8:30 Head to the Mickey D’s!  I discover a glorious thing, the “Nagy Coca-Cola.” A LARGE COKE.  I order it for breakfast and it comes with ICE. It is the most glorious thing ever.  I can feel it run through my veins seconds after my first sip.

 9:00 I go hunting for the photo lab that has one hour photo. While I’m on the street I am noticing something I haven’t seen before: Young People.  All week I’ve been shopping and hanging around the downtown and I mainly see middle aged and older people because the younger people are at school.  This day was the national youth holiday so they did not have school (like a four day weekend).  So there were teenagers and college kids everywhere.  They were in packs and herds it was so weird after so many days of not really seeing anyone young.

  9:15 I find the photo shop and the clerk does not speak English.  She gets her co-worker and she can speak a little bit of English.  We struggle with communicating that I am only going to be in Debrecen for one more day and she is trying to tell me that they are going to be closed the next day for the National Holiday (the 1956 Revolution).  We finally figure out that I have until 6:00 today to pick up my pictures.  I tell them the size I want and I pay for them.  I thought we would be back in town by 6:00 for pick up.

  9:45 I run into Rick on the street as I am heading back to the hotel.  I stop at the corner pastry shop.  I order the Alma Croissant (Apple).  Rick orders a cinnamon roll.  We walk back to the hotel and I start eating my croissant and I enjoy it.  Rick opens up his bag and grabs his cinnamon roll.  He takes a bite and says “That’s not cinnamon” and grabs the piece from his mouth and puts it back in the bag.  His cinnamon roll was actually PAPRIKA.  Now paprika is fabulous in goulash and stews, but not in pastry.  It also is very hot tasting.  So Rick took a bite of a roll with peppers in it.

 10:00 We load up in the van to meet Pastor Csaba.  He is going to take us to a mineral bath spa.  But first we decide that I should go back to the photo shop and pick up my pictures because we won’t be back in time before the store closes for the holiday.  We drive downtown but there is so much traffic and tons of people on the street that we have to park on a side street.  I have to walk 6 blocks back to the photo shop. I felt like I was Frogger as I was trying to get across the street.  I have never seen so many busses.  I pick up the photos and start running back to the van.  I jump in the van and check out the pictures. I was relieved that the photos were very good quality.  There were 40 pictures total.

Pastor Csaba on his Hog. Notice his blue tooth technology: stick the phone in his helmet.

 10:30 Drive out to the mineral spa.  We didn’t know what to expect.  We were thinking outdoors like in a park. A hole in the ground with hot springs–kind of like backwoods swimming hole.  I scared the group because I started to talk about Mineral Baths and whether we might be heading there.  In a bath you don’t wear any clothes and I read a whole section in my travel book about bath etiquette.  Like men need to be careful of friendly neighbors and wearing a swimsuit is an insult.

 11:30 We pull up to the HungaroSpa.  We are still confused about where we are.  We just see this big building that kind of looks like a hotel.  We walk inside and it is like a giant health club, but with one big problem.  Everyone is in a swimsuit and THEY ARE OLD!!  It was like I was in the middle of Cocoon!  Poor Christen, everytime she turned her head away from one disgusting sight, another one would be right there.  IT WAS JUST OLD PEOPLE.  There should be an age limit on bathing suits.  One advantage was that my body image wasn’t too bad as there were enough repulsive people around to take my mind off it.

 12:00 We find a dressing room and become our modest American selves.  We go to the shower and ….sorry horrible mental images that cannot be shared.  We enter our first mineral bath, which is like a large heated pool.  The water is tea brown and when you look at it you can see the minerals floating around you.  I, of course, have my milky white skin glinting in the sunlight and causing a glare.  We think that maybe the brown water will give me a slight tan.  It didin’t work.  The water was pretty warm and it was very relaxing.  You could easily just lay back and float around the pool.

 12:30  We switch to another pool.  This one is warmer. It is like a giant hot tub.  We walk onto the deck and you can hear these ladies singing.  There is a group of about 12 older women sitting on the edge of the pool singing Hungarian folk songs.  I thought it was very cute and like out of a travel movie.  Some of their songs had a haunting feel–like they could be about Nazis or Communists. I’m not sure.  So the first 3 or 4 songs I liked it, but they kept going, and going, and going.  They wouldn’t stop singing!!!!  We also discovered that some women do not shave their armpits in Hungary.  Quite the treat.

Old ladies singing by the side of the pool

 1:00 We switch to another pool.  A little bit cooler this time, but still in earshot of the singing women.  People are very possesive of the massaging jets around the pool. Even if you are standing in line to use one they give you a disgruntled look back because they don’t want to give their spot up.  I am boiling by this point and I’m not a fan of pruning skin in the water.  I switch back to the hotter pool and wait for a massaging jet to turn on.  I take myself in and out of the pool to cool off every few minutes.

