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.

City of Spas

Yesterday I was in an extremely good mood, because I received another freelance assignment. I am working for Where Budapest Magazine (check it out at http://wherebudapest.hu/). It’s a tourism magazine that is distributed to all 3, 4, 5 star hotels, tourist centers, etc. The editor is a young, Californian ex-pat, who is very energetic, yet laid-back about work. He gave me a big assignment, so I’ll have the center story next month, and if it’s good, it’ll be the cover story too! Excellent. One of the stories he gave me is about this child’s travel guide called “Benjamin goes to Budapest.” It is the best travel guide I’ve seen yet for Budapest – he gave me a copy, and my editor liked it so much, that he said I have to give it back. (I find it funny that two journalists in their 20s are fighting over custody of a child’s guide book.) And secondly, the big story is about Budapest Spas and what they offer for summer. Budapest is known as the City of Spas, so there are about 15 of them here. This is really exciting, because I want to visit most of them anyway, and this might give me the opportunity to get in for free!

So, today, since I had nothing else to do, because the press conference I thought I had to attend for Business Hungary is actually next week, I decided to visit two of the baths relatively close to my flat. Researching this story on Hungarian baths is not as easy as I thought it would be. Even when I tried to call these places, not even the managers speak limited English, and they are relatively unwilling to give me free admittance. So, since I couldn’t communicate over the phone, I just showed up to one of the baths on Margaret Island. Of course, even though I had a copy of the magazine with me, asked them to call my editor, and offered free publicity, they would not let me in for free. They were happy to have me there, but weren’t willing to treat me. Well, I wasn’t going to pay, because if I paid for admittance to all these places, I would make no profit on the actual story. I realize, that with journalism ethics, one shouldn't admit they are the press, so the article is fair and unbiased, but even my editor told me to try to get as many freebies as possible. He knows what it is like to be broke in Budapest.

So, I tried a different spa, which looks great from Internet pictures, and it ended up being ridiculous.

They too, had no idea what my publication was and only spoke limited English, so I couldn’t market myself. And at this point, I’d been walking around for almost 2 hours in 90 degree heat, and just paid the darn entrance fee, because it was cheaper than the other one. This place was so weird. First, I had trouble finding the entrance to the pool in this complex. There were no signs in English, which surprised me, because it’s marketed in tourist publications. Then, I was looking all confused, so this guy guided me around, even though I didn’t want him to. He was a little sketchy, and I couldn’t tell if he worked there or not. It was really bizarre, because he tried to lead me into a dressing room, and of course I wouldn’t follow him and was confused about why he’d be going into it. But then as a group of women passed us, I realized that it’s was a co-ed locker room, with dressing closets. Then when I got there, I learned they make you swim with a cap, so I had to pay to rent one. It smelled really gross like dirty socks. Also, there was a locker room attendant who locks and unlocks your locker. He just gives you a numbered tag, so you can prove it was your locker. This made me a little worried, because I had a lot of valuables on me. Luckily, my stuff stayed safe, but it made me uneasy the whole time. So, then I finally make it to the pools, and ditched the un-welcomed tour guide (I never saw him again). It turned out there were only two pools the size of diving wells which were three feet from one another (the website makes it seem much more elaborate). It’s totally filled with old people swimming laps (don’t get me wrong, I love the elderly, but I was hoping maybe there’d be some younger people there with whom I could speak some broken English). Plus, to make it even more annoying there was construction going on, so my entire visit was serenaded by jackhammers. I swam around a little, but the water was absolutely frigid, and just to make my mood even more fantastic, I got kicked hard in the thigh by an overzealous breast stroker. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t just sit in the water somewhere. After about an hour and a half, I was bored, sick of seeing old men in Speedos and old topless ladies (tops are totally optional in Budapest sunbathing), and getting irked by the construction, so I finally left. After I got dressed, and I was walking out, I realized that there was another pool in a separate area of the building with a wading pool, and the place I was looking for the whole time where younger people were hanging out. I have no idea how one would get there. But, it was too late by then. Needless to say, I don’t think this pool will be included favorably in my article.

These are the amusing scenarios in hindsight, but totally frustrating adventures that always seem to happen when exploring alone. I narrated the whole thing to my mother, and she thought it was hysterical. Maybe that's the reason these weird things happen - to amuse others. But, despite that, I don’t think I’ll go to another bath until I can drag Michael along with me.

