I shut down my computer last night...
and started it again this morning
I lost my pictures.
No, not ALL my pictures, but the ones that I hadn't posted on here or in Facebook yet (which means they were only being held on here and hadn't been put on my flash drive because that's my system...)
goodbye pictures of Cluj-Napoca,
goodbye pictures of horses taking over Budapest,
goodbye random pictures of life in Budapest...
ugh.
What's funny is that I lost them because I accepted that my computer had seriously imploded and so I moved all of them to the new "pictures" folder.
So, when my computer reverted back to its old self this morning (except I don't have any sound again), I lost everything that had been created or saved during the short-lived random freak-out episode.
What's double funny is that I just packed all my flash drives because in going to Balatonlelle, I'm sure there won't be regular internet access, so it'll give me a reason to categorize all my stuff - now that I've lost my pictures and my music (which I'm way less concerned about, except that I lost the hard to find Hungarian worship songs that I paid twice what I usually pay for music... grrr...), I only have documents to move around and organize, so we're talking way less time and I could probably do that while waiting for my ride tonight.
hmmm... life is funny.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Last post in Budapest for a while...
My computer imploded today. My huge praise report is that I lost no documents or pictures or even that video I made of me ordering coffee! As of now, the only losses are my internet bookmarks, which are sad, but really, maybe it was a way of simplifying the number of things on my "to-do" list.
At any rate, I will be packing my computer up tomorrow and I will be traveling to Balatonlelle to work on getting a camp ready to open. So excited! Hopefully it's good and at the end of the week, there will be a camp that's ready for kids to invade!
Prayers, as always, are much appreciated.
Peace!
*~*~*
One of the most asked questions (second, in fact, to "what's the weather like?") has been "what's the food like?" I have covered this topic on a couple different occasions, but really, it's one of those things that I can't say enough about. Food has a huge importance in everyone's lifestyle... flavor, quantity, quality, appearance, background... you name it and someone can go into great detail about their food situation.
I recently found this quote about the great market halls of Budapest.
... "I’ve found that there are more stands selling meat than grocery or any other product. Draw the conclusion and you’ll understand the health problems of Hungarian society. Meat with meat and some more meat. Veggies? Sure, give me some potatoes!"
It's funny 'cuz it's true.
Anyway, I want to introduce you to 2 traditional Hungarian foods: gulyásleves and kürtőskalács.
Gulyásleves (goulash soup) is traditionally cooked over a fire in a giant cauldron and it's usually only made for huge crowds and celebrations. I've only had it traditionally cooked twice and both times were at village celebration days. Beef, tomato and paprika are the base ingredients. Some add potatoes, some add onions and peppers, some add other veggies... all it all, it's a soup (WITHOUT pasta, as many Americans make it) and you eat it with bread.
Kürtőskalács (Chimney cake) is another traditional festival food, although many have started marketing this for everyday gastronomy. It is made from flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg and yeast - make it into a dough and roll it out into long strips, then wrap the strips around an oiled roll thing. Then, you paint it with more oil and roll it in more sugar... then roast it over some hot coals, turning it to roast evenly. When it's brown, you take it out of the warmth, roll it in a topping of your choice (chocolate, cinnamon sugar, coconut, crushed poppyseeds, or walnuts). Then take it off the roll thing and let it cool - then enjoy!
At any rate, I will be packing my computer up tomorrow and I will be traveling to Balatonlelle to work on getting a camp ready to open. So excited! Hopefully it's good and at the end of the week, there will be a camp that's ready for kids to invade!
Prayers, as always, are much appreciated.
Peace!
*~*~*
One of the most asked questions (second, in fact, to "what's the weather like?") has been "what's the food like?" I have covered this topic on a couple different occasions, but really, it's one of those things that I can't say enough about. Food has a huge importance in everyone's lifestyle... flavor, quantity, quality, appearance, background... you name it and someone can go into great detail about their food situation.
I recently found this quote about the great market halls of Budapest.
... "I’ve found that there are more stands selling meat than grocery or any other product. Draw the conclusion and you’ll understand the health problems of Hungarian society. Meat with meat and some more meat. Veggies? Sure, give me some potatoes!"
