I'm a grandmother!

We arrived back in Budapest, well, I'm not sure when exactly. The summer is flying by so fast that I can't keep up with the days of the week at all. Glenn has to tell me that it is Saturday and time to take my weekly bath because the next morning we go to church. Well, it's not that bad, but almost! It goes more like this. "What day of the week is it?" "Hmmm, yesterday I went bike riding with Istvan, and his day off is on Wednesdays, so today must be Thursday."

When I ended my blog last week, I still had a bunch of photos from our trip to Turkey that I wanted to show you. Rather than show you ALL the photos I took, I am selecting a few of my favorites and breaking them into two blog updates. So here are a few more, and the last of this trip to Turkey.

I had the privilege of meeting Kelsey, one of our young ladies who serves in the Russian cluster, and then doing her member care appointment. One of the neat things about her is that she is from Cartersville, Georgia, just 20-25 minutes from us in Marietta! How cool is that?

One day we watched the hotel personnel set up the pool deck for a huge dinner banquet. We found out that it was a circumcision celebration for a young muslim boy, I'd guess around 8-10 years old. There was a huge crowd that gathered that night and we enjoyed watching from the balcony of the dining area that overlooked the pool, and oohing and ahhing over the ladies' gorgeous dresses. The evening had a beautiful sunset, perfect weather, and lots of loud music for dancing.

a real fixer upper!

We stayed a couple of extra days to get to know David and Debbie, our two newest members to the member care team. Glenn needed to "orient" them, such as how to write their annual goals, how the annual evaluation would be done, which countries and personnel would fall under their responsibilities, how to budget and what to budget for...and so on. They would work in the mornings and into the afternoons, and then take a break. During the break time, we'd often go for walks through town. That is the way I like to "sightsee".

On our last day in town, we ate at a neighborhood cafe so that we could eat some traditional Turkish food. The food was good in the hotel, but it was the same food day after day, for both lunch and dinner, so after a week (14 meals all tasting the same), I talked Glenn into eating out!

Traditional Turkish food is the kebab, which is grilled chicken or lamb, served with a salad of shredded carrots and cabbage, and a side of rice or french fries. Oh, and the most delicious pita bread placed on top! Yum!

Good thing we ate before we saw these hanging in the window next door! As we walked past the window with the carcasses hanging, I looked back to see Glenn with his fist closed, and his thumb pointing up and then down, then up again. I figured out he was trying to remember the way we learned in Africa to distinguish whether an animal (live) was a goat or a sheep: Goats tails are short and go up, and sheep tails are a little longer and go down. So, Glenn was looking at the tails and trying to decide if these were goats or sheep. I think he decided they were goats.

We found some beautiful Clematis vines growing on the front wall of one of the yards. I don't know how anyone can look at the detail of something like this flower and not realize there has to be a Creator to design something so intricate and beautiful as these flowers. I'd never seen a Clematis like this...until I got home, that is! Turns out that the one we bought and planted earlier in the spring in our yard was blooming when we got home and is the same species!!! What a nice surprise!!

So, now we're back in Budapest and back to our local "work". Glenn and I took Ryan and his two older children (who have been staying at the Eden House) to the hospital to visit his wife and their new son who was born on July 4th! Mom and baby are doing well. I am practicing being a grandmother by babysitting the older two this week while mom and dad go to the Embassy to get a passport for the new baby.

It's important that I practice being a grandmother a lot because I AM A GRANDMOTHER NOW!

Chris (our son) and Kate welcomed their beautiful daughter, Jazmine Eliza, into the world on July 4th (also!) Kate and Jazzy are doing well, and Chris, the proud daddy, is so glad to have mom and baby home "where they belong". So, now I need to practice being a grandmother so I can be a great one to my grandkids!

Pictures to come next week. If you can't wait a week to see them, click on the link to Chris and Kate's blog.

