Watching the Inauguration in Hungary

I worked with the Hungary for Obama group to plan a big event for the inauguration. I had a great time, and it was a good event. We were able to fill both an auditorium and a bar to capacity to watch the inaugural address at 6pm. Guess where I watched the event...!

We then headed to Szabadság tér ("Freedom square") for a peaceful, candelit "show of lights." Now, I admittedly went to this part of the event with a degree of skepticism - I am not a woman prone to attending candelight vigils. However, it was definitely worth it, if simply as a really unique inauguration memory and as another window into what it means to live in Hungary.

Some political demonstrations in Hungary turn violent, driven partly by anger at the government (two years ago, the prime minister was taped boasted about lying to the country about the economy) and partly by the existence of extremist parties. In fact, the US Embassy emails all registered Americans in Budapest to tell us where and when demonstrations are happening, with the following caveat: "We remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possible escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations."

As a result of these factors, it is mandatory to apply for a demonstration permit with the police beforehand. The guy in our group who orchestrated the vigil had to jump through multiple hoops in order to do so. At first, people at the police station were incredulous that someone would want to host a peaceful gathering like this. And second, they were rather impressed, and wanted to attend themselves. Actually, the police had to attend - the rules require police presence at all demonstrations, even if only to handle extremists who happen to show up. Szabadság tér ("Freedom Square") is a good candidate for disturbances:

1. It is blocks away from Parliament
2. It is the home of the US Embassy
3. It contains the only monument to the Soviets still in the city
4. As a result of #3, it also contains a teepee erected by an extremist group who is campaigning to tear down the Soviet monument and replace it with a map of Hungary's traditional (pre-WWI) borders. This issue could be the subject for a full other post, but know that even the issue of Hungary's borders is very contentious: Hungary lost 70% of its land in the treaty that ended WWI - many neighboring nations still have sizable Hungarian populations, and this causes political tension to this day. (See below for a map: present-day Hungary is in light-green. The red parts of the bars indicate the size of the Hungarian population in neighboring countries.)

The candlelit vigil went fine - there weren't any disturbances at all, we got a good crowd at the square and media coverage was really strong.

After getting a drink with friends, I stopped into the final event we had planned for the evening: a dinner with a speech by the political affairs officer from the US Embassy. A few items of note:

• First, as an aside, you may be interested to know that, while at business school, President George W. Bush dated the woman he appointed as Ambassador to Hungary.
• The embassy official highlighted some of the big things the US Embassy had been working on over the past year. I knew about the first item: Hungary is now a member of the "Visa Waiver Program," which allows Hungarians to travel to the US visa-free. However, while the process is now much easier, it's still pretty complex: I recommend visiting https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/ to see how easy/difficult it is for people to visit American just for tourism. (The US Government can deny your request to enter America without giving any explanation, and you cannot appeal, etc.)
• Another item was actually pretty cool - last year, the US embassy brought in a speaker to smaller Hungarian towns to discuss the steps that California had been taking, without full federal approval, to tackle climate change. The point was to reassure the Hungarian towns that they didn't need to wait for national government action before taking steps to fight global warming.
• Finally, it just so happened that the Manhattan String Orchestra was in town. The 80-member group attended the inaugural address watch party and two of them played at the dinner. They were really good.

So, that was how I spent Inauguration Night. It was absolutely awesome to be a with a group of other people who cared just as much about what was happening as I did, and to have helped put the event together. If you want to see evidence of my existence, check the video in this link around minute 4:50. (I'm famous!)

Munich in 36 hours

Some might consider seeing a 1.3 million person city in 36 hours slightly tricky. However, this was Germany and the trains ran on time, which greatly facilitated matters! I managed to cram a Saturday afternoon hockey game in Budapest, a heckuva lot of German sightseeing and a Sunday night business school interview in Munich, and work in Budapest on Monday morning all in, which was hectic but great.

