24 Hours

We've had an awesome húszonnégy ora (24 hours). Yesterday was pretty quiet, and included a great dinner of leftover krumpli (potatoes) fried in olaj (oil) with hagyma (onions). Jack also fried up some kielbasa (that's polish). It's was a very meleg (hot) meal, and tasted nagyon jó!

You'll notice the abundance of Hungarian words. The most recent units in my textbook (köszönöm, Mom!) included shopping for food in Hungarian, and I'm trying to learn as quick as I can... which means you will be to. Együtt beszel Magyarül tanulunk! ("We are learning to speak Hungarian together!"... but literally, "Together to speak in Hungarian we are learning!") Y'all better study. Soon I may take '(' and ')' off my keyboard.

Jack had gone to the Iguana étterem (restaurant) to use Skype, as usual these days, and I was settling in for a study session when the phone rang. "Dude, can you walk towards the Iguana? I ran into some drunk people and they wanna walk me home." I didn't know what to expect, so I slipped the meanest looking knife I could find into my left sleeve and hurried to meet him. Jack was right outside the restaurant with a charming drunk man I got to know as "Chubby."

Chubby was disarming at the first, and had us all smiling and chuckling within minutes. He was accompanied with three other women, one of which he was dating, and all of which he HAD dated in the past. His two exes left for home in a taxi. I soon realized that the reason Chubby wanted to walk home with Jack was because we live in the same building! Zoltán utca tíz! His apartment is the penthouse I gaze at when I zone out while studying, and wonder what it would be like to live there.

I found out ten minutes later :-D

We gave the reason for needing to drop Jack's back in our apartment as my excuse for putting the knife back in the kitchen. Chubby insisted that we come up to see the place, so we happily obliged a few minutes later. His girlfriend, Eszter, made some finger-food (cheese, bread, veggies and fruit) and Chubby began a tour of both the apartment and his extensive collection of wines. Apparently he holds some kind of degree in wines, I think. I won't describe either other than to say that both were stunning. Jack told him that the apartment he owned might net two million in Manhattan. Chubby talked for hours on Hungarian history, culture, his family, cooking - did I mention he fed us?

It was a great evening hanging out with this guy. Learning that we were musicians, he invited us to come to Eszter's (surprise) birthday party on Wednesday. We're gonna prepare some birthday music to play for them. As a parting gift, he gave us an unopened bottle of Tokaji Aszú, négy puttony (quality 4 of 6) - 1997. Pre-Bush! Tokaji Aszú is a great dessert wine. Very, very sweet. It's a white wine, and looks like apple juice. In fact, Jack had apple juice with dinner tonight and I gasped as I watched him take a careless mouthful.

More after intermission. Sok puszi!

Photos

Click here for more photos! These have shots of our apartment and Heroes' Square.

Cooking success!

Dinner today was boiled potatoes, fried onions and vegyes pörkölttel, a kind of beef-veggie puree. We made it while the piano tuner was working on the keys. It was a smashing success. Combined with a clean kitchen, a glass of Tokaji Aszú and classical music on the radio, it was a very relaxing evening.

And that's all that's fit to write about today, because I got up at 2pm, an unfortunate result of staying up 'till 4am working on the blog. You're welcome. I'm gonna do something to wear my mind out and crash early tonight.

And yes, Dad, I added the Astronomy Picture of the Day just for you. :-)

Style points to Margaret today

I walked outside this morning to find one of the best letters ever written in our mailbox - THANK YOU MARGARET! Your postcard is being written.

In it she mentioned that ever night I don't post, her heart breaks a little, so I'll try to write at least egy kicsit while I try to fall asleep from a hard day's growing.

Soooo.... Today I woke up before noon! Last night Jack and I passively made the decision to watch whatever came on after soccer at 1am. It happened to be Cops in Hungarian. That show makes Americans look ridiculously stupid. It was fun watching the high speed chases, though.

Our adventure today was sub-par, to say the least. We've both accumulated dirty clothes and it was time to get them cleaned. Jack decided that a laundromat was the best course of action. Even though I knew we had a washer/dryer and a clothesline in the apartment, somehow my mouth said, "OK sure." (???) We packed up our linens and stepped outside to waste the next two hours of our lives.

