The beginning of a journey

This is where the journey begin - August 9 - Atlanta Airport

I left from the International Terminal. We were anticipating being able to have dinner and visit for a while, but the airport apparently doesn't want anyone lingering around. So they made no areas for visiting and no restaurants for eating until after security. Bummer.

Saying good-bye to the ones I love the most was hard. I made it short and sweet so that I wouldn't cry and then walked into security - God's strength and your prayers helped. One last look and a wave good-bye and then there was no going back!

I flew over New York at night with a full moon above and it was lovely. This is the best picture I was able to get.

Slept fitfully - seriously, I thought I would sleep better, but I don't think the seats could possibly have been more uncomfortable! Thankfully, I did get some sleep.

 Left: sunset over America                                                      Right: sunrise over the Atlantic

Arrived in Amsterdam about 10:30 their time. It was green and very flat (picture below, left). And yes, I did see some windmills, but I wasn't able to get a good picture of any of them. The picture below on the right is from inside the airport. My horticulture heart jumped for joy when I saw this shop full of bulbs and flowers! So cool!

Staggered through the Amsterdam airport, surrounded by Dutch, German, and a bunch of other languages I didn't recognize. I was hungry and super sleepy, and a little lost. Once I made it to the gate, I met up with Laura Lee, my roommate, who was returning from a visit to the States to see family. We both tried very hard to stay awake while we sat at the gate. I managed to sleep on the plane ride to Budapest, which was a blessing!

 Both of the above pictures show the Danube River (ahhhhhhhhhhhhh so exciting) running through the middle of Budapest. In the left picture, you can see a bit of the Parliament building outlined against the river. The right pictures shows (I later learned) the Margaret Island (Margitsziget). It is kind of like Budapest's "Central Park".

I was so thankful for Laura Lee. She helped me navigate through the very scary-because-I-don't-speak-your-language airport, get my bags (they all made it), and get out to the....heat????? Y'all.

It. Was. So. Hot.

Apparently, Budapest has about 16 really hot days of summer. This was a good one. 96 degrees. But, thankfully there was a little breeze and not as much humidity as Alabama!! We got loaded into the car and headed to our apartment.

Upon arrival, we unloaded and carried in luggage, opened up windows to try and cool things off, and then Laura Lee showed me around my new home. We ate some dinner that one of the families had brought for us, and then hit the hay. 

I slept well and woke up with the sun. This is the view from my window.

 

And then from the other to girls' rooms, there is a balcony with a view of the school (below). ICSB is the highest roof line you can see. The left section is the elementary school, the lower middle section is the gym, and the far right section is the high school.

We have had several adventures so far. First trip to the grocery store at mid-day on Friday. I felt a little more comfortable once I had some food in my sections of the pantry and fridge. That evening our short-term roommate (who had my room in the apartment last year) arrived back from the US. We had dinner and then walked down the block for milkshakes. Yummy!

The temperature plummeted overnight and it was absolutely delicious!!! Woke up Saturday morning to an incredibly windy and cool day!

It was an unbelievably windy - my hair was out of control and our shopping carts tried to sail off at one point! However, the coolness of the day was a nice respite from the heat the day before.
Saturday proved to be an even busier, taxing day. We made a trip to IKEA (over-stimulation at it's finest) and then Tesco (which is the Hungarian version of Wal-mart) to buy household things for me and two other new teachers. We ate at the food court in Tesco, where I ordered my food by pointing and nodding, and paid for it in Hungarian forint...all by myself. It was a seemingly tiny, yet huge victory! And yes, it was a slice of pizza with corn and pineapple on it!
We made one more stop at the grocery store, searching for a few specific things that we hadn't found yet, before returning - exhausted - home.

 Later that evening (like, really late...we are all night owls), my fantastic roommates offered to help assemble my furniture pieces. I gladly accepted, and then followed an hour of piecing together things based on pictures. "Together we are smarter than the average bear."

Once I can organize more of my things and create some order in the chaos that is my room, I will post pictures of it!

Our happy little front door!

our gate

our building

 

Hungarian fact: these (above) are called "Commi Condos" (short for communist condos) because they were built during the communist occupation of Hungary during the cold war. The used to all be a dark, sad gray color, but in recent years the country has been repainting them.

 This is the school!