Post Hungary Blog Post 2

The other day I had this revelation. It hit me while I was talking with a friend in the car, I don’t feel the need to constantly get up and go places. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been gone for a month and am happy to be home again . . . but home wasn’t something I was especially looking forward to returning to while I was gone. I mean I love being home but it just wasn’t what I was dying to get back to.

And it wasn’t even this feeling that I didn’t want to go anywhere else again but just that I didn’t have this overwhelming drive inside me that I HAD to go somewhere else. I started realizing this after turning down a job in Canada. A job I’d been hoping to get since hearing about the position. (The reason wasn’t just cause I didn’t want to travel. lol.)

I realized that I just don’t have this need to go anywhere. Inside my soul I feel a strange thing that I haven’t felt before . . . or that I don’t ever remember feeling. I feel settled. I knew that while I was in Hungary I was changing. I just wasn’t sure how or the extent of it. I just knew that I felt like things inside me where shifting. It wasn’t until that day in the car with my friend that I realized: this is what changed.

My mom said it’s because when I went to Hungary I went home. And in some ways she’s right. Hungary was this elusive land I couldn’t quite reach. It was like the missing piece of me. The place I’d been trying to get to since I was three years old and begged my parents to let me go home with my grandparents. Everything felt so right in so many ways when I was there. Especially while I was in Gyula visiting my grandfather. It did feel like a home. Many times I wondered why I was leaving and when and how could I return as soon as possible.

I still love the idea of traveling to new places and believe me there are many adventures I want to have. But before I didn’t feel this need or desire to have a home to come back to. My home would be wherever I am—I mean that’s the premise of this blog. That wherever I go, my heart and home goes with me. I don’t need a base. I am my own base. And while in theory I still believe that, I do want a place to come back to. I don’t know what that will look like or who that will include or even where that will end up being. But there’s a settling happening in my heart and as much as I’m all about being that strong, independent women who travels all the time and doesn’t give a care about what or who she leaves behind, maybe I do care somewhere deep inside my heart. Maybe I do want to return to the same place after each adventure.

Who knows? This is definitely a new feeling and a new phase of my life.

Hungary | Post 1

It was about 1 a.m. eastern standard time but where I was it was 7 a.m. and my jet-lagged self was trying to hopelessly download the song Ridin’ by Chamillionaire on the slowest internet I’d ever used since dial-up in the mid 2000s while alternating between sitting in the cafeteria and standing outside near the office window hoping for the best signal I could get. I ended up unintentionally downloading three different versions of the song over a 30 minute period and paying for each one of them.

I was in the town of Gyula in Hungary near the Romanian boarder where I was visiting my grandfather for his 94^th birthday at the Adventist retirement home he lives at. It was the first time I’d ever been to Hungary and I didn’t speak the language, nor did I come with anyone who did. It was just me, my English, a few Hungarian words, and my desire to meet and get to know my Hungarian family, especially to be there for my grandfather’s birthday. Thankfully many of my family members did end up speaking English but for the first 10 days or so, it was just me, my grandfather, and a lot of people who didn’t speak any English.

Heading out!

It was very interesting. And I’ll be blogging about those times. But one of my favorite times with him was when we’d cruise the roads or ride into the city and around town, him on his three-wheel moped and me following behind him on my borrowed bike. Hence the need for the song. I was trying to do a short video of him on his moped cause he just looked so fun and cool riding it around.

I finally got the right version and added it to the nine-second video for Instagram, haha. $3+ dollars spent and all that time was totally worth it, too! Just like my entire trip to Hungary. Best trip I’ve ever taken and I can’t wait to go back, practice more of the awesome language, see even more of the beautiful country, and get to know my family better!

Anyway, blogging isn’t really my thing but I want to remember these stories and share them with my friends. I hope they end up being interesting enough to read. I’m always skeptical about my blog-writing. Oh well, I’ll try anyway. haha

Until next time, enjoy all nine-seconds of my grandfather cruisin' to the beats of Chamillionaire.