My handy-dandy Lonely Planet guidebook to Hungary lists one laundromat in the city. We took the number 2 tram (frisco trolley, remember) along the river a few stops and got off at the Erzsébet bridge, where a quick walk brought us to Ferenciek tere. Having found the laundromat, I realized we couldn't communicate to the old Hungarian women who washed clothes there, we could easily purchase detergent on our own street, and all this could be done in half the time in our own apartment! Giving myself a kick in the head, I explained all this to Jack. I think he's a fan of the laundromat - it's the New York in him - and he reluctantly agreed.

We did get some groceries from this debacle, including a kilo of potatoes and a box of eggs... both of which we already had. Another oops.

Anyone have any great and easy recipes for stew? We've got 3 kilos of potatoes, a bunch of big carrots, peppers, onions, some meats... we are fans of hot, filling food. Doesn't need to be fancy. I don't know what tomato paste looks like here, but could probably figure it out easily enough. Mom and Grandma Metzler, I'm counting on you for these.

Do I have a third "oops" for the day? YOU BETCHA! For dinner tonight we had pasta and a mystery meat we picked up on our last shopping crusade. It comes in a plain green can with a red and white label. The budget brand here comes from the Spar grocery chain, and is marked "budget" which is Hungarian for "budget." It has no pictures to give non-Hungarian speakers a hint as to what it is. For the Hungarians, it is clearly labled "Pacalpörkölt Kuttelgulasch."

Well, it had the words 'pork' and 'gulasch' in it, so we figured it had to be tasty. I eat various gulasches at Frici Papa all the time, now, and man it's good! I cooked tonight. Everything came out hot at the same time, but that was easy because both just had to be heated stove-top. Dinner time!

We sat down and Jack said, "Oh. I know what this is." Uh oh. "I'm pretty sure these are pig guts."

I ate it. I'll leave you all with that thought for today.

Rhythm

I hope you all got a chance to see my photos! It's been a few days since I last posted any substantial literary content. I think the reason is because I've lost my initial "AHHHH BUDAPEST!" feeling and things are falling into a rhythm. A good rhythm.

I feel very comfortable in our apartment. After the initial shock of having no internet, phone, or bed for me (the internet and phone really didn't bother me much, actually, but Jack is paying through the nose to call home on a cell phone), we've both been realizing what we do have here. It's a spacious place to live, and we each have our own room. The realization that I do in fact have a bed was a blessing. The kitchen is well equipped with a four-burner stove, lots of dishes and cooking utensils (including a few which we have no idea what are used for), a fridge, microwave, cupboard space... all the necessities of a good dinner.

My room is great. It has a matching furniture set of a big sleeper-sofa and two big armchairs. A very large armoire covers the far wall, in which I've got more than enough space to put stuff, and have found pillows and a nice red blanket. The bed goes away in the day, making a great place to host company. Oh, there's a fantastic rug on the floor, as well.

We haven't done any very touristy things over the past few days. We've both been staying up late doing various things. Jack usually talks to his Mom or Chelsea at night, and I often curl up on a sofa with my Hungarian textbook learning how to talk to girls - thanks, Mom! The internet that we have here is a plug-in stick which has a slow connection, so I don't use it often, mainly because it can't do anything besides check e-mail and post to my blog.

We've been cooking, and the past two nights have been successes. First we made chicken on the pan (egg, flour, chicken + hot = tasty!) and pasta with a mushroom sauce from the store. The night after, we tried the remaining chicken with a wine sauce and rice with veggies, but neither of us had ever done anything with wine in cooking. I just tried marinating chicken strips for a while and throwing it on the pan. It came out purple and tasted like it was boiled. The veggies and rice were good, though.

In the mornings we go to the Academy to practice (if we get up early enough). Waking up is difficult because we get very little natural light in the place. All the windows face an interior courtyard, and there are three floors above us, so most morning light gets blocked. That's the only complaint I have about the place.

Our neighbors seem to be all but non-existant. In the past week, we've seen only two people coming in or out. When we come in at night, there are usually no lights from any of the windows. This all only means I feel no guilt when I play trombone in my room :-)

If we don't wake up early enough, we go to the Academy in the afternoon. Hopefully there is a room or two we can use, but often not. School isn't even in session yet, and people are there practicing all the time. It's incredible. I hope I can be as dedicated as most people here. I hope I can get as good as them, too. I've been hearing some incredible trombone players over the past few days.

