Day of Rest

Avot gets the "awesome pin" for the day:  when there were no leaders in the nursery, in swooped Super Avot to the rescue :)!  We even offered to have someone else come in and do it and she was still happily willing to help.  Uncle Zy said as we walked away, "Lucky girl...that is my favorite place to serve in the church."  I am surrounded by awesome people :).

Sacrament evening was more or less uneventful outside of fish crackers everywhere, Baby Zsa giving me a break in the Mother's Lounge and Q-dawg expertly diverting Spooner's pen from his Sunday pants and onto his hand instead.  (He knows from experience what happens when Spooner gets ahold of a pen.)  The Goob helped pass the sacrament and Lek did his talk.  We have a creative pianist who accompanies our hymns who is really quite genius, albeit a bit challenging to follow at times :).

Q-dawg and I already have callings, which is so cool!  He will be serving as 1st counselor in the Young Men's, working with the Goob in a few weeks and potentially a bunch of other young men.  I will be....well, you can find out next week with my ward :).  I was nice and let Q-dawg know what it is right after church when the leadership accidentally extended the calling without Q-dawg being there.  I did savor my few moments of knowing though, after the many times he has delightedly held information from me...to torment me :).

We got to speak with our bishop for an hour after church (he is fantastic!) and then caught the last little bit of choir practice.  It has been so fun to be a part of a ward where I feel that I just don't have enough time to speak to everyone I want to...already!  I have been blessed to be a part of many great wards, it is true, but this ward has embraced us like family from the get-go.  Warm hearts, willing hands, happy smiles.

Avot, Lek and the Goob stayed about three hours after church in interviews with the bishop, including our family one.
Q-dawg, Lek and the Goob visited a gentleman in ICU at a local hospital for part of their priesthood responsibilities and it was a good experience for them all.   The rest of us played games and watched a documentary that "blew our minds!" as the kids put it.

We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with food, naps, walks and a FHE led by King Zy :).  It was simple and wonderful: Avot gave us a great overview of Joseph Smith and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon while everyone was almost perfectly quiet.  The reason?  Zy's tactic of serving them ice cream and not letting them eat it until Avot started talking.  Silent mouths happy with ice cream while ears listened.  Brilliant!  (And that is not to mention all those positive endorphins in their little minds in association with truth.)  I love being here at this house! There is all sorts of creativity here. Zy has the kids say "the magic word" which is not "please" but "Zy is King."  Speaking of royalty, Aunt Jackie is the Queen of Snuggling and is fantastic at making everything more fun.  Each of the cousins have their own special gifts that make our experience here great and we will be sad to even be living one mile away, although it may be a little more peaceful for Jackie and Zy's family :).

The kids and I were able to finish "The Inheritance" last night--our family reading by Jane Austen.  It has been a bigt challenging to keep it up through these transition times

Want a party? Just invite us!

Or better yet, bring the party to us. :)

That is what a sweet family from our branch did for their daughter's fifth birthday party...and they even took pictures for me.  How nice!  Both the husband and wife spoke (and understood) enough English that I could communicate with my slaughtered Hungarian.  The kids played and ate--the universal language of youth!  This family is so wonderful!

Here's the gang!  What a party!  There is Zita and I in the midst of the "garden of children" :)

 Present time including a home-made crown for Pipalicious.

Here you see one of the yummy traditional Hungarian cakes down on the right...or at least someone told me it was traditional :). It is yummy, although I forgot about not eating chocolate and Spooner paid for it later :(

They brought some fun games that didn't require a lot of translation, if any..

...although I think the 3/4 gone fingernail polish Pipalicious gave Griti was the favorite present, as you can tell.  Painting fingernails is universal :). Papaya loved it, as you can see :).

 Here's me sampling some of the forbidden cake, and Chugger-dude and the Goob having fun with the lofi (balloons) that the boys probably had the most fun with :).

These two, little Papaya and sweet Bogi, have been friends from the first day they met

 We finished with a fun game of Twister...great learning tool for "right" and "left" and "hand" and "foot" in Hungarian :)

Pipalicious is certain she is teaching Spooner how to walk.  While he is up on his hands and knees at times, rocking back and forth, I am not in a hurry for him to start walking!  I think he is ready to catch up, though.  He is doing plenty of tummy scooting and loves to be with his brothers and sisters.

I hoped for red heads.  These two are the closest I am going to get :)!

Sunday without Q-dawg/Rain

Q-dawg is currently visiting his parents in Norway.  They went on a cool drive around that north part of Norway where they live, and he is having a marvelous time...at least, I assume so, since he is alive and well and with his parents :).  We have missed him here, though...his humor, cool soccer moves, and hugs.

Today was particularly interesting.  First of all, we all got to church alright with me as the navigator...miracle.  Hungarian and everything!  We had a nice family home morning at the church, with President Monson standing in place of Daddy for the lesson...well, President Monson's talk from the last conference, anyway :).  It was nice to have the kids all sitting, listening and drawing together while I actually heard most of the talk about obedience.  Papaya and Hava did marvelous impressions of kangaroo rats for their sharing and Liliputian was able to practice a bit before so she could accompany us with relatively few mistakes.  Woohoo, Liliputian!

Anyway, during Sacrament meeting, I had a sweet set-up with Papaya up by the piano with me, in her special little nursery chair and a pile of pretzels and books, keeping her happy until the marvelous family of Zita és Attlia arrived. (They are her pre-sacrament buddies.)  Lek was over passing the sacrament, and Avot led the music well.   The other kids were behaving marvelously per my request...thank goodness! All was well.  Atilla came soon after the meeting started and got Papaya, and the music went well.  Or so I thought.

I sat down after playing the Sacrament hymn with relief, only to have the Goob lean over and whisper, "Mom, I just threw up in the bathroom, but I feel better now."  Oh dear!  Chugger-dude had been complaining of a sick tummy just before church, but we were fasting and he hadn't eaten much the night before, so I gave him some pretzels, hoping that was it.  Apparently, it was more wide-spread than that, especially in light of the fact that Chugger-dude threw up soon thereafter in the WC as well.  At least they made it there!

The Goob still shared his testimony with one of the counselors translating, and then I bore my testimony.  We sang the closing song, and then I started to gather up my troops to go home.  Another family, upon hearing of our plight, said, "Our kids have runny noses so we are running them home, but we can come back and get some of yours to take them home."  What a blessing!  What a wonderful family! (It was Zita and Attila's family...the same that had come over yesterday to celebrate their little girl's birthday party at our house, bringing a fun party.)  Lek, the Goob, Papaya and Hava all went with them, and the rest of us headed home.

