Budapest: Part Two, The Secondish Part

Where to begin? The airport? Yeah, the airport. I get my luggage and exchange some of my cash for Forints. I try and contact my couchsurf host with the wifi and my phone but I can't seem to use the payphones correctly. I go and buy a train ticket and end up using the attendant's phone to call my host. I'll meet here when I get off the train/metro. Kindness of strangers and having a sad face can work wonders. I have to take a bus to a train to a tram to get to the apartment. I take the bus to the last stop, it's always helpful when you're in a new place and you only need to take something to the last stop. I get on the train and my eyes keep darting back and forth between the station name and the directions on my phone to make sure I get off at the right stop. Hungarian is not a super easy language. I get to the station and wait for my host to meet me, I'm pretty hard to miss with my giant green backpack, red hair all over my face and my bright yellow backpack. Eventually my host and one of her flatmates arrive and we get back to her flat. She lives in a beautiful old apartment building, pictures are on film and will be posted when developed, probably when I get to Berlin.

Castle District, view from the top

I finally have a good wifi connection and can call up and cancel my cards. Time to stop worrying and just enjoy myself, I have enough cash to last me at least a few days if not a week. So we go out to lunch to this buffet, about $7 for all you can eat. Fried everything, all kinds of beans, pickles, I'm in heaven. Deep fried cauliflower. Say no more. After stuffing our faces we start the tour part. We go to the chain bridge, the castle district in Buda, St. Stephen's Basilica and lots of walking around. Now for some pictures!

Basilica

Castle District and a scale model 

Church, penguin not to scale

After a really long day of seeing all the sights and walking around we need to go to Ikea to pick up a coat rack as Christmas is soon and we'll be having a big dinner and we need somewhere to put all the jackets. Ikea is a wonderland in any country, so many beds and couches to try out. The next day involves me sorting out all the BS of losing cards and trying to get enough cash until I get a new card sent out to me. Luckily there is Western Union and a global assistance program. So I spent the first half of the day on the phone with people. We found a place that does Western Union and the customer service rep, lets call him Gregory, called them up to see if they pay out in forints or dollars. He called them up and their reply- "No English". Welcome to Eastern Europe, or at least Budapest. So now it's my turn to walk over there and ask in person. I do and they tell me "No WIFI, can't do transfer." I grumble back across the street and call up Gregory again. There are some more places within walking distance so I go to one and after about twenty minutes of her angrily muttering at the computer and the phone, I get some much needed cash. I won't go into it more than I have but this was a very time consuming and frustrating ordeal. And to the ass who has my cards, thanks for the inconvenience. 

Let's change the mood, shall we. Day two, Later that evening Christmas is almost upon us and we need to do some serious shopping. There are supposed to be 20 people coming over, there are barely 10 chairs... So we go to the supermarket in the evening in search of food. I know this meal isn't exactly geared for vegetarians so my own meal I must make. I decide to go with one of my favorite one pot dishes, lentils with onions, yams, mushrooms and goat cheese. Well we get to the supermarket and as far as produce there isn't much left. Two yams the size of a baby's forearm but plenty of butternut squash and I'm not really sure which one the goat cheese is but I see something with a goat on the cover and it says chevre, good enough. Then there is also the matter of drinks. They don't really have dark beers so I just go for a bottle of whiskey. All together it didn't cost me that much. During this shopping trip I also got to meet some of the other couchsurfers and people who live in the apartment. There were 4 people couchsurfing including myself but since some of the flatmates weren't in town there were enough beds for all of us. We get back eventually, trams and buses go everywhere and like some other cities almost nobody checks if you bought a ticket or not. Almost. Was that foreshadowing? Maybe. Maybe, yes. I just realized I'm messing up the order of events in this post but it doesn't matter and I'm too lazy to correct it. Just gonna leave it a mystery as to what actually happened when.  

