this afternoon i think i saw a man...um...touching himself as he walked down the street. and when I say street, i mean extremely busy major street. and when i say touching, i mean it looked like he was trying to milk a cow. but fast.
i didn't see any flesh but he had that "i'm a pervert, you wanna see?" look in his eyes as I passed.
in other news, my schedule is practically full although I probably won't make enough money this month to cover my expenses, and I had another interview today with a school who wanted to know if I had my bachelor's degree handy. like here in Budapest. like the physical piece of paper.
like I keep that in my backpack?
not much else of interest. i am trying not to spend any money. therefore, I am very boring.
also, addicted to stupid facebook.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
boring dream blog entry
this morning i dreamt i was late for a flight - i was going somewhere like Brazil and just stuffed a bathing suit and towel and a few other things into a bunch of bags. for some reason ending up with three different bags of stuff.
then i realized i had 30 minutes before the plane left and i was still at home. so i called someone and changed to a later flight.
i woke up and checked the clock; it was 5:30 so went back to sleep.
unfortunately, in my dreams i still had to catch that plane. i now had 3 or so hours to get to the airport. it took an hour to get out of the house and another hour to get to the place where i could catch the bus to the airport.
i tried to ask someone at the bus station which one would take me to the airport, but they didn't speak english. i did know the bus number though. Bus number 134.
things were falling out of my bags. it was snowing heavily. i walked into the bus station and
saw that there were hundreds of bus stops, in no particular order.
by this time the plane was leaving in 40 minutes and the airport was 45 minutes away.
i sat down on my bags.
then i woke up again because it was time to go teach my very first real lesson! the stupid plane dream being some fairly obvious anxiety about sleeping in and not getting to class on time (class is at 8:00).
turns out what i should have been worried about instead was where to go. i went to this huge office building, arrived a little early, but then realized that i didn't know which floor the class was on or who to ask for. it was in an email that i had forgotten to print out. the receptionist let me in to the first floor where i wandered around looking for something that looked like a class. (something like wandering around looking for bus 134).
a guy tried to help me out (also i'm sure he was somewhat concerned about this
random stranger wandering around the office), and then the receptionist let me use her computer to check the email.
i finally made it to the right floor.
late.
the class is great though.
then i realized i had 30 minutes before the plane left and i was still at home. so i called someone and changed to a later flight.
i woke up and checked the clock; it was 5:30 so went back to sleep.
unfortunately, in my dreams i still had to catch that plane. i now had 3 or so hours to get to the airport. it took an hour to get out of the house and another hour to get to the place where i could catch the bus to the airport.
i tried to ask someone at the bus station which one would take me to the airport, but they didn't speak english. i did know the bus number though. Bus number 134.
things were falling out of my bags. it was snowing heavily. i walked into the bus station and
saw that there were hundreds of bus stops, in no particular order.
by this time the plane was leaving in 40 minutes and the airport was 45 minutes away.
i sat down on my bags.
then i woke up again because it was time to go teach my very first real lesson! the stupid plane dream being some fairly obvious anxiety about sleeping in and not getting to class on time (class is at 8:00).
turns out what i should have been worried about instead was where to go. i went to this huge office building, arrived a little early, but then realized that i didn't know which floor the class was on or who to ask for. it was in an email that i had forgotten to print out. the receptionist let me in to the first floor where i wandered around looking for something that looked like a class. (something like wandering around looking for bus 134).
a guy tried to help me out (also i'm sure he was somewhat concerned about this
random stranger wandering around the office), and then the receptionist let me use her computer to check the email.
i finally made it to the right floor.
late.
the class is great though.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
lots and lots and lots of new photos
because the digital camera died, i've been using film for the past couple of months.
not very happily either, since I haven't used film in almost a year...all the photos I took were complete crap and I was worried i would have the same problem this time.
so i took three rolls in yesterday, and for less than $20 had them developed and scanned onto cd in less than 3 hours.
i'm way WAY happier with the results than i expected to be...
this is National Day
this is Parliament
these are Hungarian skaters
this is the flea market
this is cake
this is the thermal lake at Heviz
this is the lock fence in Pecs
this is the train station at Tokaj on a foggy night
this is a wine tasting
see all of these and MORE in full technicolour glory on flickr.
not very happily either, since I haven't used film in almost a year...all the photos I took were complete crap and I was worried i would have the same problem this time.
so i took three rolls in yesterday, and for less than $20 had them developed and scanned onto cd in less than 3 hours.
i'm way WAY happier with the results than i expected to be...
this is National Day
this is Parliament
these are Hungarian skaters
this is the flea market
this is cake
this is the thermal lake at Heviz
this is the lock fence in Pecs
this is the train station at Tokaj on a foggy night
this is a wine tasting
see all of these and MORE in full technicolour glory on flickr.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
this is what you get when you google yourself.
i had completely forgotten about this. i'm not sure what i said but i'm pretty sure i didn't say it in french! click here and then scroll down for hyper-flattering photo and silly quote.
