tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83944382167006101162024-03-05T13:26:38.383-08:00Thad in HungaryTThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-20242943819961203942014-07-10T23:03:00.001-07:002014-07-10T23:06:25.943-07:00Murphy's Law<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />I left the house for 24 hours and decided to leave the rain jacket home. Since leaving home, the chance for rain in all areas of Hungary has gone from 10% to 70% today. This once again reaffirms that when I take a little extra space in by backpack for the jacket the weather will stay dry as a bone and sunny. And when the jacket sits at home...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">BUT, today the rain will be a small thing--a drop in the bucket--when I go to the Budapest airport to meet up with my parents!</span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-20411911506183803082014-07-10T06:36:00.001-07:002014-07-10T06:36:12.721-07:00Meet Tamás<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meet Tamás! A few weeks ago when I gave a presentation in Nyïregyhaza about the U.S. and the "American Dream" I met Tamás. In August he'll leave Hungary and spend one year in the U.S. as an AFS exchange student. Where in the U.S.? He doesn't know yet, but finds out soon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This last Tuesday we met again and I helped him prepare his scholarship paperwork. His English is pretty good--definitely better than by Hungarian. It's amazing how quickly you pick up on new words and grammar once you have a good foundation. For me, this foundation didn't feel solid until February or March. Tamás is in for a great year, and I think he's especially brave to leave home for 12 months at age 16.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Talking and meeting with such a motivated student was a highlight of my week and I'm happy to share it on here! </span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-88056746433160143982014-07-07T03:21:00.002-07:002014-07-07T03:21:51.074-07:00The 4th from afar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>YAGM Hungary meeting with the Phiren Amenca coordination team</i></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I’ve always been particularly glad that the founding fathers declared independence in mid-summer, and I’m equally happy that it’s usually a big family holiday for me. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Of course, this year was different. On the morning of the 4th I took a 4:30am bus that would connect me to a 5:15am train to get into Budapest for a 10am meeting. I’ve written before about Phiren Amenca—a dialogue, education, and voluntary service network that connects Roma and non-Roma. Phiren Amenca and its people have been an important part of this year for me in terms of understanding my community seeing it within the broader context of Roma in Hungary, Roma in Europe, and ongoing human rights activism. What I’ve learned through Phiren Amenca undoubtedly has applications with marginalized peoples at home, but that’s a discussion for another time.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">So we were happy to have this final meeting with Phiren Amenca to share stories and approach the question of “what do we do with this?” As I said to the group that gathered, often times the moments that test our ability to truly dialogue with others are when people disagree and don't equally acknowledge the reality or complexity of pluralism. I would argue those types of dialogues are more important, albeit difficult. But there is also something energizing and hopeful about talking with others who, although we don’t agree on everything, are willing to approach pluralism and and social justice with openness and eagerness.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daaMOMhglXPEZID6E__y0U5khoOTFZbHLRo04gW9VjtqSB6jc6AGGKyQmtnvWnM0InOmhrJtH4mmXhIH4yefhUpibg4Ev3Kou16HVsu_89T2uFzyDy12cdGSpqR8o4cKSIG7cmXxzWj3/s1600/IMG_4772.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daaMOMhglXPEZID6E__y0U5khoOTFZbHLRo04gW9VjtqSB6jc6AGGKyQmtnvWnM0InOmhrJtH4mmXhIH4yefhUpibg4Ev3Kou16HVsu_89T2uFzyDy12cdGSpqR8o4cKSIG7cmXxzWj3/s1600/IMG_4772.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> YAGM Hungary meeting with the Phiren Amenca coordination team</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">As chance would have it, we were able to join a group of young volunteers and activists who were attending a student session at Budapest's European Youth Center on the role of religious communities in Roma and anti-discrimination work. Around the table were representatives from the UK, US, Canada, Ireland, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Romania, Hungary, France, Germany. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The conversation was especially rich because we could share stories, and then others could respond with questions and reactions from their perspective. Some of what came out of the meeting will appear in my newsletter (coming soon!), but I want to share one particular point here. The convener, Richard Otterness, said that he hopes addressing hate, poverty, discrimination, and violence aren’t specialties of any one person, or one organization. In other words, we need to be alert and intentional about safeguarding and advocating for others in all realms of life. To do this, as we discussed, relationships have to come before “projects” that fight injustices. And we need to work <b><i>with</i></b> others, and not merely do things <i><b>for</b></i><u><b></b></u> them. It sounds simple—maybe too simple—but it demands time and emotional energy that, I think inevitably, we lead to all of us learning from and serving each other.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">A participant from Ireland had a great call to action as it relates to the role of churches in social justice: too often, people, churches, organizations, governments provide tangible and sometimes immediate aid to people in need. While we’re called to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, it seems that there is also a call to address underlying reasons why people are hungry or naked in the first place.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In the evening, Ole and I joined Meredith, her American family, and her Hungarian host families for a typical 4th of July BBQ. It was great to share this holiday with so many new people. So many things about the celebration were so typically American—fireworks, s’mores, potato salad, obnoxious red white and blue decorations—while other things were so typically Hungarian—palinka, soccer match on TV, folk music and dancing.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Here’s to a great 4th of July in Hungary, and a word of thanks for people in uniform who are also away from home, perhaps in dangerous places, who keep us safe and allow us to wander this world as free people free to love and serve each other.</span></span><br />
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-67005646746840453412014-07-02T00:30:00.002-07:002014-07-02T00:30:32.426-07:00Visiting other YAGMs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In late May and early June I was able to spend time with the three other Hungary YAGMs. In total, we’ve probably spent less than a month of our lives together, but we’ve become good friends and I’m glad to have people here to share this experience with! Life is great with great people!</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Throughout the year we’ve heard stories from each others' lives in our different towns. Each of our sites is so unique to its area of Hungary, and of course each of our jobs and routines come with its own sets of people and places. So it was especially good to meet some of the characters and see the setting for the narrative of this YAGM year in different sites. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LVqDp_kypHSBj3-SkqefRYzk_2OrslV3iObl1-U8fJ0zoAXxliLpr-D7pIaQ6JIouyr-ei7C01gV_LnS-J2M1BD8wUFxK5PY5-xQlCokn6mwOmZNd9jfAaMIkm_9o4NZhzfsA5P3hsE3/s1600/IMG_4447.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LVqDp_kypHSBj3-SkqefRYzk_2OrslV3iObl1-U8fJ0zoAXxliLpr-D7pIaQ6JIouyr-ei7C01gV_LnS-J2M1BD8wUFxK5PY5-xQlCokn6mwOmZNd9jfAaMIkm_9o4NZhzfsA5P3hsE3/s1600/IMG_4447.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Roman mosaics along the Amber Road</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In May I visited Chelsea in Szombathely - a city of 80,000 in western Hungary, just 10 kilometers from the Austrian border. We explored Roman ruins from the first century AD along what used to be the Amber Road trade route from northern to southern Europe. Fascinating. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnlRzFCDwu8FWOmaXDsqo6q0eDEd0fzxKGQY8gh0rHVoj99QNwcLlAzk3zXnzUyCy8NZWur8V6mTgprCgYEtPBlOqRF6j9bBKdajk1JlyEKuYi-sgJg-QltUXsKv2rGICIJRcI6kAtV1o/s1600/IMG_4444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnlRzFCDwu8FWOmaXDsqo6q0eDEd0fzxKGQY8gh0rHVoj99QNwcLlAzk3zXnzUyCy8NZWur8V6mTgprCgYEtPBlOqRF6j9bBKdajk1JlyEKuYi-sgJg-QltUXsKv2rGICIJRcI6kAtV1o/s1600/IMG_4444.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Soviet-era public art perched above the city of Szombathely </span></span></i>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">We went on a long walk with an old women Chelsea has befriended this year. Actually, I think Chelsea would say they befriended each other. The women fled Hungary in 1956 during what turned out to be a failed uprising against the Soviet occupiers. She then spent the next 56 years living in the United States where she earned a PhD in piano performance. She spent time living and teaching in Bemidji, MN. “Minnesotans are just good wholesome folks; they come from good Scandinavian stock,” she told me.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I also spent time at Chelsea’s school meeting her students.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0U_ikvwi2U_cy4p543MGOoEdFoEn5Ql_ZtUgOykbghRKc9nhQsUr5Ev2uNNSyDKeXD83f9uc30uLWd-HajYHAWGptU_tJ5oh5fwK-Ysq98xMhOG1pCYiGxV3afW-I4l4K4bfpZeByiSJ/s1600/IMG_4471.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI0U_ikvwi2U_cy4p543MGOoEdFoEn5Ql_ZtUgOykbghRKc9nhQsUr5Ev2uNNSyDKeXD83f9uc30uLWd-HajYHAWGptU_tJ5oh5fwK-Ysq98xMhOG1pCYiGxV3afW-I4l4K4bfpZeByiSJ/s1600/IMG_4471.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> Visiting Chelsea's students; here we're most likely working on the "th" sound </span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">En route back across Hungary I went to Budapest where all four of us had a final meeting with Bishop Fabiny of the Hungarian Lutheran Church. He and his team have been very attentive to us this year and we appreciate it.