Qatar 2-7 June 2009

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To be continued.....

Hiking in Slovakia, 30 May - 1 June '09

Finally the Sheppards have come back from the silence and started the active blogging again!
This was our first holiday together in 2009:
Hiking trip with Ildi's 02-03 EB team from AIESEC BCE.

It was a 3 day trip to the beautiful Slovak Paradise, 250 km from Budapest. We drove there on a Saturday, settled in a lovely cottage, and already did a 2-3 hour hiking trip the same day around Dedinky. And actually it's lucky we did it because the next two days it was raining like hell.... :(
But don't worry, we didn't let our holiday to be ruined!
As we were close to the Polish border anyways, we decided to go sightseeing in Zakopane, a picturesque little village in Poland, which is also known as a skying paradise. Of course we couldn't ski in the summer, but we went up to the top of the hill with the traditional cablecar called "Gubałovka", had a nice traditional Polish meal there, and enjoyed ourselves.

The pictures speak for themselves!

View slideshow!

Sweet memories from the past

AIESEC South Africa 2005-06 - Johannesburg, SA
For best photos: go to Flickr

or watch this video!

AIESEC International 2006-07 - Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Summary of the rest of the year

March 2008: Trip to Transylvania

After our Civil Wedding and before our „Big wedding in Summer” it was time for Ryan to meet my extended family. At Easter my Dad, Ryan and myself drove to Transylvania (the region I was born in), and visited my grandparents and other relatives. It was quite awkward sometimes as Ryan only spoke a little Hungarian, and he could hardly communicate directly to my relatives, only with the help of a translator. That was usually me or my uncle Lackó. But at the end of the day all my relatives were very satisfied with my choice (how could they not be?), they were all sincerely interested in his country and culture, they all admired his patience with learning the language, and we said good-bye with very positive memories.

April 2008 – Trip to New Zealand

This time it was my turn to meet the family and friends of my darling, as well as to get to know his home country.

I enjoyed every minute of it. First of all, our flight from Hungary to New Zealand to took about 40 hours, and we flew through Dublin, London, Singapore, Sidney and our final destination was Auckland. Then the auntie of Ryan drove us to Hamilton, the town of the grandparents.

After meeting all sorts of relatives and family friends, we also visited Rainbow Springs and the mud pools of Rotorua, that are close to Hamilton.

Then we flew to Wellington, met the AIESEC friends, and had a lot of fun there. I was also introduced to the beauty of the city! I had hot chocolate in the Harbour, I saw the view of it from Mount Victoria, and I had fish and chips on the stairs of the Parliament – something you wouldn’t be able to do in Budapest.

After a few days we headed off to Queenstown – the world capital of extreme sports.

That was the place where I first tried extreme sports: bungy jumping and a jetboat trip. Awesome!

Of course we also visited the surroundings: Milford Sounds in Fiordland that is called „The eighth wonder of the world” - and the scenes of the Lord of the Rings movie! Truly breathtaking!

The next destination was Auckland, where we had dinner in the „Sky Tower”, a 328 meters tall building, the 12th tallest tower in the world.

Then we went back to Hamilton, attended a big party organised by the Auntie of Ryan at a real farm!

And to make sure we end the experience on a high note, Ryan took me to a rugby game where his team, the Waikato Chiefs beat the 1st ranked team of the country, the Canterbury Crusaders! That gave a really good ending to our visit!

For more pictures - click here!

May 2008 – Ildi at her cousin’s wedding, Ryan in Brazil

Well, these two occasions happened to be in the same week-end, and as Ryan was invited to chair the Brazilian AIESEC conference a lot earlier, he couldn’t cancel. So, this time we split – he went to Brazil and I went to the Wedding of my littly cousin, Julcsi. Here are some of the pictures of both events!

June 2008 – exam time

This June I finally managed to take my final exam in financial investments and risk management, and get graduated with a masters degree in one of the most prestigeous universities of Hungary, in one of the most difficult areas. It’s an awesome feeling to have made it!

