I met the girls for breakfast this morning and said goodbye to Joelle. Kim, Yujin, and I decided to take the HEV (Hungarian railway) to a little town on the outskirts of Budapest called Szentendre. It was a blazing hot and humid day. The train ride took only 45 minutes, but due to the lack of air conditioning, we looked like we just left a Bikram Yoga class once we stepped off the train. Szentendre is a quaint town, full of open-air cafes, restaurants, and souvenir shops that sit on narrowly lined cobble-stoned streets. We spent half the day there and [View Full Entry]

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The alarm once again started beeping at 4:30am this morning because Suzanna had an early morning flight to catch back to Canada. After we said our goodbyes, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep. I stayed up checking my email and updating my blog. Once 7am rolled around, I decided to head out for my first run in Budapest. I noticed the sun was out, and once I exited the hotel lobby, I could already feel the early morning heat. I made my way down to the Danube River and started running along the promenade towards the Chain Bridge. I [View Full Entry]

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The alarm went off at 4:30am this morning. We were scheduled to take the 5:45am train from Csurgo into Budapest. Having packed everything the night before, I got ready quickly and joined the rest of the gang downstairs in front of the hotel. Unfortunately, for the trip back I now had all of my bags. Shondor drove a makeshift trailer that transported our bags to the train station. Our brown bag breakfasts included salami sandwiches, peach juice, and water. After we said our goodbyes to the owners of Bolgogh, Shondor (one of the homeowners), Peter & Chris (from HFH Csurgo), [View Full Entry]

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I can’t believe how fast these two weeks have gone by. Today is the final day of the build, and we are only scheduled to work for half the day. Once we walked to the jobsite, we all resumed what we were doing from the day before. Kim, Jordan, Annie, Kevin, and I continued to trowel on the second coat of cement mortar to the exterior insulation of the house. The little old lady with HFH Csurgo, who works with Peter back at the office, delivered our mid-morning snacks of various fruit and chocolate pastries, as was the custom every [View Full Entry]

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Happy Birthday Mom! I called her once it was morning time in Vegas to wish her a happy birthday. Well, the weather in Csurgo improved enough to allow us to complete our last full day of work on the jobsite. Today, Court and I were assigned the job of anchoring in the exterior Styrofoam insulation/siding. Per Court’s urging (thank goodness), we were able to avoid the less “glamorous” job of stuffing the cracks between the siding pieces with smaller Styrofoam pieces. As lunch approached, the weather looked as if it was going to turn cloudy and rainy again, so we [View Full Entry]

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I didn’t sleep well last night because I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. For the first time in my adult life, I feel like I don’t really know where my life is headed. I am at a crossroads, and my biggest fear is taking a step in the wrong direction. I know that I must live with my choices, as they will determine my future path. Faith has played a big role, and I have to believe that whatever choice I make will be the right decision for me at this point in my life. I know that [View Full Entry]

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At 5:30am, I woke up to the weed-whacking gardener and couldn’t go back to sleep. The Internet had been down at the hotel for most of yesterday and last night, so I took my computer outside the room and tried to get online in the lobby. I didn’t want to disturb my roommate Suzanna, who was still asleep in her bed. Unfortunately, the Internet was still down, so I decided to compose my blog from the past two days because going back to sleep just wasn’t a viable option. Today was another scorcher. At 8:15am after breakfast when we were [View Full Entry]

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Breakfast wasn’t scheduled until 9:30am this morning, so I definitely had no excuse not to go out for my morning jog. I set my alarm for 8am just in case, but my natural body clock woke me up at 7am. I ran for a little over a half an hour and changed the route slightly today with a detour through this very small park in the center of town. The sun already broke through the clouds, so I was glad that I got an earlier start. Running as the sun beats down on me is not my idea of fun. [View Full Entry]

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After spending the entire day yesterday sightseeing around Csurgo, I was ready to get back to work and start the build again. In the short time that we have been here, our team has made a tremendous amount of progress. Before we even started the day’s work, we had already covered the entire rooftop with two sheets of OSB, and began to build the frames for the perimeter of the upstairs’ attic. The morning breezed by as I kept my day job of nailing the wood frames together with 7 other team members. Lunch came and went. Spaghetti was on [View Full Entry]

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My decision to forgo the post-wine tasting karaoke event last night paid off. Apparently, the karaoke machine at the bar was broken (not that that would have mattered because I generally try to save people from the torture of listening to my tone-deaf voice) AND I got up at 7am for my morning jog. Comfortable with the route I ran a couple of days ago, I decided to keep it simple and run it once again. I stretched it out about .5 miles and went further into the residential neighborhood in town this time around. The conditions were perfect, actually [View Full Entry]

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