CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE!

In recognition of the 229th anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America, I have resolved to celebrate my own independence! After nearly two weeks of wallowing in my dependence, I have resolved to liberate myself and do more things on my own while I am here. Not that I don't love to do things with Peter. But he works more than I do (I think everyone does!) and therefore has much less time to do things than I do. So rather than wait for him to be available, I am going to strike out on my own. I am a little intimidated - it is pretty easy to fall into that childlike role where Peter takes care of everything and I just kind of follow behind. But that's not me really, and I need to snap out of it. Of course some dependencies will remain, as will the humility that goes along with them. For example, this high-earning, former Vice President at an international public relations and public affairs firm has to ask her boyfriend for "walking around money" (he does not mind at all - "What's mine is yours," he says, but it makes me uncomfortable. That, however, is another analysis for another time.) And he has to write things down in Hungarian and then I hand the paper to shopkeepers when I need to go buy something. Those things are not going to change for the remainder of the summer. But in all other ways, I am back to being Marcy the Independent! Tonight I am going to go to a concert by myself (Peter has a work thing tonight)! And on Tuesday I am going to a July 4th celebration at the Embassy. Well, technically, I guess it's a July 5 celebration. Hm, I wonder why not the 4th? Well, anyway, I am going. Alone. And I found a group that meets twice a week for runs (Sunday and Monday). And I met a guy who is a student here and he went to Cal undergrad (go bears!). He married a Hungarian woman and has been living here for two years. Yesterday he stopped by my office and said something about hanging out some time. He's a bit young but beggars can't be choosers, can they?

ROMA PEOPLE
So, in Hungary they have a segment of people - I hesitate to call them a race - called Roma people. I think Roma is the politically correct name for them, they are more regularly called "Gypsies." And they suffer a terrible social status here...The most progressive Hungarians have zero tolerance for Roma people. One Hungarian told me he would never want to work with a Roma person. Because even if he/she went to university and was really smart and a good employee, "I would not want to leave any of my personal belongings out where he/she could see them. Because eventually, I am sure he/she would resort to stealing - they can't help it, it's who they are." HONESTLY? It's 2005, I want to shout! Who thinks like this? But this view is pervasive here and throughout Central and Eastern Europe. It is only foreigners, like me, I guess, that see the absurdity and offense in these kinds of remarks. And thus, they are the poorest of the poor, stuck in a cycle of poverty, violence and crime that has no end in sight. The UN is trying to do some Roma projects here but so far, they have not gathered much steam. It seems that the issue of the Roma people is Hungary's political third rail.

MOVIE REVIEW
Peter and I went to the movies last night to see "A Tamlacs" - known to you and me as The Interpreter. We went after another mind-numbing trip to Ikea to get the last of the home-settling items we needed, like dishtowels, oven mitts and more hangers. Then it was off to the cinema - a movie in English (yay!) with Hungarian subtitles...I don't know why I am constantly surprised when Hungary turns out to be a modern, quasi-metropolitan city. Why does it shock me that their movie theaters are more comfortable than ours (not including the AMC 1000 on Van Ness, which is the most comfortable movie theater ever, save the Cable Care Theater in Providence, Rhode Island where they actually have couches and instead of previews an acoustic folk band)? And that they have the unlucky fate that we have to suffer through commercials, despite having paid many forints for their ticket? Well, it always annoys Peter that I have these observations because, well, I guess it's kind of insulting? But some things really are sort of prehistoric here so I am still working out the fine lines of modernism.

Back to the movie. I have to say, I didn't like this movie very much, especially the part where the NYC bus gets blown up. Not cool. But mostly this movie was just preposterous. DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE. As if, first of all, she would get that job at the UN in the first place if it is that easy to find a picture of her walking the streets of war-torn Africa with a machine gun strapped to her shoulder! Look, we have all lied in job interviews, but something tells me the UN would have discovered hers. Additionally, I know it's just a movie but I felt no comfort in the portrayal of the security agents (cops, fbi, secret service) as doofuses. I mean, even I could tell from his first appearance on the screen that the security guy was in on everything! Whatev.

A PLEA
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