trash day!

but not just any trash day -- the days where the entire neighborhood puts their junk outside (unbagged!) for others to rummage through. It's highly entertaining -- yesterday I saw a large pair of men's polka-dotted boxers spread out upon a 80s-ish couch, while this morning I saw a toilet on the side of the road. so strange.

And I just realized I've never written about the road we live on now. It's a one-lane road.... except it's for two way traffic. So there are spots every so often where a car can pull onto the side. When cars meet, whoever is closest to a shoulder just pulls aside and lets the other squeeze by. I was absolutely terrified the first time I drove it last year, especially when I learned that someone actually pulled too far off and rolled off the side of the hill! This road is a prime example of things that are totally normal to Hungarians, but you probably wouldn't see in America :)

I do love walking to school in the mornings, though, because it's so interesting. Every house has a different kind of gate, and the yards often have apple trees or grapevines in them. Sometimes in the morning the old people will be out working or smoking -- or, in the case of old man I see regularly, erratically biking home from a long night of drinking in a pub somewhere! At the same time, there's a huge Ford 350 with Florida license plates parked on the side of the (very narrow) road which we cannot figure out, and there's a car with a stencil advertising the Hungarian equivalent of 1-800-555-PIMP. You never quite know what you might see...

Things are starting to take off with the Alpha program; please keep us in your prayers as we plan!