Buda + Pest = Beautiful

Did you know that Budapest was actually two cities, Buda and Pest? They were divided by the Danube river, but are now combined into the capital city of Budapest. And what a city is it! 4 days was nowhere near enough time to explore this beautiful and historic city! 

What struck me first was just how beautiful the city is. Every building had a decoration here or a statue holding a balcony there. Beauty hidden in the tiny details – I kept falling behind the group because I wanted pictures of everything! However, the pictures don’t even come close to capturing the experience. I could see my breath, feel the cold in the tips of my fingers, see the skyline in the distance, and breathe in the crisp air. It was wonderful.

An estate on Kodaly Circus - I had fun taking pictures while looking for the Kodaly museum!

We took a bus tour and saw the major sites of the city, but the best views were obscured by the fog. I split off from the group and saw the Liszt museum, which is housed in his apartment. It was a cool exhibit with both his musical and religious artifacts. Speaking of religious artifacts, I saw my first Incorruptible saint—well, part of one anyway!!  St. Stephen’s right hand, known as the Holy Right, is housed in the Basilica of St. Stephen. It was such a beautiful church and I had the opportunity to attend an organ concert there on Friday night. There aren’t words to describe it. It was a dream come true.

St. Stephen's Basilica 

Food was also another focus of the trip – I tried a lot of new foods this weekend. Coming from the queen of peanut butter and jelly, this was huge. I tried ostrich, chilled apricot soup, chicken tikka masala (Thanksgiving dinner, my first experience with Indian food), falafel, and we even found a Hungarian wine and cheese festival!

It was a great vacation – full of crazy memories with new friends and quiet moments surrounded by the sights and sounds of a new place. It’s hard to believe it’s over because it was the big milestone to look forward to before I finished teaching. I have 4 days of instruction left, then a week of observations and then I’m done. Time truly does fly. I have to start reflections about my time here and I know that the bottom line is that I have been changed by this experience. I have been truly blessed beyond my wildest dreams. And, it all started with just one step.

Parliament and the Danube - taken from the boat  

Gobble Gobble!!

                  Happy Thanksgiving from Budapest, Hungary! For the long weekend, I was invited to join some of the teachers for a holiday in Hungary. It could not have come at a more perfect time. I'm 6 weeks into my Athens adventure. I flip between feeling like I just arrived and feeling like I've been here forever. I love the school more each day and have so enjoyed making friends with the teachers from the States.
                  I had a long (but completely wonderful) weekend around Athens. We celebrated Thanksgiving, had an American football tournament, and went out to celebrate one of the teacher's birthdays! Kara will be glad to hear that I found a flea market and bartered for some great jewelry! I made a fort in the corner of my  apartment and took a nap :) Then, I went to mass and found out that this church will not be getting the new translation until after I'm gone. Bummer.
                  After two intense days of school, (lots of tests and projects), we flew out of Athens and arrived at our apartment in Budapest. We have the whole apartment to ourselves - there are 8 of us. It's a cute place and has a great location. We're loving it! Today, we walked to the Christmas market and it felt a bit like home.
                 This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all the people that made my trip possible. For the friends that told me I could do this, put up with my craziness, and celebrated with me when I was finally accepted! For the teachers that supported me, educated me, encouraged me. For my family, without whom I would not be here. For the people I have met that have made this trip wonderful. I love you all. Be thankful, keep the world beautiful and always take life one step at a time.

Humanity's Awesomeness

            It's so easy in a big city to forget about everyone but yourself. Athens isn't like Minnesota, where everyone waves, stops to chat on the sidewalk, or invites you in for some coffee. Big cities just don't function that way. However, something happened the other day that opened my eyes to just how awesome humanity is. The city has it's own way of 'inviting you in for coffee'. Here in Athens, it's as simple as a piece of paper.
            This piece of paper is a small rectangle of blue that costs 1.40 euro. It's a metro ticket, good for 90 minutes of travel anywhere in the city. How does that make humanity awesome? Well, 95% of the trips the average Athenian takes are much shorter than the 90 minutes. It has become common practice for people to leave the used, but still good ticket on the escalator going to the trains where it can be picked up by another passenger. Call it Athens Nice :)
             I have been the reciepient of this random act of kindness and have since adopted the practice myself. It's such a great feeling when you find a ticket and know you've saved 1.40 euro (about $2). And passing on that feeling to someone else? Priceless. On Monday, I picked up a ticket at my metro stop, rode home, and then passed my ticket on to someone else. Best feeling ever. I swear I floated home :)
           Here's my challenge for you, friends. Today, take the time to do something nice to someone else. Buy a coffee for the guy behind you. Take out the trash. Compliment a stranger. Leave a metro ticket. Whatever you do - start small and take it one step at a time.

