Well, our Hungary vacation has come and gone…Calling it a vacation is a bit of exaggeration since it was more like taking one of the “Kon Tiki Tours”: running from one monument to the other in a country, only to hop back on the bus and run around some more in a different country, resulting in total loss of memory over what you have seen…
So we ran around visiting friends and family, the majority of the time being stuck in traffic jams with our chauffeur: my Dad (which was actually quite fun).
It was tiring, but I enjoyed it, our daughter seemed to enjoy it, picking up lots of words, phrases and conjugation along the way.
My boyfriend, D., on the other hand spent most of his time on Facebook fighting against the asphalt plant that we are trying to get relocated from beside Cheakamus Crossing in Whistler, where we are supposed to move in this Fall.
In our disclosure statement it said the muni is in discussion with the owner to relocate it, then just before our second deposit was due they said it is going to be relocated by June 1st 2010…so now they are planning on moving it 150 meters…a joke! The new neighbourhood consists of 250 families or so, a youth hostel, employee housing, gymnastics centre, high performance athletes centre etc. Everyone would be moving in there fresh…with kids, some pregnant…and they expect us to be ok with an asphalt plant right beside??? There are some long-entrenched interests ingrained in this decision of our municipality, and as always, money dictates. There is something fishy at the bottom of all this and all of us fighting, are hopeful that it will surface sooner or later and our health will win over heavy industry at one of the supposedly greatest legacies of Whistler, the Athlete’s Village…I mean, who in their right mind is going to come and train right beside an asphalt plant?
The plant has been there for 15 years now, was never really legal but was tolerated b/c I assume the muni was getting a good deal on asphalt. It only operates over the summer months, apparently only a few days here and there. It’s supposedly a mobile plant…so why not just move it? Now they want to rezone the area for heavy industry, so he can be legal…which would make things even worse!
Anyway, so this looming dark cloud hovered over our vacation. Fortunately it didn’t completely ruin it, we did have lots of fun, and were surrounded by lots of love! It made me realize AGAIN, how amazing my parents are, despite all their little faults, that we all have…I was really sad when we had to leave. I just wanted to hang on to everyone at the airport for eternity. Unfortunately there is no way I would be able to live there, so the next best thing is to make sure we always budget for as many trips to visit family as we can. Though next time we go to Hungary, we are going to Lake Balaton, renting a little place there, telling people to come and visit us, while we enjoy our Summer VACATION…:) It’s all worth it, though…
So now after what seems like a never-ending flight back to Whistler with a 2 year-old, and a week of jet-lag, that is even harder to tackle with a baby waking up in the middle of our night because it’s the middle of the afternoon in Hungary…we gloomily sat down to continue fighting for the asphalt plant to relocate…
And we are still at it. However we decided to also enjoy our Summer and being back in Whistler, close to friends and other families we love. At the same time, we need to have a plan B, which might mean moving to Quebec if all else fails. Of course this would be a huge life-changing decision – no more skiing all winter long, and nature right at our doorstep. On the other hand we would have D’s family and friends right there, we would be able to buy a house cash, no mortgage – which sounds quite tempting… One thing I appreciate about the whole thing,though, is that each decision has their pros and cons and, really, both options are good…
I. has been talking up a storm, surprising us every single day. She’s been sleeping 14 hours almost every night this past week, and some days sleeping for 2-3 hours at nap-time (though some days she won’t nap). I am sure she has got a growth spurt going on and a lot of brain development happening.
We have our usual bedtime routine with I., one of us will give her her bath, than I’ll put her down and she always asks for D. So he’ll go in, pick her up, give her a hug and a kiss and she’ll ask for a sip of water, D. will often say “Bonne nuit la puce” (Good night little darling), or “J’t'aime la puce” (Love you little darling) and she’ll go down for the night. Lately she will hug and kiss us without us prompting her to do so and a couple of nights ago, before D. could even say it, she said “Bonne nuit la puce” to him. Of course it made us both melt..:)
Her conjugation in Hungarian is improving rapidly, she is starting to sing, imitate lyrics and has continued on dancing to any and all music she hears, whether at home or in the Village.
Her English is her weakest at the moment, with Hungarian being the strongest, but French is close behind.
“Mama segits” = Mama help
if someone yawns, she’ll say: “Papa almos/faradt” = Papa is sleepy/tired
“Papa biciklizni ki”, “Papa velo dehors” = Papa went biking outside
“vege” = the end (of a book for example)
“Papa mos/foz” = Papa is cleaning the dishes/cooking
“I. autoja” = I’s car
“I. motorja” = I’s motorbike
“masik kanalat” = the other spoon
“neni adta babat” = lady gave baby (the lady who used to baby sit my brother and I when we were kids gave her a baby doll when we went to visit her)
“Mama koldoke/cicije” = Mama’s belly button/breast
“T. alszik” = T. (a little friend of ours) is sleeping
“koszonom”, “merci” = thank you
“s’il vous plait” = please
“Papa serret” = Papa hug
“nagy/pici kanal” = big/small spoon
