The rain has subsided...but then there was a storm, sort of

Finally, the rain seems to have passed (note that I am knocking on wood right now). Just in time for Peter and I to have a nice weekend spent mostly outdoors.

Friday evening we went to one of the local ex-pat hangouts - a Mexican restaurant called, "Iguana." The food is surprisingly good and the only bad thing about it was when I was trying to cut the kernels off the mini corn cob that came in my vegetable fajitas (why do they give you an actual cob of corn? Clearly you can't wrap that up in your tortilla and eat it) when my knife slipped - the corn was kind of sauced - and the corn flew off the table and onto the floor, the hot (as in warm, not spicy) sauce splashing the face and arms of the people at the next table. Luckily most people at this place were English speakers and so I was able to apologize profusely.

Saturday we went to a couple of small towns outside of Budapest. Szentendre and Visegrad are very cute, very old towns. Szentendre has narrow cobblestone streets and small shops and there was a weekend fair going on the day we were there. Visegrad is home to a very old fortress that sits high above the town and looks out over the Danube. Both towns were quite beautiful.

I am only a little embarrassed to admit that we rushed home Saturday night after dinner at my favorite Turkish restaurant so that we could watch MTV's "I Want a Famous Face." Has anyone seen this sick, twisted show? We happened to catch one episode about a girl who wanted to have plastic surgery to look like Britney Spears. Why, you ask, would a perfectly nice looking young woman (24) with a great bod want to invest so much money (and risk) to try to look like Britney Spears (of all people)? Well, as it turns out, this woman doesn't have much self-confidence (SHOCKER!) and is a bit shy. She knows that inside of her somewhere is a confident, assertive woman dying to get out. The only way she can think of to unlock her inner self is to get this surgery and then become a stripper. Yes, you heard me. A stripper. Anyway, blah blah blah, she got the surgery, looked basically the same but with really big boobs and then was too afraid to actually go into the strip club, let alone get on the stage and take off her clothes. This was pretty compelling TV as far as we were concerned. And by we I do mean Peter. So we rushed home to see a new episode. This episode featured two brothers (twins) - the Schlep brothers (I am not kidding) who were hopelessly bad looking. Okay, they weren't hideous but they did nothing to take care of their looks and so they were, at first glance, kinda ugs. Anyway, they had HUGE noses and horrible skin. One was much uglier than the other but neither was much to look at. Anyway, their goal was to look like Brad Pitt so girls would look at them and then they would become actors. So their surgery included: Nose jobs (of course), cheek implants (just one of them - the brothers not the cheeks), chin implants, jaw implants (again, just the one, uglier brother), porcelain veneers on their teeth and really bizarre haircuts. I must say, it kind of worked. No, they looked nothing like Brad Pitt. But they were no longer totally hideous either.

Sunday we went to Hungary's famous Lake Balaton -a huge and beautiful lake that serves as a popular summertime destination for Hungarians as well as tourists. It was beautiful and we are going to go back two weekends from now to spend the whole weekend there. You can kayak and sail and even rent those little plastic boats where you pedal to get around (like in the lake in Central Park), Only these little boats have water slides built in! How fun does that sound?

MELTDOWN
Last night I had a total meltdown. I thought I was starting to settle in and get more comfortable. And I am in some respects, I guess. But not as well as I thought. And poor Peter - the look on his face seemed to be one of abject fear as I "screamed like a Banshee" (his words). I completely lost it. At 12:15 am we went for a walk around the neighborhood (to admire a gorgeous building nearby in which we want to purchase an apartment)to calm me down. How is it possible that I am 32 years old and yet I can still cry like a baby and, like a baby, need to be taken outside for a stroll around the block in order to get to sleep?

Well, after getting to bed near 1am last night, we woke up before 6 this morning to go for a run and hit the gym before work. I ran from the gym to the island in the middle of the Danube, around the island, and back to the gym. I saw two Americans on my run. I didn't talk to them but I wanted to. Next time I may just risk seeming like a freak and approach them.

New York, New York
Well, I am off to NY this weekend. I can hardly wait to be back in the states for a few days...recharge my distinctly American batteries with some good times with great friends. I am only going from Thursday to Monday but that should be enough. Plus I am sure Peter could use a break from all my freeloading.