The Hungary of my past

I had shared in a previous post that there was something I was excited to post on my blog before my departure. Sadly this will not happen.


I was planning to create a slideshow of my first visit to Hungary back in 1998. Unfortunately my parents' printer/scanner broke, and has been replaced with a simple printer-only for the time being. Thus I have no way to scan in my pictures to share with you. I'm quite sad about it.


So instead, I decided to write a short narrative about my first trip to Hungary. Enjoy!






There once was an ordinary girl who lived an ordinary life in an ordinary corner of the world. Her name was Deanne, and she had dreamt of adventure ever since she could remember.


Her father, the pastor of a church, had spent many months working with a young Hungarian man, Jozsef Steiner, who served as an intern. Jozsef brought his beautiful wife, Csilla, and his two year old daughter, Rachel, to the United States with him. During those many months, Deanne's family and the Steiner family became as one. Deep and inseparable bonds of love and friendship were formed.


As all things come to an end, the Steiner family returned to Hungary. Deanne was very sad and wondered when she would ever see them again.


But one day, Deanne's parents presented her and her siblings with individual envelopes. Upon opening them, they found "certificates" good for "one plane ticket to Hungary." The trip had already been planned! The children were delighted.


Deanne was whisked across the globe to the faraway land of Hungary. Everything she saw and encountered enchanted her. The landscape, the foods, the language, the people. Oh! The people! Deanne met some of the most endearing people ever imaginable. And Deanne learned something incredible--that love and friendship can be communicated even with a language barrier.


The Steiner family treated Deanne's family like royalty and took them all over the Hungarian countryside. Deanne had never imagined that she could find a foreign land so charming as this. She felt more alive than she ever had in her life. Her heart was overflowing with emotions, and she could never imagine leaving the country she had come to love in so short a time.


Tears were inevitable for both families upon departure. Every fiber of Deanne's being seemed to be screaming out in resistance to leaving such a place. She knew she HAD to return to Hungary one day. And she knew she must spend her life in exploration of all the other wonderful corners of the world. But Hungary would always remain her first love. It would stay tucked away in the favorite parts of her heart, to carry with her always.