August 28, 2010: Last day of orientation

August 28, 2010: Things are wrapping up today. I got up to eat breakfast which was fairly standard these past several days. Breakfasts were pretty much the same each day: there were always fresh fruits (this morning cantaloupe and plums) plus orange juice (orange drink is more like it). Then there were three platters of wonderful cheeses, salamis, hams, turkey, and bologna that were sliced for sandwiches. I would normally have two sandwiches for breakfast and a bit of the scrambled eggs and cheese that was also available. There's also a coffee bar but it's a coffee bar typical of Europe -- espresso, cappuccino, or some variation thereof. Each coffee drink was made individually by the barista. Over the days, I have selected cappuccino as my drink of choice -- thick coffee with steamed milk sprinkled with cinnamon. In general the breakfasts were quite satisfactory. Lunches could be purchased at the school cafeteria and these were also quite good -- yesterday I had pork cutlet with onions and bacon topping, spaetzle, and a drink for around $4.00. As you've seen from previous postings, several of us would go out for dinner on the town.

Last night since we completed our last day of lectures on Hungarian culture, teaching, and language, we celebrated by going to a very fancy restaurant (one that "requires" dressing up in a collared shirt and long pants). The restaurant was close to Hero's Square and as I walked in the restaurant, there was a man playing a cimbalon for background music.

Entry to restaurant

Cimbalon player at restaurant

Dinner was quite nice. We started with sesame and onion rolls that we put an egg spread and paprika on. Then there was bean soup followed by chicken paprikas with spaetzle. For dessert we had apple strudel and poppy seed strudel. Then they served what has to have been the strongest cup of coffee I've ever had. I took the following picture of the tiny coffee cup next to the standard sized salt and pepper shakers to give you an idea of how tiny the cup was.

Espresso coffee - note how tiny the cup is next to the pepper/and salt shakers

 The people at my table, like many in the group, were all seasoned travelers. The woman sitting next to me had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, the man next to her had studied for part of his college in Germany, the second man on the left had just returned from South Africa where he attended the World Cup. He had all sorts of experiences having lived a significant amount of time in South America and Europe. Then the man next to him (one of the other men my age) had traveled considerable through Europe with his wife on bicycle trips, to Russia to volunteer, and his daughter is currently in the Peace Corps in Indonesia. So you can see we had a lot of common interests to talk about.

Today is the day that we meet our contacts at our schools. This will take place at 1:00. From then on, I will be with Kati (short for Katalan) who will take me to school, introduce me to others (hopefully). However, because my apartment at the school is not yet complete, I am "forced" to stay in my friend's apartment for one more week in the best part of town. It will be nice to spend more time roaming around the city. I've finally reached the point where I no longer need a city map!  I can now officially say that Budapest is my city!

Meanwhile, Ruth visited her dentist last week. He asked her if she was related to a "Richard Halverstadt from La Canada who played bridge". Apparently he had seen my name on a list of players at the San Marino Bridge Club where I play bridge. Ruth replied that yes, Richard is her husband and further told him that I was in Budapest. Since her dentist also plays bridge and is from Hungary, he gave Ruth the name and phone number of a Hungarian friend of his who plays bridge in Budapest. So, I plan on giving him a call some time today and perhaps I'll have the opportunity to play bridge while I'm over here!  That should be great fun.

Another note about St. Stephen's Square: After visiting St. Stephen's Basilica the other day, I realized that this is the square that has a very sophisticated underground parking structure under it. I think you will be shocked to view the story about this at the link http://www.woehr.de/en/projekte/budapest_m730/index.htm

That's it for now. I'll add more later after I've met Kati. 

Well, it looks like there was a misunderstanding between Kati and CETP. All of us CETP teachers were picked up by our contacts except me! I wonder if my reputation has preceded me and I was stood up. At any rate, CETP paid for a taxi to transport me and my luggage to my friend's apartment in Vaci utca area and when I set up my computer, I saw an e-mail from Kati telling me when school would begin, and some other information. All I have to do is figure out how to get from here to the school. I'm sure Kati will let me know all the details.  In the meantime, I guess I'll have to wait several more days before I get to actually see the school and meet my cohorts and students. I can't wait!


Shortly after arriving in my apartment, I went to the nearby supermarket to buy some groceries. I even found pink grapefruit in the supermarket so I'm all set. Now all I have to do is wait until the big day to begin school.

Also, I managed to call the friend of Ruth's dentist and he asked me to call him again on Monday and he'd introduce me to some bridge clubs here in Budapest.  This should be fun.

My friend's cousin also managed to find the directions for the washing machine in the apartment. I am now attempting my first load of laundry. We'll see how this works out.