It's all about me!

Glenn was in Greece and Macedonia this week to speak at a retreat so this weeks blog is ALL ABOUT ME! For the most part, I stayed at my computer and took care of work emails and a few member care calls, but when my back would get stiff or my neck sore, I took a break and did something else like....


Inventoring homeschool curriculum

Worked in my basement with my friend Janet, inventoring homeschool curriculum. She helped me go through 8 boxes of used homeschool curriculum to decide what to keep and what to throw out. (Hint: if it is written in-throw it out!)


Picking figs for me

Did conversational English with my new friend, Judit! YEA! I have a Hungarian friend! This was our second time to meet, and this time her daughter got up enough courage to meet with us. Nikki is 15 years old and is learning to be a seamstress like her mother. I found out that once a student gets in high school, they can "specialize" in their studies. She goes to a high school that has a track for students who want a career related to textiles. She is wants to be a seamstress like her mother and a fashion designer (and sew the clothes herself). There are high schools for students who want to be an athelete, another for tv and movies, another for mechanics and all things technical, and so on. Students that desire to go on to "University", as they call it, go to a general academic high school were they get a broader and deeper academic education. Cool. I didn't know that. See, that's one of the reasons I wanted a Hungarian friend.


Traipsing through Tesco

One of my favorite things to do is grocery shop. Well, that's not entirely true. What I love is to go to the grocery store and just peruse the aisles, looking for new products and trying to get up the nerve to try some of the stranger things. I could spend an hour or two just looking at everything. This week I discovered that Tesco brand cake mixes have arrived, and as you can tell, they have a grand selection of 4 kinds of cake! It looks like the mix makes a loaf of cake, and the price for a loaf (or one layer) is $2.22. Occasionally, we can find Betty Crocker cake mixes on the international isle for $7.50 so the Tesco brand is a bargain if it tastes okay. I'll try it one day, but right now I have a couple of cake mixes from America in my freezer that I'll use first.


My thumbs are green because my gloves are green!

While at Tesco I bought some pansies to plant in our yard. Last year Glenn planted some chrysanthums in our yard and they are beautiful! We can definitely tell that winter is around the corner because the days are cool and crisp.



"Joe" and his Florida license plate

Even though Glenn was out of town, I went to church this morning. I enjoy the church once I get there, but I have to make myself go since we don't get a lot out of the experience. A kind lady behind me made sure I knew the Scripture reference and a lady beside me helped me find the pages in the song book so I was good to go. During the message, which might as well be Greek to me, I just thought God thoughts and prayed, and listened to the Holy Spirit, and cited verses to myself.....

But when I was walking home (25 minutes), this man spoke to me in Hungarian. I responded, "Nem beszelek magyarul." He didn't understand my Hungarian so I spoke in English, "I don't speak Hungarian." Ah! That he understood! His name is Josef, but he kept calling himself Joe. He is actually Romanian by birth but grew up on the border between Romania and Hungary so he speaks both languages equally well. He moved to Florida 20 years ago, bought a small house in the Everglades for almost nothing, and sold it last year for $300,000. He has moved to Budapest to be closer to his family (that he said was dying off) that lives on the Hungary/Romania border. (Guess he doesn't want to be tooooo close!)

He is an interesting character and he was so proud of his Florida license plates on his car! He said he can legally drive the car with Florida license plates as long as he leaves the country every six months. Hmmmm, I don't think he and I are reading the same law books, but then again, I can't read Hungarian so maybe he's right!



Walking home from church

And thus ends another exciting week, but the best thing was when Glenn got home!

We have company coming on Thursday for 4 days. They do member care with our company in western Europe. It's just a time for us to get to know them and for them to understand a little more about the life and ways of central and eastern Europe. Very different from western Europe!

Have a good week!