An oft-neglected aspect of living overseas is that the logic of what can be purchased where changes. Not necessarily drastically; it is the subtlety that makes it disorienting. I'm sure I've mentioned my struggles with Hungarian pharmacists -- anything relating to personal upkeep can be purchased in the pharmacy. This includes what one might assume, such as medicine, things that you get in CVS, like vitamin supplements (and anti-bacterial cream :( ), and things like earplugs.

I am at a loss to explain what logic permits the drug store, which sells shampoo, conditioner, makeup, and so forth, to also sell a wide selection of bio and health food products but to not sell batteries.

Where do I buy batteries?!?

Scenes from Budapest:

As I was walking from yoga to the tram this morning, I saw a small shih tzu-ish dog, whose lease his owners had dropped, mozeying along and looking bemused. His owners, four overweight, overly-tanned, over-made-up sixty-something woman in bright pastels, were all four of them bent over and shouting "Come here! Come here!"

Actually, maybe it was only funny if you saw how slowly the whole thing was moving.

Good news: I'm officially a legal resident of Hungary again! Nevermind that it took me a month and six visits to the Immigration Office. I even have "Immigration" stored in my cell phone now.

I'm still alive!

Last week I went to Krakow for a couple of days -- it was refreshing to get out of the city and do something different, as well as to be someplace just enough cooler than Budapest so as to be pleasantly bearable. [Did that sentence make sense? I worry that my English isn't as good as it used to be.]

My legal status is, as always, a mess. Thanks to a paper mix-up at the Immigration office, I *still* need to provide a bank statement before I can get a visa. I didn't find that out until two Fridays ago, thirty hours before leaving the city. Before I can get a bank statement, I need to give myself some money, which I'm sure will make my parents jump all over me.

I got an angry call from the office about two hours ago... See, this is the problem with going above the board. If I were living here illegally on a tourist visa, no one would know what my address or my phone number was, so in order to catch me I would have to be randomly detained and ask for my papers... Unfortunately they know where I live now and can call me whenever they like, so I have to get my act together or I might actually get kicked out. That would be lameo.

I'm still unemployed, although I'm resolved to change that (yet still madly procrastinating... Why???) I sent in one application and they got back to me right away, which my Dad said was a good sign. Unfortunately the recruitment lady is now on vacation... Everyone in Hungary goes on vacation all bloody summer. I think they need more Protestant work ethic.

So that's the news for now.