lake balaton

This week was our trip to Lake Balaton, the biggest lake in Hungary and a popular summer vacation area. We got up fairly early Monday morning and traveled for upwards of six hours by train, by bus, and by foot until we reached our destination. We were staying in the first floor of a house, actually, that the owner rents out during the summer. The floor was equipped with two bedrooms (which was nice for the four of us), a kitchen/dining room, a back porch, a bathroom, and a separate room for the toilet. I heard that this is fairly common over here, but it is just weird to use the bathroom in one tiny room, then head next door to wash your hands. It is strange. After we arrived, we set out for a jaunt along the lake shore and pier. There were swans and ducks and boats everywhere.


We stopped to buy some groceries, ate dinner, then settled down for some serious card games (like Uno, Skipbo, and Hearts). We ran out of time for the most hardcore game of all: Go Fish.
The next day, Tuesday, we breakfasted and prepared lunches and set off by boat for the Tihon peninsula in Lake Balaton.


The peninsula actually used to be volcanic, and the plants were very lush and green and beautiful. We poked around inside the monastery there, which was beautiful, but not very impressive after the Sistine Chapel. Here is a little bit of beauty I spotted on the way out of the monastery:



After that, we walked a street lined with little Hungarian shops, and stopped at an “open air museum.” It was actually a house and outbuildings from the 1800’s that had been preserved and set up and outfitted just like they would have been back then. The house was cool to look at, with it’s white stucco walls and thatched roof.


However, once we got inside, I was in for an amusing surprise. The Hungarians are a short people, and apparently they once used to be much shorter.


The doorways were very small and modest-height people like me would have been a little inconvenienced living in a house like this.
We looked at all the interesting places on the peninsula, then headed back on a very cold and windy boat ride. As we arrived back on land, we hunted around for a nice beach, in case the weather was better the next day. We went back to the house, and I took a little nap, waking up in time to eat dinner on the back porch. I don’t know why I am sleeping so much! I usually get much less sleep and am fairly perky. Now I just doze off all the time. I think I am getting old.

The next day, Wednesday, we were going to visit a castle nearby and hit up the beach. Well, we all awoke to rain. It rained all day long, so we sat and talked and laughed and drank hot tea and played card games all morning. As noon drew near, no one wanted to make a soggy run to the grocery store, so we played a game of Skipbo. The winner would eat the leftovers, while the losers watched. I won. But actually everyone ate, we just split up the leftovers and had a grand old time.
I spent the afternoon drawing a self-portrait (which actually turned out pretty well, I think, considering my drawing ability) and figuring out more about my camera. I tested out different functions by taking silly pictures of myself, then reviewing them contentedly and making some camera adjustments and doing the whole thing again. I eventually started playing air guitar to “The Mullet Song” and “The Sadie Hawkins Dance.” It was a well-spent afternoon, I should say. In the evening, I decided to call home and surprise my family. I think I did. Of course, they were preparing for breakfast while we were preparing for dinner, but at least it was the same day. I called once when it was evening by them and the next morning by me, which made it seem like we were in parallel time, and it kind of scared me. Anyway, I called home and it completely brightened my day. Literally. When I hung up the phone, the rain had stopped. It was still cloudy and windy and cold, of course, but no wetness was descending. Hooray! I celebrated by eating dinner, then walking down to the lake shore with my cohorts for some ice cream. I tried pineapple this time, which was awesome.


We goofed around near the water until we were all chilled through, so we came back for some more hot tea and a few more card games before bed.
The next morning, Thursday, was the day that we were to leave Lake Balaton. The weather was too cold for swimming, and too unpredictable for any excursions. So we ate our remaining food for breakfast, I did my daily pushups, crunches, and lunges faithfully, and we headed to the train station for an early start on our trip back to Debrecen. We originally weren’t to leave until mid-afternoon. We got the first three hours of our trip out of the way, then stopped in Budapest, Hungary’s capital, for some looking around. We visited the castle of Budapest, which was good. It was built right near the Danube River. As we walked around the walls of the castle to gain entrance at its main gate, I looked up at the huge, ivy-covered stone walls. I could maybe have climbed up the ivy now, but other than that, the thought of assailing this Turkish/Hungarian fortress was rather daunting. After seeing all the western remnants of Rome and such, it was cool to see the more Eastern architecture as well. We entered the castle walls to find a good-sized little old town. It had all been preserved and kept up much like it would have been, and not really modernized, so it was fun to walk through. We looked out from the walls of the castle to see the river, the Hungarian parliament building,


and the city of Budapest. We looked at the few buildings that were purposely left intact after World War II. The buildings had been shot at, and the shell marks were still obvious. I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn’t. After about an hour inside this castle, we left to catch our next train back to Debrecen. Three rainy hours later, we arrived back “home” for a late light dinner, a shower, and some sleep.

