This past weekend we filled up all 7 seats of the Dacia, and drove to Subotica, Serbia.
Our purpose in going was to take some people from our church to see the work that God has done through the Calvary Chapel there - which was the first one in Central/Eastern Europe.
On Saturday we hung out in the city, ate some great čevapi and hung out with friends from the church.
Nate and Felicia like traveling and found plenty of places to play and run around.
(pictures by Kovács Kati)
Because the Subotica church service is on Sunday evenings, Sunday morning we went down to Bačka Topola for church, and I had the privilege of preaching the sermon.
After church we went to a lake outside of town, where we drank coffee and the kids got to play at a playground.
Later in the afternoon we went back to Subo for lunch, and we hung out in the church coffee shop until service started.
Church in Subotica:
On Monday morning we headed back home to Eger, but we did some shopping first. We found this juice, which I think God ordained for our family:
I think we need to find a way to get this stuff by the trucklload!
To add to what I wrote yesterday - I looked into it and found out that Starbucks already operates stores in Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and according to Wikipedia they have a store in Serbia too - although I couldn't find any evidence of that on the internet.
Another thing that some people might find interesting, is that Starbucks also owns Seattle's Best Coffee company - a former competitor of theirs, which they purchased in 2003. So, if you thought that by buying Seattle's Best coffee you were fighting against the big corporate giant of Starbucks, you actually were actually doing just the opposite. Oops :)
A few years ago we took a trip through Serbia and Kosovo. It was 2003, so the Kosovo conflict of 1999 and the NATO bombing of Serbia was still fairly fresh.
In Serbia we tried to keep a pretty low profile as Americans, since many Serbs were obviously not too happy about the US having bombed their country. We had a good time in Belgrade, we liked the city a lot and found people very friendly and kind.
But in Kosovo, it was a completely different situation. The city itself is nothing special. Sightseeing in Prishtina consisted of visiting the UN headquarters, the big hotel, the (black) market (ok, that was actually pretty fun), and the money changers - like 20 guys standing around near a bus stop who changed money as a business (ok, that was fun too:) The cool think was that in Prishtina we were very open about being Americans, because since that same NATO bombing, many Kosovars love Americans. We got treated great - we were given free pastries in bakeries and free coffee in cafés, a good price on exchanging money - just because we were American.
America is viewed as having saved Kosovo - and the savior himself is Bill Clinton. And they certainly love him. The main street in downtown Prishtina is named Bill Clinton Boulevard. We even saw his name on random other stuff, like this company which sells marble.
This past week, for the love of Bill, a 3 meter tall statue of him was erected in the Kosovar capital. Bill himself was there to unveil it. Here's a video of it, and here is an article, which contains one of the pictures I took back in 2003.
The biggest industry in Eger is automotive, which is obviously struggling and lots of people have lost their jobs here, including many people in our church.
GM has announced that they are going to end their Pontiac brand. Personally, I don't mind. I know that Pontiac is an iconic American car, but they really haven't made anything great in quite a few years. Most of their cars just look like other GM cars with different body trim on them, but you pay more for them than for a Chevy.
Even though GM is having a hard time these days, Fiat seems to be doing great.
GM Europe entered talks recently over the possibility of selling the Opel and Vauxhall brands to Fiat. Fiat has also been trying to buy up Chrysler - which is almost bankrupt.
As of last year, the Zastava auto factory in Kragujevac, Serbia no longer produces Yugos, but they have started producing cars for Fiat. Serbia is providing a trade-in deal for anyone who can push, pull, or drag in their old Yugo. This way they can produce and sell more cars and get the old, unfit cars off the roads. The cars being produced in Serbia are the same as the Fiat Punto, but carry the name Zastava Z10. Apparently its going pretty well for them, because the factory has more orders than they can keep up with. Zastava seems to be one of the only auto factories around with that problem! The other day, as I was walking around in town, I noticed a car dealership that is selling the new Zastava/Fiat cars here in Eger:
This year marks 20 years since 1989, when many of the communist regimes of Eastern Europe fell. The BBC has a cool page about this, with old video footage from 1989: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7961732.stm
Was Women's Day in many countries of Europe - mostly the former communist countries. The poster to the right is a Soviet-era Women's Day poster from Russia. Happy Women's Day to all the ladies out there!
