seeking positive thoughts to no avail...

I keep trying to sit down and write a blog post, but I'll be honest.
It's been a mentally challenging week and I have very little to say that's positive.

Except that maybe it's a good thing I don't speak Hungarian very well, because I would have some terrible words to say to some people today.
Language barrier = best way to naturally bite your tongue

*~*~*

Nagydobrony, Karpatalja, Ukraine

A couple weeks ago, I was part of a small group of people that traveled to Transcarpathia, Ukraine. This trip was really interesting for me because it offered insight into the village where the three Ukrainian boys grew up. It's always neat to see peoples' roots and see who they've become.


Also interesting, is that this is an area in Ukraine that speaks Hungarian only. There are still some angry people about the Treaty of Trianon, which divided Hungary and gave part of it to Ukraine. Because Ukraine didn't really want them and because Hungarians didn't want to forget who they are, they still speak Hungarian. They also use "Budapest time" instead of Ukraine time, so from one village to the next you can change time. If your train arrives in Transcarpathia at 5:30p, the clocks on the wall will say 4:30p. Pretty interesting stuff and some seriously rooted disgust toward that Treaty.


we stayed in a childrens' house that has over 80 kids. many of these kids are Roma and all are either orphaned, discarded or disabled. This is how two teenage girls would live. Close quarters. it was cute for my one night stay, but I couldn't imagine sharing the space... especially for years on end.


the view from my window. The childrens' house runs a farm in order to provide for itself. Aside from growing their own veggies and fruits, they also have an assortment of meat producers (chickens, cows, pigs) and they even have their own bakery!


Roma boys at one of the schools in the town taking a break from class to pose for pictures :)

European Travel

As I prepare to figure out my May travels: Eger and Romania, I thought it was rather important to look back on the tips that I've learned so far this year.

How to travel:
1. Bus = cheapest way. Train = fastest and most comfortable way. Minibus with Emese and Gyuri = best way, but may lead to carsickness in some individuals.
2. Couchsurfing is amazing. Use it to find bed space and new friends... and learn things about the city you're in.
3. Train tickets are cheaper if you buy 2-way tickets. Sometimes 2-way tickets are cheaper than 1-way! Wow!
4. Ask questions. If you make it obvious that you don't know what you're doing, a lot of conductors and customer service reps will be nice to you and won't make you stand around second guessing yourself.
5. Plan ahead. Lots of trains have cheap tickets if you plan far enough in advance.
6. Overnight trains save time and let you get your much needed sleep before you arrive at your destination. They're also not as dangerous as people say, just be smart. Sleep with you money under your head and your bags under your feet/on your bunk between you and the wall.

Packing:
1. Wear outfits more than once - at LEAST two days per outfit.
2. Pack an extra pair of underwear and socks - you never know when you might extend your stay for another night somewhere.
3. Pack an extra t-shirt instead of a towel. It's lighter and dries faster.
4. Comfort over beauty. You may WANT to wear your cute street shoes, but you'll be much more comfortable city-hiking in your tennis shoes.
5. Pack a snack for the ride. You WILL get bored. You will also get hungry. You will be very very thirsty, but only drink a lot of water if you're traveling by train.
6. Get your maps and information beforehand. Look up what you want to see. Learn the history. Have backup plans in case your host fall through, weather sucks or transportation fails. Don't forget your PASSPORT and INSURANCE CARD!

Just in case you're ever in Europe looking for travel tips.

*~*~*

I love giving you a bunch of randoms :)

"Jesus Loves You" in Slovak


The Radnoti Miklos theater - This was the source of the most amount of red in one place that I've ever seen... and a really funny play in Hungarian. Every other Thursday, the office organizing some type of cultural event for those of us in the city, realizing that by us being in the city, we are in a place "lacking" culture. It's not really a lack, but more of a "hard-to-find." Anyway, it was a story I didn't know called "Wolves and Sheep." Not knowing the plot made it a little hard to follow, although Emese did do some prep-work and gave us the lowdown so that we knew the gist of it. However, plays are good because there are actions to follow. While everyone else was laughing at what the guy on the stage said and did, I'm laughing at what he did and pretending that he just said "I want to be an astronaut when I grow up" or "I pick my nose in my sleep while I dream of playing guitar on an island in the middle of the sea." (don't ask, those are just my favorite lines when someone needs translation and I have no idea what was said myself). My roommate, Andrea, walked away STILL laughing, so I highly recommend seeing this play if you get a chance :) Maybe you'll even understand more of it!


Gas Prices in Hungary...
350.9 forint per liter - 3.78 liters to the gallon - 1326.4 forint per gallon - 204 forint per dollar...
$6.49 PER GALLON = ouch!


I'm so glad I know enough Hungarian to enjoy this sign: "Jesus is calling you, but not on your telephone."


Andrea, my roommate, left this last week and returned to Romania. Before she left, we had a proper birthday party for her 30th birthday and combined it with a send-off. So, after dinner, everyone here posed on her bed for a group picture. So, I present...
---top row--- Isabel (German serving in Miskolc, Hungary)...
---second row--- Silke (German serving Budapest), János (Hungarian/Ukrainian serving in Budapest), Andrea (Hungarian/Romanian), János (Hungarian/Ukrainian serving in Budapest), Evelyn (German serving in Budapest)...
---bottom row--- Timothée (French serving in Budapest), Zoltán (Hungarian/Ukrainian serving in Budapest), Zoltán (Hungarian/Romanian studying in Budapest), Silvia (Italian serving in Budapest) and Matt (American serving in Budapest)

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