Hungary? Why wait? TAKE SOME PICTURES!

I know it's been forever. I am getting worse and worse at this whole blogging business!

Anyways, this past weekend was the first of four school-organized excursions to nearby countries/regions. Since I am ISEP-Direct, I get reimbursed for the trips, so of COURSE I'm going on all four (Budapest, Krakow, East Bohemia, and the Slovak Mountains)
We spent the weekend in a pretty nice hostel in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Budapest is divided into two parts - Buda and Pesti - that are separated from each other by the River Danube.




Buda on the left, Pest on the right


We left bright and early Friday morning to travel by bus to spend our first day exploring Pesti, the shopping district. Among our journeys we saw St. Stephen's Basilica,





the Parliament building,














the central market,










and a few random other monuments and buildings.














My favorites included the food in the central market (I had the most delicious hawaiian style crepe (pineapples, ham, corn, cream cheese, and mozzarella cheese)





, st. stephen's basilica (it was INCREDIBLY beautiful inside. i can't even tell you how beautiful. i took lots of pictures but they don't even do it justice, sorry),















and the sunset over Buda.






Though the forecast called for rain all weekend, we were actually blessed with more sunshine than we've had the whole time in Brno! Which made for a great weekend.





Friday night we were all pretty wiped out, so we had a group reading party in our hostel and were passed out (SOBER, mind you!) by 10pm.

Saturday morning's plans began with an 8am breakfast in the restaurant adjacent to the hostel. Our fees for the trip included breakfast, so we were all curious to see what our hardearned money would be paying for. Our imaginations flew from eggs and bacon to croissants and nutella to the more elaborate and extravagant french toast and waffles. By the time we entered the restaurant, we were practically drooling over the prospects of a nice, hot Hungarian breakfast. And then reality hit. haha.

Laying on the beautifully set plates in the restaurant were two saran-wrapped "sandwiches" made up of 2 slices of mystery meat, 2 paper thin slices of cucumber, and 1 slice of banana pepper wedged between two pieces of buttery bread. Yum. We gulped down our yummy, delicious sandwiches and washed it down with what we figured was tea and coffee left over from the commies. By the end of the meal, we could hardly contain our patience in waiting to have it again the next morning!





After our hearty breakfast, we ventured across the windy Danube to see what Buda had to offer





Among the highlights of Buda were Bishop Bill (our nickname for him, at least)





and Wendy the statue of liberty






Saturday afternoon was pretty 'lax, Jessica from Missouri and I walked around Margaret Island which was basically a big park full of people biking, jogging, picnicking, or playing some kind of sport and then headed back to the hostel to meet up with some friends for dinner. We had heard about this really cool inexpensive Italian restaurant that served homemade noodles and had basil trees on the tables for you to season with, but ended up at a pricey french restaurant with a sneaky waitress who tried everything she could to get as much money from us as possible. Gosh I love being a foreigner. Saturday night we were all exhausted from walking around and ready to not have to use our feet for a few hours. We were sound asleep by midnight.

Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of the fire alarm, casually packed our bags and headed down to eat another delicious breakfast. The fire alarm was the result of a few receptionists smoking in the office and went off for a good 35 minutes before the fire department arrived and figured out how to turn it off. Needless to say, this resulted in a bunch of tired and grumpy foreigners. The few of us who had already been awake when the alarm went off and don't run solely on coffee laughed as everyone else stumbled out of the hostel with much to say about the whole situation.

After breakfast, we loaded into the bus for one last tour of the city, a few pictures in hero's square




















and then we were on our way to the GYOR SPA. We all were looking very forward to the spas, which were made up of natural hot springs in the ground. Although we didn't get very many pictures, I can tell you this is really for the best. The spa itself was awesome; seeing hundreds of old men in speedos? Not so much. haha. The spa had several different pools to choose from differing in temperature, depth, location, and experience. Of all the different choices, my favorites were the outdoor spas (think of being in a hottub in the middle of winter and how great that feels) and one of the hotter spas that had shallower water and places where you lay down and look up at stars that had been cut into the ceiling. It was so relaxing. Definitely a great way to end a weekend full of walking and sightseeing!















