Tag: trip

Girl Named Tennessee

James HoganLeave a comment

And this sleepy Tuesday night, I am greatly looking forward to my dinner and my bed! But firstly, I must earn these rewards by at least a bit of writing this night! My dinner is quite an epic salad(lettuce, spinach, red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, black olives, green olives, cheese, green onions, spices, balsamic vinegar, etc, etc…delicious much? Oh and side note – as much as I enjoy being able to put a whole can of black olives on the salad and eating as many of them as I want, I sort of miss being able to fight with the sisters for the olives. Just saying). Anyway! Enough about my salad! Soon enough I will eat it, but now just a few words about my weekend of loveliness in the great land of Hungary…

And it’s something I said to Anna yesterday, but just to say again, there are some things that just can’t be expressed in words. My heart is full of joy and love and wonder and yet my lips cannot say words enough to echo the depths of my soul. And still I try. So here we go…

On Friday evening, flew late from Aberdeen through Frankfurt(where I had to run, but I did catch my flight, hurrah!) before arriving in Budapest! And breezed through the terminal to the welcoming hall to see Anna standing there! After more than a year, it felt like it’d been no time at all as we spent the drive back to her hometown of Miskolc talking almost nonstop(as tired as I was!!). And now to attempt to paint a picture of the wonderfulness of the weekend…woke up Saturday morning to an amazing breakfast(toast with cheese, scrambled eggs, gorgeous coffee sweetened with honey and milk…) shared with Anna, Boroka and their dad before Anna and I explored Miskolc together! Seeing her church and her old school, wandering through ancient castles and eating way too much delicious ice cream and cakes, walking through a lovely park in the gently fading sunlight of an autumn evening…enjoying a massive dinner of goulash and pancakes and laughter with the family…watching a TV show with classic traditional Hungarian dancing and music with Anna and Boroka and their grandparents and loving every second! And yes, still on the first day! I really can’t properly get my thoughts across, but oh well! A few more fond memories…dipping popcorn in melted chocolate while sleepily watching Bourne Identity(I think Anna only fell asleep twice! Me and Boroka resisted)…worshiping our great God in their church Avasi Reformatus Sunday morning, and while not knowing most of the words(but Anna was a great translator!), still soaking in the love and joy that was oh so present..oh what a joy it is to sing praises to the Lord, no matter what tongue we speak! And I really desire dinner now…but a few more words, I swear!

Sunday lunch was a grand affair(even though I did no work…Anna and I were able to walk Daisy their dog and talk and talk and talk as Boroka and her mother did most of the cooking!) And finally we all(Anna, Boroka, the grandparents and the parents and me!) sat down and enjoyed a dinner of roast chicken and potatoes and sweet pudding…but far better than the food was sitting and enjoying each other. And afterwards, Anna and I eventually got on the train(I think we missed the first few train times, but that was no matter…more time with the family!) to Budapest! And Budapest, oh I wish I had more words to describe it! But Anna and I walked its broad streets that next day and as I marveled at the grand palaces and churches and bridges and structures that man had so proudly constructed, I couldn’t help but pray for the great city of Budapest. Oh so lovely. Oh so needing of our Savior! And as Anna and I walked and talked and ate and laughed and prayed and rejoiced in the knowledge of knowing our Lord…I cannot help but thank God for giving me such a gorgeous weekend. Maybe one short on sleep! But one full of the peace that comes from the Spirit of God…I just think back to my thoughts as I sat in Miskolc Sunday afternoon, piano playing sweetly, as I pondered how much my God and Father has blessed me in this life… Oh what joy is mine!!!

And now it is truly time for dinner…I hope you didn’t mind this slightly rambling post, but I just had to at least try and translate some of my heart to page. A futile effort, alas. But to be blessed so greatly by our God…oh what bliss is ours in abundance, my friends!

Grace and peace and love be with you all. Always.

Hello there!

James HoganLeave a comment

For some strange reason, I’ve got a weird desire to watch Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith right now…so imagine the subject line as said by Obi-wan to Grievous.

And wow, what an odd opener to this entry! Maybe I haven’t gotten enough sleep yet? See my update last night for more details on that…

Anyways though, I’m sitting in Starbucks now, enjoying my deliciously crafted peppermint mocha as I sit in peace, some chill big band music playing in the background. Saw Steph when I came in this morning – she and the family finally got back from Portugal last week – someday I must visit there! Anyway, finally everyone is coming back from their holidays – John is back from the States, but I haven’t seen him yet – he’s been recovering from jet lag with his parents in Montrose. Hopefully he comes back to the flat tonight or tomorrow!

Last night was…interesting. I was hoping to see a movie or something with people, but thankfully pretty much everyone was already busy, because then I ended up having to work late. Not fun, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Cameron, you owe me one.

And this feels like a really random entry – caffeine fueled madness, perhaps? I really only am writing this because I wanted to at least write a few words about last weekend! Like I mentioned earlier, yes – I was in London. Olympics, y’all!!

