New Digs

Yesterday, Michael and I had a successful move across Budapest into our new flat. We are no longer Buda dwellers, but are now Pestians. Since I leave on Thursday, I packed everything up as if I was going home, so now I feel like I am just staying at a hotel for a few days. The new flat, located on Kiraly Ut. or King St. is awesome. It's such an upgrade for our last place, and since Mike is sharing it with Vincent, the rent is much less as well. The apartment has been completely redone by an Irish man (we can actually have a coherent conversation with the landlord!), and he's put in all new appliances and furniture, so it seems like a completely new place located in a really old building. To say I am anything but envious would be a lie! I absolutely love the place. There are huge ceilings, a giant kitchen, an actual dining room, a living room, one and a half baths and a big living room. It's amazing. I definitely started drooling when I saw that he has a dishwasher too - what luxury! But, the best part of it is the location. We're a five minute walk from the opera house, where we saw Madam Butterfly on Friday, and the beautiful Andrassy street. We are also right by great bars and restaurants. Llast night we were at one of our favorite dive-bars which is two doors down from our new place and the power kept going out. But, everyone just flipped open their cellphones, and the party kept going. Our actual building is situated between an art gallery and a funky second-hand clothing shop and directly across the street from a perfectly stocked grocery store. What a great place to live. Maybe Budapest will beckon me back after all . . .

One of Michael's high school friends who lives in Paris is visiting us for the next two days. It'll be nice to have someone to visit the sites with during my last couple days. We're going to get him from the airport this evening after Mike gets off work. He had to work 10-3 on a Sunday. I dislike his boss more and more each day.

Reverse Thanksgiving

Mike and I returned from the land of green this week, relatively unscathed except a few pounds heavier thanks to fish and chips, Butlers chocolates and stouts! We stayed with my host family, the Devins, in Dublin. It was great to see them in their new house. My host sisters, who are now almost 8 and 10 decorated our room with hand-turkeys and were very excited to eat American foods like deviled eggs and pumpkin pie again. Just like two years ago when I lived there, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner with the Devins and the Martins. The Martins are related to my family, and my friend Courtney lived with them. Courtney was also there this year with her friend Angela. Luckily, they brought all the ingredients for Thanksgiving with them from the states, so we managed a complete feast for the 14 of us. My host mom was joking with us that we were reversing the process of Thanksgiving, seeing as how the pilgrims came from roughly the same region where we were for the holiday. Quite a good point, so we had to call it a reverse Thanksgiving.
The dinner was just a blast. Ann Martin played John Denver and country tunes to make us feel at home. After we stuffed ourselves silly, we played a very competitive round of kids cranium - Michael and my team won both times. Here's a picture of the kid's table: it's Ruth, Eimer Martin, Finnoula, and Caoilinn (I know I misspelled one of those).That night was also Angela's birthday, so we headed downtown to Temple Bar, the best bar district, where I got to show Mike my favorite bars and introduce him to traditional Irish music, dancing, and unfortunately ridiculous Irish prices.
In addition to turkey day, we went all over Dublin and saw the main sights. Mike was especially thrilled with the Guinness factory, which is what most our pictures feature. I would have loved to take him to the countryside, but our trip was just too short. I did get him to the coast of the Irish sea, to a pretty suburb with a castle called Malahide.
Staying with a family was really nice, as was being in an English speaking country. It's been tough for me to get in the habit of Hungarian again. Mike got to sample some of Marie-Therese Devin's awesome cooking when she cooked Guinness stew for us, accompanied by her homemade bread - yum. The Devins and Martins said we now have to make it a tradition to spend every other Thanksgiving in Dublin.

Now I have exactly a week left in Budapest. I've finished teaching for Berlitz and wrapped up all my Hungarian articles. Now I get to hang out and tour the city. Today I went to a book signing for Salman Rushdie. I was hoping he'd talk, but he just signed books. It was still interesting to see him and his security guards though. I would have picked up a copy of his controversial book, The Satanic Verses, but they were only in Hungarian, naturally. This weekend we're switching apartments for the week, and one of Mike's friends is visiting - it should be busy.

Check out our Ireland pics with Mike's captions here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2151520&l=d50a9&id=19201156

Becoming April O'Neil

I am now the future business reporter for the Loveland Reporter-Herald. I decided to take the job and am at peace with the decision (most of the time). My editor is allowing me to start on December 17 rather than the 10th, so I can still go to Dallas and Austin upon my return, which I am very excited about. Plus, I don't have to work on Christmas or New Year's Day, although I have to work both of the eves - but that's the life of a daily newspaper reporter. I better get used to it.

On Thursday I depart for Dublin. I can't wait to see the Devins and eat a big Thanksgiving dinner. My friend Courtney and I are in charge of cooking dinner for about 20 people - yikes. Mike keeps talking about how much he wants to see a highland cow (which live in Scotland) and kiss the Blarney stone (which is too far out of the Dublin for our quick trip). But, I'm sure he'll be happy to be in town with the Guinness and Jameson factories and English speakers.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

(And for anyone who was not born in the 1980s, April O'Neil was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' journalist sidekick in the cartoon. She was a red-head who donned an orange jumpsuit. When I was little and played with the boys, I was always given the part of April, because apparently female ninja turtles are unheard of. I wrote about this influence in my application to journalism school in college, and it got me in! Upon hearing of my new job, one of my best friends immediately started calling me April. )

Budapest Blues

There is a funny blog that Michael and I read called Pestiside, which details humorous happenings in Budapest. Last week, there was a headline that said "seven reasons to kill yourself," and then posted the weather report for the upcoming week. Although, it is a drastic headline, it's pretty much right. The sun has barely peaked out at all, and we've been subjected to a steady, cold drizzle for the past five days. It did snow on Sunday, which was lovely. As my friend Liz put it, we are just experiencing the "city blues." The weather is bringing me down, and the people, mainly on public transportation, are bothering her. I don't think there is a higher concentration of depressing looking people than on Eastern Europe metros. I watch their faces as I ride up and down escalators, and they are pessimistically glum. Liz just is more irritated that no one moves for each other to get in and out of the trains. Plus, it is very sad, because the amount of homeless people in the city has become very apparent over the last month. The city doesn't stop them from sleeping in the metro stations, so there are make-shift beds lining the walls and beggars everywhere. This makes the place reek of urine. Unlike Liz though, I have been lucky enough not to witness people peeing on a daily basis - I'll count myself lucky! Many of the homeless people have puppies and dogs. I can't decide which is sadder - the fact that the dogs are also homeless or that homeless men adopt dogs so they get more money, because people feel more sympathy for animals than they do for other humans.

