Alternative blog post title: WE GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!

We are currently in Kenya on a tourist visa which is good for 3 months. Since we arrived in February, we had to get our new visas in May. (I am getting my Special Pass visa as I write this, which I feel is necessary to mention since I am working here.) We were both under the impression that we had to leave the country and re-enter, so we decided to take a quick trip to my birth country and have my parents meet up with us there too! Only after the trip was booked did I learn that we could have just paid fifty bucks to get a new visa, but I am SO glad we took this past week off… because we got engaged!

Bill and I have been talking about our future and spending the rest of our lives together, so I started planning a special proposal in Budapest, and hoped that he wouldn’t beat me to the punch! May 1st is a holiday in Hungary, so my whole family had the day off from work and school. I told my parents I wanted to propose to Bill up on the hills of Buda at the Fisherman’s Bastion, overlooking the Danube river and the Pest side of the city, and that I thought we should walk to dinner across the Chain Bridge afterwards to celebrate. My mom was the real superhero in planning the whole day, as she found and booked the perfect restaurant and booked a photographer to capture everything. She also made a facebook group for the family (we had almost 40 people come to dinner and about half of them came to the proposal too) so she could get everyone’s food preference and communicate where and when to meet for the surprise proposal (as plans kept changing due to events outside our control!).

Our Saturday morning flight to Budapest left at 4am, so we didn’t go to sleep on Friday night. We had a 3 hour layover in Cairo and saw the pyramids as we were descending into the airport! We arrived to Budapest in the mid-afternoon to a welcoming squad. My parents drove us to my cousin’s apartment, who lent us his incredible bachelor pad to live in for the week. We had about an hour to sit, settle, and shower before meeting up with my cousins, their kids, and my parents to walk to dinner on the Duna part (Danube shore). Dinners on the Duna part might be my favorite activity in Budapest. It just has a great atmosphere and vibe, very local, very casual, very fun. I always enjoy myself there. But it could also be the company, as I usually go with my cousins and aunt and uncle, who are just wonderful. Bill had the Duna part delicacy of a whole fried fish, then we went home because we had an early morning the next day.

We spent Sunday and Monday with my parents and grandma driving to various towns along the lake Balaton to visit family and friends. Hungary is a tiny country, so we didn’t have to drive the long distances we are used to in the States. Sunday night we stay in a hotel on the lake with my aunt and uncle, who were enjoying a mini-vacation/tennis camp. We see a castle, eat more good food (and ice cream) and make a pit stop at a natural thermal lake before we drive back to Budapest.

TUESDAY, MAY 1ST

There was quite a bit of planning and scheming for the big day. What made it easy was that Bill isn’t yet fluent in Hungarian (he is learning though, and is crushing the Duo Lingo app!), so it was easy to talk about plans with him around. About a month earlier, I had requested a ring be made to my design and detailed specifications through my company Lynk. “Jewelry maker” is a new category for us, so we only had 1 Pro who was qualified. But he told me my design is too much for a ring so he can make a bracelet when he comes back in town in two weeks. Well, not only did I not have the patience to wait for him, I also didn’t want a bracelet. What’s an engagement bracelet? I then reached out to the owner of a jewelry store that represents many local jewelry makers. I made a request for two simple bands without my design. Though I have never met him, Elijah, the jeweler who lives in the Nairobi slums of Kibera, is my new hero because he delivered on time! I decided I was going to do the design myself, and so I asked for two rings in case I messed one up. I bought a drill (which my company needed anyway, so I used it, gave it to our workshop, and expensed it) and bought a few 1 millimeter drill bits. I spent half a Friday drilling in the special design for Bill’s ring.

The week leading up to the Tuesday was somewhat stressful, as the only sure thing for the day was the dinner. The beautiful sightseeing day I had planned was no longer viable because of the holiday: there were multiple events taking place in the city, meaning big crowds with street and bridge closures. There was an air show over the river, and the best seats in the house were up on the Castle Hill and Fishermans Bastion. So plans 1-3 were out. There were also city festivities at the city park behind the Heroes’ Square and a Formula 1 racing event closing many streets in Pest. Plans 4-6 were out. We then decided to tell our family to meet at 2pm in the Rose Garden on Margaret Island, the Central Park of Budapest where I spent lots of time as a young kid, then we would walk around the Island before hopping on a bus or metro or villamos (tram) to the restaurant. The timing was perfect and I have my mom to thank for everything, for making that day run so smoothly. THANKS MOMMY!!!

