Where did I put my electric rollers?

I got a haircut today, and I must say, it is delightful. (Or at least I think it will be once I get to style it for myself.) I took a few pics to share with you because the "do" I got today reminds me of being in high school again.

The hairstylists here in Hungary have redefined blow-drying for me. To them, it is an art like I have never seen. I think it takes them twice as long to style my hair than it does to shampoo and cut it, but boy does it look sleek and shiny when I leave.

Today was a little different, though. The girl who cut my hair asked if I wanted "blow-dry, curly, or straight". When I said I didn't care, she said, "Ok, a little curly." I wasn't too sure what that meant, so I thought I'd let you know.

It means....

She got two round metal brushes and used them like hot rollers, taking pieces of my hair and rolling it around them until my hair cooled in curls. For a while I had so much metal in my head I thought I was going to pick up a radio signal.

The result? Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. And I thought this look was only cool in the 10th grade. I took a few pics in the bathroom so you could see :) I'm not great at self-portraits, so be gracious.

Thanksgiving

Last year for Thanksgiving I visited Krakow, Poland with some friends. I loved the city, the architecture, and especially their Christmas market. Auschwitz, the infamous concentration camp used by the Nazis during WWII, is only an hour or so from Krakow, and that's where we spent our Thanksgiving day. We feasted on potato pancakes for lunch, but mostly I just remember a monumental feeling of sadness and loss. I can't say that I wasn't thankful for God's blessings in my life after that experience, but I can say that I was ready for a turkey and all the fixin's this time around!

My roommate Kim and I were invited to join several other families for a Thanksgiving celebration and we had a blast. We played games, shared memories of previous holidays, and ate a whole lot of good food.

My friend Deb bought the turkey - 16 kilos - at a little store in her neighborhood, and it was so big it barely fit in the oven. (I think it actually did break some glass on the way in!) We had green bean casserole, cheesy mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberries, rolls, cider, salads, and more pies than you can shake a turkey leg at!

The picture below is of me displaying our dish full of leftovers. I'm looking forward to partaking of that real soon :) Please note the size of the turkey leg.

Here's the turkey itself and Kim acting very impressed at its size. You'll notice there were 15 of us and we only at about 1/3 of that bird! Turkey sandwiches here we come!

Christmastime is here...in Hungary, anyways...

The commercialization of Christmas is in full force here in Hungary. I went to the mall this weekend and my favorite Christmas tree is now decorated. It's about two stories tall, but the fake snow is only on the bottom 3 feet or so - only at eye level. Apparently at the mall, snow falls from the ground up. Go figure.

This weekend my roommate Kim and I attended a delightful perfomance of Narnia (the musical) put on by a group of homeschool kids in our community. Beforehand we went Christmas decoration window-shopping. I took some pictures at Kika that I thought I would share with you.

This glitzy thing is probably an angel - we weren't totally sure.

Here is Kim with angel wings...isn't she cute!

I tried on some reindeer antlers, but the pair I picked up was broken, so my antlers are a little floppy.

On a more interesting note, there were trees hung from the ceiling throughout the store. I'm going to have to do a little more research on that one...

Partied Out

I think I am partied out. Tonight I sat in my green chair, surfed the Internet, chatted with my wonderful friend Bethany, read a book, and relaxed. This is the life! As much as I enjoy organized fun, I think I've hit my threshold for a while!

It all began with my friend Becca's birthday dinner. We ate at a Greek place in town and watched Nicholas Nickelby (a Dickens movie) afterwards. It's more depressing than celebratory, but that's ok. There are some redeeming aspects for sure.

The next night I helped with a fall party for kids in the school community. My friend Becky was in charge, so I came and manned the cupcake walk. As you can see from the picture below, I decided to dress as a bed-head. It sounded like a great idea - put on your pajamas at 4pm and wear them for the rest of the day.

My only mistake was adding the facial mask. Those things can get a little itchy after three hours! I also went to a teacher party afterwards but by that time I was no longer white-faced. These pores can only take so much exfoliating.My roommate Kim turned 30 on Monday, so Hannah (another roommate) and I threw her a surprise party that night. We did a pretty good job fooling her and I think I might have seen tears well up in her eyes whe she opened the door.

The pic above is of Kim blowing out her candles. Hannah made lemon pies and I made brownies. We put the candles in the brownies. Lesson learned? Candles will melt into the chocolate if you put them in the brownies before they cool.

We also gave Kim gifts - 30 of something. She got 30 chocolate bars, 30 paper clips, 30 chocolate chips, 30 gummies, 30 toilet paper pieces, etc. I discovered yesterday that she is storing all her chocolate in her desk at school, so I think I'm going to begin helping her get rid of it all. Tuesday night we went to see Phantom of the Opera - in Hungarian! Note the impressive pose below. The show was awesome - great music, amazing set, and thankfully, subtitles. We had seats on the first row of the balcony which was a great view.

Last night, the youth group at my church came over for pancakes & praise and worship. I went to McCafe for a caramel latte.

Needless to say, I'm hoping the celebrating is over for at least a week. I can't take much more of this!