Now I had a short stay in Hungary again before my next trip. I kept enjoying my adventures of exploring the city. One of the best nights we had was a trip to the famous hot springs of Budapest. It was crazy to think that we were sitting in thermal heated baths that were used by the Roman Legionnaires 2000 years ago. Kind of a humbling thought.
We also took a trip to Edit's parents place in Kamahaza to restock our supply of Tokaji wine. While there we took a train into Debrecen, the second largest city in Hungary. It was considerably smaller, but had a nice feel to it. They have a gorgeous University and a historical looking downtown. We met up with one of Matt's former roommates that lives there and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Shortly after our return to Budapest I was off again. This time to Turkey. Now I could write and write on Turkey. I spent a full week there in Istanbul. It was easily the largest city I have ever been to (12-16 million). And what I didn't know until going there is that the city is the continental divide between Europe and Asia. Half the city is in one and half the other. I had this amazing moment when I was sitting on the bank overlooking the sea and looking at the Asian side and I realized that I am literally sitting on the edge of Europe. I have sat on both ends of the United States and the edge of Europe.
The city was beautiful, the people very different and the culture mind boggling at times, but I am really glad I went and visited. I have never been to a non-western country and felt like just going there and learning more about it had a profound impact on how I view the world and other cultures. I started to see how some of the differences between our cultures have created a great deal of misunderstandings between us. I think if we all tried harder to learn about and understand others cultures from THEIR perspective, not our own our world would be a better place.
After a week in Istanbul, a boat ride to a remote island with no cars and some other crazy adventures I was ready to leave. Though when I got back to Hungary I was leaving the next morning for Germany again, haha. I enjoyed a nights sleep and a change of cloths and then back in the air!
I landed in Frankfurt and was greeted by Matt and his Dad. I cannot thank the Shaws enough for their generosity in letting my stay with them. I was struggling a little bit about missing Christmas with my family and they made me feel like one of the family right away. We all had a blast. It was days filled with laughter, jokes, deep conversations and exploration of a new city. Christmas eve we went to the church service on the military base. It was nice to have be surrounded by English speakers again for the holiday, also strange. It is a very weird feeling when I felt confused by being able to understand everyone for once.
Christmas day was a riot. We enjoyed an amazing breakfast followed by dinner and boardgames. The Shaws were even kind enough to get me a Christmas present, which was more than they needed to do. It was honestly one of my favorite Christmas days I have ever had. The day after Christmas a few of the friends started getting in for the wedding. Dave and Aileen Barnes, along with Kieran and Laurie McBride. This just added to the fun as I now had some more American friends to explore Germany with.
Finally, I headed by to Budapest with Matt to help him prepare for both the wedding and the onslaught of Americans that were getting ready to arrive. Shortly after our friends started getting there, including my good friend Greg Brink. Let me tell you, Greg and I had beyond an amazing time together. Most of the Americans visiting were couples, so Greg and I paired up and owned that city. We adventured, we drank, we recovered from drinking in the hot springs (best idea ever).
Amazingly, the week was the best week of my life. My three favorite days all happened in that short span. New Years with Matt and Edit (champagne, fireworks, new years pretzels), Matt's bachelor party [Censored] and Matt and Edit's wedding.
After the wedding was far less fun. Hungarians have a tradition of drinking and the tradition is only amplified during weddings. The 3 hour car ride the next day was one of my least favorite memories. Not to mention when Greg and I got back to my apartment we were locked out. I guess our landlord decided to come into our apartment while we were gone (illegal) and locked both locks (only have key to one). He wasn't home and his phone was off. My phone was out of minutes, I had a few dollars on Skype to make phone calls but my iPad was 5% from death. Greg and I spent 2 hours hung over, laying in a hallway. Not my finest moment. Luckily Matt was able to track down our landlords mother (I know...I know) and she got ahold of him to come let us in. He had the gaul to get frustrated with us for not carrying both keys. My response was, "DON'T GO INTO OUR APARTMENT?!?!!"
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