At breakfast this morning Eva gave me paprika szalami which, assuming I understood her properly, was made by Erika's father-in-law. (Erika is the younger of Eva's daughters). Less exciting were the pickled beets, although I ate those too. I'm really not a fan of pickled beets though, but according to Eva they're full of vitamins, so I will probably be seeing them again. She was making a gigantic salad with them this morning while I ate breakfast.
Anyway. Language school today was from nine until four, and was our first day where we had what will be the normal schedule, without random trips elsewhere. We had one teacher in the morning, and another in the afternoon. The morning teacher came in and began by speaking only Hungarian, making us introduce each other and asking questions about our age, nationalities, and other basics. It was somewhat nervewracking at first, but once I realized I could both understand her questions and answer them in something resembling proper Hungarian, it was almost exhilarating. Our teachers make us practice both writing and saying words and sentences a lot, both individually, in pairs, or as a group.
We had a half hour break during the morning. Jen (one of the girls in my language school group) and I walked around several blocks, including going by the silver willow statue which commemorates the Hungarian Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. The language school is directly across from the main synagogue, and is in what used to be the Jewish ghetto. I promise I'll get pictures once the weather clears up. We still had about ten minutes of break left when Jen and I ran into Sneha and Helen (apartment mates of Jen's. I spent a fair amount of time talking to Sneha on the tour of the city with the Hungarian students. She shared my enthusiasm for the architecture), who offered us tastes of their hot chocolate that they'd just bought from a shop they were raving about. It was really really good hot chocolate, so Jen and I went over to get some for ourselves. It turned out to be quite pricey, but it was fun to try once. I got hazelnut hot chocolate, which had peanuts and some sort of wafer thing mixed into the drink as well as strong hazelnut flavoring.
During our hourlong break for Lunch, John (From my language group. Not the Jon I walked around Budapest with earlier. ) showed Jen, Helen and I a gyros place he and his apartment mate Homer (also in our language group. Helen's not in our language group but she joined us as we were heading out) had discovered since they live very near the school. It was good, and quite cheap too.
After class finished Nora, Bryan and I took the metro to the international school so Bryan could photocopy his passport and while we were at it set up accounts on the school computers. I also figured out where the Scottish Anglican church is so I can go there Sunday. Then we hopped back on the metro and headed to Hero's Square. It was dark by this time, and the statues were beautifully lit. Although I'm not sure why Saint Isztvan's halo appears to be of iron while the other saint's halo is shiny and gold looking. After this we went to Nora's apartment to see if Bethany wanted to come join us in eating somewhere, but she had already eaten with Amy and Erica, and opted to stay at Nora and Amy's apartment, where she could use the internet.
The three of us headed out again and decided to go to the Buda side of the Danube and eat there, possibly at the pancake restaurant. After some indecision, we chose another restaurant where we, feeling unadventerous, ordered two pizzas. The restaurant owner was very friendly, and, in addition to the pizzas, insisted we try some pálinka, some goulash, and some dumplings and beef (without charge). The pizzas were quite good, particularly since they were nowhere near as greasy as a typical American pizza. We had fun trying to order the toppings in Hungarian. All in all, the meal was fairly cheap considering the amount of food we got.
We were planning on going to the top of castle hill and walking around for a bit, but first decided to swing by my apartment for various reasons. However, once we'd all flopped down in my room, there was very little motive to move, so we just talked instead. There'll be other days to wander around the Buda hills. I'm so glad I'm here for several months.
And now I need to go do my homework since we have class tomorrow. At least it is only until two in the afternoon, so we should have about two and a half hours of light to wander in.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Language School
Tuesday I rested in the morning, then walked around a bit and finally met up with Jon, Joseph and Min-Soon on Margaret Island. I think I'll have to visit again when it gets warmer and the trees stop looking so bare. It was a very overcast day, which didn't help much. The sun did make an appearance when we were at the north point of the island. The sunlight coming through the clouds and reflecting across the Danube was beautiful while it lasted at least. That evening I went to Bryan's host family's home to watch the inauguration. I was the only person who made it, but talking to Bryan was nice. I'm going to enjoy this semester surrounded by fellow mathematicians.
