This has been an incredibly hectic and stressful week but with some cool stuff thrown in. On Sunday I went to check out a choir because I really want to get back to singing with a group. I sat in on the Gabrieli Choir‘s weekly practice. They exclusively sing sacred music. I’m not a religious person but grew up singing sacred music and I have a real soft spot in my heart for it so I think I will join.

And speaking of singing, last Saturday we finally went to karaoke. Oh how I’ve been waiting to get my karaoke on in Hungary! Well, it didn’t disappoint but perhaps that’s because my lovely new friend Marion plied us all with very smooth tequila straight from Mexico. She also made an AMAZING chili which I’m happy to report stayed in all of our bellies. There weren’t many people at karaoke so our small group got to sing a lot. I sang one of my all-time favs “Chain of Fools,” Marion did a spectacular rendition of Meatloaf’s “Anything for Love” and Anne rocked the house with Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly.” Stephen and Theo signed my new friend Bart up (behind his back) to sing “I Want it That Way” by Backstreet Boys which he did without a single complaint or attempt at refusal. Good on ya, Dutch Bart! Sadly, we won’t be able to return to this bar since we kind of broke one of the microphones. Some guy was singing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” (or was it Dolly’s? I couldn’t really tell) and I wanted to harmonize with him so I asked Marion to grab the other mike. Wellllllll, it kinda ended up on the floor and then stopped working; I’m not admitting to anything, nor did brilliant lawyer Marion when one of the karaoke hosts tried to get us to pay 33,000 Hungarian Forint (150 USD) to replace it. Yeah, no. I felt bad and everything but it’s an occupational hazard and you gotta expect that some drunkard is going to ruin your equipment at some point. After karaoke we went to a magazine launch party to hear our friend and colleague Brandon, a DJ, spin some tunes. I don’t know the cool way to say “spin some tunes.” What are the kids saying these days? 🙂

Everyone at CEU has been running around like chickens with their heads cut off (speaking of, this morning I saw a dude in a chicken costume w/ the head temporarily off so he could smoke) because Papa George  – that would be George Soros, our founder and FUNDER) – is here. CEU is opening its School of Public Policy and International Affairs (which was his idea) and their inaugural conference was Monday & Tuesday. One of the panel moderators was Kati Marton who is also a member of the CEU Board of Trustees. She is a former journalist and respected author and widow of U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, with whom our president worked closely. Marton spoke last night about her book about the life of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jewish lives in Budapest at the end of World War II. In another post, I mentioned the book I read about him when I first arrived in Budapest. I feel really lucky to be able to attend all of these cool events!

I have also had a bit of a job change which I have been anticipating. I will be doing international media relations now but also continuing to do lots of editorial work for the website, etc. I formally met the CEU president yesterday, although I’ve heard him speak many times already. We had a very good conversation about what we can do to raise the school’s profile in the U.S.

Last night I started doing interviews for a freelance piece I’m doing on sharks. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a recent (within the last 5 or 6 years) obsession with sharks. I was so excited to get to speak to one of the foremost experts in the world, George Burgess, who is often featured on Shark Week programs. The first thing he said to me after I was transferred to him was, “I love your last name!” 🙂 We had a really great conversation and I learned some fascinating new info. I need to ask him for some book recommendations too. If you are Elasmobranch-inclined, check out these awesome books: The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey and Close to Shore by Michael Capuzzo. The latter is the story that Peter Benchley based Jaws on and was a stellar recommendation by my friend Mary.

Ok, time to go home and clean up the flat as my friend Ivana (a pal I met way back in 2009 in Munich) will be visiting tomorrow.

Keep the home fires burning! 🙂

C