There's another family up at the Eden House with young children. We invited them down for a meal, and because it has been sooo hot here, we bought a small pool for them to play in. Speaking of hot, we hit 100 degrees yesterday, but mercifully, it is down to 87 degrees today. I WANTED to put on my bathing suit and get in the pool with the kids, but I had to settle for wearing shorts. Anyway, I am practicing being a grandmother. "Yes, you can go up there." "Yes, you can have a piece of candy." "Yes, I'll get in the pool with you."

I should be real good by time we get to New Jersey on July 29th to see Chris, Kate and Jazzy!

Glenn's real good with kids too, but we have to watch him. He likes to skirt those child labor laws and put kids to work. Somehow, he convinces them that they want to help him water the plants with the pool water! He must be related to Tom Sawyer!

Do we look old enough to be grandparents? If you think so, don't comment. :-)

Hungary,Turkey, Hungary

Well, I'm late again! Sorry :-(

Two weeks ago we were in Budapest and I noticed how "up-town" we'd become! On both sides of our neighborhood we found these beautiful signs that welcome everyone to Budafok. We've gone big time!

When we were at the Budapest airport to fly to Turkey, I saw this huge poster and pondered on what the guy in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower was advertising with a baguette up against his ear and a map spread out before him. Maybe he was lost and was using the map to find his way? Well, the map won't help him because he's in the wrong country. It is a map of Rome! Yes, a map of Rome (it's written on the front of the map!)

We flew into Istanbul and then caught a taxi out to a small town about 45 minutes away called Selimpasa. It's on the coast of the Sea of Marmara. (We are here for the Russian cluster meeting, to do member care appointments.)

We met an American couple that run a travel agency here in Turkey. I go to the other side of the world and meet someone from Marietta, Georgia! How crazy is that? Chris and Angela were from Indian Hills on the other side of Cobb County. It is truly a small world.

Our hotel was small, overlooked the sea, and had, as found in most hotels in Europe, twin beds in each room. The pool was nice, but I never got in. Instead, I preferred to lay out by the sea in lounge chairs during the afternoon breaks. As always, I enjoy reading the funny wording on signs!

The dining room was huge, and half of the tables were outside on a covered porch overlooking the Sea of Marmara. Most days the weather was beautiful, but there were a few days that were cool (cold) and rainy, and boy, the wind blowing off the sea was a bit chilly!!!

Situated on the beach, the lone hotel was surrounded by quaint vacation villas covered with flowering vines and colorful bushes. We enjoyed walking through the neighborhood and ohhhing and ahhhing over all the beautifully landscaped yards.

There isn't a lot of commerce in the nearby town so I'm assuming most folks drive into Istanbul to work. There is, however, an open-air market on Sundays for the local folks to buy gorgeous fresh fruits and vegetables, and a host of other "necessities". Glenn and I bought a melon, peaches, cashews, and plums to snack on during the days here.

Because Turkey is a muslim country where modesty is a big deal, I was surprised to see a man selling the bras.

Locally made cheese for sale. I wasn't brave enough to try any.

Dried fruits, nuts, spices, cookies and so on...

And I loved the GAP jerseys! Of course, chances are pretty good they are either knock-offs or genuine fakes :-).

Glenn patiently walked with me through the housewares but I think he much preferred the tools, gadgets and hardware!

I saw some really neat kitchen items but I didn't NEED anything so all I did was browse. Any time I want to buy something, Glenn asks me if I'd rather buy it or go visit my children. Children win every time!

It is definitely watermelon season here and they are cheap! Our hotel had watermelon slices on the buffet line for every lunch and dinner meal since we arrived here over a week ago. I love watermelon so I've eaten it for dessert every day, twice a day!

We head back to BP tomorrow morning but I still have some pictures of this trip to show you so I may update before next Sunday. Stay tuned for more pictures of our time in Turkey.

Ukraine and Bulgaria

I celebrated my 55th birthday on June 5th by inviting a couple of our friends over for cake and ice cream. As in the past 3 years, Alvin made my cake and we had some of the 14 quarts of homemade ice cream from our freezer. Alvin even decorated the cake with a fake barbie doll!!

