weekend #2

we have had another good weekend. thursday evening we went to eat with a co-worker of matt's. we ran into her on the street last sunday and spent some time talking, so we decided to go out to eat with her. she is only here for a 5 week assignment. it was fun to talk to a girl around my age though. matt worked half the day on friday, so we could look at more apartments in the afternoon. we really liked the first one we saw so we put out an offer. they accepted and we proceeded to mull over it for the next day. :\ we were so back and forth on the price. is it too much? can we find something cheaper, but just as nice? what is it in euros? forints? dollars? are we getting a good deal? are they taking advantage of us? what's the common cost (the building fees)? what are the pros? what are the cons? blah, blah, blah. well, after another look at the street and the park on saturday, we are totally sold, even if it is a little out of our price range. we LOVE the tree-lined street (hard to come by in the city) and the AWESOME park, just 2 blocks away! it's also 2 blocks away from the river, a busy street with shops, cafes and resturants, 2 different tram stops and very close to margit island. we hope to go back for another look at the apartment on monday or tuesday, but we are pretty sold already. if we really end up getting it i will tell about it later.

(vaci utca - the big tourist walking street. very fun to people watch! ie: the italian lady in the white)

saturday we enjoyed a lazy morning with dad at home with us. after lunch we went down to vaci utca where i proceeded to be overwhelmed, again, by the stores. really, i just don't know what i'm looking for, so when i go into the clothing stores i just freeze up and don't know what to look at or buy. i did find a stylish pair of sunglasses.

on sunday morning we visited a church called every nation. (link to main organization website.) we were given a couple's name at that church from a couple at our old church, so we decided to check it out. it's very different from christ the king and definitely a lot smaller (only 20 people), but it was great to go to church and be with other christians...americans too! there were a few hungarians. it's a new church plant that just started having services in april. after church we went to lunch with two couples from church and their children. it was beautiful outside, so we sat under some trees next to an open area so the kids could run around and release energy. great idea! we really enjoyed talking to these couples, hearing about some of their experiences and just hearing an american english accent! seriously, i can go days without hearing one american accent. i'm not saying that's good or bad, but it's just comforting to hear something familiar. anyway...we had a great lunch out with some new friends.

i almost forgot...today was the international budapest marathon. we aware that it was going to end near where the church is located, but what we didn't realize was that it started around there too! we came up the stairs onto the street from the metro to thousands of people running down the street! it was a pretty cool sight! unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me. :( (a lesson learned. if i don't want to take the big camera, just throw in the little one, so you have something!) the funny part is that we had to get across the street to get to church and you can't walk under the ground to get to the other side of the street. so, what did we do? we ran across amidst the runners! ha!

rrrrrr, the big grocery store i was excited to visit today because i had matt with me to help carry groceries was closed when we got there at 5:30 p.m.! it closes at 1p.m. on sundays, 4p.m. on saturdays and 8p.m. on the weekdays. duly noted. it looks like a good store. sarah, i'm pretty sure it was one you and i went to across from the pretty nyugati train station, down the stairs by the metro stop. do you remember???