Well THAT took forever...

FINALLY!!!!

...I finally have the internet in my apartment (or, should I say, "flat"). There's only one guy in town here who installs wireless internet, so he's kind of a hot commodity. Hence the month of no blogs. ANYWAY...now that we're in business, it's time to write about my first month! I'm gonna break this up, of course. I'll start with my arrival and orientation, and then write about my town and school later. And away we go....

So! If I think back all the way to August 21st, it seems like both a long time ago, and like it FLEW by, somehow at the same time. Man, was I freaking out when I left. It was a rough couple of days: $120 expired city sticker ticket, $170 doctor visit because I apparently had typhoid (what?!?), a flat tire at 2:00 AM on my birthday....I was lucky I made it out of the country before having a heart attack. My flight from Chicago to Dublin was fine. I had an empty seat next to me, which meant 2 pillows and 2 blankets. Nice. I made friends with an old Irish woman waiting to use the bathroom. She had just toured the USA with her friends. She helped me find my gate when we got into Dublin.

At the Dublin airport I was too exhausted and bewildered to venture out into the city during my 7-hour layover, so instead, I had a bloody mary for breakfast and did some reading. I also made friends with a Nigerian woman who now lives in Dublin, who told me she thinks Obama's gonna be assassinated. She said some other really weird stuff too, but I can't remember what. Then, on my connecting flight to Hungary, an old woman asked me the time in Hungarian, and I tried (very poorly) to respond. And thus began my reacquaintence with Hungary!

When I touched down, I was completely out of touch with reality. I had NO idea what time it felt like, I was disgusting and in need of a shower, and I just wanted to be in a bed. While I was waiting for my luggage, I noticed two people who were VERY Hungarian looking: one was a super-hot chick with blond hair that went past her ass (and I'm 99% sure was a porn star), and the other was a scrawny, unhappy-looking middle aged man with an absurdly large mustache. He made me laugh to myself and I actually had to turn the other way so he wouldn't see me. Ha.

Once I had my bags, I went through the gate, and.....there was Hajni, smiling and waving! (Hajni was basically a mother to me when I studied in Budapest 4 years ago. She runs my teaching program too.) I was SO happy to see her! She hugged me hello, and helped me collect all my bags. Then we went to meet Mary, the American woman who oversees the introduction, and to collect the last teacher to arrive. His name is Rob, and he's from Montana/Wisconsin. He and I were then stuffed into a cab and sent to the hostel. We made friends in the cab and shared our ridiculous tales of getting into the country alive.

It was so weird in the cab to look out the window and see neo-baroque buildings and signs in Hungarian....it felt like a dream. I remember the drive to and from the airport from 4 years ago, but....my mind wasn't ready to comprehend that I was really here again. It got even weirder when we got to the hostel, because it's down the street from the Collegium, where I used to live. Rob and I were greeted by Emily (from Beloit!), who's been here for almost 4 years now, and the other teachers. I went upstairs and met my suitemates for the week: Ashley (from Florida), Hanna (from Colorado), and Franny....from Chicago!! (Well...and Aurora. But that's ok. I guess.)

We all spent some time getting to know each other (all four of us ended up being really good friends...we've been talking regularly and meeting up), and someone came into our room and mentioned going out for the evening. We had all been contemplating going to sleep, but we decided....what's a few more hours? Fuck it, we're in Hungary! So we all went out, led by a couple of returning teachers, to a hilarious place called Zoldpardon. It's basically an outdoor beer garden/carnival. The weirdest thing was, it was one of the last places I hung out before I left....Dani took me here. Totally surreal. I ordered a couple beers in Hungarian and didn't even realize til later how bizarre it was that I was using Hungarian and spending forints instead of dollars.

We somehow made it back later, and I slept better than I had in at least a week. I woke up, and we had breakfast in the hostel: bread, cheese, eggs, and.....some weird yellow juice that franny aptly decided to call "YJ." The other girls then went out on the town, and I immediately went back to sleep. When I woke up, I discovered a fun fact: I was locked into my room! (Turns out the key locks the inside, too!) Well, the girls weren't gone too much longer, so it gave me a chance to catch up on some pacing. That evening, we were taken out to dinner, where I cheated on vegetarianism and had the stuffed cabbage....I felt dirty, but it was sooooo goooood. Ashley, Hanna, Franny and I all sat together in the corner of the outdoor cafe and got to know each other better. It was fun!

The next morning (and the rest of the week), we all woke up, had breakfast, and then headed down the street for our orientation. It was led by Mary, Hajni, and....Maria, my Hungarian teacher from 2004! Seriously, it was like an all-star cast of my study abroad. And it took place in the Collegium, in the same room where we had class! Too weird. Anyway, we mostly received teaching tips and some introductory Hungarian, and I had a good time. We were allowed a lunch break each day, so we all ventured down to Moricz Zsigmond Korter and ate falafel (holy crap, SO GOOD still!), drank cappuccinos, and one day, I took Franny and Rob to a restaurant I remembered from last time, with the most amazing cream of onion soup in a bread bowl. OMG I want it now. Basically, good times! I think we really got lucky with the group of teachers. There are about 20 of us, from all around the US, and everyone is pretty cool.

At the end of the week (Wednesday, the 27th), we got taken out for a farewell dinner to the Owl's Castle restaurant in BP near Heroe's Square (very fancy area). We had a lovely dinner and then there was a weird high school jazz band having a concert in the area behind the restaurant patio, so we all ended up sneaking into the area behind the stage and dancing to everything from the Mexican Hat Dance to Bomboleo (they seemed to favor Latin music...). It was hilarious! One thing I was reminded of during my first week was that Hungary makes no sense. Their concept of pop culture is completely skewed, since they get so much of it from the US or elsewhere, so lots of things, especially music, TV, and clothes, are just........ridiculous. More on that later; I have plenty of examples.

In fact, I think I need to end this here today. There's a harvest festival in my town this weekend, and I hear a marching band going by outside. I think I'll check that out.

More to come! Miss yaaaaaallz!