Back to School!

Yesterday was "Back to School" shopping day. Like all of our other "firsts" in Hungary, it was...let's say...different!

We had our school supply lists, written in Hungarian, from the teachers. The lists included typical school supplies, notebooks, folders, pencils, pens etc...so how hard could this really be? Well...after we spent some time doing a little translating, we headed off to Auchan (local grocery/supermarket/Walmart-like store) to attack the lists!

Now, like in the States, there are isles set up for just this occasion, and there are MANY people also doing their school shopping. The difference here is that we have NO CLUE what we are shopping for and being the "not-yet-fluent" Hungarian speakers that we are, we were in for a very LONG shopping experience. I don't think I can really express how we just sort of stood there...dumbfounded...trying to figure out how to best tackle the chore at hand.

So Mark took Jonah and his list, and I took Parker and his list...divide and conquer, that was the thing to do!

Well, we divided, but I'm not really sure we conquered. We did manage (with the help of some nice Auchan employees) to find most of the items on the lists after about an hour and a half. We were pretty much brain dead after that...so we followed the shopping extravaganza up with a cheap IKEA meatball supper!

Who knew that school supply shopping could be so different...or that school supplies could be so different. Every day is an adventure and we are thankful for it!

Summer...

Wow...it's been a while since I blogged! I guess I haven't had a lot to say! But, here it is August 17, summer is coming to a rapid end and I thought I'd better say something!

We had had a good summer. It's been a summer full of camps! As a youngster, I LOVED camp! We were a camping family...we went camping a lot and we attended lots of camps. I looked forward every year to the summer camping adventures!

This summer we got to experience camp Hungarian style and Austrian style. Our team hosts English Camps for 4 weeks in July...2 weeks for Elementary age kids and 2 for teens. Although we were not heavily involved this summer, we were around nearly every day to see the camp in action and too help out when we could.

We then traveled to Austria to help out with the Teen English camp in Reutte. Mark was the camp speaker for the week, so we got to experience how the Innsbruck ReachGlobal City team does their camps. On the way home from Austria, we joined the teens from our Hungarian Church for their camping trip in western Hungary. We only spent one day and night with them, but it was fun to see the kids from our church (and the adult counselors) and spend a short time with them.

By the time we got home, we were camped out! It was all a lot of fun, but we were glad to be home! We are so thankful for the opportunities that we have had to help out with camps this summer, so see what camp is like in different cultures. We are also so thankful that our house in Budakeszi has really become home when we come back. Another way that God has provided for us!

School starts for the boys on September 1st. (I think) It will be good for them to get back to school and back to hearing and using Hungarian daily. Pray for them to really start soaking up the culture and language and that we all have good communication with the teachers.

lovingly,

Jodi