Beard

Since someone decided to mock the beard I grew during our trip to Europe on their blog, I decided to devote a post to it on mine.  

My mother may or may not have been right that it was a pretty wimpy beard, but that doesn't mean I can't try.  Any man who tries to grow a beard knows that it must be shaved a little bit at a time with pictures taken at each stage, so here are are the different stages of my beard shaving, for your viewing pleasure:

It's a shame that it had to come all the way off and we couldn't stop somewhere in the middle of that.

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People

After all the incredible sights we saw, I think that our favorite part of the trip was visiting with all of the different people, many of whom are very dear friends to me and I believe became good friends to Sarah (despite the language barrier and having a spotty translator at best - since he would get so into conversation that he would forget to translate).

Budapest

Weston & Katie Baxter with Me and Sarah

Weston and I served at the same time and we randomly ran into each other in the House of Terror (headquarters to the Nazis and then later to the communists).  They may or may not have been the cause of our transportation fine.  We met back up with them for dinner later that night after we took a tour of Parliament.

Békéscsaba

   

Us with the Belkó Family (left to right: Edina, Brigi, Tibike, Balázska, Tibor)

Edina was the first person that I ever baptized.  She is an incredibly strong member with rock-solid faith that she had long before we found her.  Her daughter Brigi got baptized right before I came home from Hungary and I got to attend.  Her husband Tibor has been gaining interest in the Church ever since we started teaching her, but has been slow in his investigation.  (He joked while we were there that he would get baptized after five years - Edina got baptized the summer of 2007.)  He's been going to church with his whole family since January.

Sarah, Mária, and Me

Mária was one of the first investigators in Békéscsaba when we opened it in December of 2006.  If you can't tell from the picture, she is kind of a cat lady, and she also has most of the walls in the room we're standing in covered in plates, floor to ceiling.  I taught her the whole time I served in Békéscsaba (almost five months) and it wasn't until a couple months after I left that she got baptized.  She's kind of a stubborn old lady, and she goes to church when she wants (like the day we visited her, she said she wasn't going because it was "too hot.")

Me, Bea, Noémi and Sarah

Bea and her daughters Noémi and Anita were taught and baptized by the other elders while I was serving in Békéscsaba.  We interacted with them a lot with all of our branch activities (family nights, branch parties, etc.) and she loved cooking for all four of us.  Anita has been off and on about going to church ever since her baptism.  Unfortunately, she didn't come to church the day we were there.  Bea did make lunch for us and all the missionaries though.

Tatabánya

The Tatabánya Branch

We got to know the members of the branch who went with us up to Freiberg a lot better than the rest of them.  I met a few of them when I went back last summer (2010) but there were still quite a few new faces since then.  Last I heard, there were 29 members, of which 27 are active.  When we met with the mission president our first day there, he informed us that Tatabánya was a week or two away from becoming an official branch within the stake, becoming independent from the mission.  As President Baughman put it, although Lali was called as the Branch President, Feri will always be the "Godfather of Tatabánya."

    

Us with the members we were escorts for at the temple - Lala Vankó on the left and Edina Heiser with her daughter Zsofi on the right.

My Seventh Day Adventists Friends - Vera Néni and Laci Bácsi

Our first morning in Tatabánya when we opened it, my companion and I went for a run.  While we were on the run, I said a prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to let me know if there was anywhere we should come back to to track later in the day after we had searched for real estate for a branch house.  As we ran down Jokai Mór street, I felt the impression that we should come back and track there.  When I felt that impression, we were by house #4 (the house numbering on a street in Hungary is 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. down one side of the street and 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. down the other).  That night we came back and rang the bell at #4.  No answer.  So, we rang and #2 and then started down the odd side of the street.  When we got to #17, this older couple came out.  We told them who we were and the responding by saying that they are Seventh Day Adventists and they invited us to their worship service that Saturday.  I asked them where they held it, and they said right there in the front room of their house.  We decided to go, and they invited us to stay for the potluck lunch in their yard that followed (there were only about ten people at church).  We ended up going to their church a handful of times while we were there and became good friends with a mutual respect for each other's beliefs. 

When Sarah and I visited them, Vera Néni went and found a couple photo albums (she really likes to take pictures) of me and my companion when we served there.  It was fun to see those pictures and reminisce on the good times I had while serving there in Tatabánya.  As it turns out, Feri and Róz live at #16 on the same street (essentially across the street).  Who knows what would have happened if we would have headed the other direction that first night tracting?

