Out on the Town

Today was my first day alone with the kids since we arrived. We had a great day! We were invited to a play group this morning. (No, Angelina wasn't there. Maybe next week!) I was excited to go, but nervous about getting there. I would have to use the public transportation system, which we haven't used yet. Larry gave me directions last night. This morning I reviewed my plan and we set out. I had my directions in my pocket. I don't have a cell phone yet, but I decided the worst thing that could happen is that we don't find where we are going and we just turn around and go back to the hotel.

I knew Chelsea would get tired of walking, so I let her ride in the stroller and put Cade in the carrier. We set out on our adventure! We got to the tram and got on. A few minutes later, I realized we were going the wrong direction. We got off and got on right one, and we made it to our stop. I quickly found the street where we were going and the correct building number - yea! I hit the door buzzer and was thrilled when it was the right one! Success! We had a great time and Chelsea met a new friend.

The return home was a bit tricky. The tram was easy, but I wasn't sure which direction to walk from the tram to the hotel. Thankfully, I chose correctly and we found our way.

I intended to take more pictures, but I was focused on getting us there so I only took these two. Hopefully we will get more Budapest pics this weekend. Tomorrow - more house hunting!
Notice the red cowboy boots. Our neighbor gave them to her before we left. She has worn them every day! Everyone knows we are from Texas!!

My little snuggle bug
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Arriba!

What a day! Today we started off looking at the American school, then grabbed lunch at a local bakery and began our housing search. We focused our search today in an area between the American school and my office. Coincidentally, one of the houses was also near the French school that evidently Angelina Jolie is sending her kids to as of this past Monday. Perhaps Chelsea needs to learn French and Angelina would like to join a play group with Carey? Oui Oui!

After exhausting the children, I went to the office for a bit to meet some of the team and pick up a local mobile phone. I also had the opportunity to wait at the bank for about an hour for the privilege of opening up a new account. Unfortunately, their air conditioner was broken and I was in a very toasty sweater since it was cold this morning. It reminded me that I need to dress in layers when going to the office as the Hungarian belief is that if a male catches a cold, he will become sterile. I'm not overly concerned with that and actually rather enjoy feeling the cool air while inside. At times, I wonder if my wife has that belief also as we enjoy dual climate control in the car. For example, yesterday, I had my side of the car on 16 C (60 F) and she had her side on 25 C (77 F).

I tackled the subway on the way home thanks to help from my teammates and a little help from the GPS on my Blackberry. Feeling confident, we all headed out to dinner via the subway. Granted it was only one stop that we needed to go, but I thought it would be a good experience for Carey to see the conditions she'll have toting the kids around solo. She's off to her first play group tomorrow. Carey, the social butterfly.

We were told many expats enjoy the food at a local taqueria. Yes, they have taquerias in Hungary. We found "Arriba!" and enjoyed some burritos and quesadillas. Carey enjoyed her burrito salad a lot. I had the burrito and thought it was reasonably good being that we weren't anywhere near Texas or Mexico. That being said, if you ever have the opportunity to come to Hungary, I recommend you pass on the tortillas.

Szia

We're Not in America Anymore

These were Chelsea's words tonight, driving back to our hotel. She is a smart one! We surely are not in America anymore. We learned this morning that if the GPS says it will take 20 minutes to get somewhere, we should add an hour to that. It was our first time to drive and I am just glad that we survived! Driving in the city is crazy! Once we got out of the downtown area, it was much easier.

We looked at 2 houses today. They were both on the Buda side and in close proximity to each other. They were complete opposites. The first was very modern with an open, contemporary floor plan. The second was broken into 3 levels and a bit more of an American style, with large walk in closets, island kitchen, etc. It is owned by a Hungarian rock star so it had a lot of very unique and interesting features! Each one had pros/cons, but overall we felt like we could live with either if we had to. that was a good feeling. Tomorrow we will view 5-6 more.

We bought some groceries tonight. It wasn't too difficult, although we only got a few things because the kids were super tired. It supplements what we bought the first night. Notice the "Blue Bell" ice cream (equivalent). It was quite tasty!


A few pictures as promised - Happy girl!


Asleep on the plane



Living area and kitchen/dining area of our temporary home sweet home.

By the way, we haven't gotten our "Houston" phone hooked up yet because we only have wireless internet in the hotel. For those of you feeling techie, let Larry know what he needs to buy to convert wireless to ethernet...preferably tell us what it is called in Hungarian! Once that is in place, we can call and be called for free from the USA. In the meantime, if Skype is on, we're on and available to talk!

First Impressions

We made it to our hotel in Budapest! It was a long day, but overall the kids did really well.

Our grand total ended up being 8 checked bags, 2 checked cats, 1 checked car seat, 5 carry ons, 1 carry on car seat and 2 strollers. The checked bags were not a problem, but the carry ons and strollers were a huge pain. We connected through Frankfurt. There were a million staircases to go up and down. It was super challenging with all our stuff and the kids, but somehow everything made it here!

First impressions -
*Strange to drive through a city and not be able to read any of the billboards

*We are staying in an apartment style hotel. We have a washing machine, but I have never seen something so tiny. I seriously don't think I could get more than 3 things in there.

*I like being able to walk to the grocery store/restaurant, etc

*We walked to a corner market and got a few groceries. Ice cream here is good - not sure what flavor we got, but it is good!

Some pics tomorrow....gotta go to bed!

The Big Day

Sunday, October 3rd has arrived. For us, it is the day we have talked about, thought about, and prayed about. Somehow, I don't know if I believed it would really happen. Suddenly, we are saying goodbye to precious friends and family and it is real. We are heading to the airport and it is real. We are getting on a plane, with a one way ticket, and it is real. We are moving to Budapest. Today.

I don't want to forget this day.

Saying goodbye to my parents....sad.

Hugging our precious church friends. For them, I am....thankful.

Driving away from our house for the last time....anxious.

Dreaming about what our new life will be like....excited.

Sitting on a plane with a screaming baby, knowing we have many hours to go.....tired.

Watching Chelsea look out the window and say, "Hungary is bee-yoo-ti-ful"......happy.

Above all those moments, all those emotions.....I felt peace.

This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Ready to sleep

Almost time for takeoff and Chelsea and Cade got their very own amenity kit.

Fasten your seat belts

We made it! There was nothing carefree about that. Note to self: Next time, leave earlier than 3.5 hours before flight if you have 2 cats to check, a rent car to return, and still need to try to get your family of 4 sitting together. Should have planned to eat lunch also! Nevertheless, we're on board and READY FOR TAKEOFF!