Friday, March 16, 2007
some things you should check out
my friend Doug is a holistic nutritionist (you won't believe how much trouble i just had trying to spell that) and has recently started up a fantastic (you could even say....super-fantastic) nutrition blog and newsletter. check out Radical Nutrition. and don't eat artificial sweeteners.
my friend Josh is currently blogging from South By Southwest in Austin, where he has just seen that little kewpie Lily Allen perform. seems she's just started her takeover of North America. you lucky sods, you haven't been overexposed yet? seriously, i'm going to barf if i hear 'Smile' one more time. though i did see a pretty cool video mash-up of that song + the cure's lullabye.
my friend Josh is currently blogging from South By Southwest in Austin, where he has just seen that little kewpie Lily Allen perform. seems she's just started her takeover of North America. you lucky sods, you haven't been overexposed yet? seriously, i'm going to barf if i hear 'Smile' one more time. though i did see a pretty cool video mash-up of that song + the cure's lullabye.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
nothing to see here, ma'am
so around 8 i finally left the apartment and when i opened the door to the street, was relieved to see the police were dismantling the barricades. whew! and i congratulated myself on great timing.
then i turned the corner and saw that that had merely MOVED the barricades. so i followed a wee squad of riot police down toward the new and improved barricade and when i was approached by one of them just pointed at myself and then pointed at the street past the barrier...as in "me go out? yes?"
as i tried to pass another cop said something to me in Hungarian and i replied "nem maygar, angolul?" which means something like "no hungarian, english?" this came out extra-meek without my even trying...heavily armed people just do that to me i guess.
so they let me pass and i walked down to the main avenue, through some old-ish clouds of tear gas. it wasn't so strong anymore but the air tasted like shit and my eyes were watering. at that point i was a little past Oktogon already and couldn't see many police anymore, just people out in the street. the street was shut down and there were lots of people with flags, some wearing balaclavas....one large garbage bin was on fire in the middle of the street and i passed some people in the process of lighting another one on fire as well. there were also plenty of people who just looked like they were out for a stroll.
just as i was turning the corner toward Phil's place i heard "pop-pop-pop" and the rushing sound you get when a lot of people start to run. turned back to see several tear gas canisters start to steam and a big crowd of people heading toward the train station. it felt a bit undignified to run, especially since i was on a side street and more especially since i was clutching a package of paper napkins in one hand. but i sped up. two men dressed in waiter-style tuxedos stood outside of a doorway, watching what was going on.
then i went up to watch Benedicte make crepes (which were impressively delicious). other arrivals spoke of seeing a car on fire, people being sprayed with water cannons...however this was apparently much much better than the situation back in October, and it would probably be over by midnight.
sure enough, when i walked home 5 hours later there was no sign that anything at all had happened. the sidewalks were cleared of debris, the street was being sprayed down and cleaned, and i had no trouble getting back into the apartment.
then i turned the corner and saw that that had merely MOVED the barricades. so i followed a wee squad of riot police down toward the new and improved barricade and when i was approached by one of them just pointed at myself and then pointed at the street past the barrier...as in "me go out? yes?"
as i tried to pass another cop said something to me in Hungarian and i replied "nem maygar, angolul?" which means something like "no hungarian, english?" this came out extra-meek without my even trying...heavily armed people just do that to me i guess.
so they let me pass and i walked down to the main avenue, through some old-ish clouds of tear gas. it wasn't so strong anymore but the air tasted like shit and my eyes were watering. at that point i was a little past Oktogon already and couldn't see many police anymore, just people out in the street. the street was shut down and there were lots of people with flags, some wearing balaclavas....one large garbage bin was on fire in the middle of the street and i passed some people in the process of lighting another one on fire as well. there were also plenty of people who just looked like they were out for a stroll.
just as i was turning the corner toward Phil's place i heard "pop-pop-pop" and the rushing sound you get when a lot of people start to run. turned back to see several tear gas canisters start to steam and a big crowd of people heading toward the train station. it felt a bit undignified to run, especially since i was on a side street and more especially since i was clutching a package of paper napkins in one hand. but i sped up. two men dressed in waiter-style tuxedos stood outside of a doorway, watching what was going on.
then i went up to watch Benedicte make crepes (which were impressively delicious). other arrivals spoke of seeing a car on fire, people being sprayed with water cannons...however this was apparently much much better than the situation back in October, and it would probably be over by midnight.
sure enough, when i walked home 5 hours later there was no sign that anything at all had happened. the sidewalks were cleared of debris, the street was being sprayed down and cleaned, and i had no trouble getting back into the apartment.
not some guy with a loudspeaker
so i was wrong. that wasn't some bozo with a loudspeaker and a truck, it's a demonstration outside the House of Terror. I have no idea which party or political 'wing' this represents as I can't understand what they're saying. However I did see several Arpad flags.
Hungarian politics are too complicated for me to comment on.
Anyway, my block has been barricaded and there are probably 40-50 riot police at the end of the street. I have been watching from my bedroom window and it's hard to tell what's happening - sometimes it looks like the crowd is dispersing and then a chant rises up again. Then they fall silent, then they chant again. The crowd has definitely moved back from the barricades but it doesn't look people are leaving (also it's hard to tell how many people are actually out there because i can't see around the buildings).