All in all, Budapest was awesome. While Vienna still tops my list of favorite places, Budapest isn't far behind. :)


For those of you diehard readers, here are a few of my favorite legends of budapest:






The story of Bishop Bill (I honestly can't remember his real name, sorry!)
The story goes something like this:
Bishop Bill came to Budapest to share his Christian faith. The pagan worshipers of the city rejected him, rolled him down the rocky hill into the Danube, and let him drown. He was later remembered with remorse and I guess as a sort of retribution, they made a statue of him and placed it on the very hill where he met his death. The hill also happens to be the city's drinking water reservoir. We tried to stick straws in the ground and take a long gulp, but it didn't work out too well...






Statue of Liberty.
She was originally crafted with a sword in her hand but after the fall of communism, they removed the sword and put a "liberty leaf" in its place. There were also several communist soldier statues and dedications around her that were removed as sort of a purging the city of communism.






The chain bridge.
The story starts out with a man who lived in Pesti and his father who lived in Buda. The father died, but the man was unable to get to Buda due to poor weather conditions and the lack of a bridge connecting the two regions. For five days the man was stranded and unable to attend his father's funeral. As a result, he sought out to build a bridge.
Later, another guy attempted to make a bridge between Buda and Pest. He was so proud of his finished product that he boasted perfection in it, promising to drown himself in the river if any imperfection was found. Unfortunately for him (and also the lions guarding the bridge's entrances) his adversaries discovered the lions were completely tongueless and the man kept his word by drowning himself in the river. If you look closely, you can see for yourself that in fact, the lion's still do not have tongues!





Final stories:
St. Stephen's basilica-
The construction of St. Stephen's basilica was first began by St. Stephen himself. In the middle of building it, however, St. Stephan died and another guy took over. Before he had a chance to finish, natural disaster occurred and the whole structure crumbled. With the hungarian spirit of perseverance, one final guy successfully completed the building as it stands today (third time's a charm, right?)





Inside St. Stephen's basilica is none other than the HAND of St. Stephen himself. That's right, his right hand has been preserved for hundreds of years and even has its own little palace to rest in. Talk about crazy!









And finally, a few parting pictures for you...















This sign was posted in our hostel. I thought it was pretttty funny.


Ahoj for now! :)

Příští zastávka: Nevime!

It has been quite the week.

To spare you all the trouble of reading something outrageously long, I have so thoughtfully organized the past week into bullet points. For those of you hoping to avoid a few minutes of work by reading this, I have elaborated directly below each bullet point. Whichever option you choose to partake in, I will be blissfully ignorant, so have no fear of reprimand :)

That being said, here is February 22-March 1 in a nutshell...



1. Tried to learn the difference between low self-esteem, lacking self-confidence, and insecurity.

I can't really elaborate much on this. I needed to know the differences and be able to explain them in simple English so my Czech students would understand. The problem? It's really hard to explain something you're not really sure of yourself... The result? Let's just say.. I hope I never have to do it again ;)

2. Taught a group of confused Czechs how to analyze each other's signatures.
On Tuesday I had my first *REAL* english lesson for class. My lesson was all about graphology and learning how to interpret a person's signature. It was pretty fun and the tutor (my boss who observes our lessons and critiques every little detail) was astounded that I was able to make the students laugh at my jokes. Unfortunately, I talk way too much and am no good at giving directions. Luckily it was just the first one and I have plenty more tries to get it right :)


3. Learned that pronunciation is key and spent 3 hours figuring out that evidently I know nothing about proper pronunciation.