Today we got back into tourist mode a little. Realizing that it was Sunday and there were no practice rooms available at the Academy, we thought about what else we could do. One of us had the idea to go to Hősük tere (Heroes' Square), a famous area in Budapest. The big eye-catcher there is Millenary Monument. Pictures to follow, but here's what Lonely Planet says about it:

"A 36m-high pillar backed by colonnades to the right and left, the Millenary Monument defines Heroes' Square. About to take off from the top of the pillar is the Angel Gabriel, who is holding the Hungarian crown and a cross. At the base are Árpád and the six other Magyar chieftains who occupied the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century. Beneath the colums and under a stone tile is the nation's solemn memorial - an empty coffin representing one of the unknown insurgents from the 1956 uprising [against the Soviet occupation]."

To the north of the square is the Museum of Fine Arts, our real destination for the day. They have a big El Greco exhibit going on right now. While we didn't get there today, it will definitely be on our to-do list in the near future. The parts of the museum we did see included a full floor of paintings from Spanish, Italian, French and Dutch schools. I can't talk like I know anything about them, but I did really like the Spanish part. There we a lot of religious paintings, especially of Mary, of course, and Francis of Assisi. I didn't know he had the Stigmata. There was one in the Italian section that really grabbed me. It was a very small portrait of the face of Christ with the crown of thorns. It might have been the way the light was painted on his face or the smoothness of the texture, but it stuck me as a very real, human face of fear.

We're going out to meet our new friend Nikolai, who plays violin and speaks five or six languages and, needless to say, has a huge head of hair.

Even MORE photos!

Click Here!

More photos!

More photos of Budapest! Click Here!

Arrival In Budapest - PHOTOS!

Hey everybody! I'm at a free Wi-Fi place a few blocks from our apartment, and man, the internet is fast! Almost as fast as yours at home, probably! It's letting me upload some photos! Here's the first album (on Facebook - Just click the text, Grandma)

Another coming in a sec!

My Address!

I know you've all been waiting to send me letters filled with love and money. Now you can!

Metzler, Jesse
1054 Budapest
Zoltán utca 10, I. 4.

Note that in Hungarian, surname comes before the given name. This also applies when you are talking about someone (e.g. Hőna Gusztáv). Please don't send packages yet, as we have a small box and I'm not sure how that would work. I'll ask the landlord. When things start arriving I will confirm the address.

"Harsonán yátszom!" (I play trombone!)

For circumstances I am about to describe, the last two days are combined into one post.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was an early-up day for me. Mrs. Hárs mentioned that I could meet my new trombone teacher that morning if I came before 10 (téz). Beforehand I needed to run to the post office to pay a fee, as well (more on this later).

Gusztáv Hőna is an imposing man. I guess anyone of my heights can be called that, eh? He is a strong, grandfatherly character with distinctive white hair and a thick, deep voice. He speaks English very well and I bet he plays the hell out of his trombone. Besides chairing both the brass and woodwind departments of the Academy, his other job is playing with the Hungarian Radio Symphony. We exchanged quick jó napots and talked briefly before he had to get to work. This is exam week at the Academy, and he was reviewing what I assume are juries.

I decided to take his offer to wait for him in his office on the 4th floor (5th floor for the Americans). After running to the mall to get a SIM card for the phone Tamás generously gave me (more on this later, too), I took trombone and music there and practiced for a while. Soon I met some other trombonists who were hanging around. First there were Balás (Balash) and Jacklin (I think). Jacklin (I may edit this name later) is a senior at the Academy, and is a full trombone section unto herself. In fact, all the brass players I have heard here have a magnificently full sound. They really play like they know what it's about. Or, as the more vulgar of us say, they play with balls.

Balás speaks egy kicsit angolul, so we had some small conversation. He is a sophomore. I took out my Rochut/Ervin duets, and what followed was some of the best music I've made in a while. It took some attempts at explaining that the two books were intended to be played together, but when I held the music together, they got the message. The word 'duet' doesn't translate, I think. They'd never played the Ervin parts, and sightread very well. We went in a three-way rotation for a long time, long enough to play through 13 or 14 etudes. Soon we were joined by Ester and Adam, two other studio members. Adam speaks English very well, and Ester almost not at all, but we did communicate in Spanish a little. Adam translated a lot of conversation between all of us, and when I told them I wanted to learn Hungarian, they started teaching me slang... which I won't repeat here.