an evening of dancing

One night, we took a walk down to the center of Debrecen for some ice cream (blackberry). My aunt did some shopping, while I settled down to delightedly watch some traditional Hungarian dancers. I really wish that we Americans had some sort of traditional dance, because I have always loved watching these sort of dances and would love to dance them even more, I think. The women were all dressed in blue or red dresses with a flower print, and wore red ribbons in their braided hair. Their main action was one of twirling and skipping. The men were my favorite part, though. They were dressed in black pants, a white shirt, a black vest, and a black hat and tall boots. They looked cool, but their dancing was even better. It was so athletic and amazing. Not only did they lead the women in the dances, but they also kept up a sort of rhythm with the fast music. They didn’t simply clap along on the second and fourth beat, they beat out an accompanying rhythm of their own. They clapped, snapped their fingers, stomped their feet, chanted, and my favorite: slapped their boots. They would jump and slap their feet, then jump and slap their shin, then cross their feet behind them and slap their feet in the back, then kick their heels, then jump some more and make different sounds by slapping different parts of their boots. It was utterly mesmerizing. They were keeping this complex, athletic time, and dancing and twirling their partners at the same time. I sat and watched and soaked up every part of it. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera, or I could have posted a short video, but really there is no way to properly convey it to you. I wish that you could have been with me and shared this awesome sight.

summer camp!

Sunday, July 13, 2008:
This morning I was able to attend a church service here in Debrecen. It is a bilingual church, so I could understand everything, which was really nice. The sermon was part of a series on Hebrews, which I expected to be fairly dry, but it was actually a very good sermon. I really enjoyed it, and it lined up nicely with my recent devotions and meditations.
As we were at church, which was held outside, the temperature rose and rose, as did the humidity. It was disgusting. When we left on a bus for English Camp, the heat was nearly hellish. We rode a little outside of Debrecen to a nice, shady campground, with a pool and green grass and gardens and bushes and basketball, volleyball, and soccer courts/fields and cabins and a little open-air cafeteria type place. We ate a lunch of pizza out on the lawn, then I took a long nap for the afternoon. I went to a meeting and learned exactly what this camp would be like. It is a fairly typical summer camp, but with the added dimension of language. All of the kids here know at least some English, but they don't get much practice speaking it. It is our job, as American or English-speaking volunteers, to help them with their English. Through us they will hear American English spoken, and will be able to practice their own English skills. In order to emphasize the language aspect of the camp, every morning we are to have three hours of 'classes.' The theme for the camp is the Olympics, and each small group of 6 or so students will represent a different English-speaking country that is going to the Olympic games. The students are going to learn, in English, about their group's country--its population, location, climate, economy, government, and religion. They will also learn about the history of the Olympic games, and about the sports of which it consists today. I am going to be one of the leaders for a group of students. My country is Jamaica, my teaching partner is a 27-year old American girl, and we were to be in charge of a group of 7 girls. They are at an intermediate English level, and are all age 15-17.
After the informational meeting, I really understand how difficult it is to put on a summer camp. There were several college youth groups that came to this camp to serve on a mission trip. There were volunteers from Iowa, Montana, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Germany, and Hungary, all of which had to be coordinated and instructed in addition to keeping track of the 100+ campers. As a kid attending a camp, I never thought about those things. And one more addendum for today… After dinner we played a crazy Hungarian game that involved running and screaming and laughing in a mad scramble in the twilight. Then the bird-sized biting bugs came out, and I headed inside, swatting constantly at the vile creatures wanting to suck my blood.

Monday, July 14, 2008:
This morning I awoke to roll out of bed for devotions, followed by breakfast. Breakfast was simply two rolls with a honey glaze on the top. I gazed at the rolls in sleepy disbelief. This was it? Unfortunately these doll-size portions of mostly bread were to be typical of the week. Fortunately this morning there was nutella, so I managed. Nutella is very widespread over here, and I tried it for the first time late last week. Anyway, after breakfast I met the 7 girls I will be teaching this week. As class started, I found that all of the girls were very, very shy, so we struggled to get them talking to us about their country, or about anything really. Today the only answer to our questions was an averted gaze and absolute silence. I finally am able to sympathize with my teachers. My senior class was like this every Monday morning, I'm afraid, and the phenomenon became more and more quotidian near the end of the year. To all my teachers, I apologize.
Here at camp, we struggled to fill our three hours of class time with such a quiet group, but we managed as best we could. Finally, after the long morning, it was time for lunch: soup, chicken, rice, and an ice cream bar. Lunch is the big meal of the day here. After lunch, I took another long nap. I don’t know why I’m so tired lately!
When I woke up, I set off to listen to two testimonies, one of an American and one of a Hungarian. There will be two or three testimonies every night, and I am really looking forward to hearing all of them. After dinner tonight, there was supposed to be a bonfire, but it was postponed due to the constant lightning flickers that started up near dark. I walked away as I talked with a Hungarian guy my age, but then it began to rain. He dashed one way and I sprinted the other, and we both tumbled under some shelter as the storm really broke loose. All day I had felt a storm approaching (can everyone feel that, or is it just me being special?), and now it was here. The rain fell in torrents, sheets, buckets, cats, and dogs. The lightning was constantly flashing, and the thunder was always rumbling. Not like storms back home at all. As the storm moved closer, the lightning began striking very nearby, and the thunder cracked so loudly that it hurt my ears. Fortunately I had finished dancing in the rain before I got electrocuted. Finally, the electricity flickered out (I heard a few girls scream), and the storm seemed even more impressive in the dark. I finally crawled in bed as the storm blew itself out, but I must say it was a pretty fantastic evening.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008:
This morning I got up early to take my shower, something I wisely decided to postpone last night. As I walked to devotions in shorts and with wet hair, I realized how truly cold it was today. The veritable sauna of Sunday afternoon had been blown away by the storm, I guess. I changed into the only warm clothes I brought to camp and ate some breakfast. Today it was a cheese croissant with butter and hot tea. The tea was very welcome on such a cold morning, especially as we eat essentially outside, though under a roof of sorts. Next came morning classes. Today we had a new Hungarian helper, who really was an answer to prayer. She suggested and facilitated discussions in which the girls would be interested, e.g. the differences between American and Hungarian cultures. Near the end of class the girls taught us a Hungarian card game called solo. It is similar to our uno, except much crazier. Then came lunch, followed by yet another nap and some quiet reading. I set out into the still-rainy afternoon to watch the first Chronicles of Narnia movie and listen to another set of testimonies. After dinner was a very moving pantomime. I set it all down in my journal, and it took two and a half pages, so I will spare you that now.
PS- my trip is halfway over today. Sad? Cool? Good? Bad? Who knows…

