Journal p2

 

 

Ginny's Journal, page 2 

DAY 3 NOV 4TH, 2001 Slept almost 12 hours and I feel human again! Had breakfast at 9 o’clock. There were scrambled eggs with veggies (fresh), granola cereal, meats and bread. The coffee is good but strong here. After breakfast we met for our own church service at 10am. They had a really good worship leader who played the guitar named Danny. Then Chad preached, then we had instruction time where we learned what to do and what not to do. For lunch we had a hot pita bread, coleslaw salad and chicken pieces. It was good! Then we went back for more training on the skits, etc. A few people volunteered to learn the skits and now they are on the Assembly team. DAY 4 NOV 5TH, 2001 Well, it was a much better day. I got to spend all day at an elementary school. It was great! I got to do the story of the disciples and Jesus on the boat quite a few times and one time I told the story of Zaccheus. The teachers and directors were so great it was a real blessing. They even fed us lunch which consisted of huge bowls of soup (bourst) Not sure how to spell that. They call it “red beet soup” It was kind of like tomato soup, but sweeter and not acidy taste. Also they gave us plates full of mashed potatoes with 2 fried eggs on top…,that was very strange, but not bad. On the assembly team we have a whole band made up of interns. 2 guitars, one electric guitar one bass and drums. They are really great! DAY 5 NOV 6TH, 2001 Well, today went well. I had kiwi yogurt and scrambled eggs for breakfast. For dinner we had chicken soup with veggies and pot stickers. We shared an ice cream that had fresh fruit in it (pineapple, kiwi, grapefruit and peaches) Wow, was that grapefruit powerful with ice cream. A pucker power to end all puckers! Today we went to a place called “The Village”…, you’ll never guess who lives there….. “VILLAGE PEOPLE” HA HA. Actually it was a school. I was on the assembly team today and we did 2 assemblies. The band played and we did some skits. It was fun. Then we had coffee and cookies with the teachers director. I sat by Mary Miles and she doesn’t like hot liquids so rather than offend our hosts, I helped her out by drinking my cup and hers too. We got back at 1:30pm and some people were going on to an orphanage, but there were already too many people going, so I decided to go on the next orphanage outing. Carol is still pretty sick, so she is taking a nap and I’m too awake to do that. So I’m just writing in my journal and I think I’ll call home from the Hotel lobby as soon as it clears out a little. Right now most of the group is there but they are soon headed off to Pizza Hut for lunch. DAY 6 NOV 7TH, 2001 Well, I called Cathy and must have talked for at least 20 minutes. It was very comforting being able to talk to my best friend again. Had the rest of the afternoon off so I did a little shopping. After that Carol got up and we went down to the restaurant and had a cup of tea while we waited for dinner.We waited for the orphanage group to get back so we could have dinner together, we waited and we waited and we waited. Dinner was scheduled for 6pm. At 6:45pm they called and said they would be back by 8pm. Carol and I were the only ones who hadn’t had lunch so of course we thought we were going to starve. Finally at 8:15 they got back and we all sat down for dinner. It consisted of a fried pork patty with a shredded carrot and cabbage salad. By 9:15pm I was ready for bed and so was my roommate. DAY 7 NOV 8TH, 2001 Woke up at 6 and reset the alarm for 6:20 (first time this trip that I couldn’t get outta bed on the first ring), so at 6:20am I showered and got ready then woke Carol up and went downstairs for breakfast. Today I did not have yogurt or the eggs like I have done every morning. Instead I had cornflakes and a sweet cake/bread. Don’t know what it was called, but Boy was it good. We were to meet at 7:15am for the bus, so I took a few minutes and gave Reid a call. (it was 10pm there) Everything seems to be going fine at home. Gracie got her stitches out and Peter is going to the dentist next day. I was on Chad’s team today. We had fun and we did the elementary school. I got to be the story teller. We did Zacheus once, and the storm story about 6 times. We had enough time in each classroom that we were able to do the sucker game and give out salvation bracelets too. One of the kids picked the worm sucker and he had to eat it in front of the class. This was about the 5th or 6th graders class (boys must prove they are disgusting). We finished up about noon and we came back to the hotel where we had lunch. A very strange concoction! It was a veggie burger with lettuce and special sauce and mushrooms on one half of the bun. The other half had an egg over-easy on it. Some people were brave (and messy) and mashed the sandwich together to eat it. I did not! I ate each side separately with a knife and fork. It was good. Different, but good!                                                         <back    continued>