July 2008 – Visiting Ildi’s cousin in Kissomlyó

Before our wedding we made a small trip to Kissomlyó as well, which is a small, friendly village in the countryside of Hungary. My cousin Bori and her boyfriend Hurka live there, and they run a cute little pub there. And in that week-end we attended a huge village gathering where a cooking competition was organised, and we could get to taste all sorts of traditional Hungarian meals and meet some friends of Bori’s.

August 2008 – The Big Wedding and Honeymoon

Some of the highlights of the happiest day of our lives:

• 160 guests from 5 continents, over 20 countries, with over 15 spoken languages
• Ceremony in one of the most beautiful churches in front of the Hungarian Parliament
• Young priest woman who played the guitarre and presented a bilangual Sermon in Hungarian and English.
• At the end of the ceremony: greeting the newly weds with „Ave Maria” played by my Uncle Előd (violincello), his girlfriend Csilla (violin) and my Aunt Márti (organ).
• Congratulations and Photoshoot with family
• Reception and party on the Gellert Hill in the Citadella Restaurant
• Official speeches – the most popular one being the speech of Ryan made in Hungarian, and translated into English by Ildi
• The first dance – Wiener Waltz learnt by Rildi in 1 week, music by Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
• “Kidnapping of the Bride” – a Hungarian tradition
• Gift giving and the Wedding Cake
• Traditional folk dance of the Bride and lots of fun of course

More pictures to be found here!

And one day later we left for Thailand, Phuket for our Honeymoon, which was the most beautiful vacation so far for both of us.

Here are some pictures to give you a taste of it! And if you would like to see
more, click here!

September 2008 – Ryan’s trip to New Zealand and the funerals

After the big wedding happiness was over, unfortunately we received bad news from New Zealand.

Ryan’s grandfather had taken a heart attack and was very sick in hospital, so he flew over to be with his family. Unfortunately on Sunday the 21^st he passed away. The funeral was on 23 September, and was the perfect farewell, nice, simple, no crying until after the service (something Ryan’s granddad would appreciate). It was an honour for Ryan to be asked to conduct the service, as his granddad was like a father to him.

October – November 2008: Sports events

As you may know, Ryan loves sports, especially rugby, and he has always been good at competing and achieving goals.

Therefore, one of his goals this year was to train for a Marathon run, and accomplish a half Marathon as a start. Originally he subscribed for the Budapest half Marathon, however, as he unexpectedly had to go to New Zealand around that time, he changed to a Hamilton Marathon run and he still made it! Awesome, isn’t it?

And the other event of the year was the business trip to UK, where Ryan and his assistant managing director (both crazy rugby fans) got to watch the All Blacks (The famous New Zealand national rugby team) play Wales and England. This trip was made to celebrate the huge growth in Ryan’s business, which expanded from a one man company in January to employing 21 people, and even more if you included part-timers, by October. Ryan got to finally see the All Blacks live in two of the biggest rugby stadiums in the world, and of course be happy that they beat both teams so he could gloat amongst all of the local fans. During the week in between matches Ryan was hosted by good friends Jarda, Ondro and Gabiza who made sure there was plenty of fun in between.

December 2008 – reflection of the past

This year December for us was filled with relaxation – besides the work rush at Ildi’s workplace and the Christmas preparations of course.

Christmas was held three times:

• At Christmas eve at Ildi’s Mum’s, according to Hungarian traditions. (In Hungary this is the time to give gifts to each other.)
• In the morning of Christmas day in our home – according to New Zealand traditions.
• And finally, in the afternoon of Christmas day we visited Ildi’s father and celebrated with him, too.

At New Year’s Eve we went to a house party and then to a big celebration, organised by a friend for around 500 people.

Inbetween we went to the cinema, spent a day in a Spa (at Margitsziget Danubius Hotel) as part of Ildi’s Christmas present, and reflected on the past and our future.

Now we can both say that an era of our lives ended. This was the era of being single, having a student life and a long, fruitful AIESEC experience.

It was also the era when we first went abroad, when we first got to know new cultures, new friends, and when we challenged and were being challenged the most.

Right now we live a different life. Our goals and motives are different, but they are equally exciting.

Watch this space, and you will get to know more about our lives in 2009!

Until then,

Take care,

Rildi