Advent, embracing differences and vacation plans...

Happy Advent! It’s sad that the first Sunday of Advent is upon us… Home Acres always gets so into the Advent season and I am not there to be a part of it this year. We lit the first candle today and it struck a nerve knowing that Home Acres Church would be doing the same thing today.

For Thanksgiving, we had a chance to meet with other volunteers working in Slovakia. I bonded especially well with one of them. We had many opportunities to talk and share stories… and one of the most fun days in Budapest was had in showing them around. It’s been interesting to analyze who I have bonded with here and why. In any other circumstances, I’m not sure I would have befriended those that I have, but in the process of becoming friends, trusting each other and experiencing things together. One great thing is that we are all so different. Each of us comes from extremely different backgrounds, with different beliefs and different hopes and dreams. We all have different ideas of what this year means to us. Some of us are here to follow a calling. Some of us are here to learn to live simply. Some of us are here to decipher what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Some of us are here as the beginning of a missions lifestyle. Some of us are here because we want to feel important for once. Some of us are here in order to get away from home. Some of us are here because we are ready to leave our past lives behind us and start new with doing good for others. Despite all those differences, we are all still here together.
What must the kingdom of God look like if we are just a small section?

One of the things we talked about this weekend was “what does it mean for us to be here?” There seems to be some judgments that are passed every day. Spiteful words are shared, glaring eyes roll… and things happen. What would this year look like if, instead of complaining about differences, we started to embrace them?

I think about our stipend money, for instance. Some of us are spending each cent on anything and everything. Others are saving for things like travel or computers. Even others are just living simply and seeing how much they can put away in a year… and yet, I find myself rolling my eyes when we invite someone who says “I have no money.” Or, when someone complains about something that I enjoy… or when arguments push us to start avoiding each other. It’s an interesting thought, really.

This week, I’m challenging myself to embrace differences in beliefs, culture and lifestyle. What will that look like? What will that feel like? Hmmm…

…

In other news, I made a huge decision last night: I am going to travel to Auschwitz around my birthday. I’m thinking about taking off April 8th – 12th. It would involve a day trip to visit a volunteer in Slovakia, hanging out there for a day… and then traveling the rest of the way to Krakow, Poland. Then maybe spend a couple days couch surfing in Krakow before heading back. The goal is to save 50.000ft in order to make this trip possible. That’s about $278. I’m really excited to start this process of living extremely simply. This means every forint will be counted and I will make a very conscious choice as to whether or not I really need to spend each forint. Why is this so important? The Holocaust intrigues me and deeply saddens me… and it has been a long-standing goal to see Auschwitz before I die. I may not get another chance. So, here’s to a birthday vacation with a rockin’ new friend. :)

*~*~*

One day at school, the teachers asked if we wanted to go see a play/musical. Silke and I responded that we would love that if there are extra tickets. Turns out, the entire school was going to see Beauty and The Beast in the Operettszinhaz (a fairly big deal). It really looks like this on the inside. It was sooo beautiful!

Happy Thanksgiving! Boldog haladas!

Dear friends and family, I write this as you are all out doing your "Black Friday" shopping, just as the Americans and a couple Ukrainians are doing some shopping at the mall near my flat. Turns out that I still have a headache and I really want to enjoy my afternoon festivities, so I am back here, just taking it easy.

Yesterday was, honestly, a great day. Mostly the evening Thanksgiving festivities were notable. I feared that the meal itself would spark homesickness and sadness, and I was surprised when it didn't.

I had a German, Benjamin, ask what we were doing to celebrate Thanksgiving. When I told him that we had a 26-28 lb turkey and a lot of potatoes, vegetables, stuffing and pies galore, he couldn't believe it. "I thought that only happened in movies," was his response. "No, no," I told him. "We do celebrate it just like that. Then we take naps and/or watch/play football." Last night was actually a lot like that.

15 people - Dick and Carolyn Otterness, Kathy and Joe (PC USA missionaries), John (RGDTS coordinator), Alden (ELCA missionary), me and Jeff, 6 ELCA YAGM's (Kristy, Matt, and Emilie in Hungary... Sepp, Lisa and Emily in Slovakia) and Kristen (Matt's girlfriend who is teaching in Hungary) - 15 people gathered around the tables to enjoy a delicious meal and give thanks for the things we have even though far away from family and old friends. Celebrating with new friends was extremely intriguing - I wish we'd shared more Thanksgiving memories (I love to hear other family's holiday stories) but oh well...