On the way home on the busz, rain started pelting the ground off and on.  By the time we got to our stop, it was a torrential downpour! I sighed, realizing that we had no umbrellas, but who should be standing there, at the busz stop,  but Lek!  And he was holding four umbrellas in the worst downpour I have ever seen!  Talk about a welcome sight!  All he needed to make the picture complete was a suit of shining armor :). Thanks to him, Spooner made it home relatively dry and asleep.  Pipalicious and Chugger-dude decided to forego the umbrellas and enjoyed the downpour...until it started hailing.  The thunder and immediate lightning that came with the hail hurried us home and stopped their fun.  What a crazy Sunday!

Time for a nap!

Back to church...

Nothing like a good first Sunday back to get things back to normal:

-Woke up around 5 am with Spooner, the little chunky-monkey.  He sleeps pretty well when he falls asleep without nursing to sleep, but, when he nurses to sleep, seems to dream about milk all night long and keeps waking up.  Sigh.  He's a cutie!  At least this way he is all "tanked up" for the journey to church :).

-Hava, who had fallen asleep around 7 pm the night before, was up and spry by 6 am, and managed to keep her passionate voice to what would pass as a whisper for her and normal volume for everyone else. "Mom!" she whispered, "I'm up because I am a light sleeper."  Pointing to the rest of her sleeping siblings, "They are all dark sleepers so they are still asleep."  Four year old logic is always very unique.

-Pipalicious, showing slight signs of "queeziness" this morning, vomits on the bus en route...
...caught it all on her dress, and was able to change her since we were the only ones on the bus.

-We leave Avot at the next bus stop to catch the bus back home with Pipalicious while we carry on to church.  Whew!

-We realize we didn't send the keys to the house home with Avot, so call Landlady Zsuzsanna and let her know that our daughters are locked out and, if she could let them in, that would be great.  Zsuzsanna was already planning on dropping by to let the roofer look at the roof, so it ended up being a good thing that she was there so she could let Avot and Pipalicious in.  Apparently, Avot was able to climb our high fence (it goes up to my nose) in a levi skirt, and get Pipalicious over, too.  I would have liked to see that one.

- We get to church with plenty of time to get all the toys out in the nursery :).

- I pick the opening hymn.  I think, "We'll sing 'You can make the pathway bright' since we have been practicing it at scripture time this week as a family," not realizing that, apparently, the Hungarians in our branch are unfamiliar with it.  Q-dawg is leading the music since Avot is home sick, so he stands up to lead, while I play an intro (accidentally starting a little too fast).  Q-dawg starts...and we're off!  It's a race to the finish.  Q-dawg is getting faster, and faster, and faster!  I whisper during softer parts, "It's too fast!  I can't play this fast!"  I try to slow it down, but it feels like we just keep going faster.  No one is singing that I can hear, and I am messing up all over the place.  I think this is just Q-dawg making one of his points about how church songs should always be played up to tempo.  Q-dawg chortles as he sits down.  When I get next to him, after the Sacrament hymn, I lean over and whisper, "We need to have a little talk about tempos."  Apparently, he thought he was just trying to keep up with me!  He hadn't heard any of my whispers, and had just felt like I was the one going faster.  And the Hungarians probably just sat back and wondered, as they watched this crazy American couple racing to the end of the song :).  We both had a good chuckle about that one.

-Lek bore his testimony in Hungarian!  The branch president smiled the whole way through.  He had asked if Lek could do it a couple weeks ago, and Lek had his dad translate it for him so he could share it.  He was tokjo! (Awesome!)

-Chugger-dude threw up twice in the bathroom...sorry, fellow church goers!  Apparently, Pipalicious's illness was not an isolated incident :S.  Hate it when that happens! I told him to keep washing his hands and try to stay away from everyone else....

-I make it through nursery, singing songs, and giving out lots and lots of cookies. Hey, I know how to buy the love of little ones :).  The Spirit was there, so that is what matters, eh :)?

-Made it to all our bus stops with a little breathing room, and Papaya only kicked two ladies on the bus in her final "throws of passion" before passing out into blessed slumber on my lap.  Thank goodness!

Then it was a day full of food, resting, skype, and family home evening.  Liliputian gave a great lesson on the creation that she prepared all by herself.  Avot shared that she had translated two hymns from Hungarian to English during her time at home, and had uncovered the mystery as to why the Hungarian version of "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" has four verses in Hungarian and only three in English. (Apparently, because Hungarian just generally takes so much longer to say things, it took them another verse to get in the gist of the entire song.  Go figure!)  Hava was thrilled that her assignment was to gather everyone and used our recorder as a gathering call.  (Q-dawg loves recorders...or not :).)  Papaya was upset about something when we told her she was leading the music, but, when she realized we were going on without her help (heaven forbid), she stormed back into place at the front of the room, and waved her arms enthusiastically. 

(Side note on Papaya: I think we made it through home evening with only two time-outs for that little one.  Sweet.  I keep thinking "two" is not too bad and just cute, and then get one like this and wonder if one or the other of us is going to survive.  Tonight we caught her escaping through a hole in the fence, behind a tree, into our neighbor's yard.  Earlier today, when we got on the bus on our last leg to church, she charged to the back of the bus ahead of us, and, when we were all settled and had been going for some time, she came back to join the rest of us where we sat half-way back, unfortunately oblivious to the fact that she was not with us.  Nice.)

Back to FHE, for sharing time, Lek shared his gospel immersion experiences for the week: bearing his testimony today and spending 18 hours home teaching, six on one night visiting one family, and twelve hours yesterday (Saturday) visiting 5 families.  Not bad...only an average of 3 hours per visit.  As Q-dawg said, it is a good thing that they are doing it to serve, and not for their personal convenience :).  Uphill, both ways, on bikes borrowed from the missionaries again.  Lek's still doesn't have a seat on his :).  Missionary work, right?

The Goob shared his testimony (one of my favorite parts) and we will have treat and games tomorrow night.  Apparently, we didn't do Pipalicious's game last week ("Duck, Duck, Goose" or "Kacsa, Kasca, Liba" as we say it in Hungarian), so we will do that one and Chugger-dude's request: wrestling with music.  The latter is not the most spiritual of activities (the music is "Eye of the Tiger" and "Rocky" and some other one I can't remember right now), but the kids love it! Avot and I are "referees" and "medics" as we watch the general melee.

