September 11, 2010: Although Fekete Kati said that the van would return to Ujpesti High School around 3:00 yesterday afternoon, it wasn't until 7:00 that the van actually arrived at Corvinus University where my suite is located. Not that I was angry or anything – Kati and Istven, the driver were spending this rainy Friday evening helping me move rather than being at home eating dinner with their spouses. Apparently the move of the furniture that was absolutely essential to put in my apartment for the first night took longer than expected in the earlier afternoon, thus the delay.
Kati and Istven helped me load the van with my effects and off we went in the rain to combat the Friday evening traffic congestion. We drove through the center of town, down Andrassy ut and beyond, and still drove some more. I had thought that Budapest might end near Husok Ter, but was I wrong about that! Eventually we made it to District 15 (Ujpalota, or New Palace District), my new home. On the drive from Corvinus to New Palace District, I had a chance to get to know Kati a bit more. She's a very charming person who definitely has a very positive attitude towards teaching, the students, and the other teachers at the school. Not only is she the chair of the English department, but she also chairs German and Russian. She teaches both English and Russian besides chairing the department. She told me that she really prefers teaching single sex classes because she likes to inject blond jokes in her classes. (If there are any girls in class, there's likely to be a blond since many Hungarian women are blond, and she's afraid that her blond jokes might offend them.)
On our trip, we stopped at a McDonald's for me to pick up that night's dinner. Walking into the McDonald's brought back very familiar aromas to what we would smell in the US. A relatively short drive from there and we were at my apartment situated on the 5th floor of a ten story tall building just like all the other ten story buildings around it. I'm definitely not in Vaci utca anymore! Here are pictures of the entry to the apartment building. (Note the BMW parked in front.)
My first lesson at the apartment was learning how to punch in my entry code into the numerical keypad outside so that the main door would unlock. Click! So far so good. After hauling my things into the elevator, we closed the inner door of the elevator (just like in the old movies), punched "5" and THUMP! – a sudden jolt and up we went. It felt like we had just started up in the elevator of California Adventure's House of Terror. We finally reached the fifth floor. Opening my apartment door required using two keys that unlocked a regular deadbolt and also a crossbar that goes horizontally across the door and secures the door on each side. Opening the crossbar proved to be a struggle since the key is temperamental. Once inside I found a very small but extremely clean apartment.
Figure 2 elevator of apartment
To the right of the entry way is the small studio size kitchen. The kitchen has a stove with three burners, an oven, a microwave, sink and plenty of cupboard space.
Figure 3 Kitchen of apartment
The refrigerator is straight ahead in the entry hall and contains a tiny freezer inside. Off the entry hall further down to the right is the bathroom that looks like it was just retiled in salmon colored tiles (Ruth will love this!). It contains a shower (the best shower I've used yet since arriving in Hungary!), a sink, toilet, and a brand new Samsung washing machine.
Figure 4 Apartment bathroom
To the left of the entry way is my "great" room, a space that will eventually hold some chairs, a couch that can be used for sleeping too, dining room table, and wardrobe units for storing my clothes. The windows of the "great" room overlook other ten story apartment buildings as well as some green areas with trees and swing sets for the children. In the distance are some huge electrical towers. No more Lady of Liberty to watch as I did in my suite in Buda.
Figure 5"Great" room of apartment
Figure 6 view from apartment "Great" room
Figure 7 view from "great" room of apartment
Then, straight through the entry hall is a "bonus" room that has a fold out couch, a TV, and VCR machine (now if I only had some VCRs! – no, don't send me any!) Also in the "great" room are cords for cable TV and a plug for phone. Right now I don't have internet, but Andras from CETP is helping me get that next week, so right now, I'm unavailable via Skype. The floor of the great room has been redone in pergo style wood.
Figure 8 Bonus room of apartment
On the whole, the apartment is very clean and seems adequate. Of course now I have to unpack all of my things so that it feels more like home. However, since it was a looooong day at school and getting to my apartment, I decided to retire early and deal with the mess the next day (now today).
I got up at 7:00 and was pleasantly surprised with the nice hot shower I had. Only problem is the school didn't supply me with any towels. Amazing how useful T-shirts from the dirty laundry bin can dry one. Then there was the matter of breakfast. They did supply me with a pot and a pan, dishes, and some silverware. After I could smell my bacon cooking in the frying pan, I knew I was home. Amazing how smell can make one feel at ease. Then I fried two eggs, boiled some water for tea (in a glass – they didn't give me any mugs yet) and I had my first breakfast in my apartment.
