Chat

The other day I was talking to a friend online. I said I was, “hanging in there,” when asked how I was doing, and she asked why. When I explained my situation of not having a job because I got here too late and all the teaching positions were already filled, and that I am living on savings, she seemed concerned, but I told her I wasn’t too worried about it. That I was rolling with the punches. She called me crazy for not being worried, and I think she legitimately meant it. She told me not to spend my ticket money because that would be tragic. I confessed that I don’t actually have the money to buy a ticket home and that I’ll have to wait for my US tax return before I can come back. She replied with, “I hope you learned a lesson.” She logged off before I got a chance to ask her how she meant that or to reply to it. I think that statement makes a lot of assumptions about the state in which I’m living. I feel like the only mistake that I made was not securing a job instead of just interviews before I moved, but I‘m not even sure that was a mistake. I don’t think I’ve screwed up. I’m not stuck in Europe with no money and no way to get home. I’m not going to have to call home in a state of distress and ask my mom to bail me out and get me a ticket so I can come back. I have enough money to live on, although I do have to live frugally, but that’s something that I’m used to. I can’t come home immediately, but I will be able to return to the states and I’ll be able to do it by my own means. Life has no guarantees. Had I waited until I had a job, I’d still be in Nebraska and probably would have never lived in Europe. I’m not going to go home and regret this experience, even if I never get a job, have to go home earlier than expected, and use all of the money I have in the process. This is probably a once in a lifetime chance for me and, had I not jumped at the opportunity, I would have missed it. Oddly enough, instead of making me worried about my decision, it only reinforced it. It made me realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity, even if things aren’t going as planned because, what does go as planned, really?

Euro Thanksgiving

Thursday was Thanksgiving in America - here everything went on as usual. I decided to fill my day with a trip to Gellert Hill. I’m pretty sure the hill is one of the highest points in Budapest, and it’s famous for a couple of reasons, most notably the death of Saint Gerard. Saint Gerard was killed there by pagans during the great pagan rebellion, which I believe was in 1046. There are two versions of the story; one is that he was thrown down the hill and then, being found still alive, was beaten to death. The other version is that he was PLACED IN A BARREL WITH SPIKES AND ROLLED DOWN THE HILL! That’s awesome, in the crazy and disturbing sense of the word. Anyway, there’s a statue of him on the side of the hill. Another thing the Gellert Hill is famous for is the Liberty Statue on the top of the hill. The statue was placed there to commemorate the Soviet liberation of Hungary from the Nazis during WWII. The statue is still there, but the Russian soldiers were removed from the base of the statue after the Hungarians transitioned from Communist rule to a more Democratic form of government.

Gellert Hill is quite steep and is crisscrossed with trails - switchbacks that lead up to the statue on the side of the hill and eventually to the Liberty Statue on the top. You can go right up to the statue of Saint Gerard, but since it faces away from the hill towards the Danube, the view isn’t that much better once you’re there. In fact, the best view of the statue is probably from the Bridge in front of the statue. I trudged up to the top to see the Liberty Statue and get a great view of the city. I knew Budapest was big, but was surprised when I got a good look at the Buda side for the first time and realized how far it stretched out. Something that struck me as interesting is the fact that there are no skyscrapers in this big city. The tallest buildings here are probably about 10 stories tall. I guess when you don’t stack people on top of one another, a city must become sprawling by necessity. Anyway, it made me feel just a little smaller to realize that the city in which I now live is twice as big as I thought it was.

Saint Gerard

the Liberty Statue

View of the Buda side.

View of the Pest side,

Last night we had, “orphan Thanksgiving.” We got together with a small group of Americans who are currently either living or studying in Budapest, and we had a wonderful dinner. Everyone brought a dish (or two) and a bottle of wine. All of the food was delicious and I had a good time sitting around and chatting with everyone. I really am thankful for this experience - not only for the opportunity to be living in and experiencing Europe, but also for the experience of getting to have a “Thanksgiving” with some good people. The actual holiday passed with barely a notice but it wasn’t until sitting down to dinner last night that I realized that, even though the holiday snuck by me, it still managed to leave a small void that needed to be filled. The wonderful food and great conversations definitely did just that. I hope the same can be said for all of you. Take care of yourself and each other.

Cheers!

E

Simple and honest.