Journal p3

 

Ginny's Journal, page 3    

    

After lunch I went out shopping with 5 other ladies. We went to the Cathedral. It was pretty awesome! We couldn’t take pictures inside, but, oh well…that’s what post cards are for. Then I went to 3 different shops and bought stuff for everyone. Most places don’t have a cash register. In fact they usually have only a calculator to figure up your bill. I’m thinking that no one buys too much at a time here at these kind of stores. When they give you back your change they don’t hand it to you, instead they put it in a concaved dish that is about the size of a mouse pad.   I’ve seen computers in the schools, but I haven’t seen them in the individual classrooms. Maybe they’re in the older kids classrooms, I don’t know. My assumption is that the kids will learn computers after they get a job that has them. Most all classrooms were pretty bare. They don’t put the kid’s work up on the walls. It’s kind of like walking into a house that no one lives in - just visits.   Today it rained when we walked to the cathedral. I’m so glad I didn’t bring my heavy coat, I would have been carrying it a lot. We tip the maids here, that’s different! We leave the equivalent of 50 cents a day on our pillows. Today I came back to a big candy bar on my pillow! The rumor is if you treat your maid right she will leave you a little gift (kind of like the tooth-fairy, ..all secret and stuff). It’s fun!!   Well, today I got to meet Bob and Hazel Hoskins! They are the founders of The Book of Hope. They flew in for one day and went out with the assembly team the next day.   DAY 9 NOV 8TH, 2001 Today I got to sleep in! Didn’t leave the Hotel till 9:45 am. We finished our School just after 11:30. They were very small classrooms. The kids were older mostly and it was a behavioral problem school, but the kids were great! When we played the sucker game with them they all chose the BAD sucker, of course.   Then after we got back Joan and I went shopping. I got a purse and wallet and a camera case. My fanny pack is not working so well for my back, so tonight I have to transfer everything over.   We had a big lunch at the hotel. Potatoes and pork with gravy. It was very YUMMY! We met at 3:30pm to go to the orphanage. It was small only had 12 children and about 9 babies. We sang songs and did a few skits and illustrated stories for them. Then they sang some songs for us.   From what we’ve seen the orphanages are very well managed and the caregivers are really wonderful with the children. They are all well mannered and dressed nicely. We were only able to stay for one hour. Tonight we are having a dinner for the interns and interpreters to thank them for all their hard work. The band really needs a new gear bag, so I’m giving them a donation to go towards that.   I can’t believe that our time is up already! We will be spending tomorrow night in Polzan so that the fog won’t be a problem early in the morning. Then on to Budapest! It was a great send off for the team. Except I hate goodbyes. I’ll miss Jamie and Heather, they were really great! Tomorrow I won’t be on a team for the schools because there were too many people. So, I’ll be taking a tour of the Cathedral with a tour guide and a small group from here. I had to pack tonight, took 1 ½ hours to do it but it’s done!   DAY 8 NOV 9TH, 2001 I went to the Cathedral with the tour group at 10am. It was kind of confusing because our interpreter got the time wrong so she showed up at 10:30. Anyway, we got a couple of tours with different guides until we all met up together, (probably the most comprehensive tour ever).   Afterwards I had tea and cake with Priscilla the Women’s director for our group, and her sister. It started to snow a bit, little round pellets, but it didn’t last long and didn’t stick.   When the other group returned we rounded up the luggage and packed the bus and headed off to Polzan. On the way there we stopped at a McDonalds and got dinner to go. Cheeseburger and fries and a coke and a chocolate candy-wafer. The hamburger patty was actually juicy and twice the width of what Americans are used to. I like the fries better in the U.S. though. After I ate I got a slight stomach ache and had to take a Pepto bismo tablet. Which is ironic that I didn’t need it for the Polish food, only for the American junk food. Ha ha!      < back     continued>

Journal p4

 

  Ginny's Journal, page 4 
 
   We stopped in the square at Poznan and shopped from 2 hours then had tea.
   We got back on the bus and they brought us to the hotel. We got  here at 
   7pm and then had a bowl of soup at 8pm. Gayleen was at our table  with 
   Carol B. and Ladell. Gayleen was very tired and went to bed right away, 
   that’s when I found out she had MS. I could not believe it, I would have 
   never guessed because she is such a go-getter, but when she gets too tired 
   her body shuts down. She has to take shots every night and the medicine 
   has to be refrigerated. That must have been a challenge on this trip. She 
   is so involved in everything kind of like a Wonder Woman. Then to have 
   this disease on top of all that she does…. Wow!
 