In preparation for our 2 week trip to Ukraine and Bulgaria, we needed to pick some of the cherries before we left even though they weren't at the peak of their ripeness. A little afraid that neighbors would pick the tree clean while we were gone, we decided to pick a bunch for the freezer and then hoped there would be some on the top of the tree when we returned that were totally ripe. (Glenn picked about 8 quarts of really deep purple (very ripe) cherries when we got back into town so now we have more than we can possibly eat!)

I think we have enough cherries to last for a while!!!!

We left for our Black Sea Orthodox cluster meeting in Kiev, Ukraine on June 9th where we provided member care appointments. We were there for a week and the weather was quite nice. The two previous times we've been to Kiev, it was sticky and hot!!!

I don't know if you can see it or not, but there is a picture of Sponge Bob on the sign and believe it or not, the name of the car wash is Sponge Bob!!! Sponge Bob made it all the way to Ukraine.

Glenn and I enjoyed a good chuckle when we saw the billboard with the announcement of the upcoming Miss Blonde Ukraine competition! Evidently, true Ukrainian women have blonde hair!

After a week in Kiev and just before we left for the second week in Sofia, Bulgaria, Glenn had to do a load of laundry. He remembered to bring a clothesline. He's so smart and handy! (I just take enough to last the two weeks!)

On our way to the airport to catch our flight to Bulgaria, we talked the van driver into stopping for lunch at Domino's Pizza!!! Yes, Domino Pizza is in Ukraine and it was soooo good!

Janet, my walking partner in BP, was at the conference with us in Kiev to do testing for the children of our personnel. She was headed back to BP when we were going to Bulgaria and in the van with us...She enjoyed the pizza with us, as did Alex, the guy who drove us to the airport. Actually, his Ukrainian name is Sasha but it is Alex in English.

The rest of these photos are from Bulgaria.

Our hotel was just a few minutes from ancient Roman ruins. I enjoyed walking among them each afternoon during our break time.

Our last day in town we had a free afternoon so a dozen or so of us made a trip to a nearby village to do a little pottery shopping. We stopped by this site to check out the amphitheatre. I don't know anything about it since I wasn't around when our "guide" gave a little bit of the history. I didn't buy any pottery because I am saving my money for Polish pottery, even though the Bulgarian pottery is quite interesting.

I took a couple of pictures of some crazy signs we saw in Bulgaria. Does it really mean all you need at the hotel is clothes, underwear, accessories, bathing (???) and souvenirs?

Notice the top left? What is dental tourism?

#5 says, "Using of the swimming pool is against payment". What on earth does that mean???

And I loved this spice packet found in a little corner grocery store! "Seasoning for Tasty Food"? If the food is already tasty, why does it need seasoning? If it isn't tasty, why would you want to eat it?

Well, our time in Ukraine and Bulgaria is over and we are back in Budapest. We'll be here for 5 days before we head to Turkey for another cluster meeting. I'll update before we catch the next flight!

Before I close, I'd like to wish my father a Happy Father's Day! I have a wonderful Dad and I love him very much. Wish I could be there to tell him in person how much he means to me!

Happy Birthday to me!

The beginning of this past week found us still in Marietta, Georgia. While I was in the U.S., I recognized a strange phenomenon. When we are overseas, we always enjoy looking for American products such as Oreos, cake mixes or Crisco in the various countries we visit. It's almost a game as we go from grocery store to grocery store just looking (and occasionally, but not often, buying) to see which American products can be found.

Well, when our daughter lived in France, I used to buy these wonderful spiced cookies each time we visited her and Jonathan. Then one day Kari introduced me to this delicious spread (looks like peanut butter, but a little creamier) with the same spiced taste. Lo, can you imagine how excited I got when I found the same thing available at Kroger in America???? I got almost as excited as I would when I would meet an African from the Ivory Coast!!! Far more excited than when I found Oreos in Greece!

