Life is Epic: September 2012

So I suddenly realised that it's been almost a year since I came here, and I happened to have a weekend where I was not meeting up with Peti (boys' night out... it seems he had fun :-)) and since I've been a lazy so-and-so all weekend I've actually got some energy now. Yay!

So... the first year has been fun. There was Christmas with Peti's family (and lots of tasty food) and going to Norway in February (and lots of tasty food) and Easter in Hungary (and, yep, lots of tasty food).

For Easter in Hungary there is a tradition that the boys go around the houses and sprinkle the girls with perfume or water. The girls then give the boys chocolate or money. To honour my first Easter in Hungary, Peti thought he would wake me up by filling one of those soda spritzers with water and spray it all over me to wake me up. Imagine his disappointment when, instead of going EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK like he expected, I just mumbled "Hey!" and pulled the covers back over me. He thought his evilness deserved a little scream at least. (Chortle) I told him that after being woken up in many inventive ways by the cat, nothing as little as water is going to make me scream. :-D Now I wonder what he's got planned for next year...

Also, my mum visited me a couple of times, and my dad and Anne-Grethe as well, it was so nice to have them here! One of the times my mum brought Willy who was very agreeably surprised at the prices of beer here... :-) So far it seems everyone approves of Hungary!

I've also gotten into knitting more than before, it used to be more embroidery, now it's almost allll knitting. The result is quite cool when I look back on it. OK the shawl is crocheted not knitted (which is also kinda cool cause it was a first try). I also finished some things I forgot to take pictures of, made 2 of that little norwegian pattern jumper, and I ripped up a jumper when I was almost done cause it was just not gonna work. Still figuring out what to do with that yarn... what a horrible dilemma :-)

Now I'm working on a jumper for Peti which looks more like a poncho at the moment cause I'm knitting it from top down. I also decided to try out lace knitting for the first time, and after swearing my way through the first few rows (think 3 knitting needles with 2 stitches on each needle) it's quite fun actually :-) Of course right now it looks weird and everyone is asking me if it's a hat or something, but I'm sure when I take it off the needles it'll turn into a nice tablecloth... fingers crossed :-)

I've also gotten into cycling lately, there are some really cool places to go in Budapest and Kiskunfélegyháza by bike. The other weekend Peti and a friend of his (Gabor) and me went up into the hills in Budapest by tram and cycled downhill (wheeeeeee!) and the views at the top were stunning! We cycled around 42 km that day, and even though a lot of it was downhill there were some up-hills to puff me a bit too :-)

The temperatures are finally starting to drop slightly, which is a life-saver for me. I think I will need a few more years to get used to 40 C, even with the humidity low! Peti says that now I can say I have survived my first summer in Hungary though... yay! Do I get a medal? Or at least a little commemorative plaque?:-D

Peti and his family invited me to their yearly holiday to lake Balaton. It was 5 days of sunbathing and swimming in the lake. Horrible. I don't know how I could stand it :-D

We also went to a place along the lake called Badacsony which is a famous wine region. We walked up a loooooong road amid the vineyards, and stopped at various wine cellars for refreshment on the way. Then we had a little bite to eat and walked down again, buying some home made wine on the way down. Peti bought a 1 1/2 l bottle for something like 1700 HUF... so, something like 40 NOK? And it was really tasty wine too, and this is ME speaking :-)