October 23rd turned out to be a good day, but honestly it was a little lame in regards to political excitement. I awoke as I do on every holiday: without an alarm (so nice!) at 9:30a. I made a great cup of instant Starbucks (thanks, Jodi!) and enjoyed it during my quiet time for breakfast and morning devotions. It was very peaceful and made for a great start for the day.
Around 11a, I gathered my supplies for the day and headed off to the metro. I tried to keep my head down (so as to not appear to be looking for trouble, but also trying to see what was going on that I should be avoiding). I only saw a couple men in uniforms or costumes (they weren't close) carrying the Hungarian flag with a whole in the middle. Little did I know that that was all i was going to see of political activity all day.
I got to the guys' apartment safely... and okay, I take that back, because there were also men in uniform on the Metro, but they were just hanging out on the platform and not causing any trouble that I could tell. Anyway, I digress. I arrived at the guys' flat and rang the wrong doorbell (so, I'm getting really good and saying 'Bocsánot'/sorry to the elderly neighbors... oops!) Then I began baking some potato chunks :) 5 KILOS of potatos. Ehja! I was planning for 15 people (srsly, we made a list - there were 15 people - how only 8 showed up, I couldn't tell you...) Anyway, we were baking potatos for about, uh, 2 hours. Matt and I had a great conversation time while he helped by pulling the pan out of the oven to flip the chunks every few minutes. He also was a great taste tester :)
After a little while, the potatos were done and the chopping of boiled eggs, onions and celery began. Then the adding of mustard and mayo (yeah, we made POTATO SALAD!).
Then the frying of ground beef (mmm... hamburgers...) It was Timothée's -the french guy's- birthday on the same day as the Hungarian National Holiday.
Upon devouring (or not) the massive amounts of food, we had a brief internet break (did I mention the boys have internet? it's freakin' sweet!). Then we headed off to a concert in celebration of the holiday. We were invited by Timothée's co-worker, Anna, who - get this - plays the BASSOON with the orchestra that was performing.
After a good bit of classical Hungarian music, we bounced back to the boys' flat for more internet and hanging out.
then the test of Budapest transportation came. I'll admit, I was tired and cranky and after the near run to the Metro station, we realized that we had missed the final Metro. Now, the boys live WAAAY north of the city center, in Ujpest which is an interesting area bordering shady at night. Until last night, there was only one way that I knew between the two apartments: Metro. sound the worried music! Upon close inspection, we realized that we could take the yellow Villamos... WRONG! we hopped on an after a whopping ONE stop, the conductor walked through the train and kicked us off... and pointed to a buszmegallo (bus stop). ugh. We head to the buszmegallo and found a bus that basically takes us from one flat to another. SCORE!... and after a 20 minute bus ride, we arrived home. safe and sound. yay!
today, we welcomed Kristy to the big city of Budapest. It's great to spend some time with someone that DOESN'T live with Parliament down the street. Everything is new to her and she loves to go sightseeing, so it was great to walk through basically the entire city and take random pictures. It was quite possibly the best Saturday in Hungary yet.
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I leave you with pictures of that amazing building down the street - Parliament. Enjoy!
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