Thanks, Google!

I love our smart phones, and our laptop. This trip would have not been so fun if we hadn't had them with us. Google, I love you. 

We've used Google Hangouts to do 'free' video calls with some of our friends, and our parents....which allowed Princess to meet her grandparents for the first time, and for them to see her face. Invaluable! Monkey got to see his friends he's been missing so much, and of course spend about 2 minutes doing nothing but making faces at eachother...which, when you sit around with nothing to do for 3 weeks, is actually entertaining. Thanks Google!

Google Translate is like a blessing and a curse. Remember when Daddy said to the deli lady "You are a turkey or a ham"...gee, thanks Google. And I translated "Have you ever been on an airplane?" and Rita told me that was like asking my little girl if she'd ever committed suicide by being strapped to the front of an aircraft? Thanks Google.  We've figured out that you can only translate one or two word phrases for it to be accurate, so we speak in one word sentences. Makes us look really sophisti-ma-cated. Thanks, Google.

Cool things you can do with Google Translate: 
1. speak a word in Magyar, and it will "speak" the word in English
2. write a word with your finger on the screen, and it will turn it into text and translate it
3. take a picture of Magyar writing, and it will translate the whole thing

#3 is how I read the packaging on food when I need the instructions. Cool, huh?

This was a package of what looked like rice. It "translated" the instructions, however, this is what it told me: 
"Granules Mego vegetables every flavor that cooking is so lends the M Condiments released perfect flavor to dishes and soups (1 liter Ajanljukelsosorban, 1 water, 1 tablespoon of approximately 10g GGllzvarazs) as well as vegetable dishes and side dishes, meats, vegetables izestesere is also suitable. The etelizesto appropriate containing a proportion of salt, but salt after tasting the food separately.

Huh? Would you be able to prepare the package from that?? What the heck is Ajanljukelsosorban? Apparently even Google doesn't know. Whatever I did, I didn't end up with rice, or anything that looked remotely like the front of the package...it was like broth with green stuff floating on top and it smelled icky so I just threw it out. Thanks for nuthin, Google. 

But hey, it is really good for one word at a time, and the pronunciation is fantastic...and that really does help when you want to quickly find the word for "time" and "bed". Thanks, Google!  

Lunch date!

Monkey always says this quote, not sure where he saw it but it's very true: "He who finds a friend finds a treasure". We have found some treasures.

We are stuck for 6 weeks on the other side of the world with only sporadic digital access to friends and family...amidst people who look at us with a raised eyebrow when we speak to them because they don't understand "Angolul"...it can get a bit lonely. 

How cool that I ran across another family's blog online before we left for our trip - they were adopting from Hungary too! I got in touch via email, and it turns out we were going to be here at the same time. And we are adopting from the same agency! AND we'll be staying at the same apartment! Talk about coincidences x 12. They are the Montreys, adopting 4 sibling girls to complete their family of 10. 

We talk by the pool sometimes, and meet at the park once in a while...keeping in touch via Facebook messaging. Today we coordinated a lunch date at their apartment, a 20 second walk from our place. They brought the rotisserie chickens from the food truck down by the market (we joke about how the lady gives us such weird looks when we go there and buy 3 chickens at a time, then come again the next day to buy 3 more...guess that's a little out of the norm here). I made deviled eggs (Monkey makes me call them Angel Eggs though) and we attacked four bags of chips and some peach Nestea. There were 5 Hungarian girls and two American kids around the table, and the adults snuck out onto the patio table. 

We played some Disney movies in Hungarian that we had bought here, and the American kids watched a movie on the laptop...and all the little girls ran around putting stickers on stuff, getting tickled, sneaking spoons, playing with dolls on sticks, getting in trouble for jumping on the couch, trying to dive off the deck, coming up to talk to me and me just 'smiling and nodding' because I couldn't understand a word, and gravitating toward Daddy because he just can't resist playing with little kids. At one point he was completely surrounded by three of them, and Princess got a little jealous (this is GOOD!) and hopped right up onto his lap and put her arm around his neck possessively so everyone would know "this is my Apa". 