I'm supposed to go over to Phil's in about an hour - really not looking forward to walking through a cordon of mini-Darth Vaders to get there. I hope this is all over by the time I come home too because I don't know how I'm going to talk my way through a barricade.
**update**
when I looked again most of the protesters appeared to be gone but there were even MORE police. why? while i was pondering this, they opened the barricades and about 15 cops ran out and out of view to the front of the House of Terror. A cat came streaking across the street in the opposite direction (cats are smart). a police car pulled up on Andrassy, followed by a large group of even more riot police. I'm not sure how many, maybe 30 maybe 50, but they looked pretty beetly and intimidating with the lights flashing off their helmets and shields. Then they all ran off to the front of the Terror house too, again out of my sight.
now i can't see any protesters at all but there are even more police than before, even on the 'calmer' side of the barricade which just leads out to a quiet side street. there's a line of riot police three deep standing about 5 feet behind a barricade. two freaked out looking backpackers hurry past. a guy holding a Hungarian flag stands in front of the barricade and his friend takes his photo against the backdrop of police. i can hear some people laughing but i can't tell if it's onlookers or police.
Hungarian politics are too complicated for me to comment on.
Anyway, my block has been barricaded and there are probably 40-50 riot police at the end of the street. I have been watching from my bedroom window and it's hard to tell what's happening - sometimes it looks like the crowd is dispersing and then a chant rises up again. Then they fall silent, then they chant again. The crowd has definitely moved back from the barricades but it doesn't look people are leaving (also it's hard to tell how many people are actually out there because i can't see around the buildings).
I'm supposed to go over to Phil's in about an hour - really not looking forward to walking through a cordon of mini-Darth Vaders to get there. I hope this is all over by the time I come home too because I don't know how I'm going to talk my way through a barricade.
**update**
when I looked again most of the protesters appeared to be gone but there were even MORE police. why? while i was pondering this, they opened the barricades and about 15 cops ran out and out of view to the front of the House of Terror. A cat came streaking across the street in the opposite direction (cats are smart). a police car pulled up on Andrassy, followed by a large group of even more riot police. I'm not sure how many, maybe 30 maybe 50, but they looked pretty beetly and intimidating with the lights flashing off their helmets and shields. Then they all ran off to the front of the Terror house too, again out of my sight.
now i can't see any protesters at all but there are even more police than before, even on the 'calmer' side of the barricade which just leads out to a quiet side street. there's a line of riot police three deep standing about 5 feet behind a barricade. two freaked out looking backpackers hurry past. a guy holding a Hungarian flag stands in front of the barricade and his friend takes his photo against the backdrop of police. i can hear some people laughing but i can't tell if it's onlookers or police.
no rioting yet
Everything seems to be pretty calm on National Day so far. i went out for a walk and saw a lot of people walking around with flags, but that's about it. I didn't go down to where the rallies were happening. There's a pretty strong police presence around some places i went past - the Synagogue and the US Embassy and the Terror House (a museum which is in a house once used as a prison by the Arrow Cross Party and the Nazis and then the Soviets. It's down the street from me.).
I can hear some people shouting things out on the street right now, but it's probably just some guy with loudspeakers and a truck.
I can hear some people shouting things out on the street right now, but it's probably just some guy with loudspeakers and a truck.
robots
How cool is this?
check out Bennett Robot Works. I think I have the fixings for a least a couple of robots sitting in a box back in Toronto.
check out Bennett Robot Works. I think I have the fixings for a least a couple of robots sitting in a box back in Toronto.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
googlicious
a small but increasing number of people are finding this blog via web searches such as:
heviz sex show
picking up hookers
hookers getting filmed
picking up prostitutes
not exactly sure why since, before today, I mentioned prostitution like one or two times. This post effectively triples the hooker wordcount on this blog. I look forward to the increased traffic.
Hello whore seekers! You won't find what you're looking for here. Try searching for something more specific.
heviz sex show
picking up hookers
hookers getting filmed
picking up prostitutes
not exactly sure why since, before today, I mentioned prostitution like one or two times. This post effectively triples the hooker wordcount on this blog. I look forward to the increased traffic.
Hello whore seekers! You won't find what you're looking for here. Try searching for something more specific.
Monday, March 12, 2007
a jumped up pantry boy, who never knew his place
interviews! i got interviews. unfortunately there's a national holiday on thursday which means everyone's either taking the whole week off or thursday, friday, and monday at least.
the holiday is 'National Day' which commemorates the 1848 Revolution. i'm not too clear on what exactly is going to go down but we've been warned to expect lots of protests. stories like "police will use rubber bullets when it is deemed necessary on March 15" or "Jews advised to stay at home (holocaust denier guest of honour)" are not promising. There were some anti-government protests last fall, which turned violent, and it seems like something similar is expected again this time. And it's going to bring out all the right-wing fucknut wack-jobs.
watching MTV2 - Fall Out Boy (btw - does anyone else get 'this ain't a scene' in their head for days at a time? how do you make it go away?) doing a countdown of their top 10 favourite Smiths and Morrissey videos....the oldest ones i'd never seen before. god he was hot. i guess he's still kind of hot now but those old videos were just....distracting. man.
the holiday is 'National Day' which commemorates the 1848 Revolution. i'm not too clear on what exactly is going to go down but we've been warned to expect lots of protests. stories like "police will use rubber bullets when it is deemed necessary on March 15" or "Jews advised to stay at home (holocaust denier guest of honour)" are not promising. There were some anti-government protests last fall, which turned violent, and it seems like something similar is expected again this time. And it's going to bring out all the right-wing fucknut wack-jobs.
watching MTV2 - Fall Out Boy (btw - does anyone else get 'this ain't a scene' in their head for days at a time? how do you make it go away?) doing a countdown of their top 10 favourite Smiths and Morrissey videos....the oldest ones i'd never seen before. god he was hot. i guess he's still kind of hot now but those old videos were just....distracting. man.
Friday, March 09, 2007
good ol' Mustapha...remember him?
Remember Mustapha?
Remember the time he got arrested, or the second time he got arrested, or the time he took Steph and I to a whorehouse, or the time i realized just how full of shit he really was...?
Well, every so often he sends me an incomprehensible sort of update email.
The latest one is pretty good. I think it came from space.
salut ca va bien arndisデビュー30周年を迎えた浜田省吾の“I am a
father”にインスパイアされた「キャッチボール」と “Thank
you”にインスパイアされた「君と歩いた道」の2作品の本編に加え、
Disk2には出演者はもちろん、浜田省吾も登場するメイキ今年始め大阪･広島をはじめ全国各地で
cava bien 上映された映画 「TWO
LOVE」が待望のDVD化ングを始め、予告編、プロダクションノok
beyートなど盛り沢山の特典映像を収録！ mustapha
Remember the time he got arrested, or the second time he got arrested, or the time he took Steph and I to a whorehouse, or the time i realized just how full of shit he really was...?
Well, every so often he sends me an incomprehensible sort of update email.
The latest one is pretty good. I think it came from space.
salut ca va bien arndisデビュー30周年を迎えた浜田省吾の“I am a
father”にインスパイアされた「キャッチボール」と “Thank
you”にインスパイアされた「君と歩いた道」の2作品の本編に
Disk2には出演者はもちろん、浜田省吾も登場するメイキ今年
cava bien 上映された映画 「TWO
LOVE」が待望のDVD化ングを始め、予告編、プロダクション
beyートなど盛り沢山の特典映像を収録！ mustapha
Thursday, March 08, 2007
procrastinating
blagh.....not sure how i went from being hyper-motivated to brain-dead but i can't even respond to email let alone write a CV today. now i'm just obsessed with the Geotagging feature on Flickr - when did they put this up? what a great way to spend a beautiful day in Budapest. Indoors shuffling virtual photos around.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
i'm a teacher! gimme some cake. is that gin?
it's done, it's over, and I passed. actually i did better than I expected to, though i don't know if that will actually make much of a difference when looking for jobs.
it's wednesday today and i've spent the last 5 days 'celebrating' the end of the course which means any excuse to eat cake, drink coffee, sit in bathhouses, buy stuff at flea markets, drink gin, eat too much food or watch movies has been exploited.
sadly, all binges must end. today i will start looking for a job. a few classmates have already found work so I'm feeling good about my prospects.
budapest is gorgeous right now, yesterday was 20 degrees t-shirt weather and today looks to be the same. i have a mild sunburn - not what i expected from budapest in March.
depending on the work situation i may be here indefinitely, i have a great living situation (it involves british sattelite television) and it seems like every corner of this city holds something new and cool. definitely staying till the end of the month anyway.
I have posted some new photos on flickr...they're two or three months old but it's some stuff from vienna and krakow. working on getting some hungary photos up there soon.
it's wednesday today and i've spent the last 5 days 'celebrating' the end of the course which means any excuse to eat cake, drink coffee, sit in bathhouses, buy stuff at flea markets, drink gin, eat too much food or watch movies has been exploited.
sadly, all binges must end. today i will start looking for a job. a few classmates have already found work so I'm feeling good about my prospects.
budapest is gorgeous right now, yesterday was 20 degrees t-shirt weather and today looks to be the same. i have a mild sunburn - not what i expected from budapest in March.
depending on the work situation i may be here indefinitely, i have a great living situation (it involves british sattelite television) and it seems like every corner of this city holds something new and cool. definitely staying till the end of the month anyway.
I have posted some new photos on flickr...they're two or three months old but it's some stuff from vienna and krakow. working on getting some hungary photos up there soon.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
whew!
i actually have a few minutes to spare. let me tell you about my world these days. this is my general daily schedule:
get up around 7:30
8:30-9:00 am: walk to school
9:00 - 11:30 : work on lesson plan or other homework
11:30 - 5 pm - input sessions and feedback on previous lessons. at lunch, try to finish lesson plan for tonight.