Wednesday, July 16, 2008:
Today in my journal I wrote down over a page before I even recorded getting out of bed. I’ll spare you that too. =) After devotions we had breakfast, as usual. This morning it was sandwiches (which are actually a very common breakfast food in Hungary), hot tea, and bread with nutella. Mmmm. Before this trip is over I am pretty sure that I will be an official nutella addict.
After breakfast was… more lessons! Today my partner left halfway through with the charge to present all the information on Jamaica that we hadn’t covered yet. So, I got to explain Jamaica’s geographical location and government system. Have you ever tried to explain “constitutional parliamentary democracy” to a group of girls who speak English as a second language? It was… interesting, for sure. But I was so very grateful for my fantastic civics teachers this year. Without that class and their teaching, I would have been unsure of what a constitutional parliamentary democracy was myself, and I certainly would not have been able to present the information in a way these girls could understand. When my partner got back, she decided the girls would like to discuss the economy, the European Union, and the difference between a president and a prime minister. Yikes! At any rate, we made it through the morning classes, however uninteresting the girls might have found them.
Then came lunch, a walk around the nearby ponds in the afternoon, some more testimonies, dinner, and in the evening a staff/camper volleyball game. It was rough. We won the first game easily against the younger campers, but we actually lost to the older campers. I learned later that that particular team had been practicing together all week, while our team of like 15 just got thrown together and couldn’t even figure out our rotations. I feel a little better now, but the shame is still there. Finally it got too dark to play anymore. No one could actually see the ball, and I even got hit in the face with it (that’s how dark it was), so we lit up our postponed campfire from Monday night. I roasted some marshmallows as the Texas leader improvised songs about his marshmallow distribution efforts. It was hilarious. Then a couple of Texas guys pulled out a guitar and a drum. They were very good and very funny. We sang lots of Disney songs, from Robin Hood, Lion King, and some others, then some folk songs, some Mexican songs, some Christmas songs, some praise songs, and then some just songs. The guitarist was really amazing, and he started singing Jack Johnson, Rascal Flatts’ “Life is a Highway,” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” It was so much fun.

Thursday, July 17, 2008:
This morning was devotions and then breakfast, which was a sort of dense, spiraled roll. I ate it with butter, plain, and with nutella, all of which were scrumptious. For part of class this morning, we watched part of the movie Cool Runnings, which is about an Olympic Jamaican bobsled team. The girls also taught us another game, called “the village is sleeping.” We would call it “mafia.” I was the first one killed, so apparently someone in our class has some hard feelings against me… Just joking. I think all the girls like me.
After lunch today, I hung out and digested, then decided that it was high time to start working out for volleyball this fall. I stood fiercely in front of a mirror. “Kimberlee,” I began sternly… and then I just stopped. I’m not much good at pep talks anyway and giving them to yourself is kind of silly, so I settled for a rousing pep think. Then I quickly donned shorts, a T-shirt, ankle support, and shoes, and set off to enjoy the beautiful weather in a run around the lake. It was probably just under half a mile. Running here seems effortless. Because of the low elevation, breathing is not a struggle at all, it is purely a muscle workout. I think I might be a little discouraged to come back home, and realize that I'm not in as good of shape as I thought I was. =) After running I did some muscle building stuff, then wiped down my perspiring face, checked email, photographed a frog, and tried my hand at pinwheel making. After dinner there was a Hungarian rock concert, which was pretty cool. Of course I had no idea what they were singing, but I could enjoy the music nonetheless. Even though the songs were very loud, they were musically complex, musical themes were developed, and the songs were extremely pleasing to the ear. During the music I enjoyed watching the band members, and had time to decide that I am going to marry the lead guitarist type of guy. So we’ll see. =)