On a lighter note - kind of - I received a job offer to be a business reporter for the Loveland newspaper where I used to intern. Instead of making me really excited, I just feel stressed. It makes leaving Budapest seem real, means I have to cancel my trip to Dallas in December which I already paid for since they need me to start 2 days after I get home, and of course it means much less freedom in my schedule. Yes, I am scared of a big-girl job. As Mike pointed out last night, I could just save money and slack off at the tour center, since tour guides get paid the same amount as starting reporters with college educations. Boo!! I have until Monday to make my final decision. Mostly, I don't want to leave Mike, but I don't think I want to be here with him as long as he wants to stay here - which seems to increase by the day.

Tomorrow, I will go ice skating at this beautiful outdoor rink and actually spend some time with Mike. He's been working insane hours for a proposal that got scrapped last minute. Now, he wants a week of his life back!

I just finished watching "Angels in America" which is an amazing play and TV series on HBO. There is quote in it that I thought was so beautiful, and it's been running through my mind:

"Nothing's lost forever. In this world, there's a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind and dreaming ahead."

I can spell Ljubljana

After a fun Halloween spent at a crowded ex-pat party in Budapest, Mike and I went to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, during another four-day weekend. Initially, we were going to go to Italy too, because Ljubljana is only a couple hours away from the border, but we didn't want to spend the entire weekend on the train. So, while I still haven't gotten to Italy, this city was part of it before WWII, so I think it should count!
We left on Nov. 1 which is All Saints or All Souls Day in Budapest. Most Hungarians head to the cemetery to pay tribute to their relatives, clean their graves and leave candles. I admire the Hungarian devotion to their families. But, I also am amused that in the US we celebrate Halloween and avoid cemeteries while most of the world is flocking to their family's resting places at the same time. In fact, some Hungarians are irritated that Halloween is beginning to be celebrated here, because it interferes with their holy holiday.
The whole weekend trip was great, aside from travel woes. Since we decided to skip town on a holiday, of course the train station was packed. In true Hungarian fashion, they only had two ticket lines open for all international train tickets, and all of their tickets are written by hand. My largest annoyance with train travel is that there is no consistency. Prices are not posted anywhere and nothing is electronic, so it's anyones guess exactly what I'll pay. The line was huge, and we didn't think we'd get on the train in time. Finally, we waited 45 minutes and had five minutes to spare to find our train. So, we raced (literally) around the station, trying to find it. We rushed to the information office one minute before the train was schedule to depart, only to find out that it was leaving from a different station across the city -- I think this would have been really important information for the ticket agent to tell us?? Oh how I miss customer service . . Instead of leaving at noon, we had to leave at 5:30, so we didn't get to Slovenia until 2 a.m. instead of 9 p.m. Then, on our return trip back to Budapest, we got on a train going a different route than how we got to Slovenia. To get there, we cut through Croatia and into Slovenia. To get home we went straight through Slovenia, which costs 15 Euros extra a ticket. Of course, we were not informed of this until the ticket agent was checking our ticket outside of Ljubljana on Saturday morning at 7 a.m. We had blown most our Euros and only had 20 left. I am so thankful that the ticket agent gave us a break and just had us buy one ticket and let us go. I have no idea what we would have done if he dumped us in the middle of the Slovenian mountains! Luckily, no other agents checked our tickets until Hungary, and we were fine there.

In Ljubljana, we stayed at the best hostel I've ever been to, called Hostel Celica. It was renovated from an old military prison in 1991 by the student association in town. Twenty of the cells are still there, and individual artists redecorated each cell with a unique theme. We didn't stay in the cell block, because it was booked, but we got to see a few of them. I loved this hostel, because it was such a beautiful showcase of transformation. What was once a prison associated with war and suffering is now a peaceful, artistic meeting place of people from all over the world. One feature that was indicative of this change was an art gallery and a prayer room, which represented all the major world religions.
The city itself is a vibrant college town, with a castle perched on a hill and a river splicing it into two sections. Everyone there was happy and smiling, so it was a much needed break from Budapest. Plus, I loved being in a place where I could walk everywhere, there were less than 300,000 people and was filled with fun bars and art galleries galore. We toured the castle (this picture is of us on the top of the castle - you can see the Alps in the background), walked around the city and of course we found a micro-brewery for Mike. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to get back because Mike was supposed to go on a business trip to Macedonia, but it was canceled on his way to the airport! So, I'm happy he's been home all week.

Transylvania Treat

It was a dark and stormy evening as we approached Brasov. Our cramped car twisted around shadowy bends, wedged on each side by thickets of trees. Heavy droplets of rain, moments away from transforming to snow, plopped on our windshield. I was hypnotized by the wipers’ whine as we all stared out of the car, scrutinizing the road and watching fast moving clouds scurry across the moon, just shy of being full. Each of us hoped to spot the next human or stray dog that was prone to jump into the middle of the streets or, more likely, another horse-drawn carriage that tromped down the side of the road, bearing no lights to notify us of their presence.

That drive was the stuff of haunted tales, or at the very least, the beginning of a predictable horror movie where dusk spells doom. But it was the perfect setting for autumnal visitors to Transylvania, home to Dracula legends, to let our imaginations run wild until we reached the safe haven of our next accommodation.

I just returned from a weekend-road trip to Transylvania. Eight of us, mostly comprised of Mike, his coworkers and their significant others, one mascot – an oversized zucchini named Zoli, and later a cello that Bijal bought, squeezed into two diminutive European cars. Before this trip, I had no clue how large the Romanian region Transylvania was – we spent the majority of the three days in the car, but I was happy to drive because we got to see so much gorgeous scenery. It is full of rolling hills (complete with sheep and shepards), mountains with thick forests with fall leaves and even snow in higher elevations.

Just one year ago, I was in Dallas with Mike at a Vincent VanGogh exhibit called “Sheaves of Wheat,” a collection of his paintings of wheat fields in Europe. I never imagined that one year later, I would be in Romania, seeing these scenes that Vincent captured so skillfully in person.

