Head Coach Radnoti Heads Back To Homeland
6/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Time to get back into planning the best cross country and track & field seasons ever.
Saturday, July 3, 2010: Camp is over, goodbyes are said, and we are off to Budapest for a little sightseeing before heading to the USA (pronounced ooosha we learned while watching the World Cup in Hungary). I had never taken the Hungarian train before and so it was quite a treat to walk to the train station, buy tickets to Budapest, and board a nice clean train (this is not one left over from the Communist years). It took about three hours to travel but we were rewarded with getting to watch the landscape travel by. The fields looked like Iowa in the summertime. Everything is so green and growing. The corn is starting to come up along with massive fields of sunflowers. As we approach Budapest, there is a marked difference in transitioning from the rural farms areas to a metropolitan city of roughly two million people.
We arrive in the central train station which is much like Grand Central Station in some eastern US (New York) city. A quick stop to Kentucky Fried Chicken (don't tell my Hungarian friends) and we are ready to explore the city via the subway system. I believe Budapest had the very first subway in all of Europe and the first line is one that we travel on during the day. We explore several of the "important" sites, but really enjoy the relaxation of not having to be anywhere on a schedule and simply walking and riding the subway looking at people from another culture.
The day ends with a walk along the Danube as the 10 bridges between Buda and Pest are lighted in the evening and it is very beautiful. What a great trip and an amazing adventure - one that the kids, our counselors, and I will never forget.
Friday, July 2, 2010: Today is the last day of our Bible camp. We've had about 100 kids participate all week and the reward today are games with water balloons during our activities sessions. We still have two sessions of crafts. Earlier in the week everyone prepared enough cards for the number of people in their group. Today, they wrote personal messages of appreciation (at least that was what was supposed to happen) to others in the group. We finished up our Bible study of Matthew 6 and played lots of water games. It was pretty hot outside and nearly everyone wanted to get hit with the water balloons - including the counselors.
Then we held our final assembly for the community at 4 p.m. Each of the four groups sang 2-3 church songs, followed by a skit (I was not asked this year; must have messed up pretty badly last year), and then a final dinner with our group for Kenny and I. We are headed to Budapest for sightseeing tomorrow and then an early flight home to California on Sunday morning in time for July 4th activities in the US of A!
Thursday, July 1, 2010: Today is the first day that NCAA coaches may contact directly a recruit. For purposes of recruiting, my assistant sent out a note to our recruit letting them know about my mission trip to Hungary and that I would contact them after I return on July 4th. I hope they all know how much I value them.
Today was a reflective day for me. The Bible study and my devotionals on love cause quite a bit of soul searching for everyone. Not only are we teaching the Hungarian students, but we are learning ourselves. I always remember a previous teacher telling me that the best way to learn something is to teach it. I'm sure this is true.
I decided the night before during our Hungarian devotional to focus on one boy during the day. I'm not sure what he has going on in his life. But, it must be hard as he has some deformities, learning disabilities, no father, and I'm certain several other challenges in life. However, he does have a devoted mother who needs to be and is with him the entire day at camp. My commitment is to love him all day long. In our study of the "Habits of a Loving Heart" it does not really tell us what to do, but to develop these wonderful habits. The harder part is applying them. During our share time, I learn that most of our group has selected tough cases to practice love and the results are mixed; or perhaps better said somewhat invisible. I spend quite a bit of time with Adam during the day and feel rewarded toward the end of the day when be begin to play peek a boo with me, during crafts class, behind his mothers' back. It was nice.
Our dinner group expands to nine today as we eat Italian food at a restaurant called Rossito's. It is very good and the conversation always fun. I drew a good group for dinner with mostly college students who have lots of energy. Even the rain does not dampen spirits, as we walk back to our dorms stopping at the InterSpar for a Magnum ice cream for dessert.
Our evening devotional finished with the remaining six habits of a loving heart followed by interesting discussions about love. It was a good night, followed by a good night's sleep. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's grand finale with the kids.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010: Today it started to turn much warmer and the multiple tug-a-war contests outside leave many with sore hands. Our green group of 12-14 year olds dominates the older yellow group of 15-18 year olds. I think we might have a few more people. But, we are much smaller and more determined. The kids all enjoy beating the older group and it leads to a fun day of necklace making (with the beads) and bible stories from Matthew.