I found out that Balázs knows off the top of his head the exact size of the Eger plaza (mall). We were talking about a mall in Debrecen, and Balázs asked, "Is that mall bigger than the Eger mall, because the one here is 19,000 square meters." We were impressed. He can't find Peru on a map, but he knows the exact dimensions of the mall.
The Volvo Kupa ended today in Eger, with Hungary playing the final match against the USA. Despite my rooting for the US, Hungary won the match 13-4. Congrats Hungary. However, it wasn't enough for them to win the tournament, which was won by Serbia. Here are the final standings: 1. Serbia 2. Hungary 3. Romania 4. USA I spent a lot of time trying to think up a good excuse for why the US lost, but in the end I gave up - they lost, really bad. Oh well, life goes on. Maybe I should start rooting for another team. Hajrá Szerbia!
Ma:
Nőnap volt számos európai országban – főleg a volt-kommunista országokban. A fenti poszter egy Szovjet nőnapi poszter. Boldog nőnapot kívánok a hölgyeknek!
Kiderült, hogy Balázs fejből tudja, hogy pontosan hány négyzet méter az egri pláza. Beszélgettünk egy debreceni plázáról, és Balázs megkérdezi, „Az ottani pláza nagyobb mint az itteni? Mert az itteni 19 ezer négyzet méter.” Tyű. Le voltunk nyűgözve. Nem tudja hol van Peru egy térképen, de pontosan tudja, hogy hány négyzet méter az Agria Park.
A Volvo Kupának ma lett vége itt Egerben, és az utolsó meccs Magyarország – USA volt. Az USÁért való drukkolásom ellenére, Magyarország nyert 13-4. Gratulálok, kedves magyarok. Viszont, ez még nem volt elég ahozz, hogy Magyarország megnyerje a tornát, amelyet Szerbia megnyerte. Ez volt a torna végeredménye: 1. Szerbia 2. Magyarország 3. Románia 4. USA Jó sokáig próbáltam kitalálni egy jó kifogást arra, hogy az USA miért nem nyerte meg, de végül feladtam. Verést szenvedtek, egész rendesen. Nem baj, ezt is túl fogom élni. Lehet hogy mostantól fogva egy másik országért kéne drukkolnom. Hajrá Szerbia!
I know its kind of late to be writing about the New Year, but we've been very busy here in California, so I haven't had a lot of time to sit and write. So, once again, this post will contain some pretty random thoughts.
Rosemary and I are officially geezers. Or maybe misers. Whatever - we are old and boring. Our New Year's Eve of 2008 was not spent partying like it was 1999, but rather going to bed around 10pm, because we were tired and bored. We watched a movie, and then around 10 decided to just go to bed. I remember that my parents used to do this same thing, and I thought they were so old and weird. Now that has become us...
As the clock struck midnight and 2008 gave way to 2009, a few things changed in Europe: - As 2008 passed into history, so did the Slovak Koruna, as Slovakia became the first of the former Warsaw Pact countries to integrate to using the Euro currency and join the Eurozone. Congrats to SK! Hungary is still not going to be getting the Euro for many years to come... - On Jan 1st, Czech Republic became the first of the former Warsaw Pact countries to take over the 6-month rotating EU presidency. One of their stated goals is working towards EU membership for the Balkan nations, specifically for Serbia. - Vilnius, Lithuania and Linz, Austria became the new European Capitals of Culture.
This has nothing to do with the New Year, but I was turned on to a very funny blog by a friend of ours: www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com It has pictures of professional cakes, some with mistakes, others just unbelievably weird, etc... Browse through it if you have time; some of the stuff on there is really funny - we cracked up.
Anyways, I hope you had a happy New Year, and pray that your 2009 will be blessed.
I ran across this video on Youtube. Its an advertisement for tourism in Belgrade from the 80s. I wonder why they don't make tourism adverts like this anymore...
It is the end of an era. The Zastava auto plant in Kragujevac, Serbia stopped production of the Yugo car last Thursday.
Its kind of hard to be sad about this, considering that I had just assumed they stopped making Yugos a long time ago - kind of like when Ronald Reagan died; I was sad, but I was mostly surprised that he had actually still been alive until then! Like 6 months before his death I even asked someone - Hey, Ronald Reagan already passed away, right? And they said - Yea, I think so... Turns out that they've been making Yugos (although less and less) all the way up until last Thursday, which means that the Yugo not only outlived the Trabant, it also outlived the country it was named after!
