Arrival & Getting Oriented

We left Grand Rapids on Monday, August 4th, at 5pm and Detroit at 9pm as scheduled. Each of our four bags was just under the allowed 50# limit. The 5th and smallest is Corwin's carry-on which was also quite heavy since it was full of books and paper. Luckily they don't yet weigh carry-ons.

We had enough time in Amsterdam to go through the EU customs and stop for some coffee. Then we caught our two hour flight to Budapest. All the flights were very nice, smooth and on-time. In Budapest we watched as the luggage came by on the conveyor belt. But our luggage did not arrive--not even one of the four. So then we stood in a fairly long line with many others whose luggage also did not come. It seems that Amsterdam's luggage sorting equipment is not working. I had heard that a city in the US had that problem last week too and all luggage had to be sorted by hand!

Then we took a taxi to the apartment, which we were told was as economical for two people as the minibus (airport shuttle). The landlord and his wife (who do not speak English) were waiting for us at the apartment. They wondered where our luggage was but with the language barrier, I'm not sure what they thought. At any rate, all four of us managed to fit into the tiny elevator (lift) for the ride to the 3rd floor.
I should explain that our apartment is 5 flights up, but the first floor is labeled F (foundation?), then EF (I have no idea what that means), then 1, 2, and 3. There are two more floors above us. We push the button for 3 in the lift, but if you walk it, it's on what would be the 5th floor in the States.

Moni (Monika), the landlord's grand daughter who speaks fluent English, has been our contact. She has also been the contact for the last three Calvin professors who lived in this same apartment. Her grandfather and grandmother, who are the owners of the apartment, were the folks who met our cab. Who knows how long they waited there, since we were delayed in the lost luggage line and had no way to contact Moni?
They showed us the apartment. That was a fun time, since we didn't speak the same language, but still got the idea of how to lock and unlock the door, use the microwave, washing machine, coffee maker, clotheslines, TV, etc.

Moni came to see us at 5pm after she got out of work. She explained everything again in English. She also called the number for the lost luggage at the airport. She was able to tell them in Hungarian where to deliver it and give them our local phone number. She gave them her number as well.

Since we had to stay awake to learn about our luggage, we took a walk and found a restaurant close by. Moni called about 10pm and said our luggage was on it's way and all 4 bags arrived about 11pm. You can imagine how glad we were to see it!
The time difference is 6 hours. So at 11pm on Tuesday (5pm in the States), we had been awake and traveling for 24 hours.

Wednesday, Corwin slept until noon and he woke me up at 1pm since he was just sure I wouldn't be able to sleep that night if I slept any longer. I was sure that would not be a problem!

We had quite a time with the internet, but finally it started to allow us access on Thursday. I still don't know exactly how/why. We have a cable internet connection. I think what did the trick was figuring out how to disable the wireless connection on the laptop. Basically, I just clicked on every spot I could find! The internet is such an amazing help with everything, I'm so glad that it is working now.

We've been eating out every night in nearby restaurants--just like at home! We live very close to the center of the city and there are small restaurants everywhere. Food is a bit pricier than three years ago when we were here, but still not too bad. It sure would be nice if the US$ got a little stronger! There are about 148 Hungarian Forints to one US dollar now. When Corwin was here last December there were 175HF/US $1

We went to the grocery store and bought bread, butter, and coffee on Wednesday, but our refrigerator did not work when we got here so we didn't buy anything that needed to be refrigerated. Monica's father and grand father came with a new fridge on Thursday. A man also came to fix the cable, so now have CNN, BBC, Animal Planet and Turner Classic Movies in English. So we are all set--TV, internet, luggage, food, an apartment close to the center city and oriented mostly.

Yesterday we got our monthly subway passes and went over to the Buda side to the dormitory where the students will be living. There are some items that Calvin stores over there from year to year. We had quite a time communicating with the desk clerk. But finally with the aid of some students, he understood that we were American and that we wanted to look at storage bin #3. It was down in the basement that had to be accessed through a door outside the dormitory. Corwin brought back some course materials and we had a fun exercise with using the subway, trams and buses.

We just watched the Olympic opening activities--quite exciting! Next week we hope to go to Timisoara, Romania for a few days. The students come about August 22nd.