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