After a few hours, Hőna úr (the studio affectionately calls him Guszti) came up to the office/studio hangout. First, he talked with the present studio members in Hungarian. I gleamed it was something about individual scheduling, because he seemed frustrated and talked to many people at once. They all have little black books, which look like date books, and kept flipping through them and writing things down. One by one they left (as their schedules for the semester were finalized?) and Hőna talked with me about the possibilities for the semester. I'm very excited to be studying with him. When Balás asked me who I would be studying with, he seemed impressed by my answer.

It was getting on into the afternoon, so I decided to go home and watch the inauguration coverage. The English channel here is CNN, and it seems nobody else is interested (or has the money) to advertise on that channel. Tonight Jack and I counted the commercials on that channel between news breaks. There were seven - all for CNN or CNN shows. It was like watching FOX. But they were the only ones showing the inauguration in a language we could understand, so on it went. We toasted "the moment" with a glass of very dry red wine (in juice glasses) - "Egészségédre!"

I went kinda comatose watching the parade. It all went very slowly, and I felt tired from so much Hungarian during the day. Jack kept prodding me - "let's do something tonight" - "feel like going out?" - "I hear there're desperate women over at SOHO London"... So finally around 23 (o'clock) I caved and started tying my shoes ("What the hell? Are you messing with me?").

First we got on the bus to go to the Academy to check out local hangs, but didn't feel like going anywhere we saw, so after an hour of mindless walking around we settled on Captain Cook's, my first bar experience in Budapest...

... but that was boring and the music stank, so it was on to the Café Montmartre!

The music was in full swing, an awesome quartet of three guitarists and a female singer playing latin tunes. We sat at a table (now our table) and picked up the drinks menu. One meaningful glance between us, and we knew what we were getting.

For those of you who have never had it, there is a good reason why absinthe is illegal in the United States. The very look of it is venomous. It's a transparent, pale green drink in a little glass which puts evil thoughts into your head. To make it slightly bearable, you are supposed to mix it with sugar. The bartender brought it to our table (with a slight "adios muchachos," I felt) and we contemplated our existence. Mixing sugar into it seems to be a placebo, as it doesn't dissolve into solution but just sits on the bottom. The smell of it is licorice and gasoline, and at the first whiff, my chronic stuffy nose of the past three days was gone.

At the first sip, all the bacteria within my digestive tract gave screams of agony and died.

After a meaningful "Egészségédre!" (which literally means, "to your health!"), we took that first sip. Jack hasn't talked about his experience, besides "Wow!", but mine was like this: First, my throat caught fire. The gasp I took brought arctic air inside me, and the clashing temperatures caused my head to reel. And that was a conservative, "I've heard this stuff is hallucinogenic" sip.

I didn't see a green fairy that night, because we worked out a system to keep our sanity. One sip and a five minute break to recover. Then, a 3-2-1 count, "Egészségédre!", and another sip. It took nearly an hour to finish that 4 centiliter drink, during which we were very entertained by the band and the couple sitting in front of us. The man, a Brit businessman, was awkwardly trying to humor her, a cute Hungarian woman with long brown hair. She was clearly drunk and putting on a forced display of amusement while saying with her eyes, "Why don't we get out of here and have an intimate discussion about private international relations, already?" At one point, I actually heard him say, "Don't you think I look like Michael Flatley?"

Ah ha ha. What a knob.

With each tiny green sip, she looked cuter and he looked dumber. But soon they left wrapped in each other's arms, and so did we. But not in each other's arms. We paid 1200 forints for each glass, which translates to about 6 dollars. Got back after a short walk across the neighborhood.

I didn't wake up until 4:30pm the next day.

More about yesterday tomorrow. I have to live today first.

Thank God that's over with.

Getting it together!

