!Yo Diggity!

Bill Lively came to Budapest just about the time that I did. Maybe a month or two after I did. I met him at church, Danube International, one Sunday when we ended up sitting next to each other. We did the typical, “So, where are you from?” “What are you doing here in Budapest?” and “Where do you live?” questions. That was the funny one for us because when I asked Bill he said, “Oh, this little street by the parliment, you’ve probably not heard of it, Bathory”. OH! That is MY street?! So it ended up that Bill was just a couple of buildings down.

Bill has been a great friend and neighbor. Someone to hang out with, someone to do yoga with. Yes, even while skiing in Austria there is time for yoga.

He was someone to download episodes of ‘Lost’ and ‘The Office’ with. And a great appartment to host… stuff. Even when he was traveling, which was a lot with his job, he would let Tahran and I and whomever come over and borrow his toys. One of my favorite stories to tell is when Bill was traveling on a train, somewhere in Poland, late and night and had not had the opportunity to have dinner. So he was quite hungary when he got the e-mail on his blackberry, “Bill! Your order of pizza, salads and coke will be at your flat in 1/2 hour. ~Don Pepe” Grrrr…. he knew that Tahran and I were comfortably at his place ordering pizza and watching our favorite shows on his big screen Mac while he’s starving, on a train, somewhere in the middle of nowhere!!

When Bill first arrived in Budapest, we had to train him out of constantly comparing Budapest to Prague. You see, he had lived in Prague for a year and a half before he moved to Budapest and so his favorite saying was, “Well, you know in Prague, they do it like …. ” or, ” you know, in Prague this have …”. One good thing about Bill’s extensive knowledge and love for Prague, however, was when my friend Christie came to visit Budapest and Bill drove with us to Prague. He was a GREAT host of the city. Even hooked us up with a penthouse suite at a REALLY sweet hostel, the Czech Inn. Get it, “Check In”? Great name!! And wow - GREAT place!!! Czech it out! (wow ok, a little overkill there… I better czech myself! hee)

If you are ever in Prague, you really need to stay at this place. And hey, I’m not even getting any money for this advertisement - it was THAT cool!

But it was great to be guided around the city by a great tour guide. Thanks again for that, Bill!

Bill was great for music as well. He and I really share quite a similiar pallette in music. So we were always trading… errr… rather he was always giving me really great stuff. I really appreciated that about Bill as it’s not often that some shares that really keen sense of music that is similar to mine! And another of my all time favorite Budapest adventure stories to tell will be the Sziget Festival adventure when Bill accidentally walked off with all my belongings to leave me in a crowd of 40,000 people with no money, no bus pass, no phone… and quite a far ways from home. But beyond that little mishap the festival was REALLY cool and I’ll quite miss Bill at the event this year.

Oh! One other great thing about Bill is that he taught me all about the Mac. Yes, he convinced me and even paved the way to help me to purchase my Macintosh laptop that I so dearly love today.

Bill is one of those friends who walks into your life and is such a comfortable friend. One that you can count on and know you’ll be in touch with always. I’m so glad I’ve had the chance to get to know him and so glad that it was here in Budapest. He made my experience much better and his presence will be missed!!

Stay in touch, Bill! Enjoy your new home in….. A T L A N T A !!!

I don’t want anyone to think that I am ‘over’ being a new aunt. It is still my very favorite new position. Check out this picture.

Paul is just a little unsure of what is goin’ on here. So is Emma. Boy she looks like a little chunk. But you would too if you didn’t really know quite what was goin’ on and there was a camera in your face. Wouldn’t you?

Here is a better shot… a little, little girl in a big, big couch. Sooooo cute!!!

Cori and I woke up this morning and Cori said she wanted 40 minutes of rigorous exercise before she got off to her conference. Little did we know when she said ‘rigorous’ that how true it would be….

We walked straight down the paved road from our hotel towards the water. What we found there was sooooo beautiful. As we approached between the two high rock walls we could see the gorgeous blue water. Wow.

As we rounded the corner, we could see something below… whoa - a pool. A really complacent looking pool on the edge of the water.

I was delighted to find that this pool was indeed one of our hotel’s pool and it was then that I knew where I would be spending my day.

Well, the road back to the hotel was our rigorous exercise. But it was no sweat really, we both have been trained by the 100 stairs at my flat in Budapest.