5-6 pm : desperately try to finish printing materials for class at 6, read over lesson plan so I know what i'm doing
6-8:15 pm : teach a class (not the whole class, three of us - out of our group of 5 - will each teach a 40 minute lesson...so i don't teach every day but still have to attend the class and take notes of everything)
8:30 - 9 pm : walk home
9 - 9:30 pm : eat dinner
9:30 - 2 a.m : work on next day's lesson plan or other homework
2 - 7:30 a.m. : sleep. dream about teaching class and trying to explain the meaning of words like 'represent'
by the end of day last Thursday we were all completely exhausted. There are 16 people in the course and we're split into three groups of 5 or 6 people, and each group has its own class of students. Sometimes there are lessons which are unassessed which means that our tutor/observer leaves the room and we teach without being graded on it. Last Thursday, while poor Krista was teaching an unassessed class, three of us trainees in the back completely. lost. our. shit. I mean hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, for no apparent reason. There was mascara all over my face by the end of it. Thank god the tutor wasn't there. Students were very confused.
We teach a pre-intermediate class, which means they can communicate fairly well but simply and their grammar isn't very clean. Our class is fairly small (only around 8-10 people show up) and quiet so it's hard to get them to speak up in class. Also we have a set of identical teenaged twin boys...at the beginning of each class we have to ascertain who is who.
So far I've taught 4 classes....the first two were painful (you remember Charlie Brown's teacher? wa-wa-wa-wa-waa-waaaaaa.....that was me. Ugh.), the last two have gone fairly well and been really fun. What I've learned is that if you want to bring things up a notch, you should try to incorporate a picture of a ham into your lesson. I like pointing to ham and making people tell me what it is. Ham. It's just fun!
However I'm lucky because I haven't had to do a grammar class yet. How on earth can you make a grammar class interesting? Hopefully I will be able to use a pork product of some sort.
It's Wednesday of the second week already and so far I'm less exhausted than I was last week...I think it's because last night I made an effort to get at least 6 hours of sleep. It's amazing what the body can get used to. Oh....maybe all those large lattes I've been drinking have something to do with it as well. I'm going to enjoy this feeling of well restedness as long as I can because I know it won't last. I have two assignments due next week plus a class every couple of days to teach.
Ham!
p.s. if anyone has tried to call me and left a message on the answering machine...I'm sorry but I don't know how to access the voice mail yet so I haven't got the message...will hopefully figure that out on the weekend.
get up around 7:30
8:30-9:00 am: walk to school
9:00 - 11:30 : work on lesson plan or other homework
11:30 - 5 pm - input sessions and feedback on previous lessons. at lunch, try to finish lesson plan for tonight.
5-6 pm : desperately try to finish printing materials for class at 6, read over lesson plan so I know what i'm doing
6-8:15 pm : teach a class (not the whole class, three of us - out of our group of 5 - will each teach a 40 minute lesson...so i don't teach every day but still have to attend the class and take notes of everything)
8:30 - 9 pm : walk home
9 - 9:30 pm : eat dinner
9:30 - 2 a.m : work on next day's lesson plan or other homework
2 - 7:30 a.m. : sleep. dream about teaching class and trying to explain the meaning of words like 'represent'
by the end of day last Thursday we were all completely exhausted. There are 16 people in the course and we're split into three groups of 5 or 6 people, and each group has its own class of students. Sometimes there are lessons which are unassessed which means that our tutor/observer leaves the room and we teach without being graded on it. Last Thursday, while poor Krista was teaching an unassessed class, three of us trainees in the back completely. lost. our. shit. I mean hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, for no apparent reason. There was mascara all over my face by the end of it. Thank god the tutor wasn't there. Students were very confused.
We teach a pre-intermediate class, which means they can communicate fairly well but simply and their grammar isn't very clean. Our class is fairly small (only around 8-10 people show up) and quiet so it's hard to get them to speak up in class. Also we have a set of identical teenaged twin boys...at the beginning of each class we have to ascertain who is who.
So far I've taught 4 classes....the first two were painful (you remember Charlie Brown's teacher? wa-wa-wa-wa-waa-waaaaaa.....that was me. Ugh.), the last two have gone fairly well and been really fun. What I've learned is that if you want to bring things up a notch, you should try to incorporate a picture of a ham into your lesson. I like pointing to ham and making people tell me what it is. Ham. It's just fun!
However I'm lucky because I haven't had to do a grammar class yet. How on earth can you make a grammar class interesting? Hopefully I will be able to use a pork product of some sort.
It's Wednesday of the second week already and so far I'm less exhausted than I was last week...I think it's because last night I made an effort to get at least 6 hours of sleep. It's amazing what the body can get used to. Oh....maybe all those large lattes I've been drinking have something to do with it as well. I'm going to enjoy this feeling of well restedness as long as I can because I know it won't last. I have two assignments due next week plus a class every couple of days to teach.
Ham!
p.s. if anyone has tried to call me and left a message on the answering machine...I'm sorry but I don't know how to access the voice mail yet so I haven't got the message...will hopefully figure that out on the weekend.
Monday, February 05, 2007
what have I gotten myself into?
I'm staying in Budapest for a while...I have a room in an apartment and a phone and everything. It feels so weirdly permanent, even though it's only for a month (i think).
The reason I'm staying is that I've enrolled in an english teacher training course (the CELTA certificate if that means anything to you). Today was the first day and I teach my first class (a 30 minute lesson) tomorrow night. I bought a grammar book yesterday which only proved to me how very little I know about English grammar. I probably know more about French grammar. Actually, I think the course is going to be great but I'm apprehensive about the 'teaching a real class' aspect of the whole thing. Feels like I'm heading for a root canal or something.
