The Cane of Cold

I'm in Krakow. Everything is frozen and walking in the evenings feels like gliding through a thick mass of a cold white substance. Breathing has become a whole new activity where you have to be careful not to give away too much of yourself to the outside. It's as though everything has become a whole new game of math: you carefully measure how much warmth inside you need to the next destination and try to foresee how cold your destination may be. It's constantly taking measurements of temperature, steps, surface slipping risks, and of the ever decreasing range of colors you get to see. Perhaps this is the underlying cause for Christmas lights and the undecided liking for the strangely colored socks and sweaters we all seem to agree to wear at this time of year?

I see the increasing hunger in people's faces as I ride the tram over the steel gray slopes of the city's curves. They all rush to shop, to see, to catch the sun, even if all it offers are the white canes of its winter rays. The hunger of warmth and light combines with the implicit requirement for the Christmas joy, which is to be felt despite the biting cold and the sly drafts inside the city walls. Waking up has become a race of its own, with the first thought - how much longer before the sun goes down? Will I have enough time to get dressed; how much time do I have this morning? Lured outside to feed your lungs and eyes, you still get hit at the back of your neck with the cane of cold. 'Ah, yes,' we sigh as we breathe out. We stand relieved, fooled again, and still amazed with the small offering of light we all long for.

The saga continues...

My friend Mark just posted a link about another move by Apple, this time to shut down the famous Fake Steve Jobs blog!

Apple is now intimidating Fake Steve Jobs (Dan Lyons, Forbes journo), who I think can look after himself.

http://tinyurl.com/2276ko

I really wonder if this is true or whether it's yet another move by Fake Steve to stir up more drama in the Apple buzz world as Scoble and a crowd of others claim it is?

Is Apple becoming evil?

Okay, so we all love at least something about Apple. It seems to be one of if not the most successful company at creating customer loyalty that brings big-spending clients back into its stores on a consistent basis. How consistent? So consistent that a good percentage of customers are ready to disregard Apple's electronics' flaws or past failures.

Have you tried Apple customer service if you've not purchased extra servicing time? Not a good idea. The ubiquity of white headphones is startling, especially when going through the metros of Western cities. We've backed away from radio, watching news, and other things - now all you have to do is carry an iPod - a personalized collection of just about anything you may want to hear or watch right in your pocket. Having sold over 90 million of these babies, they've made it a standard device to have if you're into music or just about any other form of cultural entertainment. From blogs to webpages and review sites you can read about how these fry time and again, about battery life expectancy issues, and other tricks they play, yet people just keep buying them. Just to give you some of my personal moan history: my first iPod fried after 2 years, my last iBook's combo drive passed out and the screen ended up having a red line running across the screen. I know two people who've had to send back their batteries and one who's hard drive died.

The iPhone - do we really want to talk about the iPhone again? With only selected network carriers and incredible prices, people still have more than hots for these. My flatmate is still thinking of somehow buying an iPhone in France (as they seem to have a policy again sim-locking) and then bringing it over to the UK. Some more to read here if you like...


Now, I don't really mean to go on ranting. I'm writing this off a Mac myself and can't say I'm not one of the people who spread the word. Despite being a little evil, it's still probably the best thing out there. We can moan all we want - like we did with Google, but the truth is that there isn't much to replace it with. Just to give you some more media coverage on Apple's part in the lawsuit against Think Secret...

Apple Forces Rumors Site To Shut Down

http://www.buzzya.com/2007/12/20/apple-forces-rumors-site-to-shut-down/

For a few years now, there's been a legal battle going on between Apple and Think Secret, a very popular Apple rumors site for publishing certain rumors. The lawsuit had many people up in arms, as they pointed out that Think Secret should be protected in the same way a newspaper is protected (and noting that Apple would never sue the WSJ the way it sued Think Secret). It made sense to go after whoever leaked the info to ThinkSecret, but going after the publication was ridiculous. While the case has dragged on, unfortunately, Apple won some of the legal battles. Now, as sent in by Jon, comes the news that Apple and Think Secret have "settled," but that settlement means that Think Secret needs to cease publishing entirely. The guy behind Think Secret notes that he never gave up the source, and calls this settlement amicable -- but it sets a horrible precedent for plenty of sites, and may create quite the chilling effect on reporters and bloggers alike. It's really a shame that Apple even decided to pursue this vendetta, and the fact that it ends with Think Secret being shut down completely is a travesty.

More just appeared in Wired...

South Park anyone?

I got my hands on a webpage where you can load any South Park episode for free. Just in case anyone's interested, check it out!

And erm, Merry Christmas everyone!

Our mouths go buzz buzz buzz...

So what is everyone talking about these days? For once it's actually hard to tell, since new buzzwords seem to be introduced every time we go online. Everyone is expected to be highly involved in the online life of blogs, facebook, and such. We've come to a time where our online lives more and more often converge with our real realms of life, including work, friends, political movements, art trends we follow, you name it. We all use the new words, even if we're not entirely sure what they mean, which leads not only to language change, but to a constant re-definition of these terms as people continue to use them.

Except for the obvious ones, you can check out the ones infiltrating the business spheres these days...




The online social networks and these new linguistic phenomena have an immense breadth of influence on our lives. The language does not only seep through from user to user on FB and blogs, but also gets picked up by a more and more seductive industry of businesses, which thrive on being able to convince you they are more than just that. More and more brands try to create an experience for their customers, appeal to higher values, try to be eco-friendly, privacy-friendly, whatever it takes. Customer loyalty building and networking have become one of the most visible trends when you navigate the web.

Coco Rosie!

You must think that this blog is becoming a you-tube cluttered place. I will write something soon again, it's a promise!

