The Terézvárosi Gyerekház

I realized that I've never shared much about my morning work since I started there. So, since the weather is beautiful and I would much rather be outside drinking my coffee, I'll make this short.

It hasn't always been easy work or even fun work, but when the kids come, they really do make me smile :)

This is the painting on the wall when you enter. It's Tamás the train. the B/K in the upper left stands for Biztos Kezdet (Safe Hands). That is the organization/program that the childrens' house works under. It is also the same program that Jeff's childrens' house is with, so that is kinda cool - the RCA is working with Biztos Kezdet :)


This is Balázs, one of the kids who comes quite regularly.


Balázs has a twin sister: Anna. On many days, they are the only kids we have, which is okay because they're cute and fun and manageable (with 4 adults) :P


and one day, we got there and it was just Balázs and Anna, so we decided to decorate some eggs :) these are blown out eggs, then dyed, then beaded with glue. These are very typical Easter crafts for Hungary, so it was fun to participate :)

¤ Lilacs ¤

there's something about spring that just gets me every year. It's some sunshine mixed with warmth, add a few cool breezes and green leaves that were missed during winter's chill. Most of all, it's your bloom that carries me away.
I get caught up in your beauty - the way you always hold yourself up so high, each part of you is perfect. Your buds are each shaped in the perfection only God can paint. Your colors are as diverse as the fish in the sea or the faces in the world around me.
I get caught up in your smell. It takes me away to days of innocence - days of building forts in your trees back on the farm - days of learning what it meant to be free - the hard summer lessons of stealing and sex mixed in with the even harder winter lessons of work and death.
When I take your smell, it lifts my soul while sinking my heart. Your beauty and smell are reminders of pain as well. You can't take away this pain no matter how many times I ask you to do so. You can't erase the memories of coming home to a house filled with lilacs after a particularly stressful week in May. You can't erase the moments when you spoke more words than red roses or when your smell covered up all the worries and problems of life.
Those moments aren't pain, but the pain is that just as you leave each summer, these moments left. Unlike you, they will never bloom again. There is no revival, no spring for them - buried under years of winter, they will never be reborn.
So, when I walk past you each day, I can't help but stop and listen and breathe you in. Those moments rush through me and I, for one minute every day, feel alive again.

*~*~*

Castles in the north of Hungary...

driving along with Joe Angi, we stumbled upon this castle nestled away, run down and nearly unrecognizable as a castle.



this beauty stands proudly in the middle of a valley - maybe someday I'll take a few hours and explore it :)

a visitor from Japan?!

I realized that I seemingly skipped over a pretty major event here in Hungary. Actually, I've skipped a couple, but we'll get to them, I promise.
I'm attempting to keep my blog posts short with lots of pictures for you, my awesome supporters... but sometimes I get caught in moments and get backlogged with stories and pictures. Unfortunately, this is what happened to this post. Sorry, Katharine!

In July, as many of you may remember, I had a 2 week training in Chicago. Upon arrival, I'd met Jay, Jeff and Don... but there was word of this one girl coming. Her name: Katharine. Destination: Japan. and... she was my suitemate for the 2 weeks.

After spending two weeks with people for non-stop, as you can imagine, us young people grew quite close. It seemed like Jeff, Katharine and I were quite the trio and we had a lot of fun together. In what I took as good intentions, but never thought I'd see them realized, Katharine said that she'd come and visit us in Hungary. Her situation is a bit different and so she is able to afford some traveling, but still... Japan to Hungary is a LONG way.

Then, when we got to Hungary, the conversation continued. Even after she bought the tickets, there were things that came up that made it a little unbelievable. However, Katharine landed in Budapest on April 19th and the next 5 days were nothing short of awesome.

Jeff and I waited at the wrong terminal for her, of course. After realizing this, we nearly ran to the other one and she was just getting out of the arrival gate when we got there.


From Budapest, we left the next morning and went to Jeff's town, Nyírtelek, where we spent two days exploring and getting a taste of his life.