Q-dawg is giving a talk in Stake Conference next Sunday, so that will be a treat!  I also heard the following story from Avot today:  Last Friday, at a youth activity, she was being introduced to a senior couple.  After a brief conversation, the sister missionary says, "Oh!  You're that family."  Smiling, I think :).  I can only imagine what that means...

It's good to be back!

Church and our run for the bus!

Exciting morning going to church.  The cinnamon rolls courtesy of Avot were divine, we were all good to go--potty runs and all--and to the bus stop 7 minutes early, 10 minutes earlier than the bus actually came.  Whew!  As we went racing off the first bus towards the spot where the second one was coming shortly, Pipalicious sighed and said, "I wish we had a car."

Sometimes, my dear, that would be nice :).

In spite of one baby doll drop by Papaya, we were crossing the last parking lot just as the bus pulled up.  A lady was getting on too, which gave us a few more seconds to get there.  Made it!

Church was wonderful!  One of the missionaries approached the senior couple sister missionary in our ward, Sister Wiggins, and asked if she knew how to play the piano or would do it.  The previous week, one of the young missionaries played and seemed to enjoy it.  I had made the mistake in our previous ward of asking the sister missionaries if I could play the piano, when they had been practicing all week to be able to do it.  Oops!  They had felt awkward, uncomfortable, and I ended up doing one and them the other.   So, I had promised myself I wouldn't ask someone if I could play it if they were already doing it.

Well, the other missionary that played here in the Erd branch was apparently transferred last week, and so now we didn't have anyone.  Woohoo!  I waited about 2 seconds (okay, maybe I didn't even wait 1 second) after the senior missionary said she didn't play the piano when I breathlessly rushed in and said, "I'll do it!"  Despite the frenzied, desperate look in my eye, they let me :)

So, while Q-dawg and Lek took care of some business, I played a prelude, Avot was in another room putting in and tuning her new violin strings (woohoo!) the rest of the kids were more or less good.  Papaya kept coming up to the piano, but then seemed to be okay back with Lek when he came in. 

The branch president met with our family today. Apparently, he lives in Buda, but was asked to come to Erd specifically to be the branch president.  He is wonderful!  He doesn't speak English, but he is a patient, kind and loving man.  He asked me to play the piano every week, and Avot to lead the music.  The missionaries might be teaching an Aaronic Priesthood class for Lek, too, and the Goob come July.  I found out that there were actually only three other ladies of the branch besides me who were there today in Relief Society.  Two others were in Primary and one was in Young Women's with Avot, her friend, and her friend's cousin, who was visiting.  I also found out that there is really not a nursery, but Papaya did alright with me in RS, eating pretzels on the side and reading her little books.  Most of the women spoke a little English, so, between English and Hungarian (a horrible mixture, I am sure!), I was actually able to make a few comments. 

One lady told Lek that she was grateful he was there:  apparently, she had been struggling with her six year old son to get him to sit on the chairs each week.  He has asked her for a white shirt and tie, but she said she won't get it for him until he can sit on the chairs.  This week he watched Lek pass the sacrament, and told his mom that he wanted to do that like Lek, and so he sat on his chair!  So cool!  There have not really been any young men in this ward apparently, so it is great for the younger children that are there to see an example of a youth in the Gospel.  Go, Lek!

It is soooo nice that we can bear our testimonies by how we act and dress, even if our Hungarian is still coming slowly.  The kids are getting better at inserting phrases and words, in prayers and in our conversation.  Hava and Papaya are particularly excited to learn them through songs.  Today, as I sang "Popcorn, Popping on the Apricot Tree," Hava kept asking Daddy for words to insert in Hungarian.  Cool! 

So, the exciting conclusion of our church trip for the day...another dash!  This one was a little more thrilling.  We were only half-way over the sky bridge (that goes over 10 lanes of freeway traffic), with a parking lot and street still to cross, when we saw our bus!  Oh no!  Q-dawg started into a full-out run, Hava on his shoulders, with all of us trickling behind.  He made it to the bus, and had paid for the tickets and was just moving down the aisle as the Goob and I brought up the rear.  Traffic had stopped in either direction for three separate groups of our family to cross.  The Goob was carrying a backpack and a duffle bag, bringing up the rear.  The kind people who were stopped in their cars waiting for the rest of us to pass also waited for him.  Maybe they have all had to race for the bus as well and knew what it was like?  Thank goodness!

First week in Érd

Report on our first Sunday in our (probably) new branch:

The Goob was excited: "I helped the teacher learn a few words in English, and she helped me learn some words in Hungarian!  This is my best week ever!"

Lek had other thoughts: "I was looking forward to one week without a calling!"  Apparently, the new branch president here in Érd was a gentleman who used to be in our Buda ward and had seen Lek conducting the opening hymn in priesthood.  He invited him to lead the opening and closing song today...and he did it :), with his dad's encouragement.  Lek also commented, after hearing the Goob's comment above: "Well, my teacher spoke a ba-zillion miles an hour, and I only understood about five words!"  Q-dawg had gone up to that same teacher after his lesson and told the teacher that his head hurt from trying to understand the teacher's rapid Hungarian.  The teacher responded jokingly, "Yeah.  I tell the missionaries that when they can understand what I am saying, then they speak Hungarian."

I was able to speak a little and understand so much more today than even last week.  It will give me incentive to keep trying when I feel the Hungarian I am learning is doing no good and I get frusrated :).   The kids loved primary, Papaya went right into nursery without any hesitation, and there are a couple pianos we might be able to practice on after church each week.  Hoorah!  Church is only two hours and starts at 9 am.

Best part, for me, anyway, is that I just heard that Avot is an answer to a prayer.  Just last week they had prayed that they would double the size of their Young Women's group...and they did, with Avot!  There are no other Aaronic Priesthood young men, unfortunately, but Lek likes hanging out with his dad, though.  So much for the 100 cute young women we told Lek might be there :)!


As for getting there and coming home, we get to do the Singing Bee dash from one bus to another for our transfer...across one street, then a parking lot, over a sky bridge spanning six lanes of traffic, across another parking lot, and another street--all in eight minutes or less (less if the bus we are on is running late, which it was--sweet!  We barely made it as the second bus was pulling up--whew!).  I carry Spooner, Lek takes Papaya, Avot is on "hustle Pipalicious" duty, and Q-dawg gets Hava on his shoulders.  The job of the other kids is to just not be at the back of our group.   The Goob wants to video tape it next week, with "Mission Impossible" music running in the background.

