When I saw my brother and his wife in February I mentioned to them that I hadn't been able to find chocolate chips anywhere here and how much we were missing chocolate chip cookies.
So, yesterday there was a little notice in the mailbox (all in Hungarian of course) that we had a package to pick up at the post office. I went by today. Thankfully there is one woman in our local branch who speaks passable english. I handed her my slip and in exchange I received a box from Oregon. I left the post office and immediately tore into the box. Low and behold inside was a box of graham crackers (which I have really been craving), the Costco size package of Nestles chocolate chips and some super sized Ghirardelli chocolate chips. What a treat!! As soon as I find some vanilla I will make our staff some cookies. Thanks Kevin and Kim!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Slovenia
Okay, Lake Bled speaks for itself in pictures. It really looks like a postcard. We stayed in a pension on the Lake, so that if I sat on the window ledge, I could look out at the lake and castle. It has been settled since the Stone Age.
What I am choosing to write about is a day trip we took into the mountain villages. Since we had a car, we decided to explore the area. The Alps are looming, so you can't lose on a clear day. At one point we could see a church up on a bluff. Jack asked if I was up for trying to find it, of course, I said yes. So we began to make our way up the winding, narrow rode. Suddenly, Jack said, "Oh no!" and I got a glimpse of a yellow motor bike sliding toward us at high speed. Then I heard it hit the car, scrape along the side, and nothing. We jumped out of the car, praying that the bike and driver were not under our wheels! Thank god, he had slid beyond the car and was laying in the rode. As we ran to him, he was pulling the bike off of him. "Are you okay?" we asked. He nodded. As he stood up I saw that he was in a uniform including a yellow helmet with the postal logo on it. His pants were torn along the hip where he had slid on the rode and the bike was leaking fluid, but other than that, he seemed okay. However, he spoke only slovenian. He said something to us that sounded to me like "police report", so I nodded, yes. He pulled his bike out of the rode and got on his cell. We had to wait about an hour for the police to show up. Meanwhile, we helped him put dirt on the spillage on the rode and nodded and smiled. The cops showed up and luckily, they spoke some english. Both Jack and the postman were given breathalyzer tests. The cops and the postman did lots of talking which was weird because we had no idea what they were saying and if we were being blamed for the accident. An accident report was filled out along with a diagram of the event. I picked up no blaming body language from the postman or the cops. We replied that it was an accident with no one at fault. When the official proceedings (measuring, sanding the skid, etc.) were finished, the cops told us that we could go. The postman came over, offered his hand and said, "Sorry". It was a touching, human moment for me.
The lucky thing is that Jack had decided to buy the additional insurance on the car when he rented it. He usually passes. So it only cost us 200 Euros for the damage to the rental.
What I am choosing to write about is a day trip we took into the mountain villages. Since we had a car, we decided to explore the area. The Alps are looming, so you can't lose on a clear day. At one point we could see a church up on a bluff. Jack asked if I was up for trying to find it, of course, I said yes. So we began to make our way up the winding, narrow rode. Suddenly, Jack said, "Oh no!" and I got a glimpse of a yellow motor bike sliding toward us at high speed. Then I heard it hit the car, scrape along the side, and nothing. We jumped out of the car, praying that the bike and driver were not under our wheels! Thank god, he had slid beyond the car and was laying in the rode. As we ran to him, he was pulling the bike off of him. "Are you okay?" we asked. He nodded. As he stood up I saw that he was in a uniform including a yellow helmet with the postal logo on it. His pants were torn along the hip where he had slid on the rode and the bike was leaking fluid, but other than that, he seemed okay. However, he spoke only slovenian. He said something to us that sounded to me like "police report", so I nodded, yes. He pulled his bike out of the rode and got on his cell. We had to wait about an hour for the police to show up. Meanwhile, we helped him put dirt on the spillage on the rode and nodded and smiled. The cops showed up and luckily, they spoke some english. Both Jack and the postman were given breathalyzer tests. The cops and the postman did lots of talking which was weird because we had no idea what they were saying and if we were being blamed for the accident. An accident report was filled out along with a diagram of the event. I picked up no blaming body language from the postman or the cops. We replied that it was an accident with no one at fault. When the official proceedings (measuring, sanding the skid, etc.) were finished, the cops told us that we could go. The postman came over, offered his hand and said, "Sorry". It was a touching, human moment for me.
The lucky thing is that Jack had decided to buy the additional insurance on the car when he rented it. He usually passes. So it only cost us 200 Euros for the damage to the rental.
Condensed events
Yes, I have been remiss in my blog entries, but I have great excuses. Things have been quite interesting here lately. My aerobics teacher, Ilona, will be coming to spend September and October with us in Portland. We are really looking forward to hosting her and she is ecstatic for the opportunity to be immersed in the language that she wants so badly to master.
Now, I know that my family reads this and I don't want anyone to be concerned. I have decided to include this without lots of details: I have been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. This means that I have had to go to hungarian doctors (who have proven to be very thorough and caring), make a trip to a hungarian hospital for some diagnostic tests, and am taking meds for the condition. The hospital visit was a challenge because not only were there no signs in english, but I dealt with no one who spoke a lick of english. When it was over, I felt as though I had really accomplished something difficult. THEN, I had an allergic reaction to the thyroid meds. I have include a picture. Never been so uncomfortable. I itched from my arches to inside my ears! So now I am on meds to control the meds. Will review my options when I talk to my doctor at home.
Okay, for the good part . . . we had spring vacation last week. Due to my health issues, we were unable to do much preplanning not knowing if we would be able to leave town or not. So we ended up renting a car and decided to drive down to the Dalmatian coastline of Croatia and then to Lake Bled in Slovenia. We had no reservations and not much itinerary, so we just drove where our inclination took us. We stayed in sobes (rooms in people's home) in Croatia. In Senj, we were approached by a middle aged man who spoke a little english. He asked if we needed a room. We told him that we would look at it. So we followed him to his home where we were met by his wife who smiled a lot, but spoke no english and his daughter who told us she was studying engineering at university and spoke excellent english. The room was clean as was the bathroom. What impressed me the most was that the sheets had obviously been ironed, because dryers are rare and I know what our sheets look like in Budapest after we take them off the drying rack. We told them we would take it and paid them 30 euros (about $45).
The next morning we just started driving the gorgeous coastline and saw signs for the ferry to the island of Rab which we had read about. We looked at each other and said, "Want to check it out?" So we did! It was such a beautiful place with medieval buildings and the remnants of a wall which used to ring the city we decided to spend the night and began our search for a place to crash. It is a resort town where lots of Germans and Italians stay so we knew that the motels were going to be spendy, so we decided to search for another sobe. We discovered this one above a restaurant and found it to be just as clean and well cared for. From the little balcony, we even had a partial view of the Adriatic.
Then, on to Slovenia!
Now, I know that my family reads this and I don't want anyone to be concerned. I have decided to include this without lots of details: I have been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. This means that I have had to go to hungarian doctors (who have proven to be very thorough and caring), make a trip to a hungarian hospital for some diagnostic tests, and am taking meds for the condition. The hospital visit was a challenge because not only were there no signs in english, but I dealt with no one who spoke a lick of english. When it was over, I felt as though I had really accomplished something difficult. THEN, I had an allergic reaction to the thyroid meds. I have include a picture. Never been so uncomfortable. I itched from my arches to inside my ears! So now I am on meds to control the meds. Will review my options when I talk to my doctor at home.
Okay, for the good part . . . we had spring vacation last week. Due to my health issues, we were unable to do much preplanning not knowing if we would be able to leave town or not. So we ended up renting a car and decided to drive down to the Dalmatian coastline of Croatia and then to Lake Bled in Slovenia. We had no reservations and not much itinerary, so we just drove where our inclination took us. We stayed in sobes (rooms in people's home) in Croatia. In Senj, we were approached by a middle aged man who spoke a little english. He asked if we needed a room. We told him that we would look at it. So we followed him to his home where we were met by his wife who smiled a lot, but spoke no english and his daughter who told us she was studying engineering at university and spoke excellent english. The room was clean as was the bathroom. What impressed me the most was that the sheets had obviously been ironed, because dryers are rare and I know what our sheets look like in Budapest after we take them off the drying rack. We told them we would take it and paid them 30 euros (about $45).
The next morning we just started driving the gorgeous coastline and saw signs for the ferry to the island of Rab which we had read about. We looked at each other and said, "Want to check it out?" So we did! It was such a beautiful place with medieval buildings and the remnants of a wall which used to ring the city we decided to spend the night and began our search for a place to crash. It is a resort town where lots of Germans and Italians stay so we knew that the motels were going to be spendy, so we decided to search for another sobe. We discovered this one above a restaurant and found it to be just as clean and well cared for. From the little balcony, we even had a partial view of the Adriatic.
Then, on to Slovenia!
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