It's funny 'cuz it's true.
Anyway, I want to introduce you to 2 traditional Hungarian foods: gulyásleves and kürtőskalács.
Gulyásleves (goulash soup) is traditionally cooked over a fire in a giant cauldron and it's usually only made for huge crowds and celebrations. I've only had it traditionally cooked twice and both times were at village celebration days. Beef, tomato and paprika are the base ingredients. Some add potatoes, some add onions and peppers, some add other veggies... all it all, it's a soup (WITHOUT pasta, as many Americans make it) and you eat it with bread.
Kürtőskalács (Chimney cake) is another traditional festival food, although many have started marketing this for everyday gastronomy. It is made from flour, milk, sugar, butter, egg and yeast - make it into a dough and roll it out into long strips, then wrap the strips around an oiled roll thing. Then, you paint it with more oil and roll it in more sugar... then roast it over some hot coals, turning it to roast evenly. When it's brown, you take it out of the warmth, roll it in a topping of your choice (chocolate, cinnamon sugar, coconut, crushed poppyseeds, or walnuts). Then take it off the roll thing and let it cool - then enjoy!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Protests, Flooding and Relocation
So, this has been quite the month.
Protests: The political system has been pushed into hyper-drive with the recent election outcome. The Jobbik party has organized several demonstrations and protests that have been relevant to my life. One of them was against the camp along the Balaton Lake that is for Roma children. Today they are having a large demonstration in a park near my flat which is preventing my evening plans from happening. Boo! :( Jobbik, if you don't remember, is the FAR RIGHT political party with radical ideas and many of their political demonstrations could easily lead to violence. Makes for an interesting night, I suppose, but I think I'll try to stay as far away as possible.
Flooding: I have a meeting tonight with my pastor. I just found out I'll have no problem meeting him, but it would have been a problem yesterday evening. You see, because it hasn't stopped raining FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH!, we had flooding in the metros. Awesome, right? Yeah, unless you're one of the 3 million people here in Budapest and use the metros on a daily basis. On a flip note, it looks like it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend - yay! :)
Relocation: It's happening. I'm relocating to the lake on Monday. I will be there from Monday, June 7 through Tuesday, June 15th. Then I will come back to Budapest for a night or two, then go back to the Balaton area on Wednesday or Thursday for another week. Should be a good time and I'm really looking forward to having my morning coffee on the lake! :)
*~*~*
Gypsy Houses in Romania
At first sight, I thought I wasn't understanding Gábor correctly as he explained what these houses were. Then, when Gyüri re-explained, it was the exact same thing. Allow me to share with you the story I heard (twice) and am still amazed at.
In an attempt to show off their wealth, quite a few gypsies in Romania started building HUGE houses. They are characterized by their extreme size, bright colors (if they're painted) and shiny roofs. However, they are all left unfinished to varying degrees.
There are a few probable reasons for this.
A) they run out of money before they can finish it.
B) they decided they really don't want to live like Gadje (non-Roma)
C) they don't want to pay the taxes on it (you don't have to pay taxes if you don't finish it)
Any one of those (or combination thereof) would be sufficient reason from the looks of it... check it out!
Protests: The political system has been pushed into hyper-drive with the recent election outcome. The Jobbik party has organized several demonstrations and protests that have been relevant to my life. One of them was against the camp along the Balaton Lake that is for Roma children. Today they are having a large demonstration in a park near my flat which is preventing my evening plans from happening. Boo! :( Jobbik, if you don't remember, is the FAR RIGHT political party with radical ideas and many of their political demonstrations could easily lead to violence. Makes for an interesting night, I suppose, but I think I'll try to stay as far away as possible.
