We have moved. 

You can now find us at our new blog. 

It's about our life "at the end of the red rocks" in Rehoboth New Mexico. 

 Go to jackandcindyippel.blogspot.com

Final Farewells

We had a wonderful weekend at Lake Balaton with our Bible study group, "The Bridge". From mid-afternoon Friday to noon on Sunday we enjoyed each others' company, swimming, playing Tichu, sitting around a campfire, and consuming lots of food and drink. It was in this beautiful setting with gorgeous weather that we said goodbye to our friends.

On Sunday morning we gathered in a circle and our friends recalled special memories of us from the last five years. Then they prayed for us.

Group photo of those there on Sunday morning 

We also said farewell to our Trefort colleagues, gathering at a nearby pub after school one day last week. In the past this "meeting" has been generally referred to as "Building C" (Trefort is housed in two buildings known as the "A Building" and the "B Building.)  

On Monday afternoon our English department met together. The Trefort school superintendant Karcsi gave a speech and presented Jack with a special medal that is normally conferred upon retiring staff members. One of Karcsi's comments was that Jack deserved this honor because of his length of stay and commitment to the students of Trefort.

The Trefort English department in the school courtyard pose before giving personal farewell comments and hugs and kisses.

More Farewells

This past weekend we visited with Denes and Petra and Samu to say good bye.

When we arrived at their house on Sunday afternoon, Samu came running into our arms; he was so excited to see us. We will really miss them.

Jack and Samu wearing Jack Bacsi's (uncle) sunglasses

Petra, Denes and Samu

From their house we drove to a park nearby to spend time together flying a kite.

Here are Denes and Samu trying to get the kite up in the air.

Samu holding the kite string

Denes and Samu, so proud that he got the kite flying

Denes and Samu walking back to the car

Then Denes and Petra took us to our friend Szilvi and her family for another farewell party.

Here Szilvi and her mom Maria are getting supper ready for us.

We had mics, which is a traditional Transylvanian meat made from ground beef, pork and lamb and then grilled. It's delicious!

After eating, Maria prepared the dough for kurtos kalacs (chimney cake). You wind the dough around a wooden dowel and then dip it in oil and then sugar and then roast over an open fire. So yummy!

After we finished eating, Szilvi's dad Domi arrived from working on Csepel Island with those who were trying to stop the flooding. 

He and Jack toasted each other's health with homemade palinka.

We will hope to see our friends again when we next visit Hungary 

or when they come to see us in the U.S.

Until then may God bless you Denes, Petra and Samu, Szilvi, Maria, and Domi.

Budapest Flooding

This last Sunday the Danube River reached a peak height of 8.95 meters as it flowed through Budapest. That broke the record of 8.6 meters set in 2006. Fortunately, the flood walls along the Danube in  downtown Budapest are 9.3-meter in height. The water still did a lot of damage and completely covered roads along the Danube. Thousands of workers and volunteers came out to fill sandbags to try to minimize the damage. 
We took pictures of the Danube as we were traveling to and from various places this weekend. Normally the river flows gently through Budapest and is filled this time of year with cruise ships and tourist boats. Since the river is so high and the space passing under the bridges of Budapest so limited, no boats are allowed on the Danube. We have never seen the Danube flowing so quickly. 

View of the Danube on the Buda side near Margit Bridge.

What you see in the river are platforms that are normally used to access boats. The gang planks

are usually accessed from the street to the platforms.

Workers sandbagging an area near Margit Bridge

Street lights and traffic signals where a road normally runs along the Danube on the Buda side. 

You can see Parliament in the background.

 Parliament as seen across the Danube. Normally there are two roads running in front of Parliament. 

As you can see, the river is right up to Parliament's steps.

A gangplank that normally accesses the boat from the street.

View of Batthyany ter, on the Buda side of the Danube.

The metro stop was closed here and sandbags surrounded all vents and entrances to the subway.

View of Margit Bridge from the Buda side. You can see how quickly the Danube is flowing and how little space there is between the water and the bottom of the bridge.

This is normally a street in front of the gang plank you see here.

