Is it nap time yet?

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Oh boy. Let me start with yesterday I guess. We woke up at 9 am to enjoy a free day of exploring the city. We got a nice simple breakfast of granola and muesli in the hostel kitchen, and then made plans. Some girls had bought tickets for a Hop On Hop Off tour that cost about $20 and shows you all of Budapest. My roommates and I decided to do a day of being tourists, but as of yesterday morning, I still had no forints. My friend Kate and I (there are 2 other Kate's here) walked down to the bank and successfully got forints out of the bank! Armed with 75,000 HUF in my pocket (it's 225 HUF to $1 here, so 1000 HUF is about $4), I walked back to the hostel and we all bought tickets for the tour.

At 11:00, we were off! We were 6 American girls with a small bit of Hungarian between us (thankfully Hilary knows more than I do) and a map of the bus route. Walking in Budapest is kind of like walking in Boston. You kind of follow the street signs but you mostly just run across the street and hope for the best. However, in major intersections, there are no crosswalks. You go down what looks like a subway entrance, and down under the intersections are all of these little shops and food places as well as about 6 stairwells. Trying to get to the opposite corner of the intersection, we crossed a small street, walked down the stairs, picked a stairwell to walk up, and found ourselves right back where we started. There aren't any signs telling you where the stairs lead to, and we wouldn't be able to read them anyway, but on our second try we made it.

Once we found the bus, we started the tour. We wore little headphones and took lots of pictures and listened to what was mostly elevator music as we looked at beautiful architecture around the Pest side of the city. What I found really interesting is that because Hungary has had so many influences over the years and things get blown up and then rebuilt, there's never a common theme to any of the buildings. A lot of the churches might be Baroque style or Gothic style, and you might see some Turkish influence creep in. But everything is completely different, which really makes it fun.

Finally we crossed the Danube into Buda. It was gorgeous. It's crazy being in a place you've only seen pictures of. It was pretty surreal. Once we crossed the Danube we caught glimpses of the Royal Palace, the Matthias Coronation church, and the Chain Bridge. Looking over to the Pest side of the river, we finally saw Parliament. Words cannot describe how incredibly beautiful each of these places is, but thankfully I have pictures for that.

At the royal palace we decided to get off the bus and look around. We walked down to the Matthias church. Built in the Gothic style by...someone...the church is only used for coronations and royal weddings. I have never seen anything like it. I kept calling it a castle because that's exactly what it looks like. A huge sprawling castle with a million turrets, including a black turret, and a roof that looks like a mosaic.

After we were sufficiently awed by the castle, we went back to explore the royal palace. After taking pictures of the view from the palace we watched the changing of the card in which the guards walked really weirdly and did a whole gun twirly and grabby thing. No furry hats. Amusing nonetheless. We walked the grounds of the palace for a while and then couldn't find a way through without paying, so we went back the way we came and reboarded the bus.

The bus then took us up to the Citadel where the liberation statue stands. The liberation statue is this giant statue on the highest point of Budapest of some saint holding an enormous feather. The Citadel itself used to be a Turkish prison, which is really creepy when you realize that you can see it from most anywhere in Budapest. Here's a fun story about the hill: When Christianity came to Hungary way back in the day, with it came the fear of witches. There was one guy who may have been a preacher...he's a saint now. Everyone thought he was a witch, so they put him in a barrel that had a bunch of nails poking into it and threw him off the hill. What a way to die. The bus stopped at the Citadel for 10 minutes, so Kate and I got off and took some great pictures of views of the city.

By the time we got back on the bus it was probably 1:30 and everyone was hot and hungry. We were so psyched for lunch. We continued on the tour, which took us back to Pest, and we had a whole plan to get off at a certain stop. At the stop before ours, the bus broke down. So we trudged off and got on (thankfully) an open air bus that had pulled up right behind us. Once we got off at our stop we found an Italian restaurant where I had delicious carbonara pasta and a glass of white wine. Feeling much better but still hot, we walked back to another bus stop and waited. However, by the time we got on the bus we realized there was still an hour left in the tour, and dinner was relatively soon. We got off a couple of stops later and walked back to the hostel. Of course, some of us still needed to get some things, so we stopped at a grocery store and bought the necessities: shampoo and wine. One of the guys who worked at the supermarket was so excited to see Americans that he gestured us over to the peaches which were labeled Oszibarack. Barack. Get it? He loved it.

When we got back to the hostel we had enough time to shower and get ready before we went back out to go to dinner. After much deliberation among the 5 girls in my room, we decided to wear dresses, and thankfully we did because when we got to the hostel reception, everyone was dressed all fancy. There is an ARMY of us. Somewhere around 50 people walked through the city to get to the restaurant. Boy, did we draw some stares. On the way, Hajni (pronounced Hoy-nee) would periodically stop us to talk about the history of Hungary. It was really interesting, but I kept spacing out from exhaustion, especially when we were stopped right at the river. The people watching was too good.