   

Our last dinner at their house and then the four of us at four AM before we left for the airport.

   

The four of us at the airport (yes, even Anna came when we left at 4AM, she just didn't want us to take her picture).

   

The Válóczi Family at the Freiberg Temple - Róz, Feri and Anna

Feri and Róz Válóczi were the reason for this trip.  (Yeah, I guess it was for our honeymoon, too.)  Whenever I think about my mission, they are the first people to come to mind.  I'm not sure who has had a greater influence on the other in our relationship - me on them or them on me.  Their faith and courage is such an example to me as well as their love.  

It's hard to pick a favorite memory with them from our trip, because the humorous side of me wants to say the time that we asked Feri about "baby water" or when they taught Sarah to say "Bryan fingolt" ("Bryan farted" - which is the only Hungarian she has kept, by the way) or when we got the huge ice cream cone the first night there or when Feri and I would say to Sarah "A Feri Bácsinak nem lehet nemet mondani." ("You can't tell old man Feri no" - usually in relation to getting her to eat more food, but then it started getting used for everything.)  

Then the spiritual side of me wants to say seeing them get sealed in the Temple, or just watching them kneel and pray at the steps of the Temple when we got there, or sitting in their room the night we got back from Prague as Róz told us about her incredible experiences at the Temple throughout the week or when Anna told us she was starting to gain interest in the Church.

The memories just flood in when I think about them, whether they are from when I served there as a missionary, when I went back last summer or from our honeymoon.  In short, what I want to say is that I love them and I'm grateful to count them not only as my friends, but as my Hungarian family.

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Pictures of Budapest

The Parliament

Budapest from the Fisherman's Bastion

The Szécsényi Chain Bridge from Buda Castle

Budapest from János Hegy

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Profile Picture

For those of you who don't know, before this trip I had only had one Facebook profile picture.  I decided that should probably be updated since I got married and all, so I thought since we were in the neighborhood, we should take a picture with both me and Sarah in front of the Buda Castle.

Me and Sarah in front of the Buda Castle

Profile picture, anyone?

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János Hegy

Before we left Budapest, we took a bus to János Hegy and then hiked to the lookout there to get some wonderful views of Budapest.

Me in front of the Érzsébet lookout at János Hegy

Me and Sarah at the top of János Hegy

Hungarian flag, Sarah, Me.

View of Budapest from János Hegy

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Great Market

The Great Market (Vásárcsarnok) in Budapest is a huge marketplace, with the top floor being full of Hungarian souvenir shops and the bottom full of fresh produce.  It's quite the site and haggling with Hungarians over the price of your souvenirs is also fun too.

Sarah in the Great Market

The lady we bought secret boxes from carving a name onto one of them.

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Roman Ruins

Our first day in Hungary, we drove past some Roman ruins with Feri and his family on our way to Szentendre, Visegrád, and Esztergom.  Sarah asked what those ruins were and I casually mentioned that they were Roman ruins (like who hasn't seen Roman ruins before).  She drew my attention to the fact that these ruins were thousands of years old, and I thought to myself'Everything is old in Europe.  That's why people come here - to look at all the old stuff.'  Then it hit me, 'I guess we could go there too.'

So, we decided that our last morning in Budapest we would go to the Roman ruins in the northern part of the city.  Despite the fact that it was raining, we got on the tram and then transferred to the light rail and got off at the nearest stop.  We then walked in the rain for a while until we got to the entrance of the park full of ruins.

The only problem was the gate was locked.  so, we rang the bell.  Problem number two came up - nobody answered when we rang.  We then decided that the person either (1) was deaf, because we rang the bell a lot, or (2) decided not to go to work because who wants to go see Roman ruins in the rain?  Oh, wait, my wife and I do.  Thanks a lot.

So, we did the best that we could with what we were given and took pictures from outside the gate looking in.  Take that, Romans.

Roman ruins

(Creative description, I know.)

More Roman ruins

(I guess I could try to be creative and guess that this is an aqueduct, but everyone knows that's not true.)

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Sights around Budapest

Here are a couple random sights around Budapest:

 

The Tree of Life - Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish Synagogue.

Each leaf on this metal tree has a name of a Holocaust victim.