Then Emilie, Sepp and I enjoyed a walk through the city after midnight and when we returned at 1a, the football game was about to start. Granted, not all of us stayed up to watch it, but there was even football at our celebration in Hungary! :)

I hope that all of your Thanksgiving celebrations were a time of joy and thankfulness - if you get a chance, drop me a comment or an email and let me know how it was. I love you and miss you all. I thank God for each of you and for the impacts you've had on my life.

*~*~*

Well, I have for you some pictures of the castle district without the kids - I took so many pictures, I decided to upload them into two different posts. Enjoy :)

Christmas, aches and castle explorations...

People keep asking what I want for Christmas. In the course of a week, 5 different people, for 5 different reasons, have asked for a wishlist.
Now, my family stands by wishlists – they’ve been a part of our Thanksgiving tradition for my entire adult life. Everyone makes a list and puts it on the refrigerator, then we kids all decide what we’re getting everyone. Usually Randy, my baby brother, is like, the moderator of the whole deal and makes sure we’re all getting something different. It’s pretty hardcore, if you ask me. We’re also pretty set in it and it’s good because I don’t know what else I would rely on as far as ideas… especially since I would rather get people something they really want and would use, instead of something they’re going to forget about.
So, I guess since Thanksgiving is in a couple days, I should probably start thinking about my wishlist. Yeah, this feels really vain, but at the same time, I haven’t really given those who have asked much to work with.

• socks – the more fun, the better – dollar stores have great selections – I’ve gone through 4 pairs of socks over here. I don’t know why and I don’t know where to get cheap ones over here yet
• Food – there’s a ‘fine foods’ market here where I can get pop-tarts, peanut butter, ranch dressing and cereal, but everything is about triple the price I would find in the states – microwave popcorn and any other snacks are things I don’t get for myself usually, so those are also a good idea.
• Camera batteries
• Instant coffee – there can’t be too much of this around here
• Personal care things – chapstick, q-tips, lotion, one of those collapsible laundry baskets, a small face cloth (mine went missing…)
• DVDs or DVDs uploaded to a flash drive are good ideas as well.
• Any letters/cards/pictures to decorate my wall
• Money – Visa gift cards or donations to my account because I still need to raise about $2000 in order to be squared away for this year

• Things for my ministry: arts/crafts supplies, games that don’t use a lot of words (Uno?), nail polish, puzzles, sticky tack for hanging things on the walls, pencils with erasers attached

It seems so weird to have “peanut butter” on my Christmas list. HAH! It’s a sad reality, but in all honesty, if everyone got me peanut butter and coffee for Christmas, I’d be a really happy Trazy :P

…

In other news, I felt like junk today. My whole body ached and I had a headache all day. There weren’t any other symptoms except for lack of appetite (until 5 minutes ago, when I wanted to clean out the kitchen!), so I’m not too concerned, just laying low today. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be all better and it was just a fluke.

*~*~*
Ladies and gentlemen, you might want to sit down for this… I have for you my first pictures WITH kids! :) Yeah, woah.
So, on Wednesdays, the Ferencvárosi Tanoda (my afternoon placement) takes a field trip. Last week, we went to the Budai Vár (Buda Castle). Okay, taking a group of kids anywhere is a treat, right? How about a group of really really obnoxious kids? Let’s just say that I would love to go back to the castle with some adults :P

Here we are riding up the Budai Var Siklo, a ski-lift meets train that takes you up. These are just the girls and a little dude, the boys are in another car.


And look! We all met at the top!


Here the kids are, playing on some ruins. Yeah, yeah, that’s definitely tilos (not allowed), but they’re doing it anyway. *sigh*


This is the whole group minus me in front of some castle. Very cool picture, because they all look like such ANGELS! :) hah!


Henni and some of the kids are exploring the castle – so cute :)

potty break!

So, I am actually going to write an update in this little 'update box' instead of writing it beforehand in Word and copying/pasting it. woah.