Friday, July 19, 2008:
This morning I ate two breakfasts. Each person was served three half-slices of kalacs, or “sweet bread” (though it wasn’t exactly sweet). So I drank some hot tea and ate one half-slice with apricot jelly, two plain, and three with nutella. Yes, that’s a mark of an addict if I ever saw one.
In class today we finished watching Cool Runnings. We started a discussion about religion: what the girls knew about it, if they were ‘religious,’ the roles of religion in Hungary and the US, etc. Unfortunately, my teaching partner and a Hungarian translator got in a debate about theology, and I’m not sure what sort of impression that made on the girls. It wasn’t even a good debate, I’m afraid. Not at all like what I’m used to in my Bible classes. One of their views was heretical, whether they realized it or not. It was a heresy I had read about, and knew how to refute biblically, but I didn’t think this was the time or place to do it. It was a tiring situation altogether, and I’m glad we were interrupted in the middle of it.
For lunch, I had HUNGARIAN GOULASH!! On the one hand, every time I hear this, I think of rain boots. On the other hand, I think of one of my favorite classical songs. And now, added to the mix of connotations, I get to add a thin soup dotted with meat, kohlrabi, potatoes, and globs of cooked pasta dough. Of course, we had bread with our soup, as we do with every meal. It was quite delicious.
In the afternoon I ran and worked out (which was a little painful this time). Then my afternoon putterings were interrupted by a welcome invitation to play Dutch blitz. This time we played with actual Dutch blitz cards, which I had never seen before. Wow, I forgot how intense that game is! It was fun. We also played with partners, which I really liked. There’s not so much to keep track of that way.
Tonight, instead of testimonies, there were some baptisms in the campground pool. This was enough to make my reformed theological self very uncomfortable. Two of the people were a little older than me, and gave nice speeches and stuff before their baptisms. That was fine. They were baptized while a woman played praise songs on her guitar and sang aloud. It was definitely enough to give anyone an emotional religious rush. Two more younger kids were next, and their testimonies were a little suspicious. One boy’s testimony ended with, “and sometimes we [my friends and I] pray.” Now baptism is a big deal. I, as a pastor, would be hesitant to baptize that young man unless I was sure he knew what baptism signified and that he was ready to be baptized. (Of course, I am speaking as one who was baptized as an infant, so that adds a little irony to this whole situation, but I am working on that in my own mind. I don’t believe that what I am saying and my being baptized as a baby are incompatible.) And then the youth pastor asked if anyone in the audience was moved to be baptized themselves. I nearly choked on my tongue. I watched as four individuals stepped forth, tears in their eyes, to be baptized. One girl chose to be baptized by her two closest friends (both were older, in their twenties, but still…) I actually felt a little sick. Like I said, baptism is really a big deal. I am suspicious of Christian camp conversions, because all too often they are simply a result of religious emotion. If I am nervous with conversions, I am even more uneasy when it comes to Christian camp baptisms. I do take theological issue with them. Anyway, that is my theological rant of the day…
After the baptisms we all filed in to eat a late dinner—wiener schnitzel!! It was pretty good in itself, but the fact that I ate Hungarian goulash and wiener schnitzel in the same day made me pretty excited. My list of foreign foods that I’ve eaten is pretty impressive today!
After dinner was an end-of-the-week talent show. It was good, as far as talent shows go. There were some very creative entries. My favorite was a synchronized swimming show. On stage. It was very original and well-done, but who thinks of these sorts of things?! After the talent show was a campfire and some praise songs with the same amazing guitar player. We talked and sang until 1 AM, which was crazy late, but it was good.

Saturday, July 19, 2008:
Today was the day that everyone left camp. I rolled out of bed at 6:45 for a morning jog. Wow, I was so sore. I walked like an old lady all day long. It was very misty and almost surreal outside. I at least, was thankful for the mist because I literally jogged right out of bed. I truly looked like someone who had just woken up. Maybe if I met anyone, I thought, my bleary features would be somewhat obscured by the mist. I met more people that morning than on all the other jogs put together. =P I got back in time for a very quick shower before devotions and breakfast (bread, hot tea, and nutella). Then we packed up and waited for the bus that would take us back to Debrecen. While waiting, I helped myself to some birthday cake, and started talking to an enormous German redhead about breakfast. When I began speaking, he looked a little startled, then said faintly, “I think that’s the longest sentence I’ve ever seen you say, much less to me.” He actually thought that I just didn’t talk. I laughed. I think most of my close friends usually long for a time when I stop talking... (Rochelle) But I did push myself to be outgoing this week, something I’m not naturally very good at. I became about as good of friends as I could become in one week with a red-headed college-age girl from Kansas. So there. I do talk.
And that is essentially a summary of my week at English Camp 2008. I say a summary because my journal entries were 20 pages long, and you really do get the Reader’s Digest version. Thanks for all your prayers for me during this week!

trying out my camera

I spied this little guy hanging out in the bushes next to a sidewalk, so I stopped to see what my camera could do! I'm really pleased with how the pictures turned out, because the frog was so small and it was hard to get the focus on him and not on the leaves in front of him. Hooray for manual focus!! Without it I could never have taken this picture. I am also very happy with the way the colors were actually captured correctly.

italy

It is time for one of those gargantuan posts I feared.. =P Please grab a glass of water (or perhaps even your next meal), put on your reading spectacles, and settle yourself comfortably into your chair, because you will be reading for a while.
Here we go!!!

On July 4, after a long day of travel, we arrived in Rome. It seemed weird to be here for the fourth, with no fireworks and no parade, but really, when you think more about it, it is kind of fitting. Rome has been one of the most signigicant influences on American culture, and I appreciated this influence on the birthday of my nation.

