so once again i have been so busy im sure i havent even gotten enough sleep i will again give the short explaination follwed by the long one. gun range, bow range, stick shift, egor, gabor, switching houses, euro man underwear, goodbye party, lajus the sculptor, beast in the bathroom, marzipan museum, the once and future king, prairie tour, whips, karaoke followed bye dance, lots of churches, leaving on a train, buda and pest, crown jewels and a big building, swimming pool, last shopping. keep in mind im jsut trying to bring as many memories back to all of you and they may or may not be in order.

gun range- gabor took david joe and i to shoot guns at a gun range gun club. we shot small pistols for a little while but it was a incredibly hot day so we left a little bit early.

bow range- later that day after it had cooled off we went to a archery range. according to what i understand, hungarians were known for their bow skills. so people who come to this archery range use traditionally built bows with no new age add ons. the bows themselves were beautifully crafted and were very fun. at this range they also had spears which we tried. although alot harder to get a hold of than the bow, they were much more fun.

stick shift- i had forgotten about this in one of my former updates but it was very important activity in this trip. davids older brother took us to a empty road and let joe and i try to drive his stick shift car. most of the cars here are stick shift and they are very difficult to grasp. i did alright but i still think shifting on a motorcycle is much easier.

egor- a little town a few hours away from debrecen or mateszalka. it consists of many tourist shops and a beautiful fortress that stands above the city. although the fortress is large. there is nothing inside the walls to protect. from what we could gather after rich men bought the fortress they would go broke trying to fix it never having enough money to put more than one house inside. so imagine a great field with a giant wall in a circle put a house in the middle of the circle and thats what it was. although the fortress itself wasnt so much to offer there many interesting tunnels around and amazing views off the walls.

gabor- we love gabor( chicken mcnaughts)

switching houses- well we left gergos house and went to gabors flat outside of mateszalka in a town called debrecen which was a bigger city tha n mateszalka and had a little more to offer for shopping or activities around the city. we spent only two days at gabors flat there before moving to his sisters flat in budapest. it is a amall apartment on the 5th floor of a nice building. it is pretty much right in the middle of everything. you can walk to just about anywhere you need to go from her house.

euro man underwear- i know what you all are thinking on this one and yes i knwo it is a little wierd. joe (my american room mate on this trip) has had a complete and ridiculous obsession to find some of what he calls quote "man panties". that he swears you can only get here in yurope. so these last few days we have been here we have been searching for some and sadly he bought two pairs. i would show you what they look like but that would require that joe be a model in the picture. so for your safety i will spare you the horrors of joe in his"man panties".

goodbye party- we had our goodbye party ab out 5 days before we were ever leaving hungary. many of the people were saying goodbye while we were stil in mateszalka because we would spend our last 4 days in budapest. there were many hugs, many pictures, many drinks for the locals, and many sad faces wishing us all to not leave. there were once again many gifts as always consisting of thoughtful things for each of us. but as it got dark and many people started to leave joe and i headed back to gabors house. with gifts in my hand and memories in my heart, i surely would not forget these people.

lajus the sculptor- one day while we were stilla gergo's house the man who designed the poleo statue in krutch park, invited us to tour his studio. is was very plain except for the beginings of a new statue he was working on and was supposed to release in january. the new statue was still int he stage of designing how it will look with clay. even in these early stages the statue was probably almost 7-8 ft tall.

beast in the bathroom. while we were at gergo' house we had a little animal crawl into the open window of our bathroom. this green tree frog that i found on my deodorant was no biger than a jfk half dollar and was eager to get away from us when i took some pictures of him. he is hethforth named timmy the tree frog. he is imprinted on my heart.

marzipan museum- is exactly what it sounds like except the marzipan in this museum were shaped in enormous and detailed statues. the pictures i bring home will better explain the statues.

the once and future king- ok for this one i went all out on the title because this is a section dedicated tot eh midevil meal we ate at a restuarant named excalibur. excalibur is of course king arthur's sword which bring me to my favorite king arthur book the once and future king. so the meal was eaten with our hands and all aspects fo teh restuarant were that of olden times. candles and no electricity, weapons and armor on the wals, clay pitchers and cups, and of course my favorite animal furs all around. this was by far teh best meal i have eaten while being here but after it was over i thought i was going to pop i ate so much.

prairie tour- we awoke at gabors flat to get on a bus with all others to travel a few hours out to veiw the hungarian "great plains". and believe me, they are great and man are they plain. we rode around in covered wagons and saw many animals after which they had a hungarian horseman show. which was interesting considering they had tought their horses to sit like a dog. another trick rider stood on the backs of two horses then held the reins of another 4 which was amazing. after the tour was over we piled into the bus and went to a market.

whips-crack(silence). hours of fun for anyone.

karaoke followed by dance- i sang thriller by michael jackson and then asng no woman no cry with the only black guy in all of debrcen. after which i danced to the music and me and the black guy had dance offs and boy was it fun.

lots of churches- calvanist, synagogs, catholic. i have seen them all.

leaving on a train- we traveled out of debrecen by train and many of our friends came to visit us. realize debrecen is an hour away from mateszalka. so these people who realizing they may never see us again were coming with open arms and great smiles once again to see us. gergo did come to the train station but he did not come with us to stay in budapest for our last few days. reka the only hungarian girl delagate cried when we finally had to get on the train. for a little while it did not hit me but i was leaving. i am writing this catch up post the night before i leave and i couldnt be more unhappy that i am leaving this beautiful country with such kind people.

buda and pest- toured the city. its really really big. but during our tour temperatures in budapest hit a record high of over 100 degrees f.

crown jewels and a big building- the crwn jewels are what were passed down to hungarian kings. they were amazing and i was glad to have stood near such important ancient items. the big building of course was parliament, where the relics were housed.

swimming pool- lots of speedos. 3 different pools all different temperatures. very fun but the hot thermal pool water was yellow. a little questionable on where that water came from.

last shopping- buyig gifts for everyone is hard while your trying to guage how much money you have and want to spend on everyone. although i missed many opportunities to get kool gifts with the thought of. oh i will find it some place else. i think i was able to find at least a little somthign for almost everyone.

i did not title this last section because i have talked alot about what i have done during the trip and not really what i have gotten out of it or really felt. i got here and i was a little nervous for the first day and then calmed down and realized i was going to love it. now after all this happiness and joy i am getting out of the trip. i am dreading and fearign the inevitable. the thought of leavign my friends and not seeing them for a long time. i did not think about it at first. after it finally hit me that oh jeez today is my last day i began to become more more and more depressed at the thought of leaving. and although i want to go home and i miss many things. i am going to miss so much here. it is now 11 here i leave for the airport at 4 50 i will write again before i go to sleep but for now i need to clear my mind and try and look at the good times and great moments i have had. oh and while im at it the theme for this trip. hey there delilah im coming home.