Jeff's church...


we even got to hang out with a Roma family!


Then we came back to Budapest, for 2 days of packed sightseeing and great company. Aside from RCA related visits, Katharine is my visitor this year. And, as a connection from home, it's funny to think that we only knew each other a month before we spread out around the world. It's great to know that some friendships just don't take long to nurture and yet can be some of the most amazing friendships of your life.

How can you wrap your mind around some things?

Many of you may start to realize that I haven't talked a lot about my visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau. It's not because I didn't take pictures, because I did. It's not because I don't want to talk about it, because I will... at some point. However, there are some things in life which cannot be immediately digested and discussed and processed as quickly as surface level experiences. There are things that tug at your heart for weeks and months.

At which point do I feel like I can discuss things publicly? When I have fully processed them myself.

With that being said, I'm home from the Ukraine. There are a lot of things that I saw that won't be immediately discussed here because I'm still processing, still trying to figure out my reaction. So, instead of discussing, here are some really random pictures.

*~*~*

This is a Hungarian cemetary. Take note of the way graves are marked in cement above ground. Obviously not all of their casket is above ground, but you can definitely see each body's space. Also, note the boxes. I'm ASSUMING these are for those cremated or for bodies that were unrecoverable. Also, take note of the amount of decoration on both types of remembrance plots. So pretty!


Picture this: land in Krakow, Poland after 7 hour bus ride. We're hungry. We wee a place that's advertising food and it looks good. I see a cheeseburger on the menu, but I speak NO Polish. The lady at the window speaks NO English. This is what I got. A cheeseburger with coleslaw on it. Honestly, it wasn't bad.


Hehe... "Enter and your own risk." Nope. "Enter on your own risk." Nope. "Enter at your own risk." oh! Got it now!


Click on this one to make it bigger. Just days after the Polish president died in a plane crash, the world mourned with Poland over another tragedy. During World War 2, the Katyn Forest in Russia became the sight of a massacre of Polish officers and other citizens in an attempt to eliminate entirely the educated population of Poland. Hungary joined Poland in their mourning one Saturday and this was the scene at the Parliament.


... sometimes you just need to stop and appreciate the beauty that a few tulips can bring ... (Krakow, Poland)

Kinda big update...

So, I told myself I wouldn't update again until after I got back from the Ukraine. However, yesterday we received some rather large news.

On Monday, Silke comes home...
on Tuesday, Andrea leaves.

Andrea, one of my flatmates, will be returning to Romania to look for a job. She won't be returning to Budapest. It's sad, but also we have to remember that if this is what God has called her to do, this is where she NEEDS to be.

Please pray for Andrea as she spends her last weekend in Budapest and prepares to make her journey home. Also, continue to pray for her - that she will find work and that she will be able to decipher God's call on her life.

*~*~*

Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland is a place of great significance to the Polish people. Archaeological findings suggest that the castle was first settled in the 4th century, although the castle that stands today was started in the 9th century. The cathedral began in 1018. In 1038, Krakow became the royal seat of Poland. In 1306, a fire destroyed part of the cathedral. In the early 1500s, the royal seat was completely rebuilt during a very prosperous time. In 1595, another fire destroyed parts of the castle. In 1795, Austrians took it over. 110 years later, in 1905, the Austrians left and restoration began.

Alen and I didn't get much of a chance to explore since we got there around closing time, but it was still pretty sweet!

the view from the castle...




Smok Wawelski, also known as The Dragon of Wawel Hill - who is very famous in Polish folklore




:) I found the SECRET GARDEN!


uh... hmmm... now what? we're locked in? oh, wait... servants exit to the left. Apparently we're not royal enough to go out the real gate :P

Another trip, a roommate returning and finances...