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The second weekend of June I journeyed to Szarvas to visit Ole, my favorite Canadian. He and I conquered the town by bicycles making stops at the county museum, canoeing on the Körös River, visiting an independent Roma congregation, having ice cream with his boss and pizza with his host brother, shopping at an outdoor market, taking a selfie (more on that), eating fruit right out of his co-teacher’s garden, and playing soccer with some of his students. It was a great weekend at Camp Ole!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPw816nmvBlll6irMeqbXTRKSe103xCpj-asry4OqAZ7YigPAV99BQZl1F89i4rfAUIgoGGDOGI9K-xYjZhtg6I63pI8sKXqn0CrOwJNNdD4PgXeNBHaNbsRPo9AOFapn6IpgUmzNJbDr/s1600/IMG_4552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDPw816nmvBlll6irMeqbXTRKSe103xCpj-asry4OqAZ7YigPAV99BQZl1F89i4rfAUIgoGGDOGI9K-xYjZhtg6I63pI8sKXqn0CrOwJNNdD4PgXeNBHaNbsRPo9AOFapn6IpgUmzNJbDr/s1600/IMG_4552.jpg" height="300" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Selfie with Ole at the geographic center of the former Kingdom of Hungary </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fn6gFAFgYrGHhyphenhyphenk1RjsO_I81TDVephvvUperT4CJNqhOS1VVEIkOi16YYpeAL_B6QINgigsMBohhxq0O7sKTaK4A7AQPEtViWhhHJ0WG7RFOcYiXPsnpHlWlmkGaDFByrJVmwrsWBF4O/s1600/IMG_4550.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9fn6gFAFgYrGHhyphenhyphenk1RjsO_I81TDVephvvUperT4CJNqhOS1VVEIkOi16YYpeAL_B6QINgigsMBohhxq0O7sKTaK4A7AQPEtViWhhHJ0WG7RFOcYiXPsnpHlWlmkGaDFByrJVmwrsWBF4O/s1600/IMG_4550.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A plaque at the historic geographic center that says quite a bit about Hungarian nationalism: </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Hungarian Creed:</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>I believe in God</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>I believe in a homeland</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>I believe in a divine eternal truth</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>I believe in the resurrection Hungary<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></i><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">About that selfie: Ole had recently learned about a historic site along the river marking the geographic center of the former Kingdom of Hungary. Before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon in which Hungary lost 70% of its territory, the Kingdom existed as a behemoth of a state between east and west. Remember that Hungary was founded in 896, so the place we visited stood at the center for over a millennium. </span></span><br />
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<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://www.atlas-historique.net/cartographie/1914-1945/grand_format/Hongrie1919-45GF.gif" height="393" id="irc_mi" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="491" /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Where is the historic center now? Go 76 miles northwest of Szarvas and you’ll be in the small town of Puszavacs. Drop that factoid at parties and impress you friends!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMMzHIjurbZEnPPgx83ImPucwwh5_orxg2fHgAQeXo9o_4EIYPHs73uznFKKhtdmf-h4AjeKNdR0vE3fKHLY-okC0fjhJVjUMZYKNIQoGBpaWHBuUe-7XdSrx4dH49_gP7Vd-Bk3dl5VL/s1600/IMG_4656.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlMMzHIjurbZEnPPgx83ImPucwwh5_orxg2fHgAQeXo9o_4EIYPHs73uznFKKhtdmf-h4AjeKNdR0vE3fKHLY-okC0fjhJVjUMZYKNIQoGBpaWHBuUe-7XdSrx4dH49_gP7Vd-Bk3dl5VL/s1600/IMG_4656.jpg" height="400" width="298" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Meredith making some new friends at the Görögszállás Children's House </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Finally, in mid-June, Meredith from Piliscsaba outside of Budapest came to visit me! We did the 50 minute walk between my house and the train station 3 times (one way three times) so we had plenty of time to talk and take in the village life. We also caught some great sunsets. Saturday we went to Nyiregyhaza, the nearby city, in hope of catching some sun at an outdoor pool and thermal bath. Friday evening we sat outside and had a long talk with both of my host parents. Given out language skills, we definitely couldn’t have had that conversation in the first half of the year, and maybe not even in February or March. Progress!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_K7RVAoljJqRuU0z2cO75WFlESeWI3FpSeZfHNZu5wZSDAHQVpnRVZ9IbOq0rCojxpP1P69-RSWyFEv_w1QHtzLiPky6KbEMpD4nfaCSO8QSXUIzbRWvJkIVAWu2tkK3yGnRLVThxzzE4/s1600/IMG_4650.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_K7RVAoljJqRuU0z2cO75WFlESeWI3FpSeZfHNZu5wZSDAHQVpnRVZ9IbOq0rCojxpP1P69-RSWyFEv_w1QHtzLiPky6KbEMpD4nfaCSO8QSXUIzbRWvJkIVAWu2tkK3yGnRLVThxzzE4/s1600/IMG_4650.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In such a new place I find that I’m always trying to build context by connecting the people and ideas I find in different places. Hungary is a fascinating place to do this. And it’s great to do this with friends spread out throughout the country!</span></span>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-61535149581749172642014-07-01T23:56:00.002-07:002014-07-01T23:56:13.364-07:00Balogas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecH4xqZzjJlXsuv6w6oR1ffLfOp-p6yILuVwhDsTw7RQXQlLm97ah1qpfBOTpeNeKon9FDKkyvDPQCMRgBGURQ7BkmdAeh6AbXWSaKP6M1PHWH-EKmmzMbS_fzheZ3M6vNpA92rCmSGhY/s1600/IMG_2424.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecH4xqZzjJlXsuv6w6oR1ffLfOp-p6yILuVwhDsTw7RQXQlLm97ah1qpfBOTpeNeKon9FDKkyvDPQCMRgBGURQ7BkmdAeh6AbXWSaKP6M1PHWH-EKmmzMbS_fzheZ3M6vNpA92rCmSGhY/s1600/IMG_2424.JPG" height="266" width="400" /> </a> </div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">That’s the Hungarian word for graduation. Last week, one of the families in the village invited me to attend their son’s preschool graduation. A dozen other Görögszállás families and I made our way to Belegrad, the village next door, on bicycles. The kids had a quick program that was probably as smooth as any preschool program. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">After 9 months here I’m still picking up on all of the ways that people in Gorogszallas are related. The Gorogszallas kids had whole cheering sections for them with cousins, aunts, uncles, godparents, grandparents, great grandparents.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">After the ceremony we made our way back to Gorogszallas—a 10 minute ride—where the family who invited me had prepared a feast for lunch. The mom apologized to me saying that she knew it probably wasn’t as good as what I eat at my host family’s house, but she hoped I would like it. It was amazing to see the happiness and celebration in this family’s home. Life is hard for them; the lows are pretty low and the highs are few and far between. It was incredibly humbling to be invited to break bread and celebrate with them on one of their highs! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecH4xqZzjJlXsuv6w6oR1ffLfOp-p6yILuVwhDsTw7RQXQlLm97ah1qpfBOTpeNeKon9FDKkyvDPQCMRgBGURQ7BkmdAeh6AbXWSaKP6M1PHWH-EKmmzMbS_fzheZ3M6vNpA92rCmSGhY/s1600/IMG_2424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-54405395761902373672014-07-01T23:48:00.001-07:002014-07-01T23:48:19.444-07:00Snapshot of a day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Today is a normal day for me in Görögszállás. Some things have been routine, some things have been unexpected i.e. a 20 minute wait at a railroad crossing where I was waiting with my bicycle. Still, in a way, this type of unexpected waiting is also something I’ve come to expect this year. </span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Today I also did something that felt familiar, but did in it an unfamiliar place. We have lots of zucchini in the house right now, so I emailed my parents for their zucchini bread recipe. As I’m mentioned before, Hungary’s gastronomy tends to be fairly flavorful but also fairly repetitive week in and week out. So the idea of using shredded zucchini to make sweet bread got some funny looks when I first mentioned it here at the house. </span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">There were the expected things—like the taste of the batter with all of its cinnamon and vanilla that made me think “do I actually need to bake this?” And there was the shredder (is that what you call it) that still reminds of when I was small and kept grinding a carrot until I realized I ran out of carrot and started in on my finger. These were the expected, or familiar, things.</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">And then there was the unexpected. Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius only to discover that there’s no temperature gauge on the oven. I told my host mom I wanted 175 Celsius and she seemed to know just where to turn to the knob. There was also the grocery shopping trip to buy walnuts, raisins, and vanilla extract in which I wandered the aisles looking for the items and carried my iPhone with its Hungarian/English dictionary app so I could ask people for these items.</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The bread tastes great, but only lasts a short time. The smell in the house is great too, and lasts longer!</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I just opened an email from a family friend who lives in Iowa and happened upon my blog last week. She read all of it, which was both great for sharing this experience, and also provoking in terms of what role the blog plays at this point in the year.</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Lately, as time winds down here, I’m feeling more self-induced pressure to come up with conclusions on the experience so far, or at least articulate on-going questions. </span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">But the blog isn’t the place for those. For now, I’m sharing this slice of a typical day filled with both the expected and the unexpected, the familiar and unfamiliar.</span></span>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-92011324348275471182014-05-14T06:48:00.000-07:002014-05-14T06:48:55.141-07:00Brotherly cook-off<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I was typing in "blogger.com" I was thinking it had been a while since I posted. Yes, actually it's been a month to the day. Life has been happening here, and I should probably be sharing more of life's moments. Take yesterday, for example:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cooking/baking is not a strong skill of mine. I can help in the kitchen, I can do the basics, but my experience is lacking. When I'm at home in the US I have two parents who are great and adventurous cooks, uncles who are great grill masters, aunts who are also fantastic cooks, and a grandma who, in her earlier years, could whip out 4 dozen cookies, a hot dish and 4 side dishes, and some caramel rolls in her sleep. When I was in college, I was usually too stingy to buy good ingredients and too "busy" to spend time cooking. The point is, cooking/baking is not something I usually do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here in Göröszállás, my host mom is the kitchen engineer and darn good one. Cooking and baking here are simpler. In some ways its healthier because many of the ingredients are basic and don't include processed, high fructose corn syrup additives. While household incomes in Hungary are significantly lower than the US, food prices are comparable. Add the fact that the village doesn't have a store, and the spectrum of ingredients and food in the pantry because more limited. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I've helped my host-mom in the kitchen at various times throughout the year, I didn't really get the itch to cook anything on my own until a colleague came to visit in early May. We cooked hamburger patties made with beef, which is not overly common in Hungary. They were a success! My host dad and brother especially enjoyed them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hungarians make darn good pancakes--called palacsintas (pawl-aw-chintas). We've made them in the village a few times and I'm tried them at other markets and festivals. They're like a crepe and similarly filled with jam, nutella, or other sweet filling. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last night I decided to make "American" pancakes which are unique to Hungarians because they're much thicker and more substantive. I checked with my host mom to make sure they had the ingredients in the house. No oil! No butter! I assumed we had these things, and usually they do. But for the time being, we had a vat of pig fat. Maybe some of you foodies would shrug and say this is the same thing as oil or butter. To me, the idea of it seems like it would have a different taste and be more...fatty. But, because it's not everyday I get to cook with pig fat I decided to forge on. And the pancakes turned out to be a smash hit! I didn't make very many because I didn't know how they would go over. Also, cooking with gas was a new experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think my host brother still had room in his stomach afterwards. He said, "now (9:30pm) we make Hungarian pancakes." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This turned out to be one of the best nights of brotherly bonding we've had all year. We made a huge stack of palacsintas taking turns at the griddle and spreading jam and nutella on the steaming cakes. We spoke in our usual Hunglish and had a fascinating conversation about life in the village and his plans for the future. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end, it was a great night, and I'm glad I said yes to cooking with pig fat. </span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-87402005960785624372014-04-14T05:15:00.004-07:002014-04-14T05:15:41.063-07:00Posta ember<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every morning around 11 the Görögszállás post man comes into the village and taps his horn a few times to announce his arrival. In Hungary, and probably other places, people can go to the post office and pay their bills for their cell phone, utilities, house payment, TV, internet. People end up having a lot of interaction with the post man, especially since many of them are home during the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The post man, though, isn't all business. Earlier in the year I had a lot of mail requiring my signature while I was trying to get a visa. When the post man came inside for a signature, he usually got a cup of coffee, and sometimes a typical Hungarian three-course lunch. When he stops by the Children's House he kicks the soccer ball with the kids and has such a friendly, approachable nature that they all flock to him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgZzMYcNbsNrl3_Y2dgWrGxcpf33ENCjPlTnd2BfOEeSrhzXwK2wxrF45TUvFK-arsmNs48s2soFWwKYy5ASierxf1EvJiBfTWhms76hkc2oUozOhzevVF8QaMtHqzAZnGC0kIc8QhSWV/s1600/IMG_4059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgZzMYcNbsNrl3_Y2dgWrGxcpf33ENCjPlTnd2BfOEeSrhzXwK2wxrF45TUvFK-arsmNs48s2soFWwKYy5ASierxf1EvJiBfTWhms76hkc2oUozOhzevVF8QaMtHqzAZnGC0kIc8QhSWV/s1600/IMG_4059.jpg" height="392" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-23106128542738415642014-04-14T04:59:00.002-07:002014-04-14T04:59:28.278-07:00This is how some folks spend their day...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXqGV5gwMZFPP7shxnqm5swBIM20oNXBVVenQi8RkIFYZt3K3MZypzD4kHQBCfJohKfiR1dKOQHi-dDGHeCl6wW2-vFZz2R8YWmZw8fJTI1Guhd6DiwzmswvmjHHb_wBXGcN9iELydp8d/s1600/timespent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaXqGV5gwMZFPP7shxnqm5swBIM20oNXBVVenQi8RkIFYZt3K3MZypzD4kHQBCfJohKfiR1dKOQHi-dDGHeCl6wW2-vFZz2R8YWmZw8fJTI1Guhd6DiwzmswvmjHHb_wBXGcN9iELydp8d/s1600/timespent.jpg" height="640" width="425" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found this infographic a few weeks ago which provided some interesting food for thought on my question "how does one spend the day?" - see previous post. There's a lot of things I like about this. For starters, there's no color code for watching Netflix or surfing facebook. There is, however, a good chunk of most days dedicated to socializing in person and communicating with people either in person or by letter. I especially like Ben Franklin's morning ritual of setting the day's resolution and asking "what good shall I do today." Sleep patterns are also interesting. It's interesting that the color gray--"making ends meet"--appears infrequently. We know that plenty of prominent historical figures weren't always good with money. But they did spend their days doing interesting things, things that shaped their world and the future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What will be your day's resolution?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Infographic from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/29/brilliant-people-schedules_n_5055953.html </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> </i> </span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-53931756796729259512014-04-11T06:46:00.004-07:002014-04-11T06:46:55.570-07:00How does one spend the day?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">This question of “how does one spend the day" is, probably, one of the most important questions that keeps coming up for me as I spend this year in a place that is so different from home. I focused on this to some extent in my most recent newsletter. Framing this question, which began as a collection of thoughts and observations, into words comes from two very different realms of experience.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In one realm I hear stories and see—both firsthand, and elsewhere through media--people in this world without a job and basic resources. They spend most of their time trying to survive in their environment. Here in Gorogszallas, I see people laboring each day for things I generally take for granted: heat, water, food, shelter, clothing. Both how they spend their day, and how they think about the day is different from what I know. It becomes easy for us to fragment each day with meetings, errands, house work, projects, leisure, exercise, entertainment, study. Let’s remember that the 40 hour workweek, perhaps with benefits and even paid time off, is a relatively recent phenomena. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">So then the other realm of experience helping me to frame this question is precisely the highly-developed, busy, connected realm that I and all of you reading this are familiar with. I recently shared a quote with a friend that helped me to frame this question about how one spends the day. E. B. White writes, “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” The very notion that we have the opportunity to both enjoy and improve, and that it can be a choice each day, speaks to the level of privilege we come from. Luther would add that each day we are reborn—made new—in God’s love and grace.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">There is not a “right” way to spend your day. And we certainly can’t improve everything all at once. Or perhaps a less extreme way of saying this is that we can’t always do big things. This shouldn’t curb our ambition or stymy our talents, but it should let us pause and consider the time we have each day, what we’ll do with today, and remember brothers and sisters around the world who will spend their day in vastly different ways. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Sometimes we romanticize images from developing parts of the world such as vendors selling food in a street market, or children playing soccer with a tattered ball, or families bathing in a river. For reasons of history, religion, economics, politics, and sometimes shear fate, the way they spend their day is so different from what many of us can relate to. We like to think of not just our days, but our lives as a clear trajectory: education, then a career, raise a family, and eventually retire. This isn’t a good or normal trajectory for everyone. I’m discovering here just how vulnerable to disruption and scarcity people’s lives can be. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Democritus writes, “life without celebrations is like a long road without an inn.” I like celebrations too, but now I think more about those people who can’t stop at the inn on the long road for any number of reasons. We pass people like this on the road all the time. Why not share a story, or an idea, or a sign of kindness.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">All 7 billion of us get the same 24 hour trip around the sun. What will be your quest today? What will you do to care for yourself and your neighbors? How will you spend the day?</span></span>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-59417800187450560002014-04-11T06:45:00.006-07:002014-04-11T06:45:55.537-07:00Faith and Doubt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That's the title of a new column in the Sioux Falls (SD) <i>Argus Leader </i>written by the Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen<i>. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her words:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’ve always been drawn to the last few paragraphs of the gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
disciples — those who had been with Jesus for miracles, for teachings,
for reprimands, for healings, for feedings, for deaths and for
resurrections (minus Judas, but that’s another matter) — gathered at the
Galilee mountain to meet with the risen Jesus.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Matthew makes a point of calling these men “disciples,” as opposed to, say, men, or followers, or friends.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And then, depending on how you read the Greek, Matthew either said that some disciples worshipped and some doubted, or he said that the disciples, all of them, worshipped and doubted.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That’s interesting.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
