Our Day in Some Pictures

That's how our day went in some pictures:

Me.

My brunch.

Otto's treat.

I know Momo Mikawa and Silvi Farkas like these :)

 Hungary is everywhere!

It would be a nice place to live here.

Driving around.

I am in love with palm trees.

Looking around

I woke up very early today, I think I still need some time to adjust.

We decided to drive to the mall where we can get my engagement ring resized as it is still a bit big. They told me that in case my finger gets puffy by time, it can be sized again. What a relief. We tried to do this in Hungary last year but they told me that they cannot guarantee that the diamonds will stay in after resizing...so I didn't want to take the risk. Now it is going to be perfect in 2 weeks. :)

After looking around in Dolphin Mall where I got dizzy in half an hour by staring at the variety of products they have...and where I could get lost easily without Otto, we decided to have a quick lunch as he needed to go to work in the afternoon.

The lunch was not Cuban, but I have to try the American way too, right? :)

Waiting for the chicken wings...

Selection of some American stuff. Yeah, I might get fat...

If you want to spice up your life.

Honestly, I can't complain.

PS: we will go and start running next week. :)

Cuban Breakfast

A nice morning always involves an awesome breakfast. 

Good morning!

We decided to visit a Cuban bakery just around the corner. I am fond of Cuban food so the variety amazed me as always. 

Cuban pastelitos.

These are called pastelitos in Spanish. The sweet ones are made of thin pasta and have different types of filings such as guyava, cheese, apple, mango..etc. The salty ones are made of potato and cassava (yuca).

You can find more about cassava (yuca) here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava

The Cuban Bakery.

The Bakery from the front.

And now I am laying in the bed with a full stomach. I can't even move.... :)

My New Friend

Let me introduce you my new lovely friend. 

His name is Coco, he is 3 years old and a real cutie. He is Otto's Mom's dog.
At first, he was not open towards me ( I guess he was jealous of me as he might be in love with Otto too...) but after a day or so, he became a sweet, little boy.

The funniest thing about him for me so far is that he can cover himself with a blanket so you can't even see him in his cage.

The other hilarious fact is that he never stops. The pictures you see here were taken in hours as I always had to wait for the best moment (second...) to take a proper picture of him.

So here he comes and sends lots of love to everyone from my side!

Ready to play???

A bit sleepy before the rain comes.

'Hey Agi, I'm watching tv with you, alright?'

The tv is boring. Your clothes interest me more...

From Miami

Hello Everyone,

I am already in Miami, arrived safely yesterday evening. The journey took nice 30-32 hours from Budapest but oh well, what can I say: it's worth it. :) I have all my three luggage and nothing got damaged!

My flight from Berlin to Miami. It took 10 hours of eating and drinking on the plane.

Somewhere over the Atlantic ocean.

Arriving soon in Miami.

The only bad thing (or two) was that the airport in Berlin (Tegel) was pretty small, they don't have wi-fi and their chairs were soo uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I had to wait 3 more hours for my connecting flight on top of the 13 (!) hours that I was aware of.

After almost 2 days of travelling I hit the ground and felt so tired and worn-out. I still do. I feel it in all my muscles but hopefully it will go away in a couple of days.

The weather is totally different compared to Hungary, and also compared to my first trip in February, 2010. Now it is much more humid but believe it or not: I like it! :)

Otto left for work in the morning but his Mom took a day off today so we did some grocery shopping and ate together. When we sat in the car at noon, it felt like sitting in a grill and a steamer....but the strange thing was that when we got to the supermarket, it was freezing cold. All in all, you have to be smart when you get dressed (as for me at least) because you can get cold so easily.

To be continued tomorrow...

In 24 Hours

So here we are 9 months and 2 days after we sent our K1 visa petition in September, 2012 to Texas, to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. These months flew by so quickly, when I try to look back it seems it happened yesterday. However, waking up in the morning and checking the USCIS website constantly was not really fun. It was exhausting and nerve-trying.

