Thursday, May 7, 2009

Easter Break - Hungary and Sweden

A view of Budapest with Rebekah, Anthony, Alpar, and Me

There is SO much to tell, and many stories. I'll keep the best here and try to be brief :)


This Easter break Anthony, Rebekah, and I were blessed to be able to visit 2 other team members in their homes. First stop was in Hungary to visit Alpar in his hometown of Gyor. We were welcomed very warmly in his home with a homegrown, home cooked meal. Alpar's family is incredible that way! They have a cottage house out in the country where they grow fruits and vegetables. They make their own jam, juice, wine, and just about everything else. I loved that they still have their milk delivered by a milk man as well!

Beka and me with home made egg/potato salad

Alpar was an amazing tour guide for us the whole week. He has a real passion for history and architecture, so we could look at any building and say 'what's that?' and hear an incredible story. We were really lucky that way! We went to Gyor, Budapest, and Fertod. The best thing about Gyor was this amazing park by the river. We were able to sit and people watch. I don't know if it's the heat (pushing 30 Celsius) or the culture or what, but people were so relaxed - and I definitely caught a few couples... :) The best thing about Budapest was this really neat market where we got to experience Hungarian food and desserts - I had Langos (a potato pancake with garlic butter, sour cream, and cheese. mmm! And for dessert we had this long bread tube thing with cinnamon on it - delicious! And my favourite about Fertod was walking quite a ways to a castle where Haydn lived and composed! We took a tour and saw where he would have written and performed - pretty sweet if you ask me! Then we had a great lunch sitting in the GIANT lawn before running back to the train :)

Haydn probably roamed this garden humming his compositions... wow!

The most interesting cultural experience, though, was Easter monday. Easter Sunday was celebrated with church and a nice lunch along with a bike ride down to the Danube with Alpar's Dad. Quite pleasant. But Easter Monday was an event! The tradition is that the boys 'water' the girls for new growth - very Eastery. But do the girls run away or try and get them back? No. They give them cookies and cakes. So Beka and I awoke to buckets of water being poured on our heads. This is the first of 3 times that day that we were saturated by some male! But that's much less than the 20 times that some girls end up changing their clothes! We got to accompany Alpar around to his friends houses to continue watering :)

Beka and I. Saturation #2

Cycling to the Danube with Alpar's Dad

Our final night in Hungary was spent at the family Cottage house where we cooked dinner on a fire and had a chance to get to know some of his Brother's friends from Uni. There was music blasting from a car, and a good time was had by all, even if our communication was 95% non-verbal. We felt very blessed to be able to experience that world wide community first hand. We were dancing, laughing, and sometimes just sitting in silence as the fire crackled. Wow.

Then we headed off to Sweden! Alpar and I stayed with Sara Karls. When we arrived, she said "You want to see Sweden? Well, to me, Sweden is nature." So we spent most of our trip outside! We were in Hedemora, and very close to Dalarna, where the big red horse is. We had great fun exploring the huge amount of land, forest, and lake that the Karls own. Something that fascinated me was that in Sweden, you can go on anyone's land and camp anywhere for 2 days at a time as long as you don't completely trash the place. What a welcoming atmosphere! We got to ride Icelandic horses and go cross country skiing! (My first time! I fell a lot, but I was getting quite good at the end, until I fell in a bathtub size puddle!) We cooked Swedish desserts and saw beautiful Stockholm. What a treat! Oh! You know those candies we call 'Swedish Fish' back in the states? They don't call them that there ;)
Our last day in Sweden we got to hike up to the family cabin on the hills across the lake from their house. The land has been in the family for generations - it was cool to hear stories from way back when! We cooked over a fire and made sausages, corn, and my personal favourite - BREAD! (this is the perfect combo for my parents - Dad loves grilling, and Mom makes a mean loaf of bread!) It was a beautiful hike and a wonderful family tradition to be a part of.

Riding Icelandic Horses

The whole gang with a Swedish Gnome in Stockholm

Getting ready to hike at Sara's house

Me climbing out of a bathtub of a puddle!

For more stories and pictures of Hungary, click here, or here, or for even more, here

For more stories and pictures of Sweden, click here, and for more, here.

As always, know that you are all in my prayers. I love and miss you, and hope that your life is just as crazy as mine in your own special way :)

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Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

When I'm Lost on the Road


My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am
actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please
you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all
that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you
will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death, I will
not fear, for you are ever with me
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

Risk

This is a poem that was used in our training and we also used in the retreat last week. I feel it is very fitting for this adventure.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

Crisp Flavours.

England has an amazing amount and variety of Crisp (chip) Flavours! Here are a few of my favourites (like the English spelling :) )

Ready Salted
Cheese and Onion
Roast Chicken
Prawn Cocktail
Steak and Onion
Worcester Sauce

These are the normal ones that you'd find in a gas station. Crazy, isn't it?!

English Lingo

  • Lorry (Semi-Truck)
  • Rubber (eraser)
  • Ta (Thank You)
  • Cheers (Thank you)
  • Skip (dumpster)
  • Bin (trash can)
  • Drink (Tea)
  • Brew (Tea)
  • Cupper (Tea)
  • Chips (Fries)
  • Crisps (Chips)
  • Biscuit (cookie)
  • Chuft (Proud)
  • Lie in (sleep in)
  • Rubbish (trash)