We had our first meeting with Borbála Hárs and Eva Simko at the international office of the Academy today. They might be described as the 'Gina Balestracci' ladies of the Liszt Academy. They are both kind, charming women who get things done. And all the time, you feel that they are there just for you! They have arranged everything at the Academy end, and we will have to do something very nice for them. I think a bottle of Tokaj might hit the spot... :-)

Also at the meeting was Jack's new piano teacher, who is a small, bouncy man with a great smile. And I do mean bounce. I don't think he could be any bouncier if you gave him a pogo stick. Very loquacious and charismatic. The man responsible for the foundation which sponsors the Hungarian students at Montclair was present also. I can't remember either of their names at the moment. It's 3:30 and I can't sleep.

After the meeting, Jack and I went to Frici Papa's again to have dinner. Another hefty, home-cooked, cheap and satisfying meal! We were so satisfied, in fact, we decided to forget trombone, music and Jack's backpack at our seats when we left. The waiter (same guy as last time) came running out of the door, yelling and gesturing that we forgot all our stuff. I'm awfully glad I tipped him for the meal.

Public transportation is very good in Budapest. No matter where you want to go, you have many options of how to get there. There are three major metro lines (M1, M2, M3) on the Pest side (the M2 goes briefly into Buda), and a lot of buses, trollies (buses run off electric lines), trams (San Francisco trollies) and taxis. We live downtown (in Pest, by the way) and walking is easy, so it never takes very long to get anywhere. Everything comes very quickly. It's like New York, but much cleaner.

I guess I can't compare it to New York. The smell there is an integral part of the transportation.

After dinner, I took the 6 tram to ***Moricz Zigmund koter*** to say hello to Tamás at work and pick up a charger for the phone he gave me. I can't say enough how good Tamás has been to me and Jack. He has answered all of our picky questions, shown us to wonderful places, even helped us shop for groceries and done it all with his wonderful smile. Those of you that know him know what I mean. He's invited us over for dinner on Saturday and, in February, to his home in southern Hungary. We'll even take a brief sojourn into Romania (if Jack doesn't drag his feet - he doesn't want to go to Romania).

I'm looking forward to Barack Obama's inauguration tomorrow. We plan to watch it live at the apartment, probably with dinner. People we have spoken to here are optimistic, and share our faith in him. May this day bring some sense and stability to a fragile world.

P.S.

Forgot to mention... Yesterday, when Domenica came over to check out the apartment, we got on topic of the bed situation - there's only one, remember, and Jack sleeps on it. Well, she took one look at our couch and asked, "Is that a pull-out couch?" Nem. Well, she picks up the cushions, and there is the pull-out. We couldn't believe her intuition or our stupidity. Amazing.

For the record. Domenica is THE BEST STUDY ABROAD DIRECTOR IN THE WORLD. You can quote me on that.

St. Stevens, the Café Montmartre and Tokaj

Well kids, it looks like you may have to wait a while to see pictures of any of this. The internet is very sluggish, and it takes too long to upload photos. Let's hope my mastery of the English language gives you a vivid picture of the times, places and goings-on of Budapest.

Today was our first meeting with Domenica, our wonderfully talented and charismatic Global Ed Director, in Budapest. We had planned to meet at 13:00, but Jack and I both slept until 13:20... when Domenica called us from Roosevelt tér. Oops. I have no idea how that happened. Maybe we're still jet-lagged.

Anyway, quick as rabbits we throw clothes on and run out the door. We hustle to the square and find her shivering in the cold. We suck. She comes back to our pad after checking out Parliament and Jack makes tea and I butter some bread. We chatted for a bit, and arranged to meet at 13:30 tomorrow (now today) for our big meeting at the Liszt Academy.

We walked Domenica back to her hotel in Roosevelt Square, and from there decided to check out Vörösmarti tér, a big square in the 5th district. We went via St. Steven's Cathedral, located near Déàk Ferenc tér. This place is an eyeful. I'm sorry I can't show you my pictures yet, but look it up on goodsearch (remember to donate to St. Thomas in Winn!).

From there, a little grocery shopping yielded sugar, wafers and some local brews we're eager to try. Supper at Casa Americana tonight was kielbasa and spaghetti ala Jesse, followed by some very dry red wine, courtesy of Gerge. We retired afterwards to the brandy library (my room) and watched billiards on the tele. Mmm, yes, I'm quite rich...

Our exploratory adventures today led us to Buda, the hilly side of the city. We followed the sidewalk across the Chain Bridge and up a path to the Royal Palace atop the big hill. Large, beautifully lit, architecturally stunning and very quiet, this filled my camera lens tonight.
It was also very cold, and started raining as we went home tonight, so we headed towards our next destination: the Café Montmartre!

