Monthly Archives: March 2012

Mar25

Hungary Will Let Anybody In!

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Hey Y’all,

It’s been a banner week for me in the great nation of Hungary, or the landlocked jewel of Central Europe, as I like to call it. The government has seen fit to grant me a residence permit (SUCKAHS!). They obviously weren’t able to access my extensive global criminal record. Dealing with the immigration office was far less hilarious than I thought it would be but I get to do it all over again next year when my U.S. passport expires. Weeeeeeeee!

Another big development: I GOT A FLAT and I love it! I am supposed to get the keys Monday. Living at the CEU dorm has been charming and everything but I gots to get into town so I can be at the heart of the action. My street is Kiraly utca (Key-rai oot-suh) which means “King Street.” Well, it’s fit for this queen anyway. 🙂 Here are pics of the flat. I really wanted an old-style place w/ wood floors, high ceilings and lots of windows and I got it. And, the best part it is, I have a guest room so there’s plenty of room for visitors! Remember, that invite is only applicable to people I like. The Kiraly is really in the heart of Pest, within walking/biking distance to lots of cool stuff including (imagine me singing this:) the OPERAAAAA!!!!!! ♫ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♥ ♥ So, next weekend I’ll be making a big ‘ol trip to IKEA for household stuff. Of course I am still waiting on my shipment from the U.S. including the couch to end all couches which, judging from the 69 days it took to be made and delivered to my Munich flat, was done so in the North Pole (actual place of origin: Poland). Don’t get me started on the couch, seriously.

On Thursday night my office mate Ildi and I attended a really wonderful concert at CEU titled Heaven in a Nightclub. It was a jazz trio – piano, bass and singer – and they were incredible. The singer, Ruth Naomi Floyd, has an amazingly rich and moving voice. When she sang Motherless Child, she cried. I know that feeling to be so overtaken by emotion when you are singing. We were lucky enough to get two encores out of them. After the concert I joined up with some American friends for a going-away party for my friend Anne’s boyfriend who, sadly, had to move back to NYC because he couldn’t find a job here.

A friend from Munich was supposed to visit this weekend but illness prevented that so I went out exploring again today on my own. I decided to go to the Holocaust Museum. As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’ve been learning a lot about Budapest/Hungary  in the WW II era. I also recently learned that Budapest has the second-largest synagogue in the Europe and fifth-largest in the world (according to Wikipedia). I have seen it but I have not yet had the chance to visit it. The museum is, of course, very somber but I think it does a good job of explaining the events of the era, beginning with discriminatory laws that were put in place after WW I. You cannot go to places like this without contemplating man’s inhumanity to man. Next to a movie showing a piece about the growing intolerance and anti-intellectualism of Hitler’s Third Reich is a very profound and prophetic quote: “Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” – Heinrich Heine (1797-1856 German poet, essayist & journalist)

I had some errands to run after I went to the museum so I popped into the nearby mall. While I was there, I decided to just grab dinner from a Middle Eastern place in the food court (classy). The guy who was working the meat spit was the perfect combination of Omar Sharif (as Sherif Ali) and Peter O’ Toole (as Lawrence of Arabia); he had flawless dark skin and hair but he also possessed that same effeminate quality (including, I think, makeup) that Lawrence works so brilliantly. Anyway, I attempted to order a gyro but he thought I said Euro, so he was asking his colleagues if they took Euros. Just at that moment a Hungarian passerby took pity on me and translated. After Omar Sharif handed me my plate and I thanked him he said, “I love Germans. Guten Appetite!” Ha Ha! I always figure as soon as I open my mouth it’s obvious that I’m American (or maybe Canadian but I’m too rude to be a Canuck really). Since I’m at least 1/4 Kraut I suppose his guess wasn’t too far off.

Today I’m packing all my crap so I can move into my new place this week. YAY!!!!

We moved our clocks forward this weekend and spring is truly here. 🙂

C

Mar19

Schweinsteiger, Kaiserschmarrn and Meine Muenchen Freunden

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Hello!

Last Thursday marked the biggest national Hungarian holiday – the celebration of the revolution that won the nation freedom from Habsburg rule in 1848. And, to celebrate, I took off. 🙂 We had a 4-day weekend so I went back to my first European home, Deutschland. The train ride is ~7.5 hours (nearly the time it takes to fly from Cincinnati to Paris) but it’s mostly a nice ride. Believe me when I tell you that it makes a difference which train you take and ALWAYS take a German train if you have a choice. The Krauts (I can say that b/c I am at least 1/4 Kraut) know what they’re doing when it comes to transportation. German trains = BMWs and all other trains = Yugos. Or so I’ve been told (and so I saw w/ my own 2 eyes at the train station). I think I’ve only been on German trains so Lawd help me the day I board another, inferior train. 😉

Munich was lovely as always and the weather was outstanding. It was so wonderful to catch up w/ my pals there! A definite highlight of the trip was eating brunch at Kaisergarten where German football great Bastian Schweinsteiger (or, “pig mounter,” as his surname translates) was dining too with his model girlfriend. To explain how I reacted, I guess I have to revert back to the 2010 World Cup, during which I became what some might call obsessed with football. I was like an obnoxious super fan who rarely missed a match and, since I definitely inherited my dad’s loud voice and sports enthusiasm, my reactions were, um, memorable. Praise God that I didn’t own a vuvuzela. So, when I learned that Schweinsteiger was right next to us at the restaurant, I went a little nuts. At least I left him in peace, despite my minor fit at our table.