Lek was asking for "it" on the way home--he kept pelting Q-dawg with snowballs, until Q-dawg put Papaya on the ground (she was on his shoulders and delighted to have such a safe place from which to enjoy the snowball fight).  Some Hungarians drove by slowly moments later, probably puzzled at the sight of seeing a man in a suit wrestling a young man to the ground and whitewashing his face in the snow.

A family council for the history books...

Agenda:
Q-dawg has topic of interest
The Goob has a concern

Q-dawg:
The Stake Presidency talked to our bishopric on Sunday morning.  They said that we are officially in the ward boundaries of a different ward, the Erd branch.  However, they thought that there was no way we could use public transportation to get there, so were okay with us staying in the Buda ward, if that was the case.

Well, Q-dawg and I had looked up the route to the Erd branch when we first heard about the possible change.  It takes the same amount of overall time, less walking, and less money, although it does back-track quite a bit to get there, as we head east to get to Budapest, transfer buses, then head south to Erd.

So, the priesthood leadership would like us to go to Erd, but has left the decision up to us, based upon our traveling needs.  Apparently we will "double" the size of the branch (they get about 20 people every week) and they have a missionary as the branch president.  A lady who works in the mission home "happened" to be at church on Sunday and, when she heard we might be heading to Erd, exclaimed, "Oh!  You could be the answer to so many prayers!"

Yeah...or we could drive them away faster, and speed up the dissolving of the branch :).   I have a hard time seeing how adding a bunch of kids and people who don't speak Hungarian well (or really at all) would help a struggling foreign branch, but we'll see! :) Like I tell my kids, you can share your testimony by how you sit at church and whether or not you look happy to be there, almost as well as by what you say.

So Q-dawg brought this before the kids, and asked people for their input and thoughts.  Avot, the dear, started crying.  The Goob cheered enthusiastically, and the younger kids, probably pretty oblivious, joined in.  Lek mentioned that this was the third ward we will have been to in Hungary, and how he was just starting to make some good friends again.

Q-dawg and I pointed out that they had been making friends quickly each time, and now they would be able to do so again.  "Besides," Q-dawg said, "maybe 10 of the members will be cute young women between the ages of 12 and 14."  Lek smiled, but I know he is concerned.    I think that Lek's priesthood opportunities to serve will definitely go up, as will Q-dawg's, and perhaps we will all be able to play the piano more to help serve, if they have keyboards, etc.

Avot later said, "They will probably dissolve this branch, and then we will have to go to another, different branch, and then they will dissolve that one, and so on and so on, and then, by the time we leave Hungary, we will have met all the members in Hungary!"  Wow...cynicism at such a young age!  She said it with a smile on her face, but I know it must be hard.

The ironic thing about all of this is that we didn't transfer our records to the ward we lived in in Utah after my parent's ward, because it would "just be a few months" in that ward, and here were are in three different wards in as many months!  Crazy...

Onto the next topic.

The Goob: "I have noticed, when going to use the toilet, many times when I lift up the lid I will find a little present left on the shelf.  I don't like that."

Q-dawg: "Good point!  What should we do about it?  Any ideas?"

Many suggestions, blames, personal experiences come out...I won't share them all, but the climax had to be when Q-dawg introduced what he called the "toilet paper drag": you take about 6 squares, slightly twist them, put them behind the present, flush, and watch the water push the paper and the present down where it needs to go. (He used the word "present" along with a couple others a little less kosher for a journal entry...)

Avot and I were laughing uncontrollably as Q-dawg explained his proposed method with the same seriousness he brought up the situation of the new branch we were going to.

Just a little contrast.

The meeting closed soon after that, out of necessity :).   We'll see what the follow-up council reports!

We're heeeeee--eerrrrre...

That's for Q-dawg...from a movie I've never seen, but know about from my darling husband :)...

We made it.  We moved in last Saturday, after leaving our "lord of the land" (thanks, Julie, for that phrase :)!) in Pécel with an incredibly clean house and yard.  "Oh, you didn't have to do all that..." was incongruously spoken with "I don't have to give you all this money back, but I will." 

Thank goodness it's over.  When I told a little to a lady in church (who works in the LDS mission home here in Budapest), she said that that is just way landlords are here in Hungary, dropping in on you, over-solicitous one moment, and all fired-up angry at you the next.    Awesome :).  She said once they came to their office (with all their electronic equipment and money), and the door was wide open.  The neighbor had wandered in and around, and the landlord didn't hear the neighbor or the missionaries coming into the office as he (the landlord) was working in another room.  Fortunately, Q-dawg made it a part of our new contract that our landlady needs to call and give us 24 hours before coming.  Hopefully she honors that.  She did drive by earlier tonight and tell us that the side-porch light was on and we should turn it off to save on money.  So helpful, and so particular.

Actually, the more I thought about this whole landlord thing (because I am a woman and I am the way I am, I do that...think about things more :)...), the more I really wonder how much of this attitude is from living under communism for so many years.  I mean, it was over 30 years of repressive, "tattle-tale" living, with men in black cloaks literally dropping in whenever, and taking away people for no apparent reason.  They have only been out of that for a little over 20 years now.  That has to do something to a person!  I can't wait until I can speak more Hungarian and really get a feel of what they went through, if I ever have the opportunity to do so.  Maybe that is something so private, so vulnerable, that it is not much discussed, but I do wonder how it changes their outlook in the world.

One thing that strikes me is the antiquity of so many of the buildings, many of which are run-down in a cool, "historical" kind of way.   (I have wondered more than a few times what the buildings would have looked like if they had not been taken back into communism in 1956 and they had been allowed to develop the way they are now.)  However, going back to the buildings, I love all the color...the flower pots in the windows full of geraniums, the splashes of color on the cinder block fences, the little touches that show pride and beautification of what they do have.  Do our landlords feel the same pride in things that I see as already run-down?  That their belongings are something they do have, something they can own, and even to displace their piles of rubbage is to violate something that is theirs?  I don't know, but I do know that Q-dawg was amazing until the end of our interaction with the landlord in Pécel, civil in the face of statements like "I don't know how it is in America, but here in Hungary, we don't just let our kids do whatever they want..."  Sigh.  Interestingly enough, the tenants upstairs were sad to part (we got pictures I will post later :)...) and the lady next door actually had tears in her eyes as she told us in her pretty good English, "I will miss you and having the kids playing outside."  She was a sweetie!