I haven't been able to catch up on all my Krakow stories (more coming after this short text entry), and I'm already leaving the country again. This time, I'm traveling with ÖDÉ (Emese and Gyüri and an incoming volunteer) to Transcarpathia, Ukraine. This is significant because I will cross REAL borders for the first time since arriving (compare it to the Mexican/US border) as the Ukraine isn't part of the European Union, which has countries without borders. It's also a free trip, which is always good. And, I'll get to see another culture for a couple days. So, I won't be around Sunday morning until Monday night :) As always, the computer stays home during travels.

My roommate, Silke, will be returning on Monday. Doctors have decided to postpone surgery on her ACL until August, when she returns to Germany after her volunteer year. She can't walk as well as she used to, but at least she can walk again. I'm looking forward to her return, for sure.

I want to give you a brief update on my financial situation. Many of you know I came here needing to raise $12,466... and hadn't raised all of it before stepping on the plane. As the time ticks by, I'm realizing that I'm only going to be here for 3 more months and I still have $1,451 to raise. Here in Hungary, for your taxes, you can donate 2% of your taxes to a charity. For those of you who received/are receiving tax returns, can I challenge you with something? What about donating 2% of your tax return to global missions? There are a lot of us out there who are just trusting that God will provide and He always has provided through people like you. To invest in a global missionary is to invest in the lives of many many people. If you're interested in giving to the RCA or to my fund, please visit www.rca.org/volunteers - click on ‘donate’ and if you wish, you can select my name from the list. Otherwise, you can send a check to the following address - just put my name/or another missionary's name in the memo section and it will get to me. Thank you, in advance, for helping to advance God’s kingdom. Together, God is using us to do His good and perfect will. Checks should be made payable to “RCA Mission Volunteer Program” and sent to:
Reformed Church of America
PO Box 19381
Newark, NJ 07195-1938



*~*~*

Adventures in Krakow

A building in the old Jewish Quarter in Krakow. It was strange to walk those streets and think that 60 years ago, people were pulled out of those buildings to their deaths.


This is the Church of St. Joseph of Podgórze in Kraków, built in 1909


your average street in Krakow - it's so cute and "European!"


The main square - it included a market, a Polish guy singing country songs, moving statues, and all kinds of other things to just watch. it was great!


these guys were making music in the street - quite possibly some of the best street musicians I've ever heard. Plus, they look cool :)


this is how far away from two homes that I am... 7400km to Rochester, NY... 295km to Budapest.


and of course, the best discovery in Krakow: Mountain Dew. Many of you know that I was an avid Mtn Dew drinker before leaving... and I had yet to even find one here in Europe. Well, mission accomplished. However, I probably won't be drinking another one from Poland. It was like pure sugar water (more so than American Mtn. Dew)! Ewww! Plus, it creepily glowed. Um... no thanks!

Velky Slavkov, Slovakia

One of the great things about being here with this program is that I work with people from around the world working in similar situations, even in different countries. Through Dick and Carolyn Otterness, who also work alongside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program, I've had a chance to meet and befriend 7 other young adults from the US and Canada. 3 of these volunteers are currently working in Slovakia. One of them, a man named Sepp, is working in a little village called Velky Slavkov, Slovakia. On my return from Poland, I took two extra days and visited his home there.

Sepp has been pretty isolated most of this year because he is alone in his village, so this was a great chance to remind him that he's not alone in the mission. His job is with a home for men coming out of orphanages. Because these men haven't had their parents raise them, they lack social skills, work skills, and other life skills (how to cook, clean, manage money, etc.) Most of the men in the home are Roma (Gypsy) men. The 20 guys live together and share many rooms in a big house. They have chores around the house (cooking and cleaning). They also have work that they go to everyday. This work pays them so that they can start to get themselves on their feet and make something of themselves. Sepp is at the home to motivate, to encourage and to help them in any way. He has organized trips to the local water park and has taken on some projects (like landscaping behind the house) with the guys to teach them other skills and to encourage good use of free time. While I was there, it was the weekend, so I only had the opportunity to visit the home, but to see the reception that Sepp gets there, I know he's playing a good part in their lives.

