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I have returned! And this is what happened:

December 22: I finished my packing, and Miranda, Irene and Emine arrived at my place. They were going to drive me to the airport and keep me company for the three hours that I would spend there. They were also to try to help me in transporting the MASSIVE bag that my dad was having me carry for him - in his infinite wisdom, he decided to transfer a bicycle across the Atlantic. The bag didn't fit into Miranda's car, and I hoped that would be the end of it, but sadly my dad managed to deliver it to the airport in time to get in on board. Sigh. I flew through Prague, and there were no problems. I arrived on...

December 23: My mom came to pick me up. I was tired, sweaty, and bloody (I got my period during the plane ride). She took me home, and made everything okay.

December 24: Mom and I spent the day indulging my materialist needs, i.e., shoe shopping.

December 25: Mom and I met up with my cousin Millena for lunch. They we went and spent yet more money. On this day, I finally went over to my grandparents' place.

December 26-29: These four days were all spent the same way. I would arrive at my grandparents' place in the morning and spend time with them. In the evening I would meet my mom and go shopping. As you may have gathered by this point, we did a lot of shopping. I've got some nice stuff.

December 30: By this point, my dad had started e-mailing me to tell me what a terrible person I am, how hard his life is, how he sent me here to represent him before the family (WTF?) and how I absolutely must visit my relatives. While I flat-out refused to go and visit various old people who I am told I am related to, I did agree to visiting the younger ones. On this day I had dinner at my uncle Vladimir's place, and spent time with my cousin Jelena and her son Marko. Marko is now four-years-old, and he is adorable. He's into knights and all that jazz, so he and I had a sword fight and he killed me. Good times. Jelena, upon learning what sort of music I listen to, played for me a band that she had listened to when she was my age. They were called Leibach, and they rocked. I had a great time. Then I went to my aunt Snezana's place, and she took me out to see a movie.

December 31: My mom and I went to her home town, Bela Crkva. My Nana and aunt Slavica had made a big New Years dinner for us. At about 11 o'clock, Slavica and I went out to the town square to usher in the new year... However, I could not bear to stay there. There were all these kids setting off cherry bombs, and I could not stand the noise. We retreated to slightly outside of the square, and then rushed home right after midnight, because I was also afraid of all the gun fire (Those wacky Serbs).

January 1: Spent the day in Bela Crkva.

January 2: Mom and I returned to Belgrade. We met up with a friend of hers, and went to the Skadarlija, an old part of the city, with cobblestone streets (and I don't mean the nice kind of cobblestones, I mean the nasty mother fuckers that are hard to walk in even in flat shoes) and lots of very old restaurants, many of which used to be homes of famous literary figures. We settled on eating at one called Ima Dana ("There are days..."). We had a wonderful meal, and I even tried eating brains. I did not care for the experience, but at least now I can say I've tried it. The neat thing about this place was this: By the end of our meal, I looked around Ima Dana, and had this overwhelming feeling of familiarity, as if I'd been coming to this place my whole life.

January 3: I visited my brother in the morning, and got to see his kid again. After dinner at my grandparents' place, I met up with Jelena and Marko again. Apparently, he had been asking about "that nice lady" from before, and wanted to see me again. We went for a walk, and then to a dessert shop. While eating, he turned to me and said "I like you!" to which I answered "I like you too!" I can't believe I'm going to say this, but after spending time with him, I think I don't hate kids any more.

January 4: Dinner in fancy Chinese restaurant with mom, Millena, and her boyfriend.

January 5: I arrived at the airport pretty early, ready to return home. This is where my adventure began, for even at this point, the people in Belgrade knew that my flight out of Prague was cancelled. But of course, if they let me know, they would have to reimburse me in some way, so instead they let my go to Prague. When I got there, I found out my flight was cancelled. They arranged for the hotel and for me to fly via Amsterdam the next day. I went to the hotel, and along the way met three other girls, about my age, who were in the same situation. After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we went into the city. Prague is... Wow. It's exactly what you imagine Europe to be like. It is stunning, old, elegant and charming. I want to go back, and spend more time there. After a while we went back to the hotel, and I spent my night watching MTV Deutschland, and not sleeping too much.

January 6: After about three hours of sleep, I went to the airport, and flew to Amsterdam. On getting there, I found out that I might not be able to get to Toronto: The flight was full, and I was on a waiting list. I did not like this. However, I was in Shiphol, my favorite airport, so I spent the next five hours with one of the girls from Prague, exploring a bit. Finally, at the last possible moment, I got my seat on the flight to Toronto, and now here I am!

Phew. School starts tomorrow, and I'll also start doing some office work for Elections Canada. That means I'll not really be available at all for the next two weeks, but such is life.

Here's to a good term!