Hungary

Oh, Gee Whiz. Could I be a worse blogger?

Let's go back...

When: July 7-16, 2011

Where: Nagykanizsa, Hungary

Who: Me and 8 others from my parents' church association in Arkansas (including the padres)

What: A mission trip to teach at an English camp

I know, I know. You're looking at our destination and wondering where in the world THAT place is. Don't worry, I didn't know at first either!

Here is Hungary...

And the little X above marks where the lovely town of Nagykanizsa lies.

It only took 3 flights, 1 long car ride and about 28 hours or so to get there! It was exhausting, but I can't really complain. It was well worth the trip!

While we were there, I got to work with the beginners group at the camp. It was really fun and definitely fruitful, but it meant we had to communicate a LOT through motions and hugs and smiles. But those are fun too, right? Thankfully we had an awesome translator that helped out a TON!

Our week in Nagykanizsa was really full. We taught in the morning; offered afternoon activities such as resume-building classes and opportunities to introduce the town to us in English; and provided evening entertainment in the form of movies, a talent night, game night, etc. Our group also got to attend a Hungarian worship service with the missionaries there, and meet some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ from the other side of the world. :-) We finished out the week by going to Budapest, a really remarkable city. I am sad it so often gets overlooked!

There are many many more things I could say about my journey to Hungary; but isn't it far better to show you?

The view from the museum where we taught. 

Some of the things we ate for lunch there were surprisingly good...

Others, not so much! 

Hungarians do make GREAT coffee though (hot chocolate too!)

We took the students out for gelato every afternoon at this place. My mouth is watering just looking at the picture. 

We ate at this place basically every night. It was soooooo good! Goulash, fried cheeses, weird pastas. They knew how to do Hungarian food the RIGHT way. 

The next few are from Budapest. I promise I'm almost done... :-) 

The Market...

The Castle...

The historic district...

And the lovely city.

We also took a dinner cruise on our last night... 

And saw this newly erected statue of Ronald Reagan. 

So there you have it, folks. A week in Hungary in a not-so-brief blog post. It was lovely, it was inspiring, it was unexpected, and it was fun. Meeting and working with such beautiful people inside and out was an honor,  and I hope I'll have the opportunity to return again sometime soon. :-)