| the_horváth_kávai_blog |: 06/01/2008

.sola.pictura.

Nina is one today. Here is her last year in pictures.

.362.days.

although nina is not going to turn one until tuesday, we had a kiddy party for her today, so that the kids of some of those who came to foundations 2008 conference can be at the party as well.

andi baked gazillion muffins

nina was terrified by how fast time flies

she was quickly comforted by a coconut muffin

the kids played some

and then ate some

some posed for the photograph

others were not too happy

.a.globule.of.gas.in.a.thin.liquid.envelope.

confused by the above definition? me too! regardless, bubbles are fun

bye-bye bubble

No, I am not going to write about the television show Lost, but about something quite different. This will be long, and maybe not completely clear, as I am trying to fit a lot in here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

When I moved to Budapest, Hungary from Subotica, Serbia (then still Yugoslavia) at the age of 18, to go to college, I thought I had a clear picture of who I was, and where I belonged. Having been raised in (the now former) Yugoslavia, which had six republics, and a bunch of different national groups living in them, the question of nationality was never one I considered when I met someone. When it came to identifying myself, I thought of myself as Yugoslavian. Many people did. Three of my grandparents were Hungarian, and one was Croat by nationality. I knew people who had two Hungarian, one Slovenian, and one Croatian grandparent. So what were they? My dad, being a journalist, traveled all over our former country, and had journalist friends everywhere: Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Slovenes, etc. All this to say, to me, people were just people, and I was Yugoslavian and VERY PROUD (on a healthy level) to be one.

Two weeks after moving to Budapest, civil war erupted in my homeland, and I watched in horror day by day, for the next many years, as it all finally disintegrated, and as people started evaluating each other based on their national belonging. All this time, living in Hungary, speaking fluent Hungarian, (as it is my mother-tongue), people in government offices were always surprised to find out that I wasn't really Hungarian. By that they meant "not a Hungarian from Hungary". But I have also been told that I am a Serb (because that's the passport I carry).
So, without describing all the influences (bad and good, but mostly bad - in both countries) that have shaped me over the past 18 years, I must admit that about a week ago, I made a discovery. It was in the making for a long time, but I think it finally crystallized. The funniest of all, is that I made this discovery while in yet another country - Germany, visiting my aunt and cousins.

So, as you probably know - if you follow the news even a bit - the European Soccer Championship is going on. It started a few days before we left Germany, and during our time there, we started noticing people posting flags on their cars, windows, balconies. As there are many immigrants in Germany, you could see cars sporting the Greek, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Turkish, Croatian, Russian, Dutch, French and German flags. Some people put two flags of their country in their window, one on each side. Others were more diplomatic: one Greek - one German, or one Turkish, one German - thus declaring their love for their adoptive country as well. I was really touched by all this, it had been a while since I saw people proud of their countries in (to me) a cute way like that. And then I started thinking: which flag would I put on my car? Although neither Hungary nor Serbia made it to the Championship, what if they had? I soon realized that I could never put any of those flags up.
And then I remembered how I often get teary-eyed when we visit my brother, who is a missionary in Croatia, and how I cry when the Croats win in some kind of sport, and how I cry when I hear traditional Croatian folk music (Tamburice! Yeyy!), how two years ago, while vacationing on the coast of - yes, you guessed - Croatia, I made Arpi take a picture of me and the flag while we were traveling on a ferry, and how excited I was every time we saw a car with the Croatian flag in Germany. Hmmm. See a pattern? I did! Finally!
So off we went, and at the first stand that had one, we bought a Croatian flag. I do realize that I am only 25% Croat, but that is where I feel my heart belongs in the homeland way now. I rejoice the most with them, and as weird as it may sound, my husband supports, and even kind of shares my sentiment. Although a full-blooded Hungarian, he LOVES Croatia with a passion.

We are weird, I know. But I wanted to share this with you all, our readers, as it is an important discovery for me. And when is the next time we will actually GO to that beautiful country? Hopefully in August, for a short visit. I'll keep you posted.

Bence and Nina "watching" the Spain - Sweden game

.horticulture.

When I first heard the word horticulture as a kid, I thought that it had to do something with studying the day and age of the infamous Hungarian leader Miklós Horthy. Today, I know that horticulture is about the science (and art) of raising plants.

Andi and I both kill plants, we kill all plants. We have killed all the plants our mothers planted for us to make our dorm rooms homey, we killed all the plants we have received as gifts. We even managed to kill cacti, which are able to survive the most arid climate or soil conditions. That is why we appreciate those who can take care of plants and build a park like Herrenhäuser Gärten in Hannover, Germany. This baroque park was built about 350 years ago and the plants are still alive! We were able to visit it with Andi's cousin yesterday.

The Großer Garten with one of the fountains

The park has many statues

Some of those statues do not want to be monitored, so they have decided to hide

My very own tree-hugger :)

The park even has an outside theater

What can I say?

You can explore the park in detail if you click on this picture, or if you go to the Google Maps site of Herrenhäuser Gärten

.on.german.fish.and.other.things.

A few things. Just wanted to thank everyone who prayed for Nina and us during last week when she was sick. She came out of the fever after almost five days and went back to her normal self shortly afterwards. Turns out that it was part teething and part a virus that she picked up in childcare at Calvary Chapel Budapest. The only symptom of the virus being a fever. Never heard of such a thing before. But it was strange, I tellya. I am more convinced every day that some of these new weird viruses that float around are cooked up in some lab somewhere. They are just too weird, and they were not around when I was a kid. You might think I am a conspiracy theorist, and that's okay. I'll still stick with my secret lab theory.

On a completely different note. Nina started feeling a bit better the afternoon before we were scheduled to travel to Germany to visit part of my (Andi) family. My aunt and two cousins have been living in Hannover for a long time, and Arpi and I decided that it would be a good idea to come here for a visit. So we have been in Hannover, Saxony for a few days now and it has been great! Hanging out with family, and eating lots. My aunt has this thing with continually buying more and more food, and continually offering it. And since it's good stuff, it's hard to resist, so we are fearing the worst: returning to Vajta as little |(or big) piggies.

Today we went to a lake called Steinhude See which is nearby and had a blast! We walked around the cute town which is around part of the lake, and even went for a little boatride with an electric boat. I didn't even know such things (not boats per se, but the electric kind) existed! I even got to navigate (drive?) our boat for about a half an hour. It was fun!

The other fun thing we did was eat fish! It was fun, because we both thought that we didn' like fish, but realizing that eating schnitzel in a little town where they sell fish on every corner, would be - well, pathetic, made us order something from the water. And it was good! And then, my aunt wanted to buy some smoked fish at a place where she usually goes when in town, we went with her, and Arpi got some cool photos out of it!

Below are a few pics of the day, hope you like them as much as we do. I LOVE the fish pictures, I think they are very professional, my husband is soooo smart and talented! :)