Rain, Fog, War Zones, Gutter Urinals And Creepy Mountains! Day Nine

This is how my day started....

An uber ride to drop bags off at the Marriott and then us off at the airport found this in the back trunk so in order for our bags to go ... I had to hold this on my lap for the entire ride... Only in Budapest!

We got to the airport around 11 am, rented a car and then packed up to go on holiday to Croatia!

Ioana came over from Romania and got in safely the night before.  She's had a hard past few weeks with her organization so she needed a break!

We changed last minute from going to Split to Dubrovnik, Croatia so we blindly followed what the GPS said was the shortest route...

We drove through Hungary, following the Croatoan border.  It's sad to see the intense fence that Hungary is putting up to keep the refugees out.  It's a major chain link fence with tons of barbed wire coiled around the base.  This runs all along the border so it's in the backyards of families and churches and stores.  It's got to be a sad and fearful thing to have this in view from your home.

This was going through the Hungarian/Croatian border.

We then passed through Croatia for a while and came to the Bosnian border.  I don't think we necessarily expected to go through Bosnia to get to Dubrovnik...

But once we got past the Bosnian border, it was eerie and sad.  I'm pretty sure it's the remains of the Bosnian War but miles and miles of houses be buildings were laying burned and destroyed.

And then after about 10-15 miles we passed this - a cemetery with all new tombstones from the same time in the 90s.   It made me think that of all places for the refugees to go, this is a place that understands being chased from your own country and being scared because of who you are.  And then I thought of all he clothes and shoes and sock and coats that we sent and even more all the Bibles that are going to these misplaced people who are being welcomed by small countries with a history like Croatia.  And I'm thankful for them!

So a funny thing that lightened the sad - when we drove into Bosnia I was driving and all of a suddent this older man comes stumbling out in the rode and I'm talking about how he's either drunk or having a stroke ... And then he gets to the ditch across the road and he we see he was actually just preparing himself to ... Eliminate....:). And all along the Bosnian roads we saw young men and boys and men ... Vacating on the side of the road.  I'm not sure whether they're lazy or they just don't have bathrooms???

We kept driving into the night and went though such amazingly creepy mountains where boulders had fallen down and trees were fallen across he road - all the while rail poured and intense patches of fog blocked our view.  This sounds dramatic and over the top but ever word is true! Ioana was praying and Carlene was trying not to get sick... And we kept passing country signs and getting a little more freaked as we saw signs for Sernia and Montrnegro....

And then when we thought we couldn't go any more / we saw the lights to the tiny Bosnian border that we were told to go through before we got to the house we were staying at.   We went though passport control...

And then found our way up a huge intimidating hill to our rental house... 

And when we finally got in and settled we realized that this was everywhere we went through before we got back to our vacation spot in Croatia!

It was exceedingly nice though that we got in at midnight and this tray was waiting for us!

And we climbed into bed and slept like the dead until the sky lightened and we opened our shutters and saw this!...

 

And we made pacts to not return the way we came even if it takes longer - and then we set off to enjoy he first day of vacation!

Quick Post - Day Seven And Eight

It's been a crazy past few days but I'll share

We had an extremely successful pampering night for the ladies if FEK university ministry team.  We just wanted to love on and encourage them and from what was said and shared, God used us to do this!

And this morning was a great message at Danube Church on Acts 28 and then a quick lunch after with David and Yulia one more time then home to start he turkey for Thanksgiving two!

I was the brave one with my hand up turkeys rear and pulling out the severed head and pulling off remaining feathers!  It's extremely intriguing and earthy... And very gross all at the same time... It wasn't as big as Tuesday night but it was only a kilogram or two less so - not as big is all relative.

We had about 14 girls over to celebrate with us and it was such a blessing to hear everyone share what they were thankful for this year!

Flora and I enjoying the view of the city on our living room wall one more time before we had to say goodbye (hopefully until next spring when they come to the states again).

Tomorrow we head to Croatia!!! Ioana got in from Romania safely and now were praying we give her a relaxing and great week of vacation fellowship and thar we have good weather!

