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 I became withdrawn; I read my book in a cafe instead of hanging around Goethe, to avoid running into students.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!

I managed to find batteries, and to cough up for them, so now I have some photos of my new apartment. This is my room, complete with inherited printer and desk lamp. Thanks, Sarah!



This is the view from my window. I have spent more time than I should trying to draw this building.






This is my herb garden! Since I have no pets and no children, all my maternal instincts are necessarily channeled into these five plants. Look at the new growth at the top! You can't tell, but the mint is putting out new shoots as well. Unlike most people in Budapest, they love the hundred degree weather (not an exaggeration, by the way).



Finally, Szabadság hid and the Duna, as seen from my window. "Szabadság" translates to "Freedom." For all that Americans talk about how much we love freedom, the Hungarians really go all out and name everything after it. Budapest has a Freedom bridge and a Freedom Square (where, appropriately, one can find the US Embassy). Considering that Hungary was more or less ruled continuously by a foreign power for four hundred years, one has to ask oneself who this "freedom" is from. But then again, nonspecific freedom is a cause everyone can get behind. Wooo!

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.