We had some good conversation with Brian and Michelle, sharing stories and plans, and discovering how congruent our lives are. We are like a mirror couple almost...they just have lots more kids than us :). I hope we can keep in touch in the future, and keep up with how our girls are doing. 

We snapped a quick picture before we went up for lunch to take this little bouquet of orange geraniums to the Montreys. The one with both of our faces is even better. Two more weeks and I can switch out the picture!

Update: I'm actually kind of grieving over the silly cat that we catnapped last night. I was secretly hoping all day that he would come back for another 4 hours of cuddle time...but alas, my little treats and water bowl outside the doggy door went untouched, and no little nose pushed its way in to our apartment today. Going through kitten withdrawals. I have to post one more pic, he was just way too cute. And sleepy.

Princess kept asking all day "Hol van matskababa?" (where is the baby cat?) I guess she misses him too. Okay, just one more pic. The cuteness factor was absolutely ridiculous...he just couldn't get enough love, and I could hardly handle it.

 

More "Firsts"

It's fun learning what Princess knows and what she doesn't, and being able to teach her things. Here are some more "firsts" that we get to experience with her:

Climbing a tree. Monkey crept right up to the top branch, but Princess didn't quite know what to do and was a little scared at first.

Slides at the pool and the park even seemed "new" to her...but she soon started zooming down on her own and saying "meggitzen!" (again!) each time.

 Cutting with scissors, and especially using glue seemed like the most amazing things to her when I showed her. She caught right on to making a paper chain, and I found her making her own 6' long chain the next day...and working on it again the next day...she LOVES the glue stick for some reason!

 The laptop was of no interest to her at first, and she had no curiosity about it. But after showing her some animal games (after searching for a while, I finally found some simple games that taught numbers, colors, and animals, and mouse clicking and dragging) http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/preschool/animals.htm she started to point to the screen when I asked her "where is the pig?" etc, and after much practicing, she can now click and drag with the mouse.

Speech progress:  I did a bunch of research online about speech therapy at home, and came up with some great free resources. We are working on making the sounds "s", "sh", "z" and "r"....and got some great ideas here: http://www.speechlanguageandbeyond.com/Products.html
I made some charts and mimed in Hunglish that she gets a sticker every time she makes a great effort at making these "new sounds". There's something magical about a sticker I guess, and this totally motivated her to try even more.
We also tried a new trick using a straw - holding it in front of her closed teeth and making the air go through the straw, and not around it...teaches how to hold your tongue for the "s" sound. It actually worked! 

Coolest thing that happened today:
This little black kitten walked right into our apartment from the doggy door tonight. He is the friendliest, cuddliest little guy. 

We gave him some lunch meat and milk, and played with him for a while. He was "nagyon farraht" (very tired) and took a nap while we all took turns holding him...

Daddy said "he's not staying the night!" ...but I left the doggy door open and he just didn't want to leave. He crawled right up in bed with the kiddos, curled up next to Monkey and went to sleep! Now how do you expect me to kick him out now!? I'll just let him take a teensy little nap...then I'll take him outside. :(  ...or maybe in the morning.

Princess was scared at first...we'd been told she was very afraid of cats because she had been bitten and scratched before. She warmed up to this little guy and played with string and petted him after a couple minutes. Now she seems to really like him.

Boredom is a gift

I saw this great quote today:
“I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.”
― Louis CK 

I think boredom is a wonderful thing. We have so much time here with nothing really to do, that it is tempting to get "bored"...and it's great. It's only then when we really are forced to get really creative. 

We had this little set of foam sticky bits that were part of a craft, and they have literally provided HOURS of fun. Back home, they wouldn't have been such a novelty because there are tons of other things to do. 

 Monkey made a chess set.