Tagyon Farewell

Last weekend we enjoyed spending the time with our good friends Tony and Aniko, Dori and Zoli, Balazs, and Zoli K. and Klaudia. For us it was also a time to relax and breathe the cool air of Tagyon Hill.  Our time was spent preparing and eating food, going for walks, playing "Bang", sailing on Lake Balaton, and going to church on Sunday morning. As you can see from the pictures, the vineyards are beautiful in their greenery. On Sunday afternoon we said our goodbyes. 

The family presented us with a wonderful photo book of wine cellar memories of the last five years. 

We love our Kovacs friends, and hope to see them again, here or there.

View of the Kovacs vineyard from the back patio-which is trellised with grape vines

Cindy and Aniko making rakott krumpli.

This stretch of road leads to the Kovacs wine cellar.

Tony is "feeding the animals" (baiting the wild boars).

A fire in the wood stove warmed us up. 

The view of Lake Balaton from our bedroom

The sun didn't shine much during the weekend, but when it did we enjoyed sitting outside.

The lace-work in the Reformed church in Zanka was made by Aniko's grandmother.

Gathering around the table for the last time.

Jack and Balazs ready for the sail

Cindy and Aniko toasting the boat captain

View of the Catholic church on Tihany-oldest church in Hungary from the sailboat

There was rain all round us, but we never got wet.

Sárospatak Pentecost 2013

Over the Pentecost weekend we were invited by friends Dénes and Petra to join them in Sárospatak. Traditionally this is the weekend that the Erzsébet Festival is held in Sárospatak. According to legend, St. Erzsébet was born in Sárospatak in the early part of the 13th century to the royal family. She built a hospital with her own money and became a nurse. She is known for her giving her wealth to the poor. The festival commemorates her life and her generosity to the poor. There are many activities throughout the day representing life in the 13th century.

The festival wasn't the only attraction. The beautiful weather gave us opportunity to see and do many other things. Jack was invited to go fishing for keszeg (breem) with Dénes and his father in the local Bodrog River. They caught enough that we could enjoy a delicious meal of the mild tasting fish. It reminded us of smelt, though it is a much larger fish.

We were also able to go wine tasting at the Grof Degenfeld manor in Tarcal, just on the other side of the hill from Tokaj. Their wine cellar is over 200 years old. Sáropatak is in the famous Tokaji wine region. They are known for their special sweet white wines. We learned a lot from the vintner who led the wine tasting about the special process of picking and making the aszú wine. This type of wine is made from the grape that is infected by a fungus that causes the grape to dry and shrivel and concentrates the sugar. This is done only in Hungary and France.

Cindy and the bodza (elderberry) bush. Petra had picked some of the blossoms, steeped them in water, and for the rest of the weekend we enjoyed adding bodza syrup to our drinking water. It has a wonderful flavor. 

Petra, Dénes's mother Éva, and Samu.

The courtyard of the Reformed high school and seminary. 

Jack netting a keszeg. It was really a warm day, but the mosquitoes required long sleeves and pants! 

The home-made fish scaler used by Dénes Senior.

Here is a good one!

Sunday dinner! Scored with a knife, rubbed with garlic, breaded lightly with corn meal, and fried in the pan.

Stilt-walkers putting on their show. They tell stories taken from Hungary's history, using children from the audience as characters.

The Rákóczi Castle in Sárospatak.

Saint Erzsébet riding pillion, or perhaps falling off!

The beginning of the parade through the town.

We enjoyed listening to this old instrument ensemble. They were excellent musicians!

A puppet show for the children, but very enjoyable for adults too.

We went to the Reformed church on Monday morning for the Pentecost service. We sat in the upper level so that Petra could translate for us without disturbing anyone else. The church was built in the early 1700's.

The Grof Degenfeld Castle, where we enjoyed a tour of the wine cellar and tasted nine different wines produced there.

It was a beautiful day to be at the vineyard.

The cellar dates back to about 1795.

Dénes, Petra, our host Attila, and Jack.

He really knew his facts, but Petra needed to translate most everything.

All white wines, most of them sweet dessert wines. We did buy a bottle of Fortissimo, which you can see here in the foreground on the right. The others were delicious but we were not quite ready to spend $40 - $50 for some of them!