Family = love

     This past week was completely awesome. Brianna and I split our time chilling and seeing the sights all over Athens. Brianna hit so many of the sites and took some great pictures. Now, I've got to get going and catch up on the sights as well! 

     On Thursday, I discovered why girls like boats so much! Bri and I caught a ferry from Piraeus to Crete. It was a huge boat and it was awesome. I snuck around the ship for a while (I think I was allowed to be where I was) and saw some great views of the port! However, all my pictures are on Bri's camera, which is back in America. So, you'll have to wait to see! 

      We headed out to Crete to see our Uncle Bryan, Aunt Chrisa, and cousins Roula and Melina. It was a great weekend! We toured the town with them, saw the markets and a few museums, went shopping (of course) and basically had a great time. We bowled on Friday night and I was reminded just how terrible I am at bowling. :) They took us to a church in a cave which was spectacular and then drank hot chocolate by the sea (inside because of the rain) I'm so glad we were able to make it out to see them while I was over here! 

        Brianna took off super early on Monday morning and is now back in the States. I'm back to focusing on school and enjoying Athens. I'm teaching practically everything at this point, which is great. It's crazy to think I'm halfway done with this experience. I'm looking forward to making the second half even better than the first, and you know I'll start by taking it one step at a time! 

Time Flies!

It may be cliché – but it’s also true. Time flies when you’re having fun! Time has truly flown since my last post and I apologize for the sporadic nature of my blogging! The past week went quickly and was mostly uneventful – at least comparatively speaking. There were no metro strikes, no riots, no tear gas, no crazy jaunts through Plaka – so mostly uneventful J

However, this weekend was anything but uneventful, in the best way possible! My sister, Brianna, left Denver on Thursday and arrived in Greece on Friday afternoon! I wasted no time in introducing her to Greek culture as we went out for dinner in Plaka. There are people hired by the restaurants whose sole job is to convince you to eat at that restaurant. There was one super nice older gentleman who convinced us that his place was the best and he was true to his word. We had a typical Greek meal – a tomato salad, lamb souvlaki with pita, tzaziki, and tomato, dessert and coffee – and it took about 3 hours!

          Saturday was our day to explore – we headed to Monstriaki and hit up the flea market. It’s basically a giant garage sale with mostly junk – you have to dig for the real treasures! After a coffee, we headed back to the Acropolis and climbed onto the Areopagos rock. This is the rock that St. Peter stood and gave his “Men of Athens” speech found in Acts 17:22-34. Kinda cool, if you ask me. Then, we went to the Acropolis museum and were wowed by the history we saw. The best part was the glass floors that show the excavation of the ancient city below the museum. We also celebrated Halloween a week late with some teachers from ACS. It was an awesome night!

          Sunday was the day for the Acropolis. Words and pictures don’t really do these views justice. We climbed around the site for over an hour and it was just fascinating. The Parthenon was impressive, but my favorite was the Caryatids found on the side of the Erechtheion. The real ones are in the museum, except for the one at the British Muesum. That museum houses a bunch of artifacts from the Acropolis, which the British should really give back already. I’m pretty sure all of Greece agrees with me on that one…

The Caryatids 

         

               We did some shopping in Plaka before catching the Changing of the Guard at Syntagma before Mass. I just love that we can go to Mass here and it’s exactly the same Mass as everywhere else. I guess I didn’t really appreciate the “Catholic” nature of our faith until I attended Mass here. The Lord is sooo good!

The Changing of the Guard

          Brianna and I will be exploring more of Athens this week before heading out to Crete to visit Bryan, Chrisa, and the girls for the weekend. We’re really excited! J I’ll leave you with a picture of me and my city and the reminder to take every day one step at a time!  - just not backwards!