Szia from the Fiegis in Hungary!
We hope everyone is doing well! We sure miss you all! We are doing well here....It's been a month full of fun and
new experiences for us. Here are some updates (for update letters and pics, go to http://bjtphotography.com/).
Basketball
Eric had his first season game on October 6th in a town called Paks, located about an hour south of here. The
team from Paks was projected to win, but Eric's team (Univer), ended up winning by 1 point at the buzzer! Eric
guarded a Hungarian on their team who weighed at least 50 pounds more than he did, and who was 5-6 inches
taller. After Eric scored 9 points on him in less that seven minutes, the Goliath Hungarian shouted to Eric in
English: "I am going to hit you in the head!!" Fortunately he didn't deliver on his promise, and the game ended with
lots of drums, streamers, chanting, confetti, and yelling from the huge busload of Kecskemet fans who traveled
there. Like Romanians, Hungarians are loud and enthusiastic fans. The atmosphere at games is awesome! Univer
also won their second game, but lost their third game in OT last night.
The Kecskemet team is very young. Their oldest player is 26 with the average age of the team being 21. Eric has
really enjoyed getting to know the guys, especially Jakob (pronounced Yah-kub) who is from Iceland. We didn't get
our car until Friday, Oct. 19th - which happened to be Eric's birthday! - so Jakob has driven Eric to and from all
their practices. They have become good friends and Jakob is a very nice guy. The team is more talented overall
than the Romanian team last year, so Eric won't be the only "go-to" guy this year, we think. He has done an
amazing job in his games so far, and is learning more about his team, the coach, and director. The director has
been very good to us.... If we have a problem with something, he makes sure someone takes care of it very quickly.
Our new car is now going to allow us a lot more freedom to explore more of the city and more of Hungary. You can
see pics of our souped-up-Suzuki on the website.
Food
Instead of losing 25 pounds this season, we may both gain 25 pounds! :) We have had a very positive experience
with the food here, and yes, we have a refrigerator now! We have been out a few times to Hungarian restaurants
and the food has been delicious! Eric took me out for my birthday last week, and I took him out this past week for
his birthday.
Eric's team pays for two meals a day for him, and he eats at the same restaurant every day for lunch and another
restaurant for dinner. The lunch restaurant is an upscale place with great food. He is actually filled up at the end of
his meal, and sometimes even stuffed! He and 4 other guys eat dinner at "The Bowling Center". It's more of a
relaxed atmosphere with, of course, a bowling alley! It's small (about 10 lanes), and they get some interesting folks
in there, but it's very entertaining. I am able to eat there for free if I want to join Eric for dinner. I do a lot of my own
cooking, however, in my nice, bright kitchen...that has a refrigerator in it! There is a small grocery store that's only
a 5 minute walk from our apartment and there is also an outdoor fruit/veggie market nearby. A huge modern mall is
just a 10-15 minute walk. We live in the center of our town, and it's been wonderful having everything so close.
When we need to do some major shopping, we go to Tesco. It's like a giant Walmart and offers everything from
groceries - to put into our refrigerator! - and sheets, to electronics and hardware items, all at very cheap prices. It's
about a 10 minute drive from our place. The driving here is a little bit scary...that, too, reminds us of Romania. If
you're driving behind a slow car and you don't pass them within 3 seconds, then something is wrong with you and
you'll quickly hear about it from other drivers. :) It might take us a little while to get the driving down. Oh, and did we
mention we have a refrigerator now? Yeah!!
Culture
It is very beautiful here. This town is quite colorful...flower baskets line the streets, outdoor markets are open nearly
every day offering all sorts of fruits, vegetables, and homemade items, and the buildings are very ornate. The
people have been so warm and welcoming, too. I, Kellie, have made a friend here. Her name is Timi and she is one
of the player's girlfriends. She just turned 20 and is a freshman in college. She is taking English classes and I've
been going over to her house a few times each week to help her with her homework. In turn, she has driven me to
every out-of-town game or scrimmage which has been really nice. I help with the cost of gas, or I hold her cute little
puppy (who has now peed on me twice) on my lap while she drives. Timi is forced to speak English with me which
has helped her greatly over the past month. Hungarian is a VERY hard language! Unlike Romanian, which is Latin
based, Hungarian has Finnish roots.....there sure are a lot of "k's" and "z's" in this language. :) Eric is still having
trouble saying some of the Hungarian players names, so he has given them his own nicknames (which they just
love). :) I've been trying to memorize different words, and I now know "please", "thank you", "sorry", "restaurant",
"hello", "what's up/how are you", "good night", "it's cold", "yes", "no", and the numbers 1 through 10. Timi always
has to correct my pronunciation of these words, though. I am also going to be getting a new job soon, as well,
teaching English to two Hungarian children (and perhaps more of their friends) named Adele age 5, and Máté
(Marty) age 3.
We have posted several new pictures this month of our town and of Eric's basketball games, plus video of our
apartment (on Öz Street, we think) and a highlight video clip of Eric's game. It's all located on my brother's website
which is found, again, at: www.bjtphotography.com. Click on our picture, and go from there...and turn the sound up
so we can greet you!
We are enjoying our time here very much. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement!
Love,
Eric and Kellie :)