long time, huh?

I feel pretty bad about not updating recently -- but this past week has been insane! We're in the home stretch for yearbook, so basically all my waking hours will be spent on the computer for the next few days. I'm also in the middle of sophomore presentations, Senior Projects, grading research papers, and two weeks until the AP exam --which is why I'm showing a movie in class tomorrow!

Spring break was amazing. I cannot remember a more beautiful Easter morning. Before church (I love that the service I attend starts at noon!) I went to a little park Aaron told me about last year. The tulips were in bloom, and it was just incredible to sit there and soak up the beauty of creation for a little while. Spring is always my favorite time of the year, but it's been especially gorgeous this year! Heidi, Lisa, and I took advantage of it one day and went up into the hills of Buda. Nice little walk. Check out how tiny Parliament looks from Janos Hegy:

Let's see -- I sang at the Good Friday service, which was so much fun. I don't know that I'll ever get to sing in a church that nice again (the acoustics were unreal), so I really enjoyed it. I had several people tell me how they were touched by the song, so that was encouraging. Overall, it was a really meaningful service - a good reminder of the need to focus on the meaning of the Cross.

Over Easter weekend, I had some visitors from Amsterdam. It was really strange to end up playing tour guide for someone I knew when I was in middle school, but it was fun. Plus, they stayed in a really nice hotel, so I got to see how the other half lives! I used it as an extra chance to visit the baths. How I love them.

I also stayed at the Wingets house and took care of their sweet dog, Daisy. It came with some unusual benefits: 1) I was able to take advantage of their tv -- and I watched crappy American programming in Hungarian. Yes, I actually watched MTV shows such as Paris Hilton's new BFF and Pimp my Ride in another language. I understood quite a bit. I can't decide if that's more of a commentary on my growth in language, or on the level of vocabulary to be found on those shows... 2) I have now driven their monstrous van. the kind with the steering wheel that's almost parallel to the floor, and a stick shift that's behind the wheel. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be driving that thing, I would never have believed it. So I figure now that after the van and dear old Gellert, I can drive anything. Just don't ask me to parallel park!

I've been meeting with Csilla, a girl I met back at the outreach we did at a Hungarian college back at Thanksgiving. She's really eager to practice her English, so we've enjoyed talking about everything under the sun.

I was able to take advantage of a generous offer from the Swanson family, who allowed me and a few others to add boxes to their container being shipped to the States. It was kind of stressful (and my room is still more of a wreck than usual), but it's so good to know that all of my winter clothes, souvenirs, pottery, books, and DVDs are already on their way, and I don't have to worry about them anymore! Lisa and I are also getting ready to sell off a ton of stuff at our school rummage sale in a couple weeks, so we're definitely nearing the end!

It's a good thing we're so close to the end, because our car is dead. It began to do this really fun thing where we could drive it for about five minutes before it overheated. It has never taken so stinking long to get home. But on the positive side, we got friendly service at a number of gas stations along the way! I've learned that men love the opportunity to diagnose car problems, even in other languages. So ladies, if you want to meet men, drive a dying car into a gas station and look helpless. I promise. We had eleven different guys peer under the hood and try to rescue the poor American damsels in distress! We're awaiting word from the mechanic on whether poor Gellert will ever be driven again, but I'm not holding out much hope at this point. Fortunately, with the weather this nice, I don't mind walking to school.

And finally -- I'm really excited that my dear, dear friend Heather is engaged! and I get to be a bridesmaid! :)