The Café Montmartre is conveniently located near St. Steven's and advertises nightly live jazz and latin music. It is also the location of our first glasses of Tokaj, a famous Hungarian wine made in the Northern Uplands. It is characteristically sweet, tasting of apples, and we chose the very best stuff tonight - rated 5 puttony of the best brand (Lonely Planet tells me that the rating system actually goes to 6, but I haven't told Jack yet).

Anyway, the bartenders told me that there is actually very little jazz there, so not much chance of picking up a gig. We might come back. They both spoke pretty good English, so we imagine that a lot of internationals come there. Some pretty loud Americans were drinking up a few tables from us. We didn't say hello.

Just a note: Everything up there was written at the end of my yesterday, and I'm posting on my journal today, while you're all sleeping (I hope). Ahead for today is a meeting at the Liszt Academy, a trip to the West End for a SIM card, a trip to Tamas's workplace to pick up a charger for the cell, and practice, both trombone and Hungarian. Have a good day, everybody.

We met up with Zita again today. It was her last free day before packing and flying on the 19th for Montclair. She picked us up at 10am and took us to the Liszt Ferenc Academy, our school of choice for the semester. It is only in the next district, and walkable, but Jack and I hadn't made it over there until today.

Walking into that building, I felt myself shrink before the age and history of the halls. It is a maze of floors and corridors, some lined with statues, portraits or photographs of a over century's worth of professors and alumni. Some notable ones include, of course, Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly and Franz Liszt. Later in the evening when we returned to practice, Jack said his classroom has portraits of Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt - all staring at the piano in the room. There was even a bust of Beethoven looking right at him the whole time. The main concert hall is amazing. Kasser theater may be more modern, but this place is stunning. Zita led us onto the stage that some of the most talented and accomplished musicians in the world have performed on. I have no words for the feeling of smallness and inspiration I felt.

After we met one of Zita's best friends and explored the building, it was time for her to practice. Jack and I duplicated our keys at the West End mall and hurried back to Zoltán utca. My friend Gerge (from French Woods) stopped by to say hello shortly after we got back. It was very good to see him again. We had tea and chatted about odds and ends, and it came up that Larry and Ron (camp directors) are coming up in February and March for recruiting! It will be interesting to see them here... :-)

The prices of most things here are comparable to prices in the US, with some exceptions we have noticed. Cell phones are a little more expensive, and they work mostly on a pay-as-you-go plan. Expensive things like electronics are much more expensive - a $250 iPod in the states can cost almost twice as much here. Jack noticed the wristwatches in the mall today are much more, as well. Food and meals are much cheaper. We had a hefty shopping day with Tamás last night, and spent about 5.000 Ft (remember, the periods and commas are interchanged in European numerology) - about $25. Today we had supper at an étterem named *can't remember! will insert later* near the Academy, had a very filling meal and drinks and paid 2.000 Ft for the both of us - $10. Beers are cheaper by about half, too.

Alcoholism seems to be a bigger problem here. Booze is easy to get and available all the time. I'm pretty sure Lonely Planet puts the percentage of dedicated drinkers at 40-50%, but I can't find the figure right now. It's common to see beer cans or wine bottles set on the sidewalk. Yesterday I saw a homeless-looking man walking the other way pick up a bottle on the ground, take a swig, set it down and keep walking. There's also no law against public consumption. A group of women were passing a bottle of wine at a tram stop that night with no concern.

After Gerge left (ironically, he brought a bottle of local wine, a customary gift when invited to someone's home), Jack and I headed over to the Academy again to find practice rooms. The building is 4 or 5 stories tall, and has a bunch of rooms, but they're not easy to find. The place reminds me of Hogwarts. Procedure for getting a room involves four signatures, time in and time out, and a key. School isn't even in session, and there weren't many rooms available. Zita tells us when things get going there is often a line. Good motivation to practice hard, I guess. If there's someone breathing down your neck to get in a room, you use time well (I hope). I got in a good two hours this evening, and met a few percussionists who were practicing. Contrary to what I've heard, most people seem to speak a little English.

Everyone must leave the rooms at 21:00 (the time is in 24 hours, by the way). I got lost a bunch of times on the way out, and almost stumbled into a concert. That was fun.

