Missed y'all being here Christmas Eve. Tell Carter it is cold here too right now. We are envious of the the travel and experience.

Love Vicky

Christmas in Debrecen

Though we missed our families very much, we had a great Christmas in Debrecen. Things happen fast with a 3 year old. Our Christmas Eve dinner and family gift exchange were done by 5 pm. And then Santa came and his presents were open by 6:30 am. Ugh...what I wouldn't do to sleep in. The Jefferson in me longs to come out! We included a few photos but they really don't do the town justice. Debrecen went all out and their square was just fantastic. Lights everywhere and these great booths where locals sold their wares.

We are leaving for Slovenia next week. We hope to see Ljubljana, Bled & Postojna. From there, the plan is to go to Trieste, Italy for a few days and drive around the Adriatic coast. We'll update the blog and let you know how it went. It is a little intimidating since we're not expert travelers.

Before we sign off, we wanted to share a few oddities about life in Debrecen:

1. Our neighbor smokes in the hallway, in his speedo underwear. Too much information!

2. Pig killings are a big deal around here. An all day party. Our next company event may be centered around one. No kidding.

3. People are aggressive in the grocery stores. Especially women over 50. I'm sure it dates back to the Communist rule. But look out & get out of their way!

4. A night out on the town starts at 11 pm and ends at 3 am. Needless to say, Brad doesn't make it out much :) Truth be told, I don't make it up that late either.

5. We have walked and walked here. It is just like they say, everyone walks more in Europe. Good thing, because we are convinced this continent is running off of sugar & cafine (mostly in the form of chocolate & coffee.) We have never been offered or eaten so much chocolate in our lives.

Quick Carter update:

1. He has developed a love of hot tea. Very Euro. Peppermint with lemon & honey is his favorite.

2. He wears his tights under his winter pants like a real trooper. Of course, we have dubbed them Spiderman & Superman tights, so that helps.

3. When we first got here, he said "Daddy, why is everyone speaking Spanish?" Too funny! But he is rolling with the punches at his Hungarian speaking school. His teacher speaks English but all the kids are Hungarian and the class is taught in Hungarian.

4. His verbal skills are really coming along. Last night he woke up in the middle of the night and said "Daddy, come here. I have one thing to tell you." The kid is specific at 2 am.

5. He is getting a bit tired of winter. He told us, unsolicited, he "wants to go back to Texas where it is hot & steamy."

Merry Christmas from the Boyts

We love the pictures and narratives from your travels. It all sounds like fun, if challenging. Thank you so much for adding us to the blog. The pictures from Vienna were just gorgeous. I have always heard it is a fabulous place. Prague seems to rank next on most people's list.

There is a big hole in all the Christmas activities without you guys here. We had Christmas at Jeb and Nada's with 16 people total. Barbary's entire family is here, so we have had a great reunion of Reedies.

Pat's knee is healing really well and he is almost through with therapy. I haven't had any major episodes with my heart, though I think I am still having quick, small ones.

Ann Page and I had our annual Christmas shopping day with Cinnie Norvell last week. It is so nice having her in town. The shopping was sporatic, but we did have a great lunch and visit at Carmelo's.

Harrison and David got a WII for Christmas and Mark got a pachinko machine. Does that take you back to the ranch? They are skiing in Colorado right now, but will be home Dec. 30.

Hugs and kisses to all. Is Carter speaking Hungarian yet?

Love,
Betsy

Trip to Eger, Hungary

We took a short, overnight trip to Eger, Hungary. It is a lovely, quaint, small town between Debrecen and Budapest. The city has wonderful Austrian architecture and cobble stone streets. Eger sits in the middle of wine country. Needless to say, we had to sample some.

Eger is also home to a castle which is like the Alamo is to Texas. Carter enjoyed this very much. We will be going back for sure, this town has everything we like!

This last photo is a hoot. It's Brad & Carter checking out the Speedos. They didn't buy any!