 We made wolverine claws, and had them stuck all over our faces at one point. Eyelids, we discovered, are the funniest places to put them. Feels funny when you peel them off too, which adds to the fun.

 Monkey also made a zoo, and some robots.

We had time to enjoy sunshiney rain. Isn't it cool when it does that?!

We went for another walk today, and explored some more little side streets we hadn't seen before. Tried out some new grocery stores...SPAR is my favorite now. Either nobody ever buys anything, or they pay a guy to constantly face the shelves, it looks so neat and organized in here. I actually saw a couple of GREEN veges in this store! Rare around here...although I have never seen Kale or Avacados anywhere, I wouldn't last long here without those.

We had to get another Pottyos Turi Rudi for Princess...and some "chokite" milk. Monkey was overjoyed that he found strawberry milk. The snacks didn't even make it out of the store before they were inhaled. Spandex lady beat us out the door. Don't forget your spandex pants if you ever travel here...apparently they are the staple clothing item. I may just paint my clothes on tomorrow so I can fit in.

More time to kill....we found a video store! We bought two videos for Princess, and to kind of have a souvenir of the language. But alas, our laptop isn't compatible. We'll have to find a Region 2 compatible player later in life. :(

Even more time to kill...played a little game balancing on the side blocks. Carrying home our groceries is always fun. See why we have to go to the store EVERY day? Can only get enough to carry in our 3 bags we have. Stuff spoils in a day here, so we'd have to go back anyway.

 Monkey's favorite spot - the CANDY booth. His eyes get wide like this whenever we pass...and once in a while we actually get a little something. Then I'm the best mommy ever.

 
Wine is extremely popular here...can get kegs of it on the street, or fancy-schmancy bottles...or at Tesco bottles for only $1.50!

Then we just sat around for a while...we do that a lot!
 
Princess started playing "Hol Vagyok?" (Where Am I?) which turned into a crazy giggling fest.

And as usual we swim and soak in the hot tub.

BOREDOM? We know no such word. :)

Kávé, mosoda & the English teacher

Kávé (kah-vay) is coffee...and we LOVE our coffee. We really miss working in the church coffee shop and getting to experiment with all sorts of different lattes, cappuccinos and mochas. There is a little shop around every corner here selling cappuccino for about $1.00 or $1.50 (but they are only about 6 ounces)...but even that can get expensive.

Our coffee maker cracked the first day we turned it on, so we make coffee in our apartment every morning with a filter over a cup. Luckily we have a water boiler that makes hot water in about 30 seconds. Works pretty good!

Today I felt crafty and attempted to make cappuccino, whisking milk over the stove to froth it. It frothed up nice and foamy, and poured over half a cup of extra strong coffee with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar it was the perfect cappuccino! Yey :)

It's also mosoda day around here. That's laundry. It's every other day, actually. Our teeny tiny washing machine is great, it's just teeny tiny. And it takes about 2 hours for it to wash one load...and it sounds like a helicopter taking off in the bathroom. Then the fun part comes, and we get to hang everything up on the rack that I drag outside. Oh, how I miss my dryer. Evidently very few people in this country have dryers...they are too expensive I'm told. I think I'd take out a second mortgage to buy one if I had to, if I lived here.

I was in the pool playin around in the deep end with water monkey and miss Water Wing yesterday, and a man and two women were laying in their lounge chairs watching us the entire 45 minutes. I'm used to this...people stare at us all the time because we are rare and speak English, and especially because we have a little girl speaking Magyar, calling us Apa and Anya. Makes everyone wonder what in the world is going on.

