Hungary: March 14-15
Friday and Saturday, March 14-15, 2008 
We left a rainy Mt. Vernon at 2pm EDT on Friday 3/14 en route to Debrecen, Hungary via Columbus, OH – Detroit, MI – Amsterdam, NL and Budapest, HU. The flights, rides and connections were all flawless, and we arrived at the Nazarene Church in Debrecen 25 hrs after we had left MVNU. Needless to say, we were all blitzed.
The flight to Detroit was the usual fare, you taxi for about as long as you actually fly, and the flight across the Atlantic was uneventful as well. Northwest/KLM took good care of us, providing us with snacks and a nice hot meal where you could choose either beef stew or vegetable curry. Some slept, some played games or watched movies, everyone tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible for the long journey.
Budapest looked nice from the air as it’s split by the River Danube. The country side around Budapest reminded many of Ohio, pretty dreary this time of the year. However, there’s no snow and the temps are in the 50s.
We were picked up by a missionary couple (didn’t get the name, but we’ll be staying with them on Saturday) and one of the other local pastors who took us to the train station which, oddly enough, was built by some guy called Eiffel. He also built some other monument in France many of you might be familiar with. That train station also contains the fanciest McDonald’s we’ve ever seen as it is located in a former royal waiting room dating back to the Hungarian monarchy, that is to say late 1800s. This waiting room is about the size of the Prince Student Union, though. I tried to take a picture, but the guard told me no pictures. Apparently they want no clowning around in front of McDonald’s. Go figure.
The hardest part of the journey by far, was the train ride from Budapest to Debrecen. Although it took about 2 ½ hours, it might as well have taken 10. By then fatigue had set in and we were starting to enter that crazy land of “are we there yet…”
Once in Debrecen, the local pastors picked us up and drove us to the church where we had a potato and sausage stew. No one has yet seem to mind that the drinks are all at room temperature.
Then we were driven to the Pension (let’s call it a bed and breakfast type establishment) where we’ll be staying the week.
We are supposed to participate in tomorrow’s service, by providing special number before the message. It’s 10:30pm and I need to get to sleep, because 8am will come up fast. We’ll be going to the church for breakfast, service and then lunch. After lunch we may have some time to sightsee Debrecen.