Brown's in Vienna

Brown's in Vienna, Dec '07

We hopped on a train and went to Vienna! Easier said then done, believe me. We walked out our flat>jumped on a tram>got on a train to Budapest>took not 1 but 2 subways, including a transfer station to a different train station>got on a train to Vienna (Wein, as the locals call it.) Took a subway to the happening part of town. Checked into our hotel. Keep in mind, we were carrying Carter most of the time, along with our backpacks. Not bad for a car loving American family (we never were in a car, the whole trip.) But, the trip was amazing. We really got into the Hapsburg dynasty history. Quite a royal family. We loved the fact that English was widely known (not spoken, German is spoken....but if you ask someone, they will break into English.) The architecture was beautiful, the city was bustling and really decked out for Christmas. Brad thinks it is his all time favorite city.

We had a great "Pension", which is really like an apartment. It is a no frills hotel, no fancy lobby. But the room was great, had a kitchen (which is good for Carter and reheating pizza.) The location was fantastic. 1/2 a block from the Opera House, which is the center of all things happening. They take their Opera very seriously in this Mozart town.

We do have one funny lunch story. We pushed Carter a little too hard one day. I had read about a really great lunch in a tourist book. Somehow, I mistook "great" for "value". The location was the 5 star Imperial Hotel. But the recommendation was for their cafe, so I thought, great... how much can a cafe lunch be? Carter was asleep in the booth before we ordered. So we thought, what the heck, this is our time to have a nice meal. The food was out of this world. The atmosphere was very European, with travelers from everywhere. Needless to say, the Euro kicked our American asses and we had a three figure lunch. But it was worth every bite. Carter did not wake up until we finished dessert. How cool is that?

Hope you enjoy a few photos:

Life in good in Debrecen

Okay, the fact that is has taken us 5 weeks before posting a blog entry should tell you something....everything takes longer in Europe!

We arrived in Debrecen Nov 2nd. All of our shipped goods have yet to arrive. Yep, 5 weeks with only what we checked on the plane. We are about ready to burn our clothes. Carter has very few books & toys...we are getting very creative! And, we were the smart family that decided to have our camera and recorder go via boat. So, no fun photos on this entry. See the next blog titled "Browns in Vienna", we did manage to borrow a camera for that trip.

Our flat is great. Old, but great. Right in the center of town. Really no complaints...it stays warm and with the cement walls, we don't hear much from the neighbors. Close to all of the good food & pubs. We wanted to share a few of the crazy things since we've been here. Here's our top ten list, good things to know if you're ever in Debrecen:

10. We could have ten entries alone for the grocery store. To get a shopping cart, you have to insert money into a slot. Of course, we didn't know that, and tried several times to brut force the cart out of the slot. No kidding, we went without a cart for the first few trips.
9. No one helps you out. Case in point, our #10 above. Do you think anyone would walk over and show you? Nope. Just alot of stares.
8. Sorry, one more grocery store item. Mystery meat.
7. Skelton keys are still in full use here. We have three and use them everyday to access different things.
6. People dress warm here. They expect you to dress your children warm (go figure.) In a not so parent of the year moment, Brad & I would routinely walk around w/ Carter without his hat on. Some stranger finally came up to Brad randomly one day and gave him a child's hat, tights and a scarf. You know they were saying "dumbass American"
5. Echoing #6, if we are EVER out with Carter without his hat, someone will point to his head and give us a stern look. We've learned, hat goes everywhere.
4. The toilet delivery system. Not the same as the US. No further details will be forthcoming.
3. The phone system is &%#*$ up. Seriously, we had to develop a spreadsheet that guides us down various complicated paths whether we are dialing land to land, or cell to land or cell to cell. Calling the US is a breeze. Calling within Debrecen is a whole nother story.
2. Having a 3 yr old, we go to the Doctor quite often. Our so called "English" speaking Ped really only points and gestures. We have to find one of my good hearted Hungarian speaking co-workers to go with us everytime. And, there is no such thing as an appointment. You go, stand in line and are seen when you are called. Each visit takes about 2 hours. Welcome to socialized medicine.
1. We could go on and on ... figuring out how to park in a parking garage (took us over an hour, still not sure we've got it figured out, buying train tickets (are we going to end up in Romania?) But recently, we had a snow ball fight with Carter at a historic hotel that felt and looked like a castle. Pretty unbelievable. We wanted to pinch ourselves and say, are we really in Eastern Europe?