Transylvania used to be part of Hungary, or “Greater Hungary” as it is referred. Before I left for the trip, when I told my students that I was going to the region all the Hungarians reminded me of its former owner – now after visiting it and seeing how beautiful it is, I understand their attachment to the region. Lucky for us, the people there still speak Hungarian, so since we had four native speakers in tow, it made communication easy.

The first night, we stayed at an adorable B&B, the “Tulipan” in a tiny town close to the border. For only 17 euro, we were served a delicious, traditional 3-course dinner, had wonderful accommodations in folksy-decorated rooms and had breakfast. Amazing deal. The next morning, we even woke up to a rooster crowing – not an experience I get in Budapest. The next night, we stayed in a town where Mike’s colleague, Doru is from called Tg-Mures. Doru’s mother cooked us dinner. She was really sweet and hospitable. It was a much-more developed cities than the others we stayed in, so we walked around the downtown and went to a restaurant there. The final night, we stayed in Brasov at a great house. There were 6 or 7 rooms, and only two other people staying there besides us. So, we took the place over. Having such nice, inexpensive accommodations makes it a great place to visit and makes tackling the roads worth it.

As we drove from town to town, we passed many provincial towns. We’d be driving quickly down a road and abruptly hit our breaks as we barreled into a town that had set up its market in the middle of the road. Here, locals could buy a few choices of clothing (which explained why there seemed to be a uniformity to the villagers dressing (women still wear traditional sweaters, long, brightly patterned skirts, and scarves over their hair, secured under their chins with a tight knot). People walked and led horses through the center of streets, impervious to the dangers of oncoming cars. I am very thankful I did not have to drive on this trip. Instead, I enjoyed watching everything unfold.

Driving through the little villages was a really important realization that people still live without many modern conveniences. Usually, I take it for granted that people can afford cars instead of horses or can afford to pave roads. But, driving through Romania was a good reminder of how easy I have it. I also loved driving through the mountains – they were snowy and beautiful. We even passed a few ski resorts, which left Mike drooling and wishing for his skis. At one point, we had a roadside picnic, and went for a small wintry hike – it was perfect.

Besides the car, we stopped at the Bear Cave – an impressive cave discovered in the 1970s. It is named this because the cave used to be home to a species of bears that is now extinct. Their bones are all over the cave, and one skeleton is dated over 25,000 years old. We also walked around Tg-Mures where I saw one of the most impressive churches yet in Europe. It was an Orthodox church with an amazing wall of Icons.

And of course, our last stop on our trip was Bran – where “Dracula’s Castle” resides. The story of Dracula was written by an Irishman who actually never visited Romania, but he based his book off this castle. So, even though there is no real castle, Transylvanians are not the least bit hesitant about exploiting the tale for commercial gain. I eavesdropped on an English tour in the castle, and the self-deprecating tour guide kept making fun of this fact. Even if there wasn’t a real vampire there, if I was a vampire, I’d probably hang out there. The castle is situated on a hill, which overlooks the whole town. The morning we were there, it was raining and misty, which made it seem authentic.

One of my favorite stops was in the castle district of Sighisoara. We arrived right before dusk, and it was by far the spookiest stop. We parked on a windy cobblestone road and set out for the castle. On the way, we stopped in a Palinka cellar to sample and buy some of the potent booze of the region. To get up to the castle, which was basically a fortress, you had to walk up steps with a black, wooden tunnel built over them. Little slivers of light shone through the structure, making it a murky climb to the top. By the time we got there the church was closed – so much for a safe haven. But, there was a spooky graveyard we visited. Both Mike and Bijal took pictures of some of the headstones. One of them said 194-1918. My response, along with other non-Hungarian speaker with us, was how cemetery pictures creep me out, especially for 4 year old grave. That’s when we were informed that it was a WWI memorial – then it was pretty funny that many of us were thinking the wrong thing.

On our late drive back to Hungary, the four of us in Ballazs’ car were stopped by border control twice, which was nerve-racking, considering Mike and I’s status and the new cello Bijal bought, for which she didn’t pay VAT. But, luckily, we got in. The border guards did ask Ballasz where he was “taking the women.” We laughed it off, but I guess it’s not that funny of question, because there is a lot of sex-trafficking in Eastern Europe.

You can see a lot more of our pictures via the link in my previous posting.

Links! Links! Links!

I am working on composing my blog about my weekend trip to Transylvania. It should be up soon (I just need to catch up on work and sleep first), but in the meantime, check out these photos from the trip, courtesy of Mike:

http://colostate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144393&l=46a49&id=19201156

Also, see some photos from Eger, the wine country:

http://colostate.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2142708&l=edfa8&id=19201156

Also, here are my most recent stories (the links don't seem to work for long, so hopefully they'll be up for awhile):
http://wherebudapest.hu/2007_10/five_best.html
http://wherebudapest.hu/2007_10/works_on_the_edge.html

Weekend winos

Good morning. Last night, I just returned from a very fun day trip to Eger - part of Hungary's wine region with Mike and our great friends Liz and Tim. We got up early to catch the 9 a.m. train, because it was three hours there and three hours back. But, the landscapes are gorgeous on the ride, very pastoral, and some of them look like the foothill views from I-25 near Fort Collins. Once in Eger, we went straight to the wine valley and hopped from cellar to cellar, sampling wine all afternoon and enjoying a beautiful fall day. Even though I had just been there with my mom, it was great to go again, and it was Mike's first trip outside of Budapest in Hungary. I guess he went outside the city once to go paragliding, but I think it was time he see more of his country-of-choice.


In one of the Eger cellars we entered, we were the only ones in there, after being ushered in by the old man who owned it. There, we enjoyed a speech from the owner, who spoke a combination of Hungarian/German/English to us. Mike was the only one who could follow the animated conversation. All I could catch was that he kept discussing Hitler and seemed very anti-Semitic and anti-American when taken out of context, but Mike tried to explain that this really wasn't the case. He was just complaining about being constantly influenced and controlled by outsiders and having to switch from learning German to Russian, and now to English. Liz got some of his speech on video, so I'll post that when we get it. There was also this crazy older lady who we kept seeing at different wine cellars. She wore an enormous, fun-lined red coat, and wore enough make-up to rival Mimi from the Drew Carey show. She was at different cellars all day, and we kept seeing her pass out in short stints - where she would snuggle into her jacket, wake-up again and then get a new glass. She is a character who definitely needs a picture too.

