Year in review

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 :-)

Our destination is the place far in the distance... behind the white house 

But you gotta love the views!

A well-earned refreshing drink :-)

Oh and Ludvik is really stressed. I don't know how he'll take this pace... can you tell?

Lots of love,

Eva

Hungary visit, Norway visit, 17 May and more

Hey guys!

So I've arrived safely back from Norway now, caught up on work and I've actually got some energy to spare. Today I seem to have too much energy actually, I went for a run at lunch time (very happy with that run actually... "I dun gud" (",) ) and I'm still sort of bouncing off the walls so I thought I'd spend some of the energy on a long overdue blog post.

Since the last post I’ve been to first Hungary, then Norway. The Hungary visit was wonderful as always, but then that’s not difficult when the people there are so much fun to spend time with. (“,) This was back in March but that didn’t stop us from going swimming... outside... in naturally heated mineral water. I still remember the look on the faces of the kids who tried the pool next to ours, and their incredibly hasty retreat. I guess that one was not heated! I also added a few dishes to the ever-increasing list of Hungarian food I’ve tried and I still love all of them. Maybe I should be careful saying that – they may try something really unusual next time!

Just recently Peti and I both went to Norway. I still think he was brave for that but I’m very happy that everyone got along so well. Even Bella gave him an enthusiastic welcome by jumping into the bed one morning and trying to sniff his face... but I’m not sure if he enjoyed dog breath in the morning quite as much.

On 16th May we went to Oslo to visit Knut André, Tina and Julia. We had a walk up Akerelva and Peti was chosen by Julia to get to play with her. Luckily he’s very good at that and seems to enjoy it! After dinner we went down to Aker Brygge and then went to the roof of the new opera house in Oslo. I’d never seen it before, I was impressed!

We went onto the roof and took pictures of Oslo and important things like me taking a picture of Peti taking a picture of me, or Knut André describing the sights.

17th of May was great, it was reasonably warm, the sun was almost breaking through and it was so nice to see everyone again! Philip had the cutest suit on and Emilie was beautiful as always, wearing a bunad. She seemed very happy about the pink dolphin balloon she received while Philip was in heaven, being held by his Bestefar. And of course the ice cream and hot dogs is traditional... and joyfully received! I even got Peti to wave a Norwegian flag, and I took the picture to prove it (“,). You're honorary Norwegian now hunni!

After the parades we went back to Odd Martin, Ingeborg, Emilie and Philip’s house where my dad was selected by Philip as his playmate and Emilie decided that Peti would be the perfect target for tickling and being “scared” with whistles. I helped her with both tasks. I’m very kind like that (evil grin).


On the 18th we went down to Nordbytjærnet just by where my dad and his wonderful wife lives. It’s about 5km walking around and it was so nice and warm that day. At least in comparison to the other days – it seems like nothing compared to the 30 degrees we had in England this Monday but I must admit I’d rather have the cooler temperature. I guess I’m a viking!


On the 19th we both went back to our respective countries and probably we both slept very very well that night. I know I did.
So back in England, I’ve been told by my helpful running trainer that we’re going to increase the distance we’re running so by the end of June we’ll run 10km, end of July we’ll run 15, end of August we’ll run 20 and then we’ll be all set for the Windsor ½ marathon in end of September. I’m nervous about it of course but if Leo says that I’ll be able to do it, I have faith in him. After all, he’s gotten me this far!
This is a long catchup post but I’ll sign off now. I hope you all had a wonderful 17 May wherever you were, lots of love to you all!