As we flew in, I began to realize how many normal, twenty-first century people live in Rome. I suppose I had always thought of it as a classical city, devoid of modernization, but as I thought about it, I immediately realized how utterly irrational that would be. Moreover, any lingering notions of a classical city faded during our drive from the airport to our hotel. The traffic was CRAZY!! It was worse than LA traffic, and the constant horn-blowing was absolutely ridiculous. Speaking of transportation...


...I have never in my life seen so many smart cars or mopeds! I bet there are as many smart cars, mopeds, and motorcycles as there are normal cars in the city of Rome. It is pretty cool, but I would not want to be driving a teeny little smart car in that fast, loud, crazy traffic!

We got to our hotel that evening and I wanted nothing more than a little galumphing around the nearby streets. We found lots of really cool buildings, none of which were authentic Roman remnants, but were still pretty old and amazing.


I'll probably say it again, but this city makes me really want to go into architecture.

The next day, July 5, we did quite a bit of walking. I'm not sure exactly how far we went, because our silly map didn't tell us stuff like that, though it did get us around fine. We walked to the Colosseum and the Palatine hill (the one the emperors/kings lived on) and the Circus Maximus. And we stopped at Trajan's Column along the way:




It was awesome, is all I can say. I knew enough about these places and the stories surrounding them (thanks to my wonderful teachers) that seeing them really meant a lot to me. We walked around the Circus Maximus in the sweltering heat (there were even some local crazies jogging around it).

As we walked, I looked up to the arches of the decaying imperial palace and could almost see figures in togas leaning out to watch the race, and cheering along with the immense crowd (the crowd part was easy to imagine because a group of costumed school children was shouting and waving and cheering off in one corner of the track).

As we toured the enormous colosseum, I marveled that it took only 8 years to build this giant wonder of the world (which I learned once used to be even larger).


We walked around inside the Colosseum, and once again I imagined it full of Romans, cheering like we would at a football game. There was the pope's box on the 50-yard line, and there were the gladiators, saluting the caesar. The people running around beneath the floor of the arena were excited too, though I didn't realize it at first. Actually, I don't know the roles of the people beneath the floor at all. Maybe they weren't excited about their wild beast companions and the dark hallways under the earth.

Did you know that the Colosseum could contain up to 50,000 people, all of which could exit the building in 10 minutes, in case of emergency? Now how many of our modern buildings are that efficient?



Some random Romans chatting on the sidewalk:



Finally we walked around the Palatine Hill, which was probably my favorite of the day. All the emperors and kings have built or expanded their home on this hill (even Benito Mussolini).


I learned once that of the 84 rulers of Rome, only 12 died a natural death, and now I begin to understand why. Being emperor of the capital of the world is sort of a big deal. The imperial palaces were really something else. One emperor's palace, I don't remember which one, was so big that it took up a 1/4 of the area of Rome. That is one big house! Of course their whole family lived there, which is like 80 people, and they had between 300 and 450 servants. But even with room for all these people, there was still enough space for lots of luxury. One emperor built a room for his friends to be entertained in. It was an enormous room with a temple at the front, and a miniature race course in the rest of it. It was too small for regular chariots, so he had slave children race around in miniature chariots pulled by goats or ponies. The emperor and his friends watched from balcony seats. And Caesar Augustus' living room was twice the size of my house. As I looked at all this, I was reminded of Tim Blixseth's house of excess. People really don't change much, do they?. Even back then, wealth too often led to sickening luxury and indulgence.

The day was so oppressively hot that we had to sit in the shade for a while and just observe the world and contemplate life. Otherwise I might have keeled over in the middle of an emperor's throne room. Not the best protocol, you know. But we were chatting later with a tour guide, and he said that the last week had been so hot that one or two women passed out on every tour! Thankfully it cooled down some for our time in Rome.

After our rest in the shade, we meandered through the ruins.



This brick wall was once covered in marble, so that there was no brick showing at all. And of course there was a magnificent statue in this niche, perhaps an emperor walked past it every day as he moved about in his house. But now there is nothing left but bricks and vines. All of man's tributes to himself and his honor will pass away in the end...

We finished our day off with a late dinner. Actually, I recall that most Italians eat late anyway, so 9:30 wasn't weird at all. Nevermind. Anyway, I had a delicious spaghetti in oil and garlic and hot pepper sauce. It was kind of like what your dad made for us, Richard, except half as spicy =) The food was fantastic, especially since we skipped lunch and had been walking all day. My feet were really sore and I was a little sunburned, but it was a wonderful day.

The next day, July 6, was my day to pick a place in Italy that I wanted to see, to which we would travel by train. I had heard that Cinque Terre would be a wonderful choice, so we headed up there. Cinque Terre is a beautiful strip of coastline in Northern Italy containing five little towns. For a long time, the only way to travel to or between these towns was on foot, and we--well, I--chose to walk this path through mountain, vineyard, and town.

As we got off our train, we were crossly informed that there was going to be a train strike, and there was no possible way for us to get back to Rome anytime soon. Ugh. Once more, we were stranded with nothing more than the clothes on our backs and some miscellaneous belongings that came with us for the day. =P Well, quite honestly, there was nothing we could do about the train strike, so I coaxed my disgruntled aunt to the beautiful coast and we set off on the six-mile long trail. A little long, and the trail really kept us on our toes, and it was very hot, but we were rewarded by breathtaking views of the Mediterranean sea.