Wednesday the language school started. There are roughly thirty students enrolled in the language program, all of us are BSM students. We're split into three groups, my group has 12 people in it. We had one teacher for the first two days, but I think we have three teachers total, who rotate around. Today we had two different ones. All three seem very good teachers.
Wednesday class began at 9:00 and went until 12:30 with a half hour break in the middle. Then a couple of Hungarian students arrived and took us around the city. We first went to the huge indoor market where we ate lunch. I split a fried Hungarian flat bread known as Lángos with sour cream and cheese on it with Nora. Bryan got blood sausage, and both Nora and I tried a little bit of it. It was alright, but I prefer regular sausage. After we'd finished eating, our guides took us outside the Opera House, and we voted to walk back to school, rather than take a tram, despite the fact that by this point it was raining. Not too hard, but by the end of the walk most of us were quite damp.
I love the architecture in Budapest. Some of the buildings have beautiful carvings on them. And they'll be right next to buildings that are completely different architecturally. The contrast just makes it more interesting. We got back to the school around three in the afternoon, and our guide offered to take those interested pub-hopping sometime when the weather was better. Some members of the group seemed inordinately excited at this proposition. Others of us were somewhat interested, but a little bit dubious. We went back to class, and finished the day around 4:30.
After class a group of us went to Nora and Amy's apartment for dinner. We played cards, then ate. It was nice to see the inside of another apartment. It was fairly large (Hungarians really like really high ceilings, incidentally. Except on metros). At least both bedrooms were quite large, but there wasn't really anything resembling a living room. Just a tiled kitchen/dining area. Dinner consisted of ravioli, bread and omelettes which, due to the lack of non-stick coating and despite Mat's best efforts, turned out to be rather more like scrambled eggs with lots of stuff mixed in. After dinner Bryan, Bethany, Nora and I walked around the city together, particularly along the Danube. It was raining, but we had umbrellas by this time. Budapest is a very beautiful city. It's particularly neat to stand on the Elizabeth bridge and look out and see the lights of the chain bridge off in the misty, rainy distance. The citadel is also lit up rather spectacularly, as is the Mathias church and fishermen's basilica.
I don't think I'll be lacking for exercise this semester.
Thursday we had class from 9:00 until 1:15, again with one half hour break partway in between. Then Anna appeared to walk us to the international college, where we ate lunch in the cafeteria in the basement of the school. Convenient as the cafeteria is, I rather doubt I'll be eating there frequently. We were issued our magnetic cards to get into the school itself and got some more important phone numbers, signed the fire contract, and other administrative details. The head of the Babilon Language School came to give us a cultural discourse, which was entertaining. He commented that it was a fairly Hungarian phenomenon to have a Scottish man lecturing American students about Hungarian customs. After that, the Hungarian head of the BSM program gave us a basic overview of the program.
By then it was about five o'clock. It had been a rather busy past few days, and I opted to go back to the apartment and recuperate, work on homework, and attempt to catch up on this, rather than do anything more interesting.
I am very, very, glad that I am taking the language program. Hungarian is a fascinating language. In some ways it's frustrating because the language teachers are trying to teach us what we'll be needing, while at the same time trying to cover grammar fundamentals, so we're sort of getting a slightly disorganized mix of grammar, vocabulary and sentences which would be good to memorize until we can get enough grammar and vocabulary to understand them completely. The full days of learning Hungarian are intense, but it's working. Already we're able to start to pick out some words from advertisements, or understand polite greeting questions between two people. Actually, it's somewhat amusing how excited we get when we pick out a word we understand. Metro stations are good places to practice trying to dissect vocabulary and grammar.
The suffix system of Hungarian is so completely different from both French and English, and it's interesting just trying to pull words apart. While it's somewhat annoying to have to spend time doing homework as opposed to exploring, translating dialogues is rather fun, if quite a bit humbling since I have to use the dictionary to look up just about every other word or more.
Wednesday the language school started. There are roughly thirty students enrolled in the language program, all of us are BSM students. We're split into three groups, my group has 12 people in it. We had one teacher for the first two days, but I think we have three teachers total, who rotate around. Today we had two different ones. All three seem very good teachers.
