Three weeks ago, as we were crossing the railway lines at the station (right across the middle of the station, but there are very few trains and it is the end of the line) on the way to do an art class at the centre in the suburb that side of town, Clare slipped and fell.
It was quickly obvious that something serious was wrong. Friends took us to a local doctor, then to a radiographer, then to an orthopaedic specialist. Clare had broken her ankle. The specialist tried to set it but was unable to, so asked us to go to the public hospital next day, where he set it under a general anaesthetic. However, it did not stay in position and he decided that he would have to operate. A week later Clare entered the hospital and had a pin put in the bone to hold it. Since the fall she has been on crutches. Yesterday for the first time she got a proper plaster cast, though she cannot put weight on it. We have to go back in four weeks when hopefully they will put on a new cast which she can walk on.
Here for those who can make sense of such things is the original X-ray.
This has rather cramped our activities, as getting Clare in and out of our third floor flat is not something to be undertaken lightly. Fortunately, our friends have been marvellous, also helping with the essential translation when needed.
Meanwhile life has continued. Teaching English continues to be interesting and challenging. Of course currently Jonathan is doing it all, with Clare providing support such as marking tests.
The weather has been interesting - almost as interesting as in the UK from what we hear. The mountains turned, over a few weeks, from white to brown and then gradually to green, but every so often there would be more snow at the top of the gorge. One day they managed snow and a forest fire at the same time. We have now planted our window boxes and hope that the weather will be fine enough for things to grow. It is often warm during the day but still cold at night.
Today is a public holiday, Workers' Day. Monday was also a public holiday, being the Orthodox Easter. So some of the schools are closed all week and many public organisations are closed Monday, Thursday and Friday. The rule here seems to be that if there is any excuse for a public holiday they have one. We gather that today half the population of the city is in the Rugova gorge. This was borne out by the traffic jam on the road to the gorge early this afternoon.
Currently there is a spate of road repairs, not before time as some of the potholes are vast. The road past the supermarket we use was tarmacked a few weeks ago and currently a team is going round the town cutting the tarmac round the potholes so that instead of being rounded they have straight edges! We assume that in a few weeks there will be a big campaign to fill them with tarmac - at least we hope so. The only downside will be that the traffic can go faster so there may be more accidents. Normally the potholes force drivers to go slowly if they want their shock absorbers to survive.
Apart from the green plants appearing everywhere, the other sign of spring is building work. Several old buildings have been demolished and new office/shop/apartment blocks are springing up. Once they get started they work very fast, but some of the things they do would give a British Health and Safety inspector a heart attack. A few days before this photo was taken there was a house here.
Our art sessions with the children at a centre on the other side of town continue. Sometimes they do really good work. One week recently the theme was butterflies. They were asked to draw one half of a butterfly in paint and then fold the paper to get a symmetrical design.
As you can see, some of the children preferred to do their own thing! What is impressive is how little mess they make.
