Budalicious.

Love, I know.

2009-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

It is good to be home, back with those I love. So far, this interim has been restful and cold. The snow doesn't seem to stop falling, which is beautiful, but makes our house a frigid icebox. Laughing and dancing and cooking with these friends again is such a perfect start to the year. This homecoming has not been hard or shocking.

Although you people laugh at my choice to fill my last PE and take ice-skating, the first two classes have proven most challenging, and certainly hard on the palms of my hands. My supreme lack of skill or coordination or whatever guarantees belly-laughs if you care to come observe me on the rink. I wiggle when I try to skate backward, wobble when I git low to lunge, and body slam the ice when I attempt a spin. Shoot.

Last night was our first Sunday night family dinner of the new year. We gathered round our bright, retro kitchen table and huddled close to the stove for warmth. Quality $3 Crane Lake, sweet potato quesadillas, and good convo filled us up. We laughed hard. I am trying to cherish Annaliese's last weeks in this house before she heads to Chicago for her last semester, but I am looking forward to living with Katrena in February. Will be good.

So, hello, Hampton. I've missed you.

Here are some photos from house dinner last night, my lovely friends, and Jamie's new sprout apparatus.

Sunny Christmastime

2009-01-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from a lovely family Christmas spent in the Dominican Republic warmth. It was great to see the Braunings again and lay in the sunshine and travel with my family. Lots of reading, lounging, eating and drinking, cards, beautiful teal water, family goodness....overall, it didn't really feel like Christmas, but it was a wonderful trip.

Could be a coconut.

Annika Lynn.

This man made me giggle every time I saw his feet walking down the beach.

Our beach.

My bro. and my auntie's hat.

Part of the hermit crab collection.

Sean, Dad, and I played some cards and drank Presidente during some rain one afternoon.

Ima mizzin these kidz.

2008-12-25T17:48:00.001-08:00

and, Merry Christmas, all!!

Kellemes Karácsonyt!

2008-12-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!...well Happy Advent actually. Part of the Hungarian preparation is the Christmas markets that pop up all around the city at the end of November, the largest being right near fashion street and Vaci Út in Vörösmarty ter. The square is filled with rows of decorated wooden cabins selling handmade treats--ceramics, felted ornaments, knitted socks and mittens, jewelry, instruments, baskets, beeswax candles, gingerbread, tapestries, embroidered clothing, on and on.

Look at these lil guys! Lots of felted things like this.

The food! is another important aspect of these markets and the Hungarian Christmas traditions. Massive pans of stuffed cabbage rolls, sausages, kebabs, and pompos (a type of soft bread from a wood fired oven served wtih sour cream and cheese and other usual healthy Hungarian toppings) are served all day. We chatted with a dude the other day who worked at a bank nearby and was just on lunch break eating at the market.

No matter when you're shopping, you should probably have a mug of hot mulled wine to keep you warm. It's tasty stuff, but I think it might be a Hungarian excuse to drink while shopping midday. By now we have scoped out the various hot wine stands, and discovered the sweet one, the spiced one, and most importantly, the strong one. The hot chocolate is deeevine as well.

One of my favorite treats is this rolled dough stuff that is toasted over hot coals and dipped in whichever topping you choose--cinnamon sugar, crushed walnuts, vanilla sugar, or coconut. The walnut one is the best.

There is a lopsided XL Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the center, testifying to the imperfect, unpretentious nature of it all. Most of the goods are made from natural materials, full of individuality, and handmade. Its about eating seasonal Hungarian food and exploring the goods and drinking da WIIINE.

This is a bit difficult to see in this photo, but at advent the famous Gerbeaud Cafe transforms 24 of its windows into a giant advent calendar. Every day at 5pm a window is opened as trumpeters play, revealing a work of art by a different modern Hungarian artist. It's a pretty neat tradition to publicly celebrate advent in this way. There is often live music performances on the weekends, too. It's a party, one of my favorite things right now.

Some lasts

2008-12-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

Two days ago some of us chicks went to the applied arts museum, something I have been meaning to do for the past few months. The massive building, with its lovely green and gold tiled roof, is right at the stop where I transfer to the metro to go to school so I see it often, but had never been inside. The craft and design exhibit was so wonderful--lots of ceramics, interesting sculptures, unusual quilts, furniture. Lydia got good ideas for her quilting class this interim and I took some nice photos for myself.

Here is a not-great photo of the museum at night, but you get the idea.

Our farewell dinner was only a block away from the museum so we walked our way over there to eat more heavy Hungarian food and reflect on the semester as a group. It was good to hear people's final thoughts about what they appreciate about this place and about our time together. Corwin got slightly emotional.