Anecdote #1 (in increasing order of seriousness): Every town in Bavaria has a 100+ foot tall May pole. Towns pride themselves on having the longest, straightest pole. If you steal another town's pole, the victimized town has to throw your village a party. This is an AWESOME tradition - can you imagine something like this happening in a college prank war? (Shepard Hall: "Hey Willard, you may have prank called our entire dorm at 5am, but we were greatly impressed by your efforts and want to throw you a floor party.") A few years ago, the Munich airport's May pole went missing. In the post-9/11 climate, this greatly alarmed the airport staff and so they frantically called the airport police to report the disappearance. It turns out that the airport police had stolen the airport's May pole... and so the airport threw the police a party.

Remark #2: After having visited two Munich beer halls, including the Lowenbrau beer hall, and greatly enjoying the wares, I have decided that I need to return for Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest was originally intended as a wedding gift for King Ludwig I's wife; it began as a wine festival with horse racing and an agricultural fair. The year after the wedding, the townspeople got to thinking that it was an awesome party and that they should throw it again. A few years later, these same people got to thinking that wine and horses are really expensive and that the agricultural part should only happen every couple years. And so, Oktoberfest gradually morphed into today's festival, where 1/3 of Bavaria's annual beer production is consumed in two weeks. I already have one friend's firm commitment to attend the Fest in the next few years - who's coming with us? (This is ridiculous, but possibly should be noted and avoided- Munich's most famous beer hall, the Hofbrauhaus, has something termed "a vomitorium" in the men's restroom.)

Failed legislation #3: In the 1840's, King Ludwig II of Bavaria (son of Oktoberfest king) decided that he wanted to eclipse his father's "Renaissance man" status and build an amazing opera house. (completed, at right with statue of Ludwig II). He raised taxes on beer once. The people complied. Then the building project went over budget, and Ludwig raised taxes on beer a second time. This prompted the "beer hall riots," where Bavarians ran through the streets, beat up police and destroyed the beer halls. King Ludwig only took control of the situation by lowering beer prices 10%. Apparently, Chicago had a similar episode.

A note on 100-year-old animatronics #4: I have now seen the Glockenspiel, and it is somewhat ridiculous. Built with the Munich town hall in 1908, the Glockenspiel consists of ~30 life-size figurines reenacting 16th century stories in a 12-minute spectacle. As one example, one story consists of barrel makers dancing in the street to indicate that the plague had left and it was safe for the townspeople to come out.

What to do if you are with a 10-year-old boy in Munich #5: Take the boy to the Deutches Museum. It has 55 departments with full-scale representations of every scientific and technical mechanism every constructed by man. For instance, one room has five working water wheels of different types and a full-scale windmill. I got to see 20 different types of code machines, old-school clocks, planes, cow milking gadgets, etc. etc. Unbelievable.

----- Serious part begins here -----

Beer Hall Putsch and Monument #6: In 1923, Hitler and his supporters attempted to overtake Munich and use it as a base from which to march on Berlin. Hitler began at a beer hall by firing a gun into the air, standing on a chair and giving a speech demanding that the German people stand together and form a nationalist government. In a backroom, three civic leaders were convinced at gunpoint to go along with Hitler's plan. With things in control, Hitler left his second-in-command in charge and went to check on the 2000 men he had waiting in the main square, by the Glockenspiel. Then matters started to go wrong: the three civic leaders convinced Hitler's second-in-command that they should be allowed to leave to change into their WWI uniforms, which would be more fitting for the occasion. As a result, by the time Hitler returned to the hall, the town was on high alert. Taking the city would be impossible, but Hitler resolved to march on the town's army supply store to attempt to pick up supplies to use for the march to Berlin. Hitler and his men made it to the edge of the square when they were ambushed. Fifteen Nazis, four policemen and one innocent outdoor cafe waiter died in the firefight.

When the Nazis came to power, they erected a monument to commemorate the deaths of these 20 individuals in the name of socialism. [At the corner at the most right in the photo.] Munichers were required to give the Nazi salute as they walked by the statue. As a form of passive protest, townspeople would avoid walking past the monument by ducking into a street that became known as "Dodger's Alley." [Alley on the left in the photo, with gold bricks inserted to commemorate the dodger's route.] Eventually, the Nazis caught on to what was happening - guards were posted in Dodger's Alley to record who came through, thus turning a passive form of protest into a very active one. Individuals who went through the alley too many times were deported to Dachau.

Kristallnacht/Reichspogromnacht #7: In 1938, Hitler had been looking for an excuse to push forward full measures against the Jews. In November of that year, a Jewish teenager shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris. Days later, the Nazis conducted a coordinated raid on Jewish businesses throughout Germany and deported ~30,000 Jews to concentration camps. The Nazis referred to the event as "Crystal Night" for the beauty of the smashed windows on the ground. Years later, this event is instead termed "Reichspogromnacht" to remove the positive connotation that the Nazis had inserted. (I hadn't learned about the second name in school.)

Throughout Munich, there were placards to note the locations of Jewish businesses which were destroyed on that night. Townspeople are educated from an early age about what happened on that night, and children are fully aware of the meaning of the signs. I found this impressive - governments don't always fully discuss the horrors in which they have been complicit, and don't necessarily integrate it into education so that children understand it too. (As an example, think about how much you learned about the Native Americans in school.)

----- Serious part ends here -----

So, Munich was a great place to visit - it was somewhat jam-packed, but I saw a lot, learned a lot and had my business school interview. Mission complete--

American pancake syrup

I have kept my New Year's blogging resolution. Here is a spate of recent hijinks-

Sport: Last weekend, my co-workers and I went skating on a huge Hungarian lake, about 3 square miles big. Being from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I had never done anything like this! There were a couple hundred people there, and there was a wooden hut set up on the side to sell tea and mulled wine. I brought my hockey stick and had a blast.

Trip to another Hungarian town: I took off to Szentendre, a small town North of Budapest on the Danube. There were a lot of pretty churches and scenery... but the main highlight was the $2 entry to the Marzipan Museum. I had no idea this museum existed before I passed it on the road, but it was well worth it to see sugar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Please note that the title of the following marzipan sculpture was "USA, the fifties." This is how the rest of the world believes we lived five decades ago:

Food: I have found the culinary mecca of Budapest. My directions were as follows: "go to the basement of the big market and look around the area where there are a lot of pickled things." And lo, I found a shop with $8 peanut butter, $10 maple syrup and all sorts of American groceries I had been lacking. The syrup was a big win, as I had been served French toast with sour cream earlier in my time here... which had led me to believe maple syrup simply didn't exist in the country. (Incidentally, the original syrup label was in English, but the store had deftly inserted a Hungarian label on top which translated to "For an American pancake." I wonder how Canada feels.)

Second, after the holidays, I brought back some apple butter from Virginia to share with my co-workers. And this was no ordinary apple butter - it was made by the seven-time state championship winning Effinger Volunteer Fire Department and Auxiliary. My co-workers all agreed that it was much, much better than peanut butter.

Finally, it always comes back to pig killing. A pig slaughter is a big family affair in Hungary. You start with palinka shots at 4a.m., have some trained pig killing experts do the dirty work, finish up the pig stuff and have something to eat by lunchtime. This act came up twice in the last two days: (1) A guy at the client will be off email today because he will be going home to participate in one. (2) I was making myself a sandwich in the office with the only ingredients I had - peanut butter, banana, bread. My Slovakian coworkers in the kitchen looked at me like I was absolutely insane. I responded by mentioning that I had been very accepting of putting fat on bread, and other Central European delicacies, and asked if there were other food things I didn't know about from Slovakia that I would probably find baffling. We got on the topic of pig killing and blood sausage. This is not the first time I have talked about pig killing with my co-workers. Mmm.

So, life is good and busy. Work may take a lot of time in the coming weeks, so I'm sorry if I'm slow to respond to emails and such. I'm currently in Munich, and will have multiple beer-related traditions to discuss in the next post.

The Gas Situation & No Work On Saturday

You may have read in the news about Russia and Ukraine's disagreement about natural gas. Essentially, Ukraine has been vastly underpaying Russia for gas. The fact that Ukraine potentially supplied weapons to Georgia during the war in the summer does not help matters. Russia has shut off gas to the Ukraine before, but this year is different because:

• Vladimir Putin ordered Gazprom to lower the amount of gas Russia was sending to Europe via Ukraine (by the same amount that Ukraine was stealing from Russia).
• A Ukranian court annulled a Russia-Ukraine gas transit agreement.