Now, in Biatorbagy, we will be attending a new ward, a ward that is entirely in Hungarian.  The kids are open to it, so we are going to try and do it.  Our old bishop said that with international people, they can "choose" here in Hungary to go to the international ward (the ward we were in), but Hungarians just go to the ward in their boundaries.  Q-dawg and I both feel that it is important to do the same...especially since we will be here for so much longer.  [In the US, we kept our records in my parent's ward while living in Q-dawg's parent's house because we knew (or planned) that we would only be there for a few months.]  The cost will be much less to go to church, too, just a train ride away, and Q-dawg already knows a few of the members,...one of them is a lady he baptized and another is a gentleman he served under in a branch presidency while here on his mission. (That man is the current Stake President of the area.)

Next week is Stake Conference, so that will be what we were already planning on, and then the next week we should start.  I use the term "we" but will probably have the baby before then, so it will probably be Q-dawg and the kids...woohoo! :)

Speaking of baby, I am so grateful for all the faith and prayers of those who helped pray that things would go well with the move and (more selfishly for me) that the baby would not be born last weekend.  I must admit that Friday was a little worrisome for me, because I had been up all the night before with contractions, and I knew I still had a few bags to pack, the house to clean-up, and Q-dawg ended up having to go to our new house to get the internet set up for work and do his work there, since our upstairs neighbors in Pécel didn't pay their internet one of the months before (we had paid half of it for the month we were sharing), and they had turned it off on Thursday, so he couldn't do work there.

So, there I was, in Pécel by myself with 8 kids and a potential time-bomb in my tummy, and no way to reach my husband (our cell phone cannot call our computer, and the internet didn't work, so I couldn't keep the computer to call Q-dawg on it from Pécel).  Q-dawg would call periodically to make sure all was well, but I am so glad I didn't have to make my own way to the hospital in labor, not knowing much Hungarian and which buses to take.  It was a long and nervous day for me, but I was blessed with few contractions and saintly children that helped inside and played outside well for me while I cleaned and packed. 

The kids really were amazing on Friday.  The older two would take the others on walks, play games outside, and come and help when I needed it.  By the end of the day, I had a batch of palacsintak (crepes) going, and would pass out a couple at a time, rolled up with powdered sugar inside and cut into thirds, for the masses to descend upon in between rounds of tag, hide-and-seek, and then mixed-up fairy tale plays.  It was amazing.  They didn't ask once for their "screen time" (it is on Fridays usually, but we didn't have our computers at that apartment anymore) or complain.  They just came up with imaginative games, read, or explored.  I was so grateful!

Back to the move...

Q-dawg had reserved a truck on Friday and brought it back with him from his day of working.  It is a huge beast of a thing that held our few possessions and our kids, all in one trip.  Woohoo!  We got to the new house, and the landlady was waiting.  I was in tears by the time she left.  Her over-solicitous-ness was too much for me, from the "don't take your shoes off--the floor is too cold!" when we first arrived to "okay, now take your shoes off, the house is warm enough and we don't want mud through the house" to "Mary (this from Q-dawg) hurry and get the kids socks and coats on...the landlady is getting upset that the kids are going to get too cold."   I think I lost it to tears when she came into a room I was unpacking in and urgently indicated something to Papaya and Q-dawg translated that I needed to hurry and wipe her nose.  Ah, me.  I will never take for granted the blessing of having our own house and space again :).

Other than that, though, really, this house is amazing.  I love the furniture--big sturdy book shelves with enough room for all our clothes and books (and other random supplies) and to spare, a kitchen that is a dream-size kitchen and dining room to match, compared with the other place, and a palatial feel...again, compared :)....

It reminds me of another of my personal children's book classics, "No Room for a Sneeze."  In the couple complains to a wise man that their house is not big enough, and, little by little, the wise hermit tells them to bring more and more of their farm animals into their house...and finally, the beggar from the street.  When the man who first complained about no space stands speechless before the wise man at the end, the beggar having driven he and his wife out of their bed after eating all the supper, the wise man tells the man that he (the wise man) has found another home for the beggar and all the animals may leave the house.  The man goes home and the family blissfully rejoices in their roomy and spacious house.  Love it.

It also reminds me of the story of the townspeople lounging on their porches on a road into their town, who are asked by the travelers about their town.  "Is it a friendly town?" asked one traveler.  "How was it in your old town?" the townspeople inquire. "Oh, they were all stingy and cold," came the reply.  "Well, it's pretty much the same here," they told the traveler, and the traveler goes on. 

The same question put forth by another traveler is greeted, again, by the same inquiry, only this time, the traveler's reply is different.  "Oh, the people were wonderful!  Welcoming and warm."  Again, the townspeople said, "Well, it's pretty much the same here."

I think you really get what you are looking for...you can look for the good and miraculous, or you can look for the reasons to complain :).  I do a little of both. Q-dawg is more in the category of the latter, and I love him for it! :)

Alright, long post, but it has been a few days.

Baby check today again at Telki,...all is good.  I am still losing a little weight each time, but I am okay with that, and the baby is healthy.  Maybe it is because I have been under a little stress :). (Or maybe it is all the Swiss chocolate I am eating...I go through one or two of those Alpine milk chocolate bars a week.  A dollar's worth of indulgence for a happy pregnant woman is not too much to ask, right :)?  I even share sometimes :)...)

The kids are awesome.  The boys all sleep in one room with Papaya, after winning the "debate" over who was going to get her. (They all wanted her in their room, crazy enough...and that after sleeping with her in the same room for a month and hearing how much she can wake up and cry.  I don't pretend to understand it, but love that they love her so much!)  The girls get the big main room with the hide-away couch that is always pulled out into a bed (the landlady's request, as her couch-bed is very old). 

Last Saturday, after hurriedly unpacking a bunch and after the land lady left, Q-dawg and I hurried to grab some grub for the kids, since it was 2 pm and we hadn't really had anything since yogurt and pastry/bread from the bread store that morning.  We got pizzas, as a treat, and the kids enjoyed them, but the pizzas were different: the pepperoni pizzas all have corn on them, and the cheese pizzas had different kids of cheese on them, but the ham pizzas were a hit, even with the peppers.  As Q-dawg said when we bought them, "Welcome to Hungary :)..." I guess corn on the pizza has been here since he was here.  Better than the mixed vegetables he had on his first pizza, right :)?

