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Feeling kind of lazy and pleasantly unmotivated on this beautiful and sunny day... I've been strolling down Rákócyi út, checking out hostel options for the rest of my stay. After looking at a few more places, I think I'll go back to the original place I stayed earlier in the week. It's so funny how quick I am to claim a neighborhood while traveling, as if I need to pretend I live here or have a tie to a certain area.
Officially, I LOVE GLOBALFREELOADERS. I feel so lucky that I've found myself in the most unique situations, things and places I would never have had the chance to experience without the local connection. I had a wonderful time with Zsuzsi and her English students on Friday and ended up spending about 4 hours at her school, Petrik Lajos Syakköyépiskola. I sat in on two groups of students, both of which had two 45 minute sessions with Zsuzsi. The first class was expecting me and had questions prepared to ask. After playing some games about Christmas, the students asked me things about how I celebrate the holiday (how do you describe egg nog? what exactly is it?), and I asked them their opinions about what I should buy from Budapest. They were polite, a bit nervous, interesting, and interested in me. The second class didn't know I'd be there and weren't as prepared. It was a class of boys only -- 12 of them -- each quite preoccupied with impressing the other. After Zsuzsi told them that I was visiting and that they could ask me any question they'd like, there was a loooong pause. Finally, one brave boy asked "How are you?" This cracked me us SO MUCH, it was just so earnest. The questions that followed were just as amusing: "Have you ever been to Hollywood?;" " Do you have George Lucas' email address?;" "Do you like George Bush?;" and "What does 'May the force be with you' really mean?" This last question was probably the hardest to answer... I ended up saying it was like a spiritual statement, like someone was watching over you, protecting you. Afterwards, all the boys wished me a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" on their way out the door.
My second host was Catherine, an american who's lived in Hungary for 6 years and who speaks less Hungarian than me. She was a riot, totally funny and entertaining. Turns out that she's an amateur comedian after trying her hand at rock music, being a chef, working for the Army Reserves, and being a film producer. Last night we went to a party full of expats from all around the globe - Austraila, England, Sweden, and (natch) the USofA. Catherine did her comedy routine at the party, about 10 minutes of material that's taken her about a year to write. I have to admit, I've never really thought about the hard work it must take to be a comedy writer, I guess I assumed that folks like Jerry Seinfeld and Margaret Cho just walk around being funny. My favorite joke in the routine? The bit about when being a single woman over 35, everyone thinks you must be gay... she's not dating women, she's not dating men... she's bi-celibate. Hilarious! We ended up staying up until 2am talking, it was lovely.
Of course, I've also spent some time being a tourist to, but that's just not as interesting to write about...