43 Years Strong

Today is my parent's 43rd wedding anniversary.

Yes, you read that right.

Forty-Third.

This picture is of them in Prague,

at the beginning of the day,

(the 24 hours we spent in the city, mind you)

after an over-night train ride in the tiniest sleeper-car ever

(are all sleeper cars tiny on trains?

i mean, this one had a bunk-bed, with three bunks)

So, you can tell why dad's not smiling that big

(but really, it's hard to get him to smile for a picture,

as in this picture from Paris is one of the only pictures

I have of him with a real, honest-to-goodness smile:

what's funny about that is that he's one of the funniest,

happy-go-lucky, constantly-making-jokes guys i know.

go figure about the pictures, right?)

Mom on the other hand, always smiling in pictures:

even when it's freezing and i'm making her try deep-fried foods.

Well, she's either smiling,

or making funny faces at the camera:

She's gonna kill me for posting that picture,

but you know what? I love it.

It's so my mom, if you know what I mean.

So, what you need to know:

they've been together forever.

Forever.

As in, they were high-school-sweethearts

(they'll both probably laugh when they read that),

but that's kinda cool.

I mean, really?

In a time when everyone and their brother seems to be divorcing,

here they are showing people that love exists.

Take that divorce rates.

They've lived in really random places together:

Freezing North Dakota,

Middle-of-the-Desert California,

Middle-of-Nowhere New York,

Pony-Land Kentucky,

and now Beautiful New Hampshire.

They've got me,

which makes them super awesome in my eyes.

They're partners.

Marriage is difficult, for sure - you're with someone forever.

In case you forgot,

that's a really, really long time.

You'll get on each other's nerves, for sure,

and you'll learn exactly which buttons to push to royally tick the other off,

and you'll push those buttons both on purpose and without realizing it,

but it's the getting over it and moving on to the next day that matters.

That's how 43 years happen,

and how 43 (or more!) more years will happen.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

I love you more than words!

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

His Holiness The Dalai Lama came to give a talk at my university to day. Unfortunately, since we're such a small university the auditorium is tiny. This means only a limited (and that might just be a generous term) number of students got seats.

I was not one of the fortunate.

However, though turned away from hearing him speak I was determined to at least catch a glimpse of him. This man, whose heart is full of love (with no room for anything other than love), is an icon of peace and tolerance. I knew, somehow, that to just see him would bring a, before unknown sense of peace to my heart.

So I found a pretty decent place to wait for him. Not in the main lobby by the auditorium like so many of my colleagues. I waited a little further back in another lobby (we have a lot of them). And that was the best decision I made today. There was no one else really in that place, just me and my thoughts about how simply amazing and influential this man is for the world.

So I waited a while, he was supposed to start talking at 2 and he didn't arrive until 2:30. Not that I'm judging - the security in the city has been crazy for his visit (he spoke a few other places over the weekend too). I mean, there were bomb sniffing dogs at my little university!

And then he showed up. It really was one of those moments that went by in slow-motion, but feels like a blur. Proceeded and followed by a small entourage of brightly dressed monks and some serious looking security guards, His Holiness walked arm and arm with our rector. And then, the magic happened.

He paused for a moment.

Turned and looked at me with a smile.

Giggled softly and waved at me.

And then he carried on with his processional to the auditorium.

This man, when he smiles, he smiles with every fiber of his being. I swear. He made me feel happy and content and at peace - all the way down to my pinky toes. I wanted to run to him, to hug him like a grandfather; just to be enveloped in that happiness forever.

How can one man's smile uplift your soul to such great heights?

Hungarian National Gallop

What a day!

Last night we went out to a friend's house - way out in the outskirts of the Buda countryside (Budapest, as you may not know, is divided into two areas by the Danube: Buda and Pest; - and, well, technically Obuda as well. Buda has the hills and is more drenched in history and has more of a rolling countryside once you get out of the main tourist/city sections. Pest, on the other hand, has the other major downtown tourist areas, but also runs out into factories, suburb-type areas, and apartment buildings on the outskirts of town left over from the Communist era. It's also divided into 23 districts. So, basically, it's a huge city.). It took us about an hour to get there from our dorm (way out in Pest) to where he lives, but it was worth it.

He lives on the first floor of his parents house (which is technically a 3 level house, that has been made into apartments on each level - with him and his roommate on the first, his parents on the second, and his sister and her family on the third) in this really, really sweet apartment. There were probably about 20 of us there and we had food, wine, and a lot of really good conversation. Everyone is now done with their theses, and therefore a lot more happy and relaxed.

Let me tell you one thing - if you haven't tried Hungarian Palinka, you really, really need to. While it's strong, it's delicious. And it is traditional to Hungary and can only be produced with a certain procedure, fruits, and times to be actually considered palinka.

Then, today we went to the Hungarian National Gallop. I'm just going to type out the except from the handout, because it explains it best:

This is huge! This is really something! It's the National Gallop, they grandest of festivals on the grandest of scales! It's a new Hungarian invention, a monumental reinvention of history and tradition. Just imagine, Heroes' Square, transformed into a racetrack with 6,200 square meters' worth of special, equine-friendly sand. (...)And they're off! Young jockeys, modern-day hussars on horseback, dirt is flying, the crowd is cheering. Again and again, since as many as 250 horses and riders will compete for the 30-million-forint cash prize, a glittering sword, and national glory.

So, they take Heroes' Square, a major tourist attraction and historical monument, and turn it into a racetrack for 4 days. They close down major streets, vendors and food sellers come in. Every region in Hungary is represented by a booth, food, and a horse & rider. It's pretty awesome, as Hungary has an amazing tradition of horsemanship. The Hussars were a huge part of Medieval Hungarian tradition and since then, the horse has been a powerful symbol of the nation. I'd read up on it, if you have the time and inclination, as it really is a remarkable history!

I'm not going to bore you with more talk, I'll just show you the pictures of my day at the 'races':

Heroes' Square like you've never seen it before

Hungarian sausage

Chicken and vegetables

Horse cake for the races :)

The Hungarians love their meats

smoked knuckle

a traditional Hungarian dish