 

Sarah with a confused elephant.

 

Sarah with the Hungarian crown jewels in the Parliament.

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Breakfast in Budapest

In our effort to save money (which we failed pretty badly at - see transportation fine for one), we tried to find a rather inexpensive breakfast option, but still have a European experience.

Our solution was yogurt, eaten with what are called "JóReggelt"s (literally "Good Morning), which are kind of like granola bars.  We would use them as edible spoons and then wash it all down with some fruit juice.

 

As if the picture I painted with words wasn't enough.

 

Yes, all the money is real.

(It was right before we went souvenir shopping, so none of it came home with us.)

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Best Friend

Despite the fact that it was raining during our last night in Budapest, Sarah and I decided that we wanted to go check out theVárosliget (City Park) and the Vajdahunyad Castle that's inside of it.  As we got off the metro in the rain, we're were the only ones around in the park.  (This could have been due to the fact that it was dark, or that it was raining or both.)

We walked over to the castle, where there was tour bus full of people in front of the castle.  Apparently it was full of fair-weather tourists as only three or four of them got out to look at the castle, and it was pretty soon thereafter that they were on the bus again and it took off.

All lit up at night, the castle looked amazing.  As we walked around the inside of the castle, Sarah said to me, "I'm so glad that I can be here with you, that I can have you as my travel buddy, and I'm even more glad I'm here with my best friend."

Best friend?!?  That's something that's reserved for the guy you watch sports with, who you can talk to about anything, or who you can sit with in silence for however long, yet still feel totally comfortable.  The one with whom you can count on each other for anything, no matter what.

Those thoughts zoomed through my mind as soon as she said that, then more thoughts followed: Wait a minute!  Isn't your wife supposed to be your best friend?  Don't all those old married people always say how lucky they are to be married to their best friend?  Of course, Sarah is my best friend.  She has to be.  How could she not be?  But if that's the case, then why when I think 'best friend,' do guys always come to mind first and not my wife?  Maybe there are different categories of best friends, like Best Guy Friend, Best Roommate Friend, Best Friend Named (_______), Best Wife Friend, etc.  That must be it.  Sarah is most definitely my Best Wife Friend.  Maybe it's just because I've known 'the guys' longer and that's why they come to mind first.  Whereas my first date with Sarah was in March.  There we go.  Got it.  Give it some time, and she'll not only be my Best Wife Friend, but my Best Friend.

We spent some time together there at the castle, talking in the rain, and then headed back to our hotel.  A day and a half later, while we were on the plane coming home, and after I had come to the conclusion that the reason she wasn't the first person to come to mind was because I hadn't known her as long, I decided to bring it up again.  I think my response at the castle had been something like "Yeah, it is really neat that we can be here together.  I'm glad that I can be here with you too."  Our conversation on the plane went something like this:

"Sarah, remember when we were at the castle in Városliget and you said that I'm your best friend.  Am I really the first person you think of when you think 'best friend'?"

"Yes." 

"Really?  You're not just saying that because we're married and we're supposed to be best friends?"

"Really.  Why?  Do you not think of me as your best friend?"  Oh, crap.  Uhh....umm....

"Uh, well...you mean you don't think of like Brenda or Becca first and then think of me?"

"No.  Do you think of Andrew or Bean before me?"  Are you some sort of mind reader?  I thought only moms could do that.

"Maybe." Smile. "Maybe it's because I've just known them longer and I never really thought about you in that way - being my best friend."  Oh, great.  Now I'm going to hurt her feelings.  Great way to end the honeymoon, Bryan.

"Well, I really feel like you are my best friend.  I can talk to you about anything, and I trust you, no matter what."

"I can talk to you about anything and I trust you too."  Wait a minute.  Someone you can talk to about anything.  Check.  Someone you can sit in silence with, yet feel totally comfortable.  Check.  The one with whom you can count on each other for anything no matter what.  Check.  I guess the sports thing is the only thing missing.

There you have it.  Sarah may not be the first person I think of when I think "best friend," but I think "wife" more than encompasses "best friend" in my mind.

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Városliget

Our last night in Budapest we went and visited Városliget (City Park), which is located right behind Hero's Square, and which has a nice castle.  Despite the fact that it was raining, I was able to get a few pictures of the castle.  Also, there is a statue to Anonymous, the first author of Hungarian history.  Last, but not least, this was the location of the beginning of our conversation about being best friends.