We had breakfast and Cori was off to her conference. I went back to the room as it was a little hazy out still and was doing my devotional and go oh so sleepy. I crashed for almost 3 hours!!! Whoops. I woke up and wandered down to the little strip mall to buy a razor (which I forgot) and some bottled water. Then I gathered my things and headed down to the pool. This pool really was incredible. The weather was PERFECT. Not a cloud in the sky, cool breeze and 75 degrees. I was thinking, “This is vacation.” Cori came down and meet me for lunch at the pool where I had swordfish and a fresh, green lettuce salad (this is a rare find in Budapest so I was quite overjoyed). The rest of my afternoon I spent slathering on the sunscreen, reading one of my Karen Kingsbury books (totally frivolous reading) and napping on and off. The view from the pool was really incredible. It is on the edge of rocky water of which is different shades of brilliant blue because of the different depths of the water and the rock below. There were a few sailboats or yachts that would sail lazily by now and again with a backdrop of green hills in the background from a distant side of the island.

I tried to get some decent pictures but I never think the pictures turn out as beautiful as the scene really is. Especially if there is a silvery shine on the water I want to capture… never seems to come out quite so brilliant. I’ll try to keep the pictures fresh in my mind as long as possible….

So my friend Cori and I are on our way to Mallorca, Spain. Cori works for Campus Crusade for Christ and they are having a conference there. I am tagging along for a relaxing vacation. Ahhhhh. It’s going to be a long journey to Mallorca today. So far we’ve taken a bus to Vienna, Austria and are sitting in a cafe where they’ve got FREE internet!! I love being around German speakers. It is so much closer to English than Hungarian. Do you think that God put me in Hungary to try to learn Hungarian to make every other language easier to learn?! ha If I should go back to the States next, I’m learning Spanish. No problem. If I go somewhere else, I’ll learn that language. No sweat. Thank you, Hungary!!

As we’re sitting in the cafe here, Cori and I tag-teammed a note to our old friend and neighbor Bill:

Hey there, Bill! It sure was fun to talk to you on Sunday! It looked like we kept you from lunch with your friends – thanks for hangin’ with us for a few minutes, though.

So, Jessie and I are in the café area of the Vienna airport. We waiting to check-in. Jessie just went to get a drink – and do you think she had any cash? – no – I handed her a baggie of … EURO change!! That’s from you!! So in a strange way it’s like you’re here with us.

It’s been a LONG month!! I’m pretty overwhelmed with work. I was on the phone for two hours on the way to airport this morning (we took a bus from BP to Vienna). So I’m wishing I could vacation like Jessie instead of work … but soon enough. Jessie just told me the bus was letting people off at random places – I didn’t even notice! See?! Too much!

Ok, here’s Jessie … so I wasn’t able to use the Euro change ‘cause I got a coffee and water and you know that it cost me 5.5 Euro!!!!! Wow, you know we’re not in Hungary anymore!! Ha We’re going to use it on the beach. Maybe we’ll use it on the beach. Plant it for some kids to come along and find it, you know.

I’ll keep you posted on the rest of our journey as I can. I know I don’t keep this site up as much as I should. There is just so much to share it is overwhelming at times! I’ll keep you up-to-date as much as possible. Thanks for hangin’ in there!

Ever since I’ve arrive in Budapest, I have heard rumors that “Starbucks is coming, Starbucks is coming!” But never, ever have I seen it in print. Until now….

Starbucks to enter Hungary in 2008

02 Apr 2007
bbj.hu
The US-based coffee parlor chain Starbucks will make its debut on the CE European markets in 2008, an analyst was quoted as saying by the portfolio.hu portal.

The assumption is based on a cooperation agreement signed recently between the American coffee shop and American Restaurants (AmRest), the operator of internationally known restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut or KFC. The deal will reportedly enable Starbucks to open and operate 20 new coffee shops in Budapest, Prague and Poland by 2008. AmRest did not wish to comment on the reports of the large-scale Starbucks expansion in the region.

The American coffee chain has made repeated attempts over the past years to enter Hungary, but none of them proved to be successful. Analysts say the Americans were discouraged by the fact that Hungarian customers would not be willing to pay an average €2 for a cup of coffee, regardless of its quality. This tendency is reported to have changed in recent years, as more and more premium brand distributors report increases in their business. (Gazdasági Rádió)

So looks like they are aligning with the company that has already brought us Pizza Hut and KFC so I believe there IS hope that this will actually happen! Ok, not ’til 2008… but I’ll likely still be here at that time so I’m keepin’ my eye on the prize. Chocolate chip cookies…. welcome to Hungary!!!