the Pinkstons, in Daloa, Ivory Coast! Let's just say that they were "good" friends :).
Tuesday, we hopped on a train and headed into southwest Hungary to the town of Nagykanizsa to visit with one of our families.
Budapest is the yellow-orange spot, so following the train line southwest along the edge of Lake Balaton and going almost to the border of Slovenia, you will find the town of Nagykanizsa. We have never been to Lake Balaton, but it is where everyone in Budapest goes for their family vacation and as we passed by it on the train, I could understand why!!!
The train was packed on the way to Nagykanizsa, but on the way back it was almost empty. We were able to get some real work done during the 4 hour train ride!
I love seeing all the little train stations along the way...
...and I enjoy looking at the various styles of houses out in the country!
Paul and Tena were a wonderful host and hostess. Their house has a revolving door that Hungarians come in and out of all day long, all week long for their various Bible lessons in English. I have found in our travels that some of our folks teach English using the Bible whereas the Brock's teach Bible using English. When folks ask the Brocks to teach them English, the Brock's tell them they are here to teach the Bible, and they do it in English. If the person isn't willing to use the Bible, then the Brocks don't teach them; this way, they aren't wasting their time teaching English to someone who isn't open to spiritual things. It made a big impact on me!
We did get to take a day off while in Nagykanizsa to go to another thermal spa. This one wasn't as big as the ones we've been to in Budapest, but it is every bit as nice and relaxing!!!
Paul and Tena prepared the most awesome barbeque one night and we totally "pigged" out. The next morning she fixed a wonderful breakfast, even though I was still full from the night before. I include this picture because it is a typical Hungarian breakfast with slices of cheese and sausage. The only things missing were the tomatoe wedges and slices of cucumber and peppers!
We returned to Budapest on Thursday to gorgeous spring weather! After working about 12 hours on Friday to get caught up on emails and errands, we took Saturday off to play.
We had the great idea of going to Margaret Island to walk and jog on their rubber track that follows the edge of the water.
Evidently, all of Budapest had the same idea as Glenn and me! The island was a mass of humanity that had been waiting for the first beautiful Saturday of the year so they could get out and enjoy the sunshine that had been missing for so long!
After we made the loop of the island, we decided to walk to Vaci Street to buy some souvenirs and these are some things we saw on our way:
A place where a movie was being filmed
Cafe's along the streets were open
Some cafe's were getting ready to open
The International Pillow Fight!
We've never heard of this in anything we've read about Hungary, but evidently 300-400 people had because they came out with their mother's pillows and were having a good time whacking anyone else with a pillow :).
Everyone uses feather pillows in the fight
Then we came to a square at one end of Vaci Street where we found the Spring Festival in full swing. That was a really nice surprise too! Great place to buy gifts and souvenirs, but it is usually the same things that we've seen before. :(
We enjoyed the street performers
We rested and listened to the concert
We enjoyed a typical Hungarian dinner
We love these kinds of festivals because we get a chance to eat the local fare. Yes, we could prepare them at home, but everything is fried in deep fat, so we try to limit eating it for when we go to the festivals. I got a chicken breast fried in oil (without breading) and Glenn got keblasza sausage with mustard and an order of french fries, and we shared a plate of vegetables. (I let Glenn eat all the brussel sprouts!) Something worth mentioning here: The cost of your food is based on its weight rather than by the slice or spoonful. For the vegetables that Glenn and I shared, we just had the lady heap the plate full and then she weighed the plate and told us how much we owed based on the number of grams. That way, if I get a small piece of chicken and Glenn gets a big piece, we pay different amounts, which is fair. I really like it this way.
I saw this reminder that while Budapest is celebrating spring and the newness of life that comes at this time of the year, there are people dying so that we may live. It was cool to see this little touch from America, but it was also good that I be reminded that there is still a war going on and that I need to be praying for those who are fighting for me. You see, in our world here we are very sheltered because we cannot read the newspaper nor understand the news on the tv, and even though I could get the news off the computer, I don't. (If anything drastic in the world happens, we hope someone will call us and tell us!)
We will be leaving on Tuesday for another trip-this one is a long one. We will go to Moldova and Romania to visit some of our families and to attend the Romania Team retreat. Please pray for us.
While on our trip, Glenn will turn 54. I can't believe how young he looks. He still has a full head of black hair with only about 6 gray ones mixed in. (He says I gave them to him.) What can I get for a man who has everything? (He doesn't need Grecian Formula, for sure!) Any ideas???
2 comments:
Get him a plate of vegetables and a big fried veal chop ;)
Great post, Mom. Informative, descriptive, interesting, good balance of photos and text, insightful...I give it an A+.
Happy birthday, Dad!
Love, K
Glen and Cile, love your blog! Next time take the picture BEFORE you have eaten half the plate--looks scrumptious! Hal Harris told me this afternoon that he had mentioned the Jay Sekulow in his teaching this morning and told me that you are on Blogspot. Wasn't hard to find. Somebody's a real whiz with the camera. Keep up the good work, brother (and sister) and know that we think of you often .
Steve Ford
Post a Comment