Beautiful, Brrrrr Budapest!

After an unseasonably warm welcome to Budapest, the weather turned COLD and WINDY this past week with temperatures below freezing. We woke to heavy snow flurries on Saturday



and spent most of the day indoors because Cile doesn't like cold weather! All we got was enough to cover the ground and then it stopped, but it was enough to make everything beautiful and white! More snow flurries are expected later this week!



We decided to step out of our comfort zone and try one of their many sausages. (Hungary is known for their many sausages, paprika and Hungarian goulash.) When you saute' potatoes, zucchini, fresh garlic, red peppers, spicy sausage, carrots and onion, you can't help but be pleased with the results! Besides that, when you add dark Hungarian bread with President butter (our favorite in France and Ivory Coast!) and homemade applesauce, it makes a terrific meal! We look forward to the day when you come to visit and ask us which of the sausages we like the best and we have to respond, "Oh, it's so hard to choose! They are all so good!"

Notice the newspaper? The Budapest Sun is almost like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution only, not really. It's written in English and contains not only political news about Hungary and the world, but also lots of helpful information for tourists or new missionaries!



You may recognize this picture from our last update. (The one with the sun shining on it; it covers a full block.) It is the Central Market Hall that we tried to visit last week but arrived too late. We went early this time! It has 3 floors and takes several hours to see everything.



The top floor has Hungarian souvenirs for tourists such as tablecloths (no, not yet, but soon!), purses, shawls, Budapest tee-shirts, souvenir spoons, etc. This picture shows the main level which houses over a 100 stalls selling fresh meat, fruits and vegetables.



This lady's booth sells nothing but garlic and pepper strands that are staples in Hungarian dishes. You can buy them fresh or dried for your personal use or in cute, little containers to give as gifts. Guess what you're getting for Christmas!



Glenn is trying to learn the names of the meat he recognizes and is calculating the cost to see if it is more or less expensive than in the United States. (Unfortunately, usually more expensive.)

The basement level of this huge market has a famous Asian store (well, famous among American missionaries, anyway) that sells spices and other specialties from around the world. Missionaries come here to get their Mexican food items such as taco seasoning packets and tortilla shells. I won't tell you how much they cost, but they are worth every forint!

Hungary is part of the European Union but has not yet switched over to using the euros. Instead, Hungary uses the forint, and 195 forints equals $1. Most things are more expensive than in the U.S. but at least we can get everything we NEED here. Mexican foods are, of course, imported, as is peanut butter, which makes them expensive. A medium size (18 oz.) jar of no-name peanut butter is $5, but at least we can get it here!



Do you recognize the Cherokee brand? (If you recognize it from Target, you get what is behind the third door.) Cile just about flipped out when she saw it. These clothes are not at the Central Market Hall, but rather at our local version of a super Walmart, called Tesco. This is where we buy our groceries, household items, office supplies, and everything else!



Every other day we come up with some grocery items we need, walk the 25 minutes to our local mall (which is where Tesco is) and pass this fine eating establishment on the way. We haven't eaten here yet, but we hear that it tastes pretty much like the real thing (which may or may not be a good thing, depending on whether you like McD's.)



One of our malls (yes, we have more than one!) also has a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut. We were shopping there during lunchtime so ordered KFC. It was pretty good, but a little expensive for the small lunch we got. ($12) It tasted the same, but the difference was that they don't use ice in their FOUNTAIN DRINKS. (We were told that some fastfood restaurants have ice but you have to ask for it.)



We didn't stay through dinnertime, but Pizza Hut was having a special, "Buy one large, get a large pizza free!" It was $14 which is a little expensive for 1 pizza, but since we got 2 for the price of 1, it was a bargain! We ordered "2 to go" and ate them later. They were delicious! Just like the real thing. (Kari, are you so here!?!)



After all that pizza, Glenn was really thirsty so he walked down the street from our house to the Wild West Saloon. Only kidding. Well, he was thirsty and he did walk down the street, but he didn't drink any beer.

We went to a different church this morning. Let's call it Budafok Baptist Church. It was really nice and when the "greeter" found out we spoke only English, he found us a translator! Gabor translated the whole 2 hour service for us! He did such a good job and it was so much better than sitting there for 2 hours not understanding a word. (Well, we understood the Hungarian word for "thank you" when they prayed.) Pray that we will know whether this is the church God would have us join in worship and service. That translation ministry sure was wonderful!

We officially start language study on Monday with Agnes. We will meet 3 days a week for 1 1/2 hours each time. We are ready and excited about learning Hungarian, even though it is a very difficult language to learn. We NEED to be able to communicate at the most basic level for our own survival, but we WANT to be able to communicate at a higher level for others' eternal survival! Pray that God will do a MIRACLE in our minds and with our tongues in the 12 short weeks we have for language study.

God is good and we are so glad to be here. We are fine, learning our way around and enjoying many long walks in our neighborhood. We thank God for bringing us here!

Viszla't!