Some of us still had finals the next day. Lydia, Claire, and I went to one of our favorite teahouses to sit yogi style on beanbags and sip delicious treats, which we will all miss so much--rich hot chocolate of every variety and sweet oriental spice tea with cream are only a few.

My days are expectedly very full right now (lots of shopping!) and I will hopefully post some more goody photos and stories soon. We are going to the Nutcracker tonight at the opera house on Andrassy, which is magnificently lit up with white lights now. I always love walking around this city and I am looking forward to the ballet.

Lovelove.

City Park Flea Market

2008-12-08T01:37:00.001-08:00

The sun was shining, but it was actually cold and windy. I didn't wear a coat so was stinking freezing by the end of our outing to the City Park flea market. Bradley, you would have loved this place. It was packed and enormous--tons of Hungarian books, old cameras, communist passports, jewelry, toys, traditional nesting dolls, tapestries, just everything! I felt overwhelmed most of the time, but enjoyed exploring the tables, trying to find cheap treasures. I did not purchase anything for myself, but we might try to make it back there next weekend before we head home on Monday.

We only have one week left, and are frantically finishing schoolwork to be able to squeeze in last Budapest outings. Tonight we are going to our usual Monday night bar, and tomorrow is for class, the applied arts museum, goodbye dinner, and ice-skating on top of the WestEnd mall. Full days and all these "lasts" are making my time flash by so close to the end.

I couldn't help these few pastoral pics; it was so nice to see the sun. And look at my friends! They look good!

More Croatia Photos

2008-12-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

Photos by Szabalcs Parragh

We had a photographer dude with us on our Croatia trip. He sent a link of his photos if you want to see some more pics of the trip.

Back to my take-home final for Corwin. Love.

Thanksgiving in Prague

2008-11-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

Ali's family and Dave came for a visit this past week to experience all the goodness of Budapest and Praha. It snowed for the first time the night the Winters arrived from 80 degree southern California on Saturday. It was cold and slushy, but we warmed the foreigners with welcome shots of silva palinka. Dave arrived on Sunday afternoon and we all went to a trendy dinner at Menza in Lizst Ferenc tér, complete with grog and chicken-stuffed doughnuts, which were actually not delicious.

Monday and Tuesday were filled with city-seeing and lots of touristy Budapest activities--the thermal baths, walking across the Chain Bridge, Parliament at night, traditional meals, tram riding, the Christmas market, Hero's Square, unicum, Castle Hill, hot chocolate and eszpresszo in cafes. The afternoon we went to the baths it was dark and snowing, and thick steam clouds hovered over the hot outdoor baths as snow flakes fell into the water. Such an odd sensation and "neat" sight, but the usual potbellied, speedo-wearing Hungarian men brought me back to normality.

After a full two days in Budapest, we all ('cept lovely Lydia) hopped a train to Prague, Czech Republic. We slammed snacks, played some Boggle, ate dinner in the dining car, and suddenly we were maneuvering the tram system to find our way to our apartment in Praha.

Czech out these guys (lots of that joke goin on):

The River Vltava:

With the help of Rick Steves, we did a self-guided walk around the Jewish quarter, which included the Old New Synagogue and the Jewish cemetery. Only given a small square of land to to bury their loved ones, the Jewish cemetery holds piles of graves with tombstones stacked and falling over one another. The Jewish community was forced to bury their people in layers, overlapping the graves that now look like rubble piled behind the metal fence.

Loitering in a cobblestone courtyard trying to choose a restaurant for lunch:

St. Nicholas Church in the Old Town Square:

Wenceslas Square:

That night we heard a lovely viola concerto at Prague's Municipal House before going home to a fine Thanksgiving meal. The dudes picked up greasy Chinese takeout while Nancy made cornbread stuffing that she imported from California. Complete with edes Hungarian champagne and Ukrainian white wine, our American Thanksgiving in the Czech Republic was something of a cultural compilation with all wonderful people.

The next day we walked up to the castle district, saw a magnificent cathedral, wandered the beautiful streets, ate traditional Czech food at a mini, local bar, and visited the Lennon wall.

The Lennon Wall has been around since the 1980's. It's layered with graffiti, mostly Beatles lyrics, and was whitewashed many times during Soviet rule, but now stands a symbol of hippie peace and continues to accumulate layers of paint.

"Dave visits Hungs 08"

We drank lots of beer.

St. Vitus Cathedral blew us all away.