During our dinner the group seems quite excited to share when asked for their favorite part of the day. And, our Hungarian devotional on love goes very well as I cover the first six, of twelve, habits of a loving heart. Makes me think about using the same material with our cross country and track teams in the fall.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010: Day two of Bible camp and the day proceeds much like the first day. However, most of the more difficult kids in our green group were no shows. We heard they are in another camp for the day, or visiting relatives, or simply sleeping. In any case, the day goes much smoother.
In the evening, our dinner group does to Kis Pipa, which means little pipe. It is an outdoor restaurant and everyone enjoys the meal.
Our 10 p.m. devotional for the Hungarians goes pretty well tonight. I end it with everyone partnering up and making commitments for the coming day to show love to someone in camp who we might not have spent anytime with during the first two days. And, it's off to sleep.
Monday, June 28, 2010: First day of Bible camp and we have 70 kids signed up. This is down quite a bit from last year when we had 130 kids. Even though the program does not begin until 9am, some kids start arriving at 7am. Many are familiar to me from last year or from sports camp. Seems like the trend for the boys is longer hair and I threaten jokingly that I will bring clippers tomorrow to cut their cut appropriately. I like to joke around with the kids in my broken Hungarian.
To get the kids settled (or at least into the main room), we throw plastic balls from the center stage into the audience of kids eager to catch and throw back. This has become a fun morning ritual.
After the introductions and welcomes, the day schedule is set. I am in the green group (the most troubled group) and Kenny is in blue (the angels). The green group are the 12-14 year olds and several have not matured enough to listen and pay attention. So, the counselors have their hands full. Our rotation goes as follows: outside activities, crafts, bible study, lunch, outside activities, crafts, bible study, final assembly with songs and skits. The day goes pretty well with Frisbee soccer, beads, and weiner schnitzel for lunch in the school cafeteria - yea!
In the evening we are assigned a dinner group for the week again as we do not want to overwhelm the local restaurants. We have about 40 counselors. I am our dinner group leader which means I get money from the camp leader and pay for the meals. We have a good fun group with all college aged counselors except for me. Kenny is with me again as are two Hungarian translators, Fanni and Timi, and brothers from Houston Paul and Chase. This a a good lively group and I ask each evening, "What was the best part of your day" Always interesting responses and discussions.
In the evening we have our nightly devotional at 9pm and then I host a 10pm devotional for the Hungarians. I have chosen to talk about love for the whole week using a book titled, Habits of a Loving Heart by Willard Tate as the basis for our talks. It is a book recommended by my friend Billy Smith from Tennessee when asked for help on what I should do for these devo's. The first night is a little rough as the Hungarians are not sure why they have been signaled out for a special devo. But, I'm sure each night will get better.
Sunday, June 27, 2010: My son, Tommy, got off this morning at 3:30 a.m. with a group of a dozen folks headed to Texas via London. He should arrive at 3:30 p.m. today (just after midnight our time).
I went back to sleep after the group left. There were three of us staying who stayed with the USA returning group. We slept in until about 9 a.m. and then took a taxi over to the site for this second weeks' camp. All the activities are located in the same building which is nice. We just go out for dinner. I am a dinner group leader, which I like. We split into dinner groups so as not to overwhelm any restaurant. We have over 40 counselors for this camp. We have 70 campers signed up but expect over 100 kids tomorrow morning beginning at 7 a.m.
In the morning, we had church services led by Pepperdine professor David Dowdey's son-in-law, Attila. It was nice.
It looks like the weather will continue to be cool which I will like. We have a three session rotation before and after lunch of sports, crafts, and Bible study. The only issue is for sports. If it rains, we will need to come inside and there is not much space for sports. We will just have a classroom. So, not sure what happens if that happens.
The people here are all very nice and I have memorized everyone's names already. Very interestingly, I met a woman who is the sister of Andre Duta, the Romanian professor at Pepperdine. She does not speak Hungarian and we have been teasing each other as she believes that Romania is the best and I believe Hungary is. It's all in good fun.