After we left the kids here with food and a lock, we took off to find Ikea and the Auchan grocery/department store to stock up.  Super warm blankets (woohoo!), sheets, drying racks, garbage cans, dishes...you name it, we got it.  Fortunately, you can get so many of those things pretty inexpensively at the Ikea, so it wasn't too bad.  We also had that big truck, so we didn't have to carry things on a bus and walk with them, which was awesome.  The only bad part was Ikea is like the Ikea in America--a pain for me to figure out where everything is :), so we didn't find a table for the kitchen, nor a washing machine (which I wasn't sure if they even carried...).  So, other than those two things, we are set :).  It is nice having our own things and not having to worry about other people's things so much.

Today, on the way back from the doctors, we had a find: as store with umbrellas (finally!), tights for the girls and their tendency to dress for summer, and warm fuzzy house slippers for the whole family.  Woohoo!  After a couple days walking on our cold tile, and then trying to move the rugs from Ikea around so I could stand on them, we thought it would work better to get slippers for everyone than to try and pay the exorbitant amount of cranking up the heat for kids who like it cold anyway :).  So, we got a great deal on all those things, and Avot even got some new Sunday shoes/dress boots.  Q-dawg had to rush home to finish up some work while we were there, so I got to finish up the transaction with my broken Hungarian and my handy-dandy pocket English/Hungarian dictionary I got last week.  Thank goodness it was packed in my backpack!

Speaking of my backpack, it has been packed and ready to go to the hospital for a few days now :).  My favorite parts?  My Nook, the video camera, and a cute little baby outfit for our little one to come home in :).  I thought of my mom with that last thing, since that is something she always does for us, so, mom, that was for you :)!

Funny Hava moment (I'm trying to "catch up" :)...):  I sang a song the other day, and it has a line in it, "Tell me the reason only birds can fly..."  I kept singing, but in the middle of the next stanza she blurted out, "Butterflies can fly."  A couple lines later, she said, matter-of-factly again, "Bees can fly."  Smartie pants.  Like Q-dawg said, everything she says lately is funny :).  I love this age. 

We found some awesome grand pianos...most of them for around $200...crazy, eh?  Avot and I are drooling over them, but even our awesome van we rented for $40 to move in wasn't big enough for them, so we would have to figure that out :).   Maybe for Christmas or summertime next year.  We already have the perfect place picked out for it in our house :).

Well, I have a bunch more I should probably write, but I am tired, and this is enough :).  We are moved safely in, the baby is not born yet, we are happy and eager to see what this new place has in store, and I am loving having a place where I probably won't have to move from for a couple of years...a nice change after four moves in less than a year :).  I love having all my books, my friends, out on the shelves; I love that my kids are reading all these awesome classics (there aren't a lot of options) and filling their minds with amazing things; I love to see them be responsible, flexible with change, and develop their relationships with each other more, just like my friend Karen said happened to her family when they moved to a different country as a young family when she was a little girl.  I love having Q-dawg with us all the time, whether out with us or in the room working.  I realized how much I have come to depend upon his presence that day he was away and I felt so vulnerable.  He is a good man to have around and I am grateful that his presence is part of the package of coming here to Hungary.

Oh!  One thing more...last Sunday, I said a prayer in Relief Society in Hungarian.  I have been practicing in my prayers for months now, and even had some things I was going to say but didn't.  When I got up there and started praying, I said about two things and then felt overwhelmed by the Spirit.  I stood there, quietly trying to contain the rush of emotion and tears that were sweeping through me, as I am sure everyone in the room was thinking, "Oh no...poor dear is up there and doesn't know what to say :)."  My prayer was simple, with a few things of thanks, and one "request", before finishing, and then I sat down, still filled with emotion.  As I sat there, trying to puzzle out what had just happened, I wondered if it was a couple things.  Well, first, I'm pregnant, so that is a big thing right there :).  But then, I thought, maybe it is because it is the first time I have been able to share anything church-related since I have come here, to the Hungarian people.  I yearn to communicate, and I was doing it!  The other thing I thought was maybe it was just Heavenly Father being so happy for me...maybe, just maybe :).  Whatever it was, it was powerful, it was amazing, and it made me want to learn Hungarian all the more :).

Cool things about this Sunday

I am sitting next to Chugger-dude, the cucumber salad making genius.  He started today by just cutting off the ends of the uburke (cucumber), and, as I was still posting, he started cutting the thin slices necessary for this feast.  He has helped me before, alternately putting in salt, sugar, and vinegar, and helping me taste it. (He always says, "I think it needs more sugar.")

Well, today, he did it all on his own, with me on the sidelines advising and tasting, and he did a pretty spankin' good job!  What a kid.

On the way back from the train, on the last leg of our trip home, I heard Hava yelling up to me from behind, "Momma, momma, momma!"  When she breathlessly caught up, she said, "Chugger-dude found a lizard with a caterpillar in its mouth!"  So cool!  Apparently, Liliputian took the whole "discovery" one step further, and caught it.  She ran up to show me her prize, the poor lizard dangling from her outstretched fingers and being jounced the whole way :).  It looked about as big as a caterpillar, so that would have been a sight to see it eating one...

We actually made the train today on our way home from church, and didn't have to wait!  And that, after missing the first villamos (trolley) by moments.  We did do a brisk walk (I was feeling a little less sore) to the train station, and it pulled up just as we got to the top of the stairs opposite the loading platform.  We must have been quite the sight, all dolled up for church, flying across the grass to try and catch the train. :)  I think we get more strange looks when we are dressed up for church than any other time.  The men, particularly, stick out with their white shirts and ties, I noticed today, with quite a few looks going their way.

Church went really well.  Apparently, I just need to spend the meeting drawing "coloring pages" for my kids, and they all sit and watch and then color their own page.  It was one of the most peaceful meetings I have enjoyed for some time.

Papaya knows how to open the fridge, and loves to help herself to milk.  Cutie.  She is so independent!  We save a chair for her at each meal (one of the precious three), and she often refuses to sit on it, preferring to sit on the floor with "everyone else."  Convincing her to either don the bib or take off her clothes so she doesn't get too messy is a battle.  I don't mind most meals, but with spaghetti or porridge it is a must!  (Remember, I do all my own laundry...)

Oh! Speaking of laundry, with our move, we will be renting a truck, so we can coincide picking up a washing machine at the same time!  Woohoo!  We are looking at the place Monday and taking notes of which furniture and "stuff" we will need for that house, and then we will coordinate with their "ksl.com" items a pick-up and moving-in all for one day.  Q-dawg seems to remember it needs a kitchen table and chairs, among some other things, and, after this house, I am not so sad that "furnished" isn't as comprehensive as it was here :).  No need to worry about other people's furniture :), and we have learned how to do without quite a few things.