Apologies as well for the lack of new photos but my digital camera is still broken. I'm using film now but haven't had any developed yet.
Have I mentioned the thermal lake yet? About 3 hours south of here there is a town called Heviz which boasts a thermal lake. That means the water is warm all year, and generally filled with elderly people looking for a 'cure'. It's medicinal (read: mildly radioactive among other things). I arrived in Heviz not knowing where I was going to stay, but luckily I ran into Yi Ling on the bus...she offered so share her room with me! Sweet! We went to the lake and hung out...the water's warm. Ish. I wouldn't take a bath that cold. It was cool being outside at this time of year in a lake but not the most comfortable experience. Later, inside, an older Hungarian man started talking to us in english so we had a conversation with him for a while. In the dressing room after the lake had closed a woman started jabbering at us in Hungarian with a very intense expression on her face. After about 10 minutes we figured out she was telling us to stay away from the bad man. Basically what I could understand was "man", "no", and "sex". Clear enough!
The reason I'm staying is that I've enrolled in an english teacher training course (the CELTA certificate if that means anything to you). Today was the first day and I teach my first class (a 30 minute lesson) tomorrow night. I bought a grammar book yesterday which only proved to me how very little I know about English grammar. I probably know more about French grammar. Actually, I think the course is going to be great but I'm apprehensive about the 'teaching a real class' aspect of the whole thing. Feels like I'm heading for a root canal or something.
Apologies as well for the lack of new photos but my digital camera is still broken. I'm using film now but haven't had any developed yet.
Have I mentioned the thermal lake yet? About 3 hours south of here there is a town called Heviz which boasts a thermal lake. That means the water is warm all year, and generally filled with elderly people looking for a 'cure'. It's medicinal (read: mildly radioactive among other things). I arrived in Heviz not knowing where I was going to stay, but luckily I ran into Yi Ling on the bus...she offered so share her room with me! Sweet! We went to the lake and hung out...the water's warm. Ish. I wouldn't take a bath that cold. It was cool being outside at this time of year in a lake but not the most comfortable experience. Later, inside, an older Hungarian man started talking to us in english so we had a conversation with him for a while. In the dressing room after the lake had closed a woman started jabbering at us in Hungarian with a very intense expression on her face. After about 10 minutes we figured out she was telling us to stay away from the bad man. Basically what I could understand was "man", "no", and "sex". Clear enough!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
water and wine (hungarian rhapsody)
Budapest was fun, and Hungarians are great...where else can you hang out at a crazy painter's apartment drinking Jim Beam till the wee hours and being served goulash (which I believe was supposed to be somebody's lunch the next day) at 2:30 in the morning by an exceptionally drunk, middle-aged William Shatner lookalike with a major Grand Canyon obsession? Shat had some pretty complicated porn on his video-playing cell phone but he couldn't figure out how to dial a US number. I wish I spoke Hungarian so I could have listened in on the conversation he had with the phone support guy. I wonder if support people get a lot of drunken late night calls. Does it alleviate the boredom?
I have now got a recipe for really good goulash written out in shaky Hungarian...we will see if I ever manage to get it translated.
Also great was the opportunity to hang out with Phil and Benedicte again and check out a serbian gypsy brass band (and kick some major butt at foosball, though I can't take any credit for that. James is a foosball hustler.).
Finally we decided to get out into the country and headed to Eger where we were intercepted at the train station by Margaret (Margit?) a sweet widow who rents out her spare bedroom for the best deal in the country. Eger was all about too much red wine (the home of Bull's Blood) and partying with long haired youngsters who took us under their wing and down into the Eagle club which I think was under a basilica. The recovery phase was aided by Eger's thermal baths which allow you to sit outside in a steamy warm pool and enjoy a water massage.
Then we decided to see Boldogkő castle at Boldogköváralja (this country has many things in common with Iceland - thermally heated pools and unpronouncable place names being among them). For an approximately 160 km journey we had to take 4 different trains and one bus. Then we learned that Boldogköváralja has no accommodations at this time of year and since it was getting dark and the last train was in an hour, we had to forego seeing the castle up close and personal and start walking to the nearest train station (2 km away). The train 'station' was in the middle of nowhere, guarded by two possibly feral dogs, but we eventually found it and the train eventually came. James gamely tried to interact with the giggling teenagers sitting behind us and at one point a woman came over with her cell phone and stuck it in his face...she didn't speak english but her friend on the phone did and they wanted to make sure we were going to make it to our destination intact. They were very kind and very concerned and she must have brought the phone back to us two or three times so her friend could provide more information.
On the next train (the 6th? 7th? of the day? it's so hard to keep track...) we met a Canadian and a Brazilian girl who were in Hungary on a Rotary Exchange for their last year of high school, which brightened the last leg of a very long day considerably as they gave us their pins and cards and helped us get off at the right station and bonded with J over mutual exchange experiences.
In Sarospatak we ate delicious italian food and also delicious hungarian food (an enormous soup and plate of chicken and potatoes and some mysterious but tasty green sauce for $3!).
