!Yo Diggity!

So, winter is in full effect here in Hungary. For those of you who don’t know, Hungary is about the same or similar to Indiana’s latitude and they are also similar in that they are lovely, land locked and COLD COLD places this time of year.

Ashleigh and I tried to make the best of it today. It was not ‘too’ cold but the recent snow in combination with the rain of the day made for a VERY icy trip to the hills.

It’s hard to believe, but this is actually the same place as in the picture below. The difference is amazing, isn’t it?? Please ignore me with my eyes closed.

It actually was not miserable though. We did make the best of it. We even invented our own sport: the human luge.

We were pretty ice-soaked through so we eventually made it to a really nice little etterem and there we got some warmth and a very nice mushroom soup. Yum. Ahhhh winter.

Stanley’s here!!!

For those of you who are not familiar with Flat Stanley, here is the scoop: one day, I received a letter in the mail. Inside the envelop, there was a note:

Dear Jessie,
I am in the second grade at Delaware Trail Elementary School. This week we read a story called Flat Stanley. This story is about a little boy who becomes flat because he is smashed by a bulletin board. His parents are able to mail him in an envelope to visit his friend in California because he is flat. He also discovers many things he can now do because he is flat. Everyone in my class is sending their own Flat Stanley to someone and I chose you. I would really appreciate it, if you would mail my Flat Stanley back to school using the address on the back of the page. if you would like you can include a note and or pictures of what Stanley did when he was with you. My class will love hearing about his adventures. My class and I are ging to use a map to locate where each Stanley went and figure out how far each one traveled. We hope they all make it back to our classroom safely.

Thanks for your help,
Marcus

Stanley is such a cool travel buddy I thought that I would take him with me to my trip to Poland last weekend! We left Hungary on a Thursday afternoon and flew into Krakow, Poland.

Poland and Hungary are both former communist countries so I was expecting them to be similar. To my surpise, they were actually quite different! Both are very beautiful cities but in much different ways. Krakow is more of a pedestrian city and just more people in the streets. Check out these beautiful buildings that Stanley got to check out!

We didn’t spend all of our time in the big city. We also got to visit the country side. Stanley’s favorites were all the animals he got to see. Wool is one of the textiles that Poland is famous for. Stanley got to see some of the sheep that produce this wool!

Even though we were on top of a mountain checking out the sheep, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere - would you guess it: THEY HAVE INTERNET!! haha - we can’t get away from the wonderful, world wide web!

We finished out trip back in the ski resort village of Zakopane. What a beautiful place! I think Stanley enjoyed the fresh air of the mountains.

Thanks for the visit, Stanley!! I know it hurt a bit… but I really think this ‘getting smashed by a bullentin board’ was a good thing for you!

See you…. next time!

The coming months will be quite hectic for me. So if you see that I’m not responding to your mail or your calls, please feel free to check my calendar and note: I’m just out of pocket, I still love you to pieces.

Here is what my schedule looks like for the next few months:

Istanbul, Turkey: Oct 5-7
Krakow, Poland: Oct 11-15
Dublin, Ireland: Oct 19-24
London, England: Oct 24-28

Curitiba, Brazil: Nov 3-10

Curitiba, Brazil: Dec 3-15
Indiana, USA: Dec ? - Jan 5

Fairfax, VA, USA: Jan ? - Jan ? (two weeks)

And now you have all the knowledge that I do on where I am going to be up to February. Funny thing is… that is really all I know. I could be moving back to the States in February. Or, I could be here in BP. Or… I could be sent somewhere else in the world. I have no idea at this moment. At least I won’t have much time to ponder it in the next few months.

So, I’ve been here in Budapest for just over two years now, and for a foreigner here, that is actually quite a long time. The expat/missionary/foreigner community here has quite a high turnover rate. That is just the nature of living overseas. The good thing is that it is easy to make friends… the bad thing is that you see lots of friends go as well. So around April-June time-frame of this year… I would say I had about 100% turn-over of friends. No joke.

So, I wanted to take a moment and introduce you to the newest round of friends so that when I talk about them you know who in the world I am talking about.

Carol - my current flatmate! I’ve known Carol the longest… we met last year while Hungarian dancing. She is from Allentown (whoop, whoop) PA and is a English teacher here.