 1:30 I’m so over it.  I feel like a boiled bag of rice.  The jets turn on and I can only take about 3 minutes of it.  I head to the showers for more shocking visions and change back to my street clothes.  I am tired of seeing old people in Speedos.

 2:00 We head out and start walking on the steets in town.  It is very cute there with lots of shops.  They have a few street vendors.  There is one that looks like it is selling real Hungarian crafts where other places were selling stuffed animals from China.  I look at a couple of nice boxes.  One is a puzzle box where you have to know the exact way to open it.  I liked it a lot so I tried to haggle for it.  I wasn’t too successful in lowering the price, but I got the box.  The lady who sold it to me didn’t speak much English but was very persausive with holding her fingers up for the price and putting my stuff in a bag and handing it to me. Meanwhile the guys saw they were selling whips.  The vendor did a little demonstration and swung the whip around to make a loud crack.  These were very well crafted whips.  The guys gave it a try and couldn’t make it crack like a vendor. People tried to talk him down on the price and he wouldn’t budge.

The street vendor place I bought my trick box at.

2:30  Lunch time.  We find a restaurant and sit on the screened in porch.  Every restaurant we have gone into has been very nice.  They always have table cloths on the table, not like the US where they wipe the crumbs on to your seat in the booth.  I order the chicken with a cheese sauce. It was very nice.  Rick ordered the equivalent of 3 large dead animals, but they did look tasty. We order dessert and we get the Pancake ala Gundel.  The picture look great in the menu, like it was a crepe covered in chocolate sauce.  Christen was so excited.  She loves chocolate and she took a giant spoonful and put it in her mouth.  The look on her face, however, told a different story.  She had a hard time swallowing the chocolate and she was very disappointed.  The chocolate was like liquid baker’s chocolate.  It was very bitter.  Other people tried it and didn’t mind it so much.  I think it was the shock of not having sweet milk chocolate that got her to react that way.  I try a little bit of a cherry struesal and it was very nice.

Rick eating his plate of dead animals.

4:00 We finish up lunch and the guys head out to Pastor Csaba’s parents home to see a pond.  The women folk get a chance to shop for an hour.  I see there is a ice cream place right next to the restaurant.  Eventhough we just ate I said I had to have some ice cream.  I get something very similar to chocolate chip.  The ice cream, it is like homemade ice cream.  It has a very icy texture.  I love it and devour it.  I walk up and down the street to check out the shops.  I consider buying my nephews “Fieval” hats.  Those woolen caps with a short bill that remind me of the movie An American Tale.  I check to see where they were made and it said China, so I skipped it.  I head back to the street vendor and buy my nieces and nephews some wooden flutes.  They looked handcrafted and they make noise, so the perfect gift.

The Fievel Hat.

5:00 The guys come back and we head back to Debrecen for the evening. 

7:00 We are back in Debrecen and realize that the night is still young.  We decide to take a Latte Tour of the town.  We start hitting all the cafes we missed so far.  I still love the Latte Machiattos.  We also head back to the pizzeria for dinner. I order the Greek salad this time and it is so good.  We go to a chocolate shop and pick up last minute souvenirs.  In the square there is a gathering of people at a statue with the Hungarians flag.  It is the night before the holiday and I think the group was commerorating the Revolution of 1956.  I also check out a bell display in the town square that rings every hour and plays auld lang syne with about 12 bells.  It was very pretty, but the song played for a long time.  We hit another coffee bar.  This one is called Saxophone.  It was the coolest place we went so far. It was very trendy inside with big couches and great lighting.  I order the mocha and Christen has another disappointing chocolate experience as the mocha is too bitter for her.

Michael acting cool at Saxophone, the trendy coffee bar.

The caffeine kicks things up a notch as I show that I can be a leg model too.

 10:00 Some people head back to the hotel.  A group of us head to McDonalds to use the WiFi.  I try to work on the blog before my battery dies again.  I also ordered another Nagy Coca Cola. It was so refreshing.  Also, if you need to use the restroom in this McDonalds you need a code off your reciept, FYI.  There were a bunch of youth in the McDonalds.  I guess everything else was closed and they had no where else to go.

 11:00 The McDonald’s closed.  I head back to the hotel.  I let Michael use my computer to e-mail and he borrowed Rick’s converter to charge it while he worked.  I packed up my room and went down the stairs to meet Michael.  I find out that Rick’s converter blew up.  Luckily my computer survived.  Good news was Michael was let into the internet cafe and we got to email and blog for an hour.

 12:30  Head to bed unable to charge my camera batteries or computer. Argh.

9:30 I wander around Debrecen again.  I am mainly trying to find a place to print out my pictures from yesterday’s gypsy church.  I find Rossman, a cross between a drug store and a dollar store.  There is a picture machine and i try to figure out how to use it but everytime I get so far my English directions reset to Hungarian. Finally a man takes pity on me when he sees my frustration and he explains to me that Rossman prints the pictures to cd and then sends it to the photomat out of the store and gets it back days later.  That is not what I want, I want one hour photo, so I head out.  I hear there is another photo shop and I vow to visit later in the day.