Day two. Part two. I do some cooking in the morning, cutting up the butternut squash with my swiss army knife because the Ikea knives they had weren't exactly doing it. (I'm not gonna make that pun.)  I manage to get it down. Sweet. Soon after this was all the credit card and western union BS. Later that evening. Of day two. The 24th of December. We're finishing up making dinner and starting to drink. Mmm... Ballantines Whiskey... There is something made that I've never heard of, Coxinha. Fried dumplings with the dough made from mashed potatoes, milk, butter, flour, eggs and some other things. Dipped in egg then some kind of batter and fried until its the best thing I've ever had deep fried.... God Bless Brazil. I couldn't eat any that night but I had some a few days later filled with my lentils. So good. Also, only about 13 people were there, not the expected 20 so there was enough of everything, even seats. One of the guests also brought a giant plate of some kind of egg salad sandwiches that I couldn't stop eating. So good but so bad. So much sulfur... Any who, it was really fun and I got to meet even more awesome Brazilians. Eventually people left but we still stayed in the living room till like 2 or 3 am. I taught my host(ess?) how to use different modes on her camera. I even got to bring out my tripod so we could take a group photo. Yes. I brought my tripod. My first christmas too! 

Day three. I'm on a long train ride from Vienna to Prague now so I'm just doing everything I can. I wake up kinda late, leftovers for breakfast. I go to Heroes Square with one of the couchsurfers and we try to go to one of the public baths but they were all sold out of lockers and we brought all our stuff so... Maybe some other time. We passed by some things of interest on our way back. The terror house and Jafar's.

 For dinner, we're going to one of the friend's apartments and afterwards we're hitting up the club. The dinner consisted of Christmas leftovers, as there were a lot of them... More drinking ensued, some people drank what I would consider a little too much but to them its normal. A while later I end up going to this giant 4 story maze of a club/bar, I only took one picture. I went with 2 of the couchsurfers while everyone stayed behind to keep drinking. We passed by our apartment on the way there and I was so tempted to just go to sleep but as you may have already guessed, I did not go to sleep. I danced for the next 3 hours. My legs. They were tired. We get back to the apartment at around 4 in the morning. Some of the people take the tram I just walk. It was a good thing too as there were people checking for tickets on the tram. HA! Foreshadowing! There is a tiny bit more which I'll finish up later but here's this for now.

Welcome to Budapest.

My flight to Budapest was fairly early, 6:40 am to be exact, and I knew you needed to get there early. I figured I would end up taking a taxi at 3am but that wasn't exactly very appealing. I couldn't find anyone who had a flight as early as I did so nobody wanted to split a taxi with me. So, I decided to go super early and leave with a friend and share the taxi with her around 9pm. We get to the airport and in the 30 feet between the taxi door and the airport doors we already get stopped. A security guy asks to see our passports and asks us a bunch of questions, I guess I look suspicious? My friend's flight is at 1am so I go with her to check luggage with hope that I can check mine too. So we get on the first line, pre-security screening and x-ray scans of the checked baggage. Well my friend puts her luggage through and they send her over to extra inspection and they send me to the counter so I can get it checked. Turns out I have to wait till 2am, 4 hours before my flight to check my stuff and I need to carry it around with me until then. Until 2am... I go back to my friend and they are just giving her the whole 9 yards. I have to return my Israeli simcard so I tell her to just meet up by a cafe for whoever finishes first. By the time I come back (I may or may not have been distracted by a dog) she is still there. They made her unpack all her baggage. Did I mention how 100% American she is?

She finally gets through and we say goodbye. I still have over 2 hours before I can check my big backpack. So I watch The Road while half falling asleep. Blablabla... It's 3am and I'm by the gate and kinda hungry. I go see my food options. I've always wanted Sushi at 3 in the morning. And so it was. The flight boards, I kinda nap. Take some pictures of the mountains and clouds. We land. I check to make sure I have everything. What's that front left jeans pocket? You feel kinda empty? Hmm... Well I better check to be sure. Oh now, you're right. My little wallet isn't there. Which means neither are all of my credit/debit cards. HA HA HA... I check all my pockets, under the seat, to the side of the seat, rip off the velcroed (didn't know it was velcro before I ripped it up) seat cushion. Check my backpack, I check everything, 3 times. Nothing. It's okay, I have enough cash on me to get to where I need to go and last me Budapest at least. Good thing I already paid for my eurail pass. I still have my passport and some cash at least. This makes for a fun start to my trip. I talk to the stewardess and explain the situation. They help me look until the cleaning crew comes and I need to leave. I get my stuff and find the lost and found, she barely understood english but she knows enough to tell me she can't help me at all... Welcome to Budapest. It's 12:15am and I want to sleep. Thats all for now.

