The first thing you notice right away is that nearly everyone speaks Hungarian. This is an impossible language and I sometimes think they are just making up words as they go along. For example, the word(s) for "to sightsee is nevezetessegeket megteleni. I can spell it but I can't say it without hurting myself. The same word in Spanish is probably something like El sightsee-o. Spanish is easy.
The food here is great. Lots of soups, salads and stews. Most everything has paprika on it. Paprika is to Hungary what tortillas are to Mexico. Here is a picture of a breakfast I had at a place I spent the night at near Lake Balaton.
There are a lot of things to do around here. Movies hit Budapest about the same time they open in the States. I walk the dog through the village for about an hour every day. If you like old things, you only need to go a few blocks to find something older than the United States. The nearest castle is probably about 5 miles away.
Shopping here is just like any other modern country. They have huge malls and neighborhood markets and everything in between.
I get all of my news from Europe CNN since it is the only English speaking channel. Here, the news is about BP and the World Cup. California's women politicians have been mentioned. Every now and then they accidentally play a highlight from a baseball game. About 90% of the news is about this guy that killed a girl in his hotel in Peru. Obama is always on when he has something to say. The world loves Obama. He has completely turned around how the rest of the world views us.
I had to go online to see how the voting went. I was glad to see the proposition allowing PG&E to run the state was defeated. PG&E spent 46 million on this proposition saying they "did it to protect our taxes."
I am heading home on Monday. Off to Ohio on Wednesday for a couple of days. The next week I am in Grand Rapids.
