Our Second Week

Now that I finally have this blog created, I need to try to remember what has happened since we arrived. Wow, time does fly! It seems like we're always doing something, but it's hard to keep track of what and when. We have been sleeping a lot!

One day last week we went to the bank where Calvin has an account. They put dollars into it and we can take Hungarian Forints out over here. We have to pay the rent and most other charges in cash, although we do have a Calvin American Express card as well for some types of expenses when we travel later with the students.

We were a bit apprehensive about the bank trip since the professor who was here last year was unable to withdraw money for the first several weeks after he arrived. He had to use his own money until it got straightened out. We were not eager for that to happen to us. When Corwin was here last December he visited the bank and signed different forms so that the account would be all set now. Apparently that worked because we had no difficulty withdrawing about $2,500 that we needed to pay for two months rent, common fee for the apartment, our transportation costs from the airport and our first month's worth of subway/tram passes. We felt a little funny carrying around that much cash, but that is what we have to do and it worked out fine.

The money takes some getting used to since it has a lot of zeros. The common denominations that you get from an ATM machine seem to be 20000 ($125) and 10000 ($63) bills. They also have 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 200 and 100 bills as well as 100, 50, 20, 5, and 2 ($0.01) forint coins that we have seen so far. We have to be careful when paying so that we're sure of how many zeros the bills have! They don't say 10,000 just 10000, so a 10000 can look a lot like a 1000.

We also went to the northern train station (there are 3 main train stations in Budapest) to check on trains to Romania. I was delighted to see the West End Shopping Mall there. It is two floors, air-conditioned and looks much like Rivertown Mall. I have to go back without Corwin.

On Saturday we went to Deak Ter, one of the main squares in Budapest, to visit the bookstore where Corwin needed to order the textbooks for the course he is teaching this semester. On the way we stopped at St. Stephen's Basilica. There was a wedding just ending. It appears that Hungarian weddings are much like ours. Differences that I noticed were that the bride and groom walked out arm in arm with the priest in between them (the groom also wore white), then the flower girls, then the parents. We didn't see any bridesmaids or groomsmen. They had a receiving line outside and a limo waiting. St. Stephen's is an amazing building and we plan to go back again when there is no wedding and we can see it better. The bookstore was closeby. Corwin was able to order the books he needed and I bought some Hungarian cookbooks.

We've been having fun at the grocery store. First we have to learn where everything is and then try to figure out what things are in English. Last week we needed toilet paper and came home with paper towels! They look a lot alike over here, since the toilet paper is about the texture of paper towels. It's a good thing that the grocery store is only 1 1/2 blocks away.

Sunday we went to St. Columba's Church. It's an English-speaking Scottish Presbyterian Church. There were only about 50 people there Sunday because people go away on vacation in August. We still enjoyed the service and plan to go back again.

After Church we went to the Gellert Hotel for brunch. The Gellert is one of Budapest's oldest hotels. We stayed there in 2005 when we were here last. The brunch was wonderful, of course. It was a great way to sample lots of Hungarian foods. They had cream of garlic soup, herring, salmon shaped into roses and several salads for starters. For entrees they were carving turkey and pork with your choice of sauces. There were chaffing dishes of pasta, vegetables, duck, fish and potatoes as well as two more with meat dishes that I already cannot remember. The last one I do remember, it was pullet with tomato and mozzarella cheese. Corwin really should learn to like poultry more.

There was another table with various breads and cheeses and then the dessert table! It had various pastries and glasses with fresh strawberries and strawberry mouse; chocolate mouse, a dessert made with a chestnut puree (I didn't try that.) There were several tortes and mango and vanilla soup (sweet & cold) that you could float a small meringue on top. There was also gelato and a fruit tray, but I don't think anyone even touched the fruit. It was a splurge, but a wonderful one.

After that we took the tram to Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube. It seemed to be the place to go on a Sunday with lots of folks walking, biking, skate boarding, swimming, picnicking, etc.

Yesterday, we went to Statue Park which is about 20-30 minutes outside of Budapest. You take the tram and then another bus to get there. This park contains many of the Communist statues that used to be in Budapest.

Instead of destroying them like the people in Iraq destroyed that big statue of Sadaam, they were all brought to this park as reminders of the way of life under the Communist rule. All that remains of one large statue of Stalin is the boots. It was very interesting to see.

This one is huge and was supposed to inspire the people to join with the Communist Party.
It has been warm here in the high 80's, but not terribly humid. We were going to go to Timisoara, Romania this coming weekend, but the forecast there is for 97 degrees. Now we're investigating some other cooler cities to visit!
I think I'm caught up on our activities and 'talked' out for now.
More later.
Marilyn

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.