Wednesday class began at 9:00 and went until 12:30 with a half hour break in the middle. Then a couple of Hungarian students arrived and took us around the city. We first went to the huge indoor market where we ate lunch. I split a fried Hungarian flat bread known as Lángos with sour cream and cheese on it with Nora. Bryan got blood sausage, and both Nora and I tried a little bit of it. It was alright, but I prefer regular sausage. After we'd finished eating, our guides took us outside the Opera House, and we voted to walk back to school, rather than take a tram, despite the fact that by this point it was raining. Not too hard, but by the end of the walk most of us were quite damp.
I love the architecture in Budapest. Some of the buildings have beautiful carvings on them. And they'll be right next to buildings that are completely different architecturally. The contrast just makes it more interesting. We got back to the school around three in the afternoon, and our guide offered to take those interested pub-hopping sometime when the weather was better. Some members of the group seemed inordinately excited at this proposition. Others of us were somewhat interested, but a little bit dubious. We went back to class, and finished the day around 4:30.
After class a group of us went to Nora and Amy's apartment for dinner. We played cards, then ate. It was nice to see the inside of another apartment. It was fairly large (Hungarians really like really high ceilings, incidentally. Except on metros). At least both bedrooms were quite large, but there wasn't really anything resembling a living room. Just a tiled kitchen/dining area. Dinner consisted of ravioli, bread and omelettes which, due to the lack of non-stick coating and despite Mat's best efforts, turned out to be rather more like scrambled eggs with lots of stuff mixed in. After dinner Bryan, Bethany, Nora and I walked around the city together, particularly along the Danube. It was raining, but we had umbrellas by this time. Budapest is a very beautiful city. It's particularly neat to stand on the Elizabeth bridge and look out and see the lights of the chain bridge off in the misty, rainy distance. The citadel is also lit up rather spectacularly, as is the Mathias church and fishermen's basilica.
I don't think I'll be lacking for exercise this semester.
Thursday we had class from 9:00 until 1:15, again with one half hour break partway in between. Then Anna appeared to walk us to the international college, where we ate lunch in the cafeteria in the basement of the school. Convenient as the cafeteria is, I rather doubt I'll be eating there frequently. We were issued our magnetic cards to get into the school itself and got some more important phone numbers, signed the fire contract, and other administrative details. The head of the Babilon Language School came to give us a cultural discourse, which was entertaining. He commented that it was a fairly Hungarian phenomenon to have a Scottish man lecturing American students about Hungarian customs. After that, the Hungarian head of the BSM program gave us a basic overview of the program.
By then it was about five o'clock. It had been a rather busy past few days, and I opted to go back to the apartment and recuperate, work on homework, and attempt to catch up on this, rather than do anything more interesting.
I am very, very, glad that I am taking the language program. Hungarian is a fascinating language. In some ways it's frustrating because the language teachers are trying to teach us what we'll be needing, while at the same time trying to cover grammar fundamentals, so we're sort of getting a slightly disorganized mix of grammar, vocabulary and sentences which would be good to memorize until we can get enough grammar and vocabulary to understand them completely. The full days of learning Hungarian are intense, but it's working. Already we're able to start to pick out some words from advertisements, or understand polite greeting questions between two people. Actually, it's somewhat amusing how excited we get when we pick out a word we understand. Metro stations are good places to practice trying to dissect vocabulary and grammar.
The suffix system of Hungarian is so completely different from both French and English, and it's interesting just trying to pull words apart. While it's somewhat annoying to have to spend time doing homework as opposed to exploring, translating dialogues is rather fun, if quite a bit humbling since I have to use the dictionary to look up just about every other word or more.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Városliget
I valiantly located two English-speaking churches on the Buda side, and then wimped out when it came to puzzling out the bus schedule and figuring out how to actually get there. It seemed to be a project that required more familiarity with Budapest's public transit system than I'd acquired in three days. I didn't do much new on Sunday in general. There are a lot of Italian tv shows dubbed in Hungarian on TV, or at any rate on Sunday afternoons judging from the glimpses I got. Sunday evening there was a concert on TV. I think Eva was telling me that the soloist violinist was the first chair of the Hungarian/Budapest symphony. At any rate, he was quite good.