After breakfast I decided to explore the neighborhood to see if I could find a store that sells laundry detergent, because I am down to my last clean shirt. Walking down the street, I could see that my neighborhood has a lot of elderly tenants (have I been type cast in my apartment? At least the elderly don't have rowdy parties with music blasting all night!)
Figure 9 park outside apartment
A little way down the street I found a supermarket already busy with many customers and it was only 8:30 a.m. I walked inside to explore. Voila! Laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, sponge/scraping pads, and I couldn't resist a huge loaf of French bread. I purchased these items and returned home to try out the washing machine. My first load of wash is ongoing as I write this. The washing machine holds only six shirts at a time and the cycle takes 73 minutes to do, so I may be here for quite a while.
Before I forget, the supermarket had some interesting features:
- The shopping carts are chained together, so I didn't know what to do. I eventually saw that people insert a 100 forint coin into a slot on the cart that releases a segment of the chain that's attached to the shopping cart. The shopper then goes into the store to shop, and when he/she is done, returns the cart, reconnects the chain, and out pops the 100 forint coin (I think that's how it works).
- The checkout cashiers at the supermarket are seated in comfortable chairs as they scan the items of the customers.
I now wait for the last 15 minutes of my wash to complete so I can go out and buy some more stuff. (I want to make sure that the washing machine works thoroughly through the cycle without leaking so I can be sure I don't face the same problem I had at my former apartment!)
Well, the washing machine just whistled a tune indicating it's finished, so I guess my first load of laundry is done! And no leaks. Now if I only had some hangers to use to dry the shirts. I guess it's off to the store again to see if I can find some hangers to buy…
Later: My second trip to explore started with a walk in a drizzle, and then a full rain storm. Rather than return to the supermarket just yet, I decided to see what other types of stores there are on the street. I entered a tiny shop that looked like it had kitchen utensils. There I found a spatula, wooden spoon, a dish drying towel, and TP. A stroll further down the street led me to a cluster of tiny buildings where all sorts of restaurants and shops were.
Figure 10 shops down street from apartment
Figure 11 shops down street from apartment
Inside one of these shops I bought a large bottle of Coca Cola. While there, men were already buying beer and other alcoholic beverages to consume and it was only about 9:00 in the morning! Out in the rain again I went. This time I decided to follow the bus route that I would have to take Monday to get to school. Istven and Kati told me to take the bus at the stop right in front of the apartment and go two stops and change to bus 196. I decided that rather than waste 320 forints for a bus for two stops, I'd see how far it is to walk it. I continued my walk and eventually encountered a gully where train tracks went. There was a bridge that I ascended to a road that went over the gully and coming down the steps on the other side of the bridge, I noticed a bunch of tents right where I descended to the street below. Didn't look too genteel to me. Fortunately it was raining so no one noticed me since they were inside their tents. I continued my walk and eventually came to a bus stop. I looked at the bus number sign to see if 196 stopped there. No! I asked two rather inebriated 20 something Hungarian men if 196 stopped there, saying only the number "196" in Hungarian. My accent gave me away and one of the two answered in English. He informed me "Take bus 173 on the other side of the street and go four stops that way (the way I had just come from) to catch bus 196, my brother." Stupid me!!! I had been going the wrong direction all along! I returned home after stopping at the market to purchase some more household items. Now I'm doing my third load of wash. After lunch, I'll head off and see what going two bus stops in the correct direction is like. More later.
Later still: My journey in the other direction turned out to be more fruitful. At least I didn't encounter any tent villages. There were several stores that I shopped in to buy just about everything on my list. I had forgotten to write down in Hungarian what some of the food items were, so I had a bit of trouble finding the salt. The sales people didn't speak a word of English in the first supermarket I went to, and I tried my best with my limited Hungarian by saying in Hungarian "black pepper and ___". Then I said the word for "white", but all this produced was them showing me white pepper. We concluded by laughing about it and I went on my way, encountering a salesperson in another shop who did speak English, so he told me the word for "salt" is "so" (pronounced "show"). I then went to a different supermarket and couldn't find "so" where I thought for sure it would be. I finally asked the security guard there, and he, too, had trouble finding it, but eventually, there it was – all the way on the bottom shelf in a corner behind a display stand hiding it. I am back in business again. I resorted to my old standby food to cook, so I'll be having spaghetti again, but this time with ground pork. Hungarians really love their pork so it's far more prominent than beef. But at least this time I'll have my oregano and tomato paste, since I was able to find those items. I even think I spotted bay leaves, but I can't be sure since I didn't bring the Hungarian word for that with me. Wouldn't want to put the wrong leaf in my spaghetti. Well, gotta go. My washing machine just whistled its final tune for the day. Four loads of wash and I'm done! I'm in business for another two weeks.
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment