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 :)