My Aunt Jan and Uncle Sam welcomed me today at the ATL airport >> Thank you both, it meant a lot to all of us. We love yall!

For the first time in my life, my luggage actually made it to my destination on time! Woo Hoo! Granted, we had no connections. Just for the record, ATL Airport is ridiculous. You get off your airplane, go through customs with your carry-on items and you get your passport stamped. Then you walk to the conveyor belt, hopefully, and find your bags. Then, you wheel then 20 yards and put them on another belt for them to go through customs. You then get in a forever long line and wait to go through the metal detector thing- unless you are us, then you can just skip to the front of the line. But, then once you get through you have to ride a train thing to pick up your checked baggage. ddfajkfdfj. 

We flew Lufthansa back. We were in 1st/Business Class. I have never flown 1st/Business, it was incredibly nice. I can’t imagine going back to coach. The food was nice, the blankets were nice, and most of all… the databases were loaded. I watch 4 movies: I Love You, Man; He’s Just Not That in to You; 17 Again; and The Confessions of a Shoppaholic. The last one was preeettttyy bad, but I had time to kill in the plane. I also played some games to help pass the time. I think that I drank 10 cokes and 1 sprite. I am so plane bloated. 

It was a 9 hour flight and I slept 0% of it! Way to go, Mollie! I’m kicking jet-lag’s butt right now, I have been up for 23 hours as of 20 minutes ago. I am going to sleep well tonight!  

We arrived in ATL and then got driven to Decatur, GA to pick up the jaaag. We then drove the jaaag to Birmingham.  While in Decatur we stopped at a Checkers and I ate an American-Sized Baconator (other wise known as an artery clogger) and a large SWEET TEA. First time in 3 weeks. 

It.Was.Heaven.

This is jenny (my step-sister's husband's cousin) and me from earlier this week.

We ate lunch, and then got in the car and headed towards Baden Baden, Germany. It usually takes about 45 minutes if you take the Autobahn. It took us 2 hours. We took the scenic route and stopped at a little shop. I got some souvenirs for all of the guys in the fam. Can’t wait to see you all! 

Once we got to Baden Baden, we were surprised to see a car show going on. Well, we walked through and saw some very pretty, old cars. Then we window shopped. I had to pay to use the WC today, 50 euros- which is equivalent to about 75 cents. 

We didn’t take the long route back- we took the Autobahn. We hit 140 mph! Crazy, in a VW Van. Did you know that there is actually a speed limit, but it is so high that only certain cars can even go that fast. 

I’m all packed up! We leave for Frankfurt, Germany tomorrow at 6 am (11pm Alabama time). It takes 2 hours to get there, and our flight takes off at 12. We are supposed to get into ATL at 4 (ATL time), but probably won’t get out of the airport until 5. ATL has 2 custom gates that we have to go through. We then will drive to Birmingham. Most likely won’t be getting in until 8 or 9. 

My car is still at the church, I need to get my dad to pick it up and drop it off at my mom’s house with the keys. (If you are reading this dad, please do that. I’ll call you later.) I want to go to church tomorrow. I hope jet-lag allows me to.

Well, wish me luck with luggage arrival and smooth travels. You know me, always picking the flight with heart attacks and naked men. My luggage never arrives with me, but hopefully tomorrow- with no connections- it will make it to ATL.

Miss you all, and see ya soon.

We went back to Switzerland today. We shopped for watches. Well, I didn’t- but all of the guys did. I got a pair of linen pants and two necklaces. We also fed/taunted the swans in the river today. That was fun. 

After we shopped, we went to a flower field. We picked sunflowers and gladiolas. It was gorgeous. Sunflowers are my favorite. We picked a bouquet. 

Today, we ate at a cute little noodle shop. You pick what type of noodles and what type of sauce. We need one in the Ham.

Full rainbow over Strasbourg

We came back to the house and there was an ice cream social going on. I had some chocolate ice cream with a waffle cone-ish type thing. It was yummy. There was some live music… by John Ashcroft, the former attorney general of the USA. 

Today, after shopping, we went to a chocolate factory. I got some reaaaally pretty chocolates. So cute, but trust me- I can eat them. And then- we stopped at a European McDonalds. Wow. McDonalds- It was actually amazing. The interior was gorgeous, and the food was practical. We didn’t use a cashier, we used an automated touch screen. It was pretty cool.

We are going to Switzerland again tomorrow, and picking flowers in a field on the way. You go out to a field and pick flowers. Cool, right? I’m going to get some pretty sunflowers, my favorite flower. 

I attempted to paint my nails tonight. My nails are really short right now- and it is impossible to paint them. Well, I put some lotion on after I finished painting them, and they weren’t completely dry. Ruined.  Purple streaked across my hand. Well, on that note- I think that is it. I will remove the purple streakage from my hand, and then sleep. G’night.

Beautiful view

Well, first off: yesterday I totally forgot to tell you all that I went onto the Autobahn Sunday. We reached 140 mph. Woop woop.

But, today we went to Switzerland. We saw the Alp Mountains. Beautiful. We rode a train-ish type thing to the top of one of the mountains and we got some lunch. While we were eating lunch, a cloud moved in. It stayed and ruined the view for about half an hour. 

It was a four hour ride there and back. I got to see many farms and vineyards. It was gorgeous. 

Right now, I am watching the MJ Memorial on CNN. 

I have pictures that will be up later.

Well, yesterday I flew to France alone to meet up with my step-sister, Amanda. On my flight to Frankfurt, Germany I was fed a ham sandwich and chocolate bar. The flight was only 1 hour and 15 minutes! Go Lufthansa! 

I was the last person off the plane, and the stewardess  said “Oh, hey. Come look at this!” I walk into the cockpit and the windshield is shattered. She explained that they had hit a big bird about 20 minutes ago… Awesome! 

At the Frankfurt airport you don’t get off the plane and walk through one of those tunnel things into the building- you simply get off the plane and walk on the ground to a bus- and then it shuttles you to the building. Well, before I got off the plane the same stewardess said, “Hey! Wait, we are going to have to throw these 20 chocolate bars away- want them?” Um, yes? I have 20 Twix-ish type things now.

But, now I’m here in Strasbourg, France. We ate at a fan-shay restaurant last night. I had scallops and fried veggies. For dessert, I ordered “Melon and Strawberry Puree in a Glass”. There was a toothpick with cantaloupe, piece of cake-ish type thing, and a strawberry. I ate the cantaloupe and tore the cake thing in half and took a rather large bite. I then began to gag, and couldn’t get the thing down. I sat there for 5 minutes just trying to get it down. The other people tried the other half of the cake thing and came to the agreement that it was a vanilla liquor or rum. Great! So much for being a peer helper! 

We just got back from Riqiewier, a little town outside of Strasbourg. It looks like it is right out of Beauty and the Beast. So cute. I will upload a picture later. Right now I am off to some fanshay lecture and reception. I will update later!

Last night we went to a family’s house for dinner. They are a part of the Paulus Community Church. We had homemade lasagna, greek salad, and poppy dough. Poppy dough is a very Hungarian dessert. It is sort of like a bread pudding with lots of poppy seeds. I guess I’d test positive for opium last night. It wasn’t very tasty, kind of tasted like bird seed.

Me with my creation

The host’s of tonight’s dinner “speak” English- and can make conversation. Sometimes they say the wrong word or just get mixed up. They have an accent, too. Well, tonight when they were telling us what we were eating they said “Puppy Dog” instead of “Poppy Dough”. All of our faces went white. We then realized it was POPPY DOUGH… whew. 

Second language wall: We sit down, and they say “We’ll begin with some soup.” They tell us it starts with T-T-T. They start talking in Hungarian and then come to a conclusion. “Turtle Soup”. Turtle Soup? We of our faces went white, again. They dished the soup out and we look at meat and we finally realized they meant TURKEY… whew (again). 

Third language wall: After dinner we are just talking- and I turn to the mother, who speaks minimal language, and ask “Where is the bathroom?” She turns and says “Bedroom? This way.” Of course I say, “No, no, no. BATHROOM.”… whew!

Let’s see- today is the last day of English Camp. We burned the all the kids a DVD of the pictures we took this week. They loved it. Last night, for the adults english class we taught directional words. Such as “right, left, straight ahead, stop.” We walked to the ice cream shop- and they had to direct us. It was fun, and we got some good ice cream! 

We are having an American party tonight, and have invited all of our students. Their “hotdogs” are not hotdogs. It is sausage- and I will not be eating it. They eat SO much pork over here- only problem is is that I don’t eat pork regularly. We are making mini cheesecakes for dessert, yumm.

I sat down today- and realized how sleep deprived I am. I am soo tired. The literal cot at the hotel isn’t helping fix this either.

We went to Statue Park today. Statue Park has all of the statues that were in Hungary when it was Communist. Some of the statues that were in Hungary during that time were completely destroyed, but a lot are in this park. I have soo many pictures of these statues. The first is of Lenin and the last is of a Buddhist memorial. Very different.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was at the picnic we went on yesterday.

I just finished dinner. We had Almond Chicken, which was prepared by someone at the church. The woman grew up in Iowa. It tasted like Poppyseed Chicken. Dessert was cheesecake, yuuummm. I licked my plate clean.

Well, I will have to upload all of my food pictures to the computer- I have taken a picture of everything I’ve eaten. But those pictures are soon to come.

-M

At the picnic.

We are started teaching english yesterday. I am teaching the beginner kid and beginner adult classes. There are also two other American teachers for the kids class, then only me and another for the adult. I have really enjoyed being around the people and helping them. We went over family today and they love the word dog. Their dogs don’t say “woof!” They say “Vow Vow!” They were quick to correct me. 

Who ever said that American portions are huge, hasn’t been to Hungary. Their portion sized are quite large. We usually have to split a dish. We ate “pancakes” for dinner two nights ago. Their “pancakes” are crepes. I had a banana and honey one and also a chicken one. They were yummy. We ate something strange last night- someone made it for us… I didn’t really enjoy the main dish. BUT the dessert was great. It was a cinnamon roll, but home made. 

The fruit here is amazing. I ate 3 peaches yesterday, sweet cherries (rather than the sour ones!), and 2 bananas. It is all sooo fresh. We passed a few sunflower farms yesterday on our way back from our picnic. It was a beautiful sight. I got a picture from the car- which totally doesn’t give it justice. 

I might be coming home Sunday- yeah. Let’s not talk about it.

***I added a picture to every post- so look back and see those***

Thats about it, I will keep you updated.

This is from the hike we went on. Beautiful.

I got my luggage Thursday as I was leaving for the Family Camp- This weekend was not as bad as everyone had made it out to be. I will post pictures as soon as I get around to uploading them. I had my first guylash (stew). Very tasty. But don’t worry, I took pictures of everything I ate. I did crack into my stash of American food- I’m Mollie, of course I brought extra food

I helped with the kids class this weekend. We made crafts everyday- and I am bringing home some home-made pottery. I made some new friends- Christine and Kamilla- they are both 16.

We came in second in the Family Competition- which is alright with everyone on the American team because the winner has to plan next years camp. Our team only lost by two points.

We went on a hike on Friday- I went on the “advanced” hike which they said was just advanced because you crossed a creek. Um, no- not just crossing the creek- we basically rock climbed these mountains while over a rocky creek. We got to see some awesome views of the Danube River from atop the mountains. 

We also had a skit thing last night which we took part in. We did the “Little Nemo” skit from Younglife. The one with the little person and someone elses hands? Hard to explain- but I will try to upload the video too. It was quite funny. 

John Bradford has an amazing camera and I will upload his great pictures soon via Facebook. We are going out tonight to see Budapest and eat some Hungarian food. 

I will upload a pictures tonight, and I will update tomorrow.