Next on the agenda was Tokaj, wine country, where we landed after dark and were taken around town by Sylvester and Istvan, a couple of 14 year old men-about-town who helped us find a hotel and entertained us with very broken english. We still can't figure out why Sylvester started to undo his pants at one point, but a firm "stop" and a stern look put a stop to that weirdness right away. Then they looked embarrassed like we had misinterpreted something and said "Sylvester, stupid boy!".
If you ever go to Tokaj, do yourself a favour and go do a wine tasting. I don't even like white wine but Tokaj is something special, especially the sweet 6 Puttonyo Aszu.
A little buzzed, we hopped on the next train or two for Debrecen which is Hungary's second largest city but frankly not all that exciting. Perhaps something to do with it being the middle of the week in low season. Still, the Hungarians proved themselves once again as what started as a quiet drink in a little bar turned into an extravaganza of fun and weirdness courtesy of Joe who blew enormous smoke rings and pretended to be in love with me. Bonus: I can sort of blow smoke rings now.
Debrecen also has thermal baths, some of which are dark brown and small of coal tar - highly theraputic I am certain. The best was the hot and cold dipping pools, where you can slip from 20 degree water into 40 degree water...stingy!
And finally, on to Pecs (pronounced Paich), where I am now...Pecs was once again all about smelly thermal baths (in Harkany, near the Croatian border) and italian food. We didn't have time to go out to the thermal lake in Heviz before James had to go home (stupid work!;) but I am going to hang out here for a couple more days and then check it out on my own.
I have now got a recipe for really good goulash written out in shaky Hungarian...we will see if I ever manage to get it translated.
Also great was the opportunity to hang out with Phil and Benedicte again and check out a serbian gypsy brass band (and kick some major butt at foosball, though I can't take any credit for that. James is a foosball hustler.).
Finally we decided to get out into the country and headed to Eger where we were intercepted at the train station by Margaret (Margit?) a sweet widow who rents out her spare bedroom for the best deal in the country. Eger was all about too much red wine (the home of Bull's Blood) and partying with long haired youngsters who took us under their wing and down into the Eagle club which I think was under a basilica. The recovery phase was aided by Eger's thermal baths which allow you to sit outside in a steamy warm pool and enjoy a water massage.
Then we decided to see Boldogkő castle at Boldogköváralja (this country has many things in common with Iceland - thermally heated pools and unpronouncable place names being among them). For an approximately 160 km journey we had to take 4 different trains and one bus. Then we learned that Boldogköváralja has no accommodations at this time of year and since it was getting dark and the last train was in an hour, we had to forego seeing the castle up close and personal and start walking to the nearest train station (2 km away). The train 'station' was in the middle of nowhere, guarded by two possibly feral dogs, but we eventually found it and the train eventually came. James gamely tried to interact with the giggling teenagers sitting behind us and at one point a woman came over with her cell phone and stuck it in his face...she didn't speak english but her friend on the phone did and they wanted to make sure we were going to make it to our destination intact. They were very kind and very concerned and she must have brought the phone back to us two or three times so her friend could provide more information.
On the next train (the 6th? 7th? of the day? it's so hard to keep track...) we met a Canadian and a Brazilian girl who were in Hungary on a Rotary Exchange for their last year of high school, which brightened the last leg of a very long day considerably as they gave us their pins and cards and helped us get off at the right station and bonded with J over mutual exchange experiences.
In Sarospatak we ate delicious italian food and also delicious hungarian food (an enormous soup and plate of chicken and potatoes and some mysterious but tasty green sauce for $3!).
Next on the agenda was Tokaj, wine country, where we landed after dark and were taken around town by Sylvester and Istvan, a couple of 14 year old men-about-town who helped us find a hotel and entertained us with very broken english. We still can't figure out why Sylvester started to undo his pants at one point, but a firm "stop" and a stern look put a stop to that weirdness right away. Then they looked embarrassed like we had misinterpreted something and said "Sylvester, stupid boy!".
If you ever go to Tokaj, do yourself a favour and go do a wine tasting. I don't even like white wine but Tokaj is something special, especially the sweet 6 Puttonyo Aszu.
A little buzzed, we hopped on the next train or two for Debrecen which is Hungary's second largest city but frankly not all that exciting. Perhaps something to do with it being the middle of the week in low season. Still, the Hungarians proved themselves once again as what started as a quiet drink in a little bar turned into an extravaganza of fun and weirdness courtesy of Joe who blew enormous smoke rings and pretended to be in love with me. Bonus: I can sort of blow smoke rings now.
Debrecen also has thermal baths, some of which are dark brown and small of coal tar - highly theraputic I am certain. The best was the hot and cold dipping pools, where you can slip from 20 degree water into 40 degree water...stingy!