It's a little expensive, but you really ought to try the cookies and the spread! This is the Lotus brand, the exact brand that Kari would buy for me in France! Let me know what you think about them!

Toward the end of our time in America, we celebrated Queenie and Pa's anniversary, even though Pa was no longer with us. Glenn's mother told us that Pa had already decided how he wanted to celebrate their 65th anniversary, and it was for the whole Borders clan to go with them to Outback Steak House. Pa had been saving for the event, which Glenn found in his bedside table, so "he" took the whole crew out for dinner just before Glenn and I returned to Budapest. To us, it was kind of odd that he wanted to go to Outback because Pa himself was a seafood lover...but we didn't argue! (How could we?)

Jackson, Beth and Stephen's son, dressed for the occasion with his smile and his cute little fedora.

We spent a lot of time with Glenn's family during the days, but I got to see my father a lot too. (More than usual because his "special friend", Emogene, was out in Texas with one of her sons.) Fortunately, Emogene flew back into town early on the day we were flying out, so we went to the airport to pick her up, and then ate together on the way home, and then she came over for dinner before we flew out late that night. She and my dad make a cute couple, don't you think?

We carried back with us 4 bags stuffed with clothes, food and books, and some items for 5 other people. Good friends from our church, Bobby and Kerry, picked us up from my father's house at 7 pm and took us to the Atlanta airport to catch our 11 pm flight out. They were both feeling kinda sickly with a bug their family had been passing around, but so far, we haven't had any of their symptoms. If they are reading this, we thank them very much!!! It was a huge favor they did for us and we appreciated it very much.

Now, every time we come home for a visit, folks are all the time telling us they'd like to come visit us in Budapest or we invite them to come visit us and no one ever comes. (Well, I shouldn't say EVER but I'm using literary license to make a point...) Lot's of folks have said, "I would have to get a passport" so we are going to make it easy for them. Go to the Powder Springs post office and get an application. We'd love to show you our beautiful city! And, to get your money's worth, stay long enough to run over to Vienna, Austria 2 hours away or up to Prague, Czech Republic that is 6 hours away!

We would love to have you come!

Anyway, the trip home was just the way I like them. UNeventful!

Our strawberry plants had started producing. We picked about 3 pounds of strawberries, cut them up and froze them for eating later over ice cream or in other desserts. Aren't they pretty? Glenn picked another 2-3 pounds yesterday so I now have 8 containers of strawberries in my freezer and there are tons more strawberries coming!

While in the U.S. I found this Hi and Lois comic strip that made me laugh and laugh and laugh! It fits me perfectly! And for those who can't read the small print, I've made a larger copy below in the next two photos!!! Hmmmm, I guess I'm not the ONLY one who likes a little bit of coffee with their whipped cream and white chocolate syrup!

Sounds just like me, doesn't it Karin and Kari?

Friday night we were invited to Melissa and Scott's for dinner. They are a young couple living here while Scott goes to the Central European University to study Ottoman Turk history. They live in downtown BP. When we left their apartment, we decided to walk part the way home. I loved this sign that indicates the direction to various countries, such as Poland, Croatia, and France! (The bottom sign says: Francia orszag, which is Country of France). Cool, eh?

This is the famous Astoria Hotel. At night, it is gorgeous. During the day, it is beautiful. I don't know which one is more impressive, day or night!

Today is my birthday and we have a few folks coming over for cake and homemade ice cream. (Remember the 14 quarts of ice cream I made just before going to the U.S. for the funeral? Well, I need help eating it or I will gain 10 kilos!) Alvin always makes me a birthday cake, so he is bringing it over when he comes. I love a party!

We head out this week for Ukraine for a meeting, then on to Bulgaria for another meeting. We will provide member care to our personnel. My role of TCK Education Consultant has officially been transferred to someone else as of June 1, so except for the emails coming in wishing me happy birthday, the daily onslaught of emails has slowed down. Now I can concentrate on helping Glenn with member care.

Take care! Because of our travels, I'm not sure when I will be able to update but I'll be back as soon as possible.