disciples, these men who had known Jesus for years, still weren’t quite
sure what had just gone down, didn’t quite know whether they could
entirely believe their eyes and ears and experiences.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some, if not all of them, doubted.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And then Jesus said, “Go, make more disciples.”</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Go make more worshippers and more doubters.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’ve been invited to write this column, and it’s a column we’ve decided to name “Faith and Doubt.”</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I like that title a lot.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My
vocation is to be a theologian, and a systematic theologian at that. We
systematic theologians wake up every morning and are awfully happy that
we get to spend our days thinking and wondering about God.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But we not only spend our time thinking and wondering about our own notion of God; we also ponder how other
people think and wonder about God. We know that there isn’t just one
way, one system, of belief for God. Instead, there are closer to, well,
gazillions of systems for thinking and wondering and believing in God.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And
we know that how one thinks about God makes a difference: It makes a
difference in terms of how people are parents and partners and citizens
and voters and friends and sufferers and consolers. In short, how we
believe, and in whom we believe, shapes everything about who we are.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This
observation doesn’t necessarily imply a better or a worse way of being
in the world. But it does imply — in fact, it straight-out means — that different beliefs make for different people.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It also means that no single person can believe that she or he has got God all sewn up.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There’s a pretty decent margin for error when we speak of God.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In my study, I have hundreds upon hundreds of books. One day, a gentleman made an appointment and brought along his Bible.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">He
pointed to a certain text and said, not with anger, irritation or
defensiveness, but rather with conviction: “But look! This is what the
Bible says and what it says is what it means!”</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So
I took a deep breath, and I blew it out, and I said, “Sir, I have an
awful lot of books on my walls. Nope, I haven’t read them all. But I’ve
read more than a few of them. There are books here from all across time
and across the globe, and most of them have something to do with the
Bible. If it were so simple to know what, exactly, the Bible says and
means, then I wouldn’t need all these books, and I wouldn’t need all
these shelves. I would need a small table, big enough to hold two books.
One book would be the Bible, and the other would be a volume titled,
‘This is What the Bible Says and What It Means.’ ”</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’m afraid that
Christians, anyway, believe that the Bible means only one thing, that
faith only means one thing, and we sure hope (if not outright believe)
that we’ve got it right. All too often, I fear, this mindset makes us
afraid of wondering, afraid of learning and afraid of asking questions,
because each of these habits might either hint of or lead to doubt.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As if that’s a bad thing.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Seems to me, if doubt is good enough for the disciples, it is good enough for the rest of us.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Even the word “faith” means trust in something not seen, not immediately present.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have faith that tomorrow will come, but I’m not certain of it.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I can’t prove it.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But still and even so, my actions today are based a whole lot on the premise that tomorrow will, in fact, come.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To
have faith means to trust, and to trust means to live and breathe out
of a belief that something or someone is worthy of rearranging your life
on its or their account.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I figure that such a commitment calls
for an occasional look-see to check out whether what I claim to be right
and true checks out against itself, and against my experience of the
world.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not only that, but although it might surprise some people, thinking about God — the act of being a theologian — is fun.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No, really, it is.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s fun.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There
are so many quirks of history, word plays, insights and little-known
facts about and in religious history that cause a person to wonder in
amazement, to be utterly surprised and to totally impress family and
friends at the dinner table. Some of them are worth checking out because
they are simply interesting; some can change your life.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To be sure, there are some statements we can know, factually, to be true in religion.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For example, Moses came before Mozart.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We know that. We can prove that.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But there are all sorts of matters in theology that open up mystery, and questions, and probably a healthy dose of humility.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Czeslaw Milosz, who won the 1980 Nobel Prize for literature, tells of an “Old Jew of Galacia” who said:</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When
someone is honestly 55 percent right, that’s very good and there’s no
use wrangling. And if someone is 60 percent right, it’s wonderful, it’s
great luck, and let him thank God. But what’s to be said about 75
percent right? Wise people say this is suspicious. Why, and what about
100 percent right? Whoever says he’s 100 percent right is a fanatic, a
thug and the worse kind of rascal.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I’m hopeful that this column
will err less on the rascally 75 percent to 100 percent thug side of
things, and settle in more between 55 percent to 75 percent right. I’m
hopeful that this column will give some room for thinking about
theology, religion, worship and communities of belief in new ways,
offering a little something both to the faithful and to the doubters.</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Freelance
theologian Anna Madsen is director of OMG: Center for Theological
Conversation in Sioux Falls. Follow her writing and speaking events at
Facebook, Twitter and www.omgcenter.com.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-35266475280936254562014-04-11T06:45:00.005-07:002014-04-11T06:45:46.334-07:00Patience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I recently wrote about the joy of sharing some of my YAGM experiences with other YAGMs around the world. As a reminder, the Young Adults in Global Mission program has volunteers in Argentine/Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa, Madagascar, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Jerusalem/West Bank, and Hungary. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Living in totally foreign places, speaking in a new language, navigating new communities, and implicitly representing the power and privilege of the United States present some interesting challenges, and of course a few laughs, that are nice to share with people experiencing the same things. This perspective also gives me a greater appreciation for people outside this program who are similarly working in an international context doing hands-on work. A family friend, Mary Redlin, just finished her third entrepreneur business training for women in Uganda. <a href="http://maryroseredlin.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/patience-and-persistence/" target="_blank">She wrote a great blog post about patience</a>, and recognizing that sometimes it takes longer than we expect—and want—for our efforts to bear fruit. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">We want things to work <i>now. </i>We want to connect with people <i>now. </i>We want to bypass failure and get right to success, because, among other reasons, failure takes time.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Living in an international context means things take longer that we would like or expect to fall into place. It takes longer to develop relationships, not to mention trust and respect. It takes longer to communicate ideas. It takes longer to get places. It takes longer to figure out the nuances of people, communities, and social norms. All of this extra time means many moments to practice patience, although that’s not always easy or fun when I just to mail a postcard, or get to town, or express what I’m thinking.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Ever since winter left northeast Hungary (okay, so it was a pretty easy winter) I feel like I’m finally starting to figure out the pulse of my village and the nearby city of Nyiregyhaza. For the first time last week I had reason to navigate the bus system within the city and transfer to a new bus after the one that brought me in from Gorogszallas. In the beginning of March I found the public library which has a great English section, and also people who are eager to practice their English with a native speaker. I’ve gotten to know some of the teenagers better who come to the village’s after-school club. Perhaps all of these things could have happened earlier through some stubbornness, persistence, and the simple passing of time. But maybe patience itself can actually help expedite and even lead to a better outcome. Maybe more mindfulness for patience and things out of our control can help us enjoy the journey and the destination.</span></span>
