!Yo Diggity!

I guess you get about my age and about half your friends are married and about half of them are having babies… I’m not to that stage just yet but it doesn’t mean I don’t have something to be proud of!! Check out these cuties….

Introducing… precious daughter of Sam and Carol Lee: Jocelyn Lee! I got to know Carol in Houston… we started on the same day on the same team at ExxonMobil - what a blessing she was to me - still is!! Congrats Carol!!

Also introducing… new little stud-muffin… son of Jake and Camille Berg: Jace Berg! Camille is one of my dearest, sweetest friends from college. Talk about a precious girl… now she gets to raise a precious boy… so cool. Congrats you guys!

I cannot figure out for the life of me how to use the dumb washing machine. It is a total guessing game. I turn the knob and just let it go. No telling really what it’s going to do. Sometimes it takes 3 hours to run and sometimes it seems to be done in 15 minutes. It supposedly is a dryer as well… but I haven’t been able to figure that out. I felt like it kinda dried them once. I don’t know. The manual did have some English instructions but I feel like it’s a poor translation ‘cause I can’t even understand that. Haha Ugh. I’ll figure it out eventually…. I hope.

Well, I went through all that trouble of getting a Houston number set up and two weeks into it – still nothing. I was not aware that the infrastructure is so bad in some of the buildings they would actually have to physically install a phone line. GEESH! So for those of you who are wondering…. I have now (as of Monday) received your messages (I mis-placed my voicemail password there for awhile) and still have no way to call you back. Please be patient with me as hopefully by the end of next week (SURELY) I’ll have the phone and internet lines installed.

I am alive… and well. We’ve got SO much to talk about!

So I don’t really have the picture thing figured out yet…. I’m workin’ on getting them smaller… SORRY!

OK! Finally I’ve figured out how to download pictures. Ahhh… those 4 years of technology are slowly paying off! Haha

I’m going to try and post these pictures small, ‘cause I’m not sure if all of y’all are interested in seeing all of these… but I wanted to show you what life in Budapest looks like.

First three pix are of the front of my building. I was trying to get the full length in the shot but couldn’t get far enough back – so what I’m saying it it’s TALL! And no elevator… yes, I’ll be in great shape very, very soon.

The next two pictures are looking one way down the street… and then the other. I am one block from a very busy street – you can see that the road t’s into it there beyond the BRIGHT GREEN vehicle. Yes, these Hungarians are much for choice in color of vehicles, that’s for sure. Heehee

The entrance-way there just beyond the huge wooden doors was originally used for the carriages to drive into. Kinda cool, huh?

Next two pix: The stairs. One of the beginning and one of the end. Whew! Loooong way up there! Look closely at the picture. It really is a long long way up there!

This picture is inward to the middle of the building. All of the buildings have these little courtyard areas in the middle – lots of potential there but mine is pretty much horrible. At least fresh air can come in through there.

My front door. Precious, isn’t it? Lots of locks… Mom, Grandma, I am most certainly safe! So safe I can’t even get out sometimes. Haha

To see photos of the inside of my flat, check out: http://community.webshots.com/user/vosterburg This is how I originally spotted the place I now call home. I’m not so fond of the pictures I must say… but they really start to grow on ya!

And just a couple more from the inside…. This is the washer/dryer thing. It washes… and sort dries a little bit… sometimes. Haha – haven’t quite figured it out yet!!

And I wanted to show the inside…. That is ONE towel in there. ONE. We’ll just say that laundry is more of an every-other day task instead of once a month. Not bad…. Just different.

And last but not least. Still trying to get used to the 24 hour clock. 0:16… sixteen minutes into the next day…. Time for bed.

GOODNIGHT!