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.
1 comment:
I'm not sure what it is with Europeans but they sure seem to like black licorice. When I was in France the host families all liked to eat these things that looked like mints but they tasted like black licorice. They were icky!
Glad you are having a good time
XXOO Laura
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