Flooding: I have a meeting tonight with my pastor. I just found out I'll have no problem meeting him, but it would have been a problem yesterday evening. You see, because it hasn't stopped raining FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH!, we had flooding in the metros. Awesome, right? Yeah, unless you're one of the 3 million people here in Budapest and use the metros on a daily basis. On a flip note, it looks like it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend - yay! :)
Relocation: It's happening. I'm relocating to the lake on Monday. I will be there from Monday, June 7 through Tuesday, June 15th. Then I will come back to Budapest for a night or two, then go back to the Balaton area on Wednesday or Thursday for another week. Should be a good time and I'm really looking forward to having my morning coffee on the lake! :)
*~*~*
Gypsy Houses in Romania
At first sight, I thought I wasn't understanding Gábor correctly as he explained what these houses were. Then, when Gyüri re-explained, it was the exact same thing. Allow me to share with you the story I heard (twice) and am still amazed at.
In an attempt to show off their wealth, quite a few gypsies in Romania started building HUGE houses. They are characterized by their extreme size, bright colors (if they're painted) and shiny roofs. However, they are all left unfinished to varying degrees.
There are a few probable reasons for this.
A) they run out of money before they can finish it.
B) they decided they really don't want to live like Gadje (non-Roma)
C) they don't want to pay the taxes on it (you don't have to pay taxes if you don't finish it)
Any one of those (or combination thereof) would be sufficient reason from the looks of it... check it out!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A recipe and a friend :)
I wanted something sweet last night and started looking through my cupboards. I found bread, ketchup, rice and some assorted spices and chocolate powder. The only thing I had that was sweet was sugar. So... I quickly realized how often I've had sweet rice for lunch at the hospital and thought "Voila! I can make sweet rice!" Perfect.
It turned out so good, I wanted to share it with you. Be aware - it really does take about 30-40 minutes if you keep the temperature below medium (on a 1-9 scale, with 9 being the hottest - I had it at cooking at a 4).
GERMAN SWEET RICE
1 c. dry rice
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. water
3 c. milk
2 tbsp. butter
Spray a 2 quart saucepan with Pam. Add dry rice and water. Cook over medium low heat until most of water has been absorbed. Add milk and continue cooking slowly, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat while rice is still rather soft. Add sugar, butter and salt and mix well. Should be cooked in last 30 to 40 minutes before serving.
If rice becomes too stiff, add a small amount of milk and heat through. Pour into bowl for serving, sprinkle top with sugar and cinnamon.
...
I would ease up on the milk (maybe 2.5 cups) and I added cocoa powder, cinnamon and vanilla to the mix when I added in the sugar. FINOM! DELICIOUS!
*~*~*
A Day in The Life of Gábor
I made a new friend this last weekend on my trip into Romania. Because I took a LOT of pictures of him doing things throughout the weekend, I didn't figure I needed to take any of me doing these things - Gábor could just walk you through the festival for me. So, without further adieu, I present Gábor and Mera Days:
Gábor came along as a driver. We took two vans full of future volunteers and a children's band (I wrote about the Romano Glaszo band a few posts back...) Here, we took a break just inside the Hungarian/Romanian border.
So glad we didn't drive that thing! There were SOOO many horse carts throughout the village. It's the sound I woke up to and the sound I went to sleep to - the clippety clop of horse carts going by. It was a little surreal - like stepping back in time :)
"downtown" (I say that in such a way because it's a VILLAGE), there was a little market, where you could buy all kinds of homemade treasures. Gábor went jewelry shopping for his daughter... and snack shopping for his ears :P
making kürtőskalács - a Transylvanian specialty.
kürtőskalács = love.
It turned out so good, I wanted to share it with you. Be aware - it really does take about 30-40 minutes if you keep the temperature below medium (on a 1-9 scale, with 9 being the hottest - I had it at cooking at a 4).
GERMAN SWEET RICE
1 c. dry rice
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. water
3 c. milk
2 tbsp. butter
Spray a 2 quart saucepan with Pam. Add dry rice and water. Cook over medium low heat until most of water has been absorbed. Add milk and continue cooking slowly, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat while rice is still rather soft. Add sugar, butter and salt and mix well. Should be cooked in last 30 to 40 minutes before serving.
If rice becomes too stiff, add a small amount of milk and heat through. Pour into bowl for serving, sprinkle top with sugar and cinnamon.
...