Monday I decided to visit the City Park, Városliget. At the last minute I decided to send an e-mail out to the people I knew were already in Budapest to see if any of them wanted to meet me there at three, although I wasn't expecting much since I knew Tyler, for one, was having difficult getting internet access. I left that morning with a picnic lunch. It was a really pretty day; "szep napot" was Eva's comment as I headed out the door. Getting to the park was far easier than I had expected, given my experience with finding the language school. The main thing that helped was that I finally figured out where the signs explaining what stop you are at are. It probably should have been obvious previously. Ah well.
The park is large, with plenty of open space to throw a frisbee around, although probably people will be more interested in that once the weather warms up somewhat, and we find more of a routine. And actually learn how to get in touch with each other. In the meantime, part of the pond has been drained and turned into a skating rink. I haven't been out there yet, but I would like to. Speaking of ice, almost all the fountains I have come across so far are turned off. There was one in the park which was. Sort of.
I wandered around a fair bit, mainly locating places such as the Zoo, the amusement park, one of the city baths, but didn't actually go inside any of these. I ate lunch by the statue of George Washington, which was funded by Hungarian immigrants to the United States.
I also walked through the Vajdahunyad Castle which displays different periods of architecture in one building. It was initially built for the millennial exhibition out of cardboard and wood, but it was rebuilt out of stone due to it's popularity. I've heard good things about the agricultural museum the castle houses, but again did not go inside.
By this time it was past noon, but with a couple hours yet until three o'clock, so I decided to get back on the metro and try to locate the International College. I made it to the metro stop directly outside the train station without difficulties, but got completely turned around by all the construction. I got a rather scenic tour of that area of the city, which consists of some very lovely old buildings mounted with large metal and electric advertisements for such things as Burger King and HBO. Particularly in the square directly outside the train station. I finally found the square where the school was located, but wasn't entirely sure which of the large old buildings was the college. I headed back to the metro station and went back to the castle in the park.
To my surprise, I saw two people wandering around, one of them with a map exactly like the one I'd been issued at the airport by Anna. I hailed them, and while we were standing around making introductions a group of three other BSM students approached having heard us speaking English and seen Andrew's map. It turned out that Andrew, who was one of the people I'd e-mailed, had passed the message of the meeting place on. The six of us explored the park some more, including some corners I hadn't stumbled across yet. Then we went down to Heroes' Square.
After this we stood around talking for a bit. Joseph, Jon and Min-Soon all shared an apartment near the train station, within about fifteen minutes walk of both schools. Because of this, they hadn't been automatically provided with transportation passes, but they decided that they were going to want them anyway. To do this they wanted to get some stuff from their apartment, so we decided to split up, and meet up on Tuesday on Margaret Island around one o'clock. Andrew, Bobbie and I took the metro back to the metro stop closest to where I lived. Incidentally, the escalators in the metro stations are really long (it takes about a minute to get up or down some of them if you're standing still, and they are not slow moving). Also, the hand belt things move at a different speed from the actual steps. I've never noticed that anywhere else, although I don't know that I've ever been on such long escalators either.. Anyway, by the time we get off the metro, it was dark, despite being before six. My metro stop is directly across the Danube from parliament. We ate at a pancake/crepe place at the station. The square the station is at is pretty, especially with the church. I have no idea what church it is.
After eating, the Andrew and Bobbie showed me Mammut, which is a giant shopping mall a couple of stops down on the metro line. Afterwards I returned to the apartment, while the two of them headed off for McDonalds where they could get free internet.
Monday I decided to visit the City Park, Városliget. At the last minute I decided to send an e-mail out to the people I knew were already in Budapest to see if any of them wanted to meet me there at three, although I wasn't expecting much since I knew Tyler, for one, was having difficult getting internet access. I left that morning with a picnic lunch. It was a really pretty day; "szep napot" was Eva's comment as I headed out the door. Getting to the park was far easier than I had expected, given my experience with finding the language school. The main thing that helped was that I finally figured out where the signs explaining what stop you are at are. It probably should have been obvious previously. Ah well.