Last bits of Tel Aviv

The last week in Israel was an interesting one. I was lucky to have both of my finals the first two days of finals week and finished them rather early. So I had a lot of free time the last week, did a lot of walking around tel aviv, had dinner with a friend at a tapas bar. Went to an improv group event Tuesday night after my last final, it was a lot of fun. We spent a few hours just playing improv games and went to a karaoke bar afterwards. However, most of the week was just me running around like a decapitated chicken getting paperwork done and finalizing travel plans and trying to send a piece of luggage home instead of taking it with me to Europe. I went to the post office to try and send the luggage home, you cant send luggage unless you put it into a box. I couldn't find a box big enough for it so I ended up using DHL. The Israeli customer service was perfect, straight to the point and full of dry humor. I also went back to the post office because of the two times I sent postcards, I got one postcard back from each batch so I went back to send them again. Hopefully they won't send them back a second time as I am no longer in Israel...
Later that week on Thursday I went to Jerusalem with a few friends. The bus normally shouldn't take more than an hour but there was a ton of traffic and it took us a few hours. I was sitting next to a brooklyn hipster with a medium format camera and beard who raised ducks in his apartment... We finally get to Jerusalem and the sun is in its last hour, so we're in a bit of rush to get to the kotel so I can get some good pictures while there is still light. There was snow on the ground, helped me get into the mindset of winter even though the following day in Tel Aviv was quite warm. We were walking through the old city, christian quarters avoiding the small tractors occasionally passing us by, trying not to speak hebrew or make christmas jokes. After getting a little lost and the girls getting a little distracted by all the stores we finally arrived. The last time I was there was over 5 years ago, it felt a little eerie to be back. The kotel just does that. We also went to Marzipan Bakery by Machane Yehudah street, such good rugalech. Fresh out the oven and covered in syrup. By the time we got back, two of my suitmates had already left. I'm not sure how they were able to leave because they didn't exactly do a good job cleaning up after themselves. My roommate left some shoes, his hookah which he told the madricha was mine... and a bunch of other random things. So that wasn't fun.
The last week also included us cleaning and trying to finish the rest of our alcohol. It was tough but we managed. It made cleaning a lot more fun. We either gave away our stuff to friends who were staying for the whole year or the 3 year BA program, put it in the shelter or threw them out. It took a lot of garbage bags and trips up and down the stairs to the underground shelter but we did it. Post about Budapest and the flight to follow. Going to Vienna tomorrow!!

Pile O' Shoes in the Shelter

Snapchat

I have recently gotten snapchat and quickly have become addicted. Let me know if you have one too and want to receive snapchats. I can only promise laughter or disappointment. Your gamble.

Petra/A Day Well Spent... (this ellipsis means it's a lie)

For the past month I was planning a trip to Petra, Jordan. At first I wanted to go for as cheap as possible and not miss any classes. I was trying to see how much it would cost and if it would be cheaper to piece everything together myself.  After talking to numerous people I realized it would be worth it for me to just go on an organized tour and pay a little bit extra for it. The two people who wanted to go with me agreed. Then one of them backed out... (this ellipsis means I wasn't happy.) I had yet to book the hostel and pay for the $200+ tour. Two days later my other friend backed out. So now I'm contemplating whether or not I really want to go by myself. For about a day I think about this. I wouldn't be completely alone as I'd be with a tour group that friends have used and loved. So safety wouldn't be much of an issue. But it would be so much nicer to go with at least someone I'm somewhat familiar with. I eventually decide I should still go, even if by myself because when is the next time I will have this chance and I just got my Nikon from my parents. Petra in 35mm would be so beautiful.

It's Wednesday night, just a few days before I would be going. I book the hostel and pay the $4 online deposit, the rest due when I check in. I go on to the tour website and fill out the forms. As I'm about to enter my credit card information, my paranoia creeps up on me. "Hmmm, I should probably check to make sure I can re-enter Israel on my temporary tourist visa." One of my friends who has a student visa was given trouble when he was trying to get back into Israel so I have an even higher chance of having trouble and I would hate to be stranded in Jordan by myself.

