day 102

Hello hello. I'm so sorry I haven't been updating. Things have been very busy, and I haven't quite had the time to sit down and write.

So. I'm now in the Kaye's living room somewhere in Budapest, having a nice cup of tea. We just had a feast of a barbeque: Hungarian sausages, pork chops, chicken fillets, bread rolls, salads, mushrooms, and chocolates. My family has been eating to this excess for the past few days.

Okay so here's a run down of what's been happening:

From the time I last posted to last week I was on a mad rush to complete my assignments before leaving for Hungary. I had aimed to finish everything by Wednesday so I wouldn't have to bring any work along...

The thing is Debbie was over here that weekend too. That was really nice. We had a nice evening just hanging out on Saturday; dinner out after church on Sunday; cooked dinner for the O'Briens' and Breretons' on Monday and Tuesday. So perhaps I didn't have as much time to do my work, but I did have a good time. (I still haven't finished two assignments. Do the maths.)

Wednesday we flew to Budapest. There was a funny story with that. Both of us had booked the same flight, though separately. She had a seat in a first row, and I on the seventh. Turns out that the guy seated next to her was friends with the guy seated next to me, so we swapped! I had my first flight in the front row, next to an old friends.

We got to Hungary, and I met my family and Rayan there. Thursday we got to camp, which lasted till Monday. That was really good.

From there my family, the Kayes' and Rayan took off to Croatia, where we spent two nights in these cosy pine cabins. We went to see the Plitvice lakes on the second day. That was very beautiful. I'll put up some pictures another time.

Back to Hungary on Wednesday, where we got to the meeting. That brings us today! We went to Monika's parents place and we had local pancakes. They were packed with meat and came with a mushroom, curry-looking sauce. Of course there was dessert and coffee.

In the afternoon we went go-karting! I think I enjoyed that more than I expected. It's more tiring than it looks too.

So that pretty much sums up a really, really good week with my family in Hungary. Tomorrow we fly to Netherlands for more fun and food. Hoorah!

day 88

Do you know that magic trick when a magician pulls a chain of handkerchiefs from his hat? Or the exhausting feeling of eating from a deep bowl of noodles that doesn't seem to run out? You know that momentary sensation of neverendingness?

How you doin'

What is that you might ask? Well the other evening I decided to clear the hairs that collected at my shower drainage. At first I thought there were only a few strands. I was wrong.

I pulled, and I pulled, and I pulled.


Mom this is for you

Look at that beast. A monster of hair, mould and grime that had been there the whole time (hey check it out – that rhymed!). If pipes could have cancer I'm sure that's what the tumour would look like.

I'm sorry I showed you this. Such horrors should never be discovered. I hope you've had your dinner. And shower.

I'll be gone now. Good night.

day 85

Hello, would you like to join me for dinner? Tonight's dinner is especially yummy – an exceptional collection of leftovers: Grilled lamb chops, potato pumpkin mash, and palak paneer (okay it's not really paneer, but it was yummy anyway).

Nobody came so I cooked for one

This is probably the best part about living on my own in a place with a kitchen. I've only started to toss more Asian foods into the mix recently, and it's really fun. Last week I made peach and barley chicken curry. And I know you don't see it, but there's coconut milk in that mash. Yummy.

Please don't think I eat like this everyday though. Honestly. I only show you the foods that are really nice. And I can prove that because I'm still not fat yet.

So the weekend past was pretty interesting. There was a curious incident of a dog – in the day time. On Saturday, a dog that was apparently lost followed my landlord home!

Ready, turn

And smile!

We found out later her name was Roxy. Roxy was crazy about playing fetch. At first I thought it was because she was a friendly dog, but then later I realised she would go barking mad until whoever in front of her had tossed her a ball. And that was all she cared about. With a passion. This dog loved balls, not people.

So Sunday evening after church (which was good too) I tried googling for lost and found sites for pets, and bingo! It just happened that Roxy's owner had put up an ad for Roxy the same day.

That was quite fortunate. It turned out I saved my landlady a trip to the Garda (police), who would have brought Roxy to the pound. If Roxy's owner hadn't contacted the police or the pound within the following twenty four hours Roxy would have been put down. So I saved a doggie!

Also, it seems like the landlads (?) like me a little bit better since I found Roxy's owner. Their mom the landlady must have had something to do with that because she kept saying I had done a "good deed". All that's quite nice for just a little bit of googling. It's a happy weekend.

day 82

I just had the best week all year. Rayan was over since Sunday. It was really nice to have some company. For the first time I realised I don't actually get much of it here: in between uni and church, I'm practically on my own. (But not that I mind that either...)

So this week was quite a treat for me! It was great to have a friend stay over. We didn't really do much sight-seeing or anything. Most of our time was spent at home. The main activities were divided between cooking/ eating, and just talking. I don't know how these six days went by so quickly with us doing so little.

We did do a few other things though. Tuesday night we saw the Backstreet Boys! That was quite amusing, mostly because there were so many old-ish people (including the band) singing and dancing like teenagers. They sang many of their old songs, so that was quite nostalgic for us too.

Another highlight was finding the cake shop called Queen of Tarts. Really nice tarts there. And what made then extra enjoyable was the dollop of whipped cream that came at the side. We had to go a second time on Thursday.

It's quite sad that he had to leave this morning. Good things certainly do come to an end. Ho hum.