Oh, my aching...everything!

The week started out with us still in Prague, and having been here quite a number of times, I asked myself, "What can I show my faithful followers something they haven't seen before? Well, what about the inside of one of our families' apartment?"

Yeah! So when we were visiting with one of our families, I asked if I could take pictures of their apartment and put it on my blog.



The groundlevel entryway

This particular apartment building has evidently been recently remodeled because everything is new and modern. It was really nice and does not have that "old" feel about it. I'll try to do a blog entry later of someone's apartment that hasn't been recently updated.

When you come off the street, you enter through the huge doors into an area that leads to a stairwell. This particular entryway is very clean and finished out because there is a business on the ground floor. Most entryways are fairly dark and in need of a good paint job and a thorough sweeping!

Gorgeous banisters

In most of our apartment buildings, elevators are only found in buildings in which there are more than 3 floors and they are often just large enough for 2-3 people. We have one family that when the husband is gone, the mother cannot leave the house because their elevator won't hold her and her 3 children at one time. We have another family that lives in a building without an elevator and they have a baby and 2 year old. Can you imagine lugging diaper bag/purse and grocery bags while holding a baby and the hands of your 2 year old as you climb several flights of stairs to your apartment? I think I'd stay home too! By the way, here in Europe you go up a flight of stairs to get to the first floor, so an apartment on the third floor is really on the fourth floor.



The foyer

In Hungary, you aren't supposed to wear shoes in the house so there is usually a pile of shoes outside the door or baskets or shelves just inside the door for storing your shoes until you are ready to leave. We have to remember to wear socks without holes in them or we'll be embarrassed when we have to take off our shoes.



The living room

Most often you will find a living room/dining room combination. This is the "penthouse" so it has sloped ceilings.



View #1 out the balcony

Folks with our organization are limited to 1600 square feet of heated living space. Depending on the country you live in, it can be very difficult to find an apartment that large or that small! In Ivory Coast, the houses built by the French were much larger so our missionaries often had to build their homes to have one small enough to meet the size requirements. In Moscow, Russia it is nearly impossible to find an apartment that is close to 1600 square feet that is in our price limit!



View #2 off the balcony

As you can see, there is not a lot of green space. Our families with children often look for apartments that are located within walking distance to small parks for their children to have a place to run and yell.



The kitchen

This kitchen is pretty big. It is 3 times the size of mine. (Not that hers is all that big-but mine is just really, really small. In the real estate business, my kitchen would be described as "cute". Right, Dad?)

Larger, newer kitchens will have dishwashers but since most of our folks are not in newer apartments, they usually wash dishes by hand. I've heard quite a few folks comment on my double sink so evidently it is pretty normal to just have one sink in the kitchen. (My dishwasher leaves for Greece tomorrow!) :(



The master bedroom

Most European bedrooms do not have built-in closets. I am sure Europe is where armoires were first designed and built! Our house in Budapest has built-in closets in the smallest bedroom, which Glenn uses as his office. We use it as the office because the room is so small that all it will hold is a double bed and a trash can!




The bath room

Bathrooms generally run pretty small but occasionally I will see one that is huge (relatively speaking). When I see a huge one, I can't stay long because I turn green with envy. We don't see vanity sinks like in America; they're pretty much all on pedestals. No closets in the bathrooms so we have to buy freestanding cabinets. Very, very often the washing machine is found in the bathroom because there is no where else to put it. A lot of our folks line dry their clothes because gas and electricity are so expensive.

The "W.C."

I have to give it to the European who thought of the idea of putting the toilet in a separate room. Great idea! I was told that W.C. stands for water closet, but I don't know that I got that from a reliable source. Kari, can you do a little research? Our W.C. has nothing but a toilet in it and about 12 inches to spare on each side but I like this one above that has a small sink for washing hands before exiting.

This concludes our tour of an apartment in Czech Republic. I failed to take pictures of the children's bedrooms, of which there were 2. They have 4 children so each child shares a room.

Upon leaving Czech Republic, with Tom as our guide (Tom is our GPS, remember?) we decided to take a short detour just into Austria to do a little grocery shopping to pick up some things that are not available in Hungary. We can find Pillsbury biscuits (pop-on-the-side-of-a-counter kind; nothing like it in Hungary, at all), Bugles chips, and Dr. Pepper. They carry a lot of other American products but we have something equivalent to them in Hungary except for these biscuits, Bugles and Dr. Pepper. We did NOT buy Bugles in the States, but they are nice to have for a change, and since we were going to get other things-why not?

Jumbo bags of peanut M & M's

I saw these in the grocery store in Austria. I was amazed at these huge bags of M & M's! Historically, food items usually come in small quantities but recently we began to see JUMBO packaging and it is soooooo weird! These are 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) bags of M & M's that cost 7,99 euros, which is about $12. That equals out to about $6 a pound. We don't buy M & M's here.

Where's the nearest beach?

We got back to BP on Wednesday night and Thursday morning we saw this lovely sight off our balcony. We must be getting new neighbors across the street because a whole bunch of people were house cleaning and doing yard work. Can you tell that one of the ladies is wearing a bikini OUTSIDE the privacy of her yard? It wasn't all that hot so she must have not wanted to get her clothes dirty.

Biking in Budapest

On Saturday, a beautiful, crisp fall morning, Glenn, Istvan, Linda (a friend from Slovakia) and I hopped on our bikes and headed to Szentendre, a small tourist village that is 41.5 kilometers away. Do the math, 41.5 kilometers there and back...that makes 83 kilometers!!!

No, I'm not exercising! I'm dying!

I must admit, the last mile out there was a killer! I knew I would make it to Szentendre, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to get back on that bike seat to come home! It was a little over 3 hours out there with a short 10 minute snack break in the middle. (see above) Once we got there, we ate lunch, walked around a little, refilled our water bottles and headed home.

Actually, once I got back on the bike and rode about a mile, I was so numb that the ride home was almost pleasurable. Almost.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!

We stopped for ice cream on the way back and that really helped! It didn't make my seat any softer but it gave me a sugar boost!

Is that Parliment that I see in the background?

We came back a slightly different route that took us right in front of the Parliment building and had a pleasant surprise!

What's missing?

Can you tell what's missing? I've shown you a hundred or more photos of this beautiful building but this is the FIRST time you've seen it without any scaffolding! This was my first time too! I was sooo excited to finally have a perfect picture of it. I know you are too, in hopes that I won't feel the need to post any more pictures of it for years to come.

Glenn leaves for Greece and Macedonia for a week but I am staying at home. Home, sweet home! I hope to spend most of my time in front of the computer getting caught up on emails.