Glenn travels to parts unknown!

The week started off with a wonderful surprise from Cile's sister, Elizabeth. A box of goodies!



A video tape of our appointment service in September, DVD sermons from our church and some food packets to help make dinner a little easier and faster to prepare. When the doorbell rang, the postman was waving a package to let us know it wouldn't fit in the little slot of the mailbox! We're not sure what he would have done if we hadn't been home. Anyway, we're glad we were home and we admit Cile was like a child opening a birthday present! Thanks Elizabeth and Brennon! (Cile ate the Kraft macaroni and cheese on Saturday night when Glenn was out of town.)

Other than studying Hungarian, we try to get to know the folks as they come to the guest house in Budapest for medical care, vacations, meetings or for any other reason. Often it will be just one family member who has come to see a doctor, and it gets lonesome for them to have to fix meals in the guest house or go out to eat by themselves so they don't usually turn us down when we invite them to our house for a meal. This is right up our alley and what we love best! Anyway, it is helping us to get to know folks as they come and go, and hopefully, when we get to our Annual General Meeting in Poland (April) and Greece (June), some of these folks will talk to us! (Cile is paranoid that no one will befriend us because of the assumption that if you are talking to Member Care, you must have a problem.) We want to get to know them so that when they have a problem, they'll feel comfortable talking with us.



This is Milton. He is one of our newest friends and he was brave and kind enough to let us put his picture on our blog. Milton is originally from Brazil and has a heavy accent, but occasionally when he was talking, this slow drawl would come out of his mouth! It was such a strange sound, a Portugese accent with southern drawl! It turns out that he went to college in Alabama and picked up that wonderful southern accent!

Glenn left on Friday morning to go to another country to meet with a family so Cile had the whole weekend and house to herself and plenty of time to work on 10 projects she wants to complete before Kari and Jonathan arrive on April 6th. Cile spent 6 hours on Friday responding to emails and then the rest of the day doing laundry, organizing bookshelves, unpacking a couple of boxes and a little bit of painting. (cabinets, not pictures)


Laundry day at the Borders

While the husband is away, the wife will play. Cile left the house Saturday morning at 10 am with a friend, Kesha, to go downtown to do some shopping and didn't return until 7 pm! Fortunately, there is still money in the bank account and stuff still on the shelves. They took public transport (buses and trams) and had a leisurely day strolling down the famous Vacsi Street, eating lunch at Pizza Hut, stopping in all these cute little shops that Glenn and Darrin never want to go into, and then hitting a big grocery store. In the middle of the day, they entered a coffee shop (neither Cile nor Kesha drink coffee) and ordered an Oreo milkshake with real Oreos! (We've yet to find Oreos for sale here.) It was $5 and a big disappointment. It was crushed Oreo cookies and finely chopped ice! No milk. Not very sweet. Very expensive. Other than the milkshake, the day was wonderful, but Cile didn't get a lot of her projects done!


Doggie bags instead of boxes for left-overs

Still picking up coins!

Those of you who know Cile well know that she has this thing about picking up pennies (she prefers picking up nickles, dimes and quarters, but usually finds more pennies). She is saving all the coins she finds and maybe, just maybe, by time she retires she will have enough to do something special with the fortune. Unfortunately, the smallest coin here is worth about 1/2 of a cent! All that bending over for less than a penny. Money is to use for good purposes, but God doesn't want us to trust in money to provide for our needs; He wants us to trust in Him for that; He reminds us of that on every coin in America. Every penny I picked up was a reminder to me to Trust In God.

Glenn and I leave on Friday for Poland to attend our Annual General Meeting so our next update will have pictures from there! Each missionary or couple will have a 30 minute appointment with one of the 5 or 6 counselors to talk about anything they'd like to discuss. Please begin praying now for these families that we will meet. Pray also for this time of fellowship, worship and training. Cile will be facilitating a small group discussion on serving on the mission field with children with special needs, and she would appreciate your prayers for her! We will return on April 6th, which is the same day Kari and Jonathan arrive! (On Kari's blog, she has this cute little clock that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until they come to Budapest! I'm as excited as she is but I don't know how to do the little clock-thing!)

