How Do I Get There Now???

Glenn returned from 2 weeks of "summer camp" in Idaho where he went for contingency training. While he was gone, and while I was in France last week, our landlord came to do some drilling in our basement to hook us up from septic to the new sewer lines that were laid in front of our house recently.


And this is how dusty it was when I returned from France.



Not only did I bring 3 boxes of granola back with me for Glenn, I also brought cold weather! I believe it was Tuesday when I called my Dad to wish him a happy birthday that I noticed on my computer that the high for the day was supposed to be 66 degrees! The temperature has hovered between 65-70 degrees most of this week and the wind has really picked up. I hope we get a little more summer because if this is the beginning of fall, it's going to be a longggg winter!


Where are we?

Glenn and I, along with a co-worker staying at the guest house, went into town on Saturday.


Where trams go to die or get refurbished

We hopped on a bus, then a tram and then several more buses and trams.


Bridges being repaired-1 Confusion and congestion-2 years

This trek into town was to find new ways of getting places because a major bridge, the Szabadsag (Freedom) is closed for repairs for 2 years. This is the bridge that leads into the area of town where the Grand Market Hall and Vaci Street are located, which is where a lot of our "co-workers" across CEE want to go when they come to town and have time (and health) to go sightseeing. Because it is closed, the bus and tram lines that crossed over it have all been altered and so we have to figure out where the new routes go and how to get to places that a lot of people want to visit when they come into town.

Sometimes we would hop on a new bus route just to see where it would go.




There were plenty of maps at the stops to help us figure out where the bus or tram goes, but I sure was glad Glenn was our fearless leader! His GPS training in Idaho sure came in handy!



Had to learn how to get to Grand Market Hall from the back of the building




Vaci Street was more crowded than we'd ever seen before!

Learned a new route to the English Secondhand Bookstore

And then it was lunchtime!

The highlight of the day was getting to eat at Speedy Burritos! We had heard about it from friends and passed it many times while on the bus but had never eaten here before. It looked authentic...

It looked like a Mexican buffet line....

even the walls were painted in lots of oranges and yellows, and it had a huge stack of fried torilla shells that looked mouth-watering delicious. The only weird thing was seeing the names on the menu written in Hungarian.

Looks like the real thing!

But looks are deceiving. We both got the fahita plate, and we both agreed that the sauce had more of an oriental flavoring than a mexican one. It was still good, and we enjoyed it, but it wasn't La Parilla!

I took this picture while we were riding around. On the right and in the center, you see the backs of two buildings. On the left, you can see the outline of a building that has recently been taken down, block by block, that was butted up against another building. Please excuse the wire that goes right through the middle of the picture! They don't put their wires underground like we do in America, so it is really hard to take a picture here without wires or poles in them!

Pecsi Istvan

This is Glenn's jogging buddy, Istvan (Stephen, in English). In Hungary, you write your last name first. He was finally able to come to church with us today, and then over to our house for lunch. He lived in the US for about 7 years so his English is good. I hope he "understands" our American quirks and customs! Today, when he went to say good-bye to me, he leaned over to hug me so I hugged him back. (You know, I'm from the south and we like to hug everybody!) Well, he wasn't leaning over to hug me, but rather, to give me a kiss on my cheek, which is the typical way to greet or say good-bye in Hungary. Hugging is not done in Hungary, so I hope he wasn't offended or shocked, but that he remembers it is a normal southern way to greet or say good-bye in America!

Great news! We have a couple coming to help us with the Eden House! They are coming for 2-3 years, and if their house sells quickly, they should be here in January! We'll give you more information about them soon, but we thank you for praying about this great need with us, and ask you to pray now for all their details to be worked out in God's timing and way. We're so excited and looking forward to working with them!

Got to run. Have a great week!

Borders Cile