Hungarian turkey

Happy belated Thanksgiving to my trusty readers. After spending the week apart, Michael and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend together back in Budapest. He got in from Zagreb on Friday night, so we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving together. His holiday, unfortunately, was a rather pathetic celebration, if you could even call it that. He caught this really nasty cold that floored me all last weekend, so he spent his holiday by himself in the flat in Zagreb. He was even too sick to even finish his Thanksgiving quesedilla; so sad. I attended a potluck at a friend's house, where we had all the traditional fixin's. However, everything was just a slight bit off, because hardly anyone can find all the ingredients necessary for an American dish. But, I was grateful to be around other people, and I was even able to salvage a large plate of leftovers for Mike, so he got to eat some turkey on Friday.

Last night we had an exceptionally fun night, covorting with Budapest's literati. It was quite possibly the first night I have gone out with Michael and he had to listen to poetic banter, rather than me trying to keep up with fiancial lingo; I enjoyed the shift. We attended Budapest Bardroom, a literary reading that's been going on for eight years here in Hungary, and brings in readers from all over the world. They had two featured readers last night: one was a really boring, monotone poetess from Estonia, but luckily, she was followed up by a hilarious guy from New York who's dark humor kept us interested. We ended up going for drinks with he and the bardroom hosts after the reading and had a great time.

Yesterday, Michael and I also got out to the festive Budapest Christmas market. It's held in this beautiful square, and has wooden stall after wooden stall full of arts and crafts and delicious food, as well as a giant Christmas tree and numerous nativity scenes. We drank mugs of mulled wine and perused the creations of the area's artists. I found a great clock for Michael for Christmas, which of course is sleek, contemporary and looks nothing like folk art; he got me a really beautiful journal from a Budapest-based designer that has a cover modeled off murals in the opera house. I love it. We should go Christmas shopping together every year; it makes it really easy.

This week, I'll stay busy with editing and writing as usual, and Mike will have to go to Macedonia on a biz trip from Wednesday through Sunday. He is certainly dying to stay in one place, but it's a luxury he won't have for awhile, unfortunately. At least his next trip after Macedonia is to go home for Christmas. I get to leave in just two weeks!