I would ease up on the milk (maybe 2.5 cups) and I added cocoa powder, cinnamon and vanilla to the mix when I added in the sugar. FINOM! DELICIOUS!
*~*~*
A Day in The Life of Gábor
I made a new friend this last weekend on my trip into Romania. Because I took a LOT of pictures of him doing things throughout the weekend, I didn't figure I needed to take any of me doing these things - Gábor could just walk you through the festival for me. So, without further adieu, I present Gábor and Mera Days:
Gábor came along as a driver. We took two vans full of future volunteers and a children's band (I wrote about the Romano Glaszo band a few posts back...) Here, we took a break just inside the Hungarian/Romanian border.
So glad we didn't drive that thing! There were SOOO many horse carts throughout the village. It's the sound I woke up to and the sound I went to sleep to - the clippety clop of horse carts going by. It was a little surreal - like stepping back in time :)
"downtown" (I say that in such a way because it's a VILLAGE), there was a little market, where you could buy all kinds of homemade treasures. Gábor went jewelry shopping for his daughter... and snack shopping for his ears :P
making kürtőskalács - a Transylvanian specialty.
kürtőskalács = love.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Discovering Communism by Remembering Communism
I'm still in Budapest and a little frustrated at this point, but instead of touching on that, I'm giving you a post through pictures of Memento Park in the outskirts of Budapest
Communism: something US natives know nothing about... good idea, but it never works...
Because I know very little about communism, I decided that something I really SHOULD see before I leave Budapest is the part with all the old Communist statues and mementos. One beautiful Monday afternoon, we did just that. Enjoy learning through my lesson.
The Red Star that represented Communism - The Pentagram is said to represent the five fingers on a worker's (the center of socialism) hand.
Many of the statues were dedicated to just normal people because the real heroes of Communism are the common blue collar workers. Many of the following have no real faces or description because of it - they were meant to encourage the public to picture themselves as the heroes.
This a memorial to Béla Kun, a Hungarian Communist Revolutionary.
Random fact: when this was still standing, it was called Béla Motel by the local homeless people because it made a great rain shelter :)
this plaque was funny to me. Some guy worked in a factory. :)
This is a Martyr's Memorial - not sure what the complete story is, but it looks like half-man, half-ape... weird.
Kristin (an American English teacher in Újszász, Hungary) and I used our amazing Hungarian skills to translate this plaque: "Thank you for freeing up our time so we can play badminton."
I'm fairly certain that's not REALLY what it says, but that's as close as I can get you :P did I mention that we went through the park without a guide or booklet or anything?
This is the Buda Volunteer Regiment Memorial - it kinda speaks for itself, and yet I have no further intelligent insight to give you.
This is Capt. Miklós Steinmetz. He is the one that ordered the ultimatum during the Battle of Budapest - Hungarians and Germans surrender to the Soviet Army or they'll eat all your gulyás and páprika... or something like that.
Pioneers:
a) what some people refer to our Wednesday night program as (it's "Explorers") at Home Acres Church in Kentwood, Michigan
b) the children organization operated by the Communist party, with headquarters in Budapest.
thank goodness we're out of the "Red Scare" of my home church would be in a little trouble :P
The Republic of Councils Monument... or as Hungarians refer to it: "Miss, you dropped your kerchief!"
The Hungarian Fighters in the Spanish International Brigades Memorial
The Workers' Movement Memorial
This is the Liberation Monument (not to be confused with the Hungarian Statue of Liberty which currently stands over Budapest)
Stalin's boots. A giant Stalin once stood in Budapest's city park. On October 23rd, 1956, the beginning date of the Hungarian (failed) Revolution against the Soviets, this statue was sawed at the knees. Crowds were there to witness this giant dictator brought down. The boots themselves are taller than me, so you can understand just how big the actual statue was (8 meters).
Communism: something US natives know nothing about... good idea, but it never works...
Because I know very little about communism, I decided that something I really SHOULD see before I leave Budapest is the part with all the old Communist statues and mementos. One beautiful Monday afternoon, we did just that. Enjoy learning through my lesson.