So today, Silke pointed out something very funny and sad at the same time. She asked, after I returned from the bathroom, "How was the teachers' bathroom?"
...
You see, we have been working at the Vörösmarty Iskola for exactly two months now (we bought our third monthly pass for the public transportation today). We were never really given a tour or told what to do as far as school system is concerned. We couldn't figure out how the teachers got coffee out of the coffee machine, when all we can get is juice, hot cocoa, tea and hot vanilla (num!)... I mean, I have an addiction. And when I press the magic button, I want coffee and not to be told to choose something else. Turns out there's a key that will enable the coffee selections. Great. Another thing we've just been doing is using the lanyok (girls') bathroom. We see the tanari (teacher's) bathroom, but they're always locked. Today, however, I discovered and used the key.
...
so, Silke asked, "How was the teachers' bathroom?" and then commented "we've been here two months and just learned how to go to the bathroom!" hah!

*~*~*

As many of you know, part of my being here is to work with St. Columba's and work to bring together the youth of that community. So far, we've had two events: movie (Wall-E) and bowling.
Here's a few of our crew taking each other on in a test of mad bowling skills.

Benny:


Veci:


Aaron:


Benny again:

shopping, space and a museum of agriculture...

Today, I ventured out with about $50 in search of a few things from the outlet mall. Yeah, I’m counting on some money for Christmas, so I decided to treat myself a little early and get some boots (much needed when walking throughout the city) and a winter purse. I also needed to get some new street shoes, but for right now, the boots will do just fine.
A couple weeks ago, Evelyn asked me to go shoe shopping. Now, it’s not everyday that I point out someone’s shoes and the next day they ask me to go shoe shopping with them. Pretty cool, I think. Anyway, I also asked one of the Hungarians that works in the ÖDÉ office where the best place to buy shoes is – she responded with the outlet mall in Budaörs. It’s outside of the city, but we got there on our city passes and with an extra Volanbusz ticket that cost 530HUF (about $2.95) for round trip. Not bad. Kinga also told me that we should make a day out of it, so we left at 11a.
Armed with 10.000HUF ($55.60), this is how today scored:
530 – bus ticket ($2.95)
1000 – Chinese fast food lunch ($5.60)
3000 – boots ($16.70)
350 – roasted chestnuts ($1.95)
4000 – purse ($22.25)
610 – hot chocolate afterwards ($3.40)
Not too shabby, eh?

Now I’m trying to settle down, but I’m realizing a new problem for me. I moved here after always having ‘my own space’ and tons of it. At Home Acres, I worked in my own space. At Multiband, I had a supervisor position, so a completely separate job from the people I oversaw and from my superiors. At home, I had my own room, bathroom and living room. I didn’t live next door to my friends, so I didn’t have them always around, but they were all close enough to hang out with when I wanted. But I could also find the space that I so often enjoyed.
Here, I have no space. At Vörösmarty, I work with Silke and other teachers (good, I can’t exactly have my own classroom). At St. Columba’s, I’m working with Aaron (good, cuz I don’t speak Hungarian and I don’t know the kids). At Ferencvárosi Tanoda, I am still relying on Helga a lot (for Hungarian interpretation and children’s behavior interpretation). At home, I live with three girls with no common space except the kitchen, so it’s either cramped in the kitchen or your bedroom… which I share for the first time in over 6 years. Now, it’s become interesting because everyone is in our room. I came home tonight to find Andrea on the internet, Silvia sitting on my bed and Silke sitting on her bed… all in the same room. Not a big deal, but after a long day of trying to communicate and have fun with someone that’s having a hard time here, I just wanted to sit and… well, be alone. I took my computer and went to Silvia and Andrea’s room. It’s funny because I think Silke has abandoned our room as well. So, right now, the only people in our room don’t actually live in the room they’re in. Oy. I might actually call the Otternesses tonight to see if it’d be okay if I crash at their place. We all go to church together in the morning anyway. It would be nice before everyone comes to our place this Wednesday night.
Oh yeah, I didn’t mention that. Thursday, Emese invited all the volunteers to come to Budapest for a one hour meeting with the Reformed Church in Hungary bishop and the Lutheran Church bishop of Hungary. Not a big deal, it’ll be cool to see everyone again. However, here’s the thing: everyone wants to stay with us. I might just switch places with someone – they come to Budapest, I go to a small village! :P just kidding… sorta.

*~*~*

These are some pictures of the Museum of Agriculture. It sounds lame, but the architecture on this building is beautiful. Maybe someday I’ll venture inside and see what it’s really all about. Lehet (maybe).

internet and recruitment...

The atmosphere in the flat has changed since internet has arrived – a new tension has arisen. We have gone from “what can we all do together?” to “when is it my turn to use the one cord?” It’s a little frustrating, but at the same time, not an extremely bad thing. It’s interesting to observe each person’s characteristics. I do believe that I have one roommate with a larger internet addiction than even me! Scary, I know! :P While I enjoy using the internet and can’t wait for the day when I can just let my computer sit on the kitchen table and chat with someone while making dinner, it’s not such a huge thing to be on it much. Plus, I am the only one who can, at the moment, use the internet after everyone else has gone to bed because the internet cord is right next to my bed (lucky me? But that’s exactly what I’m doing right now!)… However, this also means that I cannot go to bed until everyone’s internet time is done. I do believe that if this continues for a long time, we may need to put some restrictions in place (like no one in our room after 11p or no more than one hour at a time unless no one else is home)… I am enjoying the ability to get up, drink a cup of coffee and check the weather, though. I will take that convenience with some tension any day.

I am increasingly amused at how many recruitment events I have already attended here. It seems crazy that we need to recruit so many people, but at the same time, I am being taught about the culture here. Volunteerism is not so popular and so the idea of taking a year out of one’s life to get very little money seems absurd. Hence, the need for recruitment – convincing young adults that it is, in fact, a good idea :)

And now, it’s off to watch a couple episodes of Lost, pass out and teach school tomorrow. ‘Night y’all!

*~*~*

Another random building just down the street from me – could you imagine putting a loveseat against one of those windows, complete with a bunch of pillows and just sit there, reading/drinking coffee/people watching? *sigh* Ahhh…


Szábadsag Tér – we never did figure out what the big building is… quest for next time, I suppose.


The American Embassy. I’m about 87% sure that this picture is illegal. If you don’t hear from me for another week – I’m in Hungarian jail. Also just down the street from my flat, so I didn’t go far, but not at my placement… Sorry kids!


I love the streets of Budapest. It’s a great place to just walk on quiet Sunday afternoons :)


This is St. Stephen’s Basilica. It’s enormous. Apparently, there is St. Stephen’s mummified hand. That’s disgusting, but someday I will go investigate. Promise.

a morning post :)

On Monday evening, I came home… exhausted from work and frustrated with the way things seemed to be going. I walked into my room to find something to be put in a frame and remembered (if for nothing else, the joy that it brought to my face, heart and feet… because I srsly started dancing, just ask Andrea!)… MY FIRST LETTER FROM HOME! Haha!
Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not the first mail I’ve received in Hungary. I’ve gotten some kind of ‘junk-mail-but-not-junk’ mail from the RCA as well as 2 packets of support letters from the RCA missionaries around the world. They’ve been great, but they aren’t exactly the kind of mail for which I jump up and down.
I held onto the letter, knowing that it was sent with love from my mommy. But wait, there’s more – it wasn’t just a card/letter, there was something inside. Probably something magical and wonderful! I was right – I tore open the envelope to find a card and some VIA – Starbucks Instant Coffee. So, after many tears and reading the card over and over again, my stressful, long day ended with much joy. Thanks, Mommy!

I am at the point where I am beginning to miss home again. I’ve been back for a month now, and it’s the time of year when I got to see my family a lot. In a week, we’d be making Thanksgiving preparations… then everyone would be coming for Thanksgiving and we’d be talking about who wants what for Christmas… then my mom, sister and I would do the Black Friday shopping extravaganza… then there would be the Advent season with church and Christmas decorations and celebrations and… hmmm… it’s just not going to be the same this year.

Péter, one of my friends, put it a great way – “[I’ve] already experienced 26 American Christmases, it’s time to experience a Hungarian Christmas.” It’s true. I just don’t really want to celebrate it apart from family and friends.
Speaking of Christmas, I have received a lot of questions asking what I’m doing… but no invitations yet. Hopefully that will become concrete before the 24th of December :) See! I can adapt to the Hungarian schedule of things! I can! I can!

I also have to say hello to Mrs. Lampen – whom has been a faithful reader, but was apparently a bit concerned when I didn’t update for an entire week. I love you, too, Mrs. Lampen! Thanks for your concern and I am glad to have your prayers and support!

I could go on and on with personal shout-outs, but that’s quite enough of a blog post for today. Goodbye, friends!

*~*~*

This is Ellit(?) and Misi, stirring the great big pot of pasta at the Golgotha Mission. This pasta will serve more than 70 people that would have otherwise gone without on a cold Autumn day.