A child playing with pigeons in the town square

 12:30  We go to Trendo Line Cafe for lunch.  We decide to eat outside because it is so beautiful outside.  The weather has been perfect all week.  It was so warm for being October.  We couldn’t have hoped for anything better.  I start wearing my winter cap because I packed it and I felt like it must be used, eventhough it was over 60 degrees outside.

The view from the cafe.

We take our time eating at the Cafe.  I ordered breaded pork cutlets with a cheese sauce, veggies and rice.  The pork and cheese sauce is fantastic.  We order lattes afterwards.  It is the best so far!  We hang out eating and talking for over two hours in true European style. I check out a photomat and they tell me that they don’t print at the store, they tell me of one that does.  That will have to be part of mission the next day.

3:00 We head out for another Gypsy church.  This one is a litle bit further away.  I take a nap in the car and I am sure I missed a horse and wagon again.

4:30 Arrive at the Church.  This time it is held in a school house–a very old school house.  When we pull up the service has started because we were late.  We can hear these girls singing inside the school.  It had a very enchanting feeling when you hear them sing.  We come in to sit down.  Many of the people give up their chairs so we can sit.  I like to sit in the back or middle so I can take video and pictures and get many angles.    The school room was very cold.  I was glad I was wearing my fleece jacket and I could stick my hands in my pockets.  When we started praising the Lord with songs it seemed like it was no longer freezing.  I don’t know if the turned on or not, but I wasn’t uncomfortable anymore.

These were the singing girls and their mother.

5:15: Brother Augustine, Pastor Steve, Michael, Rick and Pat shared their testimonies.  At first it seems that they weren’t receptive to our testimonies, but then someone said to them that we wanted to pray with them for healing and strength.  Then many came forward.  Some people brought their children up for prayer.  One asked for healing of many ailments and she cried out to the Lord for healing.  You could see that she was touched.  A teenage girl asked for the Holy Spirit to come to her.  Although she did not have the experience she did learn how to press into the Lord and speak with Him.  Some prayed for two boys who had lost their father.  They prayed that they would grow into men of God.   Afterwards the fellowship was great as the kids wanted their pictures taken.  They giggled and smiled when they saw themself on video. Michael taught some of the boys how to play rock, paper, scissors.  The treats were the usual sandwiches and desserts.  There were table clothes made by the pastor’s wife.  You have to be careful when you compliment anything because if you say it is beautiful they will give it to you.  So a few of use walked out with table clothes.

A woman getting prayer for healing

There were many children and women in the church, but very few men.  You can see how so many are hungry for God and were so grateful to have visitors to speak and pray for them.  Healing and miracles are so important to them because they don’t have access to medicine or doctors.  They must depend on their faith in God to provide healing.  I believe that they probably experience more miracles in their lives because they are more receptive to seeking out God’s help than Americans.  It is very powerful to see someone cry out to God for healing and it touching your heart.

Michael playing Paper, Rock, Scissors

8:00 We head back to Debrecen for the evening but Pastor Csaba takes us to a restaurant on the way back.  It is a bed and breakfast.  The outside has beautiful landscaping and lighting. It is gorgeous.  I thought we should all have checked in for the night. We went to the dining room and looked at the menus.  It was quite a difficult time ordering because the menu had English and Hungarian.  Our waitress only spoke in Hungarian. So if you had a question you needed to ask Pastor Csaba and then he would ask the waitress. A lot of the message got lost in translation.  I wanted to order a salad, but I wanted salad with LETTUCE.  I had learned my lesson earlier in the week with the Gyro and the Cole Slaw.   So I asked about the Green Salad thinking it would have Lettuce.  Well, I guess Cabbage and Lettuce are the same word in Hungarian and I got a cabbage salad with cucumbers and tomatoes.  I ate the cucumbers because it had a vinaigrette dressing on it.  I also order the Turkey Cordon Bleu—oh my!  It was fantastic.  Pastor Csaba ordered us a fried potato cake appetizer.  It was wonderful.  The potato cake was the size of a small dinner plate.  You put cheese and sour cream on it and go to town.  Sour cream is not my new condiment.  Forget ketchup or salsa it is all about the Sour Cream.  Irony: There was lettuce as my garnish to my turkey cordon bleu.  I didn’t eat it out of principle.

The outside of the beautiful hotel in the country side.

10:30  We are back at the hotel.  I find out that I can sit in the stairwell outside of the internet cafe in my hotel and I can get WiFi.  I start typing away at my blog while I got juice in the battery.  The stairwell light keeps going off on me, but I keep typing. The guy working in the hotel office comes out to see a glowing face in the stairwell.  I scare the crap out of him because he didn’t expect someone to be sitting in the dark typing on a computer.  Surprise!

