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.