The Harrowing Tale of a Superstore Shopping Extravaganza

Szia (Hi)!  Happy St. Istvan’s Day!!  Today is Hungary’s 1012^th birthday!  In about 3 hours I will be headed into the city to enjoy the day’s festivals followed by what is supposed to be a very impressive double fireworks show over the Danube River.  Don’t worry, another blog will follow detailing today’s events (unless it ends up being supremely boring, in which case, I won’t).

Now, on to the main event.  The Harrowing Tale of a Superstore Shopping Extravaganza brought to you by Megan Stewart and DeAnn Nelson.

The day started innocently enough.  The previous night, our heroes borrowed a minivan from a missionary family so that they could make a few very important trips to IKEA, Tesco, Jysk, and a number of other superstores.  In an attempt to keep from scraping the side of the van with the edge of the narrow garage, Megan had to roll the window down in order to listen to DeAnn as she guided her safely out to the street.  Unfortunately, what neither of them realized was that the motor for the window on the extremely quirky minivan tends to go on strike.  So, now they were unable to park on the street (or in a parking lot of a superstore) so their plans came to a screeching halt.  Luckily, the school has a lovely parking cage in order to (hopefully) secure it safely overnight.

On Saturday, they had a leisurely morning and made their way to the school for a few hours of work and access to "Plan B" – borrowing the principal’s van while she stayed at school to work.  They made their way across town to the jungles of IKEA (where pregnancy season in Budapest was clearly in full bloom i.e. at least a dozen were spotted).

Shopping there went smoothly enough.  There was nothing to foreshadow the trials to come.

As a kind gesture, our heroes knew that there was no way their kind principal would accept cash for gas.  In an attempt to circumvent her denial, they made a “quick” detour to the nearest gas station.  In this strange and foreign land, with Megan freshly having arrived from America, unleaded seemed the automatic choice.  Unfortunately, upon payment and after many minutes of attempted communication, she realized that the van was diesel only.  Uh-oh.

Decisions needed to be reached.  Panicked phone calls were made.  What to do in this tragic situation?!?!  There were many prayers lifted up and much advice sought.

Meanwhile, DeAnn turned into an action hero.  Jumping out of the car and racing down the Balatoni, she ran to school in order to retrieve the original vehicle which still had a half open window.  Driving was not something she had intended on doing that day.  More prayers were lifted up as she crossed the highway and tried to look like she understood what all of the traffic laws were.

Upon arrival back at the gas station, they quickly jumped into action to transfer their purchases from the temporarily-out-of-commission vehicle to the quirky-somewhat-working vehicle.  As the owner of the out-of-commission vehicle talked to his mechanic, scenarios and dollar signs were flashing through Megan’s head.  But there was nothing to be done.  The goods were then safely delivered to their home.

Upon departure, everything changed.

God answered their prayers. 

Megan received a phone call from the owner asking for specifics of the unfortunate blunder.  Upon hearing that 5 liters of unleaded fuel had been put into a half full diesel tank, his advice was to fill the rest of the tank up with diesel (which is what the gas station clerk suggested…) and that everything would be as good as new.  Well, as new as possible.  Praise the Lord!

As the girls praised en route to complete their task, Megan decided, why not try to roll up the window again.  Lo and behold, up she went!!  More praises!

And they lived happily ever after.

The End.

The rest of the weekend was spent setting up our new home.  As two boys lived here last year, there was much to be done.  Their version of clean and our version of clean were two very different realities.  I scrubbed pans, drawers, Tupperware, silverware and countertops in the kitchen and then reorganized everything then reorganized the pantry, while Megan scrubbed the bathroom, mopped the floors, reorganized the downstairs and began decorating.  We both moved all of the less-than-beautiful furniture into the guest bedroom.

I got to Skype with April and Wesley yesterday, which was wonderful and I met 5 of my students at church.

This week is all-staff orientation with more time to work in my classroom.  It’s almost ready, I think.  I’ll take pictures when it’s finished and upload them for you all to see.

Miss you and love you!