After our third win against Godollo, we celebrated for a few minutes with our fans, the BRSE Fanatics. This means we are one of the top two teams in the first division of Hungarian volleyball. Pretty cool.
We celebrated afterwards at a nice little pizza place where we filled ourselves with pizza and juice. And of course no party can be complete without a little bit of Backstreet Boys and "I Want it that Way."
The party continued the next night at the Elefant pub. Some of the fans came and talked to us. Of course, my talking is limited to the one or two fans that can speak English. But it was nice to get dressed up in something other than our uniform.
Spring has begun here in Bekescsaba and I was able to go outside with bare ankles for the first time without anyone yelling at me to cover myself. The mixture of gorgeous weather and hours of free time gave me the opportunity to explore this nice little city.
I learned that "Békés" in hungarian means "peaceful." The gorgeous scenery that I found on the other side of Bekescsaba, which they call Jamina, is a perfect example of peaceful.
These lakes were supposedly formed back in the day from minera. I'm not quite sure if this is true or not, but I don't dare go swimming in here in case I run into a mineshaft. Or a fisherman's hook.
I stumbled upon quite a few fishermen on my bike around the lakes. They must have thought it was crazy I didn't bring a fishing rod myself.
In the past weekend, there were quite a few competitions in the sportcsarnok (where we practice). Besides the normal handball and basketball activities, I saw quite a bit of the fencing and kickboxing tournaments. I don't believe I have ever seen fencing or kickboxing before in my life and it was interesting to see so many people participating in these sports.
The speedwalking race was quite an interesting event to watch.
Thanks to the increasing dollar and the nice BYU schedule, my parents were able to come out to Hungary and join me for a few days.
We had quite a few adventures. I had a lot of fun showing them how things work around here. I brought them to the speed burger restaurant and I finally got to try this massive stack of pancakes that I have been eyeing since August.
We found and tested out some pickled watermelon at the market.
My mom insisted on seeing everything there is to see in Bekescaba. As a result, we found the hidden treasure of Bekescsaba: a windmill right next to the hostel where I live. The "tourguide" man (after he put on some clothes) even let us climb up to the top accompanied by some spiders.
On their last night here in Bekescsaba, I introduced my parents to my two favorite dishes: Pogacs and Gomboc (with some help from the Tesco)
Some pictures from the Bekescsaba branch.
My first time at institute and sportnap.
Alexandra's baptism. Sister Smith made some incredible sloppy joe's, jello salad, and oriental cabbage salad. I can always depend on her to show me a little taste of Utah.
For Easter dinner, Andi invited Ivana, Ali, and I over for some paprikas made in that cauldron. All the food was incredible down to the last cremes
Meanwhile at the FEK
Ivana and Ali with the traditional fried meat and rice with cabbage salad.
I had my first hot dog in seven months.
My first time enjoying fish. I really can't believe how good it was. On the top they put crushed walnuts.
Rakott teszta- basically a massive portion of lasagna, but better. The topping contains this creamy cheese sauce. I think its called besameles or something like that.
I finally got to try pig brains. It isn't all that bad when it is fried and smothered in tartar sauce.
On the menu it says it is rantott sertesvelo meaning pork marrow. I thought that maybe they would bring me out some bones to gnaw on, but boy, were we surprised. Maybe the others weren't quite as surprised as I was.