And finally, on to Pecs (pronounced Paich), where I am now...Pecs was once again all about smelly thermal baths (in Harkany, near the Croatian border) and italian food. We didn't have time to go out to the thermal lake in Heviz before James had to go home (stupid work!;) but I am going to hang out here for a couple more days and then check it out on my own.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
one year anniversary!
i can't believe it's been exactly one year since i left Toronto with a raging hangover and landed in Paris, drooling with jet lag. But it's true. i celebrated here in Budapest with my friend James over big bowls of goulash soup and thick dark beer, after being given an impromptu tour of the city by Leslie, James' drinking buddy from the night before who we had just run into on the street.
i have also just set an unbreakable record for myself in the category of 'least amount of time spent in one country' - i went to Slovakia for 36 hours. I don't think i can beat that (passing through in transit or layover of course doesn't count). Bratislava was nice though!
i have also just set an unbreakable record for myself in the category of 'least amount of time spent in one country' - i went to Slovakia for 36 hours. I don't think i can beat that (passing through in transit or layover of course doesn't count). Bratislava was nice though!
Monday, January 01, 2007
happy new year
happy new year everyone! i rang the year in here in krakow at a hostel party featuring free beer and wine and champagne and food all night (all night means till well after 6 a.m.), and approximately 7 men for every woman. it's a good combination.
we went to the town square at midnight to watch the fireworks with a bunch of Scots in kilts and if you haven't wandered around an eastern european city with a man in a kilt on new year's eve then you haven't lived. everybody loves the Scots! People would come up to them and just give them cans of beer. Everyone wanted a photo. Drunk middle aged women giggled hysterically and tried to look up their kilts.
i went to bed at 6 but woke up again around 9 to the sound of a drunken australian who had lost the keys to his locker shouting HAPPY FUCKIN NEW YEAR in the middle of the room. he had to board a plane in a couple of hours. the receptionist couldn't find extra keys for the lockers. someone came in with a crowbar and tore the doors off two of the lockers. so that's 2007 so far.
as for other krakow events...so that night i was supposed to go back to the bar to meet the Canadian and the Belgian i either was too late or they didn't show because they weren't there. but I did discover that the drunk english guy is the sort of alcoholic who ends the night with his fly undone and mysterious stains on the front of his trousers, as he tries to convince you to get in a taxi with him to go dancing at another club. your refusal will elicit comments like "why? i dont....i don't want to SHAG you!" well honey, that is really beside the point. when i arrived anyway he was on the verge of being kicked out of the bar but he did introduce me to some people before he was tossed. one of them was Olga who said 'i am going to some other bars, you can come with me if you like'. okay! she took me to awesome places i would never have found on my own.
The next morning Keith took me off on a walking tour of the city, but unfortunately it was so foggy there was almost no point. Still it was really nice and he also introduced me to the fine dish of potato pancakes with goulash.
So far i have managed to eat perogies every single day without fail.
Finally, mystical energy and planned obsolescence have teamed up to destroy my camera. I think the warranty expired three days ago. Yesterday I went to Wawel castel which apparently hosts one of the 7 great energy chakras of the earth in one corner of the courtyard.
All i know is that my camera was working 5 minutes before i went in there, i stood in that area of the courtyard for about 5 minutes, and then 30 seconds later as i walked away and tried to turn the camera on it started screeching and beeping like R2D2 in a microwave.
Which is why i have no photos of the madness that was last night. major bummer.
we went to the town square at midnight to watch the fireworks with a bunch of Scots in kilts and if you haven't wandered around an eastern european city with a man in a kilt on new year's eve then you haven't lived. everybody loves the Scots! People would come up to them and just give them cans of beer. Everyone wanted a photo. Drunk middle aged women giggled hysterically and tried to look up their kilts.
i went to bed at 6 but woke up again around 9 to the sound of a drunken australian who had lost the keys to his locker shouting HAPPY FUCKIN NEW YEAR in the middle of the room. he had to board a plane in a couple of hours. the receptionist couldn't find extra keys for the lockers. someone came in with a crowbar and tore the doors off two of the lockers. so that's 2007 so far.
as for other krakow events...so that night i was supposed to go back to the bar to meet the Canadian and the Belgian i either was too late or they didn't show because they weren't there. but I did discover that the drunk english guy is the sort of alcoholic who ends the night with his fly undone and mysterious stains on the front of his trousers, as he tries to convince you to get in a taxi with him to go dancing at another club. your refusal will elicit comments like "why? i dont....i don't want to SHAG you!" well honey, that is really beside the point. when i arrived anyway he was on the verge of being kicked out of the bar but he did introduce me to some people before he was tossed. one of them was Olga who said 'i am going to some other bars, you can come with me if you like'. okay! she took me to awesome places i would never have found on my own.
The next morning Keith took me off on a walking tour of the city, but unfortunately it was so foggy there was almost no point. Still it was really nice and he also introduced me to the fine dish of potato pancakes with goulash.
So far i have managed to eat perogies every single day without fail.
Finally, mystical energy and planned obsolescence have teamed up to destroy my camera. I think the warranty expired three days ago. Yesterday I went to Wawel castel which apparently hosts one of the 7 great energy chakras of the earth in one corner of the courtyard.
All i know is that my camera was working 5 minutes before i went in there, i stood in that area of the courtyard for about 5 minutes, and then 30 seconds later as i walked away and tried to turn the camera on it started screeching and beeping like R2D2 in a microwave.
Which is why i have no photos of the madness that was last night. major bummer.
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