Walking across the Charles Bridge:

Friday night we went to dinner at Clear Head, a trendy veggie restaurant with lots of art, lighted table, stenciled walls, and sculptured on the ceilings. The food was amazing and the hot spiced apple juice was like the cider I've been missing from MI. After our couscous patties, spinach quesadillas, and veggie kabobs, we walked around the Old Town Square, sipped some thick, dark hot chocolate, and admired the giant wire angels and flashy tree.

We walked back to the apartment along the river and saw Prague's castle, which is actually the largest ancient castle in the world, glowing at night. It felt like a fairy tale.

Early Saturday morning, we went to the Prague Christmas market in Old Town Square before catching our train back to Budapest. Since it was the first day it was open, the market was still mainly food booths and some souvenir stands so we snacked on crepes and sausages, but didn't buy many cool Czech gifts.

After we arrived back in Budapest, we decided to spend another hour at the Christmas market before it closed for the evening. Dave and I ate stuffed cabbage rolls and walked around the booths looking for pottery and mittens.

We dropped our stuff at the dorms and went to Szimpla where the Winters and Dave got to experience the outrageous, open-courtyard bar filled with plants, crazy furniture, trendy tweens, all kinds of lamps, film-screens, and tons of random stuff on the walls. We had hot wine and beers and cheesy baguette pizza. It's one of our favorite late night places.

It was wonderful to share some of our life here with friends and family from home and explore a new city together, too. Stan and Nancy were so very good to us. It felt like a little taste of home, and I am excited to be with my people for Christmas, yet I am beginning to feel sad and a little panicked as the end approaches. Two weeks left.

Croatia

2008-11-16T14:47:00.001-08:00

We began this weekend transplanting walnut trees in a small, southern Hungarian town, which is only a single street. A neighbor woman fed us warm cheesy biscuits so we sat outside, enjoyed the sunshine, and drank hot tea for a digging break. This work was very enjoyable. However, I did ditch my rake at one point to screw around with the rooster that kept shouting from the farm next door. He actually got piazzedt at me for getting too close.

Our stickly lil tree:

Roots!

Across the street from where we planted was a two-room, ethnographic muzeum kept up by a woman in the community. It mostly held daily utensils, simple machines, folk art, bedding etc. that she collected over the years and cares for. It was quite wonderful.

We crossed the Croatian border on Saturday morning. After a small hike up a medium hill, we had a fine view of the region. We walked through the vineyards and snacked on grapes still on the vines and walnuts from the trees.

Later on Saturday, we visited a Soviet monument high atop a hill that overlooked the Danube, much of the region, and one of the few bridges that wasn't destroyed during the war. We had paprika fish soup for lunch, complete with floating fish heads and egg noodles. Not my favorite.

One of my favorite bits of the trip was the ethnographic museum we saw in Croatia. The museum once belonged to the church, but under communism it fell under state control. It was kept well and cared for under communist control to foster a sort of national pride. Now, after the fall of communism, the building and its artifacts belong to no one, are no one's responsibility as they have not been given back to the church. Because of this, the museum has been looted, destroyed, robbed, abandoned, and is now sad and rotting. Sorry for the pile of pictures. I found it fascinating, startling.

On our way home, we visited this partially-restored church before picking up a couple jugs of wine for the evening's food and games.

Sunday morning we walked along the Danube across from the Serbian border where we saw the heavy war damage that still exists in the town. We also stopped by bombed water tower that looked like it might topple over as soon as I walked under it. It was incredible to walk around the village, full of houses sprayed with bullet holes or completely in ruins with crumbling bits of walls and roofs remaining. The history is so present. This region, these villages, are still very much broken.

Our last stop for the weekend was one of the larger Hungarian Reformed churches in Croatia. The building has been partially restored with money from the state, but the interior remains battered and unused after the war. We sang and snacked with the elderly congregation next to the temple. The women made us mass amounts of traditional pastries and salty croissants that we ate as we answered questions and recited our fruits and veggies in Hungarian. Their hospitality overwhelmed us.

You can see bullet holes around the window, quite different from the pastel exterior:

The Great Market

2008-11-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

On my way home from Pest today, I stopped by the Great Market to pick up some treats. I bought negy paradicom és fel kilo mandarin narancs (four tomatoes and half a kilo of mandarin oranges). It cost me 200 forint=about $1. These tiny oranges are the size of a golf balls and really tart and delicious. I shared some with randoms on the tram ride home and am taking them with me to Croatia in the morning.

Extra hot paprika!

It was grey today

2008-11-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

I spent some of today walking around the city solo. I strolled across the famous Chain Bridge, along the Danube Promenade, and past the front facade of Parliament. It was good to be in Budapest today and this weekend.

