Southern-Fried Mission: Happy Anniversary, Budapest!

I feel weird writing this post. Honestly, I've been procrastinating and putting it off for so long, it has become unnatural for me to write. And I was doing so mediocrely well in the beginning!

I don't know what it is. Am I in a rut?! I come to this blog page time after time and just end up staring at the blinking cursor on a white, empty page. It's like a metronome counting away the time as more and more nothingness pours out onto my computer screen.

So I've decided to force myself out of this creative slump the only way I know how. ACTUALLY WRITING. Now please, bear with me while I attempt to shake off the rust that's been eroding my creative writing faculties for the last month.

If I'm honest with myself, I think I have been avoiding this place actually. When I first started this blog I was preparing to leave for another country and subsequently arriving in said foreign country. Everything was exciting! Everything was new! Now, I'm comfortable. I have a routine - places to shop for groceries, places to grab a quick dinner, jogging routes along the river. I know how long my morning commute will take and the absolute latest time I can leave to arrive at work on time.

When did I stop being a stranger and start belonging here?

I think this new role really dawned on me while my friend was in town visiting over Easter weekend. Somehow I was the official authority on Hungary - culture, food, traditions, history. My tiny knowledge of the Hungarian language was really quite impressive to her. I ordered two things in Hungarian and all of a sudden, in her mind I was practically fluent. It was an odd position to find myself in, but it was so exciting at the same time!

By the way, this was taken on April 1st when it was still really cold.

I threw this picture in because it's so bizarre that I've seen two of my college roommates in Budapest, Hungary.

I loved being able to walk around to all the tourist destinations I hadn't visited since I first arrived. I loved experiencing the food with my friend and just generally enjoying the city that has started to become my routine. But mostly I loved discussing the things we've both learned since moving to Europe, like celebrating the fact that I'm finally starting to understand Celsius measurements, even though meters and kilometers still remain a mystery, or noticing how Europeans and Americans use silverware differently, or realizing that books of the Bible had different names in different languages (why had I never thought of that before?!). It was really just interesting to be able to compare and contrast our lives here to our lives there.

I saw the same thing last weekend when I met an American couple who are both friends of a friend back in the U.S. I got to take them to a great restaurant and coffee shop as well as discuss my life and service here in Budapest, the history of the Reformed church and Hungary's political climate too. And again, I was struck by just how much I've learned in my short time away from home. I can almost see myself becoming more well-rounded, knowledgeable and, hopefully, culturally aware.

I was nice to John and Carol even though they were Penn State fans. They did give me a hat though :)

But the best part is that there is no wall between my life in Louisiana and my life in Hungary. They are inextricably linked, because my life doesn't halt and resume depending on my physical location. It runs. It flows. It melds places, experiences, cultures together.

Believe it or not, I arrived in Budapest six months ago today, and on one hand I can feel every moment I've been away from home, but on the other I can't imagine that the time has gone by so quickly. I'm just so happy for all the ways that my life has been broadened, strengthened and blessed in these last six months.