Wonderous Saturday

So my homesickness is subsiding. I'm relaxed here, it's wonderful. I had to let go of a few things holding me back from home. I realized that the world is SO big and there is no way that you can know that until you.... well, go see some of it. There are too many people to meet and so many new things to feel all around you. I know i'm a sappy traveler but this experience is beautiful.

That said i've started venturing out and exploring a little, the sun is out (although the wind is NO JOKE. It is a cold, serious, and apparently very pissed off wind)

I've been wandering up and down a street called Ferenc Józséf, its comparable to Broadway, as it has a lot of little shops, places to eat and businesses. Along it runs the 4 and 6 tram and I am pretty familiar with all the stops. I am going to arrange a stop by stop tour for myself once it actually warms up around here.

Here on the map, the blue push pin is where I live, right by Petofi Bridge in Pest and the black pin is where my school is, on the other side of the Duna in Buda:

So every morning on my way to school I walk up to the top of the bridge, hop on a tram, the 6 and take it into Buda into school. The tram which is below is quite awesome (and yes I know I am quite the lazy photographer but the awesome thing about the found picture below is that it is what it is actually traveling on the same bridge/direction that I go.... basically I could easily be on it right now)

Today I went down to the mall to be around people, listen to the language, and ALRIGHT FINE scope out the sale at Mango because I am in love with that store. (Why there isn't one in Denver, I'll never know)

I met a couple while I was in line at Media Mart (think best buy). They reminded me of my parents: a suave charasmatic well dressed guy and a petit brunette with a warm smile and kind eyes who was also super stylish. I heard them trying to talk to each other... the man was speaking only in Hungarian and the woman was answering back in English..... but they weren't really getting anywhere. I looked over and said good afternoon, which is kind of code for "I speak english"...

She almost jumped she was excited. She immediately asked me where I was from and if I could assist her in communication. She told me they had met three weeks earlier and that they had somehow fallen in love even though they couldn't really talk to each other. HOW ROMANTIC. Seriously, I was completely enamored with the idea that just being with someone was enough. And that getting to know someone can be a more creative and interesting process if you have to get around a language. Beautiful.

Anyway as it turned out they reminded me of my parents in more ways than one. I figured out that the guy wanted to take the girl shoe shopping (something my father would regularly do for my mother) and that he would like to know if she wanted to.... and when I told her his wishes she was MORE THAN ENTHUSIASTIC. They walked away arm in arm and I couldn't stop smiling for the next 20 minutes.

They made my day.

Well them and this hilarious lady on the tram. I was on my way back to my house when I looked down and say an "Obama is KICK ASS" pin on this ladies bag. She saw me looking at it and then she leaned over and said "He's the president of AMERICA" to which I nodded and smiled, she then said "AMERICA is kick ass, SUPER kick ass".... I agree. I didn't say anything, because I was content with that being the whole interaction.

I've been trying to speak out loud to myself and read as much as possible in Hungarian. I've been reading one of my mothers old books from the 70s and it's really cute. It's a childrens book:

So far it's about a little girl and her family, and it's cute. But now i'm about to fix some dinner and settle into the rest of my Saturday. Tomorrow it's lunch at my cousins house in Pest!