The park is large, with plenty of open space to throw a frisbee around, although probably people will be more interested in that once the weather warms up somewhat, and we find more of a routine. And actually learn how to get in touch with each other. In the meantime, part of the pond has been drained and turned into a skating rink. I haven't been out there yet, but I would like to. Speaking of ice, almost all the fountains I have come across so far are turned off. There was one in the park which was. Sort of.I wandered around a fair bit, mainly locating places such as the Zoo, the amusement park, one of the city baths, but didn't actually go inside any of these. I ate lunch by the statue of George Washington, which was funded by Hungarian immigrants to the United States.
I also walked through the Vajdahunyad Castle which displays different periods of architecture in one building. It was initially built for the millennial exhibition out of cardboard and wood, but it was rebuilt out of stone due to it's popularity. I've heard good things about the agricultural museum the castle houses, but again did not go inside.
By this time it was past noon, but with a couple hours yet until three o'clock, so I decided to get back on the metro and try to locate the International College. I made it to the metro stop directly outside the train station without difficulties, but got completely turned around by all the construction. I got a rather scenic tour of that area of the city, which consists of some very lovely old buildings mounted with large metal and electric advertisements for such things as Burger King and HBO. Particularly in the square directly outside the train station. I finally found the square where the school was located, but wasn't entirely sure which of the large old buildings was the college. I headed back to the metro station and went back to the castle in the park.
To my surprise, I saw two people wandering around, one of them with a map exactly like the one I'd been issued at the airport by Anna. I hailed them, and while we were standing around making introductions a group of three other BSM students approached having heard us speaking English and seen Andrew's map. It turned out that Andrew, who was one of the people I'd e-mailed, had passed the message of the meeting place on. The six of us explored the park some more, including some corners I hadn't stumbled across yet. Then we went down to Heroes' Square.
After this we stood around talking for a bit. Joseph, Jon and Min-Soon all shared an apartment near the train station, within about fifteen minutes walk of both schools. Because of this, they hadn't been automatically provided with transportation passes, but they decided that they were going to want them anyway. To do this they wanted to get some stuff from their apartment, so we decided to split up, and meet up on Tuesday on Margaret Island around one o'clock. Andrew, Bobbie and I took the metro back to the metro stop closest to where I lived. Incidentally, the escalators in the metro stations are really long (it takes about a minute to get up or down some of them if you're standing still, and they are not slow moving). Also, the hand belt things move at a different speed from the actual steps. I've never noticed that anywhere else, although I don't know that I've ever been on such long escalators either.. Anyway, by the time we get off the metro, it was dark, despite being before six. My metro stop is directly across the Danube from parliament. We ate at a pancake/crepe place at the station. The square the station is at is pretty, especially with the church. I have no idea what church it is.
After eating, the Andrew and Bobbie showed me Mammut, which is a giant shopping mall a couple of stops down on the metro line. Afterwards I returned to the apartment, while the two of them headed off for McDonalds where they could get free internet.
Image uploader and I really don't get along
More scenes from the Marzipan museum:
And here are the two oldest grandkids in their dog and cat costumes:
And here are the two oldest grandkids in their dog and cat costumes:
Pictures
The image uploader and I are not getting along well. At the top is my bedroom. The next picture is of Eva with the Southern Seasons gift basket which she enjoyed a lot, and so did everyone else. The grandkids were especially fond of the ginger cookies. I think the oldest may have had about ten of them.
Below is a marzipan statue of Sissy, from the marzipan museum, and a view from the walk around Castle Hill.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
First Impressions
I have now been in Budapest for a little over two days, and so far everything has gone very smoothly. My trans-Atlantic voyage was the least complicated one I've ever had. No delays, no weather problems, no lost bags. In fact, my flights to London and Budapest both arrived earlier than expected at their destinations. I also got fed well. Both dinner and breakfast on the flight to London, and then breakfast again on the flight to Budapest. Unfortunately this meant that, between having the lights on to feed us, and the turbulence on the trans-Atlantic flight, I did not get very much sleep. However in some ways this was a good thing; by eight o'clock Thursday evening I was ready to crash, instead of being wide awake and thinking it was only two in the afternoon. Other than simply being tired from traveling, I have had absolutely no jet-lag problems.
