!Yo Diggity!

Well, I had a pretty crazy week at work this week… my work e-mail was out of commission for a day and a half and when you work in IT this is a pretty critical thing to lose!! Also our senior leadership team was here visiting for the week so there were a lot of activities that were out of the norm for me which were really not beneficial to my normal work in the least. Overall it was a good week though. I did get to chat with some of the visitors and that was very interesting…. Many of those folks in upper management have been to a lot of different places for work and it was interesting to hear and share stories about different cultures and people and experiences. I really do feel so blessed to have this opportunity to experience this whole deal. Quite cool.
Another thing that took some time from work on Friday was that my stuff finally arrived!! YEEEEAAAAHH!!!! 38 boxes total. They arrived at my place Friday morning and the movers spent two and a half hours bringing the boxes up the stairs, unpacking what they could and teaching me Hungarian. Haha – was actually quite a fun morning. I find that Hungarians are really excited when you show some interest in getting to know their language. They taught me how to say, “I don’t speak Hungarian.” So far, this has been the most useful phrase yet. I have since found that if I just start off with this phrase, people talk slower and understand that I am trying so they are more likely to help me… and be happy about doing it. So not only was it an enjoyable morning, it was beneficial to my adjustment.
So the guys from the UK that Simone and I met last weekend had invited us to go to lake Balaton with them for the weekend. I really wanted to go but in light of the events of the week I would never be able to leave work in time to go with them. Bummer. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the lake and would have liked to visit. Now it’ll have to wait ‘til next summer.
I was invited to go to a party Friday night with a guy from work. The party was a birthday party for a couple of other guys that he works with whom I know a little. I thought this would be a good chance to hang out with some Hungarians and see what the ‘real’ (non-expats) do for fun. I actually didn’t think that this was a date, but when Laszlo showed up with a flower…. Well… what would you think if someone showed up with a flower? Hahahaha Was very sweet.

On the way out of the house… Laszlo say’s, “Oh! You live right next door to a high school!” I do? Apparently, the word “Gimnazium” is the word for a secondary, or high school.

Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as an American but maybe the fact that we call it ‘high’ school doesn’t make sense to them. Interesting.
Anyway, back to the party: it was on a boat that was docked on the river. There was a live band who played 90’s music – was pretty good actually. I got a phone call from work and had to spend about an hour by-myself on the deck trying to fix bad judgment call that I had made earlier in the day. Things actually turned out okay… so the decision wasn’t THAT bad but it did take an hour out of my evening. I’m just glad it turned out okay… so Monday won’t be so bad. Back to the party – after the band got done playing, they started to play ‘dance music’. It was a mix of Hungarian tunes and some ‘international’ ones… so I did recognize some of it. Some things that I observed:
+ Hungarians dance ‘flamboyantly’. This is the only way I can think to describe it.
+ Hungarians drink but don’t drive. No tolerance here. That is good.
+ Hungarian girls might be quite loose? I saw one girl in particular (from
work too!) throw herself at several guys. Very interesting.
Now, please understand that these are SEVERE generalizations – only observations from one evening at one party. So please don’t think the entire population is like this. In general though, I would say that guys are much more friendly than the girls here. This, of course, is probably because I am a girl but this has been pretty consistent. Perhaps the girls just take a little warming up to though because I do feel like I’ve made some progress at with some gals at work. I’ll continue to observe on that and get back to you. So all in all, the party was fun. The language barrier is still pretty hampering, but again, as long as I show that I’m eager to learn, people are generally pretty nice.

So the rest of the weekend I spent with my boxes.

…and boxes….

… and boxes…

Oh my.

Heehee
But it was really, really good to get it back. I was getting used to the stuff that I had brought in my suitcases… but MAN I am a lot happier with ALL my stuff!! Haha It was so fun to see stuff that I forgot about – pictures, etc. All the Texas stuff from my going away party was so fun to go through again! I’ve arranged somewhat of a Texas shrine in my living room now:

And thank goodness that I am taking these picture for ya’ll ‘cause if I wouldn’t have, I would not have realized that I placed Texas Teddy’s head right in the crotch of the women in the painting.
I fixed that. Hahahaha

I’ve got far too many clothes (can you believe I just said that!?!?!)… and no closets so I’m going to have to figure something out. I think I’d like to buy a big, nice piece of furniture to take back with me. Now it’s just a matter of getting something. That may be my goal for next weekend. So there are clothes everywhere now. It’ll take some time to figure it all out. Yike. I’ve got my work cut out for me.

So Sunday I went back to Danube International. I really think I like it there!! The pastor is just incredible. I am most certainly going to learn a lot while I’m here. He is certainly very intellectual… but he brings it all together in the end and you can relate/understand. Very cool. This time I met two more girls about my age from Texas!! They are both teachers at the school that Valerie’s kids go to. (I’ll need to learn the name of that school soon). The school really sounds like a good place – they have some pretty awesome activities going on there. I think that would be a cool, cool experience to grow up as an American kid in Budapest. Anyway, I got these girls number and am excited to get to know them. We live pretty far apart so getting together during the week might be difficult (especially as I work a ton) but we are going to hang out in two weekends (they are going to a retreat next weekend). I really think they are some neat girls though – so I am looking forward to that. Oh – by the way… I added the Seely family (that’s Valerie’s faimly) link to my blog – check ‘em out if ya get a chance! Tom, Valerie’s husband has been struggling with some pretty bad back problems and looks like he’ll need surgery. So keep them in your prayers!! Such a cool family with such a good attitude…. Very encouraging!

I’m on my way to meet up with some folks for coffee… will be good as it’s starting to get COLD – wow… this will be my first fall in four years! Yikes! Let’s hope I can handle it!