Békéscsaba- St. Stephens Day

August 20th is St. Stephen's Day. If you want to read more about it, here's the first website that pops up on google. http://visitbudapest.travel/budapest-events/st-stephens-day/

We had only a morning practice which was super nice. I think mishi could see our exhaustion because he even let us out a little early.

I went downtown to "center" (I guess that's what they call the square at the center of the city) and yes all the stores were closed and little shops had been setup all down the streets.

You can see it if you look really hard, but at those tables, there's quite a few people that are playing chess. It is a common activity that I have seen around the town. And everywhere.

Here's what it looks like at "center." They were selling those silly balloons and Lana was insisting that we buy her a hello kitty balloon, but instead we bought ice cream.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Adam finally got me a bike. He said it is a temporary one till he finds a sponsor for the new bike. But I'm totally fine with the bike that I have. Now Ivana and I both have bikes so we ride everywhere together. But Lana doesn't have a bike. And probably never will. 

After lunch, we were walking our bikes to the swimming pool (so that Lana could walk with us) and Ivana and I decided to buy ice cream. I can never pass up their ice cream. Or any ice cream really. Lana offered to push ivana's bike while she are her ice cream, but I had to do the pushing and the eating. Which was a struggle for me.

Here's the swimming pool. I find it amusing that their pools are well equipped for resting. Those jacuzzis there (the chair ones) are where we spent most of our time- me and Lana at least.

The rest of the team spent quite a bit of time in this yellow building where they have their nice spas and saunas and the pools that smell like sulfur and minerals that have Lana and I an awful gag reflex.

Lana also convinced me to get into the brown watered swimming pool. I guess it's "natural" and "healthy." I think she just said that because there are only live people in them.

As you can see there is a chess set on the side walk just in case the pool isn't relaxing enough. In the brown pool, there is actually a couple playing chess while they are healthyfying themselves.

Everyone that really wants to lay out comes up to the bleachers so of course, we had to try it out just when the storm clouds started moving in.

Békéscsaba- Day 10

This morning we had our normal running workout where we run for two twenty minute intervals with a five minute break between the two. We got to the gym to work out in the weight room and we found the guys football team warming up in the gym. They also were going to use the weight room. I wasn't able to snap a picture of the weight facility, but it is definitely not big enough to house both the volleyball and football teams. 

The funniest part about all of this is that the guys football team has their own weight room and gym. I'm not sure why they wanted to invade ours. When I saw some PDA between the girls handball team and the guys football team, I wondered if this was part of the plan. 

I snapped a picture of the gym as I was leaving to show you why our gym is envied by all other teams. It has some major renovation going on. I also got a picture of my thumb which is part of the incredible scenery here.

This almaleves (Apple soup) is so good. I'm glad I know the name because I can order it every time I see it on the menu. 

I was a little tired of having fried stuff so I ordered the noodles instead. The orangish stuff you see is an apricot sauce. It was really good and I wouldn't ask for anything else from a dessert. After the apple soup, this apricot pasta as a little much for my stomach to handle as a main course. It was really good though.

Here's a copy of the menu for this week. I would appreciate It if you could figure out what half of these dishes are and send a translated menu back! 

If you notice, they is no food for tomorrow. The Fek (I'm pretty sure that's what this restaurant is called) is closed tomorrow for a Hungarian Holliday. I guess it is similar to the Fourth of July.

For dinner I found this pizza bread at the market when I went to pick up some stuff to eat. It wasn't quite as good as uncle dan's pizza bread that's for sure!

Békéscsaba-Day 9

Today it became Facebook official that I signed with the BRSE (Békéscsaba röplabda sportegyesület) club volleyball team. I still haven't signed any papers yet though. I think they are still working on a few of the technical stuffs.

Lunch today as fried cheese with fries. When the Hungarian girls asked me of I wanted the rice or the potatoes, I said potatoes not realizing that all my food was going to be fat. But it was a good meal. There's also this white stuff that they like to put on their cheese and fries. It's good. I think it's some sort of spiced mayo or something. If you put the red spicy jam stuff with it, it makes a perfect dipping sauce for both the foes and the cheese.