Two people on the same flight as me turned out to also be BSM students. We all exchanged contact information, then split up with Bryan taking a taxi with one of the people who were there to meet us and Tyler and I getting in a taxi with Anna, who is in charge of the students. She handed me my transportation pass, and then began to explain what we needed to know for the next few days. Tyler was dropped off at his apartment with directions to local grocery stores and the like, and then Anna took me to the castle district, where I will be living for the next five months.
I could not have been more blessed if I had had a choice in host family. Eva is the host mother, and the only member of the family who still lives in this four room apartment. She has two daughters: Monika and Erika, both of whom are married. Monika has three children; the oldest is five years old, the youngest only 8 months. Eva speaks only a few words of English. We communicate mostly with body language or, if this does not suffice, by calling Monika or Erika and getting them to translate. The entire family is very kind, and Eva has been hosting for years with this system. She has every girl she hosts write a letter in this journal at the end of her stay with helpful information about how to work the shower, where to get eat, what professors to avoid or to be sure to take classes from, and other necessities. All the girls have raved about Eva, her cooking, and her family. I can see why.
The apartment was initially two separate apartments. When their neighbors moved out, the family bought the apartment next door and knocked a door in the wall separating the two apartments. Now the place has four rooms, two bathrooms, and two kitchens. My room is probably larger than the bedroom Jane and I share at school, and includes a desk and plenty of storage space. If I go out of the apartment building and turn left, I can see the Fishermen's Bastion and Matthias Church. They're about a five minute walk away. It makes finding the apartment again easy. As long as I can get to the scaffold covered tower of Matthias Church, I just have to go downhill to get back.
Castle hill has a walking trail which runs along just inside the fortifications and gives an amazing view of Budapest. I spent Friday morning wandering around the area. I need to go back and take more pictures once I figure out if my camera is running out of batteries or not. It keeps changing it's mind. I also visited the Marzipan Museum which is in the basement in back of the Hilton, right by the Fishermen's Bastion. There's a shop and cafe in there, and for 400 forints you can go look at the marzipan sculptures. Some imitate Hungarian needlework, several are of major Hungarian monuments. There's a life sized statue of Sissy, and several scenes from fairy tales or popular culture including Ariel, Shrek, the Goose Boy, 101 Dalmatians. After all this it was hard to resist the temptation to buy some marzipan I could actually eat, but I resisted.
When I got back to the apartment Tyler called to ask if I wanted to meet him and Bryan at the language school so we'd know where it was, and then explore downtown Budapest a bit. I set off in plenty of time, realizing that it would probably take me a while to find the school. Unfortunately I got off the metro one stop early, and spent twenty minutes going in circles trying to figure out why the surrounding streets were not matching up with the map. (In my defense, the metro stations are not labeled above ground with the actual station name, and inside I was uncertain which label was for the station name and which was for the next station. I also thought Erika had said that the metro station to get off at for the school was a major junction, which the one I got off at was. In retrospect, I think she was talking about the school for the BSM program.) Once I did figure out what the problem was, it took me another fifteen minutes to get to the right intersection and then find the right small street which the language school was off of. By that time it was 3:20 and I didn't see Bryan or Tyler. I went through the gates, and found that the school was off of a small gate tunnel which connected two separate streets. Tyler was waiting at the gated entrance on the other street. He'd been there since three and hadn't seen Bryan at all. We eventually tried calling Bryan's home, but Tyler spoke to someone who must have been Bryan's host mother, who only responded to Tyler's questioning "Bryan?" with Hungarian and the information that he had taken the metro.
According to Anna, my host family is the one who lives closest to downtown so it would take him a while to get there, but we didn't know how long to wait. By 3:40 he still hadn't appeared, so Tyler and I gave up and left without him. It was interesting walking around downtown and it was my first English conversation in almost twenty-four hours. We walked to the Danube and the chain bridge. There are lions on both sides of the bridge and the story is that the sculptor forgot to give them tongues. When they bridge was opened someone pointed this out, and the sculptor was so humiliated he drowned himself in the Danube. The Michelin guidebook, however, debunks this story and says that the lions do, in fact, have tongues. They're just too small to be seen without actually climbing onto the lions. According to Erika, a few years ago some students took large red socks and put them in the lions' mouths.
