After enjoying our time in Poland, we spent a L-O-N-G day driving to Hungary. Slovakia is beautiful, but with winding, two-lane roads most of the distance, it made for some slow going. We were thankful to finally arrive at Jozsef and Zsuzsi's house and to meet their 3 children. Last we had seen Jozsef and Zsuzsi in person was at their wedding in 2006! Jozsef had been one of my English students when I was there the summer of 1999. Having accepted Jesus the summer before at the English program, Jozsef was ripe for discipleship, and we spent many hours discussing God's Word and the Christian life. They are a special family, and we were delighted that they wanted to host us during our stay in Kecskemet.
Their family left for a reunion the day after we arrived, which worked well for us to stay in their house but left us with less time to spend together. We spent the first day puttering around Budapest, where I got to show the kids some of my favorite places.
In the evening we got to enjoy a wonderful Hungarian dinner in the home of "Mama Magdi" and "Papa Erwin," who hosted many English teacher teams! I lived with them for two summers (1996 and 1999), and they are dear, dear people. It was a pleasure also to see two of their daughters and one of their grandchildren!
Ted took the kids the next morning to downtown Kecskemet so I could do some work on the Commission Bible study. Jozsef and his family returned later that afternoon, so we walked to get ice cream and enjoyed visiting some more. The next morning we attended church together, where Jozsef translated for us, and after one last lunch together, we left for the city of Vezsprem, where Ted was to teach a course for the military folks there. They hosted our family in their military guest house, which was huge and very exciting for the kids to have so much space to run around in! This was a good thing, because after a wonderful first day in which we were treated to a visit to the local zoo, we spent the next couple of days housebound while I dealt with a stomach issue. Ugh. At least we got out and about and enjoyed the beautiful city sights and restaurants the first day!
Ted did a wonderful job with teaching despite some stomach issues of his own, and we were relieved to get back on the road again headed for home. We drove to Rimini, Italy, and stayed in a hotel near the beach. After a lovely walk along the beach that evening, we enjoyed gelato before turning in one last time before reaching home.
The next day we took time to go to San Marino, where Ted and all the kids except Tobin took a cable car to the highest point. Tobin wasn't feeling well, so he and I hung out in the Suburban. A bit disappointing, but what can you do? We have pictures somewhere, but I can't seem to find them right now...
We were so happy to reach our home again! The only bad thing was that the power had gone out in one of our circuits, so our deep freezer smelled horribly of spoiled items. Other than that...things looked good! What a blessing to experience so many things in 3 long but short week!
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