12:00 Head to the room and crawl into bed.  I realize that I had A LOT to eat today!  Pork, Turkey Cordon Bleu and Potato Cakes!  My tummy may be aching, but it hurts so good.

8:30 am Walk to McDonalds for breakfast.  It is time for the McCafe.  I had the Egg McMuffin meal, which is hard to order even with the pictures right in front of you.  I thought I had ordered the whole meal, but when Michael andRick showed up they helped me point at the pictures for a second time and THEN the worker understood that I wanted a McMuffin.  One tragedy: Their Cokes are tiny!!!  Smaller than the orange juice cup!  I need to have my morning Coke and that will not due.

9:00-11:00 Walk around downtown Debrecen.  This is our chance to buy gifts for those back home.  There were a few porcelain and crystal shops.  I went in for about 3 minutes because the ladies looked at me and my backpack and they had a look of horror like I might knock everything over.  I hang out in the town square and watch the trolleys go by.

Town Square in Debrecen

Town Hall in Debrecen

11:30 I find everyone in a cafe.  I order a chocolate drink that is basically warm chocolate syrup.  Oh so good!

12:30 Head out for Pastor Csaba’s house for the afternoon.  He lives in a village that has dirt roads so its a little bumpy and it is the 2nd time I miss taking a picture of a Horse/Donkey drawn cart!!  Grrrr…

1:00 We arrive at Pastor Csaba’s house and we tour his beautiful rock garden.  He gets a rock from everyplace he visits and he puts it in the garden and he can tell you where he got each rock.  I am fascinated by the Hungarian Cats–they look exactly like American cats, but a little bit more world-weary. 

Pastor Csaba's Rock Garden

1:30 We have a lunch of Fish Soup and Bean Soup.  Both are traditional meals in Hungary.  I don’t like fish at all, but I had a smidge to try and it was pretty good for being made of fish.  The bean soup was great and I ate a few bowls of that.  They gave us cookies after lunch they were so great. They were like the generic brand cookies that your grandma would give you on Sundays when you went to visit.  There were vanilla wafer creams and they were so much better than the American version–it was sweeter and the wafers were lighter in consistency.

2:30  We continue hanging out in Pastor Csaba’s kitchen and in the rock garden.  The menfolk have man-time in the back yard. This is the afternoon that Marie falls downs andhurts her foot even further.  She makes do by hopping around for the rest of the trip.

3:00 We head out to a Gypsy church.  The country side is so beautiful with all these tractors and corn fields.  It keeps reminding me of Michigan.  We head into the village where the church is in–again I miss the horse drawn wagon!!!

View of Gypsy Village

4:15 We get out of the van and a gypsy family comes out to meet us.  These two little girls run around us and giggle.  When you wave to them they hide behind their mother and then peek out and giggle.  We start taking pictures outside.  They are so friendly as they hug and kiss us in greeting. One older woman comes out and she is in tears.  She is so happy to see us because they very rarely have visitors to their church who are not Gypsy or Hungarian. 

The Giggle Girls--soo cute

4:30 We head into the house of one of the church members.  We find out that their usual church location at the community center was not available.  We fill up their couches against the wall as they fill in four rows of seats.  We probably had 24 people or more in the living room.  There were other people in the house but they couldn’t fit in the room (mainly the children).  Again, they were so friendly.  I have not experienced that in any other church or home before.   The kids are fascinated by my cameras.  I don’t know if they have seen a regular camera before but I know they definitely have not seen a digital one.  So I take their picture and flip the camera back to show them their picture.  Then they start grinning when they see themselves.  I let one little boy hold my camera and I show him how to zoon in and out.  I then put his finger on the button and he takes one of the best pictures I have ever seen (my luck, my best picture for the whole trip was taken by a 7 year old). We have praise and worship.  Again, I can’t understand what they are saying but I can still feel God’s Spirit there.  All they have is an acoustic guitar and their voices.  We recognize “Blessed be your Name” and we sing the English version at the same time.  Even when they are singing in Hungarian I sing too, it not pretty, but its a joyful noise.

The Award Winning Photograph shot by me and a 7 year old.

5:15 During the service every member of our missions team shares a testimony.  I get up and share about the importance of having a church family.  About how you need a strong pastor to lead you, more mature believers to guide you and peers to keep you accountable.  I talked about how life is difficult and asked why should we struggle alone when you can have fellow Christian believers around you who can lift you up.  I also said that if you don’t have your real family with you, there’s nothing better than the family of Christ.

6:30 Prayer has gone on for a long time because people are coming forward for healings.  They don’t have easy access to doctors or medicine so many of their illnesses may seem silly to us to pray for, but when you don’t have insurance or a doctor, prayer is all you have.  Others prayed for blessings on their family.  Three new believers came up for prayer to gain strength.  One man had been recently tried and convicted for a crime ( I don’t know for what) and he asked for prayer for leniency on his sentence and help to remain a Christian while he is in prison.  Many were filled by the Holy Spirit and after prayer you could how some were touched and may even be healed by the looks on their faces. 