For our brunch dessert we had my FAVORITE German dessert, Kaiserschmarrn. It is a gift from the gods. For those of you who have never had the pleasure, it’s kind of like American pancakes, only approximately 8,000 times better. You can get it at fairs and festivals in Munich but the Kaisergarten in trendy Schwabing (Schweinsteiger’s neighborhood!) is probably the best I’ve ever had. It takes 45 minutes to prepare but it’s well worth the wait. Our group shared two orders and it somehow turned into a hypothetical world war for the last bite with representatives from Italy, Germany, Cameroon, India, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S. Of course the U.S. faction was the loudest and most obnoxious but we conceded the last piece despite our clear military superiority. 🙂 You’re welcome, other countries.

After stuffing ourselves it was off to the Englischer Garten, Munich’s gorgeous and gigantisch (gigantic) public park. It was the perfect day to sit in the sun and watch my friends play frisbee. And at least we burned off some of the Kaiserschmarrn biking around town. Sunday morning I was back on the train heading to Budapest. It was such a beautiful day and the scenic views between Munich and Salzburg are truly stunning. And, yes, I was listening to and singing (in my head) the entire Sound of Music soundtrack all the way to Salzburg. As always, I wanted to get the whole train in on an improvised version of the movie (starring myself as Maria von Trapp, of course) but the rational part of my brain sent the fanciful part to its room. Boo to sanity!

Can’t wait to see my Munich friends again!

C

Mar12

My First Visitor

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My good friend Mariana (originally from Portugal but now a Munich dweller) was here to visit two weekends ago and we had so much fun! I haven’t seen her for a year and a half so I was thrilled to get to spend time with her again. We went to the Gellert Baths to relax in super-warm mineral baths. I overdid it a bit and felt kind of faint but Mariana quickly nursed me back to health. 🙂

We also went to the opera and it was amazing! Tickets are incredibly cheap and the opera house is stunning! They were doing Tosca that night and I adored the soprano’s voice. I’m definitely going to make a habit of that.

For anyone not on Facebook, click here for my latest pics.

And consider yourself welcome in my new Budapest flat (as soon as I get one), unless I hate you. In that case, you can stay at a hostel or something and I’ll probably be “busy” the whole time you’re here. 😉

C

Mar8

A Little Piece of Paper

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Last week I went to see a flat that a friend of one of my co-workers is renting. It was my first trip to the Buda side of the Danube! In Budapest (at least right now), guards are posted at every Metro stop to check that people have valid passes/tickets before boarding the train and sometimes after too. As I was waiting for the woman to meet me, another woman tried to walk off the escalator and get by the guards without a valid ticket/pass. She was immediately stopped and began to loudly argue w/ the guards. She tried, again, to get away and a very large Hungarian guard blocked her way w/ his massive body. The woman continued to argue and purposely throw herself against the guard in what seemed like an act of defiance more than another attempt to get away. Hungary has been hit hard in recent years and many people are jobless/homeless and struggling. Metro passes aren’t cheap either, by Hungarian standards.

The scene at the Metro started me thinking about access and luck. I just finished an excellent but tragic book called The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II. It chronicles the valiant efforts of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands (some estimates are over 100,000) of Jews from extermination at the hands of Hitler’s Third Reich. Before moving to Budapest I had no idea just how horrifying the situation was here. Wallenberg (w/ some support from the Swedish and U.S. governments) and a small group of other diplomats and sympathizers worked diligently to save lives and one way was to issue Schutzpasses to Jews which declared them Swedish citizens and, therefore, protected by the crown of Sweden. As the author points out, the Wehrmacht (Hitler’s armed forces) still respected some level of rule and diplomacy (that sounds ridiculous, I know) and allowed many Jews reprieve based on the papers. However, as the Soviet Red Army began to close in on Budapest, Nazis (under the local command of Adolf Eichmann) became more determined to succeed at completing the “Final Solution” in Hungary. Schutzpasses were no longer a guarantee of safety and groups of Jews were being led to the banks of the Danube to be shot and cast into the river like human refuse. Ultimately Wallenberg was taken prisoner by the Soviets who thought he was a German spy due to his frequent meetings w/ Eichmann and other high-ranking Nazis. The meetings were, of course, attempts to win the freedom of as many Jews as possible. He was taken to Moscow, imprisoned and never heard from again. The Russian government claimed that he had died in his cell of an apparent heart attack but his family spent decades trying to find out what really happened to him to no avail. This year marks the 100th birthday of Wallenberg and there will be exhibitions and events all around Budapest.

Again, I get to thinking about the haves and the have-nots and how one little piece of paper can make all the difference.

Raoul Wallenberg

Mar8

Welcome to Hungary; We Could Not Be More Annoyed That You’re Here!

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Let me preface this entry by saying that the overwhelming majority of Hungarians I have met and interacted with have been incredibly nice and accommodating (especially my co-workers). However, this post is not about them. I dedicate this post to those in Budapest who have waited on me in a customer service capacity with extreme frowns, exaggerated eye rolls and exasperated sighs. I love you all. As a person who spent many years in your field I have to say: I get it. People suck. And I am not someone you want to wait on b/c, first of all, I don’t speak Hungarian (or German or any other language you know unless you’re familiar w/ Pig Latin or Spanglish), I am going to have a million questions in addition to my initial question, then I’m going to require lots of detailed directions/instructions and, chances are (since I’m American), I will drop an “awesome” or “cool.” Let’s be real, I’m just jealous that you can huff and puff at me and get away with it. In the U.S., where “the customer is always right,” I had to eat shit lots of times when waiting on people. I like that you not only refuse to eat shit, you throw it in people’s faces (and maybe even smear it). So I’m going to continue to ask my annoying questions and you continue to be annoyed by me. Deal?