The shoes on the Danube Promenade stand as a memorial to the Hungarian Jews who were shot into the Danube by the Arrow Cross militiamen in 1945. The victims left their shoes on the bank as they fell into the water. The memorial was another reminder to me of how much the Holocaust is part of this place, like a wound that is still healing, certain to leave a scar.

Venice, Padua, Florence

2008-11-05T02:39:00.000-08:00

Stationed in Central Europe for these months, the chance/temptation to hop skip over to Italy for a week got the better of me. After very little planning or mental preparation, me plus pals left Budapest’s Keleti train station on a Saturday evening to catch our train to Venice. Our quick flit west was actually a 13-hour overnight train ride spattered with late-night border patrol checks, interrupted naps, neck cramps, fluorescent lights. Not so glamorous.

My stinging eyes and tired body welcomed the misty sunrise as we rode a waterbus to our small Bernardi Hotel. After such a long trip, the sensation of arriving just as the sun was rising and the city was waking up was slightly surreal. We saw Venice before she was flooded with tourists, while the streets were quiet and bare and the vendors were just setting up their trinkets and t’s.

The canal outside our hotel:

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and decided to have some coffee at a café along the Grand Canal. That afternoon, after caffeine, we wandered around the labyrinth of streets, into some shops (bought some Murano glass) and more shops, and finally to Piazza San Marco. The streets are incredibly narrow, flanked by tall buildings, making it difficult to navigate. Meaning we were lost a lot.

Staring up at the mosaic façade of the Basilica, out at the Adriatic, and across San Marco at the mass of people and pigeons, we all had feelings of disbelief, finding it hard to believe we were actually in such a place. Actually, I had this sensation quite often during our time in Italy. We were able to see much of the art I have studied via slides and lectures in MI, a profoundly valuable experience for me. Looking back on the inadequate photos of magnificent churches, mosaics, paintings, I realize again the value of seeing this art in person, to comprehend the size, understand the intricacies, and sense the actual colors.

View of the Adriatic from Piazza San Marco:

St. Mark's Basilica:

One of the mosaics on the inner arches of the Basilica:

The interior gilded mosaics of the Basilica:

Monday morning began with a coffee, croissants, cheese, and jam at the hotel before heading to the Doge’s palace, where we saw walls and ceilings covered with massive oil paintings. We also walked across the square to see the ceiling of the Mariana Biblioteca in the Correr Museo.

Library ceiling:

The Grand Canal as the sun was setting (we had dinner under the red awning one night):

The next day we spent in Padua. If I had to choose a favorite something from the trip, our visit to Giotto’s Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel would be the highlight for me. Despite its humble exterior, Giotto’s magnificent, cool, vivid frescos cover the interior walls and ceiling of the small chapel. The panels document the life of Christ and the life of the Virgin with unprecedented depiction of natural space and emotional intensity. The subtle tear-streaked cheeks of the women weeping over Christ’s body under the intensity of the starry, blue ceiling was a moving sight.

Our space-age, double-decker train to Padua:

The outside of Scrovegni Chapel:

Gelato in Padua:

Massive Duomo in Padua:

We spent our final three days in Florence. This city had a very different feel from Venice. The streets of Florence were busier, full of cars and mopeds, while Venice’s winding cobblestone walkways seemed calmer despite the floods of tourists.

Florence was full of art as well--the Uffizi, Academia, many cathedrals and monasteries. It was especially interesting to me seeing the bronze doors of the baptistery, designed by Ghiberti after he won the commission against Brunelleschi, who went on to design the dome of the Duomo. I have seen slides in class so it felt slightly unreal to be able to look at them closely on the outside of the baptistry, outside in such a busy area.

Archway and small dome at Santa Croce:

Our first morning in Florence, we climbed the 465 steps to the top of the Duomo, Florence’s enormous cathedral church, where we had a wonderful view of the city. I was again struck by the enormity of the bare interior space as we saw it from above. It was also amazing to so close to the frescoed ceiling, very different than seeing it from the floor.

Ali's wide-angle of Me, Lyd, Jordan, and Sarah on the Duomo steps:

We also walked through Palazzo Vecchio with its sculptures and herds of tourists, were astonished by Michelangelo’s David, ambled through markets, and toured the Boboli gardens.

And so, the trip filled me up. Dear friends (some missing), sunshine, astonishing art, and lotza gelato made this a brilliant adventure.

Sparkles!

