August 23, 2010: Orientation at Central European Teaching Program

August 23, 2010: The taxi picked me up as scheduled and delivered me to the school on the Buda side. Traffic was a bit crazy to get there but the whole ride cost only a little over $4.50. I met the greeters and registered. In exchange they gave me a number of things that I hadn't planned on being given including a cell phone with some minutes on it (I can pay for additional minutes when I need them). In Hungary (as in most of Europe), incoming calls are free so the phone will come in handy even if I don't use it to make calls. I also received a box set for learning the Hungarian language! It comes with two audio CDs so I'll be able to hear what the words are supposed to sound like.  That will really come in handy.


They also gave me a bus/metro/tram pass that's good through the end of this week. The way this pass (and all passes/tickets for buses, etc.) work is that people board the bus/tram/metro without anyone taking a ticket -- you're on your honor to have paid for the trip before boarding. Then they have agents who board these buses/metros/subways and do spot checks to make sure people really do have tickets. If not, the passenger is given a citation (~$35 penalty). So you can imagine that many people take their chances. I don't plan on doing that.

After meeting my roommates (They put all of us "old men" in the same dorm room suite -- two men in each of the two bedrooms but the two rooms share a bathroom), I prepared for meeting all the other teachers.  There are about 40 of us altogether. Then we walked to the tram down the hill from the school. And where should the tram take us but a block from where my apartment was last week! The restaurant we ended up going to was one that I passed just about every day last week! But of course I hadn't eaten there yet. It was a great restaurant -- right on the Danube overlooking the Buda Castle on the other side of the river. Then the sun came down and all the lights of the castle, bridges, etc. were turned on. It was like living in a fantasy. 

Buda Castle as seen from restaurant

We were given menus and were told we could order what we liked (alcoholic beverages we had to pay for though). I had a delicious catfish dish that was served between potatoes (like a sandwich) and topped with tomatoes and of course sour cream. I had a side order of cucumber salad, and after I quickly drank an iced tea (they sweeten them here so I did not order another), I ordered a beer. Then came the dessert menu but I was so full that I didn't order any and had coffee instead.  However, the others allowed me a spoonful of the most chocolatey cake with cherries and vanilla sorbet on my right and a delicious chocolate sponge cake on the left.

It was fun meeting all the other participants. It was funny that some of them approached me since one had read my blog a couple of months ago and two others had been in touch with me since we'll be teaching in the same part of Budapest.


After dinner, it was back to the hostel and to bed. On the way home, I stopped in the Gereaud Coffee Shop in the same area I had lived in last week and went inside to see this famous social place. No people were seated inside since everyone was outside enjoying the fresh evening air.

Gereaud Coffee House - Budapest's answer to Starbucks

On the tram, we also passed by the Gellert Hotel and Bath House (the same one I mentioned in a previous blog) which is very close to the hostel where I now live.

Gellert Hotel and Baths