it's the moment you have all been waiting for! a new post from me! right.
i promised some pictures from my salzberg trip, here ya go...

my first glimpse of the Alps!! through a soccer field net. incredible.

this was the view from the bathroom window at the hostel where we stayed. it's the fortress.


well, this is taking forever. twenty minutes for the first two pictures to load. i think i may have to cut back on the amount i was planning to put up. it is so hard to decide which ones when i took over 500 pictures!

now, it's not working at all. sorry i only got two pictures up. i am going to make a snapfish album instead. if you are really interested in seeing the pictures leave a "comment" on here with your email address. i will email you the link to the snapfish album and you can see them from there. hopefully this will work!

This one is going to be short because I just got out of school and am starving and can't wait to get home for a snack. I just wanted to tell ya'll my address in case you maybe wanted to send me anything, by chance, perhaps. I do love mail. Especially mail consisting of things I cannont get here in Hungary. So this is it...

Heather Cheesman
ICSB
Ifjusag ut 11 (put an accent over the "u" and "a" in Ifjusag)
Diosd H-2049 (put an accent over the "o" in Diosd)
Hungary

ok, so that's it. oh be expecting a longer post later about my amazing trip to Salzberg. complete with pictures and most likely unecessary details! off to eat some cereal!

Here's a few pictures for ya'll. Sorry they ended up in a strange order, and that I'm not blogger savvy enough to know how to put the captions under each individual picture. Yay for scrolling!

1. Blurry sunset picture from my apartment window. It is so much prettier in real life, and I get to see it every day! How lucky am I?

2. One of the many transportation choices in Budapest.

3. The Pest side of the Danube, taken from one of the bridges.

4. Also on the Pest side, Parliment. The building is amazing and is where all the riots and things you heard about on the news are occurring.

5. On Margaret Island, where we ate our picnic in the pretty flowers!

6. and 7. Some of the ruins of the convent were Saint Margaret lived her life.

8. View of the town of Diosd, where I live, from my apartment window.

Ok, sorry there aren't many yet, and that they aren't great. More to come later, especially since I may go to Salzberg, Austria this weekend!

Maybe I have a little time to explain how difficult it is to live in a country where you have absolutely no understaning of the language. Please!!! all of you be nice to everyone in America that does not know English! So, after school today I walked down the road to the local grocery/market thing to get something to make for dinner. I never realized how easy grocery shopping is when you can read. I walked up and down the aisles trying to find items I was positive I regognized. Eggs, I know what those look like. Milk I figured out, Tej, even though it is packaged strangely and the lowest percentage sold is 1.5. Bread, check. Then, I wanted some meat. There is a case, I guess it would be like the deli section, where all the meats are on display. Here I encountered the problem. It all looks similar, yet like nothing I know. They don't sell anything like chicken, ground beef, or fish. Apparently Hungarians enjoy their salami, sausage, pork, and everything else that can be squeezed into a cylindrical shape and sold to poor, unsuspecting Americans. I had no clue what to get and no way of figuring out exactly what anything was. The women working at the store just stared at me and said things to each other laughingly, I assumed at my expense. Anyway, I finally chose something that looked like it could pass for ground beef (to a blind person, in the dark, with a blindfold on) and showed the lady with my hands how much I wanted. When I got home and unwrapped the package I found some really nasty shredded, fatty pork? Maybe? Anyway, all that to say, my mystery meat dinner was not all that appetizing. Now it is 9:45 and I am hungry again, so I'll probably go have a bowl of cereal. I found Honey Nut Cherrios! Yay for English... and for pointless stories!

I know you are all excited about my first entry from Budapest, all two of you!

I have been here for two days, and so far, it's great. Although I kinda feel like I am on vacation. Everything is kind of overwhelming and I don't really know what to tell you about first. Hmm...let's see. My apartment is so cute. It's right down the street from the school I will be working at, about a four minute walk. My bedroom is like a tiny closet, but will be cosy, once I get a bed. Right now I am sleeping on the couch. The view is amazing since it is on the fifth floor, and provides a view of the whole town of Diosd. Diosd is actually where I am living, a short bus ride outside the city of Budapest. Today I went into Budapest with some girls, teachers at the school where I work. It was amazing. We went to this huge indoor market where there were hundreds of booths set up selling everything you can imagine. All sorts of foods; veggies, fruits, meats (especially sausages and salami's) fresh breads, pastries, and sweets. Also tons of clothes, linens, knick-nacks (not sure i've actually ever said that word), and basically anything you can think of. It was insane. Hundreds of people milling around and all of them speaking a language I cannot even begin to understand. It was really hard to buy stuff with the communication barrier. After today I know what it feels like to be illerate, and it is not fun. It actually made me feel really stupid, and I don't like feeling that way. That is definitely one of my goals, to learn some Hungarian as fast as I can. So, at the market we bought some breads, cheeses, and fruits for lunch and took them to the park with us for a picnic. It was cool because the park is on an island, Margart Island (Margitsziget, in Hungarian) in the middle of the Danube River. The entire mile long island is a park. The island was named after the daughter of King Bela IV (1235-1270) who lived in a Dominican convent here during the 13th century. The ruins of the convent are still there and it was awesome to walk somewhere that others did over 600 years ago! It also has amazing trees, lots of flowers, walking biking and running paths, fountains, and even a few hotels. I will post some pictures of it later. Ok, I'm really tired and ready for bed, so I'm gonna be done with this for tonight. Oh, first I'll tell you a few differences I've noticed...you flush the toilet here by pulling a chain that hangs from the ceiling (took me a while to figure that one out!), the cars are much smaller, women carry wicker baskets to the grocery to bring their purchases home or else you have to buy a plastic bag (it is so cute), the water tastes like a brillo pad (thanks goodness for Brita), the old people are adorable, and...man, I knew there were more but now I can't remember. I'll put more next time, along with some pictures.

Goodnight, well for ya'll, Good afternoon!

So I started this blog thing as a way to share with everyone my life in Budapest. I hope I will be able to keep up with it regularly, and keep ya'll entertained! Actually, I just want you to be informed, and if you are also entertained, that's just a little bonus!

Yesterday the calendar rolled over to a new month, October. Normally this is something I am super excited about, and in the honor of my favorite season, Fall, I would contemplate throwing a small party, or even plan a parade . The changes are eminent as the air becomes crisp and this refreshing new breeze, that not only causes the leaves to fall, brings with it a sense of excitement and unknown. But this year, this time, it is a bit different. October is the month I leave. In nine days I will board a plane (well actually three different planes) headed for Budapest, Hungary. This is something I have wanted my whole life; to live in another country, experience a new culture, travel, and adventures. But now that it is here, and so close, the feelings of apprehension and uncertainty are beginning to surface. I mean, what was I thinking agreeing to leave the life I know, the one that is comfortable and easy, for one filled with unknowns and where I probably won't fit. A life that requires me to squeeze all of my possessions into a few bags, (if you don't know me very well you might not understand why this is a big deal) a life with no cell phone, and no clothes dryer. Besides that, I'm leaving my family, my friends, and my puppy (actually she's really old) and my sister keeps teasing me that she might die while I'm gone. (Don't laugh, that would be really traumatic!) All that to say, this is not going to be easy. But then I think about it and I have to remember. It is not my life. When I honestly said to God, "I will go where you want me, and live only for you" I think He took me seriously. Ha. I also have to think about what Jesus did for us. He left heaven, his home, where I can only imagine it was pretty comfortable, and came down here. Earth. It has some nice places, some incredible places actually, but in no way can it even compare with Heaven. He left all of that to come here, and then to top it all off, to die for us? Yeah, after that I find myself able to do nothing but what He asks of me.

I am really excited too though! I don't want to make it sound like I'm totally against this. There are just so many thoughts and questions I never really can sort all of my feelings out. Just pray that on the morning of the 12th I will not only have everything ready to go, but that my feeling and emotions will be controlled and able to handle leaving.

Ok, that should be enough for today. Check back for more of my crazy ramblings and maybe even a few pictures. I just got a new camera, so I will probably find an excuse to use it and post some pictures!