Turkey is for the birds

The No's heart pounded as she joyfully ran from class, out the door, out of school and onto the first bus out of Heves and to her second CETP Thanksgiving of the week. Jumping on the bus, bag and basket balanced precariously she reflected on the similarities of her baggage between this Thanksgiving trip to Budapest, and the one on Saturday to Ujszasz.

Saturday in Ujszasz was low key. Morning bus into Szolnok, where the No wandered the brand new and exciting AutoBusz station before meeting Emily and Tomi and catching a taxi for ujszasz. Margie, Jamie and Emily the major cooks of the lunch outshone themselves with an amazing feast. And the next day Tara and I ate bagels with Cream Cheese.

Thursday in Budapest was a tangle of maybe 45 Americans and Hungarians. Chatting, food, wine and occasionally dancing were also great but not particularity low key. Our hosts Ellen and Jake were warm and amazing as always. There were people the No had never met, and enjoyed meeting, in particular Angry Balint, and people she had not seen in a long time.

Like many Americans, the No ate too much, and has reflected on what she has been most thankful for this year. Dramatic and disastrous as it has been, with many small problems, one thing has remained constant and that is the love and support from her friends. This was never so evident as in Lauren and Lyla's post-T-day care of the No, who spent lots of Thanksgiving upset at the world. Even after her return to Heves, they checked up on her, and invited her back to BP for a relaxing and fun weekend, including renaming ourselves at bowling and tossing me my forgotten pan out of their third story window.