See you in Poland next week!

Internet on, internet off.

Well, we got our phone and internet this week. While Glenn was taking a friend to the hospital, Cile was playing charades with the phone man. Cile must have mimed something incorrect because we are already having problems with it! It seems our connection doesn't like the wind or the dark; we know this because it cuts in and out during the day (and we're having a lot of wind. 1 + 1 = 2, right?) and it completely shuts off when the sun goes down! This is one of the most frustrating things about living in a foreign country where you don't speak the language. We don't know what the problem is, and even if we did, we wouldn't know what to say to ask for help.

We are at the guest house now because it is dark and the internet is down, and we need the internet to update our blog! This our second home until we can get it fixed. We love our new home but Glenn does miss one feature that the guest house has that we don't in our home: a urinal!


One for Glenn and one for Cile

Must have been a slow week if we start off with a picture of a toilet!

On Mondays Cile meets our language tutor's daughter, Nora, for 45 minutes of conversation. It is a time in which they talk about family and daily life to give her practice in speaking Hungarian.


Nora and Cile in the food court at the Campona Mall. Talking, not eating.

She also helps her learn more about the Hungarian culture. For example, she asked Nora the word for "housewife" because she imagined that someone might ask if she worked, and would want to respond, "I don't work; I am a housewife" or something along that line. Keep in mind that Nora is a college student (smart) but yet, was unsure of the word "housewife" in Hungarian! She explained that women don't stay home, that every woman works in Hungary, so they don't use that word in everyday conversation. Just an interesting tidbit that we learned and wanted to share with you. Pray for their time together and that the words will flow out of Cile's mouth to her questions!


Tartiflette

Cooking is not something we LOVE to do, but we do love to EAT! One of the challenges is finding a meal that doesn't require ingredients from the U.S. Look through your recipe books there in America and most of them require at least one prepackaged ingredient. An example might be homemade chicken pie. The recipe calls for 2 cups Bisquick.... Or Broccoli Slaw, requiring one package of Ramen noodles....

Because of this, our daughter's blog (see link above) has become an invaluable resource for us. She was "cooking from scratch" during her two years in Senegal and now during the 2 years she's been in France so she is a pro! Already we've used 4 or 5 of her recipes, including the tartiflette shown above. It is bacon, ham, potatoes, onions, cheese (we use Trappista because it melts easily and has a mild taste. Can you get that in the U.S.?) cream and several spices. It was delicious!

We're still moving things around in our house, trying to "nest" and find the best place for everything. Thought we'd show you some pictures of our homey touches, like photos on the refrigerator, etc.


Of course, favorite magnets too!

Notice the two lists on the refrigerator door? One is our shopping list of things to buy here like curtains for the bathroom, and the other is our list of things for Cile to buy when she goes to the U.S. in April for a conference. Things like shower curtain ($35 here), contact solution (for son-in-law Jonathan, $15 a bottle here and in France), etc.


Honoring the family names of Kate and Jonathan

If you visited us in our home in Marietta, you might recognize the lamp/sign post from our "french" bedroom. Please don't notice that the curtains clash terribly with the couch! The curtains were in the house when we arrived, and we haven't gotten around to buying or making curtains for the living room yet. That will come later.


Gorgeous view as we wash dishes

Because there is no dishwasher and no space for one, we spend a lot of time at the kitchen sink washing dishes. We thank God for such a great view overlooking our neighbors' garden. They have been busy working in the garden a lot this week, and we are looking forward to seeing all the color over the next few months. Sorry about the glare on the glass, but PTL the sun was shining!! In all seriousness, since neither of us love to wash dishes, Cile is praying that God will meet her at the sink each day and that will become a special time of fellowship for her. In addition to her morning time, she wants to use this quiet time pray for her family' and friends' needs and to listen to God speak with her abouth what's on His heart.

