Our second life

And as I write this, we are exactly five months away from our wedding! I am so excited, and I've been updating our wedding website quite often as of late. I'm counting down the days until I get to be Colorado-bound!

For the last month we've been Croatians. Although I had to go back to Budapest last week for work, the remainder of Michael and my time has been spent in the low-key city of Zagreb. It's been nice to spend a significant period of time here and to get a better feel for the city and its people, who I find much more friendly to strangers than those in Budapest. Plus, there's been sunshine on the weekends, and after the last few months of grayness I am more appreciative than ever. I've taken the time to wander and photograph the city center, which holds great markets like the daily flower market pictured above. On the weekend we ventured to a large park called Maksimir which has a fun little zoo that we explored. Of course Michael's favorite part was a large colony of coypu (an oversized rodent that is a hybrid of a beaver and a rat), and I would have liked the hippos best, but they were contained in a depressingly dingy and small indoor cage. Although a little low-budget, it was still a pretty good zoo.

We also went to Ljubljana two weekends ago, since it's only 2.5 hours away by train. It was a great little day trip to the city. We ended up doing the same things as we did last year when we visited, like eating lunch at a small microbrewery, walking around the old town, etc., because the city is so tiny, there's not much else to do and all the shops closed at noon, before we even got there.

Yesterday we went to Jarun lake, which sits in the Southern part of the Zagreb. Apparently in the summer most of the town flocks to the lake to swim and bask in the sun on "pebble beach" as it's called. Since it's still too chilly to swim, we did what Croatians do best - lounge in a cafe and stare at the masses of roller bladers skating by.

Here are a couple photos from Zagreb. Visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2371877&id=10215414&l=868474d92f to see the whole album.


The Zagreb Cathedral.

The center square of the city.

Sweethearts go to Salzburg

For a little Valentine's Day getaway, Mike and I took the train to Austria. Snow fell the whole weekend, making it hard to see all the mountains, so I couldn't do the Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music impression I was hoping for, but I got to have a snowball fight instead. We ventured through the little baroque town and saw two amazing churches, which are pictured below. Then, we hiked through the hillside, which was so serene when we weren't slipping and sliding all over the place. The trails took us to a small museum of modern art that looked over the whole city; its views far exceeded the art inside, but it was well worth the trip.

Then we strolled back through the mountains and went to a beer hall that serves beer from the monk-run Augustiner Brewery. Here's the history of the place, according to its website: "The Augustiner Brewery at Mülln in Salzburg was founded by Augustinian monks in 1621, who had been called to Salzburg from Bavaria by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Wolf Dietrich. A monastery was built for the Augustinians in Mülln on the northern slopes of the Mönchsberg hill between 1607 and 1614. When the Augustinians died out in Salzburg in the 19th century, Emperor Ferdinand the King handed over the monastery to the Benedictines from Michaelbeuern." The giant beer hall still retains religious elements, like gorgeous stained glass windows. Plus, it has a great market, so I got fresh baked pretzels, and Mike got his sauerkraut. You can see the picture of Mike holding his giant mug. He was happy :)






I could have stayed in Salzburg for much longer than two nights, but we had to get back to Pest. Snow is following me since Salzburg, it snowed all last week in Budapest, and now it's snowing in Zagreb, but at least it's pretty.

In other news:

- I started volunteering again with the North American Women's Association in Budapest. They coordinate this brilliant thing called the adopt-a-granny program where they match elderly people from a local nursing home with children from an orphanage so they can mentor each other. Last week, we took the group to see the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, and it was quite entertaining. I'd never seen a full program of Hungarian dancing, and I loved all the colorful dresses worn by the women, who changed costumes about every two songs. The men were phenomenal dancers and amazed me by their jumping and foot-stomping abilities.

- Because of my work and my own curiosity, I've gotten to see a number of great art exhibitions lately, including a contemporary photographer, Thomas Ruff, and another intriguing photo exhibit called The Happiest Barrack, which was Hungary's nickname during Communism because of their alleged freedoms, compared with neighboring countries. The curator gave me a private tour of the exhibit which had more than 100 black and white images taken by photojournalists that showed day-to-day life under the socialist regime. While I've seen the Terror House museum and other exhibitions, they usually only capture the revolutions or violent aspects, so seeing this show opened my eyes to other cross-sections of communist life, such as athletics, mandatory recreation, the agriculture system, parenting, etc. However, the whole show is fascinating, because while most of the photos are "candid," the journalists who took the photos were censored and controlled by the state, so many of the photos are staged for propaganda purposes, so they aren't quite realistic. But, I guess it'll be the closest I'll get to seeing a clearer picture of the times.

- Now Mike and I are in Zagreb again. On the way here, our train broke down on the the tracks about 1.5 miles from our apartment, so we had to wait an extra hour for a replacement locomotive to take us the about 4 miles to the train station, after already riding for 5.5 hours. At least we didn't break down in the middle of nowhere.

Mangalica Festival photos

Mike was the winner of the festival!


Cooking the mangalica. Poor pig.


Little, alive mangalica.

Me and the mangalica. Our hair is the same color.