The boys have gallantly offered to share one of the two rooms (we will be using the main room as a bedroom for the girls), and then Q-dawg, the baby, and I will be in the other room.  I hope it goes well.  It will be nice to have so much room...

Time for spaghetti Sunday, courtesy of Daddy, along with yummy breadsticks and cucumber salad!  Gotta go!

Church on Sunday

I think we have the hang of this Sunday thing, having done it for two weeks in a row successfully :).  Of course, this Sunday was even easier because we had our daylight savings this last Sunday, apparently a week before the States.  I don't mind :).  I am always ready for the fall version of the system, even if I don't particularly care for the spring challenge of getting up an hour earlier.   Like everyone I talk to, it is always so much easier to sleep in later :).

Well, the weather man said there was a 20% chance of rain.  Q-dawg accurately predicted that it would rain on the way to the train and then during our transitions to church.

Yep.

Coming from Utah, you hear about places that actually have rainfall, like our sister Heidi who is just welcoming in the rainy season in Oregon, but I guess I never thought about the obvious adaptation that people who live there make.

They buy this marvelous invention called an umbrella.  You'd think that after walking through my fourth downpour that I would have thought of this, but no.  Apparently, I am not a very quick learner :).

Everyone has them here,...well, that or jackets that actually keep the rain off, which most of my family doesn't have :).

Anyway, after showing up at church happy but a little damp, we sat down next to this marvelous man from Russia.  I think we are going to adopt him as a grandfather figure to sit next to each week.  His name is Illés (Hungarian for "Elijah" but, he informed us adamantly, not the prophet Elijah :)...cute!), and he took great delight sharing some orange tic tacs with as far as his remaining supply would go.  "How many kids do you have?" I was able to understand from him, as he began passing them out.  It was cool to actually be able to communicate with him a little, although I did have to trap Q-dawg with Illés in the hall later so I could ask a couple of unanswered questions.  He is from Russia, and is simply marvelous.  He even gave Papaya a dry-erase marker towards the end of the meeting when she was starting to lose it.  That kept both Papaya and Mommy's attention riveted on the coloring book she plastered with blue marker, Mommy making sure she didn't draw on anything she shouldn't. (I didn't have the heart to say, "Ahhhhhh!  A Marker!!!!!!")  Papaya was overjoyed and didn't make a peep for an entire talk.  Of course, I got nothing out of that talk :).

I am understanding about one or two words a sentence, which is very cool.  Unfortunately, the words are things like "then," "or," "much," "I know," "love,"...try making sense of a talk only understanding those words :).  There are a couple more, like "God," "commandment," "Mormon" ("Mormon"...what a stretch), "Gospel," "family," and "children," which come in handy at church, but I still have a ways to go, and my concentration wanders towards the end of each meeting after intensely trying to pick out what I can.

It is still funny listening to Q-dawg introduce himself as "Q" to the Hungarians.  They struggle with it, because it is not a letter they would say the way we do, but, he insists, it is far better than being referred to as "Queen."

Somehow, we always time it that we arrive at the train station five to ten minutes after it leaves on its Sunday hourly cycle.  Fortunately, we brought a lunch to eat while we wait, and that helped pass the time.  We were also informed on our trip home on the trolley that the trolley we were one would be stopping and everyone would be getting off and taking a bus.  After dutifully getting off, we looked across at where all the other passengers were heading and saw, to our dismay, people going into different directions and loading onto different buses.  Sweet.  We waited for one bus, followed a group of people as they left that stop and headed somewhere else, then did a quick 180 degree change with everyone else as, apparently, it was another bus we were supposed to be on.  We are just glad we got on, even if we didn't have any seats.  The calmer ones of us were on the outside, while there was some type of bashing, wrestling match going on in the corner with the crazier ones.  We must be quite the sight.

Most of the time, people just give us a quick glance askance, giving us a double take, and then they take up their stoic "Eastern European" "I am not noticing anything" facial expression that is so common.  I honestly don't look too much, unless I notice the kids paying particular attention to someone who is obviously playing with them...most often Papaya.  She plays peek-a-boo with all sorts of people on public transportation.  I have only noticed a few that get irritated, or turn up their listening devices or turn into their corners to pointedly ignore us, so that's not too bad :).  The kids are actually pretty fabulous on the whole.

Side note on our weekly adventures, whenever we get to the train station and have to approach the tracks (or get to the trolley and it is approaching), Q-dawg says, "If you play by the tracks, you will die.  This is not the place to play."  I think we should have it printed up on a shirt for him :).  It is becoming as much a part of him as his dad's words of wisdom are a part of him: "You can always come back for more.  Don't take more than you can eat."  Both true, both need to be said often to remind us, and both very much a part of each of them in my mind's eye. :)

Final thoughts on church, I must confess I had a kind of lousy attitude about it the night before.  I was tired, knew it was probably going to rain, and knew I wouldn't be understanding most of it, so part of me wanted to just say, "then why go?"  Of course, having been blessed for years for going even when it didn't make sense from a "logical" perspective (kids, distractions, tiredness, etc.), I didn't really consider it.  God definitely blesses us when we do all we can, and sometimes "all we can" is doing something we should, even with a lousy attitude. :)

Once again, I was blessed, and had a lot of great interactions with ladies in the ward, learned a few more words, had some successful communication with Hungarian sisters, and felt peace.

Thanks, Heavenly Father, for your patience with me :)....

The Primary president is excited to have some English-speaking children who actually want to learn Hungarian :).  She gave us a cool blog started by one of the ladies in the ward who has translated a couple of (or found translations to) "I feel my Savior's Love," "Keep the Commandments," and "Stand for the Right."  The kids are already picking up a few words from singing the hymns at church that they are familiar with at home, which is neat...especially repetitious ones like "You Can Make the Pathway Bright" in the chorus.

We have a marvelous translator in Relief Society.  She speaks Hungarian, English, and German.  It was inspiring to hear her translate for a sister who was visiting from Germany into English in the headsets for the English-speaking women of the ward and then the same thing into Hungarian for the majority of the sisters.  So cool!