The computer situation is terrible at this new place. We have just one connection for the whole floor of men and married couples (about 25 people). So, I am guessing responses will be light this week. Sorry.
I return in exactly one week now and I think I am ready to come home.
Saturday, June 26, 2010: This morning was free, so we went souvenir shopping for my son Tom. He is returning to California tomorrow morning leaving Miskolc at 3:30am with the rest of the group who are staying only one week. He got a Hungary hat, and a few more knick knacks. Afterward we took the tram to see the castle in Miskolc. The castle is over 1,000 years old and in pretty good condition. Then, we took the bus out into the country for a wedding reception for a couple who met during the Miskolc camps a couple of years ago. The girl is from Texas and the guy from Hungary. They are getting married on August 6th in Ft. Worth. It was very nice with a large kettle of goulash cooked outside and lots of friends and relatives running around.
In the evening, we walked into the center of town to watch the USA-Ghana futbol game. I had weiner schnitzel but was disappointed in the loss. Oh well. I think we can beat Ghana in Track & Field!
It seems like the group returning to America is going to stay up all night. It's midnight already and I'm not tired. So, I will probably stay up to say our goodbyes in three hours
Friday, June 25, 2010: It's our last day of Sports Camp and the day goes off very well. The kids behave great and we have lots of fun playing our games and having a pizza party, followed by our awards ceremony, and then one final game of futbol. And, we Americans win 2-1. That is my prediction of tomorrow night's game between USA and Ghana. In the evening, we held our final devotional and then went around the room sharing our thoughts and stories of camp. It became quite emotional for all and many tears flowed. What a great group of people to work with on this years' Miskolc Sports camp. And, we get to sleep in tomorrow (though I'm sure I'll be up about 5 a.m.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010:I broke down and used hot water after my morning run!
I have had trouble sleeping much past 4 a.m. and today was no different. Unfortunately, I have finished the one novel I brought last night and now just have the computer. But, the sun does seem to come up early and I took advantage of the beautiful morning. It has rained on and off every day since coming to Miskolc. Today was that nice crispy air and I went on an exploratory run. The high school dormitory where we are living is in the "centrum" of the city and thus there are no trails like our wonderful running environment in Malibu. A huge advantage of running in big cities is that you can discover and see so much. I found the sports arena, a motor speedway, a very nice and large city park, and numerous little shops, restaurants, and sights. It was fun.
Then when I came back to our room I started thinking about each shower giving me a brain freeze from the ice cold water and I broke down and went to the kitchen and asked for a bucket of warm water. They were kind enough to give me a large bucket of scolding hot water which I used to have the best shower I've ever had in Miskolc :)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010: The lead counselors from the Heritage Church warned us that the second day of camp is the toughest. This is the day the kids really test us. That was not my experience last year, so I did not think much of it. But, they were right this year. Several fights broke out, it seemed like everyone (including kids just eight-years old) were going outside for smoke breaks, and there was a lot of bickering and disrespect. During our evening devotional, we spent quite a bit of time discussing how we will deal with this tomorrow.
In addition, we learned that $200 was missing from one of the counselor's backpacks from the day before. And, two kids did not come today. We have to remember these are troubled kids and we are here to make an impact on their lives. My two kids that I am mentoring are pretty good and I like them. One is a gypsy boy who is a very good athlete and quiet. He's no problem. The other is not so quiet and likes to argue about the character scores I give him during the day. This year we are using a scoring system where we rate each student after each session. They get a score of 1 to 5 and at the end of the day are rewarded with pieces of candy (seems to work though I would prefer something healthier).
In the evening, we decided to skip our normal rotation of restaurants to try a pizza place across the street. It turned out to be a good choice.
Monday, June 21, 2010: Our first day of camp! It is exciting to see the kids; most of which I met last year and some of which I kept in contact with throughout the year. The start is always a little challenging as most are still a little shy. This is a good thing as the coming days will be much more challenging. The boys are in basketball camp and the girls are in volleyball camp. The counselors from Texas, Arkansas, Arizona, and California work with each group to teach skils and the games.
Sunday, June 20, 2010: It's Father's Day and I am so happy and proud that my son Tom is with me this summer in Miskolc. I learned that Hungary does not celebrate Father's Day. I also felt the absence of my dad who passed away last September. It's been a tough year.
