encounter with the police

Yesterday as I was driving home from church I had my first encounter with the Hungarian police. Every once in a while they have days or periods of days when they're out en force pulling cars over randomly to check papers. Well, I had been asked last minute to drive to church (I am one of the few among the new teachers who can drive a stick), and so I presumed that the papers and everything were in order. When the lights started flashing behind us and we pull over to the curb, I wasn't too worried, because I hadn't done anything to break the law, so I figured it was just one of those random checks. I asked Sarah, who was borrowing the car, if I could have the papers, but she had not been given the papers, and had never been informed of the necessity of always having those papers on your person when driving around Hungary. Oops. So we were searching frantically all over the car, while the four cops stood outside my door looking at my passport and international drivers license. None of them spoke more than very minimal English, and I haven't yet mastered Hungarian, so communication was rather difficult to say the least. Sarah did find some registration papers in the glove compartment (not a good place to keep them...kind of like keeping your title in there). So we gave those to them, and after 10 minutes they came back to say that the papers had expired back in September. We were basically driving illegally. Not to mention that I am basically an illegal alien, as I have overstayed my 90 days visitor quota. So all the worse case scenarios started to play in my mind, like we'd be taken in and interrogated and then beaten with barbed wire, and I would be sent home to America with orders never to enter Hungary again. Sarah and I prayed. We were so nervous. It was very likely that they would tell us to leave the car there, that we couldn't drive it anymore. Or that we'd be fined for driving an illegal car. That's happened before to others, apparently. But God came through for us and we were let off very easy, not even a fine! We were simply told to take the car home and leave it there until the papers were renewed...