Avot and Lek were excited to hear about a YM/YW Halloween party this week.  They went on their own tonight, to Budapest, using public transportation, including the train, walking a few times, taking the subway, and taking the trolley.  They had Q-dawg's cell phone so we could call and check on them, but it was a little nerve-wracking for me.  They both, however, seemed calm and confident, so I guess this is good for them :).  We figured it was about $16 to send them to YM/YW, but the cost, overall, is cheaper than gas, car payment, insurance, etc., we figured :).  We might check into the monthly passes, but figured that our trips into town for the doctor will be done after the baby is born, and it might not be worth it after that.  They left about 4:45 and should be back around 10 pm.  Wow. 

It will be very fun for them, though.  They both seem to be thriving in this YM/YW group, and Lek even gave the opening prayer in sacrament meeting last week.  Cool!  He has been passing the sacrament each week, and is determined to learn how to read and speak in Hungarian, so has been really focusing in our nightly practice of reading the Mormon Konyve together, along with our regular Book of Mormon reading.  It is fun to hear them pick up on words and patterns already.

They only have YM/YW about every other week, so transportation isn't a weekly issue, and normally, it seems, it is at the church...a quicker and cheaper route to take, not to mention a more familiar one.  It is good for them, I am sure, and building a lot of confidence in them.

Church success!

We did it!  We got to church on time!

Leaving a little after our goal of 7:30 am, cinnamon rolls in hand, we made it in plenty of time to the train station.  It was a bit chilly, but the sun came up and our walk warmed us up.  The train was also nicely heated, so by the time we got to our stop, we were ready to go again :).

We walked a good Pipalicious speed to the villamos (trolley), which put us there just a smidge late-- we made a dash across the road and the tracks to it and fortunately the driver was nice and didn't just pull away...whew!

This put us to church 15 minutes early,...woohoo!  It is strange having an international branch--I want to say "hi" to people, but don't know whether to greet them in Hungarian or English, and I can see they feel the same.  I asked a lady later how it was and she said it is a little awkward being a mixed ward.  She says everything takes longer for the Hungarians, having to wait for the translation.  It is nice of them to allow for it, for those English-speakers who are sometimes only here for a couple months.  However, I feel for the Hungarians and any potential investigator they might bring.  I went to the Hungarian speaking Sunday School and, thanks to my translation of the first part of the Book of Mormon recognized the words for Jew and Gentile (Jew and non-Jew, literally, in Hungarian).  Other than that and about one or two words per sentence, the rest was over my head, but you could feel the spirit.

Liliputian and the Goob share a class, Chugger-dude and Pipalicious share, and then Papaya and Hava have their own...all in English.  Avot and Lek can choose which to go to, but have gone to the English-speaking both weeks.  Apparently, they have  teacher that is "like Daddy," i.e. funny :).

We had a "linger-longer" after church, where we all "hung out," and we got to meet a few more people.  We brought our successful batch of chocolate chip cookies (although they look funny), and some sandwich fixings and bread.  There was a delicious paprika, potato and sausage soup, and a hot dog soup, with whole hotdogs floating in it, that was "interesting," according to Lek.

We knew we had missed the next train before we left church by about 10 minutes (no matter how fast we hurried) so we took a leisurely walk along the way there.  The trains/vanot come every hour on Sunday, so we had plenty of time :).   I think the Goob and Pipalicious are going through growth spurts, because they are always hungry.  The walnuts and apples in the orchard are just not sufficient!

We have Q-dawg's famous "Spaghetti Sunday" going behind me,...it smells delish!  We are having a traditional uburke (cucumber) salad to go with it, which is finom, if I do say so myself.  Just cucumbers, salt, sugar and vinegar, soaked for a few hours--wonderful! 

We met one of our next-door neighbors, and she speaks English!  Her name is Kinga, and she is super nice.  She has been here for about 7 years and I am sure she has never seen the likes of us.

Church adventure!

Our first Sunday in Hungary...what fun!

We got up a little late this morning (after a wonderful night of sleep...hurray!).  We forgot to purchase eggs for scones and pancakes, so we had our third morning of porridge (cream of wheat) in a row.  Thank goodness the kids love it!

The train only comes once an hour in our little town, so we knew we had to be to the station by nine a.m. to make it to church by ten.  We raced down the hill, taking along our hair supplies to finish grooming the little girls on the train.

The train was 40 minutes late :).

We rode the train into Pest, walked to the villamos (trolley), caught the villamos, and then walked to church.  We found out that the internet information was wrong and church actually began at 9 am.  We also found out that the church we go to has an English speaking half and a Hungarian speaking half, with translators for those who speak English for sacrament meeting and priesthood/relief society.  The Primary and YM/YW have English speaking and Hungarian speaking classes, except for in the nursery. 

Lek was ecstatic.  He found out that the YM group here went bowling last week for mutual, too.  Bonus!  And, there are some cute, English-speaking young ladies :)...

Q-dawg and I went without translators, Avot wants to try it all in Hungarian, and the little ones are open to both.  Next week, we will just need to leave for the train at 7:30 instead :).  I have mixed feelings about going to the split ward, but pray that the Lord will direct us to what is best.  The other ward, which is completely Hungarian, meets on the other side of the city, in Buda, so would be longer and more expensive to get there.

We met lots of great people.  I really like one, Brigidette (I think her name is), who is a Hungarian who is really good at speaking English.  I told her I want to learn Hungarian, so she smiled and said she could speak to me in Hungarian from now on, then.  I smiled back and said that would be great :). 

On the way home, we rode back on public transportation and were able to talk to a nice Hungarian man who had worked in New York on elevators that were more than 30 stories high. Apparently, an apparatus that helps the elevators work is Hungarian, and he helps make sure they work correctly.  He said that Papaya was beautiful.   He gave her some chocolate (after making sure it was okay), and we rode with him part way on our train.

One of the cool parts about the man we met was that I was the first one to meet him and was able to make myself partially understood and understood some of what he was saying, too.  He was very patient and even knew a little English.  I am excited to learn more! 

The kids keep trying to learn new words.  Pipalicious is still sad because she doesn't have any friends (she just wrinkled her brow when I said her brothers and sisters could be her friends :)...).  Hava has decided that she is not shy and says "hi" to everyone, sings at the top of her lungs, and loves to tell people she is 4 because she had her birthday.  The Goob, Liliputian and Chugger-dude had fun waving to all sorts of people driving by in Budapest and haven't seemed the least bit deterred by not knowing the language.  Papaya is getting better at waving to people and even uses a few Hungarian words.

This week we are going to focus on days of the week, shopping lists (for me), and numbers.  What fun!