Northern Neck, VA Travels

Time on the Northern Neck of VA with friends was a special blessing this summer, connecting with Bethany Baptist and Baliles, walking on the beaches, boating, eating great crab cakes, and finding a huge horseshoe crab (we didn't try to eat him)!

Summertime in Canada

One of the most restful places in the world is Loon Lake, Ontario. It's now been 40 years since my Aunt and Uncle with my Grandparents had the little cottage built. We love going up there each summer with my Mom, brother Chris and family. I have many good memories from my childhood and am so glad to share new 21st century memories with our girls in this special setting.

The girls have a great time playing with cousin Elizabeth, swimming, and catching lots of little fish in their nets. I always ask them if they want to fry up a few, but we always throw them all back!

Summer Highlights from NC

Time in NC at Sunset Beach is a big highlight of the summer, especially for Sarah and Hannah, when they get to play in the sand and surf with cousins. Building sand castles is important and of course making new friends is part of the package. Hannah still occasionally asks in America......"So, will they speak English at this next place?" She's used to having language changes everywhere we go - Hungary borders 7 different countries!

We go early to the beach and Sarah claims a circle for us, which then turns into a little fortress or castle against waves and " beach intruders!"

"I'm the good Hannah George"

The bad Hannah George is on the NO FLY LIST! Yes, that's right. Somewhere out there, there is a Hannah that cannot fly in the USA. After one look, and birthdate proof, the lady at the check-in counter agreed that our soon to be 8 year old is not a terrorist. This same name, however, prevents the entire family from checking in on-line or at an easy kiosk.
Hannah didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing. Of course, she doesn't know about all the history that goes with the NO FLY LIST. She now greets all security personnel with the same line, "I'm the good Hannah George."

A Mother's Pride

As a Mom, I feel so blessed to have two very talented daughters. Sarah is now 11 and Hannah almost 8.
Sarah is gifted with a beautiful voice. Not only does she sing in 4 languages, she writes her own songs as well. Most of her songs are about God and His great love for us. Recently, her choir came in first place in a regional competition.
Hannah entered the Art Program at her school last September. She has greatly enjoyed her 4 classes of art each week and learned many new techniques. Some of her best work, according to the teacher, was hung in the school hallway for everyone to see. These pictures are some of my favorites--posted with the permission of the artist!

Time at Balaton and CRM Retreat House

We had a great May 1st Holiday Weekend at the CRM Retreat House near the Lake Balaton. My Mom was here from NY and special Szeged friends came with us - Apjok and Mencser families. We had some good adventures and fellowship time around the house.

Pic 1 - A group photo above the Balaton at Tihany
Pic 2 - Looking out behind Retreat House into the "Káli Basin" as the region is called
Pic 3 - Mom G with girls at a renovated stone "wash house" outside town of Kővágóörs
Pic 4 - Girls at pretty town of Tapolca

Ongoing Changes and Contrasts in Szeged

I've posted some of the various buildings we see each day in our neighborhood and on our walk to the girls' Hungarian school down the street. The contrasts are significant. Some very nice Western-style Euro apt bldgs are going up, but these are rare.
















Pic 1 About 100 year old house in disrepair


Pic 2 New 5+ yr old apt bldg


Pic 3 Tearing down old bldg to put up new


Pic 4 Over 100 yr old Szeged train stn


Pic 5 Under construction - new apt bldg looking out Sarah's window
Pic 6 Larger grocery store
Pic 7 Our favorite corner grocer

In this world of great change we live in, it is so interesting to see how fast some things change, while others stay the same here in Szeged.

In terms of economics, Hungary has been riding many waves since the fall of Communism in 1990. In 2004, the country joined the European Union with big fanfare from up above (Budapest capital leadership), but the average citizen has not received much benefit.....yet? In 2006 a huge scandal was leaked in which the socialist government was hiding its federal deficit problems, to the tune of 3x what they had been telling the populace before they got re-elected!
Meanwhile, prices of most everything have increased significantly. Utilities, bread, milk, all staples up 25% in cost at least, while salaries went up maybe 10%, and worse is that some have actually received less salary based on cost of living, including state-employed doctors (it's a "government" job here for most doctors!).

For us, with the $ as our basis for salary, it is even more "interesting" converting to Hungarian forint. A bad scene, indeed. We arrived in 2003 getting about 225 forints for our $. Now we get about 160. This is a 35% decrease in 5 years. Yikes.