Hungary for More
Well, we’re back and I’ve had a fantastic time. Me, Claire, Mum, Steve and big Chris (He’s 6ft 7in(~2m!!)) went over to Papa, Hungary to help in the renovation of Kanaan Haz(Kanaan House) as a womens refuge. The building is fantastic and Brian (project manager) is doing wonders with the place.
All the work done to Kanaan is being done by Brian and volunteers, this is where we come in. My mum was introduced to the project through the church and has been twice already. Teams travel out, from what I can gather quite regularly but more teams are always welcome as there is still lots to do. So much has already been achieved and the first two living quarters have already been completed. Istvan the janitor, porter etc and his nine year old daughter Gina’s flat and the first family flat. We had the honor of being the first guests of Kanaan Haz and a pleasant place it is too, very peaceful.
Having two builders with us as well as Brian (also a builder, structural engineer and carpenter) was a great advantage is all I can say! On the Monday we got there we had a look around Kanaan and went to the co-op for some supplies after which we all slept for a while. On the second day we put a floor down in one of the first floor rooms. This involved Brian mixing the cement, Mum and Claire transferring it into buckets and using the pulley to send it skywards to Chris.
From there I carried it into the room, dumped it on the floor and Steve leveled it out.
Go team! For the remainder of the days we put up the ceilings in the top three rooms by making wooden hangers and screwing plaster board to them.
I also got to paint a bunk bed, all I can say is that gloss doesn’t like me and I’m defiantly not it’s biggest fan. That said I didn’t mind doing it at all, it needed doing and that’s good enough for me. However, my first attempt was shocking and had to be sanded and repainted, Doh!
It wasn’t all work though. On Saturday Zolly(Zoltan) the youth pastor from the church over the road from Kanaan who is heavily involved with the efforts of Kanaan House, took us to Budapest for a long day of touristic sight seeing. I’ve heard that it’s one of those places to visit in your life time and I can really see why, it’s a beautiful place.
First we went to Hero’s Square which has a brilliant set of statues of statues of the leaders of the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century and other important historical figures of Hungary.
We then went to look at a miniature castle which was a 10th the size of the real one, all I can say is how, I’d quite happily live in the miniature version, thank you very much!
Then Zolly took us to St. Stephen’s Basilica which is a stunning building, the inside is just so impressive, however they do have the “holy right hand” of St. Steven himself in a glass box, a bit freaky if you ask me. We went up the tower as well but cheated and took the lifts, hey it’s a long way!
After seeing St. Steven’s Basilica we had some lunch at a restaurant just round the corner, having voted very loudly for a restaurant and not McDonalds. After an hour long wait we got our food, Me and Steve had Rib steak in sauce with mushrooms and potato wedges, Claire and mum had Chicken in fruit sauce with rice and Chris had weiner schnitzel and fries.
Everyone enjoyed their food except Claire who didn’t like the combination and was expecting something different. I tried it and agreed, it was all wrong, winter berries with chicken… in summer? Who thought of that one?
After lunch we went and had a look at the Hungarian parliament building which is now free to enter for any EU citizen, we didn’t go in but that just leaves something to do next time I go.
Then we went on a boat up the Danube upto Margaret island. We saw the Parliment Building again and you can see where it’s been cleaned and where is still being cleaned.
We didn’t see much of it from the footpath that runs along it, it looks like non stop pools and liesure facilities. After we caught back up to Zolly in the minibus he took us to the maze under Buda Castle. The maze was created so that the king, knowing the route, could escape any attackers. We got to go round with oil lanterns and the lights turned off which was just great, me and Chris had a great time running off into the darkness and trying to scare the others.
After the maze we went to The Fishermans Bastion which gives some great views of Budapest over the Danube. By chance there was a choir concert at Matthias Chruch that we went in and watched, I’ll admit that by this point I was pretty tired and hearing some amazing singing sent me into a bit of a snooze. I find that there’s something very peaceful about churches which didn’t help keep me awake either. After the concert we wandered around and had another look at the views before setting off for some food and then home. All in all an amzing day, definitely worth it.
On Sunday we went to the church across the road which was an experience as the service was in Hungarian, Emisha however did a wonderful job of translating quite alot of it for us and made it a thousand times easier for us foreigners. After church we went to Brian and Julia’s house for some Sunday lunch. Brian has done alot of work to his house and it looks great. One of the things that we, and in particular Steve, found very exciting about Hungary was the buildings, they do things much differently but that’s to be expected. So after being given the official guided tour we sat down for some lunch. Julia made an absolutely fantastic chicken with apricot that was great (chicken and fruit done the right way!) with a selection of vegetables. And for dessert a cherry crumble with ice cream and cream, my idea of food heaven, fantastic!
Monday and Tuesday were spent finishing off the ceiling in the upstairs room and buying last minute food, presents and in Chris’s case cigarettes to take back home. The whole experience was extremely eye opening and was fantastic. Me and Chris are thinking of planning to go out for a couple of months next year, here’s hoping, I’d love to do it.
Most of all I’d like to thank Brian, Julia, Natasha, Istvan, Gina, Zolly and Timmy for their hospitality, patience and continuing efforts in the development of Kanaan Haz, May the lord bless you all.
If you’ve managed to make it to the end then, well done, this was a mighty long post, nearly three hours in the making. Goodnight.