That morning was relatively calm, as we didn’t have plans until about 11 for lunch with my parents. Bill knew there would be a big family dinner that night, so he wasn’t that suspicious when I asked him to shave, and when I told him I am bringing him a change of clothes, and when I suggested he should bring sunglasses (meaning he should put in his contact lenses). It wasn’t a normal morning in that sense, but he realized it was an important day for me, he just didn’t yet suspect why. We run into my aunt and uncle on the bus on the way to the Island, but it was ok because Bill knew lots of family would be meeting up for the afternoon. When we arrived, the photographer János was already there, and started taking sneaky pictures (I had asked him prior to the day to pretend to be a tourist taking photos!) and Bill asked why some random guy was taking pictures of our group. I was like, “I don’t see a photographer, and he is probably a tourist.” That answer seemed to placate him. Bill also saw a close family friend with a gift bag, but then when we wished my cousin’s daughter a happy Name Day (it’s a Hungarian thing) he thought the gift was for her and again he was thrown off the scent. Then as we wait for everyone else to arrive, we run over to the restrooms. I got to go in first, so I finished first. When Bill came out, he saw me putting on eye makeup, and asked why I was doing that. I mumbled something about looking nice for my family or something. We walk back to the group, then start down a walking path of pebbles that resembles a track around a big green field surrounded by flowers. I tell my family that we are going in to the grass field now. When we started walking away from the group to the center of the grass, Bill figured out what was going on. It was an amazing and emotional few minutes out there on the grass, and neither of us really remember what we said. But we both knelt down on one knee and we both said YES!!!

After lots of happy tears and hugs with the family, we walk around the island a bit to different beautiful areas, like the Japanese garden and the musical fountain. It was great having that big group and walking around, getting to talk to everyone while we enjoyed the beautiful weather and happiness. Then we walk over the Margaret Bridge at the south tip of Margaret Island to the Pest side of the city and jump on the #2 villamos. This tram is the best in the city, as it goes right behind the Parliament (though the people running it are terrible, the building is still magnificent) and then along the waterfront with incredible views to the Buda hills, Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church, and Castle. We arrive to the dinner right on time, with more family and friends waiting for us there! The food and the company was wonderful and we had a video call with Bill’s parents (who knew the whole plan from the beginning!). After the dinner and after all the guests left, we take a taxi with my cousin to go watch the Liverpool / Munich soccer game on the Duna part to keep the drinking and celebrating going!

The next day we rally from our hangover to have lunch with Tomi, our friend/my mom’s godson. He works in a great part of the city, so it was perfect to walk around and do tourist stuff after lunch and a Starbucks caramel frappaccino! It’ll be 6 months before I can have another one, unless they open one in Kenya before November! Though that might be a good thing because I’ll want to look good in a wedding dress and caramel fraps wont help with that. We walk across the Chain Bridge and go up to the castle. We meet up with my mom and dad and go up to the Fisherman’s Bastion, the original proposal location idea. The Rose Garden on Margaret Island was a million times better! It was the best! The four of us stop for a lemonade/ice cream before we head down the other side of the hill, past where my mom grew up, to the metro station to go home. We get back, put on our bathing suits, and go to Aqua World with Tomi! He normally goes with his twin girls, but this time it was just us adults and we got to go on all the big kid water slides, like the Black Hole, Kamikaze, Hurricane, and a bunch of other ones! We went on all of them at least once, then hung out in the pools. It was so much fun! Then the three of us have dinner on a lively square back in the heart of Budapest, do a little bit of walking touring, then Tomi drives us around to see some sights lit up before dropping us off at my cousin’s apartment where quickly fall fast asleep.

Thursday was some more sightseeing with family, then out to the countryside to hang out with my grandma and aunt. It was very relaxing, delicious, and wonderful afternoon. On the way back we get dropped off at the metro to take in the night life of the city at one of the famous ruin bars. Friday was a bit of shopping, then we went to a play that my dad’s cousin’s son was in. Despite it being in Hungarian, Bill enjoyed himself. It was not one long story, but many shorter skits, so I think that helped keep Bill’s interest, because there was always something else happening. This theater is the home theater to a group of actors who all have some kind disability, mostly those with Down syndrome, so it was incredible to support and watch a talented group of actors, and wished something like that existed in the States. Then we went to a birthday party on a boat with my cousin and her husband. It was a lot of fun, but we were the uncool Americans who left at 12:30am, instead of staying out late partying til 4:30am like everyone else! We couldn’t even use the excuse of being old because it was a 40th birthday party! I hope I have that kind of energy when I am 40! Saturday morning we got up early to pack and clean and have a quick breakfast with my parents, aunt and uncle before going to watch my cousin’s daughter’s dance competition. Then it was off to the airport.

It was a whirlwind of a week, and everyone in my family kindly reminded me that a week in Hungary is just not enough time to do everything and see everyone for enough quality time. I wholeheartedly agree. Each day had multiple activities and people to see, which is wonderful, yet exhausting. Nevertheless, it is a trip we will always remember, not only because it was Bill’s first time in Hungary and it was his first time meeting the extended family, but because I had ice cream every day! 😉