Things are going well with the apartment situation. We've decided to keep this one, as the location can't be beat. I'd like to get a bed soon, even though the cushions I'm sleeping on are comfortable. We haven't seen the landlords again, but plan to call them after an orientation meeting with Domenica (Global Ed director at Montclair, here to cement the study abroad program we hope to continue) and Barbola Hars, an administrator at the Academy.

Very quickly, internet works like this. We have one T-mobile USB satellite card which works easily, but not quickly. When America wakes up at about 15:00 our time, things grind to a 2kbps halt, so photos are difficult. I plan to try uploading a few in the morning.

I love reading your e-mails and comments, everyone. Thanks so much.

Quick update (there will be a lot of these)

I've added a link to Jack's blog (it's off to the side). One of his latest entries is a diatribe on his initial opinion of living quarters and landlord helpfulness. He woke me up this morning, and what he told me nearly knocked me back out: "I like it here"

Anyway, keep checking it. He may write more than I do...

Today we stayed in the apartment all morning, with the exception of Jack running out for some food from a local market. I may actually deserve the title of "sandbagger" because Jack wanted to get out and see stuff and I was trying to write the previous entry. We left to see Tamás at about 3, and he took us to... the top of Buda where there is a castle and statues and AMAZING VIEWS and I forget the name of all... We also went shopping and bought food.

More later. It's Jack's turn for the internet. I'll talk about that, too.

Jack: www.musicophony.wordpress.com

Arrival in Budapest - First Day

Hello all,

Sorry this e-mail didn't come upon arrival to Budapest. It's been quite a ride.

I'll start after two great flights from New York and London. Once we claimed our baggage and met two other Americans studying in Budapest (mathematics), walked through effortlessly through customs, we were greeted by Zita, our dear friend and slave for the day. Zita has done backflips to make us at home here. She drove us to our new apartment, (V Zoltán utca 10, Budapest, if you'd like to look it up) translated so we could get money, worked out monthly transit passes, helped us talk with our landlords.... the list goes on and on. She has been a gem.

The apartment is in a great location. Two blocks from Parliament and one from the Danube River, it is in a prime location. It is also a block from the metro, which we now have unlimited access to. There was a very nice moment when we arrived. When walking into the courtyard inside the apartment building, it suddenly started snowing big, floaty flakes - a good moment.

The details of the apartment I'm attaching as a letter from Jack to various people who've been helping us in this process. For my part, I like the high ceilings, the heating appliances (Margaret, it's just like Belgium!)

I'll skip ahead a little bit to shopping later that day. After Zita and the landlords left, Jack and I found the metro and made our way to the West End, a large mall northeast of Zoltán utca (which is pronounced oo-tsah). I'm a little embarrassed that the first thing we did was head to a mall - so American. We also ate at Burger King. I was too tired to object to the idea. At 5pm local time, it was 11am in New York, and I didn't sleep on the plane. Hour 24.

Our goals at the mall were to get phones, find "Mr. Minute" the locksmithy place, and get something for meals. It was a huge place with lots of sparkle and impressively dressed manikins. Walking along a floor on the third level, we were several times surprised to suddenly look down and realize that the floor had turned to glass, giving us a clear view of the floors below and the distance in-between. Besides the walkway, one of the things that surprised me was how affectionate couples were together. The mall seems to be a romantic attraction here, besides as a place to waste your money. There were many couches lining the walkways where people could rest, and it was very common to see couples using them to have long conversations, or intimate discussions of about each others dental work.

We spent a lot of time finding T-mobile and Pannon another local phone service, so by the time we found the locksmith and the grocery store they were already zárva. I got groceries later, though :-)

When we got back to Zoltán utca, were we surprised to find my friends Tamás and Peter waiting for us! This really made my day. They were two of my best friends from camp who worked in the kitchen. Peter and I lived in the same bunk. On August 20, Hungarian Constitution Day, they invited me to join them for some food they'd prepared for dinner for the Hungarian staff. So to find them at our door was very special. They came up to see the apartment, and I got busy making tea. I felt a little like Amahl's mother, trying to prepare their impoverished home for the three kings traveling to Bethlehem. The cups we found here were extremely piszkos, and it took a lot of scrubbing to make them acceptable for the fine lipton tea Jack brought (Margaret: send tea!).