Sepp lives in an old retreat center or hotel. It has about 12 different rooms, all with lots of beds in them much like you would expect at a retreat lodge. However, with all those rooms, only 3 or 4 of them are occupied. 2 are occupied by small families and 1 is occupied by an older man whom I didn't hear speak the entire time. Because of the age differences, it's easy to see how loneliness can be an issue. Aside from the kitchen and shower space, Sepp has his own space, which is sweet. Plus, it's easy for him to host guests with all those extra rooms! :)

One of the most amazing things is the location. I always fall in love with my city when I see it with someone new... or when I see it from another perspective. However, I'm not sure that will happen again after seeing the view from my window on the mornings I stayed there.

Well, have a look for yourself:

the view from the window where I stayed. Yes, those are mountains... the Tatra Mountains to be exact.


goats!


duck chase! (this is one of the boys whose family also lives in the building.)


a view of the village from a window in the home where Sepp works


the church... and on top, you can see a bird that we don't have in the US: a STORK! yes, storks live in Slovakia and Hungary. We named these two (they mate for life) Roni and Pat - not sure who this one is, but then again, that's why we chose names that could be a boy or a girl... we couldn't tell them apart.

Who's Alen? What's "couchsurfing?"

A few years ago, I heard about a website called couchsurfing.com and I decided to join in case I wanted to travel somewhere or anyone wanted to travel to Grand Rapids. As you can imagine, no one really wanted to come to Grand Rapids, so I nearly forgot about it altogether. When I got to Europe, though, everyone who wants to travel right talks about couchsurfing.
Basically, you create a profile, offer some space on a couch/extra bed/floor/etc or offer to show people around. Through this site, you can also seek out people in places you want to travel. You stay there and avoid ho(s)tel costs, and you also get an inside look to the city. As many of you know, when you stay in a ho(s)tel, you only get to know other people staying there.

Let's take Alen, for instance. Alen is a young man from California who is now studying in London. For Easter Break, Alen decides he's doing a roadtrip through Central/Eastern Europe with a major bus line here. He is coming to Budapest and needs a place to crash, so he gets on couchsurfing and posts a message, asking for a place to stay.
I, being an awesome person, respond to his post because all of my roommates have disappeared for Easter weekend. I offer him a place to crash and some tourist-y type advice and occasional company.

So, Alen came to my flat and immediately we head out in search of food. After enjoying a good Turkish meal and some great conversation, the topic of future travels comes up. Alen is planning to go to Romania and then to Krakow and Oswiecim in Poland to see Auschwitz. At which point, I am blown away because the very weekend that he is planning to go is the very weekend I had originally planned to travel there myself. Unfortunately, I had postponed my trip due to lack of travel companion (and now, you see where this is going!) One thing led to another and before I knew it, I canceled any plans I'd made for later in the week and started trying to find places to stay in Krakow.

Alen canceled his plans to Romania because of the distance, time and money needed to get to Bucharest, his hopeful destination. So instead, Alen hangs out a few more days in Budapest. He got to see my placement and join me for my birthday party, so he got a good taste of what it's like to be a volunteer here.

Then we headed off. 7 hour bus ride to Krakow... check. Couchsurfing host... check. we stayed in the flat of another person like me who was offering a place to crash for two nights. It was a good experience and being my first time ever couchsurfing, I was definitely glad to have done it with someone else.
Stories from Krakow and Oswiecim will come later (when I get my pictures and thoughts organize).
Then after 2 days in Krakow, we said goodbye. After spending almost a week with one person, you learn a lot about that person and also about yourself. We have some crazy travel plans for the future that hopefully work out. It'd be funny to have a permanent travel companion :)

And of course, questions have been raised about the fact that he's a boy and I'm a girl. we loved that question. can't a boy and a girl just hang out anymore? yes, yes, we can and we did. So, if you see glimpses of this guy in the future, you'll know how we met. I also wanted to make sure that this was written down somewhere so that I never forget the randomness of it. :) So good!

