I heart Budapest

I'm sitting in an internet club in Budapest, Hungary contemplating defection. Budapest is the most beautiful city that I can ever remember visiting. I think I'm in love.

I arrived in Budapest Saturday morning. I'm here with my friends Liz, Steve and Ryan. Today, Sunday, Liz ran the Budapest marathon. She did great, finishing in three hours and 45 minutes. Tomorrow we are going to bum around the city. We head back to Ukraine tuesday night and I'll be back in Bar by wednesday.

We just bought our tickets back to Ukraine. It was the best ticket buying experience that I've had in over a year. The woman A)spoke english and B) was nice. I forgot what it's like to be in a country that actually thinks about customer service. I think the phrase I've repeated most since arriving here (other than "I love this city") is, "Everyone is so nice!"

Last week, in Bar, I was at the post office faxing a paper to Kiev and the woman clerk YELLED at me. That would never happen in America. Imagine someone going to Kinkos and having the clerk yell at them so loud and long that people stop and stare. It would never happen. Customer service, it just doesn't exist in Ukraine. It's not even a thought that might cross someone's mind. But here, in Budapest, they get it. I'm the customer, I don't get yelled at. Simple as that.

The money situation here is pretty hilarious. The Hungarian currency, the forent, is exchanged at 200 forents to one dollar. Everything here costs a lot of forents. A coke is like 300 forents. My dinner yesterday was 1500 forents. It's just hysterical to have a wallet full of 10,000 forent bills. Honestly, I can't even keep track of how much things cost. The numbers are so exhorborantly high and that my mental math has a hard time keeping up. It takes a lot of concentration.

It's really crazy so see how many people speak english here. I hate just assuming that someone will be able to speak to me, but it's generally a good assumption to make. It's nice, I mean, it makes it easy to get around and to be here. It makes Budapest a very accessable city for Americans. At the same time, I feel like a dumb American who takes for granted that the rest of the world will learn my language and meet my needs.

Well, I'm going to sign off for now and get back to my new favorite city. Maybe later in the month I'll get to Kiev and post some pictures. That's of course, if I don't defect and stay here indefinately.