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**