my first set of keys

I got my first set of keys today...to my new apartment!!

I went to Ikea and bought a bed, matress, kitchen table and chairs, and slates..some pillows, shower curtian, sheets, took kit..i dunno a lot and it was awesome! My good friend Shannon came with me.

Tommorow I am meeting the Ikea guys at my apartment at 10am to move in my new furniture then in the evening Mate and his dad are going to help me move my stuff from the office to my apartment! Im very very excited! Thankfully, Shannon is going to come help me and get everything ready for maybe a house warming party soon!!

I will post pics of the exciting times soon!

My first visitor

I must preface this with..if I do not consider my dad my first visitor...

Today, I met Julie Moore, Donald Hardison and a team of 23 students from LU Global Impact in Budapest today. We toured the city, ate palacsintas, shopped and enjoyed fellowship. It was awesome to see a group of young people who sacrificed their summers to come to Romania to play and share with kids. I was able to spend they day talking to the differnt students and sharing with them what I am doing. It was great to hear what they want to do and how they want to do things in missions in their lives.

It was just wonderful to be able to hang out Julie and Donald and catch up and enjoy people from home. I had so much fun and I am so thankful I got to share my city and my heart with these people! Thanks for coming guys!!

What I am reading...

I highly reccomend this book for spiritual living. My dad left me this to read.

I am reading this slowly.. you know when I am finished with this, I am finished with the entire series. That means the end of Harry Potter. Some will be very sad, some will be very glad. I was able to buy it in English at a mall here in Budapest on the 21st when it came out.

New Friends

So..now that Language school is over..I'm sure you wonder what does she do exactly :-)

Well.. here are some new friends that I have made..

Dori is Hungarian and she is apart of Mark's English Club. I met her the second day I moved here and we have been hanging out here and there whenever Mark puts together events. She is 19 and goes tot he Economics University here in Budapest.

Joszef is also Hungarian and he is also in English Club. We just met Sunday when we played boules and we also met tonight at English Club.

Shannon is American and she is apart of YWAM here in Budpest. She is sooo fun and we live pretty close together. She is finishing her second year and thank God she is here for another. I have a feeling that we will be good friends! We go to Church together and kind of roll in the same group thanks to Mate.

Mate is a friend that I have known for almost 5 years now. We met when I lived in Budapest. I have enjoyed having him here and hanging out. He is one of the greatest guys I know. He is Hungarian and he is a lot of fun and the best part is that he is fluent in English.

Tommorow is Coffee House and I will see some of my new friends here. I will meet with Viktor and Csabba again so pray for some good friendships to form!

Getting over the heat

There was a nice breeze today in Budapest and this helped a lot with it being so warm!! I am officially finished with language school (part1) and I received a 96 on my test! This is very exciting although I have lots to learn. I am able to hang out a little more now and hopefully do some much needed resting, lesson planning and visiting with new friends.

I have been meeting new people and making new friends which are a huge blessing. I have met Americans, British, and Hungarians. Today, we spent almost 3.5 hours playing Scategories and then I met Mark, Daniel, Kyle, Dori, Kristof, Joszef and two German girls at Margit Sziget (an island in the middle of the Danube) to play games.. boules and football and charades. It was a blast and I laughed a lot.

Well since I wrote that section two days ago.. Today I spent the morning at IKEA with Laura and I found a bed, a mattress that is on major sale, and the “box springs. I also found a table and chairs and hopefully all of this will be delivered on August 1 or 2nd when I get to move into my wonderful apartment! Mate is going to help me put them together..He says he loved Lego’s when he was little so it makes complete sense to let him put them together J

I am excited about these next few weeks to refresh in many areas in my life. I’m resting, reading a lot, doing a Bible Study with Laura, and working out. I am also hanging out. Tomorrow I am meeting a friend for dinner and the she and I are going to church. Oh and that reminds me, I’ve found a great church I am enjoying, Calvary Chapel. It’s in Hungarian and English so I can bring anyone there who speaks either language!

On Friday nights there is a coffeehouse that YWAM (Youth with a Mission) organizes and I went last Friday night. I met two young college students who wanted to practice their English. We chatted and I invited them back to Coffee house this coming Friday and if conversation goes well this Friday I am inviting them to church on Sunday Morning. Their names are Casaba and Viktor. So pray for these guys!!

Well, I hope everyone is well…I will keep putting up posts!

