Since Friday, I have become insanely fascinated by the idea of time zones. It blows my mind that write now, at 5:46 pm on Sunday in Hungary, my family in Mesa is sitting in 8:30 church at St. Tim's, also on Sunday. Who sounds like a little wet-behind-the-ears-internationally-travelling-infant? Probably this kid, but I can't get over it. Maybe my fascination stems from the 4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. Everything becomes freaking fascinating at that point.
Yesterday we got into Budapest (pronounced Budapesht if you are feeling Hungarian today) at midnight last night, so naturally we decided to go for a walk after we checked into the hotel, as well as eat some sandwiches and drink some sparkling water--which is a commodity in Arizona, but pretty much the only option here. I couldn't be happier.
What a Hungarian opera house looks like at 2 in the morning.
More precisely, I saw about 10 of these beautiful pokey little happy plants as the center pieces of all of the tables in a restaurant near our hotel. I could have cried. Instead I screamed, ran across the street, and excitedly took pictures, probably concerning the restaurant owner.
Other than cacti, during our excursions today, I also got to see St. Stephen's Basilica (Szent István-bazilika), Heroes' Square (Hősök here), and a segment of the Berlin Wall. I also ate peach soup. Can you really get much better than peach soup?
Maybe....but only because when I read an email from my mom a half hour ago saying that they made roasted tomato cannelloni and broccoli for dinner last night (that isn't all it said, though it would be vaguely entertaining if my family sent me updates every time they eat for the next 7 weeks) I may have
drooled a little. Not that that is out of the ordinary...I am a mouth breather, don't judge me. Plus, I haven't eaten spinach or broccoli or green beans in nearly three days. We are going on a river cruise tonight for dinner and to meet our future host stay families for this week, and I would be thoroughly pleased if they just served me a giant bowl of steamed broccoli. Or a trough of spinach. I am about to go into a green deficiency rage.
Watch out Budapest.
On the note of host families though, I was relieved to learn that they switched up the process of who stays with who this year. The Flinn Hungromania trip has always involved at least a couple home stays which is absolutely fine with me and an excellent way to meet lovely local people. Apparently though, in the past, the pairing of hosts to guests was determined at this boat dinner orientation meeting after everyone mingled for the evening. Does this not sound sort of like third grade kickball teams at recess? As in, everybody line up on the fence while we pick teams, and if you can't pronounce your Hungarian double constants correctly, guess what, you're getting picked last. Well, all of my Hungarian constants want to come out a little bit too French, so needless to say, I am glad that this year we have already been paired up.
So we will see how that goes tonight and I will let you know, but for now I must say szia!
(and that's "tzia" unless you feel like getting picked last =D)
My church buddies bright and early this morning at St. István's.
Now how about a side view.
This piece of the Berlin Wall was a gift from Germany to Hungary for removing their border defenses during the Cold War for East German refugees.
For the honor and glory.
Nice photography I particularly like the side view of the church. Hugs
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