Production of the Yugo began in 1981, and for much of its lifetime, the Yugo was the cheapest car in the world - the 2007 models cost about €3500 new. One of my aunts in California used to drive a Yugo. I remember riding around in it. It was kind of like being in a small Suzuki, just more uncomfortable.
The Zastava factory has signed an agreement with Fiat - Fiat will fix up the factory which was damaged by NATO bombing, and will be producing 2 new Fiat models, possibly up to 200,000 a year by 2010. You can be sure though that the Yugo will not be quickly forgotten - there are still quite a few on the streets in Hungary and its estimated that 1 in 3 people in Serbia have owned a Yugo at some time in their life! Even the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia has a Yugo, and did an interview with the BBC while driving it in downtown Belgrade. Here's the video.
The biggest problem with the Yugo being gone, is that all the jokes about them will not pass on to future generations. In that sense, this is a great loss for humanity. Here are some Yugo jokes to help you say goodbye to the Yugoslav wonder:
Why does a Yugo have a defroster on the rear window? To keep your hands warm while you push it.
What do you call a Yugo's shock absorbers? Passengers.
The new Yugo has an air bag. Before an accident, start pumping real fast.
How do you double the value of a Yugo? Fill the gas tank.
What do you call a Yugo at the top of a hill? A miracle.
Back a few years ago, Rosemary and I and two of our friends, Naveen and Sunil, took a trip to Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia. At the time I was still using a 35mm Pentax SLR camera - from 1983. Its a great camera - no auto-focus or other automatic settings on it at all, just a simple light meter. I stopped using it a while back, because it jams up a lot, and using film just isn't practical - its a lot more work and a lot more expensive. Recently I started getting some of our most memorable 35mm pictures digitized, and the first batch we did was the set from our ex-Yugo trip. Here are some of the pictures from Sarajevo, which despite its sad recent history, is one of the most beautiful and interesting cities we've ever been to. RIP old Pentax!
On our trip to Bulgaria, we flew into Burgas, on the southern Black Sea coast, stayed at the beach for a few days, and then rented a car and drove up through Varna to Veliko Tarnovo, the medieval capital of the Bulgarian Kingdom - a very cool place with lots of history, a big castle, and a bunch of monasteries nearby. We spent a few days in Veliko Tarnovo, before heading back to Bugas to fly back to Hungary. On our way back we took a different route, going over the Balkan mountains which run through the center of Bulgaria. I have to say that the roads in Bulgaria were much better than I had expected. A few weeks before we went, I was in Romania, and was on some of the worst roads in my life. Bulgaria's roads were light-years ahead of even the "good roads" in Romania. Nevertheless, the road trip took a lot longer than we were expecting - almost 2 hrs longer each way. But the thing that kept us going was that there were plenty of interesting things to see along the way. Here are some highlights:
Nathaniel did a great job in the car!
He slept most of the way, and the rest of the time he kept himself busy with some light reading.
Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet, which means that most signs were in only Cyrillic
Even the McDonald's sign!
This can obviously cause some confusion, especially for Japanese tour groups:
We saw lots of interesting stuff along the way, including beautiful old stone bridges
We saw this Trabant, which had a Texas Tech sticker on it, which goes to prove that the Trabant is not only the car of the common worker, but of the Texas Tech University grad too!
Nessebar police drive the same car that we do - Peugeot 306 Break!
Quite frankly, I'm not surprised, as this is the greatest car ever made (sarcasm). I like to tell people that in the word Peugeot, the letter P stands for power, the letter S stands for speed, and the letter R stands for reliability...if you get what I'm saying.
Speaking of police, along the main roads there were these cardboard cutouts of police cars - obviously to make people slow down. They worked actually, except usually you could tell the difference, because the cardboard ones were covered in graffiti.
But my absolute favorite thing on the road in Bulgaria were these signs everywhere, saying "You are now entering the danger zone!"
Wait...so, in other words, they are telling people that they are on "the highway to the danger zone?" Its almost as if I've heard that somewhere before...
We went to Bulgaria earlier this month to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, Nathaniel's first birthday, and just to take it easy after a summer full of conferences, camps, and other activities. I've been wanting to go to Bulgaria for quite some time now. I even wrote a blog about it way back in 2006. We had a really great time, and we'd recommend it to anyone who is considering traveling there. The beaches were nice and the accommodations were affordable. We'll probably go back someday.
