Goat Poo = Energy

We visited an alternative energy farm a few weeks ago. Our friend Willy drove us about 1 1/2 hours outside the city to where his project is located. The plans are drawn and they will be breaking ground soon. They will create energy out of goat...poop. The plans are exciting and extensive. I can’t wait to visit once things are up and going.

We all loaded into the back of an old soviet van and road around the different sites of the farm. It is absolutely beautiful!! Enjoy the photos.

Did you know that when Steve retires he wants to live on a farm and raise goats and bees. Goat cheese and honey sound good to me!

The goats seem to like Steve

Rape Seed (canola oil is made from this)

It is so bright it is blinding and it is everywhere!

Traveling in style

The day was so beautiful and windy! Although I am
a city girl, I think my heart is in the country.

Easter Celebrations

I know it has been a month since Easter but I have to tell you how we spent the holiday.

Our friend Andi’s parents invited us over for a traditional Easter celebration, including “sprinkling”. Easter meal is on Saturday and consists of boiled eggs, ham and horseradish (4 types of horseradish were served!). On Easter Monday, it’s customary for boys and men to sprinkle girls and women with a few drops of perfume (yeah right! I think more than a few drops was sprinkled on me!) They’re rewarded for this with an Easter egg (painted or chocolate). Most girls (myself included) wash their hair thoroughly on Monday evening to remove the strong smell of cologne. Early customs were much more exciting, with village boys splashing buckets of water over the girls.

Andi prepared me for this tradition by telling me I must bring 4 decorated eggs to her house. Four eggs for the four men who would sprinkle me. Not only was perfume sprayed on me in quantities that would kill any insect that came close to me, but also a nice seltzer bottle filled with ice cold H2O was used to squirt us down. You can see by the photos this was fun for the boys.

It was a great day. Fantastic food, great friends and lots of laughs.Enjoy the photos.

Steve helped me dye eggs the natural way
(I always used the kits growing up).
We used rubber bands and onion skins. I think they
turned out beautiful. They look like chocolate or wood.
Do you think our personalities come through in the way we decorate the eggs?
Adri and Diane
True love-Ed and Andi

Diane-after sprinkled with the water...cold
Adri running. She looks like a little girl in this photo.
Joszef running after Adri.
Chaos
Andi
Joszef, Adri and Ed
Be nice

Mom and Son

Sorry there are no photos of Steven. He was busy taking photos and I was busy running from the boys.

Mezőkövesd

Just posted to my design blog. Check it out!

An inspiring trip to Mezőkövesd

Cinco de Mayo Street Party...Budapest?!?!

On this coming Saturday, we and hundred of others--expats and Hungarians alike--will get together at the only really good Mexican food restaurant in Budapest, The Iguana.  The highlight will be a Mariachi band all the way from Vienna, Austria.  We are told that the band is made up of 3 Mexicans and 1 Austrian.  ¡Olé!

Still no internet - Part II

In this exciting blog entry, we can write that we still have no internet.  The battle continues.  The good news is we have lots of blogging to do once we get a steady internet connection.

Perhaps a little unfair, we but do want to share a US-to-Hungary comparative point:  Our friend Kate who lives in Seattle requested on Thursday to move her internet service to a different flat.  The company said they could move the service within 3-days. So on the third day--Sunday no less!--they arrived on time changed the service and she had working internet.  I believe too the service change was free.  In contrast, we are waiting now for almost 3-weeks now...have been told that the service is working when it isn't...and of course are having to pay for the service while not being able to use it + a change fee is charged!

p.s.  We continue to update our Twitter (see to the left-side of our blog).

We await your arrival

I am sorry we haven’t posted anything substantial in so long. (Sorry Steve, I don’t count Mr. T) Not having internet has been a pain. We are able to check email but we can not upload photos or surf the internet. Anytime we want to do any real internet work we need to head to a café. So, the posts have been short, sweet and few. Sorry.

So, now a real post (sent from a café:)

We moved a few weeks ago. We love our new flat. It is still in Budapest but in a more residential area. I took a walk yesterday and really got a good look at the neighborhood-and I love it! The bus is close and only 3 stops away from the metro that takes you right to down town. Total commute is about 35 minutes. People here think that is long and to far away from the center. For us it is nothing. In Seattle we commuted 45 minutes by bus to get home. And sometimes the commute was longer when there was a baseball game. So 35 minutes is great!

Our place is smaller than our last flat but has many windows and even a small yard. I am anxious to start a small potted herb garden. We get a little sun but the tree outside the window blocks the sun from beating in all day long. This is good, especially in the summer. Our couch folds out to accommodate guests. Sorry there is no separate room but the way the flat was designed you will have the privacy you need:)

Here are a few photos. We await your arrival:)

Our patio outside the bedroom.

The Kitchen. They call this an American kitchen
because it is open to the rest of the house.
Very unique for Hungary.

The living room

My wonderful desk and beautiful view!

The bedroom with the door that opens up to the patio

We will post again soon. We have had so much going on that we have a lot to share with you.
-diane

Paprika…a new country?

Steven’s mother sent this “You might be a Redneck if…” calendar message.  We had a good laugh!