashion here. Whenever anyone is out, they are dressed to the nines. At ten in the morning, the girls are wearing clothes and makeup like they're ready for the club on Saturday night. It's definitely strange. And the guys are big fans of tight t-shirts - although, thinking of you boys back in Denver, maybe that's universal! I definitely feel like a bum, because it's almost unheard of to be seen out in flip flops and and capris. It's not like that's the only thing that makes me stand out though, so I've gotten used to it. :)

Well, it's time to go catch the bus to Vareš, back to my lovely little students. Will write more when I'm back in Sarajevo.