107 degree weather

Tommorow it is supposed to be 107 degrees here in Budapest. Can we say a bit hot? I am dying..litterally melting I think. I take cold showers and they feel amazing! My dad leaves tommorow and I'm a bit sad.

Tonight, we went to a Turkish Restaruant and had great food and an older man came by and asked if we wanted to buy this one pink rose in a makeshift vase. After we said no, both of our hearts broke and we went and asked him to buy it. The system dad says..he got shafted by the system of post-Communism. Anyways, so I have this very pretty rose sitting on my desk and everytime I see it I remember my dad.
Later this evening, I was on the 4/6 vilamos (tram) to get home and there were three girls speaking in Enlglish. They were talking about going to a club, making out with boys all night long and taking x. It was very sad for me to hear this. I remembered that wow..this is why I am here.. not only to teach English but to make students aware of making good choices in their lives.

Pray for this country..in this dry dry heat and pray for me as I finish my class tommorow and begin preparing for classes!

Vienna

On Friday afternoon, Daniel Newell and I boarded the 13:10 train to Vienna. It was a nice air conditioned 2nd class car where we could read or sleep (as I did). We arrived a bit late but we were in Vienna. We went straight to Stephansplatz where we met the World Harves team from Prauge and the new World Harvest Team the Hunters in Vienna. It was great to see everyone again especially the Hunters as I have not seen them since MTI in Colorado.

We ate pizza and then went out for girls time. Daniel roamed the city and met me back later. I had the privelage of tasting a bit of America by going to one of the cities many Starbucks. Yummy. Just the smells, sounds, tastes and sights made me miss a bit of home. I went and bought a 250gram bag of House blend coffee to bring back to Budapest. I also got a lil espresso drink. yum. We sat and talked and talked and it was wonderful.

Dan and I went to our Hostel. A four floor Hostel with your own room but shared showers (co-ed mind you) and toilet. I definately could not take a shower here so I used my sink :-) I was pretty stinky by bed time Saturday night. Samantha said she could smell me alll the way in Todd County, PA. Anyways, on Saturday morning I met the World Harvest Team at the Opera house in Vienna and we went to the Hunters new, beautiful apartment. It comes complete with a tower ( a room you can sit in and look onto the street), a gigantic terrace, great living space and a view of the entire city. The Interns with WH put together beds and couches and the mom's and I went to the park with the kids.

I had so much fun playing, loving and talking. I was very encouraged and I hope I was an encouragement. So I know many of you are thinking..wow she sure does travel alot. Well, yes I do and I enjoy it mostly but I think that as a single woman part of my calling here as a ministry partner is to encourage families. I hope I do this with the Newells, Hunters, Stewarts and soon to be when they come from America.. Coppages and George's and the Nemeth's when I get to Croatia. I enjoy caring and loving on each kid of these families! And definatley the mom's of all these families and I needed and will need girl time!

I begin my last week of language school and I am excited! I can't wait to do some things I've wanted to do ...exploring, meeting with new friends and such. Please pray for Nikolai a Russian boy in my class. We've talked a bit about church so I hope to maybe further this conversation this week!! Thanks for reading!!

Paperwork

Today I learned a whole new definition of paperwork. When moving here to Hungary I knew from stories from friends that there are many papers that must be signed, stamped, and stamped.

I signed my contract with my school today which is awesome because it helps me begin the residency permit process!! I also signed my contract for my apartment. This was all done in two hours which is awesome! God is good.

Then my dad and I went to the American Embassy to get a document I needed to fill out for Hungarian Background Check. The Embassy is really nice but the people were not so nice. But.. I got my paper so that is even more towards the residency permit.

I then went to Szentlelak Ter to get a foreign residency card...szallashely bejelento lap...without going into detail I used my broken Hungarian, somehow got to the right building, got the right card, went to the office and had an official signature.

The thing about it all..is stamps. Everything in Hungary must be stamped.. your receipts for big amounts of money, your bus pass, your train tickets, you contracts, bank account papers, signatures on cards. Its amazing. So I put a pic of the stamp for my school!!

Picture Links

I have posted two albums online and if you would like to see the pictures please just click:

My favorite's album:

http://liberty.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096262&l=6f5e4&id=55702898

My Beginning's album

http://liberty.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2096259&l=afd23&id=55702898

I will post soon!!

I've officially been in Budapest for 1 week and a few days. Its really been a whirlwind of different events and travelling.