I think it was a couple weeks ago at evening church when me and Joel were talking about how sweet it would be just to go down to London for the Olympics. We said it half-jokingly. Then looked at each other…”Wait, why *don’t* we?” So we bought airplane tickets without even having any Olympic tickets, figuring we’d find some! Joel eventually found some marathon(10k) swimming tickets before we headed off to London…

So last Thursday night, we made our way down to London. After dashing through Heathrow, picking up our bags, taking the tube, then getting detoured onto a bus(with a small side-trip into a pub to watch Usain Bolt’s 200m domination!)…we finally, finally got to Joel’s friend’s house. A couple frozen pizzas later, we collapsed into bed. Friday morning dawned bright(Seriously, it was amazing weather my whole time in London…sunny and warm. I have never seen it rain in London. Due to this, I have concluded it never does) and we made our way to Hyde Park for marathon swimming!

We had sweet seats in the grandstand, so after picking up some souvenirs(shirt for me, hat for Joel), we settled down to watch the action on the Serpentine. Our seats were definitely prime – we had the Aussie Olympic swim team in the rows right in front of us. Anyways, as the sun beat down on us, we enjoyed our packed sandwiches as we watched some beast athletes swim 10k. A guy from Tunisia won, sadly no one from USA or GB got on the medal stand. One of the swimmers was about 15 minutes behind everyone else, but Joel and I couldn’t really poke fun at him, seeing as neither of us probably could have swum even one kilometer.

And wow, I better quicken up the pace here…or this is going to be one mammoth entry!! So after the swimming, we wandered over to a large public area in Hyde Park where they’d placed giant TV screens showing all the Olympics action. There were thousands – no, TENS of thousands – of people there, just soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the sweet sport of the Games! We watched Team GB win the bronze medal in woman’s hockey and finally decided to make our way to a more secluded area of the park…where we just lay back on the grass, watching the clouds float through the gorgeous blue sky as the oak trees stood sentinel over us. Oh what a lovely time did our Father give us!! I think relaxing with Joel in that quiet corner of Hyde Park was probably one of my favorite times of the whole weekend…

Anyways, to try and speed this along – we eventually met up with a friend of Joel’s for some curry, enjoying eating outside in the oh so lovely weather!

Now – next day, Saturday! Woke up, had toast and coffee…and since I’d brought my laptop, me and Joel checked for available tickets online, since we had none for the day. Every time we checked, there was nothing, so our hopes were low and our expectations nil. Finally, about ready to leave the house and head to the tube station, but we decided “One more time.” Checked online…and wait. Volleyball tickets? I told Joel, “DO IT.” And he bought us a pair! We had no idea who was playing, but it didn’t matter, we had tickets!

As we sat in the tube, merrily speeding to Earl’s Court to pick up our tickets, we perused one of the London dailies and found the match we’d bought tickets for – women’s hardcourt vball finals. Gold medal match! USA v. Brasil, winner take all!! PSYCHED.

And so with that happy news, we set out to enjoy the rest of the day. Went back to Hyde Park to watch some Olympics action with the masses(truly, there were so many people…people from all around the world, all excited to watch the best athletes of the world) then relaxed a bit more in the Park. He called Laura(his gf) to chat while I talked to Maryanne for a while. Oh I miss my fam sometimes.

Anyway, eventually we decided it was time to head over to Earl’s Court to catch the vball game! We made it to our seats and settled in. There were far more Brasilian fans than Americans…and they were much louder too. I don’t want to say that was a contributing factor, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt. Our girls took the first set in fine style, but after that…all Brasil. They played with passion and fire and our American ladies just could not stop them. Alas. Still, viva Brasil! A great match and just to be able to watch it in person with Joel…awesomeness. After the game, it was great watching the Brasilian women clown around, enjoying their victory. The American ladies stood there disconsolately…I felt bad for them.

Anyways, me and Joel finally made it back to the house, and then on Sunday, back to Aberdeen! For some reason I decided to come to church that night, even though I was feeling exhausted. Ah well, always good to worship with my friends!

And wow, I think it’s time for this entry to come to a close, but I just wanted to chronicle this Olympics adventure before the memory began to fade…truly, such a sweet gift our God gave me, to have this chance and to be able to enjoy it so! And truly, the best part was just being able to hang with Joel and adventure through London with him…and enjoy ever so much the friendship our God has given us.

And thinking again upon the Olympics – why do I enjoy them so? Well, I do so love seeing the power of men and women plunging through the waters…the fastest men in the world speeding down the homestretch…the utter grace as gymnasts soar high above the earth…citius, altius, fortius. It is a joy. But why? I think partly just because the beauty of the human form and ability is so apparent. The human form that was made in the image of God. Tarnished, yes. But that glory can still be partly seen…and so to see what God had made, I cannot help but rejoice in Him, our Saviour, our God! Oh but would all see it so!! One day. One day.

And now, time for me to exit Starbucks into the bright sunlit day above. Think I’m gonna pick up a birthday book for a friend and then figure out what I want for dinner. Meatloaf or beef stew, y’all? I can’t decide. Or maybe just hamburgers and potatoes? We’ll see. All I know – I desire a restful remainder of my day. And I think my Lord is granting that to me.

Have a sweet day and pardon the length of this over-wrought entry. I’m out!

Peace upon the cobblestones,
clouds play the music of the sky-
A wreath bestowed to victors,
Delirious with joy I sigh!