Category Archives: Uncategorized

May14

Getting to Know You/Getting to Know All About You, Budapest…

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Hi party people! Again, I’ve been neglecting my blogging duties. Now that I have my amazing new iPhone, I will be able to easily add more pics to my blog. I’m still, however, working on getting Internet at home (*throws fist angrily into the air screaming “Hungary!!!!!!!”*).

The last few weeks have had their ups and downs including a lot of late nights at work but also some fun times with new friends. We have a lot of public holidays this calendar year (ha ha. suck it, non-Euro countries) so we had a nice picnic for the May Day celebration. We all made food and met on Margaret Island, the island in the middle of the Danube. Before I moved here I had no idea there even was an island in the middle of the Danuble in Budapest. It was lovely but very hot! Summer came to Budapest seemingly overnight (but we’re back to winter conditions already).

Last Friday we celebrated the publication of the CEU 2011 Annual Report which was the result of blood, sweat and tears from many of the communications office staff (including moi). If any of you are so inclined (mom), I wrote the profiles on pages 18, 24, 44 & 36. It sucks having essentially Twitter-length character limitations within which to write people’s stories but they turned out pretty well in the end. When I say we celebrated, that equals our cool boss Sybil hosting a party at her house featuring her famous gin & tonics. Yum! She also made some yummy tacos and it was the first real taste of home I’ve had since I moved here. Thank you, El Paso seasoning packets! 🙂

I also recently got the sad news that my friend and colleague Stephen will be moving back to the U.S. along with his boyfriend Theo. 😦 They are two of my very favorite people and it will be hell saying goodbye to them. I guess I have to say I’m happy for them but I’m just mad at them. 🙂 I kid, I kid. I have made them promise to return for Thanksgiving. I plan to have a big Turkey Day party w/ my visiting cousins & local pals so it’s a great excuse to return. Speaking of Stephen and Theo, we had the most amazing day yesterday, beginning with an indulgent Mother’s Day buffet at the Budapest Marriott. We stuffed ourselves silly with champagne, bacon-wrapped pork, shrimp cocktail, omelets, fine cheeses and roast beef. After that, we went to the dessert table and just put our faces directly into the chocolate sauce. We then did some light shopping at an outdoor market where S & T talked me into buying a really beautiful necklace and bracelet made from repurposed metals.  Here’s the cool necklace I got that is made out of a vintage compact cover: 

In the evening, we went to the amazing Szechenyi Bath for some nighttime fun in the warm pools. It’s really sweet to be outside when it’s kind of chilly but soaking in the warm pool! I want to go in the dead of winter too. One of the outdoor pools has a circular area with a strong current that flings you through the ring. It is a major laugh inducer and Stephen, Theo and I laughed until our abs hurt and I broke my toe (not an official diagnosis). It’s a bit like getting a hilarious enema as you pass each strong jet…is there such a thing? 🙂  There are even cool colored lights in that pool and random bubble gushers. I plan to go back many, many times! Here are a few pics of Szechenyi from the Interwebs. We finished off the night with some Montenegrin hamburgers that Stephen has been wanting me to try. Not exactly an American burger, but damn good anyway. Overall, an A+ day!

Getting together with friends tomorrow night to plan a long weekend in Croatia this summer. YAY!

Lots of love from Hungary!

C

Apr26

Karaoke, Billionaires & Sharks

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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

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?