Here are some of our impressions of Bulgaria:
Its really hot.
Hungary is hot too, but in a different way. The part of BG we were in, near the Black Sea, has a Mediterranean climate, and its very hot and very dry. On one hot day I asked a shop owner if the weather was normal, or especially hot - he said that they have blazing hot weather from June to September. But, I have to say, that everywhere we went in Bulgaria there was air-conditioning. Even in small little shops and restaurants. That was nice, because we needed it!
It reminded us a lot of Mexico.
And I mean that in a good way. We like Mexico; we went on our honeymoon in Veracruz, Mexico. There were many things in Bulgaria that reminded us of Mexico, from the dry climate to the sandy beaches and warm sea, from the attitudes of the taxi drivers to the food. There were even a lot of Mexican restaurants in Nessebar. There was one next to our hotel, even with a guy in a sombrero trying to talk people into coming inside. We were thinking pretty seriously about it, until the guy told us that they only serve pizza and spaghetti! But there were other restaurants there that served real Mexican food.
Great food.
We really enjoyed the food in Bulgaria. Rosemary ate a lot of shopska salad, I ate a lot of grilled meat. I especially ate a lot of kavarma - a stew kind of thing with tons of spices. I like spicy food, and Bulgarian food made me sweat - which in my book is a good thing. They also, like Hungary, are a wine-growing nation, and they had grape vines everywhere. Living in Eger, we don't drink wine very often, but we have gotten to know a bit about wine, and what constitutes good wine - and I was really impressed with Bulgarian red wine, especially one called Thracian Gold.
They shake their heads for yes, and nod for no. That's super confusing.
At least once a day we got confused by this. Like in a restaurant - you ask for bread and the waitress just shakes her head and walks away. You think for a second, "Man, that waitress is rude!", and by that time she puts the bread on the table. Or at one point I ended up in this small village, almost out of gas, and with no cash - and I was asking if there was a gas station, an ATM, and if I could pay with a card at the gas station. The girl just kept nodding and shaking her head, and I was just terribly confused for a few minutes until I got it straight!
These are just a few general impressions. I'll write a bit more later. If you'd like to see our pictures from BG, then click here.
Last Monday, September 1, was Nathaniel's first birthday! One year ago we first saw Nate-dogg's little face and held him in our hands for the first time. His name means "Gift of God," and thats truly what he is! Over the last year we've been blessed to watch this little gift grow from a tiny baby into a little boy, who is now trying to walk and talk and do other big boy stuff. We celebrated Nate's first birthday in Slanchev Bryag (Sunny Beach), Bulgaria. We had a lot of "firsts" last week in Bulgaria - Nate's first birthday, his first piece of cake, his first time at the beach, and his first time swimming in the sea. Indecently, it wasn't Nate's first time abroad or even on an airplane. He's already been to the USA, Germany, Slovakia - and now Bulgaria. He's already traveled more than most people I know! He had a great time at the beach, digging in the sand, and got super excited by the waves, when we took him in the water. Here are some pictures of Nate's first birthday:
We just took a short trip down through Croatia and Bosnia to Montenegro and back. Its more than just bombed-out buildings, like many might think! Palm trees, ancient walled cities, Turkish mosques and bridges, and lots of greasy chevapi, burek, and baklava does the body good.
Oh, and our favorite Communist dictator of the 20th century would have to be Josip Broz Tito (Gorbachev is a close second, but he disqualified himself from the #1 position because of that whole arms race thing; Nagy Imre {nem az egri polgármester} is biztos jó lett volna, csak nem volt esélye...). You could argue over how good of a guy Tito was, but as far as dictators go, I don't think you could find a better one. Who else could keep such a diverse and mixed up group of people in total peace (and prosperity, compared to the rest of the Communist world) for 35 yrs? It was only after Tito's death that things got all crazy down there - which I guess shows Tito's greatest failure as a leader: that he failed to raise up people who would successfully continue what he had started. In fact, Tito did more than just keep the peace in Yugoslavia, he actually unified the people. To this day, in all the countries of former Yugoslavia (especially Bosnia), you find streets and squares and memorials commemorating Marshall Tito. The real shame is that in the West, the name "Tito" will only be remembered by most people as the name of Michael Jackson's unsuccessful older brother.