</div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-9827484300349415382014-04-11T06:43:00.002-07:002014-04-11T06:43:39.594-07:00"There's room for doubt in faith"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Living in such a foreign context and working through the Hungarian Lutheran Church lets me see and understand how culture shapes faith. Here, in a new column in South Dakota’s Argus Leader, Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen talks about our different ideas of God. Her words are especially worth thinking about in light of the familiar Gospel stories we’ll hear during the next week and half. <a href="http://omgcenter.com/omg-blog/" target="_blank">(Anna also writes a fascinating blog of her own - check it out here.)</a></span></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></i></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I’ve always been drawn to the last few paragraphs of the gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The disciples — those who had been with Jesus for miracles, for teachings, for reprimands, for healings, for feedings, for deaths and for resurrections (minus Judas, but that’s another matter) — gathered at the Galilee mountain to meet with the risen Jesus.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Matthew makes a point of calling these men “disciples,” as opposed to, say, men, or followers, or friends.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">And then, depending on how you read the Greek, Matthew either said that some disciples worshipped and some doubted, or he said that the disciples, all of them, worshipped and doubted.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">That’s interesting.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The disciples, these men who had known Jesus for years, still weren’t quite sure what had just gone down, didn’t quite know whether they could entirely believe their eyes and ears and experiences.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Some, if not all of them, doubted.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">And then Jesus said, “Go, make more disciples.”</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Go make more worshippers and more doubters.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I’ve been invited to write this column, and it’s a column we’ve decided to name “Faith and Doubt.”</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I like that title a lot.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">My vocation is to be a theologian, and a systematic theologian at that. We systematic theologians wake up every morning and are awfully happy that we get to spend our days thinking and wondering about God.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">But we not only spend our time thinking and wondering about our own notion of God; we also ponder how other people think and wonder about God. We know that there isn’t just one way, one system, of belief for God. Instead, there are closer to, well, gazillions of systems for thinking and wondering and believing in God.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">And we know that how one thinks about God makes a difference: It makes a difference in terms of how people are parents and partners and citizens and voters and friends and sufferers and consolers. In short, how we believe, and in whom we believe, shapes everything about who we are.</span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">This observation doesn’t necessarily imply a better or a worse way of being in the world. But it does imply — in fact, it straight-out means — that different beliefs make for different people.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">It also means that no single person can believe that she or he has got God all sewn up.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">There’s a pretty decent margin for error when we speak of God.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In my study, I have hundreds upon hundreds of books. One day, a gentleman made an appointment and brought along his Bible.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">He pointed to a certain text and said, not with anger, irritation or defensiveness, but rather with conviction: “But look! This is what the Bible says and what it says is what it means!”</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">So I took a deep breath, and I blew it out, and I said, “Sir, I have an awful lot of books on my walls. Nope, I haven’t read them all. But I’ve read more than a few of them. There are books here from all across time and across the globe, and most of them have something to do with the Bible. If it were so simple to know what, exactly, the Bible says and means, then I wouldn’t need all these books, and I wouldn’t need all these shelves. I would need a small table, big enough to hold two books. One book would be the Bible, and the other would be a volume titled, ‘This is What the Bible Says and What It Means.’ ”</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I’m afraid that Christians, anyway, believe that the Bible means only one thing, that faith only means one thing, and we sure hope (if not outright believe) that we’ve got it right. All too often, I fear, this mindset makes us afraid of wondering, afraid of learning and afraid of asking questions, because each of these habits might either hint of or lead to doubt.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">As if that’s a bad thing.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Seems to me, if doubt is good enough for the disciples, it is good enough for the rest of us.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Even the word “faith” means trust in something not seen, not immediately present.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I have faith that tomorrow will come, but I’m not certain of it.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I can’t prove it.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">But still and even so, my actions today are based a whole lot on the premise that tomorrow will, in fact, come.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">To have faith means to trust, and to trust means to live and breathe out of a belief that something or someone is worthy of rearranging your life on its or their account.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I figure that such a commitment calls for an occasional look-see to check out whether what I claim to be right and true checks out against itself, and against my experience of the world.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Not only that, but although it might surprise some people, thinking about God — the act of being a theologian — is fun.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">No, really, it is.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">It’s fun.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">There are so many quirks of history, word plays, insights and little-known facts about and in religious history that cause a person to wonder in amazement, to be utterly surprised and to totally impress family and friends at the dinner table. Some of them are worth checking out because they are simply interesting; some can change your life.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">To be sure, there are some statements we can know, factually, to be true in religion.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">For example, Moses came before Mozart.</span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">We know that. We can prove that.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">But there are all sorts of matters in theology that open up mystery, and questions, and probably a healthy dose of humility.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Czeslaw Milosz, who won the 1980 Nobel Prize for literature, tells of an “Old Jew of Galacia” who said: </span></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">When someone is honestly 55 percent right, that’s very good and there’s no use wrangling. And if someone is 60 percent right, it’s wonderful, it’s great luck, and let him thank God. But what’s to be said about 75 percent right? Wise people say this is suspicious. Why, and what about 100 percent right? Whoever says he’s 100 percent right is a fanatic, a thug and the worse kind of rascal.</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>
</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I’m hopeful that this column will err less on the rascally 75 percent to 100 percent thug side of things, and settle in more between 55 percent to 75 percent right. I’m hopeful that this column will give some room for thinking about theology, religion, worship and communities of belief in new ways, offering a little something both to the faithful and to the doubters. </span></i></span>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-23016373668980205882014-04-11T06:38:00.003-07:002014-04-11T06:38:23.060-07:00Back to the Blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Just over a month ago I sent out my third newsletter updating friends, family, acquaintances, and supporters around the world about the first few months of 2014 as a YAGM volunteer in Gorogszallas, Hungary. The newsletter is a strange animal because I find that I really have to be in the right mood to hit my stride and try and craft something that gives a few snapshots of the last two months. How do you pick what to write about, and how do you synthesize so many new, yet still very connected experiences? Once you begin settling into a place, the routine gives a sense of normalcy to the revelations I experience each day in culture, language, and people. All that is to say that I have not been good about documenting or sharing some of the smaller, but no less significant, parts of these last few months on my blog.</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">In late January I filled out an application to attend a conference on gender issues among Roma people. After staring for a few minutes at two well phrased questions on the PDF and trying to articulate a good, concise answer, I became fairly convinced that I had lost my command for the English language after being immersed in Hungarian for half a year. Even though it always takes a little while for me to hit my stride on the newsletter, I look forward to the days and weeks that follow when I hear back from some people with thoughts or even just a few words of encouragement. Newsletter season also means I get to hear from other YAGMs around the world. Their words remind me that although we’re in different parts of the globe we are accompanying each other with many of the same questions of faith and being.</span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br />
