We had the opportunity to get away with several friends to Badacsony last weekend.  It is definitely one of my favorite places in Hungary.  Just a small vineyard covered village stuck between a handful of extinct volcanoes and Lake Balaton.  We were so glad to have two friends from Sweden, Rinus and Joke, join us for the weekend.  Rinus stirred up many conversations as he shared about the life and writings of William Faulkner.  Specifically, we took a look at the themes of alienation and wounded families.  Thanks Rinus for your contributions!

While in Badacsony, Kristof saw a hedgehog in the grass, I said, “let’s get it!,” and Oliver immediately picked it up without hesitation.  Oliver, you are a natural.  Needless to say, our boys had an awesome weekend playing with the hedgehog named Prickles.  Seth now has changed his daily request for a pet turtle to a daily request for a pet hedgehog.  I’d love a copy of the group photo from any of you who took one on Sunday!

We get to spend time with some really great students through the English Club and the Outdoor Club at Corvinus University. One of our friends, Norbi, invited us to visit his home in Slovakia for a few days. So this past week, we spent a couple days in and around Kassa (Kosice) Slovakia with Norbi’s family. We had such a great time. Their family lives in a small village 40 minutes outside of the big city (250,000), and the kids loved being in the countryside for a while, eating home-grown vegetables, picking grapes, and chasing chickens. Standing in the backyard are grape vines, apple trees, a giant walnut tree, a vegetable garden, a chicken house, and an outhouse which hasn’t been used for a long time. The outhouse, for me, was the coolest. Seth was a bit bummed that we couldn’t use it. Me too. It was a cool imprint from an earlier time, and I’m glad they haven’t torn it down. The kids loved the chickens, and I’m thinking that we are going to have to get a few pet chickens soon. Thanks Norbi for hosting us!!

Here are four of my favorite pictures from our program in Slovenia. My brother Daniel took the first and third. The first two were taken during a 7.5 hour hike to Krn Mountain.

Last week, 20 of us went to Kobarid, Slovenia to see a beautiful part of Central Europe, to have some adventure, and to enjoy some meaningful time and conversation with each other.  Our friends Stephan and Thea live in Vrsno, a small town above Kobarid and the Soca River.  Stephan and Thea showed us amazing places and enabled us to have some great adventures.

A quick overview of the week: 3 hour waterfall-hunting hike, rafting down the Soca river, cleaning/gutting and roasting fish over a fire, 7.5 hour hike to Krn mountain, jumping off of a 15 meter high bridge, a day of kayaking, searching for the Kozjak waterfall canyon at night, a half-day at Grado beach, and a wonderful final evening together in Vrsno hearing Stephan and Thea’s story.  For me, there were many “moments” and conversations that became highlights.  As one friend said, “I want to integrate these things into my life in Budapest and not stay the same.”

At the top of Krn Mountain

Launching Peaches 700 Meters Below

The Fish Gutting Team

Ready to Raft

The Leap

Hi everyone, Monday morning we will drive 7 hours west to the mountains of Slovenia.  Pray for safe and comfortable travel as we pack into our cars.  We’ll be camping at Kamp Koren in Kobari, Slovenia.  Google it!  Pictures coming next week!

From Esztergom to Budapest the Danube waters flow

3 days and 3 boats, 11 people did go

Passing castles and ducks in flight

We were looking forward to a bogrács delight

Paddling on the left, paddling on the right

Waves from speeding boats gave us a fright

The Megyeri bridge at last made its show

And we rowed home swiftly with sore muscles in tow

Sziasztok! Nagyon jó volt veletek lenni tegnap este. Köszönöm, hogy eljöttetek! Remélem, mindannyian túlélitek a vizsgaidőszakot! Itt egy pár fényképet a mult hétról!

Vártunk néhány honapig a bogárokat eljönni.

Csaladi nap Visegrádon.

Here’s some pictures from the last couple days….

Jet Lag.  We had three friends from California and Virginia visiting on Wed. & Thurs.  Below, Tom is experiencing the jet lag head-bob while riding the train from Vác to Budapest.

On the HÉV.

Meeting in the Parliament.  Thanks Kristof for giving us the insider tour!

Waiting at school for basketball practice at school:

Basketball Practice: (Seth in blue, Jacob in orange)

Go Team!  “egy….kettő…három….MACI!”

AngolEst:  Thursday Night English Club in the tea house.

Mario sang a song called Humble King. 

Tom shared some amazing stories about their work with street kids in Kiev Ukraine over the last 10 or so years.

We’ve just finished five amazing days.  Five friends from North Carolina came to help us with an English Camp.  A couple hours after landing in Budapest, this jet-lagged team was hanging out with university students at English Club.  Over the course of the weekend, Donnie shared 10 thoughts on how to live a better life.  Five of them are:

• Be intentional with your thoughts
• Be thankful
• Be accountable to someone
• Tell those you love that you love them
• Be Quiet

We spent Saturday morning at an orphanage in Debrecen, and we almost had too much fun.  I’d say that was a pretty significant time for all of us.  A highlight for me was when one of the young girls found the courage to sing a song for all of us.  Wow. 

After Valéria’s awesome scavenger hunt in the city center, had a Hungarian lunch, some English small groups, life-story sharing, and lots of games.  I won’t mention what time people went to bed.  :)  This was an outstanding group of Americans who came to visit.  They brought so much fun, they shared their hearts, and they were real with us.  (Thanks Adam, Jill, Amanda, Adrien, and Donnie!!!!).  Personally, I feel refreshed and excited about life.  Here’s some pictures:

Wow, I think this is my fourth post in three weeks.  I’m on a roll!  I want to mention that my buddy Chris is going to Zimbabwe today.  You can read about his travels so far on his blog and then pray…it’s a bit dangerous. 

Also, I would to announce that this blog, utazni.com, is ranked the 2,910,025 th most popular blog on Technorati.com!!!   

5 friends from North Carolina are coming to Budapest today.  The next week is going to be full and fun.  We have a four day English Program starting today, and we’ll spend a couple days in Debrecen.  The forums and life-story times should be great, and everyone’s looking forward to our time at the orphanage on Saturday morning.  I’ll post some pictures and thoughts next week.

Here’s a few pictures from our recent “outing club” adventures.