Tomorrow begins a busy week for us. Glenn will be traveling to another country, so pray for him as he travels and meets with a family. Pray for Cile as she stays behind, studies Hungarian and plays charades again with the phone man. Oh, it was comical when he came earlier this week. As they were trying to comunicate computer terms (which Cile doesn't know in English!), he asked if she spoke German (his second language). She responded, "No. Do you speak French?" That's when the game of charades began!

In closing, we would try to impress you by writing, "Have a good week" in Hungarian, but we found out they don't have that expression in Hungarian. They don't say that to one another because no one expects to have a good week! They do have a way to say "Have a good weekend" though! Interesting, isn't it?

Welcome to our home!

We want to show you some pictures of our house while sharing a part of our lives and what we've been up to this past week. We love our house and are slowly turning it into our home!

Fortunately, this is NOT it! This one screams YELLOW! Ours whispers golden yellow.


A YELLOW house next to the guest house. They love YELLOW!



This is our house, located on the corner of Komaromi and Heja. Our house is the one in the background that looks peach colored even though it is really golden yellow. Notice the beautiful blooms on our almond tree? You enter the house on the side, and go into a "mud room" which is where everyone takes off their shoes. In Hungary, you don't wear shoes in the houses, and the host often provides bedroom slippers for the guests to wear. (We bought 6 pairs for our guests.


Dirty dishes everywhere. Where is the dishwasher? He is clearing the table.

As you enter the house, turn left and you are immediately in the kitchen.

We had our weekly Bible study at our house on Thursday with 3 other couples and we invited them to come early for dinner. We love having company, but in our small kitchen with our small stove and no dishwasher (automatic, that is), we might not have as many big meals as we did in Marietta!

An hour later, a clean kitchen!

Just beside the kitchen is the living/dining room combination. (Also on the main floor is the guest bathroom and a tiny room that is big enough for just the toilet! Here, the toilets are often separate from the tub/shower and sink.

Friday evening Glenn and I went to IKEA and bought some of the furniture and other needed items for setting up our house, so Saturday was a work day in the house for us! Glenn put together a table that he will use as his office desk and the four chairs that came with it. Cile spent most of the day making curtains for our bedroom and the guest room. Unfortunately, neither set of curtains were completely finished because we were lacking some of the materials (and don't know yet where to go to get them!)



A little bit cleaner view of the living room. Glenn is working on conjugating some Hungarian verbs on his computer, sitting in one of the chairs he bought then put together for the small balcony off the office. (Kari, did you zoom in to see which pictures are on our mantel? Equal.)

The dining room (which is part of the living room!) is our main room in the house. (Kari, two picture frames next to ebony fruit bowl. Also equal.)

Glenn's office

Our bedroom

We are using our Senegalese quilt that was a present from Kari and Chris several years ago for our bed. It is not possible to find black curtains here, so we bought two black fleece blankets and are converting them into curtains. We have a street light right outside our bedroom window so the black curtains are a big help at blocking out the light! Bedrooms here don't typically have closets, so we are buying some "wardrobes" from a missionary that is moving back to the US. We hope to get them this week!

The guest room

In the meantime, our clothes are still in suitcases in the guest room. When the wardrobes arrive, we will get this room fixed up for our first overnight guests (which will be Kari and Jonathan! They arrive on April 6th and will stay for 6 days. We are so ready to see them!)

As you can tell, most of the work downstairs has been completed and we're working upstairs now, which is where we have two bedrooms, an office and a bathroom. We hope to get most of the upstairs in order by this weekend, assuming we get the furniture from the missionary family that is leaving. Another fun week ahead!

