Thanksgiving in Budapest

So its been a really long time since I last posted here. I'm sorry for the delay, I have been really with school lately. The Thanksgiving weekend has given me a little extra time to update this blog.

Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Hungary. Thus there was nothing special that happened within the city. Fortunately I am in an American-style school, so we had a holiday this Thursday. Although Hungarians do not celebrate Thanksgiving I was still able to have a good Thanksgiving Turkey dinner on Friday. I was able to meet up with the Calvin students studying in Budapest with the Calvin program. They prepared an excellent Thanksgiving meal. We were still able to eat all the traditional Thanksgiving foods from the turkey and stuffing to some pumpkin pie for desert. I may not have had the privilege to be home with my family this Thanksgiving, but I still did get a great meal and a great group of people to eat dinner with. It certainly made this Thanksgiving a memorable day.

It was with shock that I realize I have less than three weeks left in Budapest. I keep asking myself, "where did the time go?" and "how is it I've been here 3 and a half months already?"

It is with very mixed feelings that I see my time in Budapest coming to a close. Budapest is very different from Grand Rapids is so many ways. There are many things from home that I miss greatly and there are many things here that I have become very attached to and will make it very hard to leave this city.

I'll begin with some of the things I miss. I miss my family back home. Especially my 10 year old sister. Email has enabled me to keep in pretty close contact with my parents during my time here, but I have had very little communication with my sister. It will be nice to return home so that I can spend some quality time with her.
I miss Sherman Street Christian Reformed Church. When I left I knew this would be one of the hardest things to go without for four months. I've found a couple churches here that I really enjoy (and are all in English), but they just aren't the same. At Sherman Street I really feel like I can call the church my own. Many people there know me quite well and I really feel like part of the community. Also I haven't found preaching that I enjoy nearly as much as Pastor David Kromminga's sermons at Sherman Street. I have been able listen to his sermons on the internet, which has been very enjoyable. Even so, it just hasn't been the same.
I miss my friends back home. I have some wonderful friends at Calvin whom I haven't had the opportunity to see or talk to in a very long time. Every time I get an email or some contact from them I am reminded of what wonderful friends I have. I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone again.
I miss knowing how everything works. Shopping for food, buying train tickets, eating in restaurants, attending concerts, sending mail, riding public transportation and many more things are just done differently in Hungary. Although Budapest is a very international city always hosting thousands of visitors from all cultures of the globe, I have lived here long enough when to know when I am not doing something the right way. Because Budapest is such an international city the people here are very tolerant of my failure to know how to function correctly in everyday life. Even so, it isn't a pleasant feeling to know I'm doing something the wrong way. Especially I've lived here three months and I still realize that I haven't figured out the very basics yet.

There is much more I could write about here, but that will have to wait until another day.
Hope all is well with everyone. And once again I am very sorry I was unable to keep this adequately updated this last month.