Seen in Budapest

1. The gay pride parade.

2. New on Kiraly utca.

3. "We aren't extinct"

Today I was sitting on Margarit Island, reading a book next to my (closed) watercolor pad. A Hungarian guy rode up and asked what I was painting. It was awful, so I didn't let him see it, but he still came by and sat down beside me, chatting away in mostly incomprehensible Hungarian. He had me take my shoes up and offered a foot massage. I declined. He mentioned several times how long my feet are. We tried to talk about some other things. He asked again if I wanted a foot massage. I declined adamantly in English. "Dirty?" he asked. "Yes, dirty." Then he said goodbye and left.

Thinking about it later, I worried whether my refusal of an anonymous foot massage somehow represented the depths to which humanity has fallen, our mutual mistrust of well-meaning strangers and random acts of kindness. Then again, I'm PMSing today and I didn't want my feet touched.

I am running around like a crazy person!

One reason is that Monday marked the start of my first German class. It was so funny to me how predictably I was overtaken by the familiar feelings of dread associated with starting schools. I became withdrawn; I read my book in a cafe instead of hanging around Goethe, to avoid running into students. I read until the very start of class to calm my nerves. I was nervous about the other students; I wondered if they would like me or not, or if they would be interesting.

They are! I think it will be good, although my brain felt like it had been pureed afterwards.

Hey!

Sorry I've been so remiss about writing -- I can't believe there's been nothing but radio silence since I moved in. Thus, I present MY SUMMER in bullet points:

- Took two out of seven math exams. Goodbye, masters!
- Found a new apartment
- Was homeless for a month
- Made $75 a week while looking for jobs
- Got rejected from some jobs
- Got some new private students
- Painted and drew
- Watched Star Trek: Voyager Season 1
- Read many books
- Visited Lake Balaton and Krakow
- Saw a really good friend from ASIJ(!!!)
- Hung out in Slovakia with my mom
- Saw BC '08 (!!!)

I despaired somewhat when it was 100 degrees and I could seem to find a job and I hadn't seen people other than my roommates and my students for almost a week, but now that September has rolled around, things are really picking up. I finally got a job with some language schools; I bit the bullet and went to a Polyglot Club meeting, where I met a guy who's now employing me part-time; I became part of a drawing club; we're going to start a philosophy circle; and I'm going to start learning German next week! For the first time in a while I feel like I'm going somewhere, rather than circling in a holding pattern.

More soon!