Commentary on Week #1

This first week has been full of surprises and adventures. My most honest feelings about Budapest? I LOVE IT! I was a bit homesick the first three days- not because I was not happy, but just from the shock of my move. Imagine 6pm on a Thursday being in Boston, master of the English language and the situation around me. A mere twelve hours later I am in an unfamiliar city, living with a new family, smack dab in the middle of a language I cannot even begin to understand. Not only is it extremely depressing to be in a situation where you cannot understand anything going on around you, but it is mentally taxing to try and understand and make the most basic conversation (for example, I am hungry, Can I have some water, I need to go to school now).

So how am I doing with the language, one week into this adventure? Surprisingly well, if I may say so myself. I arrived on a Friday and started intensive Hungarian language classes on Monday. We have class for 3 hours a day, and then I come home and talk with my host family for another 1-3 hours and also complete my homework. With five classes (15 hours of instruction) under my belt, I can somewhat follow conversations between my host parents- in other words, I can figure out the general topic of their conversation, but not all the details. I can also understand and respond to their basic questions- are you hungry, are you thirsty, how was school, do you have plans this afternoon, etc.

I remember back to my year abroad in Bolivia- I arrived in Cochabamba with more than a year of Spanish instruction under my belt, and yet could not understand nor communicate the simplest of concepts when I first arrived. The accent and vocabulary were so different from what I had studied, I think I was thrown for a loop. Surprisingly, in some ways my present situation of arriving with extremely basic knowledge has been more advantageous as far as my language learning progress is concerned.

There are 8 students in my Hungarian class- 4 Americans and 4 Germans. Everyone has studied a foreign language before- many are fluent in at least 2 languages- which makes things much easier. One of the Americans in my program is also a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and will be in my public policy program at the Central European University (CEU) as well. He is from Massachusetts and lived in Ecuador for a year so we have a lot in common. There is also a guy in our class from Dover, NH. When would you ever have guessed that I would admit that it is nice to be surrounded by fellow New Englanders!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking about Hungarian food. What is it like? Extremely varied. In my first week I have eaten everything from toast with Nutella to paprika chicken with the Hungarian equivalent of spaetzel (a kind of noodle dumpling). My host mom made an amazing garlic-eggplant spread that she served on toast with feta and cucumbers. I am convinced that the cucumber is the national vegetable, as they seem to serve it at every meal (yes, including breakfast). For some reason my host parents are concerned that I am going to fade away, so they are serving me insane quantities of food, which of course I am unable to eat. I know my mother is happy that they are taking care of me in that regard. All in all, no complaints about the food, though eating out (in a restaurant) is surprisingly expensive and you have to pay for condiments? They also will not give you free water in a restaurant. It is either carbonated or not and comes in a bottle. Also, for some reason the microwave continued to run this morning after I opened the door? Weird.

I have also gotten a number of emails asking for my address. I cannot comment on the Hungarian mail system, so if you do want to send me something it might be best to send a test piece of mail first, just to make sure I get it. The address is:

Erdős Kalman
Budapest 03
Kabar utca 11. 4. em 18 ajtó
1039
BUDAPEST HUNGARY
EUROPE

I also have a new cell phone number: 70 633 08 97. From the US: 011 36 70 633 08 97. Home phone number remains the same: 011 36 1 2453624.

Most importantly, I have posted some pictures on Shutterfly! You do NOT need to sign up for an account to view them. Just click on http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BcsWLVsxZsXFQ&notag=1.

I plan to lay low this weekend, maybe getting together with some friends tonight and trying out one of the international churches tomorrow. My host parents are away for the next 4 days so if anyone wants to meet on Skype or Messenger to chat this would be a great time.

Cheers!

PS I could not get the spellchecker to work, so I apologize for any spelling and typing mistakes. On a more positive note, I am doing much better with the keyboard and the y and z!

An Interesting Welcome To Budapest

One of the reasons I arrived in Budapest nearly a month before university classes begin was to attend the St. Stephen´s Day festivities- a street fair, air show and impressive fireworks which take place on August 20th.

I am pleased I was here for this year´s events, as it was quite a day. A Hungarian friend and I spent the day walking around the city, taking in the sights and enjoying the day along with 1 million Hungarians also in attendance. As you will see from the picture, I also took the opportunity to sample some Hungarian cuisine.


As you will read on CNN and BBC, minutes after the fireworks began a tropical storm/hurricane blew in and nearly killed all 1 million of us. People literally went running for their lives as rain, hail and broken glass whipped through the night.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5269642.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/21/storm.reut/index.html
PHOTOS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5275376.stm

Here I am thinking I had left that crazy tropical weather in South Florida. Luckily my friend and I escaped relatively unharmed- soaking wet with a few minor scratches, but nothing more. Welcome to Budapest!

Arrived!

After more than a YEAR of planning, I am finally in Budapest. I arrived Friday August 18th at noon local time, and my Rotary host counselor was at the airport to meet me and take me to the home of my host family. Emi and Kalman are wonderful, and having hosted 9 students prior to my arrival, they are experts in ˝sign language,˝ translation, charades, etc. We went out to the market this morning and will go explore Budapest this afternoon.

There are many things about Hungary that make me feel right at home, either because they remind me of the US or Bolivia. Having all modern conveniences of course reminds me of the US; figuring out how to use them reminds me of my struggles in Bolivia. Having a market right around the corner from my house reminds me of Bolivia; the prices, however, are closer to those in the US. Seeing T-Mobile signs everywhere remind me of the US; not having a CLUE what they say reminds me of my early days in Bolivia. Bridges to cross the street remind me of Bolivia; seeing people actually use the bridges and not run across the highway in front of speeding cars reminds me of the US.