I love the soup here incredibly! The soup that I ate for lunch had chili beans, kidney beans and I think there were noodle-ish gnocchi balls or something. The I put some sour cream in it because I think that's what you do with everything here. When in doubt, eat it with sour cream. It was delicious!

Békéscsaba-end of week 1

One of the biggest differences between American and Hungarian cultures is the toilet paper. I swear it feels like sandpaper no matter how much you pay for it. Don't be fooled by the nice embroidered flowers. They are only a trap!

On my way into the city to buy groceries at the Csaba center, I stopped and talked to the elders who were heading back to their apartment. I enjoy speaking English to the Hungarians, but sometimes I am afraid that I will stop using articles when I speak.

I am excited to try all their baked goods. There is a bakery just a block or two from where I live.

Before I went to the Csaba center, I stopped to have a smoothie with Andy and Ivana. This one is a kiwi smoothie. It was more like kiwi milk than a smoothie, but it was still delicious.

The elders informed me that there was peanut butter at the Csaba center so had to get some. It is just a little bit different. I'm not a huge fan of the bread though. 

Békéscsaba- Sunday #2

I am really grateful that the church building is so close to where I am staying. I get to walk home every day and it only takes me fifteen minutes. I decided to take some pictures just to show you what my walk home is like. 

Here's some people fishing in the stream. I haven't seen anyone catch a fish in the murky water. It makes me wonder what kind of fish live there.

Those white flowers are some of my favorites.

Békéscsaba has a very interesting feel to it. It's not a stunning beauty like many of the cities in Europe. It's actively rather ugly. Most of the buildings are not kept very well. They look alright from a distance away, but as you get closer, you can see that the paint is chipped and the windows are cobwebby and the lawns are overgrown with weeds, but I love it all. 

Here's the club 105. It's right across the street from the hostel I am staying at. Every Saturday night you can see all the lights flashing and hear some really great music!

I found this hotel. Same story. It looks really cute, but I think it only has one tenant and he was in the back half naked roasting pig fat on the fire. 

Here's my favorite meal so far. It's the Becca sandwich given that name because it is Becca's tortilla thing in sandwich form. There's a piece of bread followed by a layer of peanut butter, musli, kefir yogurt stuff, and then bananas. Super good.

Békéscsaba- Day 6

This morning was our team bike ride. All the girls except three of us have their own bikes. Lana, keechie, and I borrowed some from Adam. The ones we borrowed were 3 speed leisure bikes. The rest of the girls had intense bikes that made it easier to go fast. I was quite impressed with myself for keeping up with the rest of them.

An hour into the ride, we stopped at a nearby city/suburb. Here's a picture of all the girls on the team. There are 16 of us.

We stopped to get some ice cream. This time I got kiwi and spuncs. It was really good and I don't feel hungover so I don't think there was alcohol in either flavor- I hope. The cones wee a lot better at this place.

Here's a better picture of the sunflower field.

We ate lunch at this farm looking ish place. About 50 meters before the farm, Andy announced to me that she had seen a "Bambi." I was confused and then realize she was referring to the movie and the animal that played the part of Bambi.

This fruit soup is definitely my favorite. It had currants and strawberries and raspberries and plums. Oh it is so good. The Serbians don't like it though because it is so sweet. 

This cabbage salad has become a usual accompaniment to every meal. It is very interesting, but I don't think I am a huge fan of it. 

Dinner was chicken and rice with fries and veggies. I couldn't even finish it all. I thought that I would eat more than them because the American portion sizes are so big, but almost every girl at the table are more than me. I think mishi was a little worried because he came around and asked me if everything was ok. 

The basket with the checkered towel is bread. It is really quite interesting to observe that every single meal I have eaten with the girls, there is always bread, but no one eats it. If it had been our Uvu volleyball team, the bread would be the first thing to go for sure.

Here's the team again with Adam on the very left and mishi on the very right. Also, jocks is in the middle. 

