Just to keep everyone up to date, we've been really busy over the last few weeks trying to get our house finished in time for our 1st guests. Well it's almost complete now. We move out at the end of this week to our other house and hope to return to England for a couple of weeks mid May. I've also been busy building a new website to promote what we're doing here, please take a look www.explore-hungary.com It's not finished yet so please keep checking back as more information is added.

My bronchial infection turned out to be worse than expected and has meant that I've been unable to return to work until today.
The weather's been really mild recently but is due to turn colder this weekend with more snow forecast.
At long last, after a 6 week wait we've finally got digi tv. Not a massive choice but we've got about 20 channels that we can access in English.
Really need to get cracking and finish this place off over the next few weeks ready for the tourist season. Not a lot to do, some tiling, a couple of doors to make and a bit of panelling.

Time for another update.
The weather's been all over the place since Christmas. We've had -18*c, snow, sleet, sun and all the rest. For the last week or so the temperature's been above zero everyday but that only means that the germs can start breeding, hence I've got a broncchial infection which has really knocked me off my feet but went to doctors today and got sorted with antibiotics so should start picking up soon.
Since Tony went back to England Erika and I started sleeping in the basement room so that I could finish our bedroom. Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet so we've moved back up there until I feel better as it's warmer upstairs. We've also had to buy more wood for our fire as we were nearly out. This arrived last Wednesday and is still waiting to be stacked.
We've had lots of positive comments on our other blog to promote the rental of this house....but no bookings yet lol.
We'd thought of flying back to England for a break during the half term holidays but then found out that they don't have them here. The next proper holiday is summer so not sure what we'll do yet. We have found a carrier who'll deliver the rest of our belongings from England to Sirok for around £300 which is great as I don't have to drag the trailer back and forth with our unreliable car. We just need to sort out dates etc for him to collect and deliver.

Just a quick update.
Now that our Sirok house is nearly completed internally we're looking to let it out from April this year so have started a blog to initially promote it. Please visit it here: http://www.sugarboxhousesirok.blogspot.com/
Please feel free to leave comments or vote in the poll I have set up.
For those thinking of visiting the Hungarian Bike Week this year then the house is in an ideal location, just a 30 minute walk (stagger) from the site and has CLEAN toilets and comfortable beds!!! LOL

Christmas in Sirok

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!! Here's hoping 2009 will be healthy, wealthy and kind.

We moved to Sirok at the end of November when the weather turned really cold and we had a couple of days of snow. We now have a large wood burning stove which keeps up warm. Erika and I have also been busy finishing off the basement ready for visitors so we now have a shower and 2 toilets and a separate bedroom down there. There's still work to be done but at least it's functional and we can accomodate guests.

I've posted some pictures since we moved in here. The first 2 are of our Sirok house on Christmas day, the next is overlooking Sirok from the castle in November and the final one is of some of our garden furniture and lighting at our Almar house.

We attended midnight mass on Christmas Eve (1st time in a church voluntarily for me) and awoke to a white Christmas the following morning. We spent Christmas day together but did our "bit" for the local landlady by taking her a traditional English Christmas dinner round as she was working a 14 hour day otherwise she wasn't going to be able to celebrate at all.

My friend Tony has just flown out and spent a week with us which was great. We spent New Year's Eve in Eger which was a different experience. All the pubs and bars were closed but a handfull of restaurants were open so we had a few drinks in one of them then went to the main square to watch the firework display. It seems that most Hungarians spend the night with family/friends and those that venture out bring their won alcohol.

Unfortunately we've had more problems with our car so we don't know when we'll be able to return to England to visit our families and friends. We may just fly out in February instead of risking driving across Europe.

My teaching is going great although I've stopped teaching adults as they were hit and miss as to whether they turned up for lessons so I'm looking to teach more kindergarten classes in other nurseries which is what I really enjoy.

On January 2nd we had 2 visitors from Japan who I'd contacted over the internet. They were only in Eger for a couple of days and wanted to get out and about to see some of Hungary so we found out what they wanted to do and drove them around for the day, visiting Sirok castle, Mezokovezsed and Szepasszonyvolgy. They were thoroughly happy with the excursion as they got to see a lot more than they would otherwise have been able to.

This year we are really going to push letting our Sirok house out so if anyone wants to visit Hungary and be shown around then please let us know. It sleeps up to 5 and we will let it out on a daily basis so those that are just passing through also get to experience the beauty and hospitality of our village. We also want to promote daily tours and excursions, whether it be visiting local attractions, fishing trips, motorbiking tours or walks through the forests. All excursions will be taylor made to individual's requirements.

We can be contacted at pd.em@tiscali.co.uk

Wow, can't believe it's so long since I last posted.
So much has gone gone on since the beginning of August.....Whilst Erika was away on her training course one of her cats (the oldest) went missing. It was a horrendous time but she returned after 6 days, looking fit and well so we can only presume she went looking for Erika.
Karl, my youngest son came out to visit us for about 10 days which was great.
Erika started her new job teaching small children which was very traumatic, tiring and time consuming for the first few weeks but now she really enjoys it.
I started teaching , but just 1 lesson a week :o(
My mother and her boyfriend came out to see us for a week in September, again great as we celebrated her 60th birthday!!
We've had so many more problems with our car...overheating, anti roll bar bushes, now the front shock absorbers have gone. It's been a nightmare and very expensive. We should have returned to England by now to visit family and friends but can't until the car's sorted.
We bought some outdoor furniture from the local bar that's being refurbished and set into our garden and I installed lots of outdoor lighting which has transformed the garden here.
We've done a little work on our house in Sirok so we can move in any time but really want to get the living room floor tiled before we do so. The temperature's been great up until a few days ago when it dropped noticeably. We're still around 8-10*c but it's due to drop to well below 0*c in the next couple of weeks so we'll have to move to Sirok regardless of whether the floor's tiled or not soon.
I've started teaching in a kindergarten this week and start teaching adults tomorrow so things are moving on and picking up.
Hopefully my next post will be from Sirok.

Last week I managed to electrocute myself on our outside fridge....amusing to look back back on but I screamed like a girl at the time lol.
I dropped Erika off in Budapest on Sunday teatime, managing to get stuck in F1 traffic in the process. She likes the hotel but hates the course as it's so disorganised and everyone on it is getting very little sleep due to the amount of preparation work needed for the following days.
I got stuck on the mountain yesterday when the battery went flat on our car. after several hours and several miles walking I managed to find some young Hungarians who helped me out and ran me to the nearest Tesco to buy a new battery and saved the day. so a BIG thankyou goes out to them.
I got up early this morning to see Erika on her course in Budapest but was denied access due to confidentiallity reasons (?!) so ended up coming back home this afternoon and doing some more tiling on the terrace in Almar. Not been to Sirok yet but should hopefully get there tomorrow.
Left a note under the wipers of an English registered car in OBI car park a couple of days ago and received a call from a couple from Preston who've bought a house a few miles from us so should be meeting them on Monday before we go to pick Karl up from Budapest airport.