*~*~*

A step into the past - Alen and I went on an Easter Monday excursion to The Szentendre Skanzen, an outdoor museum north of Budapest. Look at what we found!

NOT a Trazy-sized windmill! :P


I'm still curious how short people actually got INTO those beds! Look at how high they are! I'm picturing it like this "Hey! I wanna go to bed - bring me the ladder!" Or maybe one of those little staircases like they use for dogs to get into beds.


aw, so romantic! an old well!


you have to click on this one to see it - but look! thatch roofs!


Alen's goofing off by the bell tower :P


pretty girls in folk costumes


outdoor ovens. some like these are still used in the summer so that the whole house doesn't heat up.


more thatch roof homes in the village...



the church is part of the museum that we didn't get to - it was too rainy and we didn't get there very early.


a shot of the windmill from far away


uhhh... okay... i'm gonna take a guess and say it's NOT normal to keep a casket in your barn, even in Hungary. i could be wrong, but that seems almost too strange.


then again, these are some crazy looking goats. I don't think it's normal to keep them either... alas, they provided us with some good laughs because in order to get to the goats, we nearly fell into the mud a few times.
Yes, Alen, it was worth it. It's always worth it if laughter is involved.

Politics in Hungary

Many of you may follow the news and top stories around the world. On Sunday, we had a top story happen here in Hungary: Elections.

You see, the last four years have been run by the Hungarian Socialist Party (M.Sz.P.) and the people have grown increasingly frustrated with the corruption and injustices happening across Hungary. Because of this, it was a fairly good chance that they wouldn't be re-elected.
(remind anyone else of another recent election?)
At any point, there were a good number of other parties vying for seats in the Parlament. You have the MSzP, Fidesz (they say right-wing, but their beliefs are more aligned to the left-wing in the states), Jobbik (the FAR-right aka the 'real Hungarians' aka the group we were worried about), the Green party equivalent and a small party, which was actually a combination of a small right wing and small left wing party (yeah, go figure, eh?)
Anyway, there was quite a bit of stress around this election. One reason is that MSzP lost supporters and everyone was worried they'd joined Jobbik. Jobb is "right" and these guys claim to be the "Real Hungarians." They are anti-foreigners and anti-Roma. Their solution to the Roma problem? Get rid of them.
The other reason is because Hungary has yet to adopt a new constitution since the fall of communism. There's always been too much disagreement to make one that could be voted upon. Everyone is hoping that now is the time, that there are enough people of one party in the Parlament to actually make headway on creating one.
This is something I've never had to think about, but could you imagine becoming a democracy all of a sudden and having to start over from scratch even though you've been around for 1093 years? Wow.

At any rate, the elections went extremely well and were fairly peaceful. Fidesz got about 54% of the places, with MSzP coming in 2nd with something in the low 20%s, and Jobbik was not far behind them in the high teens.

These were the preliminary elections. Let's say there are 4 people running for one spot in the parlament. If everyone votes and one guy gets more than 51% of the votes, he's automatically in. However, everyone votes and you've got a 40%, 30%, 20% and 10%... Well, it's back to the polls! On April 25, any precinct that didn't get the required 50% will have to vote again. Not sure if that means everyone is still on the ballot or if only 2 or 3... and what happens if someone still doesn't get 50%?

Well, my brain hurt, so I stopped asking questions :P

*~*~*

In the country, if you have anything heavy to move, you move it by horse and cart. Most people in the country don't have cars, so when they find out that most of us get cars when we turn 16 blows their minds. They travel place to place via bus or train and skip all the expenses of owning a car. If only we could get the same going in the states... hmmm...


a nice shot of the Statue of Liberty :)


hiking up castle hill...


oh, look! there's my house!


Alen and I went on a little walk... en route, we found the sketchiest looking road ever. We decided we were feeling adventurous and wandered down it. And so, I introduce you to Alen, probably a subject in many of the upcoming stories because he was my traveling buddy for a few days. As always, you can click on a picture and it gets bigger - see? he looks safe, mom :)