Mangalica and other culinary mishaps

Yesterday, we ventured out to the Mangalica festival, an event that Michael has been excited about for weeks, given his propensity for bacon. This perverse festival celebrates Mangalica - a curly hair hog native to Hungary and the Balkans -by bringing live and cooked Mangalica to Budapest. It was held inside the city park castle area, and it was completely teeming with people. There was stall after stall of Hungaricum crafts and all the best fried food and spirits this country has to offer; and of course, there were pigs roasting on spits and cooked in every form imaginable. So first, we admired the pigs, remarked on how cute they were (especially the babies with their curly locks), and then we proceeded to eat them. The latter step was a mistake, as Michael and I both ended up with the worst stomachaches that lasted until we went to sleep. I think that was my first and last time eating this Magyar pig.

In other culinary disasters, we still haven't been able to find baking powder, but have tried two different alternatives, which were definitely not baking powder. This morning, we had the worst pancakes ever created. Michael went to the store and bought what he thought was baking soda, but it turned out to be "volatile salt" which is ammonia carbonate. This made the entire batch of pancakes smell like ammonia. It was truly horrible. I think I give up on baking here.

Next weekend we are FINALLY getting out of Budapest, and are going to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend, the beautiful city where the Sound of Music was filmed. This will be the first V-day Michael and I have ever been together for.

American inauguration in Budapest

"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage." - Obama

Last night I gathered with a group of friends at a Scottish pub to watch American usher in its new president. This was the first inaugural ceremony that I ever remember watching in its entirety, and I never remember being so eager to hear a political speech. What struck me most about Obama's address was his international scope and acknowledgment of diversity throughout the United States and the world. It was a great contrast to some of our past presidents who seemed to lead with the myopic view that Americans were the brightest, most important people on earth and everyone else was second class.

The friends I watched it with were nationally diverse: Australian, Canadian, Hungarian and American, so I feared that the whole event would turn into a political debate, so I almost didn't even attend. Normally, I like some political discussion, but this past year has absolutely worn me out in the political realm. With this speech, I just wanted to relax, listen intently to Obama's words and relish the historic occasion. Luckily, that's exactly what happened. My entire group of friend watched the speech reverentially, which I've never seen happen with an international crowd watching an American president. For any skeptics who think nothing will change under the new administration - it already has; I felt respect being given towards America's leadership for the first time since I first moved abroad.

On a less serious note, the bar did tune their TVs to the inauguration, but they didn't mute their music, so Obama's speech was mixed in with Aerosmith songs and some classic rock ditties. It gave the serious speech a pop-culture feel like it was remixed for a club.

"Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."
- Barack Obama

Back in Budapest

Greetings from a long-lost blogger. I have returned to Budapest after a month and a half of travel to Austria, Colorado and Texas. So much happened on those trips, that I don't have the energy to describe all of it, but here are some highlights:

Vienna: Almost didn't catch our train because of the horribly inefficient station staff who still hand-write tickets; stayed in a beautiful hotel called Le Meridian which was full of modern art including a beautiful Christmas tree fashioned entirely out of red feathers; went to about three different Christmas markets, all consisting of stalls packed with festive gifts and stands selling mulled wine and weinerschnitzel (we indulged in the food a little too much :)); saw a mind-bending exhibit by contemporary artist Peter Kogler at the Museum of Modern Art - my personal favorite installation was a wall totally covered by images of giant black and white ants; saw more Christmas markets with dachshunds; almost missed our train back to Budapest because the horribly inefficient Hungarian train staff decided to go on strike. Thus, they only let one train leave from Vienna to Budapest that day, when there is usually one every hour, making it the most crowded train I've ever ridden. At least we made it back to Budapest, because I had to fly out the next morning.

Colorado: I made it back to chilly Colorado on Dec. 15; spent a great deal of time hanging out with friends, not working, shopping, channel surfing, drinking good microbrews, decorating for Christmas, watching movies, and thinking about doing wedding planning, but not actual doing it; celebrated a lovely, yet quiet Christmas with just my parents; went to Denver a couple times, once for a girly day of bridesmaid dress shopping; generally just enjoyed being back in my favorite part of the world and tried not to think much about leaving it.

Texas: My entire trip to Texas was fantastic and made me so excited for the actual wedding; the Kleins threw Michael and I an engagement party, so my parents, sister and brother-in-law, extended family - the Nebraska Beahm-team - and many Colorado friends descended upon the Lone Star state for the festivities and Southern hospitality (which even exceeded its pleasant reputation - thank you to our wonderful hosts); the actual party was extremely fun - it was set at a country-western venue, with delectable BBQ, a talented live band, and a bull, which most everyone, including our dads, rode; the next day we all headed to East Texas to Michael's grandparents' ranch, where we gawked at the world's fattest pot-bellied pig, took a hay ride, shot guns, watched football and ate delicious food; during the rest of my trip, I finally went inside the JKF museum and did lots of wedding-ish things, like registering for gifts and taking engagement photos when Michael was really sick - although he still looks great in them.

Now we're both back in Budapest. Michael arrived without issue, whereas I had a trip guided by Murphy's Law. However, I still got here, albeit a 24 hours later than expected. Now, I have all my luggage, even though it took a week to get to me.

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!