The Red Star that represented Communism - The Pentagram is said to represent the five fingers on a worker's (the center of socialism) hand.
Many of the statues were dedicated to just normal people because the real heroes of Communism are the common blue collar workers. Many of the following have no real faces or description because of it - they were meant to encourage the public to picture themselves as the heroes.
This a memorial to Béla Kun, a Hungarian Communist Revolutionary.
Random fact: when this was still standing, it was called Béla Motel by the local homeless people because it made a great rain shelter :)
this plaque was funny to me. Some guy worked in a factory. :)
This is a Martyr's Memorial - not sure what the complete story is, but it looks like half-man, half-ape... weird.
Kristin (an American English teacher in Újszász, Hungary) and I used our amazing Hungarian skills to translate this plaque: "Thank you for freeing up our time so we can play badminton."
I'm fairly certain that's not REALLY what it says, but that's as close as I can get you :P did I mention that we went through the park without a guide or booklet or anything?
This is the Buda Volunteer Regiment Memorial - it kinda speaks for itself, and yet I have no further intelligent insight to give you.
This is Capt. Miklós Steinmetz. He is the one that ordered the ultimatum during the Battle of Budapest - Hungarians and Germans surrender to the Soviet Army or they'll eat all your gulyás and páprika... or something like that.
Pioneers:
a) what some people refer to our Wednesday night program as (it's "Explorers") at Home Acres Church in Kentwood, Michigan
b) the children organization operated by the Communist party, with headquarters in Budapest.
thank goodness we're out of the "Red Scare" of my home church would be in a little trouble :P
The Republic of Councils Monument... or as Hungarians refer to it: "Miss, you dropped your kerchief!"
The Hungarian Fighters in the Spanish International Brigades Memorial
The Workers' Movement Memorial
This is the Liberation Monument (not to be confused with the Hungarian Statue of Liberty which currently stands over Budapest)
Stalin's boots. A giant Stalin once stood in Budapest's city park. On October 23rd, 1956, the beginning date of the Hungarian (failed) Revolution against the Soviets, this statue was sawed at the knees. Crowds were there to witness this giant dictator brought down. The boots themselves are taller than me, so you can understand just how big the actual statue was (8 meters).
Monday, May 31, 2010
A short moment to reflect on the trip to Ukraine that happened a while ago...
because I will soon start sharing about the trip I just took to Romania.
While in Ukraine, we had an opportunity to stop and visit one of our fellow volunteers, Heidi. I have really enjoyed opportunities to see in person what other volunteers are doing... for many reasons. It gives me a chance to put together a picture of the place they talk about at the seminars. It also gives me an overview of the work that's being done throughout the region and opens my eyes to take in new perspectives outside of Budapest. As my roommate, Silvia, put it last night: "I'm not in Hungary, I'm in Budapest." There's so much truth to that statement that I don't even know where to begin to describe what she means.
Anyway, while traveling through Ukraine, we stopped at a Hungarian Roma camp in a place called Szürte (Hungarian name). The emotions that flooded over me were too many to actually put words to, but I was reminded of the cardboard cities in the frontera of Mexico, the mountains outside Santiago, Dominican Republic and the bridge people outside of Nashville, TN... where the poverty was more than overwhelming. Matt, who was with us, even stated that it was probably the poorest place he's ever seen.
I apologize for the lack of pictures, but you must understand that out of respect, most of my visit was just "look and listen"... and trying to figure out how I respond in love (not necessarily to THEM, but to God's voice through this).
What do you say when one of the women tells you that it's just a poor village?
What do you feel when you see a tiny house without a roof after being informed that they had to tear down the roof this winter in order to heat the house?
What do you think when you see the one room smaller than your bedroom in which 3 children and two adults live?
How do you respond to a community with no running water, no electricity and while they're not content, they're still living there the best they can?
Where is God here?
...
the view from the community center recently built by a mission team... you can see some of the homes here.
our volunteer, Heidi, and three of her young friends :)
*~*~*
there are sooo many snails in Hungary - reminds me of GVSU. After a rain, the worms invaded the sidewalks. here, snails invade the sidewalks!
ewww!