<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-family: Arial; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">By returning to this blog with more focus I hope to share how some of the things I’ve been thinking about over the last months are coming together as we leave winter behind and plunge into a new chapter of the year.</span></span>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-77304782896296643722014-03-26T08:05:00.000-07:002014-03-27T05:38:48.745-07:00Life on the Road<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Following two weeks on the road, it feels good to be back in eastern Hungary sliding back into familiar routines, and also discovering some new things as winter turns to spring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Per usual, I like to share through pictures. More posts to come later this week reflecting on winter in the village, our Lent retreat with fellow Hungary YAGM volunteers, and Phiren Amenca's conference in Budapest on anti-discrimination and gender.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For now, here are a few glimpses of life on the road these last two weeks:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqNYPgmGkXY5kDptfE_MESqdxQ9MvGkhAGrYiA5V2ekDvRUQO40m50ZUBb8BgLfwHsK0Spm0m-0aVzty9YDfYA9kSmQs6Oo9JYpu3y5-U7cvTppy3tC4IEKl-ubqwnVWfDEBzb2puYcKa/s1600/IMG_1361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqNYPgmGkXY5kDptfE_MESqdxQ9MvGkhAGrYiA5V2ekDvRUQO40m50ZUBb8BgLfwHsK0Spm0m-0aVzty9YDfYA9kSmQs6Oo9JYpu3y5-U7cvTppy3tC4IEKl-ubqwnVWfDEBzb2puYcKa/s1600/IMG_1361.JPG" height="266" width="400" /> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Every time the train stops in the nearby town of Tokaj I marvel at this huge map; this time I actually pulled out my camera. After the 1921 Treaty of Trianon, the Kingdom of Hungary lost more than 2/3 of its territory. The loss of territory still stings like an open wound for Hungarians. Here, you can see the modern nation state over top of the historic kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> With my YAGM Hungary colleagues--Ole, Chelsea, Meredith--leaving Miskolc, Hungary heading toward Kosice, Slovakia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90V0KvPcByNzkwITz23onG8uJ58raTdVaOJaR9O3_pJ_FkzBqhO47z7QRzD4FxWfGO5HneEoXwFUXiP_focvV6rM-aSxRO87p0ncJ0YxEJmQr7KwttZqPtPRShY8E8rCUJLGZ5YO2zLlO/s1600/IMG_1443.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90V0KvPcByNzkwITz23onG8uJ58raTdVaOJaR9O3_pJ_FkzBqhO47z7QRzD4FxWfGO5HneEoXwFUXiP_focvV6rM-aSxRO87p0ncJ0YxEJmQr7KwttZqPtPRShY8E8rCUJLGZ5YO2zLlO/s1600/IMG_1443.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On an afternoon hike with Jeremy and Esme. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpryveeG0_6qWEkusENVDqJxIgaZ4YNALctF5pcVfY54KZJfz3P-ERrnVhFGBJlwRU01N4NH4o_eM-1hNpg_1ZgJg4V4mIiXEj2A0HAso7Z7f_5o6oX0CobiH_2xhEjuVcJc6zPrbef2G/s1600/IMG_3910.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpryveeG0_6qWEkusENVDqJxIgaZ4YNALctF5pcVfY54KZJfz3P-ERrnVhFGBJlwRU01N4NH4o_eM-1hNpg_1ZgJg4V4mIiXEj2A0HAso7Z7f_5o6oX0CobiH_2xhEjuVcJc6zPrbef2G/s1600/IMG_3910.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Enjoying great weather on the ski slopes of the High Tatras!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the highlights of the week was taking a break from Hungarian food and eating lots of salads, fruits, and curry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNWuMBiTyV1p6Xs_pK4ql9Rdl6k6-u-cXpiNUI629nBnjLoKoqNYT7xVOjCT2DbAXqzSzjW6M8lo5z3pGJjuIPyEQtEjt7eD-BwOFfShXvs0qbhQYKyUb1fSPXfa34Vk04xE8xvrlHjUp/s1600/IMG_1499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNWuMBiTyV1p6Xs_pK4ql9Rdl6k6-u-cXpiNUI629nBnjLoKoqNYT7xVOjCT2DbAXqzSzjW6M8lo5z3pGJjuIPyEQtEjt7eD-BwOFfShXvs0qbhQYKyUb1fSPXfa34Vk04xE8xvrlHjUp/s1600/IMG_1499.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatra mountains provided great scenery for our retreat and even better terrain for hiking and skiing! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Each day we had Bible study and worship--both of which we had all been missing <i>in English! </i>This was our favorite sanctuary all week: a snowy path between a mountain hut we'll visit in July and the town where we were staying, </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Štrbské Pleso. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLsSWx7Pvxe0NU1AMVEhp0xgaWKAjw1zM53CpNa5_f3IveYE63Z7F3kF-eSdcWPht6Z76wlY_e4o3ZhiOw6byEuvufmymU2B-RRTbYk7-K1eBIQ2J78vaQ0tt9oIDJihzXx9Mr9Kl2rK5/s1600/IMG_1599.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLsSWx7Pvxe0NU1AMVEhp0xgaWKAjw1zM53CpNa5_f3IveYE63Z7F3kF-eSdcWPht6Z76wlY_e4o3ZhiOw6byEuvufmymU2B-RRTbYk7-K1eBIQ2J78vaQ0tt9oIDJihzXx9Mr9Kl2rK5/s1600/IMG_1599.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the Phiren Amenca conference in Budapest on Roma and gender discrimination. The conference pulled together nearly 40 volunteers who are serving in various countries around Europe. Some of the best conversations happened during the 30 minute coffee breaks they scheduled for us each morning and afternoon. The 4th floor balcony off the meeting rooms with great panoramic views of the Danube and the Parliament offered some inspiration as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hungary's Parliament building is impressive whether you're looking at it across the river or up close. I have a lot of pictures of this building as it's the tallest in Budapest and probably the most beautiful and impressive architecturally. This building and what it represents is particularly relevant since the country will go to the polls for a national election in just 10 days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This subtle, but provocative, memorial stands at the edge of the Danube in front of the Parliament building. It memorializes Hungarians who were shot into the river by communist security police in 1945. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A "debate" activity at the Phiren Amenca conference challenging us to take a position on certain stereotypes and share our experiences with the statements. More than anything, this showed us that the immediate perspective of our volunteer communities is incredibly important to how we view issues of discrimination and gender. Still, coming together to widen our perspective is important in the ongoing work of fighting against discrimination. </span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-47802594561120769282014-02-07T06:26:00.001-08:002014-02-07T06:26:27.728-08:00Life Since Christmas in Photos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here are a few glimpses of life since late December. Things have been relatively quiet since then letting me focus on my work at the Children's House and learning Hungarian. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Uq47JLV7zLUahLLXbOs21ZU7af6Vo51CF9IwK6tZNWy93c7U1go3lnd18-czWlM7EJB_dxBu1E2L5UHE_OQIcYqk_9amLb7S-5jMPjwhKE9AYtch5RNxi6Y7EC8NgqMMj-veyQHUzQyH/s1600/IMG_0830.JPG" height="266" width="400" /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My sister, Kirsten, came to Gorogszallas for three days after Christmas. Afterwards, she and I explored Budapest and Vienna together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The YAGM Hungary crew in Budapest for New Years Eve </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spent some time in the palatial Hofburg Library in Vienna </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last night in Vienna with Kirsten </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Milan getting crafty at the Children's House </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Helping Mate and Virag prep for their English Language exam </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Visiting a Roma neighborhood outside of Nyiregyhaza with a local organization, Human Net, and some familiar faces from Phiren Amenca--a Budapest-based organization focused on Roma and non-Roma dialogue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Hungarian army has long since abandoned these barracks which are now inhabited by many Roma families. Given the condition of the buildings and the poverty of many of the families who live there I was struck by the TV and internet dishes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally in mid-January we got our first snowfall in Gorogszallas! There was just enough for me to pull some kids around on a sled! </span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-59738090138918081302014-01-25T02:53:00.004-08:002014-01-27T06:31:06.583-08:00Off the Grid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We spent most of this English conversation class talking about their plans for the future. Their connectivity to the larger world has helped them set ambitious goals and drive them to excel in English.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">Today's blog post is a special shout-out to Ms. Mach's 3rd grade class at Jefferson Elementary. My Uncle Tim is teaching a <a href="http://www.jasd.org/" target="_blank">Junior Achievement </a>lesson to the students about modes of communication which gives me a chance to post this "hello" from some of the kids and students I work with, and also to talk about what it means to live off of the communications grid I'm accustomed to in the U.S.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">Despite what some folks think about post-communist Hungary, plenty of people have smart phones with internet and many homes have internet. My host family, however, does not have internet which has been an interesting part of this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">Let me step back for a minute and say just how connected the average American is, which is to mention in a small way the immense privilege and wealth that most Americans enjoy relative to the rest of the world. The other day I read the income amount that is considered the threshold for "poverty" in America which would be more than enough for a Hungarian family to live comfortably. Yes of course these things are relative, but we still enjoy a level of wealth and freedom with our wealth that many others don't. At this point, my debating last year between a 2 gigabyte per month data plan and a 3 gigabyte plan sounds a little absurd.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">When you're connected to the internet, your options for information and information archives is truly limitless - newspapers, blogs, podcasts, film/video, social media, Skype/facetime, even telephone calls via the web. I can call anyone in the US for free using a GoogleVoice number that shows up on caller ID as a South Dakota number. That's kind of weird.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">Coming from a high-school that pioneered a 1-to-1 student-to laptop program and a College that was pretty well connected, I'm used to having all of this information at my fingertips. </span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">So here's a few thoughts generally about what the heck we're supposed to do (or not do) with this surplus of communications possibilities, and a few more specific thoughts on how this experience living just a little less connected has sharpened my use of the communications spectrum.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">1. It was generally suggested in the early days of the internet (unclear if Al Gore was in on these talks, too) that with instantaneous interactions around the world we could surely strengthen peace among nations and states. As Jared Cohen reminds us, the internet is simply another sphere in which good and evil, fact and fiction, frenzy and sanity can exist. Facts still matter, and critical minds and eyes are crucial. </span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">2. The ubiquity of mobile phone technology across the globe has brought a new level of connection and awareness of the larger world to people everywhere. This also means that the cultural impression of America is delivered in a certain way, but that's a topic for a different day. </span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">3. There are a lot of things to read, and it's easy to try and keep up with everything. Instead of tracking 12 different blogs, pick up a book. To that end, it can also be easy to try and stay connected to your 1400 closest friends on Facebook. Take time to write a long email. It's great to get a long reply in response and really know what's going on with people. </span><br />