But later on in the hot tub we got to talking with the woman. She spoke English!!! What a rare treat to have a conversation with someone. She was an English teacher in a high school in a town nearby...and we learned how she wants to go to the US so bad, because everything is so much better there. From what she has seen in movies, anyway. :) Jobs don't pay much here for teachers...she said janitors make more. I didn't tell her that teachers are underpaid in the US too. They think it's so NEAT that in one country you can snow ski, go to the beach, climb a mountain, and drive through the desert, and go to a big city. She wanted to know all about adoption, and why the children are being adopted...and agreed it was sad how they can get "stuck" in the system for so long, like our little girl did. If the birth parents keep contact with them for even once a year, it keeps them "ineligible" for adoption. I guess Princess was visited regularly for a while, then it tapered off but was still more than once a year for her first 6 years. I'm told she didn't really know who it was, just that a friend was visiting. I don't have any pictures or info about the bio mother...kinda wish I did.

The English teacher told us they were watching me and the kids so intently because they were interested in how much "love" we showed to each other....mixed in with the fact that I was "Anya" to a Magyar child. I was teaching them how to swim, and playing ball and squirt gun with them the whole time...laughing and giggling and having fun. You don't see many more moms in the water playing with their kids - they all lay out to get a tan here. Another way we stick out like sore thumbs, I guess. But I thought that was a great compliment :)

Progress: Today in school we practiced letters in a tray of sugar, tracing the letters with our fingers. I turned into the English teacher, teaching her the names of the letters. She still can't say "S", "R", or "Z" so we work with her on that every day. Today she finally said R and Z!!!! I taught her how to stick her lips out, and "nem" use her tongue like "L" ...and growled like a dog...finally she said "rrr" and she got a cookie, a high five, and a twirl around the living room on daddy's shoulders to celebrate.  Then I showed her that Z is actually an S sound along with a hum...and after a lot of practicing she started "buZZZ"ing like a bee! More high fives and another twirl. Speech therapy class done for today. Time for another cappuccino.

Today it's been 2 WEEKS since we got custody of Princess. She's really coming out of her shell, and fitting in with us, picking on us even, very well. She can be very funny. 

I'm hungry!

At the bus station we saw little mud bird nests in almost every corner of the outdoor 'ceiling'...and how nice of them, they made little ledges underneath each one in case the babies would fall out. 

This one had three little bitty baby birdies poking their heads out and "cheaping" as if they were hungry and waiting for a meal. It was nice entertainment as we waited for the bus to Tesco.

The "cheaping" for food is strangely familiar to how the two kiddos are always saying "I'm hungry!!" waiting for me to place a morsel of food in front them them so they can wolf it down. I'm pretty sure there are some growing spurts going on here. We eat at least every 3 hours...we eat all the time it feels like.

Tonight after a nighttime swim and showers and pj's, I peeled some oranges, and sprinkled a bunch of cherries and peanuts on a plate...and had to pull my arm back quickly after I sat it on the counter for them, kind of like throwing in a steak in a lion's den. Watch out or your arm might get taken off. They're like a couple of ravenous hyenas. The plate was licked clean in less than 2.5 minutes. Five minutes later I heard again "I'm hungry"..."I'm hungry"...I hear that in my dreams now. 

Progress: Princess took a shower, dried off, got dressed, and combed her hair all by herself tonight. She acted pretty proud of herself, it was pretty cute. And she kept the shower door SHUT the whole time, yey!

A Walk in the Park

We have ALL day, EVERY day together as a family. In real life this won't be possible with working and such...and it really is a blessing to have all this time together to get to know eachother.

But there is only so much you can do with limited belongings that have to fit in a suitcase including 2 games and a deck of cards. The pool helps, and we eat and clean a LOT of the time.

Thank goodness there is a park only a five minute walk away. We go when it's not so hot in the evenings, although we still come back all sweaty because it's so muggy out. And buggy. But it's beautiful!

Daddy and Monkey love the 'monkey' bars and the jungle gym...climbing all over like little spider monkeys. Princess prefers the 'hinta' (swing), and can swing for days if she was allowed.

In the other section of the park is a zip line where you can fling your children...and they love it!

Daddy won't fling them until they say "ready!", so this is one English word Princess knows well.
Sometimes the other kids in the park stand in line to get flung by this big strong daddy...it's so much more fun than just sitting on it and going slow!