Berlitz just keeps piling on the classes for me. I started a new one on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with business people at an oil company. The three students are really funny though, so it makes it worth it to have to teach classes from 8 am to 8 pm on those days. There is one student who continuously likes to cuss, so I am trying to expand his vocabulary. It is amusing to be able to cuss in another language, because the words carry no weight or connotations. So, while I can't get him to stop cussing completely, I am at least teaching him how to put it in complete sentences. This way he'll be a well-educated slanderer. It is crazy to think that I just started this job, but I'll already have to tell them I'm quitting soon. Liz just got yelled at by the school for not having enough availability when they didn't give her many classes, so I am sure they won't be happy to have me quit. Especially when they just had me take on 3 more classes last week!

And this photo is of Tim and me celebrating, after Liz made us a triumphant Mexican dinner.
This is a randomly-inserted picture of the lovely ladies that I have girls night with. From right to left, there's Bijal from India/France/Atlanta, Bori from Hungary/Toronto, Liz from New York/Colorado, me, and Abim from Nigeria. We get together about once a week and watch movies or grab drinks.

Breaking News

I (meaning Mike) just booked my flight home. While, I was planning to come home the same day as Mike, Dec. 8, the flight price jumped up to nearly $2000 for a one way ticket! So, instead, he found me a $490 ticket for a one-way flight on Dec. 6.I am sad not to have a travel buddy, but I can't beat that price. So, now I need to find a friend to pick me up at 12:30 am at DIA on a Thursday!

We also booked our flight to Ireland. We leave on the night of Thanksgiving and return on Sunday. We'll be staying with the Devins, so Mike gets to make Thanksgiving crafts with me and the little girls. My host sister Caoilinn said we couldn't come unless we made hand-turkeys again. It made me happy that she remembered doing it from two years ago.

City Living

It was just brought to my attention that I am in a Mike-style spiral, as it's been awhile since I last wrote a blog entry. I've been on a non-fiction writing kick and have had lots of Business Hungary/Where Budapest assignments lately. Also, my friends have been also very prolific in emailing me, which I love, but I have been spending copious amounts of time writing back. So, I apologize for not keeping my loyal readers updated - I just hadn't really noticed since I've been constantly writing and on my computer - just in different capacities.
Mike and my friend Jeff just visited us for the weekend, which was fun, but led to a lot of sleep-deprivation! But, I've been in the mood to go out dancing and stay up to the wee hours of the morning, so it was great.
Teaching is going well. My schools keep wanting to pile on the classes, and I am beginning to get overloaded. I always knew teaching would be a hard job, and not one I was particularly drawn to, but now I realize just how much time it takes to prepare for classes and really engage my students. So, I'm having a difficult time saying, "no" to more classes, but I think it's necessary if I want to keep up with my other interests. It makes me value teachers even more, and simultaneously exemplifies up my knowledge that teaching is not my professional calling.

Here are some other updates:

• Tomorrow I finally get to tour the famous Parliament building with a group called NAWA (North American Women's Association). I am not joining the group, but just helping with their volunteer work, which is an "adopt a granny" program, where they pair up an orphanage and a nursing home and play Bingo or go on outings like this one tomorrow. I am quite excited, and happy to have found a service project. However, I need to brush-up on non-verbal communication, as none of the youth or elderly will speak English.
• Mike went to Macedonia the week before last on a business trip for a USAID project. I am not too jealous about his travel destination, but I did realize that I don't like being left in Budapest alone at all. It can get quite lonesome and I don't like having to walk alone at night, but I don't have much choice. I have to hand it to Mike that he handled it for four months before I got here. He has to go again for a full week in November and perhaps once this month.
  
• I am going to celebrate Thanksgiving with my host family in Ireland again. They offered a free place for Mike and I to stay, and a friend I studied abroad with will also be there with her host family that is related to mine. So, it'll be just like two years ago! I'm really really excited.
  
• Yesterday I attended a press conference for AmCham on Karen Hughes. She used to be the communication director of Bush, and is now an ambassador and oversees three US Gov departments, and a whole host of other accolades like being the former head of the Republican party of Texas. Her speech was pretty interesting, but luckily it was short, because I had to write about it. I agreed with most things she said about corporate responsibility (the topic of the speech) except when she talked about the successes of No Child Left Behind, which she helped engineer. That made me want to gag and argue with her all at the same time . . . But, I refrained from putting this sentiment in my story.
• Last week I attended a conference on Marketing, so I did a big story on Google and interviewed their rep for Hungary. Now I know too much about the company, but I'm starting to build my own web site with their tools that I found out about. I now own Marisabeahm.com. It's a work in progress though . . .

O.K., that's my massive update for now. I'll write a more specific detailed one later. But I just finished one class, and I have two to go today, so I have to get going.

Beahms take over Budapest

Right now, my mom should be still fast asleep, fighting off jet lag. She just returned from visiting me in Hungary for a week. I loved having her here. It would have been very odd to have lived in a foreign country for half a year and have none of my close friends or family come visit. So, now I have someone at home who will know what I'm talking about when I mention Marxim, a great communist-styled pizza place, or tell stories of my landlord Istvan. Here are my half of the photos of her visit. I think she took better ones with her camera:

http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2197477&l=6021e&id=10215414

We did all sorts of fun stuff during her visit. First, we went to a wine festival at the Budapest castle district, where we saw live music (including an acapella group that performed Michael Jackson songs in Hungarian - quite strange) and saw an opera. La Traviata was not the most exciting of shows, but gazing at the ornate frescoes of the opera house made it worth it. Plus, opera tickets are less than the cost of a movie, so no one should miss out on it. My mom and I also spent a night in Eger, which is the wine region of Hungary. It was a cute, smaller town, known for women who fought off the Turkish army. The wine area was really cute - it only took about 20 minutes to walk from our hotel to the "Valley of Nice Women," which is what the region is called. I've also heard it called the Valley of Beautiful Women. In this valley, there are over 200 wine cellars to go sample from and plenty of wine to buy. Their specialty is called Bulls Blood - a deep red wine, so we lugged a few bottles of that back to Budapest.
In Budapest, we saw the main sights and met up with my mom's friend Gena from Fort Collins who happened to be in Hungary as well. We grabbed traditional Hungarian food and went to this really fun music pub I recently discovered. I think I will become a regular. On our last day, we were very indulgent and went to Gellert Bath and spa - the most ornate of the baths in Budapest. There we both got Swedish massages and soaked in the thermal waters. We also played around in their wave pool too. I want to do that every day! The massages were funny, because they give them to you when you're in your swimming suit, and they'll have 3 or more people in a room giving different people massages, and the ladies just jabber away in Hungarian to each other - but it's still relaxing nonetheless.