This is a look down Andrassy Ut, one of the main shopping streets. It runs between Heroes Square (the statue at the end of the street) and Deák Ferenc Ter (the city center/where all the Metro lines meet). Luckily for me, I took this on my walk home from the school/Tree Hugger Dan’s (the English, secondhand bookstore).


This is a view of my school – I’ve been reluctant to take pictures of my school or projects because of the importance to build up trust/relationship with people before snapping pictures all over the place… plus, I have a whole year to take pictures! Anyway, this is taken from a window in the St. Columba’s Church, so you can see that they really are connected… The small windows under the basketball hoops are the teachers’ cafeteria, where Silke and I eat lunch every day.


Matt and Kristin (Matt’s girlfriend from the states, who is also in Hungary teaching English) came over this last Sunday before church and cooked French toast. Kristin even brought MAPLE SYRUP. It was pretty amazing and definitely picture worthy.


This is just a random building not far from my flat with some pretty architecture. Someone once told me that Hungarians have the belief “why make straight lines when you can make curves?” and I totally believe it. It makes for some beautiful buildings :)

a small update... and a post written yesterday...

first, an update from today:
we have internet in our flat. I'm writing to you from the comforts of my own bedroom. aw, yeah.
also, please keep in your prayers the Knauert family- Leigh, Lilly, David, Peter and Harrison - I met them while at my orientation in Chicago. here is the announcement from the PC-USA mission news - http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09993.htm

second, an update written yesterday:

This is our last evening without internet at our flat. Wow. I feel like a milestone will be reached tomorrow afternoon. Today has been a long day and I probably should have gone to bed a lot earlier than I did last night. Whoops… but I was just so into my phone calls. I mean, between all three of the greatest friends in the world, the only other person I wanted to call was my mommy, but she’s been traveling this week.

This week, I am teaching about Thanksgiving at the school – please if you have any Thanksgiving pictures, send them to trazylyn@gmail.com – I would love to add them to my presentations. Next week is actually Thanksgiving. All of the North Americans will be coming together and Dick and Carolyn Otterness’ flat to share a meal together. There are volunteers coming from Slovakia, as well as the volunteers in Hungary. There is some guy that’s semi-important in the ELCA coming. There are a few other American friends that have also been invited along. It should be a great time of hanging out :)

Some of you have asked about budgeting over here. Let’s be honest, now, eh? So, I get 40,000HUF each month… that equals out to about $5 a day. My budget has been worked out to be weekly because it’s easiest to just go shopping every week. It is as follows:
10,000HUF
-1000HUF for tithe (about $5.45)
-1000HUF for savings (about $5.45)
-2000HUF for Saturday (lunch/extra shopping) (about $10.90)
-6000HUF for groceries and weekly necessities (about $32.70)
In all honesty, it should be enough, but there are some things to factor in here. My main meal everyday is covered, so I only need to buy food for breakfast and lunch. Not a big deal, as that equals about 2500HUF (about $13.60) every week for all those meals… so we’re down to 3500HUF (about $19) spending money. Factor in that I’m a coffee addict and we’re down to about 2500HUF. Then add in that you have to have pre-paid minutes on your phone and then if you want to do anything special for any of the meals (like cook for your roommates or for the boys), or if you want to travel… or say, if you need new shoes… and your money is shot (or like more than shot). Good thing? Train travel is fairly cheap (about 4000HUF/$21.75 round trip to Kristy’s village), but it is a huge amount of my weekly budget… plus, if I travel, I don’t get meals at the school then, so it will cost me in food.
So, I guess to sum it all up – I’m back to living paycheck to paycheck… and I am getting used to budgeting, but finding it difficult.

Life is good and hopefully my next update will be from my own home, on a wired internet connection… chilling in my kitchen :) Cheers, mates!

*~*~*

A couple weeks ago, Kristy and Matt and I woke up at 4:45a to catch the sunrise from Citadella. You can see in the first picture that it was fairly dark when we began our hike around 5:45a (it took an hour to get ready, meet Matt and commute). This is a statue of St. Istvan. I took this picture thinking it was Gellert, a missionary sent to this hill to evangelize to the wild people that lived here. Apparently it was all going well until the people that lived on the hill decided that they didn’t like him and threw him off. He died and the people that sent him decided to call the hill, Gellert Hill. Then in 1851, they built Citadella on this hill. So, really, it was his hill first and it should have been his statue... but whatever.


