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?