Flat: Leased! Hungarian: WIP! Sites: Seen!

Flat: Leased

Yes, I have an apartment! A few blogs ago, I mentioned how I was bummed that the "perfect place" was nabbed by someone who wanted it for 18 months. However, through my agent's powers of negotiation (and 50 more Euros/month), I have a great 2BR overlooking a semi-quiet square, one block removed from a massive public transportation hub and from an even bigger pedestrian thoroughfare with tons of restaurants and fun establishments. And yes, this transportation hub is called "OKTOGON." I'll be moving in this weekend - wooo!

Hungarian: Work in progress

So, I have had two language lessons at this point. While I've known enough to find my way around Japan and Romance-language countries (and to order beer in Prague), I haven't really tried to learn a language since high school. And this is an intense language. As one example, Hungarian does not have prepositions. They are actually included as suffixes at the ends of words. And, these suffixes change based on the vowel sounds in the preceding root word. And Hungarian has a lot of vowel sounds (14). But I'm making progress, as judged by using the semi-right words in the semi-right situations. At hockey tonight, I was able to yell how many people needed to change and such. People are talking to me in Hungarian too, so at least I look like I blend in! As you might expect, my vocabulary is incredibly random - I know how to say "rocket ship," "Y-chromosome" and "auto mechanic." Challenge: Combine those in a sentence!

Sites: Seen

Hero's Square: Now this is a monument. It's located on the Pest side, at the entrance to City Park (square km of green that houses an outdoor ice skating rink in the winter). The pillar in the middle has the angel Gabriel holding the Hungarian crown and a cross. Around this pillar are sculptures of the seven chieftains who colonized Hungary in 896. They are very intimidating. (Nerd alert - They kind of look like the Nazgul in Lord of the Rings.) Underneath the middle pillar is a stone slab and empty coffin representing unknown insurgents who unsuccessfully rose up against the Soviet Union in 1956. Between each of the columns in the background is a famous and influential Hungarian leader, beginning with Hungary's first Christian king in the year 1000 and ending with a man who led the confrontation with the Habsburg empire in the 19th century.

The Citadel: Located on the Buda side, on top of a tall hill. The Habsburgs built this to defend the city after the unsuccessful Hungarian War of Indepence in 1848-49. It was never used. As you can imagine, it has a sweet view (see pic). The other famous thing up there is the "Independence Monument." The monument was actually originally designed for an ultra-right Hungarian leader who sympathized with the Nazi cause, but then was repurposed after WWII to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died successfully liberating Budapest from the Germans in 1945.