2008-11-03T14:38:00.001-08:00

Ali, Jordan, Sam, and I went to our favorite gyro place tonight for dinner. It is our favorite because the sign is surrounded by flashing bulbs, the falafel with greek salad is delicious, it's close, and open alll niiight loooong.

Tonight, we split two "king kongs", burgers the size of a human head. Real trashy.

Ukraine

2008-11-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we visited Hungary's neighbor to the east. We rode an early train to Szerencs and then journeyed to Sáropatak, which is still within Hungary's borders. On the train, Ali and I sat next to some elderly Unicum-shooting Hungarian ladies, who kept motioning for us to move away from them, and then all nearly blew it when the train split and we could not translate the flailing warnings from the ticket-taker man. Despite the hostility and confusion, we arrived safely. We loaded into the vans (notice flames and peace sign dirt designs) and headed to a small Reformed church, home to the bones 'n skull of Sigismund Rákóczi, a prince of Transylvania.

After climbing out of the dripping crypt, we walked along the grassy embankment and enjoyed the sunshiny weather, which held out the entire weekend (don't worry about the coat, james). It was perfect fall weather, warm and dying. We had fruit soup for lunch.

One seminary, an old library, and some stroganoff later, we climbed down into a dank, mold-infested wine cellar. Wine barrels lined the passageways and fuzzy, black mold caked the short, arched ceilings. Since we were in wine country, we had to sample some of the traditional white wines, however by the end, some people were trying to muster the lung capacity to sprint for the fresh air. I liked it. We finished the day with some documentaries about the Ukraine and were in bed, passed-out hard, by precisely 9pm.

Friday morning we walked through a gypsy ghetto. It was like being in another universe. The sour smell of burning garbage permeated the village and bare bummed children walked barefoot in the dirt. Almost the entirety of the village is unemployed. The children trailed behind us as we walked past sinking roofs and piles of trash, loving the new strange people in their place. Eventually each of us had at least one small child hanging from a limb or article of clothing. The poverty was jolting, but the children were happy, wondering, energetic, normal crazy kids.

Saturday morning, November 1, we walked around a cemetery in the morning to see the graves elaborately decorated with flowers and candles for All Saints Day. This honoring of dead family members came from the Roman Catholic faith, but has become a cultural tradition, one that expects people to decorate the graves out of respect or else be gossiped about by the neighbors. We went back to the cemetery after dinner when it was dark and the candles were lit, which was magnificent. It was a perfect day to be in that place, to see such important tradition.

Midday, we walked through the main square, the downtown, visited a market, saw buildings like this one that has just been returned to the church after it was seized during communism. The socialist symbol was only removed a few years ago from inside the pediment. You can see the round, yellowish absence under the point.

After dinner we went to a children's hospital and spent some time in the wing for the abandoned Roma children, who seldom have visitors. The little girl I'm holding in the photo is actually three and has large wounds on her head because her father beat her. She improved significantly over the few days before we came and was very excited to see us and to be touched and held. I'm waving even though my hand looks like a claw.

The next day we had lunch in the backyard of a Reformed pastor's house. Before we sat down to a giant cauldron of goulash and water bottle full of homemade palinka (=triple distilled brandy that burned my lips), we climbed up a rather large hill in order to enjoy the view/exercise. Whatever the reason, we got kicshi sweaty by the top and some didn't make it. It was a lovely view. Pretty nice. I love hikez.

Our guides, Robbie + Janos:

View from the top:

My hiking shoes:

On the way down from the large hill hike, Sam and I veered off the path to visit a clan of goats, somehow lost our sense of direction, and wandered around the Ukraine for an hour before stumbling across our group eating without us. Corwin confessed that he had begun brainstorming explanations for our parents.

On Sunday, we attended a traditional Hungarian Reformed service in the morning then went to a Gypsy church and hung out with some more children. Honestly, it was striking how beautiful these dirty-faced children were. I'm not trying to be sappy and fluffy. They are smiley and curious and socially oppressed and poverty stricken.

This is Lydia's pic. I have no idea what we are looking at, but we like holding hands.

After peeling away from the mob of chasing children, we meandered over crater potholes to visit an 82-year-old weaver woman. We bought rugs and embroidery. Real good. Real hot. I also enjoyed sitting on a bench in her backyard with the pigs, cats, apple trees, geese, grape vines, and corn husks, while waiting for people to choose a plaid or floral.

This is far too long. I guess, congratulations! if you made it to the end.

Kraków, Poland

2008-10-25T01:31:00.001-07:00

I am behind on trip updates. So here are some bits from the group trip to Kraków a few weeks late.