Thursday I found my way to the huge cemetery that’s about 2 kilometers from our place. I do not consider myself a photographer by any means, but everything about that day came together so perfectly that I could hardly take a bad picture. It’s a strange feeling to walk through a graveyard as a tourist - not being there to mourn or remember, but just simply to stand in awe of the sadness and the beauty of the gravestones and the breathtaking monuments. The sun rolled in and out from behind the clouds as the leaves shuffled and crinkled beneath my feet. Fall has dipped the leaves in reds and golds, and softly blanketed the ground and gravestones with the ones that were dry, leaving the ones that were still wet hanging out to dry. This, more than any other thing since I’ve been here, reminded me of home. The cemetery is enormous, and parts of it feel as though you’ve stepped out of the city and into the woods - with more trees and overgrowth than gravestones. Here are just a few of the pictures:

Friday I had a job interview. I had directions to where I was going, but somehow I missed a street and ended up getting a little lost. The big problem was that the street I was looking for didn’t go through to the other major streets and was only two blocks long before the name changed. I ended up pretty much walking in circles around the periphery of where I needed to be. I finally used my very limited Hungarian to ask a doorman if he spoke English and then asked him where the street was. I was nearly a half an hour late to the interview, but the guys were very understanding.

That night we went to the ballet at the Hungarian State Opera House with a huge group of people. We were in the cheap seats, which wouldn’t have been that bad if we had been in the center, but we were off to the side where we could only see about 70% of the stage. I don’t know enough about ballet to speak definitively, but it seemed pretty “modern.” It was quite interesting and beautiful, but the best part was that, even though we were in the highest seats, we were still close enough to see that the performers were breathing heavily. I think it’s impressive that they can make such precise movements look so fluid and easy when they are actually working that hard.

Today JM and I went to a friend’s house to help him film a video for an internet contest. He’s a great mandola player and we ended up recording a song for the video. Levi played mandola, JM played mandolin, and I played bass. The video is pretty funny but being able to play bass for a couple of hours was the best way to spend an afternoon. Playing felt like home - like waking up in my own bed and knowing my way around the streets. It felt like slipping on my favorite hoodie. It felt good.

On our way home we stopped a vegetarian Humus restaurant. I had a huge plate of…stuff. I’m not sure what most of it was, but I do know that I had falafel for the first time in my life and it was pretty delicious. Their humus was really good too and I’m pretty sure they make their own pita bread. Tasty.

Tomorrow I plan on going to Margit island if it’s nice out. If I’m lucky a lovely girl might take me to her gym during “family” hour so I can do a swim workout. I haven’t done a workout of any kind since the marathon a month ago. This may be a new record for me and, consequently, I’m going a little stir crazy. At this point I honestly don’t know if I’m more excited about being able to workout or about getting to go with this very sweet girl. There’s also a good chance that this won’t happen, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up.

JM and I are going to have dinner at the Café in The New York Palace on Tuesday. Fancy. Other than that, I don’t have any plans for this week. You can be sure that I’ll be reading and writing, as always. I should probably find some other cool stuff to explore in Budapest too. We really need to decide where we’re going on our trip next month. I think Oslo would be cool, but we might end up in Belgrade because it’s close. We’ll see. I’ll keep you up to speed.

Cheers!

-E

Fall

To be honest, there are good days - days when I barely think of home unless I'm reminded by something or someone - and bad days, during which I waste my idle time by daydreaming of home and attempting to plan the future I might want to carve out for myself when I return. A friend of JM's sent us a bunch of photographs she took of Nebraska. I know that this is a great experience, and the fact that I get to share it with one of my best friends only makes it that much better, but on days like today - days when it is overcast and the rain spits and mists incessantly - I can't help but stare at these photos of trees exploding firecracker red and gold to celebrate the coming of fall. I can't help but stare and feel a little jealous. We're going to cover one wall in the apartment with the pictures; a sort of shrine to "The Good Life."

Last weekend we hung out with a group of awesome (and crazy - "of course we have weed!") Romanians and a few Hungarians. I met a guy named Zoltan. Seriously. I tried Palinka which, as far as I can tell after drinking it, is probably Hungarian for jet fuel. We took the bus without paying. We drank. We played some guitar. Sebe tried to get us to move from the kitchen to the living room, where there was more room for everyone to sit and hang out. I didn't know how to tell him that standing in a kitchen and drinking with people made it feel like home. Luckily, no one paid any attention to him. We hung out. We drank. Sebe wouldn't let me pay him for the alcohol JM and I drank; he's a good guy. We walked home. Could have mistaken it for a good night in Lincoln.

As for the rest of this week: tomorrow I'm going to walk to either the National Museum or the huge cemetery near our place. JM and I, along with a large group of people, are going to the ballet this Friday. Here is the link to what we're going to see: http://www.xpatloop.com/news/62876. Luckily I've already read the book, so I'll have a better sense of what's going on (hopefully). This weekend it's supposed to be sunny and sort of warm, so I think I'm finally going to check out Margit Island (where I'll be doing most of my running once I'm all healed up). Everything else is up in the air, as it always is.