Since the last time I published a blog posting, I have experienced so much in such a short time! This past week has been exhilarating, sometimes frustrating, comforting, and (most of all) FUN. Every day of work is truly a new day and no day is like the others. I spent 2 days this week getting settled into the office with my friends at Phiren Amenca and I can actually say I feel like I belong there and with them. Not to be confused with the act of feeling like I “fit in” which can be counter-productive when looking for a sense of belonging. Fitting in would mean that I feel like I need to change something about myself or my appearance to feel like I “belong”. I am so happy that I can be myself around them and actually have the opportunity to show my talents and shine a bit. Getting started at the school has been a bit chaotic and semi-frustrating. People have been out of town, out sick, or missing students for assorted camps so it has been hard to get started in the classrooms. At the end of my work week, I was able to share a bit of time with Rachel (my country coordinator) over coffee to catch up and talk over the first full week of work. Y’all. I can’t even begin to describe how refreshing it was to sit and talk with someone who I could let everything out to. It actually brought me to tears. I now realize how important genuine FACE-TO-FACE human interaction is for the soul.

The rest of the weekend was full of new friendships and good times. Saturday morning was spent on a four hour hike up the Pilis Mountains with members of my host family’s church community.

Saturday evening was spent with new friends at a dinner party with members from my church community. It was such a wonderful evening sharing laughs, food, and the occasional “Dorothy Cry”. The view from the Campbell’s balcony was breathtaking and featured the Hungarian Parliament Building.

This Sunday morning, I got to help with worship! The pastor today was Hungarian but spoke very decent English. Even so, she asked for help reading the lessons as well as the prayers from Anne (also from New Mexico) and myself. I got to read the prayers today and felt very “at home” and reminisced my times as Assistant Minister at PLC! Following worship, some of my new friends and I walked over to Andrassy utca which is a major street in Budapest that happened to be completely shut down for multiple festivals that were going on this weekend. One of those happened to be a food truck festival which was AWESOME. I couldn’t help but be grateful and happy today for all of the fun and friendship I experienced this weekend and I feel so electrified and ready to start this new week. Sziasztok!