The entire group loaded into a bus pre-7am on Thursday with a slightly creepy, sometimes nice, mostly unstable and directionally challenged driver. About halfway to Kraków (and after a solid 5 hour nap for me), we stopped in Slovenia to tour a castle with a charming local guide, who only spoke Slovene. We understood very little of her historical spiel, but enjoyed climbing the ancient steps and the view from the top. The trees had begun changing their colors and spotted the green hills with yellow and orange.

After a walking tour of the city, we had the rest of the afternoon free. We spent some time looking at the amber, wooden chess sets, tapestries, and beads in the market off of the main square. Ali and I got some cotton candy to share while we watched a couple didgeridoo players sitting cross-legged in the square playing their giant, b.a. trumpets.

Me, Ali, Lyd and the dudes walked around the old Jewish district, went inside St. Mary's Basilica, which is magnificent and real tall, and eventually ended up getting Indian food for dinner.

The following morning we visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. The place of Auschwitz and feeling of walking into the gates and standing in the barracks still flash in my daily thoughts. It is a haunted place. The darkness of the dank barracks, the unsettling greenness of the grass and beauty of the trees, the burnt crematorium rubble, the train tracks all remain as disturbing reminders of the one and half million men, women, and children who were murdered by the Nazis.

The experience was oddly touristy, a busy, chaotic museum full of chatter and complete with a gift shop. It struck me as disrespectful, slightly frustrating, at least off-putting that this was the nature of such a heavy, pained place.

Blogs and the internet dont feel like the best place to talk about that experience, but I felt a mixture of overwhelming sadness and anger. Ali, Jordan, and I went to the Budapest Holocaust museum earlier this week and were struck by the photos of the victims on the grounds of the camp, the grounds that we had walked across a few weeks ago. Being there makes it feel very real. But how can you believe it?

Before we loaded back into the bus on Sunday, we toured the salt mines. Many, many flights of stairs below ground (Susie, you would no likey this), we walked around the ex-mines filled with salt sculptures, old tracks, funny smells, some chapels, and pools of salt water.

I enjoyed seeing the Polish countryside from the bus, when I wasn't napping hard. We took a detour on the way home to stop by a ski-resort town, which was highly touristy, but the backdrop was still beautiful.

Szentendre

2008-10-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ali, Jordan, Lyd and I spent a lovely day in quaint Szentendre (St. Andrew). We took a cheap 40min train to the small, riverside town and had a long lunch, strolled, chatted, and popped into a sculpture park and gallery. The colors were brilliant and I enjoyed seeing some of the countryside from the train. Wonderful, stressless, fall day. And then we came home and started talking about post-graduation-future-plans-of-doom and got full of stress. It's getting close.

These are Alison's photos.

October 23

2008-10-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

It is a national holiday here today so most shops and markets and things are closed. The past two years the holiday has turned into an opportunity to riot. Our Hungarian teacher told us to stay in the dorms for the day, but all the museums are free so I might go to the museum of applied arts or possibly the house of terror. Or maybe I'll stay inside and eat soup with pasta stars.

The first morning we got into Venice we had to kill time before checking into our hotel so we sat by the Grand Canal, had some coffee and cookies, and met this little peg-legged friend. Jordan named him Capt'n Jack. Kinda funny.

That's all for now.

prego prego ciáo.

2008-10-21T04:36:00.000-07:00

It is perfect autumn weather here, sunny and cool and colorful. The leaves on our street are turning yellow. They got a bright lemon-lime thing goin' on in the sunshine.

Ali and I decided to walk back across the liberty bridge from lit. class instead of taking the metro. We had our first test, which went well, and afterward discussed Shakespeare facts and Richard II. I sometimes can't help smirking/giggling when Fabiny dramatically rolls his r's in his professorly British/Hungarian accent. Wrrrrrrrrong. Rrrrenaissance wrrrrriting... He also loves rolling his eyes at us when we don't know all the Shakespearean dates and factoids.

I am sitting on four politics readings for class this evening, so I will post updates about Poland and Italy soon, but not now. I did put up some photos on picasaweb.

Anyway, here are a few random shots from Venice if you don't feel like sifting through the mounds on those web albums.

Me + Jordan hanging out

Me + Pigez in St. Mark's Piazza

Pace.

Dancing Hungarians

2008-10-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

This video is quite similar to the dance we saw Tuesday night instead of having culture class. I enjoyed it very much and was thoroughly impressed with the slapping and stomping skillz. They were singing and dancing and squatting like champs. Very fun to watch.