About half of the first four miles of the hike was essentially rough stairs cut into the steep hillsides. We went up, then we went down, then we went up even more, then we went down again. Overall, there was an elevation gain of nearly 3000 feet (see that little sand peninsula in the middle of the last picture? That's where we started, and that picture was taken very near the beginning of the hike =P ). The scenery was great, but the stairs were troublesome. "Fun," puffed my aunt as she toiled up the steps, "is not exactly the word that comes to mind." The hike in the sweltering heat necessitated a swim after a couple miles, so we cooled off in the water, filled our water bottles at a fountain (they were all over Italy) and set off once more. I must say that this hike was excellent preparation for volleyball and basketball in the fall! =)

Before we got close to the end of the trail, I began to get really hungry. Because we left Rome on such an early train, we had little breakfast, and we had also managed to miss lunch. This, and the vigorous activity in the hot sun, left me famished. I don't know how my aunt made it to the end--I am convinced she eats hardly enough to keep a mongoose alive. At any rate, I began to ravenously scan the underbrush along the trail. I had been eyeing some berries all day long, and finally grew brave (or desperate) enough to try some. They were okay, rather seedy and they tasted like twigs, but they were not poisonous (always a plus) and they provided me with some desperately needed calories. Next, I found a plum tree. At first I thought it was a tree of yellow cherries (that's how ripe the plums were) but one timid taste told me that they were indeed plums. As soon as my face unpuckered, I finished the plum and kept scanning. At long last, I found some blackberries, the first of the season. I got a little scratched up by the brambles, but it was worth it. They were so good! Whether it was the distraction of scavenging or the sustenance of berries and bugs, I made it to the end of the trail alive and even smiling. We hunted around for a place to keep our stranded selves for the night, ate a pizza, then fell into bed very late.

The next morning, July 7, we tumbled out of bed and down the stairs just in time to miss one of two trains leaving our town that day. Apparently it wasn't a total strike, or something. But in the square there was an older man singing as he watered his flowers. It was the most memorable thing of the whole Italy trip. It was very early, the sun was just rising over the water, and there he was in the sloping cobblestone square singing to himself as he cared for his beautiful flowers. I will remember that striking moment for as long as I live.

As we waited for the second train, I rustled my half-asleep aunt down to the water. While she sat mildly on a bench waking up, I scampered down some steep steps and around in the rocks. The tidepools were rather boring compared to the Pacific, but I scared up some camoflauged crabs, and was able to see them everywhere once I knew what they looked like. I even caught one doing his morning excercises. =) I sat on a half-submerged rock and watched the water and crabs and fishermen and boats until it was time to catch the last train of the day. Then we waited for a few hours at the big, silent train station for the only train to Rome that day. The scenery on the train ride was amazing.

We had pizza again for dinner, but I should explain how it is different from American pizzas. The crust is very, very thin. It is crispy around the edges, and soggy in the middle--kind of like a pie. Now the reason it is soggy in the middle is because there is so much oil on the pizza. It isn't the Bob's Pizza grease that you sop off with your napkin and try to ignore, but the smooth Italian olive oil that fixes squeaky joints and tastes so good that you don't think about how bad it is for all but squeaky joints.

And a funny story: while we were at dinner, one of the waiters burst out talking to me while he was cleaning the table next to us. I gave him one of those blank looks that said, "you are speaking very quickly in Italian and I have no idea what you just said to me." He repeated himself, then said some Italian equivalent of, 'nevermind.' As I thought about the words he said (I can pick up most Italian because I know Latin), I realized that he was asking me for my phone number! Unfortunately I understood too late, and so my dreams of an Italian romance were stifled.

Just joking Mom, you can start breathing again =)

And I finally tasted Italian ice cream. It was delicious, though I can't really tell if it was better than Hungarian ice cream. They were both wonderful. Both had some rather unique flavors, such as pineapple, but the Italian flavors were a little more unusal.



This time I tried kiwi, to be adventurous. It didn't taste much like kiwi, but the whole bowl was interspersed with kiwi seeds, which is one of the best parts of the fruit anyway. Kiwis are just an awesome fruit.

The next day, July 8, was a really packed, but great day. We took a 1 1/2 hour train trip to Florence and spent the day doing touristy things.


We gaped at and photographed the amazing architecture and sculptures in the town. It was awesome to see the sculptures, as they too breathed life into my classical training. I saw a replica of Michelangelo's David, as well as sculptures of the Sabine women,



...their rape,






...Achilles holding Patroclos' body,


...and Hercules fighting the centaur.





We hit up a sandwich shop for lunch while walking, which was delish.

While I am talking about Florence, I just want to make a pictoral note of its predominant mode of transportation:




And then this vehicle, which really just cracked me up:



Finally, we took a deep breath and headed for the streets lined with merchant's carts, prepared to get our souveneir-gift shopping mostly out of the way. In less than 10 minutes, three people looked at me and said, "you play basketball, I'm sure of it." I had, until that moment, been impressed by how few people here rudely gawked at me and asked bothersome questions. It was very nice. But I suppose I'll stand out in a crowd no matter where I am, and I should get used to it.

One woman in New York asked me if I was in the NBA. That was a first for me, but it made me wonder what questions I'll get asked 20 or 30 years down the road. It probably won't be basketball anymore... Maybe (cross your fingers) people will just stop asking. Anyway, we finished up in Florence and rode the train back to Rome. On that trip, I am certain that I saw a lion loping through a meadow next to the tracks. I was surprised because lions belong in Africa in my mind, but I suppose it is a possibility. If I were a lion, I'd rather live in Italy than in the middle of a desert. And plus, if Hannibal got a few elephants up to Italy, why not lions too? =)

And that brings me to my last day in Italy, at last. July 9, 2008. A shout out to my friend, Richard Dustin Morris, who joined the army today. How exciting and a little sad and scary.

Alright, today we visited the Vatican...



and the Pantheon.


Both were so astounding and amazing that I could never capture the sense of awe you feel when you step inside. I didn't take any pictures at the Vatican, just absorbed everything totally, so you have either my aunt's pictures or your imagination for this section. =) In the Vatican, there were 36 elegantly arched halls which were absolutely filled to bursting with statues and sculptures and busts.


We only made it through one of these halls, but apparently they are almost identical and all the statues run together after a while anyway.

A different hall was easily one of my two favorite parts of the Vatican. The walls were frescoed with enormous portions of a map of Italy. The maps were splendid, all green and gold and blue and labeled in a fancy Latin script. They were painted in the 1500's, and are completely geographically accurate. Even before they had airplanes and could get an aerial view of their country, the Italians had mapped out the exact shape of Italy. Pretty amazing. But the ceiling was even more impressive than the maps. It was covered in dazzling frescoes. There was gold color everywhere, and the closest things to it that I have ever seen are the ceilings of the halls in the great mansions of Pride and Prejudice, or Wives and Daughters.

And then we came to the Sistine Chapel, which is my other favorite place in the Vatican (of course). Wow. At first I just looked at the floor. It was arranged in an elegantly colored stone pattern. Then I looked up a little and saw... people. Packed into that chapel like sardines. Literally. So I looked up a little further and saw the walls. They too were frescoed, and showed people dressed in rich colors. And most of those people were dressed, which was a nice change from the rest of the statues and paintings in the Vatican, or from the rest of the real people in Rome, as a matter of fact. But on the giant back wall was Michelangelo's depiction of the judgement day. I had seen small copies of this 45' by 39' painting before, but in reality it was very enormous and imposing, even from where I stood at the far end of the room. I could have gazed at this painting for an hour, but my curious eyes longed to look up at the ceiling. And there it was, waiting for me: the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, in all its beauty.


I looked and looked until my neck got sore, but I kept on looking and taking it all in. I can see why this project took Michelangelo so many years. I cannot even imagine covering so much surface area with artwork, especially with frescoes, and even more especially while lying on your back. Awe-inspiring is all I can say.

Overall, I was struck by the opulent luxury in which the pope lived, and with which the chapels were decorated. I just can't fathom living or worshiping in such places. It would be so hard to focus on the services when you could look over your shoulder and see things like this:



I for one would be so often distracted by the beautiful architecture and sculptures around me! What I would give to build such grand places!

At long last, after lots of walking and admiring, we finally made it back to our part of Rome, finished our souveneir shopping (by which time I was quite tired of that ridiculous custom), ate dinner, and packed up for our trip back to Hungary the next day. But not after I had a dish of ice cream for Kayla. Strawberry this time, and twice as delicious as before. And thus concludes my trip to Rome. It was great.

And now, thank you so much for your attention to this monstrosity of a post! Go get a haircut, because it is probably about time for one after all the time you spent reading. Ah yes, and if your hair wasn't grey when you started reading, check quickly to make sure you haven't yet gone completely white. Or bald!! Oh my.


And one more quick jab before I go... This is a picture of a street in Rome, and it was one of the better streets:


...and Dad, you thought my tiling job was bad!

a FaShIoN uPdAtE fOr My GiRlS

I know I promised all of you that I would observe the fads here in Europe and let you know what might be coming for US styles. Guys, feel free to skip this part because you will either fall asleep or laugh heartily at our girly interests. Girls, here is what I noticed.

IN:
1) skinny pants
2) gladiator style sandals, part of the new "warrior chic look":
Quite honestly, I'm not particularly fond of either of these fads, so I really do hope that they don't quite make it here to America in full force.
3) mullets on girls. One word: eeeeww...
4) this style of flip flops, which I kinda like, though I hadn't seen them before:


OUT:
1) plaid shorts. This also is too bad, because I really like my plaid shorts. =( Oh well, at least plaid shorts will be in for a while where we are, so I can wear mine for quite some time!

So there you go. Dresses are also very very popular here, but I think it's just because it is so hot. What do you think of these styles? I'm especially interested to hear your stance on gladiator sandals and skinny pants: hot or not? =)

at last!!

Floss my teeth! Shave my legs! Dance a jig! Change my socks! After four and a half days, this last item was the one I was most excited about. My aunt may have laughed at my elated list of all the things you can do with luggage, but all of them had become of utmost importance to me. Now, as I lay here on my stomach, writing and listening to Crazy Frog and wearing all clean clothes after a shower, the world is right for me. All my small troubles and concerns pale in the face of a renewed normal life.
Today we mostly sat around waiting for our luggage to arrive. We were supposed to receive it before noon, then we were told between 4 and 6, and finally were assured our luggage by 7. We waited as morning gave way to hot, sticky afternoon. The temperature was about 96 degrees, and it was torturously humid. Ugh.
Anyway, our luggage finally arrived by 9pm, and by 10:30 we had unpacked about half of our luggage and rearranged the other half in preparation for the next day's trip to Italy. In my small carry-on bag: various and sundry items, much the same as they were on Monday, plus a change of clothes. Just in case =)

another day without luggage

July 2, 2008:

A passport. Two books and an MP3 player. A package of pop tarts. Sunglasses and a camera. A comb, a little lotion, and chapstick. A toothbrush and toothpaste and a package of gum. This, in my "travel light" zeal, is what I brought with me on the plane Monday morning, and also the entirety of my possessions which managed to accompany me here to Debrecen. "Pack a change of clothes with you, just in case," my sensible father advised. "Dad," his overoptimistic daughter assured him, "there will be no problems with our luggage, and besides, I'd like to carry as little as possible with me." Ha! Now, after wearing the same T-shirt for three and a half days, I have decided that I will always bring a change of clothes with me on any plane trip, just in case. However, our luggage is supposed to arrive at noon tomorrow, so I will be able to change my clothing of four days for something a little fresher. Praise the Lord!

Today my aunt and I simply walked around Debrecen after a late breakfast. We had already seen the center of town, so today we headed toward the edge of the city. We strolled down a large street, through an impressive university building,

through the 'big forest,' over a pond full of frogs and turtles, past a zoo, and into a cemetery. This last scene was a little morbid, perhaps, but very enjoyable nonetheless. As we arrived, we walked through a gate surrounded by small carts selling flowers. We withdrew consciensciously into the cemetery as we realized that a funeral service was about to begin. Mourners clothed entirely in black purchased flowers and made their way to a large temple-like building in the middle of the cemetery. We walked through the headstones--which were much different than US headstones--and neat gardens that filled the cemetery. As we walked, we heard the male mourners begin to chant. It was a beautiful, haunting sound--very much like a Gregorian chant in tune, but in Hungarian instead of Latin. The sound floated toward us from the crowd of black forms on the temple steps. We stopped to listen for a while, impressed by the solemn beauty of this chanted song.

As the scorching sun climbed higher, we wandered back to the apartment of our hostess, now in full sun the entire way. The day grew warmer and more oppressively humid, so we rested until dinner: a delicious Hungarian dish called lacsó, which is a sort of spiced stew, but served on a plate, with a piece of delicious Hungarian bread to sop up the extras. We also drank cranberry tea and ate some freshly picked sour cherries. After our dinner guest left, we we visited over Cadbury's chocolate (Mmmmm!)until we all finally showered and headed off to bed.

my first impressions of hungary

July 1, 2008:

This morning we arrived in Hungary to discover our luggage missing. What a propitious start to our adventures! We left the airport with a Hungarian man who was alarmed by my handshake. He apparently found it very strong, and I discovered later in the day that everyone here has extremely floppy handshakes. I think they are intended to be more of a clasp than a shake...

As we drove from Budapest to Debrecen, a two-hour trip linking Hungary's two largest cities, I had plenty of opportunities to observe the landsape. Hungary is filled with an almost tangible love for growing things. Even the smallest backyards in the heart of the city are full of gardens--flowers, vegetables, bushes, grapevines, trees... Any place that can grow anything has been planted with something.


This nation is so marked by harvest and greenness and wealth of growing things that I almost feel as if I should start growing too, out of respect for the country! But fear not, my more petite friends, I will try to restrain my courtesy and stay the same modest height.

Perhaps the most beautiful of the growing things here are the fields of sunflowers in full bloom.

They are surrounded by corn and wheat fields and cultivated forests. While the greenery here is remarkable, all the buildings here have a rather fatigued look. They seem to be lingering remnants of bygone days of glory (which, in fact, they probably are). The houses in the country are old stucco buildings with tile roofs, while the city buildings are tall and a little unsightly. Even the grandest buildings...




(this yellow one is the large reformed church in the center of town. Hungary is actually a mostly protestant country in the midst of a very Catholic continent)

...are beginning to decay. Paint is peeling away from the stucco, marble coatings on the columns have been mostly chipped away, and every building and sidewalk is marred by graffiti. The entire city looks old and smells tired and full of people. The gardens are the only reason I could bear living here.


Everywhere there are gardens and trees and an occasional fountain, all with nearby benches welcoming the passersby to some shady rest.



Tonight we walked to the center of Debrecen, and Zsuzsi, the wonderful woman we are staying with, told us of the history of this old city. It was quite remarkable. After our lesson in Hungarian history, she treated us all to Hungarian ice cream, which she insisted was second only to Italian ice cream. It was truly the most delicious ice cream I have ever tasted (I had a wonderful raspberry flavor, a deviation from my usual vanilla). Erin, if there was any way I could possibly bring some of it back with me, you know I would. You would be in seventh heaven here =) As it is, you will just have to settle with your requested wardrobe from Europe and New York. =P

After being awake for nearly forty hours with only fitful naps in cramped airplane seats, a night of sound sleep sounds wonderful!