Tyler and I ate at a gyros place. Anna had told us in the taxi that we were allowed to eat at McDonalds, etc this first week, but after that we were not allowed any more American junk food, we'd have to learn to eat Hungarian junk food instead. I wonder how many students Anna has to actively persuade to eat at places other than McDonalds. Apparently Tyler is like me in that he very rarely eats fast food at home, and thinks it would be ridiculous to start doing so more frequently now. After dinner I took the metro back to the apartment. I was quite proud that I found my way back to the apartment so easily, although it really isn't that hard. I just had to go uphill and head towards the tower. I spent the evening reading in the living room while Eva watched TV.
I slept late this morning, and woke up with a cold. I didn't say anything, but Eva could tell (her ability to do this was mentioned in some of the letters from previous girls, along with the fact that she will make a fuss, and that she used to be a nurse so she knows what she was doing.) She fed me breakfast, tied some flannel around my neck and sent me back to bed with tea and cough drops. She took my temperature later, but it was normal. The family came over for Lunch, and so Eva let me get up and get dressed at eat and talk with them. The older two boys are really funny, and the eight month old girl is very cute with huge eyes. She just sprawls across whoever is holding her at the time and watches her surroundings very seriously. All five of the adults are likely to start humming or singing randomly at various points in time, which I enjoyed. Monika's husband helped me get the internet working. Eva has internet because she got a skype phone but neither Erika nor I could get the netbook to connect. Or rather it would connect, say the connection was very strong, but it wouldn't be receiving anything so I couldn't check e-mail or sign in to skype. Obviously that is fixed now.
Tyler called to say that he and Bryan were going to meet again, but between the cold and meeting the family I knew I wouldn't be able to join them. Apparently the language barrier meant Bryan had more trouble than he expected getting directions, and it was nighttime before he finally found the language school. At least now we all know where it is though. I'm now trying to figure out what to do about Church tomorrow.
Two people on the same flight as me turned out to also be BSM students. We all exchanged contact information, then split up with Bryan taking a taxi with one of the people who were there to meet us and Tyler and I getting in a taxi with Anna, who is in charge of the students. She handed me my transportation pass, and then began to explain what we needed to know for the next few days. Tyler was dropped off at his apartment with directions to local grocery stores and the like, and then Anna took me to the castle district, where I will be living for the next five months.
I could not have been more blessed if I had had a choice in host family. Eva is the host mother, and the only member of the family who still lives in this four room apartment. She has two daughters: Monika and Erika, both of whom are married. Monika has three children; the oldest is five years old, the youngest only 8 months. Eva speaks only a few words of English. We communicate mostly with body language or, if this does not suffice, by calling Monika or Erika and getting them to translate. The entire family is very kind, and Eva has been hosting for years with this system. She has every girl she hosts write a letter in this journal at the end of her stay with helpful information about how to work the shower, where to get eat, what professors to avoid or to be sure to take classes from, and other necessities. All the girls have raved about Eva, her cooking, and her family. I can see why.
The apartment was initially two separate apartments. When their neighbors moved out, the family bought the apartment next door and knocked a door in the wall separating the two apartments. Now the place has four rooms, two bathrooms, and two kitchens. My room is probably larger than the bedroom Jane and I share at school, and includes a desk and plenty of storage space. If I go out of the apartment building and turn left, I can see the Fishermen's Bastion and Matthias Church. They're about a five minute walk away. It makes finding the apartment again easy. As long as I can get to the scaffold covered tower of Matthias Church, I just have to go downhill to get back.
Castle hill has a walking trail which runs along just inside the fortifications and gives an amazing view of Budapest. I spent Friday morning wandering around the area. I need to go back and take more pictures once I figure out if my camera is running out of batteries or not. It keeps changing it's mind. I also visited the Marzipan Museum which is in the basement in back of the Hilton, right by the Fishermen's Bastion. There's a shop and cafe in there, and for 400 forints you can go look at the marzipan sculptures. Some imitate Hungarian needlework, several are of major Hungarian monuments. There's a life sized statue of Sissy, and several scenes from fairy tales or popular culture including Ariel, Shrek, the Goose Boy, 101 Dalmatians. After all this it was hard to resist the temptation to buy some marzipan I could actually eat, but I resisted.