At about 10pm, we decided to take a walk by the river. Jack opted to stay in and get extra sleep, as the trip did not go as well for him as it did for me. We first walked around Parliament, well lit at night, and well guarded also. Some landmarks I have noticed you cannot get close to, such as one of the soviet monuments in Szabadság tér where I went later that night. I don't yet know the reason why.

The river flows dél (south), and had small ice flows in it. Tamás tells me it rarely freezes over completely. The view is beautiful, of course. From the flat Pest side you see the hilly Buda, with castles and statues and rich-looking buildings, well lit at night. I have yet to go there, but hope to do so soon within the next few days. The oldest and most beautiful bridge crossing the Danube is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, a suspension with two great pillars. Tamás told me it is named after Széchenyi because this man loved his country so much he worked for a year and gave all his money to Hungary. It is a national symbol.

At the eastern end of the bridge is Roosevelt tér, a square named after... you guessed it, Teddy Roosevelt! How strange to see that! There are many fancy places in this area, from moodily lit restaurants (étterem) to video casinos and fine hotels. We went southeast to Vörösmarty tér, a very large square also surrounded with big buildings and fine hotels. At 10:30 (I'm guessing) it was so peaceful, with very few people.. That's something Jack and I have noticed about the city - it's much easier to find silence. For a few minutes when we were left alone in the apartment, we just sat and listened to it. No cars, no subway, nothing. Vörösmarty tér I thought would be a great place to play trombone late at night. I asked Tamás about it, and mentioned that I haven't seen any street music yet, and asked what people thought about that kind of performance. "First, people will think you're crazy, or an idiot or begging." I'll try it anyway.

Our last stop was Match, a grocery chain. This one had about three isles with most essentials. I bought bread, toilet paper, dish soap and some puddings Tamás likes. The bill came to 1.100,00 Ft, including 184,00 összesen. Last time I checked, the exchange rate was about 200 forints to the American dollar. The night was ending, and my friends had to take the metro home before it stopped running for the night. They gave me directions to get back to Zoltán utca, and we went our ways. About halfway back, however, I was approached by two Englishmen who started asking if I knew where a bar called Captain Cooks was. When I happily responded in English, they invited me to come search for it with them. I almost said no, as Jack was home, I was jet-lagged and it was late... but my philosophy is to take those chance meetings and run with them. I said "What the hell, why not!?" and we clapped backs and walked dél again until we found the place.

We met up with another Austrian fellow inside, whose name I don't remember. The place is small and comfortable, a social place to hang out. My new companions were named David and Ross. Both are energetic and talkative, especially after the drinks they'd already had. Ross and his Austrian friend spent much time talking about women, but David entertained me for hours telling me about networking in Budapest. He has lots of stories about meeting tons of people, great parties and his work. His business card is labeled "Managing Director" of Derby House Property Services, with numbers for the "UK mob" and the "Hun[garian] mob". The whole evening really reinforced my philosophy that life gives you strange opportunities which come in different disguises. They can be as open and easy to find as an invitation to a party, or veiled under a handshake or a chance glance. If I had never said hello to Tamás or Peter at camp, tonight would have been much less interesting. I would have just slept, I think :-) But opportunities have come, and I have begun to really learn how to seize them, and I'm very glad for it. David gave me this anecdote:

A traveling man met another old man on the road. "What are the people like in the next town," he asked. "What were they like in the last one?" the old man responded. "Fantastic! They were kind, cheerful, helpful, and good cooks, too!" "Well, that is what they are like in the next town." The old man said.

Another traveling man met the old man on the road, and asked the same question, to which he got the same answer. "The people were dreadful! No one smiled or talked to me. Even the beer tasted bad." The old man replied, "That is what they are like in the next town, too."

Life is what you make of it. I am looking forward to the next five months.

I got back around 1am, I'm guessing. 30+ hours of travel, language and even a party. A good first day. I spent the morning sleeping and writing this. We have cable TV (but one bed?) and saw a CNN report about the US Airways plane that crashed in the Hudson River, and everyone survived. Wow. Our new favorite channel is TV Paprika, a Hungarian food channel. I'm going to take a nap now. Writing all this has exhausted me again.

Peace.

**photos to come later when I figure stuff out**