Praise and Worship in the Gypsy church

When prayer was over the Gypsies served us their usual bread, butter, ham and cucumber sandwiches.  While we were eating, the Gypsies decided that they were not done praising the Lord and they were singing in the hallway to the guitar.  They sang many songs while they served us snacks.  One woman kept trying to get my attention but I could not figure out what she was saying.  Finally she pointed to my camera and I realized she wanted me to take her picture.  I took one and then she pulled out an old photograph from her jacket and showed me a picture of her.  She kept pointing to it and saying something.  Then she pointed to my camera andthe picture.  Then I realized she wanted me to send her a copy of the picture I just took.  I told her I would.  Another woman grabbed my hand and pulled me to a back bedroom.  A bunch of kids were in the room.  The woman grabbed who I think is her sister and they fixed their hair and posed in front of me.  I again realize they want me to take their picture.  After I take that one, the woman grabs her sons and I take another picture.  Then she grabs her mom.  So one picture turns into 40 because I start taking the whole Gypsy Church’s family portraits.  I was taking pictures for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, the van was loaded up with everyone else and someone had to come in and grab me and take me out of there.  It took me a while to realize how important pictures would be to them because they don’t have cameras.  They can’t go to Wal-Mart or Sears for family pictures.  I kept looking at the pictures on the camera and their smiling faces.  I knew they wanted real pictures and I couldn’t wait to get back to the US and print them out and send them back.  I felt that I had to get them developed in Hungary and send them back with Pastor Csaba.

1 of 40 Family Portraits I took for the Gypsy Church

7:15 We rode back to Debrecen.  Everyone was sharing in the van about their experiences about this Gypsy Church.  Many said that they felt that the Gypsies ministered to us more than we ministered to them because of their hospitality, their friendliness, and their receptiveness to God’s spirit during the service.

8:30  Some people go back to their room to rest.  A group of us head out for food hunting.  A lot of the shops and restaurants are closed.  We find a pizzeria in the corner of the square.   It was pretty good pizza.  I had mushroom and ham.  Their pizza doesn’t have sauce on it.  We get Coca-Cola with ICE!!!

9:30  Head back to the hotel to rest.  I borrow Rick’s voltage converter to charge up my cameras and computer.  I am upset because the wireless connection doesn’t reach my room!

10:30 I write in my journal about my experiences over the past few days.  Christen is sleeping so I go sit in the bathroom to not wake her.  The toliet seat slides off the toliet and I break it.  Oops.  I am too tired to figure out how to fix it. 

12:30 I head to bed.

8:00 am Type on the lobby’s computer.  Develop further hand cramps while typing for the blog.

8:30 Order the Peasant Breakfast (a Hungarian Omelett) in the basement of the inn–the cutest little dining area with cookies and fruit on the table to eat while you wait for your order. The omelett had potatoes, pepperoni, onions, and cheese.

9:30 Pack up and Pay for the hotel.  Take some pictures of the exterior of the inn.

10:00 am  Arrive at the church services.  We missed morning prayer because our omelettes took too long to order.  We meet two 90 people.  One man talked about how the communists tried to make him work for the government many times and he refused to join the communist party and not be a Christian.  He gave up a large salary and was put in jail many times but he refused to deny his faith.  He is a very vibrant man and full of the spirit.  The older woman is on fire for the Lord and she is giving land to the church to turn into a campground for the youth.  The service went well, but it took a long time for the people to warm up to us(and we were nervous, too).

12:00 We went to the mall’s food court for lunch.  I ordered a Gyro Plate at one of the “fast food” Hungarian places.  It was very difficult to order food because they had many choices of food and not enough pictures of the food for us to point at.  As a result my gyro plate had a layer of french fries with a layer of gyro meat, a layer of cucumbers and tomatoes topped of with cole slaw and red cabbage!  What a surprise for me!!!  I had to unearth the gyro meat and picked around my cole slaw.

3:00 Loaded up in the van to go to our first Gyspy Church.  I went with Pastor Steve, Penny and Christen.  Michael and Rick went together and Pat and Marie stayed in Debrecen for a ladies meeting.  Another chance to see the country side.  So many tractors were out working.

4:30  We pull into this driveway that had walls on both sides.  We were in this big van and I was very nervous because I thought we wouldn’t be able to fit through.  I said, “isn’t this like the camel going through the eye of the needle?”  Somehow our driver fit us through and we were then met my many kids in the backyard of the church building (which was a dance studio).

5:00 Our first Gypsy church service began with the youth singing a song to a strong German Techno beat and then they performed a very long puppet show about a fox stealing the life of a rabbit and then the dog saves the rabbit.  You can figure out who is the dog, rabbit and fox for yourself.  Oh, but it was the most gruesome puppet death scene ever!!  That fox came out of no where and grabbed that rabbit and ripped it out of the scene!!!   Pastor preached (I call it a repeat, because I’ve heard the sermon before).  People came up for prayer.  Many asking for healing.  One man was laid out with the spirit during prayer.  When he got up you could tell he was drunk with the spirit, very happy but kind of dizzy.

7:00 It is after service and the Roma people serve us food.  It is a piece of bread with butter, salami and cucumbers on it.  This is what they serve when they have guests and lots of people.  I was aprehensive about eating it, but it was very edible and if necessary you could eat it.  The desserts were very good as they had a meringue on top.  It was nice to fellowship with them, eventhough you dont know what they are saying.  You just communicate with smiles and nodding.

7:30 We BACK OUT of the tight driveway with the giant van.  I freaked out the whole way because we are renting the van and I kept saying, No Accidents or scratches because we would have to pay for it.

9:00 Arrive back at Debrecen and we eat at Flaska, a restaurant.  I order the bean soup and it is very good.  It was like having baked beans, ham, bacon in a thick tomato broth.

10:30 We got to the Alexandra Bookstore cafe.  It is very eye catching from the street because the upstairs is very dark except for a large coffee cup lit up in blue lighting.  I have a hot chocolate and it is like drinking warm pudding.  I was trying to ask where the bathroom was and having no luck with water closet and looking it up in the translator.  Then Marie walks up and says toliet as tollette and she gets an answer.  I forgot all about the word Toilet.  Universal, duh.  Then we had an unholy incident when a newspaper had a bad picture on the front cover.

11:00 Return to our new hotel, the HID Foundation, which is owned by a Christian family that has their building open as community center with an internet cafe.  We stayed on the top floor.  Good sized rooms, and comfortable beds, but there was a smell problem ocassionally.

12:00 Went to sleep.

View from Atlas Hotel

7:15 I Walk over to my Voltage converter and discover that it has died.  Check my computer to make sure it has survived–it did!

7:30 Take shower.  Impressed that the shower is generally the same as US.  Excited because the nozzle is granny- style–you can take the nozzle off the wall and spray yourself.

8:15 Have breakfast.  European breakfast is different.  They do not eat all the heavy stuff like we do all the time.  So there were vegatables (for breakfast!), cheese, bread, sausage, jam, and honey.  I make myself a cheese-jam-honey sandwich and love it.  Others were not as impressed.

9:00 Go the the Metro.  We are trying to get in one more historical site before we leave Budapest.

9:30 Uh oh, we pass a pastry shop (kind of like an Auntie Annes from the mall).  We stop and buy a bunch of little pastries.  I know that my middle name, ALMA is Hungarian for Apple, so I buy an ALMA pastry in honor of myself.

10:00 We reach St. Istven’s Cathedral.  We decided to return so we can check out the inside.  We get to go to the top of the church to a look out.  We can see the whole city in all directions and it is beautiful.  I of course take a bunch of pictures and video.  We walk around the inside of the church and check out the paintings, marble, and sculptures.  It is sensory overload because you do not know where to look, everything is so detailed and your eye might glance over something and then you’ll come back and find out that it  was this ornate sculpture or carving.

View from top of Istven

11:00 We find a tourist souvenirer shop.  We wander around looking at all the nesting dolls, ceramics, and table cloths.  They also have key chains and post cards.  I bought some gifts for my sister and her daughter.  I made sure it was authentic and not from Kinai (China). Many of them were made in Romania and then painted in Hungary.  The girl running the store was nice, spoke English (Yeah!) and she reminded me of the my college roommate, Busra. 

11:30 We go to Cafe Negro which is right in front of the Cathedral.  It was amazing and very European.  I got a Latte and the sun was shining.  Of course everyone was looking at us as a bunch of annoying Americans.  Amazing view though.

View from Cafe Negro

  12:00 Back on the Metro to go the hotel to check out.  We pass the pastry shop again and think about getting another sweet treat.

1:00 Load up in the van.  We are running behind so we must find a quick way to eat.  Well, in Europe when you eat it turns into a 3 hour meal.  We can’t do that, so we head to everyone’s favorite, McDonalds!  Quite an interesting and frustrating experience because this is the first time that we could not depend on someone knowing English.  Remember, they work for McDonalds.  So we try to point at pictures and tell that we want it to go.  I order the McChicken take-away coca-cola. Some workers rolled their eyes at us when we were trying to order because we weren’t using the correct “McLingo” of the restaurant. 

The van was too big to go through the McDrive

1:30-4:30 We drive to Debrecen.  I fall asleep for a little bit, it cuts down on the vomitatious feelings I had while propelling 150 Kilometers per Hour down the high way.  But when I was awake I saw the Great Plains of Hungary.  A lot of corn fields and harvesting going on with tractors working in the fields.  A lot of it reminded me of the ride between Lansing and Flint in Michigan.  Very flat land with trees.  You would think it isnt’ that pretty, but it was when the earth is tilled up and you can see this near black soil.