   We found out the total books we handed out was 11,000!!! Awesome what
   A few people can do when God is with them and the vision is before them!
 
   DAY 9 NOV 10TH, 2001
   Well, 3:30am came early today, but we were ready to go, even before the
   bus driver was ready! We got to the “new” airport in Poznan. It opened 
   up the week we flew in, but our last flight was into the old section. So 
   today we got to fly out of the new airport. It was very pretty, however, 
   we were there before they even opened their stations and right off the 
   bat they were 2 seats short. Our group of 22 quickly became two groups 
   of 20 and 2 that were flown out on a later flight. The funny thing about 
   it was that the flight that Sharon and Ladell were on got to Budapest 
   before us because they didn’t have to change planes in Munich. Oh, well, 
   it’s just the way we like it. That’s one of the sayings that we have 
   along with the word “FLEXABLE” and GMT (good missionary training).
 
   I got to sit with Gayleen on this flight and got to ask her a lot of
   questions about MS. I was glad to get to find out more about her. It’s 
   hard for me to think of her as a Grandma!!!
 
   We had sandwiches galore today! They sent us with a meal from the hotel
   of yogurt, an apple and two sandwiches which consisted of pickles, 
   mustard and cheese on a hard roll. I ate everything except the 
   sandwiches, couldn’t quite get into that combination. Our first flight
   had a sandwich with cheese and butter and lettuce on an oblong roll. 
   (I ate that one).
 
   The next flight we took had another sandwich that consisted of roll,
   cheese, lettuce and tomato (I ate that one too) with a piece of chocolate
   and orange juice. Then on the last plane we took from Munich to Budapest 
   we got yet another sandwich!!! This one consisted of Bologna and cream 
   cheese. (I skipped that one!) That’s just too many sandwiches in one day!
 
   We got to our hotel just after 2pm. Dropped off our luggage and jumped on the bus 
   for a ride to our dinner. We had chimichangas at a Mexican restaurant called the 
   "Iguana”. It was good and I ate it all! We had flan for dessert, but I wasn’t 
   impressed by it. 
 
   By the time we got back to the hotel it was 4:30pm, almost dark. I went upstairs 
   to change into a t-shirt and ran down-stairs to see if anyone wanted to go for a 
   walk, but I didn’t find anyone. We can only go out in groups of three or more here,
   and we are not allowed out after dark.
 
   I noticed the traffic here is very congested. Nothing like in Poland! It takes us 
   a while to get places because of the traffic. Since I couldn’t find anyone to walk 
   with and the gym was closed. I climbed the staircases at either end of the hallways. 
   Did about 30 minutes of that and I felt better.
 
   My left leg and hip was bothering from all the sitting and being in confined spaces, 
   so it was good to stretch out. I also met Tommy and Gayleen along the way and they 
   ended up working out like I did.
 

<back    continued> 

Journal p5

 

                                                               Ginny's Journal, page 5 

 

The money here is a lot different here than in Polandl. Polish money was 

along the ratio of 4 of their “zlotzy” to one of our dollars. Here in 

Hungary the ratio is 279 of theirs to 1 of our dollars. A little harder 

to figure out in your head. 

Well, we have another meal, dinner is at 7:30pm (I’m not hungry, so I hope 

it isn’t much) I’ve eaten enough today to last me for a week! Okay, we had 

crepes filled with chicken and stuffing with a sauce made with paprika on 

top. It was pretty good! The desert was a Jello custard and though it was 

not too sweet, it was wonderful.

DAY 10 NOV 11TH,2001

Got up at 7:30am today, had a breakfast buffet and then a church service 

at 9am. Greg did the preaching. Fred was all set to lead worship with his 

steel Guitar, but when he plugged in his amp w/o a converter it blew the 

fuse. Priscilla ended up leading worship acappella.

At 10am we boarded a bus for the bus tour. It was great! Took a lot of 

pictures! I found out that we would be getting off the bus a couple of 

times to see different things. Well, I only had the sweater that I was 

wearing and it was pretty cold out. I ended up freezing most of the 

morning! We had lunch at a Greek restaurant(Annette wants to make sure 

we get lots of culture I guess) It was good, a lot of fried foods and a 

Greek salad with feta cheese.

After lunch we boarded the Metro and went to the mall - what an experience 

that was! The mall was 4 stories high! A lot of nice stuff like clothes 

and shoes but nothing I couldn’t live without! I did end up getting a 

t-shirt with Hungary on it. Tomorrow we go to the outside market square 

and that’s where we’ll find the more authentic Hungarian handmade things.

After the mall we boarded the metro again for the trip to the hotel. We 

had an hour before dinner, so I took a nap ( I was exhausted!) Dinner was 

rice and chicken in a sauce. It was kind of spicy. Probably my least 

favorite meal of the trip. The restaurant made a mistake and gave us fresh

fruit instead of what Annette ordered (which was fruit soup). I’m so glad 

they messed up on that one! We had chocolate cake, (kind of dry) but still 

yummy. My diet is in remission till I return to the states! I had some tea 

then went to bed.

DAY 11 NOV 12TH, 2001

Slept in today till almost 8am. Then had breakfast and boarded the bus for 

the bible college. That was one of the Women’s Ministries annual project 

done in 1992. They gave about 60,000 dollars towards it. Also the government 

of Hungary gave about 125,000 to it too. Hungary is unique in that it’s 

government helps subsidize all colleges whether private or public!

Also, it is against the law in Hungary to charge tuition for students. In 

fact it’s similar to Poland. They will have whole lot more educated people 

for higher learning than the USA will ever have. The difference is that 

they have to pass a series of tests in order to be accepted to the 

University. If they fail, they can try for the technical school. I’m not 

sure if they have to pass a test for that or if they get it by default. 

It’s quite different than the way the USA works.

The Pentecostal Theological Bible School is run by Paul and Jolene Gazza. 

They are the only English staff! They teach in Hungarian and most of the 

students range in age to the early 20’s, although we did meet one student

who was 36, that is not the norm. The country pays for their 1st degree, 

but if they want a second major they have to pay for that themselves. 

There was a German student and two Transylvanian students. They also had 

Hungarian as their mother tongue. 

The college is beautiful! It has white walls with wooden floors. They just 

had a maps team come over and add on another story. We had a most wonderful

Hungarian tea! It was a peach flavor and sweet, Annette got the recipe for

me. We had a great little snack that tasted like graham crackers with 

cinnamon. I found them later in a store and bought a bag. 

The students sang a few songs for us, then we left the college and went to

a Cuban restaurant. We had the original Hungarian goulash soup. It has quite 

a bit of paprika in it, so it was a little spicy, but good!

We got to the “walking street” to do some shopping. They had a lot of 

traditional folklore stuff so I ended up getting my shopping done for gifts 

for friends and family. We shopped for 2½ hrs. I never sat down once and 

never felt any back pain. I think the shopping was so wonderful  that I 

didn’t pay any attention to the aches and pains. We went by bus to see the 

lights of Budapest. It was very beautiful. Every time we drove by the river 

Priscilla had to sing the waltz about the blue Danube.  I got a lot of 

pictures, sure hope they turn out okay. 

Came back to the hotel at 6:15pm and had dinner. It was turkey cordon bleu 

and it was wonderful. Desert was Ice cream in the shape of a cake. It was 

Awesome. We then had a “debriefing” and communion and got to bed around 

10:30pm cause I had to pack. 

DAY 12 NOV 13TH,2001 

Okay, it was certainly early this morning! Carol got up at 3am then went 

back to bed, but I never went back to sleep after that! Finally,I got up 

about 4am, got ready and went down to the lobby at 4:50am. Wrote in my 

journal for all of yesterday. We got to the airport early and so they put 

us on an earlier flight, which was great except it meant that I didn’t get

coffee for another 2 hours. The flight from Budapest to Munich was the 

bumpiest with the most turbulence out of any flight! Last night we heard 

about the plane crash in New York and they weren’t sure if it was an 

accident or terrorists! The security in Munich was amazing! Everyone was 

patted down, carry-ons were gone thru and x-rayed and if you had a camera 

with you they made you take a picture so that they knew for sure it was a 

camera and not a weapon! 

