VW Polo

How do you know if your car is to small?

Your 4 year old son doesn't have enough leg room....

Page and I drive a 2007 Volkswagen Polo. It's a four 4 door hatch back and it has worked just fine for all our travels. It's quite the change from the Chrysler Town and Country van that's in our garage. It is one of many examples of how easy it is to live with less.

In Hungary they drive on the same side of the road so the transition has been relatively easy. The major differences are the roads are much tighter and there are no green left turn signals. Instead when you have a green light you can turn left. At first you think your turning into on coming traffic. After a lot of horn honking we are leaning the rules. The one thing I really like is the counters at the major intersection (photo). Their traffic signal also turn yellow before they turn green. This really helps the traffic flow.

Carter's Hungarian School

It's March 1st and we're half way through our adventure. I thought I would give you an idea how Carter spends his day.

He's all Brown (at least Brad Brown) in the fact that he rises between 5:30 and 6:30am every morning. We have cereal, yogurt, and a carton. Our TV actual has 3 english carton stations so he is not lacking in his American culture.

Page, Carter and I leave our flat at 7:30 in order to get Page to work at 8am. She only works 3 miles away and it's take just 10 minutes. The other 20 minutes is spent trying to get Carter out the door and to walk the 4 blocks to our car. I told someone the other day the thing I miss most about America is my Driveway.

Carter attends a Hungarian speaking child care center. He has 4 teachers but only one of them speaks english. There are 18 children and they really seem to love Carter. I'm amazed how easily Carter has adapted to his surrounds. Part of the transition comes from the fact that children are so well behaved and so loving. The child sit at lunch tables so quietly and well behaved. They have soup every day and then eat a home cooked lunch.

The other factor to Carter's easy transition is the environment. The classroom has tons of teacher made toys and they do art projects daily. But the best thing for a little boy is the play ground. Check out the photos. These kind of structures would never to allowed in the states.

After lunch it's time for a nap. Carter is generally the first one down for since he was up so early. He can sleep for three hours if you let him. I pick him up after lunch and we head home for a snack and some horse play. The other day he told me a girl (Zita) liked him. The teacher said they have been playing together all the time. A girlfriend at 3, that must be a Jefferson trait.