To Budapest or not to Budapest?
I hope you come alive whenever you are travelling to beautiful and far-off destinations, and I hope you also come alive in living rooms and heartfelt conversations, because I promise you: Light is shining there too. In all that is subtle and all that is grand, I hope you come alive, fully present whenever you can.
It's been six weeks of waiting. And I know that seems like a stupidly small amount of time when you take into account we're making life altering decisions, but for us this has actually been a year-long journey, so six weeks seems just right. If you want to hear lengthy details we're sure to be sharing that sometime soon, but in the meantime here is the short of it.
1. Budapest was captivating, magical and we fell in love with it.
I've never seen anything like it, and I fell in love quite quickly. The old buildings, the cultural history, the young people, the old people, the fantastic public transport system - I know, not very poetic but so, so important! It was all very magical.
2. The locals are different, but the same.
Obviously there would be differences between them and us. In New Zealand we are so separated from war and the effects of it, unless we choose to get involved. In Hungary, every war has left it's mark. It's right in the middle of everything and can't hope to be politely left out, and the effects of this history was noticed keenly with the elderly folk, and trickles down through the culture. There's so much we can learn from them.
3. The OMS Hungary team was the bees knees.
The whole purpose of our trip was to find out if this could be a place we would live and work for the next few years, and an important part of this decision was whether we could fit with the team that we had chosen to work with. I've always wanted to be a friendly and welcoming face when I host people, but this team put most of my efforts to shame and just made the whole stay so outstanding! We were shown around the city numerous times and always taken care of when menial tasks needed attending to. So if you're reading this, team, we are so, so thankful for the way you hosted us. It may seem like such a small thing, helping tourists to the supermarket and through public transport numerous times, and taking time to chat to us about your life and experiences, but is was how you spent your time and the ways you work in the small things that really made our time there memorable. So a massive thank you!
4. Decision making time.
We had been hoping to return to New Zealand with an overwhelming knowledge of what we would be doing and where we would be going, but that didn't happen. We came back still unsure, still unable to make the call. But after six weeks of settling back and praying, and chatting we have finally made the call.
We will be applying to join the Hungary team!
Oh gosh, there it is! We are so excited to share this with you all! To everyone who helped us get over there on this small trip, we can't thank you enough. Your generosity has literally changed the course of our lives and we will never be able to repay that. But we can confidently move forward now and we can't wait to share the journey with you all!
We will be talking more in depth about this in the next month of two at a couple of locations, so if you want to be in the loop, feel free to join our little mailing list here.
Can't wait to share more and thanks for reading!
Naomi, Glyn and Minna May.
