back in nyiregyhaza

it was aniko's birthday last week so i went to her place to help her celebrate. (she doesn't like/allow having her picture taken...see?)
her aunt/godmother, her sister, her mom
this is what they were eating: dobos torte - ummm, delicious!
another day i met with my hungarian teacher, Edit (eh-deet) to have some ice cream and catch up. we met up in the city center and had a nice little chat.
hers was kiwi, pear, and cherry -on the left
mine was chocolate, stracciatella, and turo rudi (all very good, especially good together!)
i had my camera and the city center was charming me on the way to meet with Edit....
roman catholic church (whose bells ring for 5 full minutes at noon and 6pm)
one of a billion sidewalk cafes. love them!
evangelical church. every town/city/village in hungary seems to have a big yellow church. i now live behind the one in nyiregyhaza. here it is:
my street
the other day my friend janos came over. he has been to the US several times and when i asked him what he missed from america he said - this is not a joke - beef jerky. so i told a friend, leia, and when she sent me a package here she included a pack of jerky for this guy. he couldn't have been happier. seriously.
and then there's xander. sleeping in new and unpredictable places all the time. the flash woke him up. sorry, bubba!

camp

i was in budapest for an english/hungarian VBS camp type thing for a week. there was a team of americans from College Hill Presbyterian Church in ohio who came to love on some kids here. the theme was "american cowboy" and man, they really went all out. there were bandanas everywhere, line dancing, cowboy/country crafts, games, snacks, music, and phrases. our groups were the longhorns, broncos, buckaroos, colts, rangers, and mustangs.

here are the LONGHORNS!
szabi, zoli, zoya, betti, lilla, tami (bethany and i are in the back)

welcome! (god brought you)the ones who made it all happen
HERE are some more camp pictures

jam with kathy

i've never made jam before, but kathy - of "joe and kathy" aka my hosts for the 10 days i was in budapest - is a jam-aholic. so we went to work!
first up: raspberries!
we also did THIS:
to THESE: (apricots)
mmm mmm good! and now that i know how to make jam, and it's really easy, i think i'll do it myself some time. can't be homemade jam, now can ya?

hijacked!

in 2003 i came to hungary and taught english in a refugee camp. the program who sent me is still sending people to do the same thing. last week i had the chance to take this year's team to the camp and help get them acclimated to hungary and living in a refugee camp. it was surreal to be back at the place and i'm glad i could see it agian.

some guy drove us there (about 3 hours from budapest) who didn't speak any english, so i was seriously using my hungarian. he was a nice guy, jozsef. he decided to pass some car on a two lane road and the team and i were ok with that. then he decided to pass the car in front of that... but there was a semi coming on the other side. we were getting nervous and then scared and then terrified! i'm not exaggerating when i say we missed the semi - who didn't slow down at all either!- by about 10 feet. 10 FEET!!! none of us could breathe or think of anything else after that brush with death for about half an hour. i told him we were all scared and he assured me that he's a professional driver and everything was under control. o.m.g.

from what joe and kathy (the organizers of the refugee camp english teacher relationship) told me, i understood that he was going to take me and the team to the refugee camp, then drive me back to budapest. well, he had other plans (unbeknownst to me!). he was going to some other city to leave the van there and pick up his own car which he would then drive to budapest. he didn't tell me that until we were at the refugee camp! so we drove to the camp in southern hungary, then to the city where his car was in northeast hungary, then back to budapest in central hungary. it was about 5 hours! obviously we were best friends by the end.

somewhere in the country we saw this...

cherries

cherries are much more common here than in the US... i think. maybe they're common in the states but i was just never around them or maybe they weren't around me in florida and texas. meanwhile, they're everywhere here. they're not expensive but they are delicious!
people put them in pastries:
pies/cakes:


jams/jellies/marmalades:


and soups:

since i've practically been here forever i've really gotten used to/gotten into hungarian food and traditions. so i was psyched to have a chance to magyar it up. (magyar=hungarian)

i don't know what i'm going to do with mine since i have a jar of homemade jelly already (thanks, kathy!) but i'm sure i'll find a use for them. my favorite thing about them being commonly consumed is that when they're served with lunch you are often given a small plate to spit/elegantly place the seeds on. it's not at all unacceptable to be digging around in your mouth with your fingers trying to collect all the pits. gotta love that. :)