"W"

It's funny but Hungarians who speak English tend to have a hard time with the letter W (they don't have W in Hungarian, just V. So they tend to either say everything - W and V - as V or they confuse and say some V as W and vice versa). So maybe this place is for me, since I have such a hard time with W myself. The man, of course, not the letter.

I cannot believe I missed what was surely a glorious display of W-ness last night. From what I read this morning (and yes, it is morning here already...I am nine hours ahead of SF), he did the usual: Offered no vision for the future in Iraq, tried to connect the war on Iraq to the 9/11 attacks, and invoked God (a lot). And, my favorite is that someone in the hall at Ft. Bragg where he spoke was cuing the audience on when to clap!! THIS IS OUR PRESIDENT? How did we, as a nation, sink so low to have this man running our country? And how has our education system so failed that we have so many people - many of whom are supposedly educated and successful - that support him? Granted, the majority of Americans do not - and never have - supported this dangerous zealot. But unfortunately, the majority of Americans do not vote and so, in the end, we really get what we deserve, don't we?

It's funny to think how my whole world used to revolve around politics...I was obsessed with the goings on of even the most junior members of Congress. But somewhere along the line I lost my political Mojo. I think it was after the painful loss of the No on 209 campaign, mid-term losses by the democrats on every front in 98 (after so much success in 1992!), followed by the sting of 2000 (which I have seriously gone into denial about, snapped out of that state only briefly by the opening scenes of Fahrenheit 9/11), the horror of Arnold, more mid-term losses in 2002 and, of course, the disappointment of 2004. Somewhere along the line I threw up my hands. I became as cynical and jaded as the rest of them. Okay, maybe not as cynical and jaded (at least I still vote)...Perhaps I will resolve to do more when I get home. Get more involved in politics in SF (even though the scene there is so BORING!). Something. Because at present, I just feel like a complainer...and though I may not actually have power to change anything, well, at least I can die trying, right?

CHOCOLATE COVERED COTTAGE CHEESE STICKS
Okay, I am sure that sounds disgusting to you. The first time I heard about it, in a Washington Post travel article about Budapest, I thought, "Eeeewwwww." But this particularly Hungarian treat, known locally as a tőrőrúdi (too-roo-rudee) is delicious!! It's not really cottage cheese like you and I are accustomed to...It's the dessert form of cottage cheese (who knew there was one!). I am going to try to bring some home. Nestle (which is HUGE here for some reason) makes them and I wonder why they don't try to import it to the US. Probably because even though it's chocolate, it's also cottage cheese and, well, that's just to healthy sounding for Americans. Trust me, though...it's very tasty. And if you ever come to Budapest, you MUST try them.

A SHORT BOOK REVIEW: "MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN" by Salman Rushdie
Well, I don't have much to report about the last 24 hours (but I have a conference call today with the UN office in Bratislava, so hopefully more interesting items will be up for discussion tomorrow!). All we did was go to Peter's sister's place last night (for about 30 minutes), go to dinner, go to the gym and go home. It was actually fun but not that interesting. So, instead I will use this small space to recommend a book I am reading. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Arielle lent it to me for the summer. It took me a little bit to get into it - the writing style is quite unique and takes some adjusting...and the British English doesn't help. But it is turning out to be one fantastic book...Rushdie has a knack for storytelling. I rarely get the chance to sit and just read pages and pages at a time, but I crave a spare 10 minutes where I can get a taste of the story. I am almost done with the book and while I am eager to see what happens, I don't want it to be over!

Brief aside: When I was packing my bags to come over here, I had put this Salman Rushdie book as well as "The Bedside Torah" in my backpack. It did occur to me that any fundamentalist Islamist rifling through my bag would be, well, at the very least intrigued.