Now, it's back to work for me and Mike. He's been ill today, so we've just been staying at home. Of course, he won't admit he's sick, but just that he's "not well." I don't think staying up until 5:30 a.m. this morning to watch Arkansas play Alabama helped his cause. I could only make it through the first quarter and then I crashed. I am just not as good of a sports fan. Coming from Colorado, I missed out on the Southern, die-hard football gene. Luckily, Mike has met people in Budapest who do possess it.

Berlitz and Bullwinkle

My lifestyle has gone from a slow, self-dictated pace, to scattered and crazy. Of course, it's the latter style that I am most used to, but it came as a shock to my system this week to have very little free time. I guess it's time that I joined the working world. Teaching is going well so far, and I am lucky, because the school spoon-feeds my lesson plans to me. So, if I don't feel like getting creative, I don't have to.

So far, I have 5 different classes that I teach, but I've only met three, one of which I am dropping. The students I see the most are two business men from South Korea. They are here working at a bank for the next two months. As if the culture shock between leaving their families in Korea and moving to Budapest weren't enough, they've subjected themselves to taking both English and Hungarian lessons simultaneously. Yikes. I really like them, and I think they like me too, except they are not accustomed to the American accent, so I am hard to follow as they say.

The next class is advanced speakers which I have already dubbed the Bullwinkle class. This is because it has two people in it, and one of them is from an area right outside from Russia, and her name is Natasha. Naturally, she is pretty, tall and pale, just like the cartoons. She is a great student who learned English while working for the Red Cross. Now, she's taking lessons to master her English and entertain herself while her kids are at school. Today, she brought her adorable 3-year-old son to class, and he slept through the entire thing. Hopefully, that's not an indication of my teaching enthusiasm. The other man is Hungarian and named Atilla . . insert Atilla the Hun jokes here. He is another businessman and is a very good speaker, so it makes my job easy. Things will go well as long as I don't slip and call him Boris.

My other class is horrendous and will be dropped asap. It begins at 7:30 a.m., which is do-able. But, when I agreed to take it, the secretary neglected to tell me that it is on the Eastern outskirts of Pest, which is about as far away from my flat as you can get. Some of Berlitz's classes are taught in actual businesses, and this one was at a Volvo factory. I left my apartment at 6:30 and still managed to be half an hour late. I had to ride the entire line of a metro, get off, and take a bus for 45 minutes. So, I commuted for 3 hours to teach and get paid for 1.5 hours. Of course, the day I had to go was only 50 some degrees, windy and rainy. I was sleep deprived, grumpy, and not prepared to teach level one students, which is exceptionally challenging. Luckily, Berlitz realized that this was ridiculous and told me I don't have to do it anymore, except for tomorrow. So, my alarm clock is set for WAY too early tomorrow. When my alarm clock goes off, I wonder how I ever woke up for swim team practice at 5:30 am all those years . . .

Starting the week after next, I get two more groups of students. I hope they are as interesting as my current students. On Saturday, my Mom gets here, and I can't wait! We have lots of fun activities planned, and I took most the week off from teaching, so we can go explore wine country and Budapest.

Reluctant teaching, happy travels

These are some quick shots from Bratislava, Slovakia, where Mike, Bijal and I ventured on Sunday. We only took a quick day trip, but that was enough, as we saw the sights we wanted to see within 3 hours - including lunch. The old town area is very cute, with lots of nice terraced cafes, colorful buildings and impressive churches. There is also a large castle and fortress, which seemed barren, but gave great looks out to the other side of Bratislava, which hosts communist block housing clusters. A Slovakian woman told us that it holds the highest concentration of people in Europe - perhaps I should fact check that one? At the very least, I can say that I've seen where my great grandparents are from. Also, this trip made me realize that Mike and I usually take pictures of the pretty areas of the cities we visit, which are the minority, so perhaps we should start taking pictures of the seedy areas to give folks at home a more accurate picture of what we see. For instance, I took a nice picture of the performing art hall in the downtown, but neglected to photograph the multitude of homeless beggars in the train station, all the graffiti, and the drunk men who tactlessly yelled things at Bijal and I - which makes me thankful sometimes when I can't understand the language.

But, besides Bratislava, a lot has happened recently. Here are some links to my life. First, are links to some of the first stories I had published at Where Budapest Mag:
http://wherebudapest.hu/2007_08/book_of_the_month.html
http://wherebudapest.hu/2007_08/cool_pools.html

And here is a link to all of Michael and I's pictures from our trip to Germany with Mr. Klein two weekends ago (and, if it looks like we spent the whole trip with a beer in hand, that is a fairly accurate depiction - it is Germany after all.)
http://colorado.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=35920999&l=e7a24&id=10215414

The trip to Germany was wonderful. I wish we could have stayed longer. My German roots became very evident while I was there, as I marveled at the cleanliness, order and efficiency of the country. After Hungary, it was quite comforting to be in a more organized society. Michael of course hates rules, so he teases me all the time about how I should be living in Germany, because I am terrible at even crossing the street when I'm not supposed to. But, anyway, Mark (Mike's dad) was there on business, so we met up with him in Frankfurt for a weekend. We stayed in Mainz, an adorable, lively college town just outside Frankfurt. Mark and Mike showed me all their favorite spots, like a brewery/restaurant that is in a cave where the city used to store their ice and used the cave as the village refrigerator. We also went on a boat tour on the Rhein River, where we were inundated with castle views. The next day we saw Heidelburg, which I also loved. It had a very impressive castle that we tromped around, and enjoyed their downtown area too. I wish we had stayed longer, but I'm very happy I got to Germany. Perhaps, I'll write more details about it later, rather than the overview, but that's enough to understand the pictures.