Wednesdays are pretty killer. I have class from 9 until 4:30. Which, I realize, it not much different than every day of my life from kindergarten to high school graduation. But I'm older and wiser now and know that 9-4:30 classes are absurdly and simply too long. Fortunately, our teachers are very kind and allow us several breaks throughout the day. By the end, though, my brain is usually on the fritz and my level of English language reception and production is dramatically reduced as a result of hours (and hours, and hours, and hours) of analysis, critique, study, analysis, critique, practice, analysis... Who knew our language could be so complex? Not to mention the fact that most Europeans learn British English, so us Americans are having to learn very important distinctions between our mother tongue (haha i love that phrase) and the British version. See my comment on "pants" in a previous post if you need an explanation as to why this is so important.


4. Learned that the center of Europe is in Lithuania (and they have a sign to prove it).

Wednesday night country presentations are one of my favorite things. Apart from the nudity and alcohol that is showing up to be quite the trend, they are pretty fascinating. I really do feel that I've lived a pretty sheltered life, at least in terms of knowing anything about European countries. Last Wednesday's presentations were on Lithuania, Hungary, and Australia. The only problem is, after learning so much about all these different countries, it just makes me want to go to them all. Which is only a problem because my weekends are rapidly filling up and I am almost out of time left for traveling!


5. Realized that living here has made me very frugal and $25 for a round trip bus ticket to Slovakia is too expensive.

Friday afternoon, a group of us went down to the student agency bus to buy tickets for a day trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We soon found out that tickets were over 500 crowns ($25) and 5 of us agreed that that was too expensive (after all, Vienna only cost us $20 and it is bigger and more popular!) We didn't want to stay in Brno, though, so after a heated conversation with the ticket lady (she was not pleased to be speaking in English) we decided to come back at 7 the next morning and hope for open seats aboard a bus to Olomouc (a small town just outside Brno that is said to be quite beautiful) We knew we were taking a chance (travelers to Ostrava were given priority for seats on the bus to Olomouc (Olomouc was just a stop along the way to Ostrava) and those wanting to stop in Olomouc could only buy tickets an hour before departure if there were any left) We woke up bright and early and trekked to Hlavni nadrazi (the main station) only to find out there were 5 of us and only 3 seats left. Not only that, but all other buses were either A.Full, B.Too Expensive or C.Didn't leave for another 3 hours at the earliest. We were not giving up. We walked across town to another bus station (a little less glamorous and a lot more sketchy) and decided we would just board the first bus that was departing and cheap. The winner? A bus that was to leave 2 minutes later headed for Jihlava. We had no idea what that was, but we knew it must not be too lame because even the student agency buses went there. We climbed aboard and settled in, unsure how long the trip was going to take. About 45 minutes later, the bus slowed to a stop in a very small, very shabby looking town. We waited to see if other people got off (Jihlava was supposedly the final stop) and decided this must not be our stop since only 3 people left. 15 minutes later and another stop. More people got off and from what we could tell, the bus would not be continuing on so we got off...

Which brings me to:


6. Spent the day thinking we were in a city we actually had never arrived in.

For the first 3 or so hours of our time in "Jihlava" we ate breakfast, saw the sights (we literally could stand in one place, turn 360 degrees, and see everything worth seeing according to the big, booming tourist map in the center of town), bought some dried fruit, window shopped, and played in a game store. We knew the last bus would be coming at 5, so around 4 we started heading that way (there was also going to be a bus at 420 and we thought we might try to catch that one) Once at the bus station, we realized we hadn't been in Jihlava after all... In fact, Jihlava was still another 30 km or so away. Oops. We ALSO realized that the bus didn't actually come at 4:20. Or 5. or even 6 for that matter. The next bus wouldn't be coming until 6:35. So we waited. And laughed. And waited some more. And stood in awkward silence as the romeo and juliet couple stuck their tongues down each other's throats (Czechs are NOT shy about PDA. Makes for some awkward situations) The bus finally did come, we boarded it, and arrived back in Brno with a few pictures, full bellies, and a lot of laughs at our own expense. Even though we didn't make it to Bratislava, or Olomouc, or even Jihlava, it was really fun and we were all glad to just be outside of Brno and the responsibilities that have attached themselves to it.