Europe gets a lot of its gas from Russia, and this spat is already having a vast impact. (Over 10,000 people in Bulgaria don't have heat. It's 20 degrees F there!) Hungary gets nearly 45% of its energy from natural gas (this is A LOT), so here's how we've been affected:

1. I was supposed to go to work on Saturday. In Hungary, when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the government gives you the Monday or Friday off, but everyone has to make it up on a specific Saturday. Because we got Friday, January 2 off, the entire country was supposed to go to work this Saturday, January 10. (Nothing like a 6-day work week to start the new year, right?) However, in order to save gas, this work day has been moved to Saturday, March 28 to make up for a holiday we're having around that time. Woo hoo!
2. Big Hungarian industrial companies have switched their power source from gas to oil, sent afternoon staff home early, lowered temperatures (this happened at the big mall right next to me, where I bought the salsa a few days ago) - see article
3. Car factories and others have temporarily shut down due to gas restrictions and weak demand

The big deal looking forward is that there are a lot of gas pipelines in the works in Europe. Given the current situation, the Nabucco pipeline is fairly exciting, as it will bring Middle Eastern gas into SE Europe, via Turkey. Two other pipelines will bring in more Russian gas, but will bypass Ukraine - North Stream in the North (via the Baltic Sea to Germany) and South Stream (guess where?) in the South (which will just divert gas that previously went through Ukraine). These pipelines will be years in the making (and in the approving - there's a lot of disagreement about North Stream's environmental impact in the Baltic). But, there's a lot going on that may help avert similar situations in the future.

I did some work for energy companies in the fall, and it was quite topical even then. I'm currently starting a major banking project and am struck that a lot of the work I've been doing has put me right in the thick of several major goings-on.

Clues I Have Returned To Hungary

Over the holidays, I made a 5-state American road trip. Ten percent of the country isn't bad over 13 days. I had a blast and really enjoyed seeing friends, family and the NU football team. On Saturday evening, I returned to Budapest. I'm glad to be back, but some things have made me chuckle.

Clue I'm back in Hungary #1: I went grocery shopping on Sunday. I have gotten rather handy with Hungarian food terms, and felt confident as I strode into the humongous grocery store located at the bottom of the massive shopping mall one tram stop away from my flat. I picked out my assorted items, including an item in the "tészták" (pasta) aisle labeled "paradicsomos szóz" (tomato sauce), nestled in between something that appeared to be 4-cheese sauce and a bag of pasta. All appeared right with the world. Tonight, I made a pasta salad - veggies and pasta, accompanied by my new-found.... SALSA purchase? Hurrah! It was still tasty, and I have whole-heartedly embraced the return to periodic nonsensicalness.

Clue I'm back in Hungary #2: People in Hungary do not go running outdoors in Budapest, except for on the 5km track around Margaret Island and at a track by the main stadium. Due to jet lag and plans to do another half-marathon this year, I got up for a run this morning before work and figured I'd just head up to Hero's Square and back. Keep in mind that this route is not on the afore-mentioned approved routes list. Now, it was 10 degrees (F) out, but I have a fair amount of UnderArmour and it gets colder in Chicago anyway. I met my 17-year-old next-door neighbor on the way out the door. He positively could not fathom what I was doing. All along the run, heads turned. Passersby stopped in their tracks. Schoolgirls tittered in disbelief. Streetcleaners stopped their streetcleaning. Dogwalkers reined in their animals. A full tram of people turned their heads to follow my course alongside their vehicle. I felt like a celebrity, which perhaps is ample enough reason, beyond the "being fit" part, to continue the 7am runs. If I ever hear, "Have you seen that crazy girl who runs outside at 7am on Andrassy street?" I will know I have succeeded.

The End of 2008: A Hungarian Synopsis

As has been pointed out to me on recent occasions, I have potentially been shirking my blogging responsibilities as of late. For that, I apologize - I vow to right these wrongs in the new year. But before that, let's revisit the last Hungarian weeks of 2008. This may be long, but I'd prefer to call it "comprehensive."