By the time we reached the top of the hill, the sun had risen and we had missed it – turns out that it was very cloudy and it just got lighter as time passed, but we never witnessed the sun actually rising. Fail.
Pass – check out the pretty fall colors on the Buda side! :)


These are some of the steps we encountered on our hike. Most of the area was very nice with widely paved paths and stairs – but this particular section is older and maybe a little intimidating, but also cute and picturesque. I couldn’t resist :P


I don’t know if you remember my previous pictures from the top of this hill, but if you want, you can scroll to the other posts and check it out. This is a picture of what Budapest looked like 159 years ago. Compared to today --- wow. You can see the one bridge – the Chain bridge – in the picture. That was the first bridge to connect Buda and Pest to form Budapest. And tada! There you have your history lesson for the day! :)

OLD post

So, long time no post. Check this out – there are some major updates! Yay!

First of all, I will be submitting to Emese a schedule at the end of the week – this will have the tentative days that I will be at the school, the days that I will be at the tanoda, the days that I will be at the mission and the days I work with the teens at St. Columba’s. I do believe that I am going to have time for all four. This is probably the greatest thing – because they are all different. The school has me usually teaching English and helping only the students in the English class. It’s a great starting point for overseas mission because a lot of projects begin as language lessons. The tanoda is an afterschool program for primarily Roma children. I am not only helping with English homework, but also math. It’s actually a lot like the DOCK, so I have Wayne O. and the K-ville kids to thank for training me in this placement. The kids are NAUGHTY like woah and it’s not a church organization, but it’s great and I enjoy being there. The mission is working with other people on the fringes – those without a home. The purpose there is for me to truly share God’s love. The teens at St. Columba’s isn’t technically a placement… then again, what really is? So, while that schedule doesn’t really matter to Emese, it matters to me and to this blog (I am totally posting my schedule here when I figure it out, too :D) These teens are some refugees and some Hungarians – led by two crazy Americans (Pastor Aaron and I). It has potential to be a great time. I’m pretty pumped. I’m worried because I wonder how on earth I’m going to ever meet these kids where they are… but then again, I’ve worked with kids from the ghetto before and I haven’t ever lived there… somehow God has a way of bringing us all together… to common ground, to Holy ground…

Second important bit of information: Health. I have had more migraines here in the last two months than I have ever had in a two month period (I blame the stress of constant translation). I have been sick twice (but not recently, thank God). I am either extremely fatigued or can’t sleep, but never in between. There’s the toothache, which hasn’t been taken care of yet, but is not an ‘ache’ anymore. I feel like I’m falling apart health-wise. That’s not good. Please continue to pray for health and strength.

Thirdly, and probably most exciting? We are getting internet in our flat. On Tuesday, we’ll be getting one line installed… then, hopefully soon after, we’ll be getting wireless. w00t! I am excited! :) Finally I can actually start scheduling Skype dates and actually respond to emails with more than just one sentence!! Hah!
Well, this probably won’t be the last update on borrowed internet, but until then – viszontlátásra.

*~*~*

On October 25th, 1956 …
(taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_events_of_the_Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956)
On October 25 a crowd of thousands at the Budapest city centre's Astoria juncture made friends with the crew of a Russian tank row and pinned Hungarian flags on the tanks. When the people saw Russian tanks approaching from another direction with Hungarian flags on them, the word spread in the crowd: “The revolution has won!” Hours later dozens of people died and hundreds were injured at the Parliament building when persons still not identified, and (in a subsequent onslaught) Soviet tanks opened fire on the people, part of whom had arrived from Astoria. At the nearby Communist Party national headquarters also wild shooting started among various Hungarian and Soviet units. Rounds by a Soviet tank hit the party meeting room where top party leaders were negotiating with Soviet comrades including Malenkov. The party officials fled into the cellar.
for more important events - check out the above link.

On that day this last month, Kristy, Matt, Silke and I just happened to be wandering around town. We came to the Parliament building and noticed that beneath the flame, there were soldiers standing guard and a large sign. The sign explained the events of this day, which was great because we had no idea. Then more soldiers started coming out – we were about to witness ‘the changing of the guards’. Score! And now, you get to witness it.

half-update and a castle...

Here’s a half-update on the placement situation.
Friday afternoon, I enjoyed a nice macchiato (NOT like Starbucks, but better – it’s a shot of espresso with foam on top, and yes, I knew that before I ordered it) with Emese, the director of Önkentes Diakóniai Év (ÖDÉ). I wrote down everything that I could think of as a plan. She took it and said it’s a possibility, and understands my frustration with the school. She said, however, that there is another project she’d like me to check out before I commit myself to the mission. It’s a tanoda, an afterschool program, for students. It sounds promising.
What would it be? Well, in Hungary, private tutors are really popular and most students have them (the kids at Vörösmarty don’t, which is why they offer afterschool hours). However, for the poorer students, this is just not an option. Thus, a tanoda program begins that offers cheap or free tutors. Matt, the other American volunteer in Budapest, works for a tanoda, tutoring English and French. It’s only afterschool, which means that it wouldn’t be starting until 2p-ish. (yay sleeping in! or not…) Actually, that means that I could still work at the mission in the mornings in my own time. It’d make for long days, but I would never EVER be bored.
For me, it’s possible to change my placement as long as I’m working with Roma (there are a few at the mission, too, but it’s not quite the vision that Emese has for me). For Silke, it is not possible to change her placement because she is here with European Voluntary Service (EVS), so she has to remain in Vörösmarty for at least the majority of her time. Which is sad, but that leads me to my other point of interest. We have meetings set up this week like woah… well, two meetings like woah.
Monday morning, we have a meeting at the tanoda to see what our involvement there might be like. Tuesday morning, we have a meeting at Vörösmarty Iskola to see what could be improved there.
As happy as I was at the mission, I understand Emese’s vision and that there are a lot of logistical things that come with changing a placement. So, please be continuing to pray for guidance and leading and open doors.

*~*~*

These are pictures from a castle in the middle of Városliget (city park). Upon investigation (inquiry with Dick and Carolyn Otterness), I found out that is it not actually a real castle, but an art project of sorts. Fake or not, it’s pretty and cute and something that you might have actually seen back in the day in Europe.
In the one archway, you can see Jesus and his 12 disciples. The sanctuary behind the door was open and available to tour for 100HUF (about 55 cents) but we decided that that was expense we didn’t need to splurge on. Maybe later in the year when I need a cheap excursion by myself?
My favorite part was the real iron gate leading out to an actual bridge – makes you stop and wonder if it was actually fake or was it once a real iron gate on a castle somewhere… hmmm…

today was a good day... thank You, Jezús!

I haven’t stopped smiling since 7a this morning. I kid you not. Thank you, Jesus, for a great day. Thank you, Jesus, for a place where I felt welcome from the first moment (complete with a cup of coffee!).

Today, I went to the Golgotha Mission. I was greeted at the door by a boy who didn’t speak much English, but he asked if I wanted coffee then told me that Eve, the girl who speaks wonderful English, would be there in 10-20 minutes. I had to smile because I would have understood this in Hungarian, but he tried really hard to say it in English. So, I sat in the ‘staff’ room and waited for Eve.
Upon her arrival, I got put to work… like, actual work! I put some nut cream on pieces of bread and made sandwiches. Then, I got to do the same thing with zsír (fat). When all the bread had been used, they told me that I got to sit down and eat some breakfast. It was then that I noticed sandwiches were disappearing and people were pouring in. During breakfast, this small mission serves between 150 and 200 people! After finishing with my food, I went out and helped hand out sandwiches and tissues and yogurt to people. Even I can say “tessék” (please/take) and “egességedre” (for your health) and “szívessen” (you’re welcome/with pleasure). Eve showed me around the basic functions of the mission.
Before long, I was taken upstairs to the office, where I met Zsólt (the guy I’d spoken to before) and apparently there was a meeting at 1:30p with a guy who wants to give the mission 8,000,000HUF (about $45,000). This is a HUGE amount of money for this mission and a few people (Zsólt, Ellet? – the head cook, Eve and I) were meeting to pray about the meeting. It was great because they even involved me and asked me to pray along with them (in English, of course).
Then it was back downstairs to continue handing out food. At 10a, they stop serving breakfast and a few people stuck around to do laundry, take showers and just be warm while watching TV. Apparently during this time, they often have a small sermon or an English class or a skill class, which is where they’re hoping to use me.
At 11:30a, lunch is served. There are two lunch shifts with only 30 people each, with a waiting list as well. They don’t turn anyone away, but they can only offer a hot meal to about 70 people (30 x 2 shifts, plus workers, plus a few random extras thrown in). I was asked to bless the food (with translation by Eve) at each meal, and then got to hand out necessities (apples, tissues, multivitamins and bread) for the weekend.
At 1p, clean up begins. Even sweeping the floors was great. At 1:30p, we were finished.

