–I always loved writing my Daily Life in Prague posts so I’ve decided to use the same idea for life here in Budapest. I hope you don’t hate them ;).
–As you can see by the picture above (and below), the fog here can get quite thick and intense. I love it! Everything feels more mysterious. There’s just something about fog near a river.
–It’s been nearly three weeks since we moved to Budapest! Which means…my residence permit has already been APPROVED! Is that the fastest process ever or what?! Of course that doesn’t include everything we had to do before we arrived…but still. Unfortunately, E hasn’t been approved yet…they made us go back down to the office because a.) someone lost our marriage license and b.) they couldn’t approve him until I was approved…which we were wondering about when we applied. Hopefully he gets approved soon too! And hopefully I actually GET mine soon.
–I’m picking up Hungarian much faster than I ever picked up Czech (although this doesn’t mean I’m anywhere near proficient). I really have no idea why, except maybe being around first graders and often hearing the direct translations between basic words is helping? I also find it easier than Czech, even though I was prepared for it to be incredibly difficult. And that isn’t because Czech is related to Hungarian so I have a leg up–nope, Hungarian is not Slavic at all, but likely more related to Finnish. It’s complicated.
–I’ve been sick for weeeeeks (this is a familiar story in the winter) so I may need to brave the Hungarian doctor soon. Stay tuned! This also requires that I first get my residence permit and then get my medical card so, I still have some waiting to do.
–My job is going…okay. It’s been quite an adjustment, which I was (stupidly) surprised about. I don’t really want to expand too much on the subject, but I’m having issues with one of my co-workers. I think it’s primarily because I’m foreign..which is fun. Or she hates me for a reason I have yet to decipher? Anyway, I’m trying to focus on teaching and the kids and smiling my way through her criticism. It’s only been two weeks though so she’ll love me eventually…right?
–Despite the fact that my job is not going as smoothly as I hoped, I’m already crazy about my students! They’re so fun and engaged. A huge part of my job, though, seems to be just keeping the kids alive. The school next to mine is getting remodeled, which means there is a part of the playground that is the “dangerous” area. I have to chase down kids holding the two-by-fours or hunks of metal and keep them from attacking each other. Of course, they also almost kill each other/themselves without tools like this–by climbing on tables in the classroom, throwing scissors, etc. I’ve certainly got to be on my game all the time at this job!
–Once a week I take a select group of kids to “scoliosis gym.” This is what several people have told me so it must be a semi-correct translation…but I still don’t really get it. I don’t think they have scoliosis but are in danger of it? Is that a thing?
–Budapest has so many amazing coffee shops! There’s a card you can fill with stamps from a bunch of different ones…and then you get free coffees. I consider it my sacred duty as a new blogger in Budapest to visit all of these and keep you posted. A duty I will take very seriously.
–Our flat is quite teeny–I’m thinking we got lucky with our palace in Prague–but the location is amaaaazing. I love walking by Parlament every day!
–Speaking of our flat, besides it being tiny (like studio-tiny) we also don’t have an oven. So if you have any one-pot meals with easy ingredients, hit me up!! Stir fry and pasta over and over just won’t do it.
–We also have a strange hot water situation–I’m pretty sure we only get hot water in the morning? As in, the hot water heater stops heating the water at exactly 8AM? (We’ve timed it). I get up quite early for my long commute, so at least one of us is showering before then. But as far as I can tell, we don’t get hot water at night.
–One of the most awesome things about living in Europe (and being a teacher) is the travel opportunities combined with the breaks. I get a break later this month (a “ski break” for the kids), plus a public holiday in March, followed by Spring Break/Easter. I’m not sure we can afford trips for every single one of these, sadly (thanks to a certain wedding trip in May! Which is really not sad!) but we are thinking Italy for Spring Break–Rome! neither of us have ever been!–and maybe Denmark (such cheap flights!) or another city in Hungary, called Eger. Share your tips for these places in the comments!! Of course, I’m also trying to squeeze in trips to Romania and Slovenia…I can dream.
–Food! These Hungarians, you guys. We’ve had delicious pastries and amazing Hungarian goulash and more. We also have some really great grocery stores near us, including a dangerous one aimed for expats. E was over the moon because they have Kraft mac’n’cheese…at a whooping $8 a box. Ouch!
–The shopping! The secondhand stores/vintage stores are ON POINT here. Luckily for my finances I haven’t gotten paid yet so I really can’t shop…but it’s so hard when the nicest, most expensive thing in the store is still only the equivalent of eleven USD! Whaaa. The one thing our flat DOES have is a lot of closet/storage space, which could also be bad for my shopping issues.
