–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.