Earlier that week, I was with said friend at the Ministry of the Interior so I could get my student visa and he could fix his. It was like the DMV on rude Israeli steroids. We entered the building, found where we needed to be and waited in line just to ask where we needed to go to figure our things out. I kept bouncing around from different offices and people all giving me very general directions to go to this window or its down this hall... I finally found my little window, took a number and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally my number is called and I'm told I just need to go to another office and talk to Attitude McGee, who isn't in her office right now but you can just wait for her to get back. So I wait.

Eventually she shows up and I tell her I want to get a student visa so I won't have any problems getting back into Israel from Jordan. First she tells me the office is closed and that they, or rather, just her, only does student visa applications on Thursdays. Then she tells me that I'm not here to have fun and I should be focused on my studying. She gets even sassier, telling me I'll be fine with my temporary visa and that I shouldn't bother coming back to her. Thanks.

Fast forward back to Wednesday night when I'm wondering if Ms. Short&Sassy was being honest and getting slightly anxious at the prospect of not being able to re-enter. I start looking up whether or not I can re-enter on my temp visa. After about 30 minutes of googling and calling numbers I find out that no, I cannot re-enter Israel on my visa...(this ellipsis is for dramatic pause) However!! Tomorrow is Thursday and Thursday is when I can get my student visa, supposedly the same day, after talking to numerous people who have all had to experience the Sasshole because the Israeli Embassy in NY was on strike and wasn't giving student visas. Harumff. I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually be able to get a student visa the next day. It doesn't matter though, its time to go to the Polish Cinema event!!! There was a brief intro about Polish Cinema history relative to politics of the time. After the intro there is time for discussion, wine and mini sandwiches. I guess I won't be cooking dinner. The movie is comprised of three stories, all following the same character, each with a different outcome related depending on the first scene where he is rushing to catch his train. Besides the obvious different plots in each there were some subtle details that differed like what drink was served and how he interacted with women. It was really interesting and something that I would probably never experience if not for deciding to go to the event.

I get back to my dorm and am still wondering what to do regarding Jordan. After talking to some people I decide to throw in the white flag and try to do something else this weekend. I'll eventually come back to Israel and Petra isn't exactly going away anytime soon.

Mail Time!!!

I got my Eurail Pass in the mail!!!!! Penguin for scale.

Catch Up

Nothing like some time at the farmers market AND then finding the biggest and most adorable dog ever!!! This girl was pulling it around all over the boardwalk and just yanking his leash. I felt so bad for him and impressed that he didn't snap at the little girl. I mean look at it. It's huge!

My view of the shuk from Beer Bazar. I love
the little tree growing out of the house.

I was a little surprised to see this in Israel. Just in time for winter back in the states... It wasn't very good. Shipyard Wreck still remains my favorite.

I went on a little adventure last Tuesday around  the Levinski market on Levinski street. It's where all the spices and dried goods are. Nuts, seeds, dried fruits, teas. All slightly cheaper than the few vendors at the Karmel Shuk. I was feeling kinda hungry when I was walking around and saw this little hole in the wall store and a guy eating at the table closest to the sidewalk and I saw this pizza pie. So I bought my own. My first real pizza in Israel. Eggplant, onions and 'spicy' peppers.

 That same Tuesday I went to running club after class, only I was the only one who showed up that week. Oh yeah there is a running club started by a few graduate students there that I joined via facebook. The first week we ran about 5 miles and it took an hour. Painfully slow. But we got ice cream afterwards and it was really nice. This past week I was alone and wanted to do better than my previous time of 40 minutes. So I had a very intense run and did it in 37 minutes. I don't think I ever did this well in high school. So I was exhausted and ended up going to the Dancing Camel Pub downtown with a friend after. I got the stout and we shared a plate of 'nachos'. They were mini rice cakes with some horrible cheese powder coating. But the beer was delicious and the pub was awesome. I got a horrible sore throat and cold the next day. It lasted about a week and I'm all better now. I'm also definitely not going to a party tonight...