Trying to convince Rachel that the bus WILL come and she doesn't need to swim back!





Some monument. We have no clue what it is for.





The tourist map. All the things you see on here were literally filled less than a block of space.

7. Sang Czech songs with homeless people.

Sunday mornings at Armáda spásy (salvation army) church are so sweet. They are really long (after all, we are basically getting two services - 1 in czech and 1 in english!) but so cool. We basically start out by singing a couple songs (in czech!) and then either Christa or Petr (the couple that runs the Brno Armáda spásy) read from one of the Psalms, then a few more songs (in czech!) and then a time of prayer (in whatever language the people who choose to pray speak!) and a few more songs (again, in czech!) then a time where people can share ways they've seen God working in their lives (it's so sweet. this one lady always stands up, goes to the microphone and shares a story about physical ways God works in her life. This week she shared about how God healed the throbbing pain in her leg) a couple more songs (you guessed it, in czech!) and then the actual sermon (in Czech AND English!) My favorite part is when people share their God sightings because most of the people are homeless and it's really humbling to hear them praising God for such small things as healing an ache in their leg or one guy even talked about how thankful he was for missionaries around the world. It's just really neat, but hard to explain. I also really love the singing parts because not only is it cool to hear Czechs worship the same God I worship (sometimes even with the same songs I've sung back in the states!) but it's very helpful in my attempt to learn the Czech language. Especially because I am learning more meaningful words like Bůh (God) and svatý (Holy) and milenka or milujeme (love or we love you).

8. Spiked a volleyball in a French boy's face.

This afternoon I ventured out to the gym near the town center with a couple friends. Today was absolutely beautiful (THE SUN WAS SHINING!!) and the overall feelings of lethargy were overpowered by the energizing of the sunshine. We ended up playing a game of volejbal (volleyball) with a bunch of other students (both Erasmus (other-European) and Czech) It was really fun, but now my arms have bruises all over them from the rock hard volejbal. Also, I'm really not that great and at one point in the game, I got overzealous and spiked the ball as hard as I could, sending it straight into the eye socket of one of the French boys. Oops. Luckily, he took it as an accident (or was it..haha just kidding) and from that point on, the boys knew not to mess with me. So all in all, it was a pretty successful adventure :)

9. Indulged my body in the art of yoga.

After volejbal, there was an hour long yoga-for-beginners session down the road from Vinarska, so a bunch of us went to try it out (also, my friend Sarah that teaches with me was the instructor so we wanted to support her). It was pretty intense, but really refreshing after the intensity of the volejbal courts!

10. Indulged my taste buds in several delectable dishes.

I am continuing to culture my pallet with a variety of tasty foods and thought, rather than telling you, I would just show you some of the delicious things I've passed down my gullet...






Plum-filled dumplings.





The Korean food Jeongmin taught us how to make (with limited access to authentic Korean cooking ingredients) The one on the right was reaaally spicy, that's why it looks so different.





Pasta with spinach and tomatoes (it's amazing how great *REAL* vegetables can taste after having been filled with so much cabbage and bread.





Some sort of yummy cake from the mystery town.





Another cake from mystery town.


And here are some other random pictures for your viewing pleasure...





girls night out!





We live the high life in Vinarska :)





Stephanie ordered a "Peach Shake" and they gave her this disgusting drink instead. We decided it tasted like a bowl full of Musli (sort of like granola) with milk poured over it and left out on the counter for a few weeks, then chilled. She tried to convince us she kind of liked it. So we called her Grandma Stephanie. This was her reaction :)





Jeongmin puts tabasco sauce on EVERYTHING. We asked her if she thought she could drink it straight. Her response? "Why not??"





haha. i know this doesn't really fit with the rest of the blog. but it's funny. isn't he cute?? :) this is what happens when sam and i are forced to skype at strange hours in the day. mostly really late for him and really early for me. oh, 6 hour time differences...

oh,
and also,

sam and i are getting married in 104 days. mark your calendars :)