When we got to the restaurant, we found that it was beautiful outdoor seating right next to the river. We were able to watch the sun set, and the palace and Matthias Church lit up. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures from this time on. But don't worry. I live here now. I'm sure I'll get some eventually. I had chicken topped with goose liver and dumplings. It was so super tasty. I got two of my friends to try the liver, and they both liked it, but no one else would try it. Nom nom. When we were finished we decided it was time for our river cruise.

Part of the Hop On Hop Off package includes an hour long river cruise down the Danube. The hostel recommended that we wait until the last one at 10:00 because we see everything lit up. A couple of girls from the original group didn't want to come, so they gave their tickets to two new girls. We found the dock, but it was only 9:00 so we went and got a glass of wine. I love how cheap wine is here. It's my favorite thing. When we finished, the line was wicked long for the boat. We pushed through and got a table at the bow. Unfortunately, the top was full by the time we got on, but we could still see everything from inside. And oh my god. All those pictures you've seen of Budapest at night? IT'S REAL. Everything was lit up in this beautiful yellow light so that the facades of the buildings reflected on the Danube and I just don't even know how to do it justice. There WILL be pictures eventually. The tour lasted an hour, and when we got off the boat we walked back to the hostel. Of course, we stopped for more wine along the way.

When we got back, Kate decided to call it a night, but Darcy and I were ready to go out. Our other roommates were gone, but we didn't know where they went, so we asked the guy at the front desk where we should go for a drink and good scene. He recommended Szimpla and gave us directions. We walked a few blocks from the hostel and found it. Oh my god, what a cool bar. First of all, it was PACKED. We got some beers and walked around. We ended up hanging out until 2:30. We got home at 3 and passed out.

And that brings us to today!!! Today was the first day of orientation. It was exhausting. We got up and had breakfast at 9, and the festivities started at 10. We all met on the terrace, talked to someone new for 10 minutes, and then had to introduce our new friend to the rest of the group. That took a little while. Then we all went up and labeled where we were going to be teaching on a crudely drawn map of Hungary. After that, Darcy and I had a break so we went to get lunch. We found a Chinese restaurant that was Panda King style, which was good because we could just point at what we wanted. The woman put my chicken and noodles on a plate and then threw it in the microwave. Apparently that's a thing here because my other friends had the same experience with their Hungarian lunches. We sat outside and ate our food and drank our beer and then walked back to the hostel.

At 1:30 we had our first Hungarian language lesson. Thankfully I've already studied some, so I kind of knew what was happening, but everyone looked like deer caught in headlights. I was overwhelmed myself. The woman just kept speaking Hungarian so quickly that it sounded like gibberish. After an hour of that, we were all super stressed out and went to the kitchen for our next class. The woman started the class by speaking entirely in Hungarian for 25 minutes. However, about 10 minutes in, I realized that she was modeling for us what it would be like to be students in our own classrooms. It was a whole production. She changed the intonation of her voice dramatically and did a lot of gestures and acting things out. It looked like so much fun. She was hysterical. After 25 minutes of that, we talked about what we noticed and how it helped us learn the language. It was one of the best teaching seminars I've been to.

After that seminar, we all sat in our beds for 15 minutes and seriously debated our life choices because we were so tired and had had so little sleep over the past few days. It took me 15 minutes just to decide to get out of bed again. We went back out to the terrace, and Hajni did some public disclaimers and then talked to us about Hungary.

If I was looking for an attitude that is the opposite of America, I came to the right place. I was riveted by Hajni's lecture. She was talking about how all Hungarians are pessimists. The first option is always the very worst thing that could possibly happen in a situation, and from there the options get slightly better. Hajni gave the example of when she went to an interview in America, and the man asked her where she saw herself in 3 years, and Hajni said, "well, I might be dead." The joke that Hungarians always say is that a pessimist is a well-informed optimist. And considering their history, it makes a lot of sense. Hungarians live not with the fear, but with the possibility that one day they could wake up and Hungary could be wiped off that map, and all of a sudden, they're part of a different country. Coming from a superpower like the US, it's interesting to hear that perspective. It's almost an inferiority complex. Hungary has been part of so many countries and regimes. They've been split up and put back together so many times that they just go with it. No one plans ahead here because they never know what might happen in the future. The whole thing was so cool.

AFTER THE LECTURE I GOT TO TAKE A NAP, AND IT WAS THE BEST PART OF MY DAY. I'm about to eat my leftover Chinese food and then go out again tonight. Woo!!!

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