News From Home: follow up

There is a whole subculture out there that I was never aware of. I knew that Budapest would always be one of my favorite places in the world. To find out that others are making it theirs is interesting and somewhat comforting to me. To find out how much the city has grown in its interenational influence since my time there is propitious!

I often feel I have to fight to keep my memories of living in easter Europe alive. I remind myself that the tennis courts were between my house and the international school that I attended. The sherbet shop was right down the road from the school just before the first (or second?) major intersection. The walnut tree at the end of the property made the best rations when playing in the yard. The purple lilacs grew by the stone steps in the woods and the white lilacs grew on the other side of the house. City pigeons are dumb and hard to catch even though they let you get close enough to believe you can catch them. Mom talking about never having long hair again because the twins grabbed at it all the time. Camping with Dad in the yard and falling asleep to a story about a blue hamper. Picking tiny asters from the lawn. Getting to see Ishtvan's small utility area where he kept papers and got ready to mow the lawn. Meeting Ishtvan's niece. The stone lions guarded the bridge over the danube (a river that is definitely not blue).

There is so much now that has changed bot economically and physically. The city has become a haven for artists, more so now than when I lived there. And than ks to the smart moves of several banks and tech companies the city holds a major role in world trade. There is definitely much change sweeping through the city even today.

We had seen the first of the major changes just before we left Budapest. The Berlin Wall fell and released a flood of inovations and freedoms that the people had never experienced before. Posters bidding a sarcastic farewell to the russian occupation flew up everywhere (My parents framed one that they keep at their house). Now you can get pills for a potasium deficiency instead of filling a prescription for a banana. Now you can get a banana whenever you want instead of waiting in line to fill a prescription for one. Now that the country is part of the EU there is more religeous freedom, but hunger for God is slowly dying as the people try to satisfy themselves in the sweeping materialism of the west.

Budapes is a place, like many around the world, that has great opportunities for anyone - especially for the church. I will try to post updates on tha topic as I discover more. Until then, viszontlátásra.