They made us take off our jackets and empty our pockets. Fortunately,I was 

wearing my running pants and didn’t have anything in them. Well, I was the 

first one through the gate, so everyone was watching me get the special 

treatment of being patted down and laughing. I of course got the last laugh, 

because by the time they got through all the security issues. I was sitting 

in the café having a cup of coffee.

We had an extra hour at that airport so I did a little more shopping. On the

transcontinental flight back I traded places with Carol Hickman so she could 

sit next to her grandson, and I could get some sleep. I slept a few hours and 

watched the same movies as they played on the way over. It was an uneventful

flight. 

I got off first and promptly messed up! I took my luggage through customs, 

but I didn’t put it back on the conveyor belt before I left the exit door. 

Then of course they wouldn’t let me go back 5 feet to put my luggage back on. 

So I got to carry it around with me for the next 45 minutes. Carol Boch had 

pity on me and helped me out. What a great roomie! Anyway, we next hopped 

the last plane to Sacramento and made our way home. Reid was there to greet 

me and we talked (or I should say that I talked)all the way home. It took me 

about a week before my internal clock changed time, and I stopped waking up 

at 3am.  [End]

                                    <back

Ginny paints her patriotic garage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Read about Ginny's trip to Poland in 2001

See Ginny's photos of her trip to Nigeria, 2009

Journal

 

~Ginny's Journal~

                        Notes on trip to Poland,  Nov. 2001

 

Day 1 Nov 2nd 2001

The day started at 3:40am at the Microtel Inn. The alarm went off and the  journey began. 

Reid and I drove down to Sacramento on Nov 1st so I would be able to get some sleep before 

hitting the airport. We got to the Sacramento  International airport at 4:15am!  

Found my group right off and we commenced to wait in line for 45 minutes then we got to the 

gate and waited to board. I had a seat next to my room-mate Carol Boch. It was her first plane 

ride ever. It was pretty crowded and warm, of course I had worn a sweater which made it worse. 

The movie was Americas Sweethearts with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts. Got to 

Chicago 10:30 am our time which was 12:30 their time. Then our next flight  was delayed 1 hour 

so I wrote a couple of postcards and mailed them. I hung out with Ladel, Gayleen and Carol B. 

for lunch. I broke down and bought a Chicago T shirt so I could get out of my hot sweater for the 

next leg of the trip.

I am sitting in the plane waiting for all to board so we can get to Frankfurt Germany. The Germans 

have got me surrounded, so there’s not a whole lot of English going on. I guess I’ll have plenty of 

sleep time. The first 3½ hours  went by uneventful. There were four different movies and I couldn’t 

get into any of them. Felt quite lonely for a time and I had to ask myself, “what in the  world am I 

doing here?” I don’t know ANYONE and talking to others is NOT my forte! Well, I made a run to the 

bathroom and stood for a while in the corridor. I ended up talking to Fred’s wife (can’t seem to 

remember her name).  Anyhow, I don’t feel so lonely anymore.

DAY 2 Nov 3rd, 2001

Got to Frankfurt, then we hopped a plane to Warsaw. Sat at that airport for four hours. So, I got more 

post cards, wrote on them and mailed them. These  people don’t take American money so we had to 

get it exchanged. I found a couple of neat gifts.

Got on a prop job airplane, it was an experience! None of our carry-ons were carry-on size for this 

airplane so we had to check them through to Poznan. A most interesting thing that I noticed was that 

they even had real knives along with the rest of the silverware, unlike in the U.S. where they put plastic

 knives along with the spoons and forks made of metal. That flight was 1 ½ hours long. I slept through 

most of it. Then we arrived in Poznan. We had to get our luggage and load it on the bus for the forty 

minute bus ride to Gniezno,  (I slept through half of it). Wish I could have slept longer on the 

transcontinental flight!

Got to Gniezno at 4:30 pm their time. We got our rooms and I promptly took a shower and then we had 

dinner at 6pm. By 7:30pm I was in bed and slept for almost 12 hours! Finally SLEEP! YEAH!! The beds 

are very cute! About the size of a long skinny table and only a foot off the ground. Two small chairs low 

to the ground were also in the room. I thought I was sleeping in one of the seven dwarves bed, ha ha!

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