On the way to the park we usually see miniature horsies and a camel, waiting to haul kids around on their back. Too expensive for us, but we did sneak in a pet when we passed the horse once. Look at this poor camel, hiding under the bleachers to get out of the sun, poor guy.

They also have two- or four-person bikes that you can ride around the park. One of these days when it's not so muggy we might scratch together some forints and try this out. They also have 'mini' bikes for two little kids....AND a 'super mini' one for teeny tiny kids. Too cute!

Some days we hear music from the zip line, and we can see the old man playing a violin. We went over and threw in a few forints (about 20 cents worth) into his open case so the kids could do it. And we wouldn't feel so bad about standing and staring at him for a whole song.

This is right next to the fountain, with all the pretty flowers around it. We like to make a scene and reach over the edge and splash around to cool off.

And just beyond that is a little open area where vendors open shop every day. It's fun to look around sometimes...not so fun to say "nem" so many times when they want to buy stuff.

Then there is this big Bell structure, which was a privately funded memorial to all the people who died in the battles in the wars to free Hungary. I think it's customary to ring bells here in remembrance of the fallen. It's really pretty, anyway!

And then there's this. I have no idea what to even say about this. Very random! We thought it was funny. That's daddy's face.

So that's where you'll find us most days....walking in the park!

The Test

Today was about as eventful as this:

8:02 - woke up and ate cheerios because mommy didn't want to do dishes.
8:30 - frantically cleaned the apartment because the social workers were coming today
9:16 - everyone dressed, teeth brush, & hair combed (I love this part, I get to braid hair!)
9:19 - sat around organizing little things on the floor into patterns to kill time

10:12 - Adam called us on the Hungarian T-Mobile phone, and we had to go let them in the gate
10:15 - Two social workers that we had met before came to see how we were doing, and asked a lot of questions like what does she eat, what's her daily routine, how is bedtime, how are you getting her to listen to you, how is she getting along with Monkey....it was the first of the two big Tests to get their approval of whether or not we can keep her. We showed them a video we took of a big conversation Princess had with us, because they still can't believe she actually talks. She is a completely different person than they have known all these years, she's really starting to come out of her shell. We also showed them all the schoolwork she has done, and some of the crafts. Adam translated that "we are doing very wonderful with her". Yey!

That test was over, and we passed with flying colors. Next was Monkey's test for mommy.
It finally happened, like I knew it would one of these days. The novelty of Princess wore off for him, and he threw a ginormous fit for about 2 hours...getting mad about every little thing. At one point he yelled "why did we ever have to get her!?"   He had quite a few time outs, and lost everything electronic one by one for the next week. I'm such a bad mommy, and I made him lay on the bed and pray, and tell God about everything he is frustrated about and ask for patience and peace. We had a long talk about why we are doing this as a reminder to him, and talked through why he was frustrated. It was another life lesson that we will always be frustrated about some things in our life (like having to share mom & dad's time and attention, share snacks, and toys), but it's how we respond to it that really matters. And that we give everything over to God. He came out after a while and apologized, and the rest of the day was a breeze...and he had a great time with her.

12:20 - lunch eaten, daddy ran off to the gym
2:10 - we finished with school, snack, games and crafts & daddy got home
3:53 - Monkey and I speed-walked to the bus station, carrying our reusable grocery bags to get the free ride to Tesco
5:30 - with as many groceries as we could carry, caught the bus back home
6:20 - had tacos for dinner. I was so happy the white stuff I bought was actually sour cream! Score!!
6:35 - jumped in the pool before we were kicked out at 7:00, when it "closes". What's up with that?

One more improvement - Princess took a shower ALL by herself. She kept opening the shower doors to one centimeter, just to make sure I wasn't going anywhere...and I had to show her how to adjust the temperature by saying "hideg" (cold) and "forro" (hot) and pointing to the faucet. Then I had to teach her how to dry off. I don't think she's ever had to dry herself off before...and I had to show her by 'drying' my dry self off and walking her through it. She did great, and got herself dressed...giggling the entire time.