Please Don't Let Me Get Hungarian Fungus...And More Rain - Day Six

Today was a little bit about us:)... It's actually been a longer, tougher week then normal BHHP week because we've been doing full on classrooms and then coming home and serving in one way or another.  It's been something we wanted to and came to do but by Thursday you're exhausted!

Something that I've always wanted to do and never have is go to one of the Baths.  Budapest is built on thermal springs and they've used these springs since the 1500 for medicinal purposes so these mineral baths are supposed to be healing.  I've wanted to check them out, so we chose one I've looked at for years, Szecheny Baths.  

It would be totally relaxing if I knew what I was doing but - no clue.  You have to change in these common areas - totally awkward as you try to avoid the common rooms with 50 old, naked Hungarian women chattering.  You change into your swimsuit and have to walk outside and try to figure out where everything is.  You finally find a door that leads you into a plethora of pools in different rooms.  Some cold some steaming, some bug some small.  And you just walk around from room to room and - if you don't have flip flops (mine forgot to get into my bag:). You walk around with this fear of catching some international foot fungus:(.    

This is right when you walk outiside - some of the pools were being repsaired.

This is the outside of where there are about 30 various pools inside, sauna rooms and massage rooms.  Next time I get a massage too:)

This is the outside hot pool which was amazing!!!

This is he very front of Szecheny.

After the baths we met Flora and took her to lunch.  We just wanted to treat her and listen to her and hang out with her.  

We then went to the high school outreach which they did a game with the new movie The Maze.  We helped with that for a while.

Around 8 pm we left and then Carlene and I left and went shopping for tomorrow night.  We're doing a pampering night for the staff members.  We're praying that we can minister to the women of FEK!

Exciting Day! - Day Five

Today was a completely exciting day for me!  For all of our team!

Another high school in the morning - actually right across from Corvinus, the university I work at every year and that I'm very fond of so being there and seeing it made me very happy!

The high school it was a Christian school funded by the Hungarian Presbyterian Church.  There were students there from Budapest but there were several that lived outside the city and so they lived in a dorm by the school.  We were all together as a group - there were usually 15 students and 6 of us so they got one on one attention!

I left early to meet with a friend of mine who went to Moody for a semester and then came back to Budapest last year.  On the way to meet I stopped at the Covered Market.

I wanted to get a Langos and a strudel from there because it's so yummy!

And Mark and Jayne... To tempt you for another year...

Fanny and I met and had a great time catching up!

And then I got back to the apartment and we got ready to go on an exciting adventure!  For years now I've wanted to do a culture night to see Hungarian dancing and music.  So Leslie and I booked a special event where they came and picked us up and took us outside the city to this little Hungarian restaurant/show place where we walked in the door and they gave us traditional Palinka!  Kick it back before the meal and your throat feels like it's melting but it supposedly helps your food digest better!

AHHH PALINKA!!!!

We then went to tables where we were served pots of guyas (goulash soup) while we listened to a gypsy band play.

We were served more food...

And then the nations Hungarian dancers performed.... Amazing and so much fun!

http://youtu.be/MJ79CRalYD0

And the gypsy band played some more - they were amazing and the guy in the dulcimer kind of thing was so awesome that they could blindfold him and he still could do amazing things!

And then the most fun time came when they came around and had participants in the audience..

Carlene got that wine bottle on her head...

And Woody got pulled up to dance - I think we laughed ourselves silly on that one but he was such a good sport!  Even when his shoe lace came untied and he was told to tie it!:)

http://youtu.be/7Fr9OKVkQhI

http://youtu.be/XHyJdT4EWP4

An absolutely fun time!  We got confusion before - we we waited in a hotel lobby for over an hour waiting for the bus to pick us up and then were told we didn't see you and they had to come back for and I was so upset but - it all worked out and we were happy campers!

We came back to the flat and slept so soundly that I don't think any of us even woke up at all!

Such a great day with students and just getting to know our group better!