Zoli - I met Zoli through Ana who you’ll meet later. Zoli has a Hungarian father and a Mexican mother. But he was born and raised in Canada. Go figure that one out. Zoli’s a cool dude - he is here starting up a Project Management training company (is that right, Zoli?). He maintains the group think concept within the group at the moment…. “We feel…. ”

Sarah - ohhh Canada, oh Canada!! Sarah is the hippest chic I know and my partner in working out. She’s the best workout buddy…. ALWAYS up for a run, a swim or some yoga. Love the energy in this girl. Love her socks too.

Ana - when you grow up in Spain (Spanish father, American mother) and attend university at ASU, you’re likely to be a little cookey. Ana is one smart chica who’s been a big encouragement to me in my adventures in swimming. Also an excellent partner in crime to lots of fun events like Sziget Festival, Bratislava and soon Istanbul and Crack-cow. Crack-cow is in Poland for those of you who don’t know. Please keep in mind I can’t spell. heehee

Wagaye - yep, rhymes with ‘papaya’. This chic is from San Fran area but is WAY cooler than you’d think someone from San Fran would be. She’s a work-a-holic just like someone else we all know (hmmmm….) and also always up for, well, whatever. Like this one AND she should have a little more longevity than some of the others.

Rita - Rita, Rita, Rita!! This is my first (and only really) Hungarian friend!! We had quite a unique meeting - we got stuck in Milan because we were on a flight back to Budapest when a HORRIBLE airline called Alitalia cancelled our flight. The experience ended up as NOT horrible only because I had the chance to meet Rita. She is really a dear friend and it’s just funny how God cross’s paths sometimes. You just never do know!!

Carmelita - Now, Carmelita thinks this is a horrible picture but I think she’s got horrible vision so I’m posting it anyway. Carmelita used to be my friend Cori’s (you all remember Cori) flatmmate. Carmelita has stepped into Cori’s place a bit in being a ear to lend and just an all around interesting lady. Love her!! All this, not-to-mention that she is from the UK and has allowed my appreciaton for the Brittish language… my British immitation has improved ten fold!!! heehee

Paulo - this is really a horrible picture of Paulo. It looks like we should call him Igor instead. Or Frankenstein? Would that be appropriate? He does NOT look like this in real life! Paulo works with me at XOM and just arrived here 2 months ago. He is Brazilian but has some Hungarian roots. Paulo has taught me that the Brazilian stereotype of them being a bit slow is TRUE. This guy walks slower than any human being I know. My niece Emma is probably faster than he is.

Ashleigh - Ashleigh is my new partner in crime and adventure. She arrived also 2 months ago and is working for XOM in a similar position to mine. It’s been awesome to have another youngster on the team and it has been great, personally to have her around. She lives right across the street from me and is NOT normally cross-eyed. I think.

Sabrina - this is some weirdo we picked up on the street. Yep, little strange. haha No, no, actually Sabrina works for XOM as well but is just here for 5 weeks. This girl likes to travel though and has played a big role in encouraging the nutz-o schedule I have coming up. Really nice girl. I hope to see her around again….

That’s all I’ve got for now. Hopefully that gives you some idea of who in the world these people are that I am always talking about!!

***The sur names have been left off for security purposes and to protect the identify of the innocent***

***Info: all pictures come curtiousy of Sushi with Jessie except for those who took a horrible shot that I felt no need for public posting. ***

My Sushi Birthday

There is an English website which I do not want to support because I feel it is quite vulgar and often leaves me with a very sad feeling about the state of Hungary and people in general so it shall remain nameless… but that being said, it, once and awhile has some very funny stuff. Yes, contradictary I know… but true, ok? So, it is plagiarism if I quote from it but do not give the name? Ms. DeShaney - if you read my blog… can you help me out here?? (Wow - I just made myself laugh outloud. This is an inside joke - if you went to high school with me you are laughing as well, I am sure of it! heehee)

Here is an except from the article:

“Today is the one year anniversary of the leaking of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s not-so-secret lies speech, also known as the elkúrtuk speech, which is really the speech that launched a thousand nutters. A protest march is planned for this evening, which will culminate where else but at Kossuth tér. After scaring away the handballers, the protesters have permission to stay until 11 at night, at which point if they don’t, something interesting might happen. Otherwise, it’ll be the usual chants of “Gyurcsány you suck!” followed by the prime minister announcing “the fascists are coming, the fascists are coming!” If something does actually happen, we’ll keep you posted. Otherwise, well, yeah…”

So I live two blocks from Kossuth tér, and I can validate that nothing too interesting happened last night. Just lots of people flags, and of course, the beer cart. I just still don’t get why they are selling beer at a protest. Seems like the authorities should have some problem with that. This is the thing about cultural differences: I’ll never understand some things. I just take note, and move on….