I am in the midst of Berlitz teacher training, where I've been spending my days in a classroom with other Americans (almost all New Yorkers), Hungarians, British, a Peruvian and one Aussie, learning the "Berlitz method" of teaching foreign language. It sounds like a war strategy to me, but I go with it. I have met some great people, and will actually be making a steady income soon enough, which I am very thankful for. But, just to complicate things, a job I want in Colorado as an entertainment reporter just opened, so now I have to figure out if I'm ready to leave Europe to take the job if it's offered . . . stay tuned.

Bombs, Bands and Bards

This week has produced some good stories. So, I'll try not to be too long winded, but here they are:

Last Friday I came home to find my block and the entrance to my apartment surrounded by the police. I walked up to the cops at my apartment to see if I could go inside, and they said "nem," which I recognize as no, and then they started speaking quickly about, "THE BOMBA." Despite my limited Hungarian, I am savvy enough to recognize the word bomb in a foreign language, especially when the policeman makes exploding guesstures with his hands as he repeats, "Bomba." It was at this time that I notice my neighbors sitting around the nearby sidewalks, somberly gathered like a block party that just ran out of beer. Naturally I am a little concerned, because no one wants to hear the words bomb and be denied access to their flat. So, I called Mike and he brought Balazs, our official translator, to the scene to investigate. It turns out that in the huge construction site behind our house (see the pictures in my previous blog), the workers found a 40 kg (I weigh 54 kgs to put that into perspective) shrapnel grenade from WWII that had not been detonated. So, I couldn't get into my flat until the bomb squad moved it. Yikes. I'm thankful that I wasn't home when they evacuated our flat, but at the same time, it would have been an amusing site to see the 50 macho construction workers fleeing the scene. As my sister, said, "It's just another day in Eastern Europe."

Mike and I made it to Sziget, the biggest music festival in Europe on Friday night and Saturday. Here, approximately 400,000 visitors take over an island on the Danube, where there are multiple stages, food, games, booths - just about everything you could think of. Wherever there wasn't a palinka stand or a stage, there seemed to be wall-to-wall tents for the campers. The event was fun, but crowded. The big name show that we caught was Nine Inch Nails, and they were awful, but I've never liked them. We lasted about four songs at that stage, and then moved to a drag show instead, which was much more amusing, mostly because they weren't attractive drag queens, but were overweight, middle-aged Hungarian and Austrian men (sans one attractive Parisian). As it was Mike's first drag show, I think he's scarred. We also went into this cool structure called a Luminarium. It is a like a blow-up house for adults on drugs, but it was fun sober too. There are multiple rooms, plastic forests, with ambient music playing and people reclining onto walls that felt like Twister boards. That is what the pictures are of at the beginning of this post.

Last night, I went to the first Bardroom event since I arrived. This is a network of ex-patriat literati, who host events, readings and open-mics. The event had two very talented featured writers, and then an open-mic portion where I read some poetry even though I hadn't planned on it. The whole thing was great, except at the end it started getting overwhelming. It seems that a representative from every organization I have ever emailed from Hungary, such as art schools, non-profits, or publications, was at this event. So, I was approached by multiple people, including editors that I had blown off because they wouldn't pay me for my work, after the reading who knew me. It was like this unexpected networking gala. Everyone knows my editors at the mags I'm working for and the school I'll be teaching at, and seems to have started at the same spots. It's this intricate social web. So, I came home with invitations to join international writers groups, business cards and the standard business cards of most poets - a scrap of paper from their journal with their email address scribbled on it.

And some other things:

• We are going to Frankfurt this weekend to see Mike's dad who will be there on business.

• I got my first Hungarian hair-cut today, and I didn't get a mullet - phew.

• At the grocery store today, I was attacked by 20 packages of salami as they fell from the shelf directly onto my head. I received many a stare, but no offer to pick up salami packages that littered the isle. So, I can't use the term I've been hit by a ton of bricks, but now I can say I know what it's like to be hit by a ton of salami.

• I am minutes away from finishing Atlas Shrugged, the longest book I've ever read at 1080 pages, with hardly any dialouge and tiny print. I'm proud of this feat - I think it's resume worthy. And on another literary note, I've been listening to one of David Sedaris' books on my Ipod as I travel around the city, which of course, is hilarious. So, I've been chuckling to myself and making people think I am probably crazy - this may explain why no one helped me during the salami incident.

Two months

This is me outside a beautiful palace I visited yesterday. It's only 45 minutes outside the city, and I was quite happy that it was easy to find and not swarming with tourists. I definitely want to go back and marvel at the ornate wall paper, church and Queen Elizabeth's dressing rooms.

As of two days ago, I have officially been in Hungary for two months. August was my tentative date to return to the US, but now I am not positive when it'll be. Perhaps around Thanksgiving, if not sooner. I've been looking for jobs in the states, as well as around Budapest, so I don't know what will happen. I did get hired at an English school called Berlitz, but I don't start training for another two weeks. Teaching has never been something I've felt called to do, but maybe I'll like it once I start. It'll be a good way to supplement my time with freelance writing.

Budapest is filled with turtles (my label for backpackers) this weekend, because it’s the largest musical festival in Europe, called Sziget, which means island. The concert takes over an entire island on the Danube, where there’s non-stop music, camping and parties. It lasts for a week, and we hope to go at least one day this weekend.

I've realized that I haven't shown any pictures of my neighborhood, so here's kind of a day in the life photo spread.:

Our apartment building:

The construction in our backyard. Apparently, there's Roman ruins under there.