Matthias Church

2008-09-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

In order to properly sleep in on Sunday morning, we decided to attend a late night concert at the beautiful Matthias church on top of Castle Hill. I hadn't yet been inside this church, but had marveled at the weighty amounts of unfortunate scaffolding preventing any site of the building's actual facade. We arrived a bit late for the show, and as we walked up to open the doors we started feeling doubtful there was anything going on. It would be probable for us get the wrong time, or church, or side of the river. But as soon as we cracked the large wooden doors the sound spilled out, wafting down from the choir loft in the rear of the building.

Warm, detailed frescos cover the entire interior of the church. My photos don't show the gold, ochre, umber colors well enough, sadly. The music, sung in Latin and Hungarian, was beautiful. Since the choir and the orchestra was behind us out of sight, it was perfect to sit and listen and look up at the designs crawling up the columns onto the domed ceilings. The acoustics overwhelmed me. My ears were so full of sound.

It was rich and wonderful. Plus I didn't have to get up until 11am.

I turned my camera on for a minute to record a bit of the sound. Here is a small video that shows some of the ceilings, plus a cute couple cameo.

After the service we walked over to the neighboring Fisherman's Bastion to look at Pest all lit up.

Touristy weekend adventures

2008-09-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of the Parliament building. Git a load of these clouds, James.

Lydia and I were feeling so nostalgic for Commons lawn that we decided to head to Margit Island to read and git lazy in the sunshine. The brilliant flowers and purple-panted company made this trip a success. Green is so satisfying when you live in a city.

Singing fountain:

It was nice to stay in Budapest for the weekend. Relaxing, somewhat.

Transylvania churches

2008-09-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

As the semester continues, full of traveling and new things, I am feeling overwhelmed. I want to remember and savor everything. It is all so important. So I will share some more of my Transylvania trip in an attempt to clear my head a little before we journey to Krakow on Thursday.

Our trip to Transylvania focused on visits to churches of all kinds, analyzing the culture, place, and people through the various denominations and buildings. We had two brilliant, countryside-savvy tour guides who drove us through grassy hills, over treacherous potholes, and shared their abounding knowledge of Romania's history. Jordan drove the third VW van like a champ.

Stark, white and empty, the Reformed church we visited in Magyaregen still pops into my mind days later. Walking into the sanctuary, the pure, white color washed over me and I noticed the high ceilings and simple décor. However, after learning about the dying congregation, which only consists of about eight members now, I saw the space differently. The building was full of history, but after hearing its depressing circumstance, it seemed abandoned and empty. Decreased church membership resulted mostly from Romanians’ movement into cities during the Communist regime. As villages were drained, so were their sanctuaries. This building holds emotional significance and important cultural value, but sadly its pews no longer hold persons to care for it.

After spending four days in Vienna just the weekend before, my visit to Romania struck me as distinctly different. Living in Budapest, a state constantly becoming more Westernized, I still continue to notice the remnants of Communism. It is a country in recovery, plagued by the legacy of Communism in its attempt to heal. Vienna, teeming with tourists and full of upscale shops only accepting the Euro, can certainly be considered Westernized. Romania falls the other way, still struggling to climb the Union’s ladder.

We learned of the many displaced persons in Romania. The country's constitution claims everyone living within her borders to be Romanian. Some Hungarians living in Romania hold onto their nationality by whitewashing their houses and painting their fences or shutters green.

We drove past some Gypsy communities, an isolated minority in Romania. They love building outrageously large palace houses that they never finish. The government gives them some money, but not much. We saw many houses with only the front facade painted.

Some more highlights: staying with a Romanian host family, drankin' traditional Palinka and eating stuffed cabbage, seeing the countryside from the van, sleeping on Lydia's lap, sharing two-liter beers and playing group games.

Thanks for listening. This helps.

Szeptember sunshine

2008-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

It has been rainy and cold here, but the sun came out today for the first time in about a week.

I had class early this morning--Chapters from Early English Literature, a study of Milton, Shakespeare, and Chaucer. My professor is the head of the English department and an expert in Renaissance literature, who helped organize a Milton conference this summer. Such a qualified professor and only nine students in the class has made for wonderfully interesting lectures and quality discussion. My other lit professor is well-spoken, interesting, and quite gracious. The reading list for this Early American survey looks promising. Should be some good reading and study. Makes me excited.

This is a photo of the lil coffee shop down the block from our kollegiumban. Just trying to paint you people a picture. It's the place with the green awnings smack in the middle of apartment buildings on our residential street. Ali and I ate szendviches there today and studied for our Hungarian final. We took the test then learned a few more vital Hungarian phrases such as "do you have a student discount?", "the palinka is good, but I don't want anymore", and "do you have this shirt in blue?"

