Welcome to 2 New Nephews!

I am so excited to welcome 2 new nephews into my family! Redd Thomas was born on November 16 in Fallon, and Mark Perry (?) was born on November 19 in Minnesota. I am looking forward to meeting them in a month (or whenever the first chance is, in the case of Mark). They are both lucky boys to have wonderful parents and older brothers and sisters! [not to mention aunts and uncles :)]

I don't have any pictures of Mark, but here are some cute ones of Redd (his sister Stevey is feeding him in the last one):

Bikram Yoga

Sweat, sweat, and more sweat. That pretty much sums it up.

Yesterday I started going to Bikram Yoga classes with a friend. Follow the link, and you can find out more about it than you probably every wanted to know. You can also see pictures of the studio here in Budapest, which I'm told looks exactly the same as every other studio in the U.S. Basically, the classes are a series of 26 poses, each done twice, taking 90 minutes. It is done in a really hot room; I've heard it called "hot yoga" before--I'd guess that the room is about at 100 degrees. No, I'm not kidding. Forget the fans; bring on the space heaters! (And if you've ever lived with me, you may know just how much I "love" space heaters...oops, did I say love? I mean hate...)

I thought I was going to die during my first class. Obviously, though, I didn't die, and since I committed to 10 days, I'm going to stick it out. After 10 days, I make no promises. But it's been interesting and I'm happy to have a friend to drag me along. I will say that, even if I don't become a hot yoga convert, I will never again say that it is not real exercise!

I also feel like hearing it all in Hungarian is an extra mental exercise--trying to figure out what the heck is going on! Apparently I'm the only newcomer (my friend does it in the U.S.). Luckily, the instructors speak very good English and will generally do the first set in Hungarian and second set in English. Also, it's quite common to hear things like "Toes out, Ash-e-ley"; "Ash-e-ley, lock your knee"; "Spine straight, Ash-e-ley!"; etc. You get the idea...they've zeroed in on me! But they're really helpful and nice.

This is what I look like....ha ha ha (like I could ever get my legs to do that!)

Budapest Pictures--Part I

I realized a while back that I haven't really taken very many pictures of Budapest, although this is where I spend most of my time. Yesterday, despite the FREEZING weather, I ventured out to use my mad photo skills (haha...I never take the camera off the "Auto" setting) to capture some of my everyday sightings. I planned to take all afternoon to walk around the entire city, but before I'd gotten too far I thought my fingers were going to fall off, so I decided I would have to do this in installments. Plus, the weather was so gloomy that all the pictures look sad and dark. But, since I risked my health to take them (just kidding, mom), I'll post some here.

Parliament:


In front of Castle:


Fenicular (?) up Castle Hill:


Szechenyi Chain Bridge--my school is just on the far side of the bridge:


Lion on Chain Bridge:


On Castle Hill:


Castle:


Castle District:


Castle District:


View of Parliament and Danube from Fishermen's Bastion


Tracks by my apartment:


Unfortunately Common sight--tram, old lady walking dog, homeless man under tree:


Tunnel I go through to get to school:


On the way to school:


Buda, from Castle Hill:

Ireland--Hiking in Wicklow Mountains

While in Ireland, we went to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains--it was absolutely beautiful! The bus dropped us off at an some old monastic ruins, and from there there are tons of hikes to take around these 2 lakes. We had a great time. We chose the most rigorous hike, but ended up turning around early because the weather was getting very cold, rainy, and windy, and people who looked much more prepared (not to mention in shape) than us were turning around. Also, we didn't want to run out of time--true to form, we had taken a wrong turn early on in the trail, only correcting ourselves at the point where we ended up losing about an hour. I think I found my equal when it comes to getting lost! All in all, Glendalough was awesome and I am so glad I followed the recommendation of a good friend who suggested going there.

Here are some of my Glendalough pictures:






We found this dark and scary path after we'd taken the wrong turn--


It probably wasn't the best idea to choose this hike when we didn't have any of the things it said we needed (hiking boots, compass, map, raingear)

The trail:


Top of the mountain:


Glendalough:



Self-timer shot:

Ireland--Dublin

Last weekend (Nov. 9-12) I went to Ireland with some American friends from school. We had a great time. The weather there was much better than Budapest--highs in the 50s in Dublin/ snowing in Budapest. We stayed at the apartment of one of my friend's friends who is going to Trinity College in Dublin, so it was very convenient and saved us some money at the same time. We got there late Friday night, spent Saturday seeing things in Dublin, went to Glendalough (Wicklow County) on Sunday, and spent Monday morning shopping in Dublin before flying home Monday evening.

Here are some pictures of Dublin--

Grafton Street:


Great Georges Street Market:


River Liffey:


Palace:


Entrance to St. Stephen's Green:



Courtyard at Trinity College:


Christs Church


My traveling buddies:

Lessons from Breakfast

Well, I've been lazy over the last week and have taken a little break from blogging. Don't worry...I'm still here.
When my parents came out they brought me granola bars and oatmeal packets, which I had been wanting. I have thoroughly enjoyed eating flavored oatmeal each morning. Not only has it been delicious, but I've been learning some new facts and jokes every day (from the packages). Here is some of what I've learned:

FACTS:

• It's impossible for humans to lick their own elbows.
• The Sahara Desert in Africa is as big as the whole United States.
• On average, Americans eat 30 pounds of bananas per year. (I think I eat more than that)
• A great big 70 pound octopus can squeeze through a little 2-inch hole because it has no backbone.
• When an adult lion roars, it can be heard up to 5 miles away.
• The oldest dinosaur remains have been found in Argentina and Brazil.
  

JOKES:
Feel free to guess an answer (I know that a certain sister of mine will like these!). I'll post the answers in a few days :)

1. What did the Martian say to the rose bush?
2. What's ok to serve but not to eat?
3. What do astronauts like on their sandwiches?
4. Why was the girl staring at the can of frozen orange juice?
5. What has ears but never hears a thing?
6. How do basketball players stay cool?
   

Torah! Torah! Torah!

Before Mom and Dad left, they gave me the coolest gift. I'll be impressed if you knew what this is and/or own one. I gave you a clue in the title.

Thanks to Mom and Dad

I just wanted to send out another thank you to Mom and Dad for coming to visit and putting up for me for 10 days! I really had a great time motoring around Eastern Europe--getting lost and all. These will be great memories.

Here are a few more pictures of some of the countryside we were driving through:

Krakow

Here are a few pictures from Krakow, Poland. We didn't take many pictures there, and I think at least one of us is closing our eyes in over 1/2 of them. We had a great afternoon there last Saturday--it's a beautiful city. I especially liked the big town square with it's interesting architecture, market, and street performers.

Wawel Palace:


In the Palace Complex:


Old town:


Big town square: