Budapest and Vienna

Ahoj,

At long last, my friends, I have the time and motivation to tell you about my fall trip... now two weeks past. Rather than give you random little stories and thoughts... I'll just start at the beginning. Take a deep breath, this might take a while.

So every year, the Czech Republic in it's entirety takes a long weekend at the end of October to celebrate something historic. None of my students seem to know what this something is, but I'm fairly certain it has to do with the founding of the country. With 5 full days to take advantage of, I opted for a big trip.

The Train

On Tuesday (the 27th?) I joined 7 other teachers in boarding a night train to Budapest, Hungary. There's a whole team of really great ESI teachers there, so I was excited to visit, and tour, and sleep for free. Within our little traveling team, 6 stayed in a sleeping car, while Hayley and I opted for the cheap seats. (If you're unfamiliar with Hayley, send me an email and I'll bring you up to speed.) It's hard to say that things went smoothly, in light of the dozen or so men that woke us up throughout the night to stamp passports and check tickets... but overall things went well... until about 6.

Based on conversations I've had with the folks in the sleeper car, I think it went down like this... At about 5, a uniformed man popped his head into the sleeper car and warned those inside that "The thieves are coming." Though confused, my quick-thinking friends double-checked that all of their things were locked and secure and went back to sleep. At about 6, some men boarded the train, pulled a number of bags out of unlocked compartments, hit the 'emergency stop' button, and jumped off the train. The thieves came, they stole, they conquered. However, because of the abrupt nature of the stop, the train's engine stopped running... completely. The the next two hours, we sat idle on the track waiting for repairs... and then waiting for a new engine altogether. One eventually showed up... but we arrived in Budapest 3 hours late.

Budapest

Its hard to explain Budapest, because I had no pre-existing ideas about what it would be like. It is a beautiful city... I mean really gorgeous... but it has a strange feel to it. It certainly does not feel Western. The unusual architecture, the 25-letter words lacking vowels, the small bacon pastries, and the feeling that laws are taken more as suggestions, all just brought a whole new novelty to the city. Over the course of two days, I saw most of the big and important monuments and buildings, relaxed in Central Europe's largest Turkish baths, strolled through a Chinese market the size of my hometown (shadiest place I've ever been), and feasted on Hungarian meat. My friends Neil, Sam, Jon, and Brady were amazing hosts. I'm hoping to return sometime before I head home.

Vienna

On Friday morning, I met Hayley at the train station and set off for Vienna. Thankfully, this was a completely uneventful ride across the beautiful European countryside. Upon arrival, we joined our friend Sam who had journeyed from Prague earlier that morning. Vienna is totally different from any Central European city I've visited thus far. Though really old, and really beautiful in the same way that Prague is beautiful, Vienna feels much like an American city. The national language of Austria is German, but just about everyone there speaks English. The city is chocked (is that a word?) full of history and architecture like I've never seen. St. Steven's Cathedral is unbelievable. The castle... is like a city unto itself. And the number of little restaurants and beautiful old buildings almost seems overkill... but amazing. I think the thing that sets it apart from a city like Prague is the wealth. Ferraris and 3-piece suits and visually entertaining haircuts are more common than you might think. At one point, I believe it was Hayley who said... "We could probably get a pretty good view of the city just by standing on top of that guy's hair..."

While strolling through the city, the three of us stumbled upon a wine fesitval. Vien in Vein (trans. Wine in Vienna) featured some of this year's best wines from Austria. Like the hot shots we are, Sam, Hayley and I sipped from our glasses alongside a whole bunch of people far better dressed than ourselves... but it was really great. We ended up talking to a English-speaking German woman at the festival for a good 40 minutes. I'm not sure why I told you that... but it all just seemed very surreal.

One more funny story. Upon arrival to Vienna, we had a reservation for a hostel not too far from the center of town. The hostel, called "Believe it or Not" (should have been a clue as to the quality) offered beds in a room for ten, with no curfew, for 11 Euro. "For the young at heart," one ad said. So we follow a map to the address listed, only to find the shadiest looking building in the whole city. Windows broken, doors boarded up... and only a call button next to the door bearing the name "Believe it or Not." Rather than buzzing in, we opted to keep walking. Across the street was another, far more inviting hostel... offering our own room, a key, free breakfast, and clean sheets... for only a few Euro more.

We returned to Prague Sunday morning... and slept.

Ok, I'm done now. Below you'll find some pictures of this whirlwind tour. Leave comments. I'd love to hear what you think of all of this.

Mike

Budapest Skyline. Courtesy of Jake Dorr.

Heroes Square. Maybe the coolest monument I've seen so far.

My good friend Joel...and his Hungarian meat.

The largest outdoor skating rink in Europe. Courtesy of Jake Dorr.

Back the truck up...

So I realized I never told you about Canadian Thanksgiving... a month and a half ago.

The first weekend of October, most of the ESI team sojourned to Sokolov... a small town on the border of Germany and the Czech Republic... in honor of our friend Brian Kirk, who is currently teaching there. Brian, despite all of the jokes, remains a proud citizen of America's neighbor to the north. Much to my surprise, Thanksgiving has been around in Canada longer than it has in the states... and so we had a celebration. Stuffing, potatoes, beans, fruit, 8 chickens from a man named Honza, and a game of touch-football made the weekend a memorable one.

Here are some pics for you. Better late than never.

A feast fit for a king.

There's nothing Canadian about this game of football...

Cards and Settlers at the Sokolov Estate.

Still Alive in Kralupy

Hey,

I haven't added anything to the old blog in a couple of weeks... Take a deep breath, I'm fine. No need to panic. Nothing to see here. I've got lots to say, but most of it will have to wait until I get some of my pictures up. For now, let me give you a few things to chew on...

- A few weeks back, my great friends Lauren and Laura were in town. They are both currently studying in Rome. Twas a great weekend over all, but my camera was stolen out of my bag while touring through the city. This would explain the lack of new pictures for you to look at. Rest assured, I've managed to steal a number of pictures from some other friends who have been with me over the last few weeks, so I should have some more up for you soon. Get excited about Budapest, Vienna, and probably some more Prague pics.

- Today I had an experience I'm confident would not have happened in America. On Fridays, I have two classes... 11:50 and 2:00, both last 45 minutes. My 11:50 class is all sophomores... definitely one of my better classes. So we were meeting in room 18 for the first three months of school. Last week, we had to switch to another room so another class could use 18. Not a big deal. Today, my class is nowhere to be found. Not in 18, not in the other room, nowhere. Keeping a level head, I run to the teacher's office to see if maybe I missed a class change notice. Though I don't understand many of the things on the board, I am confident that none of it relates to me. As I'm just about to give up and assume that the class in on a trip, I decide to grab one of my students from another class and ask if they know where my students are. Very casually, this student walks over to the master schedule hanging on the wall. This schedule is huge, and lists every class, teacher, and room in the school. This schedule has not changed since August... so I think. With his pinky finger, points to my class on the schedule (a box no larger than a pencil eraser) and says with a smile, "Yes, this class is in room 1." (Say it outloud with a Czech accent... it's more fun.) At this point, I'm 10 minutes late. I run down to room 1, throw open the door, and find all my students just sitting around talking, playing cards, and reading books, as if it's completely normal that I'm not on time. "Why are we in this room?" I asked. "We don't know... they just changed the room assignements last week." (Also in a Czech accent). Nobody told me of the room change. None of my other classes have changed. There were no signs advertising said change. What the crap.

That was long, stupid story. I'm sorry.

I'll have more fun things for you soon.

In the mean time, pick up a copy of "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. One of the best books I've read in a very long time.