First stop: Paris
In early December, I headed to France for a long weekend to meet up with a friend from Chicago and do a business school interview. It was a blast. The last time I was in Paris was with my 8th-grade French I class, so there was a slightly different atmosphere this time around. We had a chance to eat good food, drink good wine (I nearly broke a chandelier opening a champagne bottle) and see good sites. A few noteworthy items:

• I headed for the "Flower Market," which I understood turned into a "Bird Market" on Sundays. Now, birds were certainly not the only item sold at this market. By the rodent area, I saw two men with furry creatures on leashes. Upon inquiring (in French! Mme Smith, my French I teacher, would be proud), I learned that they were their pet minks. I really don't think I've ever seen one alive (e.g. not on a coat).
• I wandered into Notre Dame, accidentally and conveniently timed with a free concert on its pipe organ. And of course, the concert included pieces by Franz Liszt, the Hungarian-born composer whose musical academy is two blocks from my apartment.
• Now, let me preface this. I have done a lot of touristy things recently. The past 5 months have been a touristy blur. And after two full and fun days in Paris with my friend, I was art'd and museum'd out. So, what better way to kill time after my interview on Monday than by heading to Paris's "Museum of the Sewers"? The museum was literally underground, in an old (and still connected) part of the sewer system under the center city, complete with running water. I actually learned a lot - in his memoir, Napoleon claimed that extending Paris's sewer system was his greatest accomplishment. Les Miserables has an extended sewer scene because Victor Hugo was buddies with the guy who did all the survey work for Napoleon. And if you want to know how they keep sewers clean, just let me know. I can tell you.

Second stop: Office Christmas Party
Back in November, I had agreed to play my sax with a band of a few other co-workers at the beginning of our company holiday party. At first, I was surprised that we were allowed to play Christmas carols in such a public setting. When I asked a co-worker if that might offend someone attending, he looked at me, puzzled, and exclaimed, "We don't just play them, everyone sings along!" Even the fact that it was called the company "Christmas Party" surprised me. I sometimes forget how engrained political correctness is in daily life back home. I also enjoyed a comment later in dinner - I was seated next to a German couple, and they found it hilarious that a group of Hungarians was singing "Stille Nacht" and "O Tanenbaum" in English, rather than in the original language, German. Later in the evening, everyone stood up in front of the group to read a poem about their Secret Santa - when that person realized that they were the ones being talked about, they came forward and got their gift. It was a cute tradition made possible by our smaller office size. (I moved from a 300-person office in Chicago to a 50-person one in Hungary.) It was a really fun night.

Third stop: Competitive Beer Run in the Woods
When I heard about this event, I had to do it. And so, on a cold December Saturday, I found myself in the middle of the Hungarian woods on a team with 4 Hungarian guys and 1 American guy, battling a field of 200+ others. (One of the Hungarian guys was a co-worker, which was my connection.) Teams were composed of 4-6 members; teams scored points based on the distances they traveled and how many beers they drank when they arrived at each station. Some of the pit stops were pubs: the go-to food was bread with smeared grease/fat, onions and salt. We survived, had a lot of fun and managed to only be lost in the woods at night for about an hour. This also wasn't something I would have been able to do if I only stuck around expat circles - the advertisements were all in Hungarian, and my American teammate and I were definitely some of the only non-Hungarians there.

Fourth stop: Hungarian Language Challenge
After stop #3, my co-worker and I intended to go check out an Edward Norton movie, which was showing in English at one of the local theaters. Well, when we sat down, it turned out we were in "Mongol," which had Mongolian speech and Hungarian subtitles. I powered through and actually got most of the movie. I will admit that it is a lot easier to match speech to visible actions in a war flick. ("You killed my daughter, you must die." "No, you must die." stab stab)

Conclusion: So, 2008 ended well in Hungary. And I didn't even throw in the part where I got authentic "bangers and mash." I headed back to the States on 12/19, where I proceeded to see as many people as possible, lose my voice for 4 days following the Alamo Bowl, buy many necessary American items and have a tremendous time. It was great to see you all!