Tonight we had training with the aerobics master. Yeah that's her in the grey shirt. The girl in the blue tank top, her sidekick, is a raging ball of fire when it comes to crazy body movements. Djdtsuka (in the grey) would give the command and juskksa (blue tank top) would demonstrate it. Half of the exercises were impossible and little juskksa would make it look like there was a chance that a human with alien flexibility could do them. 

This is the hospital. Our aerobics training was held in a room here. This is evidently where Djdtsuka works.

We left training at 7:55 and basically the entire city had shut down. You can't really see it very well, but this is the store "Aldi." It's across the street from the alma mater hostel where we are staying. It opens at 7 am and closes at 8 pm. 

Békéscsaba- Day 5

Our day began somewhat early. At 8, we had our first session of training. This was really intense. We would go from defensive skills stuff with mishi to ploy metrics with Joca. It was rally good and my body is really exhausted and ready for the weekend.

Our lunch soup was incredible. It was another fruit soup. This time with apples and peaches and pears and I think I found a plum. They really like their plums.

The waitress found someone who spoke dnish that could translate the menu for us. It worked a lot better. I just ordered the meal with the chicken. It was quite good. It wasn't breaded and I had to pick it off the bones which was kinda weird.

These are my two English speaking Serbian friends on the team. Lana on the left and Ivona in the middle. They are really cute girls and they are the only girls who like speaking English with me. The rest are afraid because they don't know it very well even though their ringtones, shirts, and tattoos all say something in English. It kinda blows my mind.

After lunch today we went to see al the shops on the Main Street. This picture with Ivona and Lana was taken at the square. It was a really beautiful day.

We stopped at the cosmetic store and I saw the toffifee candy as I was walking out. I think it was what we had for dessert on my last meal at home. Or maybe it was the week beogre. But it seemed funny that these foreign chocolates would remind me of home and how much I love my family.

At about 1 in the afternoon, you can walk through the streets and probably 3/4 of the people you will see will be eating ice cream. And I'm not joking when I say 1. I think it is happy hour or something.

Their sports store is loaded with absolutely nothing. It has quite a bit of soccer cleats and a couple pairs of soccer shoes and maybe some soccer bags. (I could have confused those with handball bags) not much more.

The Csaba center is their mall. As ádám told me, "it has everything!" It is pretty big, as you can see. It has four levels. I'm afraid that the European clothing style is not quite my taste, but maybe I will buy some clothes to add to my wardrobe of white v necks.

Ivona and Lana decided they wanted to sit for some coffee and I joined them with my lemonade. It took me about a half hour to find something that I could drink. I didn't feel woozy or sleepy or drunk afterwards so I don't think they put anything extra in my drink. I ordered a coconut flavored lemonade. 

In the background, I caught Lana mid sentence. Pretty sure she was jabbering on in Serbian with Ivona. That's how it goes when I spend time with them. I just sit and listen to them going on and on and on. I was able to translat their whole menu by the time we left the cafe. I spent my time productively I would say.

I don't remember why I took this picture. Maybe it was that I really liked the building. 

And here is this pretty little stream with the weeping willows. Once I get my bike, I want to ride the path down this stream.

I are this entire piece of watermelon today. It wasn't anything special, but just tasted so deliscious. After two bites of spitting out the seeds, I realized that it really wasn't worth it. I'm pretty sure I have two hundred baby watermelons growing in my stomach.

At practice today, I realized that everything I have been taught in the states is wrong.

When passing, instead of facing the ball and angling my arms to the target, I face the target and angle my body. At Uvu, I was told to only love my arms to keep it simple, but now, I must move my whole body to keep the ball in control.

Bellies not butts is all I could hear coach Sam telling me about diving back in Utah, meaning that when you dive, land on your stomach, not the side. The first time I dove on my belly today, I stuck to the floor. Really. Every single part of me skidded across the floor, sort of like a rock skipping across the lake. My shirt, my knee pads and then my thighs all latched into the gross wood floor. I think that belly diving is a technique that only works in the states because out here, there is no way you can get up after such a fall. Especially when you have created a puddle full of your own sweat that you will slip in over and over again.

Life is still great and at least I know I ave something to improve on.