<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">4. Being a little less connected is also a very relative phrase when compared even to other American volunteers around the world now and in the past. The fact that I can get online and check email once or twice a week is pretty good. I can mail a postcard from Hungary and it will show up in the US in about ten days. Volunteers and reporters around the world have to endure more than a half hour bike or bus ride to hop online, so I'm grateful that staying connected isn't such a big deal, or such a hardship here.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">5. Like all things, scarcity sharpens your priorities of use. </span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">6. Google Translate is a great tool, but not having it has made me dig in my heels to learn simply by immersion, passing my English/Hungarian dictionary back and forth at the dinner table, and spend some time with a study book.</span><br />
<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">7. Perspective matters. I'm talking about the perspective you bring with you, and the perspective of the communication. Away from the constant drone of American cable news, I think I'm getting a lot better information from international news like BBC on my host family's TV. When the BBC channel switched to AlJazeera in mid-November, the perspective changed with a heavier Middle East focus. I now feel like I have a better idea of what's happening in the communities where the Jerusalem/West Bank YAGM's live.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">7b and 8. A few weeks ago I was catching up on <a href="http://slowperc.blogspot.hu/" target="_blank">a blog written by one of my former professors.</a> His is a fascinating collection of sometimes useful, sometimes quirky, and always insightful articles and reflections. He mentioned Thoreau's essay <i><a href="http://thoreau.eserver.org/walking.html" target="_blank">Walking</a>, </i>which I downloaded and read. Had I read that last year when I was comfortably sitting in Sioux Falls and racing off to the next thing I would have read it with a significantly different perspective than I do sitting in rural Hungary without other blogs at my fingertips and without a lot of distractions. </span><br />
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font: 18.0px Arial;">"We spend most of our lives in common, but little in community." I'm not sure where I read that quote recently, but I think it applies to the realm of modern communications and the opportunities to communicate. If we can use these things to bridge divides, share a story, reveal a bit of ourselves, and still take time to look up and disconnect, then I think we've realized the power and potential to live not just in common (virtually and literally), but also in community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Basic communication: breaking bread, laughing, playing.</i></span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-9765603957342227542014-01-07T03:01:00.002-08:002014-01-07T03:02:47.772-08:00My First Tweet-chat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brevity is not typically my strong suit, but my ability to respond to questions in 140 characters or less was put to the test Sunday night. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our YAGM Central Europe group (which is really just Hungary) participated in a twitter-chat session with members of the Northeast Iowa ELCA Synod. People back in Iowa tweeted questions using the hashtag #HungaryYAGM and we responded with our brief answers. People viewing this chat back in Iowa could watch all of our responses in real time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was my first tweet-chat. While I'd usually prefer a live stream of audio or video, a tweet-chat has the advantage of having a permanent archive accessible to anyone anywhere. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://twubs.com/HungaryYAGM" target="_blank">Here's a link created by one of our Iowa friends of the hour long conversation. </a>None of my tweets show up on this aggregated feed because I didn't apply the right settings beforehand. Now I know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks to our Iowa friends for getting us on board with this!</span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-11260572437897274622014-01-07T02:46:00.000-08:002014-01-07T02:46:15.969-08:00Newsletter Season<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's that time again when I get to read newsletters from YAGMs around the world. And it's also that time when I send my bi-monthly newsletter. <br />
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If you didn't receive it and would like to, drop me an email at thadtitze@gmail.com. If you have questions after reading the newsletter, please send those along, too. Finally, if you catch grammatical and spelling errors, I'll buy you a beverage when I'm home. </div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-40129741045011330012014-01-07T02:24:00.000-08:002014-01-07T02:24:03.179-08:00What Does the Fox Say?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/jofNR_WkoCE/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/jofNR_WkoCE&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/jofNR_WkoCE&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ylvis, a band out of Bergen, Norway, got some attention this fall with their song "What Does the Fox Say". My host brother was pretty sure the title was something else which used a different F word. But that's beside the point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just to be clear, the whole song is absurd, and no one likes it for the lyrics, but rather for the strange noises and the rhythm. So I feel stupid even explaining the point of the lyrics, but there will be a point. They talk about the sounds animals make--cow: moo--cat: meow--dog: woof--etc.--and they ask what word do we use for the sound foxes make. So there it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyway, one of the kids at the children's house was making animal noises but they sounded weird to me. Come to find out that in Hungarian animal sounds are turned into different words. Whereas our horses say "nay," Hungarian horses say "nee-haw-haw." Whereas our pigs say "oink" theirs say "ruff ruff." There are more I can't remember. Go figure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This sounds more absurd as I keep typing. The point is that even sounds or words that we think would be universal across languages are actually quite different to people in different places. Even the "words" we use for animal sounds are different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What will you do with this information? I don't know, maybe you'll feel more unsettled next time you sing Old McDonald Had A Farm or maybe you'll bring it up at parties to impress your friends. Anyway, enjoy this porthole into living in another language!</span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-25380289441024127262014-01-07T00:36:00.003-08:002014-01-07T00:36:45.563-08:00In a class of its own<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43bJ5zgkp9MEi17xhIEbAdA2Gge2oQcImK4aRgH2jwVE5LkVoDuPnLy2h9aFU2YkMa_9LsMAeDS8wCuApnTjAVwQ9MS1E5rhDGAjX6hGxPRiY4QGFIBsf6sbEHsm8bY2HEviQfL7qaX27/s1600/lexicaldistanceielangs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43bJ5zgkp9MEi17xhIEbAdA2Gge2oQcImK4aRgH2jwVE5LkVoDuPnLy2h9aFU2YkMa_9LsMAeDS8wCuApnTjAVwQ9MS1E5rhDGAjX6hGxPRiY4QGFIBsf6sbEHsm8bY2HEviQfL7qaX27/s1600/lexicaldistanceielangs.jpg" height="456" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This chart shows the "lexical distance" among European languages. As you can see, Hungarian is in a class of its own in far right field. While it falls within the Finno-Urgic family, Hungarian and Finnish, for example, are not mutually intelligible. If you look in the bottom right at the Slavic family I'm told that many of those languages are mutually intelligible, at least to some extent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each language I've studied has its virtues and vices. At least with Hungarian you can always count on consistent pronunciation of letters. On the other hand, the use of suffixes for parts of speech make it difficult to remember as each word and sentence roll off your tongue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was posted on a linguistic site in 2008 and there doesn't seem to be anyone disagreeing with it in the comments. Do you see problems? <a href="http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/" target="_blank">Here's the link to the full site.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheers to renewing my study of Hungarian in this new year!</span><br />