5:00 We arrive at the International Church Service.  It is fascinating to see a group of people gather together from all different countries and backgrounds.  There were people from Vietnam and Liberia, Albania, Germany.  What did they all have in common?  They speak English and love the Lord Jesus.  It made me realize how much I have been in a bubble with my own church or my own group of friends who are believers.  I could see that you can worship God in any language and in country.  I was truly powerful and great to meet so many people from around the world. 

8:00 We had dinner at Lucullus Restaurant.  WONDERFUL.  We all sat at a table that looked like it belonged to the Kings.  Even the back of the chairs had crowns on it.  They brought out these two big platters of food piled high with different types of meat (chicken, beef, and pork) and vegetables.  The potatoes in Hungary are the best.  We ate feast style and just kept going until the platters were empty.

The before pictureThe after picture--the damage had been doneI get a crown for ordering a Latte Machiatto at dinner

The outside of our cabin/room. Oh so cute.

11:30 Driving to the hotel in a very fast van.  I believe we took a few too many “Hungarian lefts”–meaning we don’t know where we are going so we’ll turn around at that second and cut off alot of people.

Not our van, but it is a death van with skulls and bones painted all over it

12:00 pm checked into the Atlas Hotel.  Not fancy, but practical enough.  Christen and I are sharing a room and it has an odor.  Christen calls it “Mexican Restaurant” and I call it “Sewer”.

12:35:  Walk through a park on the way to a restaurant.  The air was quite brisk and windy.

Beautiful Fall leaves in the park

12:50 Entered the restaurant.  I ordered the Potato Cakes with Beef stew (don’t remember Hungarian name). 

1:15  Still no food.

1:30 I fall asleep at the table, still no food.

1:35 Someone else gets one course of their meal

1:45 Food!!  I eat it and then doze off at the table again.

2:15 walk back to hotel through the park to pick up heavier coats.  There was some cool graffiti around the city, but especially in the park.

A cool grafitti of a train in a park

3:00 leave the hotel to go to the Metro.  We ride the subway to the Parliament Building. It is very gorgeous with all of the domes and spires.  We then head to Cafe Parliament for our first of many lattes.

3:45 We head over the Chain Bridge which goes over the Danube River and you can see all the buildings on the river, up to the hills and the boats.  We pass this one building that has gold all over the edges of the windows and doors and it was shining in the sunlight.

4:45 We buy tickets for the Funicular, which is a trolly up to the top of a hill where there is Buda Castle and the National Palace.  We walk around to look at the statues and architecture.

5:00 We head to the WC (Water Closet).  It is our first pay toliet of the trip.  There is a spot on the ground nearby where there has been a decision by a few people to not pay for the comforts of a toliet.

530:  Back acros the Chain Bridge but now everything is lit up.  Much more majestic and awesome.  Time to bypass the people making out on the bridge and the crazy bicyclists.

6:00 Back on the Metro and heading towards dinner.  We have Goulash, but it is on the watery side and the service was slow so we starved for a while.

8:00 We head over to St. István´ s Cathedral.  It is beautiful from the outside as the front is all lit up.  Also the Square was very quiet and peaceful.

8:30 We head over to Heroes Square where there are statues dedicated to the great kings and warriors of Hungarys history.  Again, it was cool because of the lighting and the sounds of the city at night.  The statues had some hard-core Magyars (Hungarians) with tusks and horns on their helmets and horse bridals.  I guess this is the only time I would want to see these people on the street is in marble form.

9:00 Head back to the hotel.  I am ready to go another round in the city but the older folks are tired.  We walk in the lobby of our hotel and there is a party going on with people singing, clapping along to the guitar.  They are singing Gypsy music and it is quite awesome.  We asked ourselves,˝Where else could we see this? Not in the US.˝

10:00 Get ready for bed.  Put on the PJs and try to charge my batteries with a converter.  Go to sleep and sleep like a rock in the Sewer Suite.

To Be Continued…

Also, my big worry about going to the bathroom was all for naught, because of my self-imposed coma did not have to use the restroom while on the plane!!  Also, the flight was only 9 hours and not the 12 as I thought it was.  My record remains alive!!  I did however, have a first while in Budapest, I used my first pay toliet.  I didn’t pay for it, we all just stretched our 100 forint fee for the toliet for 8 people by using it before the meter runs out.

Everyone else in my group did not sleep well and were quite jealous of my narcaleptic sleeping prowess.  But I have had much practice.  I was known in college for my ability to fall asleep any where.  Go into the library: there’s Jane passed out drooling on a book.  In a classroom: there’s Jane using a hand to cover her eyes from the professsor as she takes the pose of taking notes.  It is impressive and they should be jealous.  I even showed my skills at lunch later as I passed out at the table while I waited for my food–which takes forever!!!!!!!