The only bad part about today? Someone ran into me on the bus and I fell back against a seat. My camera was in my pocket and smashed against the metal part and even though it was in its case, I knew it wouldn’t be good because my leg hurt like woah… yup. Camera screen is dead. I mean, it still takes pictures, but you can’t really see what they look like until you upload them to the computer. Hmmm… thank goodness I got the cheapest camera, I guess.
But in all honesty, that didn’t even wreck my day. Now I can’t wait to meet with Emese to talk about how to do everything. She’s supposed to call me when she’s available this afternoon. So, of course, I couldn’t have hit the metal bar on the side with my cheap phone in my pocket! :P Go figure, eh?

*~*~*

I have four pictures of Sárszentlörinc, where Kristy lives. It’s interesting to note that in many European villages, the church is the focal point of the village. This holds true with this village as well.
Viszontlátásra! (Goodbye!)

oh, Happy Day!

***EDIT*** i promised myself that I would blog uncensored, and as much as I wanted to delete the first part of this post, I'm not going to. please just keep reading, because it reaches a rather delightful note at the end. thanks.

So, you wanna know what’s cool? We were actually told yesterday that “we have nothing for you tomorrow.” Um… okay… cool. WHY AM I HERE? I am becoming more and more frustrated as the weeks pass by. I mean, I dunno, if I were the headmaster of a school and I told people that I wanted volunteers, but then the volunteers’ coordinator told me that they were bored and wanted to be used… I think I would make sure they weren’t bored in the future, even if we didn’t speak the same language. LET ME CLEAN TOILETS if there’s nothing else. (okay, so I don’t mean that seriously, but yet… I do… if that’s where they needed help, I would do it… honestly…)
Yes, part of this could be me not saying to the headmaster that I need something to do, but there’s the problem of communication and the English teachers don’t really seem to know/care/worry about us filling our time.

So, here I sit at home. We’re going to go to the school to eat lunch and then I’m probably going to go talk to Aaron. I need to figure out what the dealio with Sunday lunch is (Matt and I volunteered to cook the ‘after church lunch’ for about 30 people this next Sunday) and how it works. Apparently there’s a budget for it (7000Huf = about $40), so that’s super nice, but figuring out all those logistics will be fun. Then I will head off to Calvary Chapel to meet Szillard, the dude who works at a homeless shelter in town.
Time spent at placement? 45 minutes to eat lunch. Score… not.

***UPDATE***
So, I met with Szilard and Zsolt about the mission run by Calvary Chapel here in Budapest. After a few minutes of meeting, some great things were revealed to me. First of all, they work 7 hour days... 7 x 5 = 35, the exact amount of hours I need at a placement. Second of all, they serve many meals and if I can't switch placements, there may be an opportunity to serve meals in the evenings as well. Thirdly, they used to have an English class for those wishing to improve their abilities, but the teacher went home, but they've been praying for another native speaker to join the ranks and do this again.
Then a personal story was brought up. A woman needs not only an English tutor because she needs to take an exam, but also has walked away from God. Perhaps this is an opportunity for me... it's a LOT to pray about, but I left that meeting EXCITED about the things that could come to be.
That evening, I met Eve, a girl that speaks English and works at the mission and I am joining her at 7a on Friday morning. YAY! Turns out, they are going to be short staffed that day and needed an extra hand... and I needed someone to show me the ropes and introduce me to the mission.
God is a'workin!

Oh my goodness, it was a great day afterall!

*~*~*

This is another set of pictures of random sights around my home city, Budapest. This is one of the bridges, which at night, looks pretty sweet. The moon was amazing this evening, too!


I wanna say that this was earlier the same night because the moon looks pretty sweet in this picture too. Can you find it? The bridge in the picture is the ol’ chain bridge. You can also see some cruises, some buildings on the Pest side and some great Hungarian graffiti.


I thought for about 10 seconds that there was a bus in the water and I panicked. Then I realized that it was indeed floating and causing a wake. Not a bus, but a bus-shaped boat! I think that’s pretty cool. The bridge in this picture is Margit Híd and you can also get a glimpse of the Buda Hills.


Hah. I used to work for Manpower back in the day. Apparently I can continue over here. Awesome.


This is another picture of Freedom Square. You can see a dome of Parliament in the background, but you can also see some of the beautiful architecture that is right down the street from where I live. I know you’re jealous :)