There are only 24 hours until my plane takes off from Budapest. Feelings and thoughts are flowing in my head. I feel excited and nervous. 

I feel that I am not here any more but not over there yet.

I am a realist and I know that some parts of me will always stay in Hungary and those who have lived abroad know that after seeing a new world, some parts of you always want to experience new adventures. It feels like having kind of a split personality now, you know when someone feels scizophrenic. 

You fall apart and you need to build yourself up again and again.

I will be at the airport in 24 hours. I still can't believe it. I will see the enormous planes again that I really admire. I will feel the freedom of travelling that I always long for. 

And I will feel entirely alone.

If you have a minute tomorrow, just cross your fingers for me as I will be very busy thinking of you all on the plane. :)

My flight schedule:

Take-off: 24, June, 7:05pm BUD: Ferihegy, Budapest
Landing: 24, June, 8:30pm TXL: Tegel, Berlin  

Connection TXL: Tegel, Berlin 12h 55m (I hope these long hours will be kicked out with some airport-sleeping :) )

Take-off: 25, June, 9:25am TXL: Tegel, Berlin
Landing: 25, June, 2:00pm MIA: Miami, Florida (10,5 hours, ohh yeah! )

After landing in the sunny Florida, I still have to collect my luggage and go through the Immigration where they will check my visa and all my other necessary paperwork. I read that it might take 4 hours...and you are not allowed to use your mobile phone to play or chat to spend your time.

When I am done with all the bureaucratic procedures I will have the same wonderful view that I had in 2010...

Palm tree on South Beach.

Cape Florida Lighthouse.

View from the Cape Florida Lighthouse.

A park on South Beach.

Key Biscayne.

Thank You

This post is for all the people whom I call MY friends.
You know who you are. No more words are needed.

Thank You!

Thank you for all your support that You gave me in many, many ways.

Agi

To pack or not to pack

The last couple of days before my trip should mean an extensive packing procedure. I say 'should' as in my case actually it is totally untrue.

I do hate packing.  

Yesterday I collected my strenght and patience, found the two huge luggage and the hand baggage that I will take and felt the 'now-or-never' feeling. This feeling lasted for approximately two hours which ended up with a huge sigh and a half-way-done packing. I still have to wrap, fold and put many things together but I feel a bit more relaxed afterwards.

I tried to take some photos of the steps of the funny procedure how the huge amounts of clothes fill out, or even fill in my room but looking at the pictures later I decided not to stress you. It is totally enough if I am stressed out! :) (Anyway, loads of clothes on the floor, on the chairs and on the table do not look so stunning.

Later I changed my mind and decided to take some memories with me in the form of nice flowers instead of posting pictures of ugly luggage in a messy room :)

End of an Era

All of us know that saying goodbye is not easy at all. 

Some of us can do that, others just can't. 

Today was a special day that I was looking for and I was also afraid of. We gathered at the school with my colleagues where I was teaching English for a semester. It was farewell for some of us, not only me. And honestly, it just made our situation ever more difficult.

I have never thought that I can be as emotional as it happened today. I have never thought that so many people will cry with me that I am leaving for good. I have never thought that it can be this hard.

What I know now is that I am deeply grateful for each day that I could spend among them, with them.

Thank you for the many presents, for the flowers, for the long talks, for the jokes during the 10-minute brakes, for the smiles, for the car rides to school and for the bus rides each and every morning in the past couple of months.

I really liked all the meetings, the dinners, the birthday and name day lunches and the time we spent together just talking or being silent.

Obviously the story does not end here as I am visiting every time I come back to Hungary.

Engagement Photo Shooting, September 2012

Here we are in some really nice pictures taken by a young professional, Monika Fabri. You can check out her Facebook profile and her amazing work by clicking on the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/fringilla.coelebs.7?fref=ts

Have fun!

Spring in Hungary

Enjoy a slice of spring taken by my new camera.