 

Castle in Városliget

 

For all of you who have ever wondered what Anonymous looked like.

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Travel in Budapest

We had more than our fair share of adventures when it came to transportation in Budapest.  We took a train from Tatabánya to Budapest, scoring ourselves the student discount (50% off) without any problems.  If there's one thing we learned about laws in Hungary, it is that it depends.  What does it depend on?  The person enforcing the law.  On the train back to Tatabánya our last night, we got in trouble with the ticket checker because we aren't students within the European Union, but we had gotten the student discount.  Apparently that is a rule with some ticket checkers, but not with others.  Luckily, we got away with a warning and a promise to pay for a full-price ticket next time.  (Little does she know that the next time either of us buys a train ticket in Hungary, odds are we won't be students.)

 

Sarah at the train station in Budapest.

Funny story from that same train ride back to Tatabánya:  We got on a train about twenty minutes before it left, so we just sat down and did one of our favorite activities - people watching.  Little did we know that we were in for a treat with one particular person on the train with us.  As a little bit of background for those of you who have never ridden a train, there are sliding doors between the train cars and depending on how nice the train is, those doors may or may not be automatic.  The train we happened to be on was newer and Austrian, so it was nice and had automatic doors and all you have to do to open them is push a button and they slide open for you.  Unfortunately for this poor traveler that we were watching, she didn't realize that the door was already open when she got out of the bathroom.  As a result, she kept pushing the button, waiting for the door to open, not realizing that it was already open and pushing that button just kept it open.  She began to get more frustrated and push the button for frequently, until she got to the point where she was going to attempt to manually "open" the door.  She then went to put her hand on the door to brace herself for a strong pull on the door, when she realized that her hand went right through where the door was supposed to be, and the light bulb went on - this door has been open the whole time.  She looked at us, realizing that we had known the whole time and laughed at herself.  Thank you, fellow traveler for the laugh.

 

Sarah in front of one of the metros in Budapest.

As for a not-so-funny story, here's our adventure with public transportation in Budapest:  We bought 24-hour transportation passes once we got to Budapest so that we could ride metros, trams and buses to our heart's desire.  They write the time on the pass once you get it and it expires 24 hours from that time.  The next day we had gotten tickets to get a tour of the Parliament and our plan was buy new passes once our tour was over.  The only problem was that we ran into an elder that had served at the same time as me with his wife in one of the museums in Budapest.  Talking with them, we got on the metro later than we had hoped and our passes expired while we were on the metro.

As luck would have it, they were checking tickets on the way out (they randomly check in a few places at different times throughout the day at different stops in the city.  We got stopped, and had our passes checked.  The lady said to me that they were expired and that we each owed a 6,000 forint (~$30) fine.  She made both of us pay right there, despite the fact that it had just run out and we were going to buy another.

After visiting the Parliament, we bought new passes and I started asking around to find out the rule concerning these passes, and I learned that it depends.  That's right, no fine print like in America, all of it depends on the controller who stops you.  Almost everyone I asked said that we would be fine, but then one lady noticed from my accent that I was a foreigner, to which she said "You'll get ticketed for sure.  Unfortunately, that's the way things are."  So, because things are the way they are, we paid the fine and got new passes only to not have them checked the rest of the time we were there.  (I was hoping we would run into a controller so we could get a picture with our fine, but no such luck.)  Go figure.

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Széchenyi Baths

One of the places that we heard that was a "must see" was the Széchenyi Baths in Budapest.  Of course they were overpriced, but it was still quite the experience.  We were there for about two hours and I don't think we spent more than ten minutes in one pool, most of them less than that.  We decided that we just had to try out all of the different baths so we could get all those minerals deep into our skin and experience its healing power.  

Okay, so we may have enjoyed people-watching more than we enjoyed the minerals in the water, but we had a good time nonetheless.  One down side was that we didn't have any towels.  We had heard that you could rent towels there but it was later in the day when we got there (about 5pm) and when we went to the towel rental place, the lady offered us a wet towel that someone had just used, saying those were the only ones she had.  Gotta love Europeans - not only did she offer me a towel someone else had used, she wanted me to pay for it.  We chose to air dry.

 

The Széchenyi Baths

 

What could we implement in America to make swimming pools more attractive?

Old men in speedos playing chess.

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