Buda and Pest

I had a really smooth trip to Hungary. We were already blessed by having no problems with bags or at passport checks. No delayed flights or long lay-overs. I got to watch a really good documentary on the way to Frankfurt called Catfish. I recommend it! Kinda creepy story but it really happened and the filming is fabulous. We happened to not get charged for our 2nd bag (should've been $70) and everyone's bags were under 50lbs. Praise God!

While fighting off major jet-lag, my team took a tour of the city (Budapest) with some of the alumi teachers from Teach Overseas. Stephen, Alyssa, Mandy, Anna, and I (the new Hungary teachers) had crossed about 9 time zones and we didn't get a ton of sleep on the plane, so taking a tour and also a hike up to the highest point in Budapest (called Gellert Hill) was somewhat taxing. Once we were able to see the magnificent view of the city, it was completely worth it.
After the hike, we walked around the city getting to see the Parliment building, St. Stephen's Basillica, Hero's Square, an open air market designed by Eiffel himself!, a freedom monument erected in place of a 30 foot statue of Stalin, and a new statue of Ronald Reagan.

To end the day, we had a fabulous meal of goulash and bablevesh (bean soup). I am obsessed with goulash.

The next day we used the minimal Hungarian vocabulary we have to buy a train ticket and food from the market. I bought paprika (peppers) and Alyssa my teammate bought tomatoes (paradicum) to use for the traditional Hungarian dish we made called chicken paprikas. Our team met with 4 Hungarian students of the alumni and got to do mini-language lessons with them. It was fun getting a glimpse of what some Hungarian high school students are like. We toured the school that Hope, Sharon, and Della work at called Kossuth Lajos (named after a famous Hungarian leader). We ate dinner at their flat which sits on an old aeronatics school called the Bazis (base) and you can see old airplanes sitting around everywhere. 

This morning I helped make palacsintas (crepes) and we had an amazing breakfast together at Justin's flat. We are about to be picked up to go to Miskolc (about a 2 hour ride) and will get to meet my colleague named Judit who is the head English teacher at Frater Gyorgy and have a "welcome goulash" with Alyssa.

Please pray for us if you think of it!! Pray that we see Jesus moving in this day and have humility as we learn this new and difficult language. Pray that we are not anxious as we prepare and start teaching next week. We are beginning our new lives and I can't wait for God has in store.