Also, I put some photos up from the Transylvania trip last weekend. Ch-ch-check it out.

More Vienna Photos

2008-09-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Kérek egy börs.

In honor of studying for my Hungarian final and reading some of Milton's Paradise Lost, I am taking a break to post more pics from our weekend in Austria.

http://picasaweb.google.com/JennaVandenBrink/Vienz#5248911660247516754

Vienz.

2008-09-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

After we dumped our bags in the hostel, we headed to the city for some music 'n culture 'n shit. We waited in line for about 10 min and snagged standing room tickets for only 3 euro. This system was clearly for the local enthusiasts who weren't up for spending tons of cash on a regular basis. After we booked it up a few winding flights of stairs, we followed customary standing room procedure and tied our scarves to the hand railings to save our spots. The orchestra began tuning, the hall fell silent, and as soon as the strings began I got the good feelings. The second movement blew us all away. After an especially beautiful, lengthy solo, the audience exploded in applause and bravos. I got the feelings again. After the opera, we walked to a wine garden to chat life and wait for Lydia's birthday.

We made it all around the city with the the help of trusty Rick Steve, our travel guide expert. With his help, we did self-guided tram tours to many statues, parks, and saw most of the notable buildings. It was interesting to ride around the ring and be in old vienna while seeing all modern building across the river that were rebuild after the area had been bombed. Below is one of our stops: the Belvedere Palace. Belvedere means "beautiful view."

Friday afternoon we ate falafel in front of the art museum. It was sunny and delicious.

The Hapsburg's collection was also incredible. The museum had high ceilings, comfy couches, and smelled like oil paint. It was wonderful and refreshing to finally see some of the works I saw as slides in the dark Bytwerk Theater last semester.

We rented city bikes and pedaled our bods around the city, which occasionally got tricky on the gobble stone streets.

We wandered around quite a bit and sometimes got distracted. This is on the way to a famous architect's house, which was pretty wild. I should put more photos up, but it takes too long.

Below is a picture of St. Stephen's Basilica in the middle of town. Some of us went to the service there on Sunday morning, which was beautiful. It was big. Being in the space with massive ceilings, towering fluted stone columns, and brilliant windows made me feel physically small. I enjoyed listening to the service in German and worshipping with such a vast amount of people in this historic place.

Overall, our trip was successful, beautiful, and hysterical. We missed our bus home, had to buy a train ticket back to Budapest at 5:30AM, and spent the night in McDonalds. We ate snacks and took naps on the plush benches in the upper VIP room. A long, but not terrible last night in Vienna.

The whole group is going to Transylvania for the weekend. Should be exciting. Lots of visits to churches.

I'm not asking for a ring.

2008-09-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Nearing the one month anniversary of my arrival in Budapest, I could not think of a better way to celebrate than with a shiny new residency permit. So I spent most of today trying to convince various individuals behind their glass walls that Budapest and I really do belong together. It took piles of paperwork, new passport photos, 18,000 forints, photocopies of every card in my wallet, a new Hungarian health care policy, and hours of sitting on my bum to begin the process of acquiring the necessary permit. After the first three flirtatious weeks, the city and I are hitting a rough patch. We are not official yet, but hopefully by October 2 I will have the magic little paper securing the next 3 months of my life with Budapest.

A sunny day visit to Parliament.

2008-08-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Szia.

2008-08-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

I made it across the ocean safe and sound, and the first week in Budapest has been full of exploring. We are gradually learning bits of this lovely city, its architecture, and transportation systems.

Working out the tram, bus, and metro lines has been hysterical and frustrating. Red, yellow, 4, 18, underground, across the river, north, errrrr. Yet after practice, relying on public transportation is satisfying. The system changed the day after we arrived so managing to catch the night bus has been a struggle on more than one evening excursion.

We live a a ways out of the city in a shady, residential area. I have spent several mornings at a small cafe down the block sipping eszpresszo al fresco (usually cramming Hungarian vocabulary into my frustrated brain). My synapses keep firing and misfiring trying to absorb the language around me. Mostly misfiring. Although I did manage to ask for a kilo of peppers from a small, shriveled Hungarian woman at the market. I almost got 25 hot peppers, but I still consider it a linguistic success.

The weather is perfect: plenty of sunshine and late summer breeze. It is dry here and the leaves have already begun to fall.

The group of peeps is solid. It exciting to be tossed into such an adventure with many new people as well as some best pals. Szia for now.