A few other fun things that have happened:

- Mike and I got offered a ride to Tesco (basically the only large shopping center in Budapest) at 11 p.m. the other night, so we took it! Mike was ecstatic, because he found a lounge chair for our balcony and a little charcoal grill so we can cook out on the Fourth of July.

- We actually found tortillas and taco seasoning, so we’re making Mexican food tonight. Ole!

Vacationing to Vienna

It seems that I have been playing a week and a half long game of charades. What used to be a fun party game, has now become a method of survival. My smiles, gestures and pointing account for much of my conversation. For instance, today I had a very complicated transaction in the crowded, Budapest post office. The place was packed, I had no idea what line to go to, and none of the workers seemed to understand English. Finally, a smiling lady helped me mail a bunch of postcards. We survived by pointing a lot and forming a quiet assembly line. She'd rip off the stamps, point to where they went on the cards, and I'd place them. Somehow, it took about 15 minutes just to put stamps on seven cards and add up my total on a hand calculator, rather than a cash machine. But, it worked. It's amusing to me how the mundane events at home are amazingly complex when one doesn't speak the language. Being abroad lends itself to patience.
And, pardon my tirade, but I just went to buy stomach meds (another story all together) and contact solution. Guess how much that cost? NINETEEN DOLLARS for one bottle of contact solution. My parents could have mailed me a $3 bottle from the states for that price. I should have remembered how expensive it was, because it was like this in Ireland as well. Goodness, and here, I was thinking that I live a reasonably modest lifestyle.
In other news, I went to Vienna this weekend with Mike. I found Vienna to be a very pleasant, beautiful city. We visited a gilded castle and walked around the gardens, which were stunning (see picture below).

We went without much plan of what to see, so it was a very relaxed trip. I like seeing the tourist sites, and Mike will go, but he strongly dislikes throngs of tourists, so we compromise. I would take him to a site, then he would take me to a pub and have a beer. It was a very balanced travel schedule :) Some of the things we did included: seeing another castle, eating the "world's best cake," according to his well-traveled boss (I disagree about it's title), saw a beautiful Catholic Cathedral, ate weinersnitchel, saw many beautiful fountains and went through the museum district (that's where I am in the picture below). We were only there for Saturday and part of Sunday, but that was a good amount of time. It only took us 3 hours to get there by train.
The downfall of the trip was that I my stomach got really upset on Saturday night, and has been still bothering me even today (Mike has been googling the symptoms of appendicitis, but while it has been causing me a lot of pain, I don't think it's that). We couldn't find a pharmacy that was open in Germany, so I just had to suffer. One of my frustrations with Europe is that you can't go buy medicine at any grocery store. Instead, you have to go to an actual pharmacy (no 24-hour Walgreens here, so you better hope you're not sick on Sundays or at night), and describe to the pharmacist your ailments, and then they find you something to take. There's nothing so comfortable as answering questions about your bowel movements to a complete stranger with a line of people behind you eavesdropping. At least people at the pharmacy spoke English. That is one game of charades in which I wouldn't have liked to participate.

Tomorrow, I am attending another Hungarian International Press Association conference (I am now a member of the group). An economist is speaking, so Mike is going to come too. Also, on Thursday, I have my first paid story assignment :) I am covering a press conference by the Chairperson of Vodafone for Business Hungary Magazine.

Networking

(This is a picture of the area around the Budapest castle, which I took yesterday).