Warnings - apparently from 11-3 the UV rays are extremely dangerous, and we are under a 'warning' to stay out of the sun during that time. Really cuts down on the fun activities around here.
Also - the mosquitos are more like mutant poisonous flying rodents. And they only like girls. Princess and I are covered with big red welts that itch like crazy (two on the back of my leg are 1.5 inches in diameter!), and the boys don't have any. We get a new one every day, and are experimenting with 3 different kinds of itch creams and potions.

Pest and Buda

Tuesday we had an appointment with the American Consolate at the US Embassy in Budapest, to start the process of getting Princess's VISA and Hungarian Passport. What a beautiful city!

We found a fantastic fountain that seemed to have sensors on it...as soon as you stepped close to a portion of it, it turned off just in that section. Monkey couldn't get enough of this. That's how he got to the middle of it without getting wet.

We were not allowed to take any pictures of the Embassy, it was fenced off and guarded and you had to go through metal detectors, and you had to be 'on the list' before they let you through security. But we did get a picture with Ronald Reagan.  ??

Princess had to get in one of those photo booths to take her passport picture....but she was too short and kept giving goofy looks. Finally on the 86th try, we got her to kneel on the stool and scowl. It was a winner.

We signed a bunch of forms written in Hungarian, paid for the VISA, and will come back in about 20 days to get the VISA and the passport for Princess. Everything is coordinated perfectly, and going smoothly!

......then we went to lunch, because it was nearly 10:45 and that's all we really do is eat. We also got a ride in the world's smallest (& scariest) elevator. Now, I really like small things...but I took the stairs on the way down. I would have taken the stairs even if we had ridden up to the 23rd floor. Kids thought it was fun though.

Since we were in Budapest with time to kill, we asked to see one of the Castles. I still can't help but revel in the fact that there used to be real kings living in castles here. I guess I don't get out much...and maybe we're just not in Kansas anymore. (although it was so hot it felt like it)

We got to park the car inside the 'compound' for the low price of $22 for a whole hour, but it was worth it. I have a master plan to print a bunch of these prints out in black and white and frame them to decorate my living room...someday when I learn to decorate.

 Wow...those knights must have been really tiny men. Ha!

 This was someone's "apartment". That word just somehow doesn't capture the coolness of this dwelling place. I'd call it more of a private abode if I were them. They live inside a kingdom, for goodness sakes.

 Pest-Buda. Wait a minute...isn't that backwards? Pest and Buda are two different cities, merged together like twin cities. I guess they used to call it Pest-Buda, but maybe Budapest is easier to say??

 Of course the kingdom was on a hill overlooking the city, so the view was fantabulous....right by the Danube river of course.

 What a great picture of the two of us with the Parliament 'castle' across the Danube River in the background. Too bad it was too sunny and you can't see it.

 Monkey used some of his spending money to buy this little wooden chicken game...you twirl it around and the chickens peck at painted seeds.

 Just wait til you see the front view of this one, it's way cuter.

I think this was the church of the kingdom, the roof alone was a work of art. Hundreds of years and this place is almost like new. Can't say that about the places built today, made of plastic and cheap stuff. 

And of course like every other place in this country, there is a fagyi stand. They are only about 80 cents to $1.00 a cone, so we've been stopping at A LOT of fagyi stands.

Back in the car for another 2 and a half hour drive 'home'. Princess is a fantastic traveler, just sitting quietly. We watched A Bugs Life to pass the time. Back at home we hopped in the pool to cool off from a sweaty day, and I made meatballs and mushroom sauce for the family and Rita who stayed with us for a couple of days. We have so much fun with her, she is so cute and fun. We like to laugh at each other's pronunciation of words and my inability to make the 'eu' sound because I can't get my lips to stick out far enough.