When I got back to the apartment Tyler called to ask if I wanted to meet him and Bryan at the language school so we'd know where it was, and then explore downtown Budapest a bit. I set off in plenty of time, realizing that it would probably take me a while to find the school. Unfortunately I got off the metro one stop early, and spent twenty minutes going in circles trying to figure out why the surrounding streets were not matching up with the map. (In my defense, the metro stations are not labeled above ground with the actual station name, and inside I was uncertain which label was for the station name and which was for the next station. I also thought Erika had said that the metro station to get off at for the school was a major junction, which the one I got off at was. In retrospect, I think she was talking about the school for the BSM program.) Once I did figure out what the problem was, it took me another fifteen minutes to get to the right intersection and then find the right small street which the language school was off of. By that time it was 3:20 and I didn't see Bryan or Tyler. I went through the gates, and found that the school was off of a small gate tunnel which connected two separate streets. Tyler was waiting at the gated entrance on the other street. He'd been there since three and hadn't seen Bryan at all. We eventually tried calling Bryan's home, but Tyler spoke to someone who must have been Bryan's host mother, who only responded to Tyler's questioning "Bryan?" with Hungarian and the information that he had taken the metro.
According to Anna, my host family is the one who lives closest to downtown so it would take him a while to get there, but we didn't know how long to wait. By 3:40 he still hadn't appeared, so Tyler and I gave up and left without him. It was interesting walking around downtown and it was my first English conversation in almost twenty-four hours. We walked to the Danube and the chain bridge. There are lions on both sides of the bridge and the story is that the sculptor forgot to give them tongues. When they bridge was opened someone pointed this out, and the sculptor was so humiliated he drowned himself in the Danube. The Michelin guidebook, however, debunks this story and says that the lions do, in fact, have tongues. They're just too small to be seen without actually climbing onto the lions. According to Erika, a few years ago some students took large red socks and put them in the lions' mouths.
Tyler and I ate at a gyros place. Anna had told us in the taxi that we were allowed to eat at McDonalds, etc this first week, but after that we were not allowed any more American junk food, we'd have to learn to eat Hungarian junk food instead. I wonder how many students Anna has to actively persuade to eat at places other than McDonalds. Apparently Tyler is like me in that he very rarely eats fast food at home, and thinks it would be ridiculous to start doing so more frequently now. After dinner I took the metro back to the apartment. I was quite proud that I found my way back to the apartment so easily, although it really isn't that hard. I just had to go uphill and head towards the tower. I spent the evening reading in the living room while Eva watched TV.
I slept late this morning, and woke up with a cold. I didn't say anything, but Eva could tell (her ability to do this was mentioned in some of the letters from previous girls, along with the fact that she will make a fuss, and that she used to be a nurse so she knows what she was doing.) She fed me breakfast, tied some flannel around my neck and sent me back to bed with tea and cough drops. She took my temperature later, but it was normal. The family came over for Lunch, and so Eva let me get up and get dressed at eat and talk with them. The older two boys are really funny, and the eight month old girl is very cute with huge eyes. She just sprawls across whoever is holding her at the time and watches her surroundings very seriously. All five of the adults are likely to start humming or singing randomly at various points in time, which I enjoyed. Monika's husband helped me get the internet working. Eva has internet because she got a skype phone but neither Erika nor I could get the netbook to connect. Or rather it would connect, say the connection was very strong, but it wouldn't be receiving anything so I couldn't check e-mail or sign in to skype. Obviously that is fixed now.
Tyler called to say that he and Bryan were going to meet again, but between the cold and meeting the family I knew I wouldn't be able to join them. Apparently the language barrier meant Bryan had more trouble than he expected getting directions, and it was nighttime before he finally found the language school. At least now we all know where it is though. I'm now trying to figure out what to do about Church tomorrow.
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