Alma Exploration: So there's this American holiday...

And I'm going to be gone for a few days...

Thanksgiving in Budapest.

I recently got to spend five days in Budapest for the Thanksgiving holiday. The six YAGM volunteers who are in Slovakia and in Hungary, as well as the two Reformed Church volunteers all got together at Dick and Carolyn Otterness’ flat in Budapest to talk, eat, and enjoy speaking some regular English, share in good conversation, jokes, and of course we filled ourselves with some delicious traditional Thanksgiving fare. (Dick and Carolyn are representatives from the Reformed Church and have been living in Budapest for three years, establishing wonderful connections with many people in both Hungary and the Ukraine, working on many important projects with both Roma and Gadje, and have also become an important support to all of the volunteers thanks to their stories, sharing their experiences, their willingness to be there for us, and for opening up their home to us all. A BIG thank you to them for their hospitality!)

One of the main highlights of the time in Budapest was of course the Thanksgiving meal itself—delicious turkey (which at this time of the year is hard to purchase in whole, but Carolyn found one great big 26 lb bird!), stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberries (also hard to come by in Hungary—the word for cranberry and blueberry is actually the same, neither of which I have seen in a regular grocery store), pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie (pecans also hard to come by), and cherry crisp. FINOM! Good company was also shared as Arden Haug, Regional Coordinator for Europe for ELCA Global Mission (among many other things), John, the head of RGDtS, and a Kathy and Joe, a couple from PC USA who are also working in Hungary, were all able to join us for the meal. Afterwards we also had a chance for some singing and great music as Matt played the violin, Arden the piano, Kristy a little guitar, and later on a former volunteer joined us with his guitar. An excellent way to digest all that delicious food.