Sounds like your new home is lovely! Minus the co-worker, I know how that is, kill them with kindness am I right:) Love these life updates! And feel better!
Haha yep I smile fakely at her SO MUCH lol. I’d rather do that than start more fights with her, though!! Thanks so much for reading 🙂 xo
Cool!
That sucks about not getting along with your co-worker but I hope it gets better soon! And I’m not sure a scoliosis-prevention gym exists, haha. But sometimes you just can’t see that people have it maybe? I have scoliosis too and should do training sessions so much more often!!
Haha I’m not sure it exists either! But I did ask if they have scoliosis and my co-teacher said no, but that they MIGHT get it? The kids are only six and seven? Who knows…I have a feeling it’s a miscommunication/translation issue. Gotta love those! Thanks so much for reading! 🙂
Oooh great update! Definitely keep them coming. Can’t WAIT to hear about your sacred blogger coffee duty. Good luck with the co-worker – sounds like the best approach!
There are so many awesome coffeehouses here! I might have to do one giant post about it :). Thanks–my co-worker is still kind of the worse so I fake smile A LOT but I’d rather do that than cause more turmoil. Sometimes that’s the best way!! Hope your new job is going well 🙂 xo
There are so many awesome coffeehouses here! I might have to do one giant post about it :). Thanks–my co-worker is still kind of the worse so I fake smile A LOT but I’d rather do that than cause more turmoil. Sometimes that’s the best way!! Hope your new job is going well 🙂 xo
Love the update!! Glad everything is going semi smoothly 🙂 Rome is pretty cool, although very hectic to me! We stayed in Travestere which I thought was pretty cool…a bit more local and out of the extreme chaos 🙂
Thanks for the tip! 🙂 I’ll remember that when we do make it to Rome–we decided to avoid it at Easter because it looks INSANE. Not what we really want right now, although it could be fun someday! I was just looking at your old posts about Greece/Santorini though–I think we decided to go there, instead!! I’m waffling between Santorini and Mykonos–do you have one you liked a bit better? Hope all is well on the beach!! 🙂 xo
I’m working on a site for my co-workers, with all our travel recommendations– we are always asking each other and I thought this might save us all the breath.
https://sites.google.com/a/asmilan.org/recommendations/schedule
Anyways, still a work in progress, but the Italy main page has several recommendations for Rome from a Roman, so they should be worthwhile. I loved Budapest when I visited in October, especially Burrita Bar (super cheap burritos!) and Gelarto Rosa (one of the best gelato I’ve had and I live in Italy!) If you haven’t tried them yet, you should!
http://51500.blogspot.it/
: )
Carrie
Carrie! Thanks so much for all the links. I love the site you are making for your co-workers, what a good idea! I will definitely check out your recommendations–In fact, I found the Gelarto Rosa and WOW! Incredible! I want to go every day!! 🙂 I feel like I should pay you a commission for introducing it to me, haha. Or they should pay you a fee for advertising?! 😉 Thanks so much for reading.
I have to say that YES, hanging out with foreign kiddos 24/7 is probably the BEST way to pick up bits of language. I think the most useful Czech I’ve learned is from working at the summer camp! Kind of love it 🙂
And yeahhhh I’ve always been disappointed about the second hand stores here! I might have to check a few Budapest ones out next month!
Hope things are going better with that one co-worker. The fog does look super unreal!!
Oh yeah you’re coming here! When will you be here again? Over Easter? I think we might be going to Greece but maybe our paths will (finally!) overlap. A few of my favorite secondhand shops are Cream (it’s a chain), Dorothy & Aby, and a really tiny one called Rongybaba (literally Rag Doll, ha). I think you guys will love it here!!
Yes, over Easter… no worries, it is such a big block of valuable travel time that I definitely understand going off to Greece – that sounds lovely! One day 🙂 And thanks so much for the recommendations – I am writing them down 🙂 (of course, I should be saving $$ for summer too, but ehhh)
Sorry to miss you two! hope you enjoy Budapest 🙂 Menza is our favorite restaurant so far, the ruin bars are pretty cool (Szimpla), and we found this amazing bistro–Deryne Bisztro–that is a bit pricey but so Gatsby ;). Let me know if you need any other recs!! And let me know when you’ll be here, maybe we will still overlap with you 🙂
Nice – don’t worry, I could take all the resto and cafe recommendations you would have to throw at me. No such thing as too much info! :)) Thanks so much… definitely hope to try some of these, and your cafe recs on the other post. We’re getting in late Thurs afternoon and leaving Mon morning so let me know if you find that you will be around when we are!
Sorry we missed you! We left Wednesday and came back Monday night. JUST missed you. So glad you enjoyed it!