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-36324814412523181272013-12-21T01:28:00.001-08:002013-12-21T01:28:16.057-08:00These Little Piggies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Previously, I've written with some fondness for the pigs who live on the other side of my bedroom wall. On Tuesday morning, two of these pork-loined friends became part of a Hungarian tradition: an annual pig slaughter. </span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Why we did this on a Tuesday I don't know. But I stayed home from the Children's House, my host brother didn't go to school, and my host dad had the day off of work. This was an all day job.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Our work started at 7:30 in the pig pen. When the animal started screaming, the estranged brother of the host dad from across the street came running to help; foe became friend and it was a full family affair.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I'll spare you most of the details from that point. I'm expecting a good spike in blog traffic since I'm sure some groups are trolling the internet for phrases like "pig slaughter". But really, the process was fascinating and every last piece of the pig was used in some way. Everyone had a job to do which they pursued with haste and precision.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">They say that the two things you never want to see made are laws and sausage. At this point, I'm not sure I have a problem with either. I'm not sure what that says about me.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">For now, I'll let the pictures do the talking about my first Hungarian pig kill.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> After the pig is dead, the first job is to burn off the hair and prepare the skin.</span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-30454422904409560812013-12-08T07:55:00.006-08:002013-12-08T07:55:57.237-08:00Thanksgiving Retreat Pictures<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here's a glimpse of our Thanksgiving and pre-Advent retreat in Bratislava. It was a great 6 days to take a break from Hungarian, enjoy good food and friends, and recharge before coming back home to Gorogszallas. And let me say, it did feel good to come home!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzwLEQiHZSrkA99pHwc1Go8Lc-pP9qFYLTJyBuDxBX6YZBGoNAckbeVEBBdoBpzymQDVlXtrnM0YtrPovUlU3wE2S53BF_8znkTTzpTfRy7EddreD5c1CT0J5qVOYzz8bcm8rcjqIDIkua/s1600/IMG_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzwLEQiHZSrkA99pHwc1Go8Lc-pP9qFYLTJyBuDxBX6YZBGoNAckbeVEBBdoBpzymQDVlXtrnM0YtrPovUlU3wE2S53BF_8znkTTzpTfRy7EddreD5c1CT0J5qVOYzz8bcm8rcjqIDIkua/s400/IMG_0036.JPG" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Chelsea and Miriam making pumpkin pies with real pumpkin! (and supplemented by precious cans of pumpkin mailed to Slovakia from the US)</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECMkWW6_CcmD3icZp48qbiEIczneoFEKRU4jZwpcUoOr4UjeerKIlunYA26wZYk2YhyphenhyphenuXN40_eMS0o9MyzHLnQi-k2t-YWmiBjet5fm1thM-sVrYin0JTAgiPWF7DKDQL5ANTPj3ujHFv/s1600/IMG_0064.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECMkWW6_CcmD3icZp48qbiEIczneoFEKRU4jZwpcUoOr4UjeerKIlunYA26wZYk2YhyphenhyphenuXN40_eMS0o9MyzHLnQi-k2t-YWmiBjet5fm1thM-sVrYin0JTAgiPWF7DKDQL5ANTPj3ujHFv/s400/IMG_0064.jpg" width="266" /> </a> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ursula and me (and our matching coats) at the Bratislava Christmas/Advent Market</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>YAGM Hungary in the main square of Bratislava's Old Town</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>American Thanksgiving Dinner with fellow ELCA volunteers from Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia </i></span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-3530338796988896222013-11-28T14:15:00.003-08:002013-11-28T14:15:41.520-08:00A Thanksgiving message from...my US Passport<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking through a current U.S. passport you see a lot of pictures of amber waves of grain, purple mountains majesty, and yes of course some fruited plains. Most of the quotes that accompany these pictures speak to some combination of manifest destiny, nationalism, and freedom. One quote, though, speaks to the natural world that the first pilgrims likely encountered and on which they relied to survive and celebrate that first Thanksgiving. I'm not saying it's the most profound thing I've ever read about Thanksgiving, but I think it's worth sharing since it's the only quote in the passport that is about giving thanks and the only one to include the people who lived in the US before it was the US. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We send thanks to all the animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are glad they are still here and we hope it will always be so. </span><i>Excerpt from the Thanksgiving Address, Mohawk version</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Today didn't feel like Thanksgiving until our group of 5 volunteers encountered an American who is studying in Wales and spending this week in Central Europe. He heard us speaking English as we boarded our train headed for Bratislava, Slovakia, and greeted us with, "Happy Thanksgiving!" It was a little bit of a gift that none of today's trains had wi-fi which left us with 6 hours of great scenery and conversation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Bratislava we were welcomed Miriam, Jeremy, Ursula, and Esme to begin our Thanksgiving weekend. Last Thanksgiving I never could have guessed that I'd be here in Bratislava celebrating with my new Central Europe family. And even though things haven't been smooth for all of us all of the time, there is a lot to be thankful for. Today presented many moments to be thankful, enjoy the ride, remember past feasts with friends and family (of course this includes the annual Augustana Thanksgiving Dinner), and look forward to Thanksgiving to come!</span></div>
TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394438216700610116.post-88983007191323753352013-11-26T02:42:00.002-08:002013-11-26T02:42:58.391-08:00What's in a day?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was planning to share a picture with you this morning of my temporary residence card for the EU that will allow me to stay here until August. But, the immigration office is closed for some reason. So a celebratory picture will be up as soon as I have the card in hand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My YAGM coordinators Miriam and Jeremy, and their family, recently visited me and my host family in Gorogszallas. It was great to share small pieces of my daily life with them, and to have some time to catch up with them. You can see some great pictures from their visit on their blog at http://domavbratislava.wordpress.com/.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Amidst a lot of travel with the church, some sense of a routine has started to take hold. That feels good. An English-speaker I met in Piliscaba last weekend asked me, "so what does a day look like for you?" Good question. (This will fill in with some color what I could just briefly sketch in black and white in my newsletter.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My day starts with AlJazeera International news at 7:30. It used to be BBC, then it changed; I'm just glad to have some international news in English. Then it's time for breakfast and a brisk 5 minute walk to the Children's House. Dogs aren't really cute, members of the family in Hungary, but rather guard dogs. All that to say that the dogs in Gorogszallas haven't really warmed to me yet and they all acknowledge my presence on the morning walk. I adhere to Dr. O'Hara's idea that you should speak to unfamiliar dogs with an affirming voice and refrain from touching them.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">some kids come and go, but Levi rarely misses a morning at the Children's House </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Children start arriving at the Children's House a little before 9. By that time we have a fire going in the wood burning stove which is a welcome feeling coming from a cold, damp Hungarian morning. I definitely feel welcomed there each morning kids who are excited to play and have me be part of that. Amidst fighting over toys and running noises there's a lot of good that comes from playing and watching them play. With Advent and St. Nicholas Day just around the corner (December 6), the children and parents and I have been making stockings and other decorations for the Children's House and their homes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>visiting a high school English class in Nyiregyhaza - we spent most of the hour hour and half talking about what they want to do with their futures - they were a very bright group with fascinating interests and plans</i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By noon, we're cleaning up from 3 hours of intense play and I head home for lunch with my host family. Mondays and Tuesday I eat quickly and get on a bus headed for Nyirtelek where I help in the schools. Wednesday-Friday I have the afternoons to myself. Having this much down-time is weird, especially since I don't have internet. But it's also been incredibly good. I can spend time around the house with the host family, study Hungarian, read, roam the village. There's always interesting work to check out and help with at the greenhouse. Incidentally, they just finished their heating house which will make it possible to continue their garden work throughout the winter. This type of tangible progress and literal growth (of seeds and the new building) give an incredible sense of pride to the people there, and rightly so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Late afternoon I head to the church and community building where I spend time with teenagers as we play foosball and do homework, and with adults who stop in while they're waiting for the school bus to bring their kids to the village or who come to practice the songs for Sunday and have bible study. I feel lucky that in the course of a day I can interact with such a large span of ages in the village.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I get home around 7 or 8 to have dinner and relax for the night. There's a reality TV show kind of like the Real World that takes place in Budapest. The family and I watch this most nights. Even though the show unfolds very quickly in Hungarian, the drama is pretty transparent and amusing. I also get compared to one of the show's characters--Lali--for my curly hair. I promise people that the similarities end with curly hair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's a day. Each day is a little different, and my Hungarian ability is also a little different depending on the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a few days, I'm on the road again to meet up with the other four YAGM volunteers as we spend Thanksgiving together with Miriam, Jeremy, Ursula, and Esme in Bratislava, Slovakia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>YAGM Mari (middle), her supervisor Erzebet (right), at the home of Erzebet's mother (left) for lunch. This elderly women grows lemons in her sun porch, makes her own palinka, grows enough grapes to produce 100 liters of wine, tends to several dozen fruit trees in her yard, grows a huge quantity of vegetables, and raises the 20 or so chickens who roam the yard. What a great afternoon!</i></span></span></div>
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TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16764763171009592460noreply@blogger.com0