Glenn hanging out with some of his friends at the bus stop

Cile laughing at Glenn at the bus stop

Since we do not have phones and internet at our house yet, we go back to the guesthouse every other day to retrieve and send messages, emails and phone calls. Glenn takes care of most of our "official" emails and Cile keeps up with friends and family, writes the newsletter and updates the blog. We have become quite the geeks.

We got your message!

The other night when we had folks over for dinner and Bible study, we found this message in the ice chest. We think we know who wrote this, and we want you to know how much we appreciate it! It made us feel good to know you love us.

Please continue to pray for our language learning and opportunities for us to practice what we learn. It is amazing how much we've learned already, but when we speak, our minds go blank!

Pray that we won't freeze up and that the words will rrooolllllll off our tongues!

Also, our collegues that run the guesthouse are on a short vacation so we are covering for them. Pray that we will be able to handle all medical crises (or that there won't be any while the Doyles are out of town!) and that we will still be able to do our language study. We only have 4 more weeks of language.

Lastly, we don't know what happened to the pictures in last weeks' blog. They were there early in the week! Guess we're not good enough geeks to put them back in! Viszontlatashra!

We Got Mail!

Thus begins another busy week! Since our main responsibility right now is to be in full-time language study (I know my Dad. He is thinking this is a lot like our "reading days" in seminary!) I thought I'd show you some of our study materials.



This book is one of our resources. The title is "Hello, Here's Hungary! The word for Hungary is Magyarorszag because the Magyars settled in this place back in 896 (and the word for country is orszag). When I have to say, "I am an American living in Hungary", I stumble all over the word Magyarorszag!



We love the picture textbooks that we use! We are following these ficticious people of different nationalities who have come to a small town near Budapest called Debrecen to study Hungarian (because it is such a desired language to know). The book starts off, of course, with their introductions to each other, and then proceeds to telephone conversations, them getting together to eat in a restaurant (so we can learn how to order food), them telling about their families back home, etc. It's really quite comical! Especially Kurt who is trying to make the moves on Marta! The accompanying video tape is doubly cheesy! Great for late night comedy!



We got our first piece of mail addressed to us! Unfortunately, it was a bill for shipping our crates, but hey, we now have a home address! Other than this one bill, all we have received is junk mail; the same as you get in America! If you would like to write us rather than email us, our address is on the link --Wish List-- above. (This is NOT a subtle way of asking for care packages; it's just that some of you have asked for our address, and that's where it is located.)



Tuesday night we had dinner with fellow missionaries Karen and Brad. Karen is from Maryville, Tennessee where our son Chris and his wife Kate live!



This is the view from Karen and Brad's house! It has a beautiful view overlooking the city of Budapest, but on windy days it can be quiet scarey!



Saturday night was "Ladies Night Out"! We met over at Kristie's house and spent the evening getting caught up on everyone's news. Kristie just returned earlier this week from a 7 month stateside assignment (formerly called "furlough") and is already unpacked and ready to party! Cile's kind of friend! One of the ladies, Kesha, brought a Dr. Pepper for everyone. (She bought a couple of cases when she went to Slovakia a couple of weeks ago, and was kind enough to share them with us!) As we were leaving around midnight, we got to see the full lunar eclipse!

Unfortunatley, Cile's time with Dr. Pepper, Max (as in Pepsi Max, our version of Diet Pepsi) and chocolate so late at night, kept her up until 4:30 AM. That's why 20 people got an email from her between 1:00 and 4:00 AM!




This is our house, into which we have NOT YET MOVED! We are still waiting on a phone and internet access; otherwise, we will have to go back and forth to the Eden House to make and receive calls, messages and emails. We will give you more pictures of the inside as we get it unpacked!

Now in closing, we want to show you some pictures we took during the week that kind of amused us.


U.S. mailboxes for sale!!!


Sign along a busy road on the outskirts of town. Cracked Cile up just to see it in English. To whom are they marketing?


What? Where am I?????