Today I had an awesome opportunity. One of the journalists that Mike's boss introduced me to invited me to a breakfast with the Hungarian International Press Association where the Minister of Health was speaking. I didn't know what to expect, because my host, whose name is Kester - a freelance finance writer from England, said he probably wouldn't have time to talk to me there (which was false, because we spoke for at least half an hour). But, the event went well. I met an extremely nice girl who is an intern here for the summer and attends Berkeley in California. She has family here and speaks Hungarian. Hopefully, we meet up again!
I was really impressed with the Health Minster. She was extremely well-spoken and well-argued. Her name is Agnes Horvath, and she's tenacious enough to be taking on health care reform, which is a huge challenge. She wants to privatize certain aspects of Hungarian hospitals, which are currently socialized. She is heavily criticized, especially because people may have to purchase insurance under her system and give payment when they visit the doctor, to cut down on outpatient appointments. Horvath said that on average, Hungarians visit the doctor 13-14 times a year! Also, it is sometimes encouraged, because the hospitals and doctors receive funding based upon how many patients they see. Under her system, people would have to pay equivalent of $1.50 to see a doctor. From an Americanized health care perspective, this seems like a steal! But, I'm sure there's more to it which I don't understand because this lecture was my first introduction to the Budapest health care system. So far, the way people speak about it is quite similar to Ireland. On my Dublin orientation, my director said (in regards to the waiting periods and complications associated with their health care), "welcome to Ireland; don't get sick."
But, the main reason I went to breakfast was to network, and hopefully find some work here. I had a good talk with Kester, and he was very candid about the quality of English speaking papers and the opportunities that I will have working for them. This whole process is a little difficult to start. Mostly, because I find networking tedious, and even more cumbersome when most people do not speak the same language as me. My main problems are: I basically only have a month to work, because most publications take holiday in August, so they don't publish anything that month; I won't be able to interview most Hungarians even if I do get story assignments because of the language barrier; anything that would pay me is business writing, which I'm OK with, but it is certainly not ideal; and, if I do get paid, I am not quite sure how that will work, because I don't have a work visa. On a good note, I have been invited to join the Hungarian International Press Association, so I will have some activity or interesting speaker to listen to with them every week. As Kester said, it is worth it to join, even if there are membership dues, because the food is good, and many of the events offer bottomless wine.

Other than that, things are good. I still haven't been sleeping well - last night I'd be surprised if I had a solid hour of sleep. I blame jet lag, plus the heat, and I am quite the odd duck, but I have a really difficult time sleeping with a fan blowing on me, and that is absolutely necessary in our flat, which is on the 5th story of a building. Hopefully, I'll adjust soon.

Irish nostalgia

I have safely arrived in Budapest after 26 hours of traveling. I went from Denver to Chicago, to Dublin, to Budapest, but I managed to arrive here on time, with my luggage in tow, which amazed me. On the flight to Dublin, I sat next to this girl from Chicago who was going to Ireland to study abroad and had never flown before. It is great to experience flying again with fresh eyes. She asked me a bunch of questions about things I take for granted, such as how much drinks cost, how to use the lavatories, or why there is no leg room (that one I didn't really have an answer). She was gripping the arm rests ferociously, during take off and landing, but hopefully I helped calm her nerves a bit.

In Dublin, I had a seven hour layover, so I hopped a bus into the City Center. There is some sort of thrill associated with having no one know of your whereabouts and being able to navigate easily through a foreign country. So, I meandered around the city, visiting my old haunts. I went to my favorite coffee place, called Butlers, and drank coffee at St. Stephens Green, this beautiful park where my host family took me on my very first day in Dublin. Later, I went into my favorite bar - Messers McQuire. It was actually rather lonely, to be in this typically loud pub without my study abroad friends, being the loud Americans. But this time, I drank in silence, in a nearly empty pub, with only the bartenders around. At least I had the opportunity to see Dublin again, but even with three hours in the City Center, I was sick of the crowds and shopaholics.

But, being in Budapest now is wonderful. Being with Mike is fantastic. One would think that after spending over two months apart, it might take some acclimation to get adjusted to being with one another, but that's never the case for us. Besides not knowing the language, not having my own phone, little knowledge of how to get around, or the sensibility to light his gas stove without burning myself, it feels like I could have been here for much longer than three days.

I have spent a little time resting, but not much. Yesterday I went hiking with Mike and the other interns - and with his boss in the Buda Hills. The absolutely serendipitous thing happened. I told his boss that I was looking into finding freelance work, or some kind of writing while I was over here. At lunch, and on our drive home Les ran into two of his acquaintances who are prominent English speaking journalists, who have both agreed to meet with me in the next week or so to try and line up some work for me. I am SO excited. I hope something works out with these contacts. Fate was on my side that day.

Last night, we went out with his work friends until the wee early hours of the morning. As we were walking home, the sun was rising over the Danube, and it colored the sky pink. A crescent moon still shone over the river and the Parliament Building. It was absolutely breathtaking. Just one of the perks of staying up all night.

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