I've taken a week of Hungarian class. I go to class from 9am-12:15pm and I can tell you who I am, all of my numbers, I can conjugate verbs, talk about countries and other things. Here's an example minus the needed accent marks.

Joanna Foley vagyok. En angol tanar vagyok. En budapesten elek.
I am Joanna Foley. I am an English Teacher. I live in Budapest.

I have lots of homework after class and I hang out with my Dad. He is still here and will be till July 20th.

I don't move into my apartment until August so that will be fun to do. This past weekend, My dad and I travelled to Prague (Czech Republic) and it was about an eight hour train ride. We were there to visit with Mark and Joanna Stewart who are good friends from Charlottesville and have recently moved there with World Harvest. We got to see John Huss' Church and visited a pretty Rose Garden, went to the balcony where Communism was proclaimed, saw pretty churches, walked over a cool bridge, saw a castle, drank good drinks and spent quality time. Dad and Mark indulged themselves in the Foot long hot dogs that Joanna and I were thoroughly grossed out by :-) It was neat to be in a new city.

So, I'm doing well. Staying very busy but I'm learning to have a bit of a routine and trying to speak Hungarian!!

4th of July

As most of you are now just getting your cookouts started, picnics ready and packing up to go to a park and see some Fireworks.. I'm ending my July 4th!

I went to school as normal and did my homework and then I went on a hunt for sparklers. I thought it would be fun for the boys, Laura and I to have some sort of July 4th fun... I went to one of the malls..Mamut and found a "paper store". I looked all over and found candles that sparkled a little bit, and then some blue crepe paper to make streamers (you can't buy those in a roll here like we do in usa). I went up to the counter and tried my best Hungarian.. Hello, I don't know the name of this in Hungarian.. I need Sparklers..do you have them? As i point to the candles that sparkle..She pulls out this awesome "Cake Candle" and I say YES PLEASe..just one? No thanks, I"ll take the whole package :-) Just four of them.

So happy as can be..I get on the Hev to the bus to go home. I get a little hungry so I grab a few (pizza pastries..like the one's we got sistra) and was eating them as I walked.. A old man looked at me and said "Have a good Meal" and I smiled and said thanks.

Anyways.. I get off the bus and I'm walking home and Laura and the boys meet me on the road and pick me up! We get home and make AWESOME 4th of July hats, cut crepe paper to make streamers, blow up balloons and get the table set for hour big Happy birthday AMerica Party!!

My friend Mate comes so we get on our rain gear and go get him at the bus stop..

Our dinner was complete with chicken, watermelon, greenbeans, mac and cheese, corn on the cob and shirley temples. We even topped it all off with a super yummy Tiramisu cake with American Flags on it!

You have to go to greater lengths to celebrate fourth of July around here but we did it .. being far from home makes you appreciate America and traditions a lot more!! I hope you enjoy fireworks for me .. I will see them in August!!

Happy 4th!

Some pictures of my time

Laura's new bike!
The Newell's new house!

Mark and Dad greeted Dan and I at the airport
Nathan was soo excited to see Uncle Dan and Joanna
Jacob..he's a cutie
Seth is the oldest and he's usually all smiles!
Mark is a Proffesional Griller

Faith and Trust..

In the past few weeks leading up to where I am now, I've learned a great deal of Faith and Trust. Two words that I often throw flippantly but I don't know if I've fully learned them.

As you all know my box was lost amongst the many millions of bags in Heathrow, London. Unbeknownst to me and my lack of trust.. God knew where it was at all times. He had his eye (or does God have lots of eyes..maybe one for each piece of lost luggage) on my box the whole time. My box is now a world traveller...It went from D.C.-->London-->Chicago-->London-->Budapest then to the Newells house! I was soo excited about the box and its contents..my bags, books that I need and clothes. So where does this trust and faith ..the lack thereof..come in..

All day Sunday and Monday I prayed. I felt a bit silly..who prays for lost luggage.. Then we (Newells, Daniel and I) prayed for my box on our way to school on Monday morning. I thought, I should have faith and just trust that God will bring my box to me. I even gave Him a plug.. God please help my box come in.. all I really need is my langauge school book and my clothes.. I didn't fully trust..but I keep praying. Is it okay to keep praying? Do you "nag" God about such things.. then I remembered the verse.. Ask and you shall recieve.. and that we should pray without ceasing..sooo I did. I told Jesus these things..how I didn't know if I was to pray over and over again.. but I did. So I learned a lesson to put my trust in God and he wants to hear everyone one of my words...