So, get cultured they say, learn the ways of the world they say.  Well I say fine, lets get this party a-rollin'!  Tonight I had the pleasure of sitting down with three very interesting characters.  First is my friend Javid from Azerbaijan, the next is a new fellow from Puerto Rico named Phillip, and the other is Ian from Penticton, British Columbia.  Javid was kind enough to introduce me to the art of Shisha smoking, a middle eastern custom of water pipe technology for the purpose of inhaling flavoured tobacco.  Sweet melon was the flavour of choice which I must say goes down better than any other inhalable substance and has the most relaxing effects on the mind.  I have found a peace of mind that could only be attained through a passtime refined throughout the ages!  I can only say this: if you have not had the pleasure then I suggest you find the means to experience such a wonderful liesure activity if it is within your means.  I would like to clarify that this is not the same as a Hookah, there is no THC content...although this is easily added if so desired.  Now I read, and then sleep...

 

D.A.E.

Alright, so the weekend has almost past and I managed to go out and absorb some of the culture here.  The newest batch of pics was to be of the protests scheduled in Heroes Square but the right wing party cancelled it because they feared a violent outburst.  Needless to say, protestors do not need politicians to be present and a small rally did form but I only witnessed the procession up Andrassy utca and not the actual rally.    Apparently though there was around 40,000-50,000 people out at parliament Saturday night again calling for the PM’s resignation, but no serious episodes of violence were reported. 

Instead of the rally I went to the famous Széchenyi Bath House next to Heroes Square.  I have never been so content to be alive as I was after the mineral baths.  If there is anything people need to do once in a while it is soak themselves for a few hours in the natural thermal waters of Budapest. The skin becomes soft as a newborn baby and the mind is at ease.  After this I went to Heroes Square but the rally had moved to parliament by then.  This allowed me to take pictures of the monuments commemorating Arpad and the other leaders of the 7 tribes that settled in the Carpathian basin over 1200 years ago, soon to become the Kingdom of Hungary. 

I should also mention that we went to a bar the night before called Szimpla, which is actually in the old Jewish quarter.  I did bring my camera but did inot snap any of the architecture.  The buildings have not been repaired much since the 1940s and it reminds me of the photos from the same period when the Nazi party was collecting Jews into these projects.  The doorways are narrow, the walls unfinished stone, windows have no sign of ever being able to close, and the urinals in the men’s room is little more than a long wall with a slight ledge near the knees so you do not sully your feet.  I really enjoyed that bar, which from the outside looks no more like a place you really should not be!

The one thing I have noticed through my limited travels here is the similarities between Budapest and Vienna in style and architecture.  You can really tell that in past centuries there was a strong competition between the two for international attention.

Anyhow, I must report to the higher powers now but feel free to leave me a message if there is something you heard of that you would like to see here in Budapest or other questions of such nature.  I enjoy your emails and posts.

 

Regards,

 

D.A.E.

For those who do not know, there have been mass protests here in Budapest since Monday night.  The issue at hand is the release of a taped meeting where the prime minister admitted to lying in order to get elected almost 2 years ago.  The activity is isolated to the downtown core where parliament and the state television building are, which is about 40 minutes away from the dormitory but only 2 minutes from the university.  All the activity happens after sunset so the daytime is fairly calm.  Cars have been set ablaze, the state tv building stormed, and tear gas has crippled more than a few protestors.  The main antagonists of the demonstrations are primarily right wing politicians and extreme right wing supporters.  Although I support peaceful protests and in rare instances violent ones, I cannot help but be enraged at the participation of neo-Nazis and other skinhead types.  Sure they have a right to express themselves, I would never take that away from anyone, but to do so primarily through vandalism and endangering the lives of the peaceful protestors is abysmal.  I went last night (the third night) to see how the protests were going.  I have posted pictures as well.  It was not as ‘colourful’ as the first or second night but it was still very awe-inspiring.  Thousands were gathered at parliament, municipal police in their shoddy outfits lined the streets so that certain routes were restricted, and every now and then there was a column of riot police hiding amongst the darker streets ready to play cowboy once the word was given.  There is a mass protest set up by the right wing party that is taking place in Heroes Square this Saturday.   You bet your ass I will be there.  Watch out for pics from that too, which should look better since the rally is during the day.

 

Interesting times indeed…

 

D.A.E.

Ah Paris...uhm, I mean Budapest.  So today was my first venture downtown to the CEU campus and man it was wonderful!  I arrived about 1 hour ahead of my schedule so I decided to wander without a guide.  I chose two directions and walked 5 minutes in each.  The results are in the recently added photos.  You cannot walk across 6 cobblestones without stopping and reaching for your camera, it is breath-taking!  The university is crammed amongst the 5-storey buildings that make up about a 6 kilometre radius around the Danube River.  All of them easily range from 150 to 800 years old.  There are a few older buildings but I have not made it to the Buda side of the river.  The large stone complex on the hill is Buda Castle, which itself is possibly the oldest large-scale standing structure in Hungary.  I was going to go home after class but my friend Nino (seen in one of the pics) decided to take me to the river for a few drinks.  I was absolutely enamoured by the sights.  The pictures do not do justice to the magnificense of my surroundings.  I really don't have much else to say, aside from the fact that I am exhausted for the first time since I arrived, which means tonight I will actually sleep!

 

To my friends, I wish you were all here so I could show you the wonders I have seen.  To my enemies, I wish you were here so I could drown you in the river and watch you float away as so many have during the thousand-year history of this place.  Take care my friends, I think of you more often than you know...

 

D.A.E.

Okay, so the title is fairly inappropriate since I do not start classes until Monday, but I have been able to meet many people.  Actually, I just met someone from Poland just now.  I am starting to enjoy it here.  Many of the legal studies students are Russian, as is the buk of the people I have met.  My first friend was Nino, a small Georgian girl whose english is questionable at best but we manage.  I have met others, most prominently Javid, who is in his 4th year of Phd studies (an irreplacable source of knowledge on the local culture and night life).  I know I promised to put up some scenic pics but I still haven't been far.  I have been to the Arpad mall and the dormitory.  I put up pics of both.  The atmosphere here is of complete tolerance amongst the students which makes life sooo much more...tolerable.  Also, the rules on public order are relaxed as well.  Smoking is allowed in many public places but in designated areas.  These areas are not giant fish bowls either, they are in the middle of food courts and such.  They purvey the idea of Courtesy of Choice: acknowledging difference of lifestyles and habits.  You can drink anywhere, anytime!  Freedom of life is the key,not freedom from what your neighbour is doing a few feet away, if that makes any sense.  I will have more pics once I go to the university on Monday.  Until then...

 

D.A.E.

So here I am.  Sitting in the reception lobby of my new home and not understnding a lick of what is being said around me.  It is so bad that when I went to buy a large bottle of Pepsi (large is half a litre), I mistook the cashier's attempt at inquiring if I was a student as her speaking Hungarian...she wasn't impressed.  The flight here was the first time I have ever been on a plane (that I know of) and holy shit was that an experience.  For the people who have not been in a plane, picture a roller coaster launching itself from about 10km/hr to 500km/hr in 30 seconds...and then losing contact with the earth.  Even though its a pressure-controlled cabin the impact hits you in the chest in an almost sickening way.  I hoped that having been up for 18 hours I would sleep on the flight over...but no such luck.  And a warning for those who intend to fly for the first time and think that doing it half-cut is the best course of action, I plead with you to think again.  It makes the airport that much more unbearable, and when you board the flight you get to join a line of some 20 old-timers quivering to empty their tiny pea-sacks every twenty minutes.  Even though Malev Hungarian Airlines served free liquor, it still didn't help put me out.  If anything I found it even mre difficult to get comfortable.  It felt like Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian did an eight hour special and used my ass as the canvas.  Nonetheless, I am here now, desperately trying to decide between sleeping and exploring.  I know jetlag will kick in tomorrow so I think I will be kind to my body just this once...

 

I will have pictures up in the next few days for all to see, as well as a little rant on the airbus ride over to the dormitory.  all I have to say about that right now is until you have been over here, you haven't seen shit!

 

D.A.E.