Also, this is going to a be a longer blog post that will probably take me two evenings to properly write. There's been a topic that's come up a lot since I've been here and that is: Singleness (the art of being single) :P Mostly, it's come up in the form of "What ifs". Like "What if you find a nice Hungarian man?" or "What if so-and-so doesn't stay in contact with you for the year?" or "What if so-and-so met this year so that you could meet for lifelong love?" There have been others, but I don't really want to bring them all up again.
It's not a bad thing and it's something I've gotten used to answering, usually in light because I am a girl, and girls sometimes have easily manipulated hearts as far as feelings go. If someone suggests something, we can too easily work ourselves into thinking that we should also suggest it. It's a complicated matter and I just gave all you dudes a short look into the minds of women. Yikes, eh?
Anyway, nearly immediately after I left the states, I left with a lot of questions of "what if you hadn't left, do you think...?" Sadly, until recently, I think that by my listening to, and taking into consideration, these questions, I attempted to set myself up for failure.
You see, I'm not here to see if I can meet anyone (to be honest, I am praying AGAINST that!). I am not here to figure out love. I am not here to test a relationship of any sort. I'm here to give my life to God and see where THAT relationship goes, since in the end, it's the only relationship that will matter. Through that relationship also comes a love for others, but without a relationship with God, I believe that unconditional love cannot exist. If I spend time focusing on anything BESIDES God, it discounts the whole fact that He brought me here. We're still working on the "why?" part in it's entirety, but I do know that part of it was to get my mind off such menial things as "finding a mate."
One of the pleasures I've had since starting my time in Hungary is reading chapters of the Bible one at a time, meditating on scripture day and night. As I read 1 Corinthians 7, I was struck by what Paul was saying. Hey, single ladies! He calls us out. Do I have too much temptation to get married or do I really think that it's God's call for me? Or, am I called to live like Paul? Quite honestly, the thought of both possibilities is a little frightening at this point, even though, as one of my youth told me "you're getting up there." (Thanks, Michael! :P)
This being said, there was a funny moment yesterday that I would like to share with you. I came to the Gyermekekért to find that we wouldn't have kids today. In fact, we were getting a lot of new furniture. Because they rarely let women do manual labor here (it's a respect thing and I respect that, so don't get all feminist on me), they had some young men helping. One of them was Zsólt, the 22 year old son of one of the ladies who works here. At first glance, he seems like a good kid with a good heart (I mean, he's helping his mom - how cute is that?! :P) and good brain. But our conversation is limited due to the fact that, well, I still can't claim to speak Hungarian, no matter what people say :P As four of us were sitting around waiting for the furniture to arrive, we were talking about the foundation, the kids, the cultural event on Tuesday night, etc. At one point, the director said to his mom, "Let's go so that they can talk." "They" refers to me and Zsólt. After a moment of disbelief and shock, they were gone and left us alone in the room. Luckily we were able to stumble through a sort of conversation about where I'm from and what disco's I've been to in the city (which he thought was too short of a list). Then the ladies came back and asked if we'd been able to have a conversation. "Próbáltunk (we tried)." Wait. What just happened? :) Yeah... awkward? :P
Anyway, that's my story. Life here is good. I've been fairly busy experiencing things lately. Partly because of my new placement, partly because the sun decided to shine again on this part of the world.
things to note: I have added a couple more links to my list of fellow bloggers. By request, I've also added an email subscription box for those who couldn't figure out the other one.
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I've done it. I've run out of pictures to share with you. Must - find - more.
This was on Raduly Istvan's desk when I went to his office. It's the Hungarian flag with another flag you might recognize. He received it as a gift during his most recent trip to the US and I have decided I must find one for myself.
Also, you may need to click on this one to enlarge it. This was the view from my front door one day: police tape. I never have any idea what's going on around our apartment, but this intrigued me to the point where I needed to ask someone. There were police cars blocking every intersection between me and the Parlament building, as well as taped off sidewalks. As I exited my flat, I even wondered how many times I would need to explain that I'm just going to the metro station :P Luckily, no one approached me, but as soon as I got where I was going, I asked my favorite American pastor in the Church of Scotland about it. Because he speaks both Enlish and Hungarian, we were able to do a little research and figure out that it was for an energy summit and a LOT of country leaders were coming to Budapest that day. Oh, the joys of living on Alkotmány (Constitution) utca!
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