1. Sleep (this should be the only thing I should be doing b/c I need to sleep to adjust to the time change).

If I can’t sleep than all other things will be a means to make me fall asleep:

2. Read a Book.  I am bringing a book called, Prague, which is about Budapest, ironically.  All the travel books tell you to read a novel about where you are travelling to to get an idea of the people, places, and culture.  The book is set in 1990 right after the fall of communism.  A bunch of American ex-pats are in Budapest to take advantage of the new open markets.  They think, however, that the fun times are over in Prague, so they spend time in the book pondering on Prague when they are missing out on Budapest, hence the title.  I doubt I will finish the novel before I land or before the trip is over, but I’ll get a good chunk in.

I’ll also be reading my two travel books about Hungary and Budapest.  I’ve read most of them already, but I am going to take some notes about places I want to see in order to convince our tour guide later.

I’ll also be checking out my Bible because I will be sharing my testimony during the trip.  So I’ll be needing to take some notes.

3. Writing in my journal.  My sister bought me a travel journal for my first trip abroad.  I have put in some information so far, but I want to reflect on my experiences. I think I’ll be copying over my blogs into my journal also, because many of the same thoughts show up in both places.  It is more romantic, whimsical, and continental to write in a real journal with pen than just typing on the keyboard.  I can pretend I am in some movie at a cafe as I write.  My journal isn’t leather bound, however, so I can’t be too pretentious.

4. Watching the Officeon my computer.  I have the season 4 DVDs and I might bring one or two along for some chuckles.  My battery won’t last long, though.

5. Conversating with my fellow travellers.  Actually, probably not as we all should be sleeping during this time, but if we are all awake we may talk about the trip and what we want to see.

6.  Eating.  I’ll find me a nice snack to work on while we are flying.  Gummy worms are my usually travelling fare.

Things to pack in my carry on:

1. Ear plugs to drown out noise so I may sleep

2. A hoodie sweatshirt.  Good for curling up in and I can use the hood to block out any light.

3. Pens and journal.  I need to pick out a “travelling pen,” something that has a cool ink color that will like good in my journal.

4.  My books, Prague, Travel books, Bible

5. My electronic translator–I can work on saying, spelling, pointing to words in Hungarian

6. Head phones and Ipod.  Listen to some tunes to drown out noise.  I also get excited if the plane has XM satellite radio.

7. Snacks–the right combination of sweet, salty, fruity and chocolatey.

8. Laptop and DVDs.  I just don’t like to check this type of luggage on a plane, even though I might not use them during the flight.

9.  Medicine–either for the headaches or an upset stomach.  You never know.

While I am flying I just have to think about the length as if I were driving in a car.  From New York to Budapest is about the same time for me to drive from Atlanta to Michigan.  A nice 12 hours.  Oh gosh, I don’t think I can hold off the bathroom breaks that long.

Here is a rough sketch of our itinerary.

Thursday: Leave Atlanta at 12:30 p.m., have 3 hour layover in NY, depart for Budapest.  I love flying but I have never been on a plane for such a long time.  I also have never used a restroom on a plane.  I guess this will be a first of firsts on my trip.

Friday: Arrive in Budapest at 10:30 am (4:30 am our time). Spend the whole day sight seeing in Budapest.  Unclear on what we are going to see just yet.  I know we are going to Castle Hill and I need to buy my sister a gift or she will hurt me. I would like to see their statue parks.  They have one statue park dedicated to the great liberators and leaders in their history.  Then they have one statue park full of Nazi and Communist statues as kind of a reminder of their past.  It is like a graveyard of the old dictators. 

Saturday: We depart for Debrecen, the industrial capital of Hungary.  We will be in the eastern part of the country near Romania.  We will be attending the International Church Service–probably our only chance to hear church in English without a translator.

Sunday: Morning Worship at Pastor Csaba’s church.  Pastor Csaba planted in churches in the former Yugoslavia when communism fell and during the wars in Bosnia.  He has been in Hungary for the past 10 years planting churches in the eastern portion.  In the evening our 8 person team is going to split up and visit 3 gypsy churches (I checked and they want to be called gypsies).  I will be going with Pastor Steve, his wife, Penny and their daugher.  I will be filming the service and possibly sharing my testimony.

Monday: Day of toursim in Debrecen.  We are going to the famous Thermal Springs.  I am debating with my fellow travellers whether this is a swimsuit attire or sans-swimsuit as my guidebook says.  We will find out and the day may be changed.  I think it is with swimsuit as it is a “spring” and not a “bath.”  Here’s hoping so!

Tuesday: May go back to the Gypsy churches for more meetings.

Wednesday: Not decided yet.  We are going to see what ministry opportunities arise.

Thursday: Youth Service Rally.  I am very excited with this because I work with the youth at my church and I want to see young Hungarian people serving Christ.  I want to see if they are using contemporary services and experience their music.  Afterwards we are heading back to Budapest.

Friday:  Flying back to the USA.  Arriving at 12:30 am!

Saturday: Sleeping, editing video and pictures.

Sunday: Morning worship and ready to share our experiences.