My biggest problem so far? They use a different keyboard, which includes some new characters (léttérs wíth accents, főr éxámplé). To fit those characters in some letters are displaced, most notably the y, which is where the z should be, and vice versa. So if mz tzping becomes a bit sillz, this darn kezboard is to blame. I cant seem to find the apostrophe either... so I maz forego punctuation as a whole for the time being.

Thanks to everyone for all your encouraging emails. Keep them coming! I will try and post on this blog at a minimum once a week, and will be uploading some pictures shortly as well.

All Systems A Go

The first piece of good news is that carry-on restrictions have been revised over the past few days. In London they've gone from a strict no carry-on policy to a policy that allows for a tiny carry-on (the size as a small laptop bag), as long as it contains no cosmetics, liquids, etc. Just my luck that I am transiting London.

Second item of good news: my flight hasn't been cancelled. No explanation needed there.

Deep down I am trying to deny that these restrictions have forced me to be more sensible in my packing, which is definitely a good thing. As much as I love my fake fur coat, I probably can get along without it. Same goes for my red blanket with the 3 bears on it that I never used as a child but have taken a strong liking to in recent years. (WARNING: the red blanket may still manage to find its way into one of my suitcases though!) I did manage to sneak in 7 pairs of shoes and 5 purses, cut from about 10 pairs of shoes and 10 purses. I probably packed an excess of jackets and sweaters but seeing as how I am always cold, that seemed like a smarter choice than 5 pairs of flip flops. A tough choice, but a smarter one.

My flight leaves tonight at 6pm from Logan Intl. Airport in Boston, and by noontime tomorrow (Budapest time, 6am on the east coast of the U.S.) I will be in Hungary. My Rotary host counselor will be picking me up from the airport and taking me to my host family's home. I will be seeing my Hungarian friend Tamas this weekend, and I hope to meet up with Aaron Varner (another Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from the U.S.) on Sunday. Noah (from Massachusetts) and I start the same language training program on Monday, and we are also in the same program of study at the Central European University.

Thank you for your prayers and well-wishes for a safe journey. Next update will be from Budapest!

The Packing Phase

You're probably asking yourself, "how does one pack for an entire YEAR?" If you're like me, you take 2 large suitcases on a 2-week trip. But clothing for an entire year?! That's a full 4 seasons to pack for. You can't blame a girl for needing (note word choice: NEEDing vs. WANTing) ten pairs of shoes- spread over 4 seasons, that's only 2.5 pairs per season, which is by all reasonable standards totally ridiculous. A true sacrifice, if you ask me.

Standard baggage allowance on international flights is 2 bags, 70 pounds each. So what was my packing plan? I have the BIGGEST bags you can find and I planned to stuff them to the brim (by "to the brim" I mean the bags will be SO full that you have to sit on them to close them... you get the picture). Then I put all my toiletries, laptop, medicines, change of clothes, etc. in my carry-on (a small suitcase, also stuffed to the brim). Plus of course every girl needs a large purse with a book, 2 bottles of water, a snack, passport, wallet, camera, cell phone w/ charger, lip gloss, aspirin, neck pillow, sweater, perfume and perhaps some chewing gum. Between the 2 large checked bags, 1 small suitcase as a carry-on, and large purse one can probably get by. (Though I have considered paying for a 3rd or 4th bag or sending them ahead as cargo... but I could probably get by with the 2 massive suitcases, 1 small suitcase carry-on and large purse.)

So how does one do it when authorities limit passengers transiting the UK (I'm flying British Airways Boston to London to Budapest) to NO carry-on? I mean none. Like, passport and wallet in hand and that's about it. My entire packing strategy is thrown off. Everything that was to go into the small carry-on suitcase and large purse must now fit into the 2 checked bags. I'd say it's pretty much impossible.

On the plus side, however, my visa and passport finally arrived.

Countdown to Budapest

The countdown to Budapest is about to reach single digits (10 days and counting as of right now!). Am I ready? Of course not. I have a huge pile of some (not all) things I would like to take, and will soon be faced with the challenge of how to cram those things into two suitcases. Can I do it? Probably not. When I went to Bolivia as a Rotary Exchange Student in 2000, my mom suggested I mail 2 boxes with extra things in them to Bolivia. The cost? A mere $364.59. So somehow I managed to survive without the 2 boxes. I expect I will face a similar situation this time around.

My biggest concern right now? Getting everything done before leaving. The to-do list seems to continue to grow, despite me spending all waking moments trying to widdle it down. Every time I turn around I think of something else that needs to be done. Going away for a year isn't like going for a few weeks. Banks and credit card companies need to be notified that I will be using my cards overseas and health and car insurance needs to be canceled. I have to buy 3 of anything I'm picky about (shampoo, deodorant, mascra, foundation, face cream, contacts, vitamins, etc.) to get me through until re-enforcements arrive in December (when my family comes to visit).

What won't get done? You would think learning Hungarian would be important at this point, but somehow it has taken a back-burner to these other tasks. Will I regret that decision when I am staring at my host parents and cannot even say "where is the bathroom?" Most likely. I guess that's where the adventure in all this comes in.

Keep those fingers crossed that my passport (with the appropriate visa) will arrive back from the Hungarian Consulate today. They promised me they would send them out today.

More later!