Visiting the Olsons in Budapest, Hungry

Contrary to public opinion, a large amount of study is involved in the whole studying abroad thing.  Holding to tradition, I am blaming school for absence of updates over the last few weeks.  Now that midterms have been taken, presentations given, and proposal papers submitted, I am planning on playing catch-up this weekend.  First on the list: Budapest Hungry!!!

For the last weekend in September I took a trip to visit the Olson family in Budapest.  Tahran Olson's dad (John Helmberger) was my mom's band teacher when she was in high school.  He was the man that lead her to the Lord and our families have been close since then. 

Upon reaching Budapest after a five hour train ride I was met at the station by Tahran and Olivia.  After a quick stop at their favorite gelato shop we heading to their house.  After consuming a delicious latte (curtsy of Jason) to get us going for the afternoon, Tahran and I set out for our great cultural submersion. Our first stop was the markets to buy vegetables: 

I was really excited at how great the tomatoes looked and smelled.

We then headed to Elise's preschool to participate in what I loosely describe as a potluck.  Each of the preschool classes had its own table, fire, and pot.  All the families brought vegetables and meat and worked together to peal, cut, and slice the food before combining everything together in the pot with water and spices.    

(Tahran can get a little aggressive with her knife!) 

This is the final product!

 The next day we spent did some sightseeing at more touristy spots and shopping at the Covered Market.  This is Hero's Square, as the name indicated, the statues are of Hungry's heroes.  At the base of the pillar there are the statues of the seven tribes that formed Hungry.  They also have statues of military leaders, poets, politicians, and scientists.  I really appreciated that they consider poets and scientists to be among their heroes.

Liberty Statue overlooking the city of Budapest.  The inscription says: "To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungry."

The Covered Market is a huge building that if full of stands selling food, spices, scarves, clothes, and other tradition Hungarian things.

Fist things we did at the covered market was get food (because food is extremely important).  I went for traditional Hungarian food and got a stuffed cabbage (it was similar to a burrito wrapped in cooked cabbage) with sauerkraut and sour cream.  We also tried several different desserts before announcing we were too full for anything more.

 After the Covered Market we went to a few important spots around the city.  First stop was Parliament Square.

This square was the sight of a protest against the Soviet rule in Budapest.  The protest was peaceful and included many woman, children, and elderly.  The soldiers who were there "to insure safety" opened fighting on the crowed killing many of them.  These iron balls were placed into the bullet holes are a memorial for those who were killed.

I took a stroll down the street with Roland Reagan.

 This is a recent monument put up in memory of those who were killed during World War 2.  The eagle that is attacking is wearing a bracelet that has the date 1945 on it.  In front of the monument are artifacts and stories of Jews in Hungry during the Holocaust.

This is St. Stephen's Basilica:

On Sunday I got to experience a Hungarian church service.  The service was held outside that day and afterward we had another "soup over the fire meal". That took up most of the morning and afternoon and before i knew it I was off to the train station. One last quick stop on the way for a great cup of hot chocolate.