My parents were also in town, they won a raffle and got a free trip to Israel. They took me and some friends out to dinner at this Italian place. Had creme brulee for the first time and realized how much of a foodie I am yet again. I said it was my first time eating it and everyone was so shocked. You've never had creme brulee?!? They were so surprised that I have never eaten it. Also there was an old picture of John Krasinski outside the restaurant. I was also treated to multiple meals and an afternoon nap in a hotel room. Those are always so nice, especially when you're sick. Thank you if you're reading this.
We also went to North Abraxas and made quite a mess. It's a good thing the tablecloth is just two strips of butcher paper. There was also some fish leftover and they didn't have any takeaway containers so they just gave me one of their ceramic plates and covered it in plastic. Unless I go back for another meal, I got a free souvenir!!

Eukanuba even in Israel

Cool graffiti

Jeep Trek

Disclaimer- I was not actually in a jeep, rather a 4x4. Jeeps are just a "shitty brand name", paraphrased from our driver/guide. Normally the class in the fall semester would fill up two jeeps but this semester not a lot of people signed up. Only 7 people signed up for this trip and luckily we were able to go with only one jeep. Saturday morning, we met outside the dorms and were of course running late. We were waiting for one more person... She came wearing a dress and sandals... Not exactly what you should wear when you're going to the desert/west bank. As you can see in the pictures the jeep had a big UN sticker on it, it was just a prop in a movie so they kept the sticker. Maybe makes things a bit safer when you're in the middle of the desert/west bank? Our teacher and driver were pointing out things along the way like how easily you can tell the difference between the Israeli and Palestinian territory, plants=Israeli. Our first stop was in Abu Ghosh, a place known for its amazing hummus. Arab hummus > Israeli hummus. There is one famous place there with a secret hummus recipe. The cousins of that family opened their own hummus place and that may have caused some family tension... We got our lunch at the cousins place (but we didnt eat it there, sad face). We just had a small amuse-bouche, some amazing falafel. And pickles, Israel does great pickles. Perfect for picklebacks. If you are or were in college you should know what these are.
After picking up our lunch, we continued to the west bank (should that be capitalized?). We stopped by one of the pulsating springs for lunch. I don't remember the names of these places, lots of Arabic and Hebrew. Such tasty food, but we couldn't even finish it between 8 people. Leftovers for dinner. We did a little hike and saw some cool things, look at the picasa album. We also found lots of jimson weed. Look it up. After we left we hit a traffic block, a herd of goats. We made our way through some bumpy desert/old army testing grounds. We stopped at Hell Mountain (literal translation) and had the option of a camel ride. We could see the three towers of Jerusalem from there. We then continued, via donkey, one at a time, towards the cliff opposite a Greek Orthodox monastery that was built into the side of a mountain. No girls allowed. Seriously though. The founder's mother wasn't even allowed in, they just a bare bones small rock house for her at the top of the cliff. We saw a lot of water collection tanks and a bush/tree that the Bedouins use for marriage proposals. A male will follow a female and see her daily travels. He will then make a knot on a special plant out of the branches. If she responds with another knot and the parents approve. They get married. Whole new meaning to tying the knot. (Maybe that's where it is from.) After that we had dinner by a narrow canyon where we shattered oil shale and inhaled the fumes. Nature's garage smell. We had a little fire going and had a nice dinner and conversation about how different some of Palestinian society can be. Another concept people had a hard time grasping. The first being that honor killings are a real thing in modern times with certain groups.
After dinner we got to use our teacher's night vision goggles, pretty cool. It also allowed for a lot of scaring people by jumping into their line of sight. I may or may not have started that trend. Once a little brother, always a little brother. We cleaned up and took the night vision goggles on the road. Then we got to take out the handheld spotlight. We saw a bunch of (I think) deer and a rabbit or two. Most of the animals don't come out till later. We also stopped by an onion field and may have taken a few... Lastly we stopped by the famous Elvis cafe on the way back. Two of the largest Elvis statues. Also, two of the largest Elvis crotches. Some things I forgot to add- we found a button plant and "brought it to life" and went to the bathroom off the side of a mountain. So I was able to cross a few things off my bucket list this trip. And in case the picasa slideshow doesn't work here is the link

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