Our friends Peter and Balazs:
The living room with antiquated furniture:

Our kitchen, which I strongly dislike:

Mike's office:

Hero's Square, one of my favorite spots:

Marcus the expat

The number of ex-patriots in Hungary surprises me. Well, perhaps not their presence here, but that I run into them so often. There is a camaraderie among foreigners who meet acquaintances from their homeland in Budapest. This is accompanied by a willingness to strike up conversations with anyone with fluency in English. Perhaps, all the perpetually displaced people crave a touch of home, so they talk to strangers who wouldn't get a second glance if they were back in the states.
For example, not only did I meet two groups of Texans this weekend, but I also met a man who went to CU today. I’ve been finishing up and article for Denver Life magazine (which debuts in January) and starting my next article for Business Hungary on this rainy Monday. Because I’ll go nuts from isolation if I try to remain in our apartment, I headed to my favorite coffee shop next to the Museum of Fine arts. It’s housed in this old Victorian-styled house, with many rooms, blue, bold flowered wall paper, comfortable lounge chairs and hard wood floors. It is lovely and peaceful. But, of course it takes about 30 minutes to get here and is the most expensive coffee locale that I have discovered in this land devoid of Starbucks; but I like it anyway. But, as I was sitting there, someone asked if he could take a chair from my table, and after he heard my accent, he struck up a conversation with me. Imagine his surprise, when he found out I was from CO, and was a CU alum – his alma matter as well. He’s been in Budapest for a year, and in Prague prior to that. These instances are amusing, but I try to avoid saying the cliché that it’s a small world. Not because I dislike the expression, but once it's spoken, the Disney World theme song will ring through my ears, and that’s just torturous.

This weekend, we went to Szentendre, a town north of Budapest known for colorful buildings, artisans and cobblestone streets. The picture at the beginning of this post is of its main square. While it was quaint, it provided nothing new, as the food and craft vendors are the same there as they are all around the city. But, I am sure it is a fun place for visitors, and not profession Budapest tourists like I have become. Mike and I dubbed the place the "Hungarian Estes." But, if it had the Rocky Mountains near by, I'd be more inclined to return. My next plan is to get to Hungarian wine country– that is supposed to be quite different from Budapest. Also, Mike and I are going to Frankfurt in mid-August to visit his dad, who’ll be there on business. I am really excited. Here's some pics I've taken lately:

This is the inside of the Jewish Synagogue in Budapest. It's supposed to be the most ornate one in Europe - it was gorgeous. And, here is Mike, perched outside a large church in Szentendre:

A noteable occurance

Walking home the other day, I was approached by a classic little-old Hungarian woman. Wrinkles abounded on her face, her hair was covered by a dull-colored scarf, except for a bun of hair, and she wore a sensible gray button-down dress that went down to her calves.
Now, minutes before I was meeting her, I was thinking to myself about how much I wanted to find volunteer work to do in Hungary, and I miss being in a community where I feel like I am helping someone that's not work related. This is the first time since I was in junior high that I am not volunteering for one agency or another.
So, while I am immersed in this inner-dialog, this pleasant lady comes up to me on a busy street corner right by a tram stop. She begins speaking quickly in Hungarian to me, which sounds like a melodic trill to me - seeing as how I can't make out many words yet. I answer with one of the few phrases I've mastered, which means, "I don't speak Hungarian. Do you speak English?" But, she completely ignores me, grabs my arm, points across the street, and continues speaking. This is when I realize she can't see well, and she is looking for assistance in crossing the street. So, of course I walk her across and she smiles, says thank you, and walks away.
Now, as I walked home, I just had to chuckle. Here I was, thinking that I need to find more altruistic outlets, and then I perform the most stereotypical good deed possible, usually attributed to polite Boy Scouts (meant with all due respect to the wonderful Boy Scouts in my life): walking an old lady across the street. Just a good natured situation to remind me that things work themselves out.

Dog days . .

I am sitting in the sweltering heat of my fifth story apartment during the fourth or fifth day in a row that it's been in the 100s. My fan follows me wherever I go - it is the only pet I have right now. While Colorado is this hot right now too, I think it's the humidity that is killing me and being among crowds and public transportation is not helping. This heat has made it quite difficult to sleep or walk anywhere in this concrete city without feeling like I just went on a long run. Michael has barely been able to sleep for days, so I am surprised he is still surviving work. He has taken to sleeping on our balcony in his prized-lawn chair, but it doesn't seem to help all that much since our neighborhood is so noisy.

Not much new to report. Michael and I both had birthdays last week. We celebrated his at a Mexican restaurant that is actually quite good, with his coworkers. For mine, since it was on a Saturday, we went to this big outdoor pool complex on Margaret Island. I loved it and utilized the water slides and wave pool to their fullest. That night, we enjoyed fireworks over the Danube, to mark the celebration of Bastille Day. Oh, and also, my aunt Jeanette and her family from Cincinnati were in town last weekend. They took Mike and I out to a great Hungarian restaurant. It was very comforting to have some family in town. Their visit snapped me out of my bored/semi-homesick state of mind. We got my aunt and uncle to try Unicum, the harsh drink of Hungary. Hopefully, they still like me after that.

I've gone to two art museums this week, seeking out air conditioning. So, that basically tapped me out of the last entertainment activities I was clinging to in Budapest. Now, I want to travel somewhere new. But, I am also job hunting in both the states and Budapest, because I don't know where I should be in the upcoming months (I had an interview with an English school, but they canceled it on me). Basically, I'm stuck, because I need a job to have the money to travel, because at this current juncture, I certainly do not. So, I have all this time on my hands to travel because I don't have a job, but I can't afford travel because I don't have a job. Ah, sweet conundrums. But, I am still hoping to get to Italy soon. My problem now is finding a travel companion, because Mike is extremely swamped at work, and probably won't have free time again until Sept. So, chances of him getting time off to indulge in Italy are not looking good. Anyone want to turn their back on America for awhile and come play with me?

Croatian Sensation

Currently, I am a prisoner in my own apartment. The door to our apartment has to be locked from the outside, and we have two pairs of keys. Mike accidentally took my pair of keys, and he had one in his briefcase as well, so I have no way to unlock the door since he is at work. So, now I will sit tight until he comes to, "let out the girlfriend." I frequently joke about being his pet who waits at home for his return, but it scares me a little when jokes turn to reality. On a funny note about our apartment: yes, we have a working washing machine now, but that same weekend we got it, our water shut off in half our apartment (conveniently when I was shampooing my hair in the shower). Now, the water is back on, but since we had a power outage last week, the power won't return in our kitchen or living room. Luckily, one outlet works so we can plug in our refrigerator, but that's it. This is one of those houses where something always has to be broken. I guess we'll have to deal with Istvan again soon . . . I always seem to babble about the little details, but those are the things I want to know about other people's trips, so hopefully I am not boring any of you who read the blog.

But, in the exciting realm of living abroad: Michael and I went to Split, Croatia this past weekend. It was paradise - that's about the easiest way I can describe it. We enjoyed the rocky coasts of the Adriatic Sea every day, as the beaches were only a five minute walk from the little room/studio apartment we rented. I haven't swam in the ocean since I was 8, so I absolutely loved it. I always seem to go to the ocean when it is too cold, or I just go to the Pacific Ocean or the Irish Sea - neither of which are warm. I loved how few tourists there were in Split, and how the city center was built in the remains of Diocletian's Palace - all Roman ruins. On our last day, we took a ferry to a nearby island, and visited a town called Supetar. After lying on the beach for awhile, we decided to rent a motor scooter. So, with Mike driving and me clutching on (white-knuckled for the first leg of the journey, as I am the antithesis of a speed demon, and I had never been on a scooter before) to him. We drove, or "scooted" all over the Island, and ended up on the other side in another coastal town called Bol. Being able to travel around the island and see beautiful coastal views from the top of hilly roads, was definitely the highlight of the island adventure.
Now, I've only been in Budapest for 2 days, and I'm ready to go back to Croatia. Instead of describing the beauty of it more, I'll let our pictures speak for themselves. Next time I log on, I'll include a link to our entire photo album.

I love this one on the back of the scooter.

The 4th sans fireworks

On the Fourth of July, I woke with a start to Neil Diamond belting "They're coming to America . ." Even though he had to work on our nation's holiday, Mike still felt the need to soak up some patriotism before entering the office, which meant disturbing my slumber with Neil. I think this is a violation of a human right of some sort . . .
But, the holiday was fun, although makeshift to say the best. I went to the store that afternoon to pick up supplies for our potential BBQ. There, I witnessed an American couple debating how many bottles of ketchup they'd need. I walked by and said, "Happy 4th of July!" They were caught off guard, but looked up and laughed and said they were trying to barbecue like I was (they made that assumption based on the American beer, hamburger meat and buns in my cart). Nothing like a little American camaraderie in the condiment aisle . . .
The weather was nasty here yesterday, very windy and rainy. We tried to use our cheap Tesco grill out on our balcony, but the flames were enormous. The wind made them difficult to contain, and our neighbors were coming out on their balconies and glaring at us and our unusually smoky grill. We realized that we had no idea if it was even legal to BBQ in an apartment building here, and we couldn't ask anyone. So, instead of burning down our apartment and completely turning our flat into a smoke cloud, we threw water over the charcoal and made burgers on the stove instead.
We had a great group of people come by (about 10 total) - some of Mike's co-workers, friends of friends, and an American that I met at press conference. We had France, Transylvania, Hungary and the States represented. Mike assigned all of the non-Americans a state, so they could pretend that they were American too. (Mostly, he just wanted to pretend our Translyvanian friend was Pennsylvanian.)
While the lack of fireworks was disappointing (well, in retrospect I will count the sparks flying off our $10 grill as fireworks), the night was great. It was fun blaring rock and country ballads all evening, introducing Europeans to non-McDonalds hamburgers and deviled eggs, teaching Doru how to line dance and two-step, and having some interesting conversations in mixed languages. When I went abroad for the first time in Ireland, I expected many nights like this: all sorts of nationalities having parities together and learning about their cultures, but I never really had that experience. So, yesterday was what I was waiting for all along .
Next week, our French friends will have us celebrate Bastille Day with them. It also happens to be my birthday, so it'll be a joint fiesta.

Mike and I are going to Split, Croatia from Saturday through Tuesday. I can't wait! I've been writing and editing for magazines this week, and staying quite busy. Business Hungary gave me a new assignment and said that if I stayed through the fall they'd make me a deputy editor .. that would be awesome, but I am not sure I want to stay here illegally.
And tonight, I am going to a Amnesty International talk at the English speaking college here on the women's rights movement in Pakistan, then I found out about an English poetry event at this cafe too. Nothing like feminist activism and poetry to make me feel at home anywhere . . .

Oh, and as a disclaimer, last night night Mike claimed to friends at home that I just sit around the apartment all day, which is why my blog is updated and his is not. This is a fallacy; but, he is just annoyed that I am blogging on a regular basis. Only Michael would get competitive over something like a blog . .

Mornings with Istvan

Michael and I rent from a friendly older man named Istvan. However, I've been seeing a little too much of Istvan lately. The washing machine in our flat has been broken for weeks now, and we've been patiently waiting for a new one. Last week, he said he'd get us a new one by the weekend. This week, he decided to try and fix our old one. So, he had a repair man come by at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Istvan was late, so this repair guy was getting really frustrated with me, because I couldn't explain to him what was wrong with the washer or how to hook it up, because I've never used it, nor do I speak Hungarian. Finally, when the repair man was about ready to walk out, Istvan showed up. But, the washer is beyond repair and must be replaced anyway. So yesteray, Istvan shows up at 8 a.m. unannounced, and sits and waits for awhile for someone to come remove our broken washer. I think he came back twice in the day. He then told me he'd bring us a new washer on Saturday and Sunday. But, instead, he came last night at 10:15 (unannounced again) and had us lug up the new washer to our apartment. Today, he wants to come back and install it. Ugh. Nice man, but a little inconvenient. Plus, Mike always seems to be conveinently gone during Istvan's visits, so it's always awkward, since I am not even his official tenant.

Last weekend, Mike and I went and enjoyed a Turkish bath. Then we went to this huge event called Night of the Museums. All the Budapest museums were open for one price until 2 a.m.. While I thought it would be awesome, it was too crowded for my liking. However, the Museum of Terror, about the Nazi and communist regimes was awesome! When Mike updates his blog, I am sure he'll narrate the night's frustrating events, so I'll direct you to his blog when he does. We did go to the Unicum museum, which is an extremely strong, black-licorice flavored Hungarian drink. Neither of us like the drink, but the museum was fun. Here are some pics:

In other news, I went on a beautiful hike the other morning. I saw this awesome cave church (that's where the first picture is from) and the Citadel -- a monument looking over the city. I also wrote my first story for Business Hungary yesterday. It was a fairly easy story, but I haven't had to write straight-news style in a while, so that was quite dull. I am starting to get a little restless, so I've begun looking for more journalism work and English teaching jobs. Hopefully, something comes up.
We are also searching for a new apartment on the Pest side, so navigating the Hungarian real estate market is another issue that needs its own blog.