*~*~*
We are waaay in the south of Budapest, checking out our city from far away :)
While in Ukraine, we had an opportunity to stop and visit one of our fellow volunteers, Heidi. I have really enjoyed opportunities to see in person what other volunteers are doing... for many reasons. It gives me a chance to put together a picture of the place they talk about at the seminars. It also gives me an overview of the work that's being done throughout the region and opens my eyes to take in new perspectives outside of Budapest. As my roommate, Silvia, put it last night: "I'm not in Hungary, I'm in Budapest." There's so much truth to that statement that I don't even know where to begin to describe what she means.
Anyway, while traveling through Ukraine, we stopped at a Hungarian Roma camp in a place called Szürte (Hungarian name). The emotions that flooded over me were too many to actually put words to, but I was reminded of the cardboard cities in the frontera of Mexico, the mountains outside Santiago, Dominican Republic and the bridge people outside of Nashville, TN... where the poverty was more than overwhelming. Matt, who was with us, even stated that it was probably the poorest place he's ever seen.
I apologize for the lack of pictures, but you must understand that out of respect, most of my visit was just "look and listen"... and trying to figure out how I respond in love (not necessarily to THEM, but to God's voice through this).
What do you say when one of the women tells you that it's just a poor village?
What do you feel when you see a tiny house without a roof after being informed that they had to tear down the roof this winter in order to heat the house?
What do you think when you see the one room smaller than your bedroom in which 3 children and two adults live?
How do you respond to a community with no running water, no electricity and while they're not content, they're still living there the best they can?
Where is God here?
...
the view from the community center recently built by a mission team... you can see some of the homes here.
our volunteer, Heidi, and three of her young friends :)
*~*~*
there are sooo many snails in Hungary - reminds me of GVSU. After a rain, the worms invaded the sidewalks. here, snails invade the sidewalks!
ewww!
*~*~*
We are waaay in the south of Budapest, checking out our city from far away :)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tomorrow/Today?
Tomorrow is my last day at the Children's House.
I have mixed emotions about this.
First of all, it's not like I've really gone lately. They told me flat out that no babies ever come if it's raining, so if I wake up and see rain, I just stay home and don't go out in the rain myself. It's given me time to work on some things for the camp, and also allows me to clean the flat which I'm sure would get neglected if I didn't have the time.
Second of all, it's weird to actually have a "last day." Upon leaving the other two placements, I didn't really have a last day that was known in advance... they just stopped. So it's weird that tomorrow I will actually have a chance to say "goodbye."
And what's kinda funny is that there's a chance I won't go to the Balaton after all... and still work at the house...
yup. hmmm... i'll let you know how tomorrow goes :)
*~*~*
Ukrainian architecture -
Check out the Orthodox churches we drove by!
a castle outside Mukachevo (Munkács)
*~*~*
One day, I visited Matt's placement. Matt works in a Tanoda, an afterschool program, tutoring students with English and math. The day I went, Matt had two students. Welcome to the my experience at the Budaörsi Tanoda :)
I have mixed emotions about this.
First of all, it's not like I've really gone lately. They told me flat out that no babies ever come if it's raining, so if I wake up and see rain, I just stay home and don't go out in the rain myself. It's given me time to work on some things for the camp, and also allows me to clean the flat which I'm sure would get neglected if I didn't have the time.
Second of all, it's weird to actually have a "last day." Upon leaving the other two placements, I didn't really have a last day that was known in advance... they just stopped. So it's weird that tomorrow I will actually have a chance to say "goodbye."
And what's kinda funny is that there's a chance I won't go to the Balaton after all... and still work at the house...
yup. hmmm... i'll let you know how tomorrow goes :)
*~*~*
Ukrainian architecture -
Check out the Orthodox churches we drove by!
a castle outside Mukachevo (Munkács)
*~*~*
One day, I visited Matt's placement. Matt works in a Tanoda, an afterschool program, tutoring students with English and math. The day I went, Matt had two students. Welcome to the my experience at the Budaörsi Tanoda :)
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