Ati from the local Church of Christ comes over in the morning to preach as part of our own church services. Afterwards we go to the local "mall" for lunch and a little shopping. In the afternoon, I crash as I only gt about three hours of sleep the night before, waking at 12:15 a.m. and unable to get back to sleep.
Saturday, June 19, 2010: We finally wake up early enough to use the waterpark today before heading to the airport to meet the group from Texas. While, not a Raging Waters, AquaWorld is fun with seven tube slides that Tom and I enjoy. It is interesting to listen to all the people speaking Hungarian and must be very strange to Tom who has no clue what they are saying. Afterwards we shower and head to the airport via taxi. There we meet a few of the Hungarian interpretors that I met last year. It is great to see them. And, when the plane from London carrying the Texas and Arkansas folks from the Heritage Church in Ft. Worth is on time, we are all set for the three-hour bus ride to Miskolc.
June 18, 2010: It was a gloomy day today as the skies threatened rain much of the day. It held off until dinnertime though as we met relatives from my mom's side of the family. Unfortunately, dinner was in the middle of the USA-Slovenia futbol match. When in Europe you get caught up with the World Cup and the matches are shown on every TV everywhere. It's fun! Too bad the third goal for the Americans was disallowed. I listened in Hungarian and even these announcers could not figure out the call. They need instant replay.
During dinner, we had a chance to meet my second niece (what is she called when my nephew has a baby girl?). Her name is Virag which means Flower. I guess the Hungarians are adopting unique names now too.
When we caught a cab back to the hotel the rains came hard; so did the thunder. The taxi cab driver raced through the streets of Budapest with no seatbelt, talking on the cell phone, with the radio and CB blasting. Tommy was quite scared and surprised. But, we made it back to the hotel in time to see a replay of the Lakers game (Tom did not know the score and so he enjoyed it quite a bit).
Tomorrow we meet our brothers and sisters from the southern states.
June 17, 2010: I thought I had it planned perfectly and if we stayed up all day we would be right on schedule. But, after breakfast we fell asleep and slept much of the day waking up to go to dinner. My cousin who is a year older than me picked us up and drove us into the heart of Budapest. There we met her husband, her two sons and one wife, and my dad's sister. It was fun talking with everyone. All except my aunt speak some English and so we spoke in both languages. The meal was fantastic as this was a real Hungarian restaurant. When we are in Miskolc, we will eat at various ethnic restaurants. I find it funny that we are in Hungary and eating Mexican, Greek, and Italian food. The night was pleasant and we ate outside while inside the World Cup match between Mexico and France was on. Each of the two times there was a roar from the crowd the young people would run in and see who scored. Mexico routed France and the talk turned to futbol.
In the meantime, Tom and I were trying to figure out how to get the Lakers game at 3 a.m. It's not televised here. But, as I type this note, I am watching gamecast on ESPN. When I first started the Celtics we ahead by 12. Now, the Lakers have closed to 4. Go Lakers!
June 16, 2010: I have good connection here in our hotel stay before beginning work at the orphanage in Miskolc. The flight from LAX to Budapest via London was nearly flawless with little stress. My son and I flew on British Airways and I had been worried about the volcano ash and recent strikes at BA. But, it all went well. We even sat next to a woman who had an interesting story. She's retired and now goes around the world working for months on organic farms as a volunteer (for room and board) and thus gets to live in some amazing places and learn the culture.
We arrived in Budapest to Malibu like weather and took a taxi to our hotel. I have opted to stay near a water park called AquaWorld for our first few days. With the Euro relatively weak and the Hungarian market not like much of Europe, we have a good deal here. I have been contacting my Hungarian friends and relatives to get together before the groups from Texas arrive on Saturday as we head to Miskolc then.
Last night (for us) we watched the Lakers beat the Celtics listening in Hungarian. It was fun getting readjusted to the language. Some people speak so fast that I can not catch all the words. But, good enough to know what they are talking about. Then we went to sleep and slept mostly all through the night. Now, f we could just stay up all day, we will be fine and over any jet lag. It's worse on the way back for some reason.