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Are you on Facebook?

After months and months of hearing this question and seeing every day that about half of all computer users at my college were logged into Facebook, I finally concluded that this was something to investigate. I was going to write down all my possible questions and complain about the time wasting, the artificial cyber social lives we live, and all else that could come to my mind on the topic, but the post never happened and instead I finally gave in into creating my own profile on Facebook.

I'm there. With just a week under my belt, I'm so far connected with 18 other people, I've created a Flickr account so that I could display my pictures, and put up an RSS feed from my blog, among other things. Whew. I found everyone from my brother to long lost highschool friends and know there's only more coming.

With almost 50 mln people on Facebook around the globe and 200 000 new users every day, Facebook really does have it going. It's used by students, businesses, and just about everyone else. Mark Zuckenberg establised the webpage in 2004. Today he is 24 and the business is estimated to be worth around $15 bilion.

Are you on Facebook?

Quay my way

Last week has been a true whirlwind, but today I finally came to a moment of stillness. I took part in an interview with Brothers Quay, shot their studio, and got some prune tea to take home! Their magnificently dark studio kingdom was composed of the Bruno Schultzesque puppets, tables, winding stairs, crosses, and dusty flowers.There I was, sitting with some of the most interesting film makers in the world, breathing in their life, and at the same time being taken back home every time I raised the cup of tea to my mouth. Yes, the smell of those teabags pulled me away and brought me straight to my mother, who makes her indefinitely satisfying prune drink exactly once a year for Christmas eve.


Life is good. I can still hardly believe that this meeting happened. It seems like all you have to do is use some skill in poking around and once you push through, things can't help but start flowing throgh the great barrier of reality.

I met the puppets from this profoundly sad video...

Thank you, Jonathan

'Are you aware of the film makers known as the Brothers Quay?

They've made a lot of deeply spooky art films, and have said that Brno Schultz is an influence.

Bits of their work are available on youtube, such as this excerpt from Institute Benjamenta
(most of their films have been stop-motion, but this one is live-action.)

- Jonathan'

The Devil

I saw her in London and she is one and the only one of the kind. Depth, agression, romance, and disturbance blend into a woman who seems to have transcended more than one life. This song keeps coming back to me. I looked for the version from London, but the only one I found with an acceptable quality of sound is from Spain...

Rain rain don't go away

5:45 this morning I got up to take pictures of the city before the sun set its eyes on it. But, as I waited and felt the shower water slowly leaving my hair, the rain created a persistent pattern across the sky. But what a morning and what a rain - so gray, serene, and permanent it almost makes you want to be in the rain just to experience the permanence of gravity.

Over these years in London I've come to draw a certain balance of emotion between the sleep I need to give up on in order to watch the city as it sleeps. This also why getting on those painfully early flights can be so strangely satisfying. The people you see have defined lines, usually either passing, sullen, or simply asleep. And oh, the cigarette smokers and coffee choked addicts you get. It's a strange moment to look and be, as though you shouldn't be there, as though it's a false start, an intrusion on this public moment of privacy.

Freewheeling London

This Sunday 9 miles around the river will be closed to traffic and open to the two-wheel community! There will be a big festival going on in St. James' Park, food, open air, and happy cyclists, what else could you ask for? I'm organising a group to join the festivities around London Bridge. Email if you're interested!

More details at:

https://www.londonfreewheel.com/event/event_details.asp

Beauty

Coming to London, I really had only a few major objectives. Among the top priority ones were registering for courses, finding a flat, finding a job, and finding a bicycle. Yes, recently the last but not least important element clicked together with the other pieces - the bicycle dream came true. We found each other one morning and we are one. A love at first sight. I've been thinking about a name for her as we were gliding between the buildings and rolling off hills, and as I was leaving her after a day full of adventure, it finally came to me. Beauty. Yes, we glide together. I'm filled with the laughter of people having their picnics, the sounds of trees, and the sun pouring into my eyes. For a brief moment it all becomes one image mixed with the racing wind as in a picture with the exposure left for a little too long.


Yes, London is becoming more and more bicycle friendly these days. Before cycling I never bothered to look at the roads, but now that I am on the road, I notice a lot of bicycle lanes. Getting around is quite smooth, even if spotted by whirlwinds of traffic. The city seems to condense and I become a part of it, like a cell traveling up and down its arteries. Most of all, I like cycling in the evening after the day is gone. The streets are empty, except for the few couples who lost their sense of time, and you can really just sit there and sail through the streets. The only thing you notice is the constant whisper of the bicycle and the lights of the city whizzing by. Let's start a two-wheel revolution!

3121

I saw Prince last night! Brilliant, playful, and sensual. If you're in London, check into the 3121 tour and try to get some tickets while you can (some left on gumtree, I believe). The visuals together with his dress were reminiscent of a different era. The entire show was carried out extremely professionally considering the presentation of dancers, the light effects, and the stage operations. And then there was Prince, the magnet of the crowds. What a night.


Yesterday proved again that the best moments come unexpected. Before the night excitements of Prince I took a walk through an entirely new to me area of London (from Greenwich to the Millenium Dome). The contrast of an industrial wasteland on one side of the river and the world's most dynamic financial centre on the other was truly stunning. The railway passes, sunken ships, and the refineries combined with skycrapers and the Millenium Dome created a skyline like nowhere else I've seen before. What a day.

A Wider Angle

Yesterday I spent the entire day walking through London. My friend let me use his 10-22mm lens and I was happy as a clown all day. My mind kept flipping through memorized images I never captured before. I ran along the river to catch the light and felt a thrill every time I turned the corner. Yes, when it comes to photography, I don't need that much to keep me happy. I'll try to compose an album of my new images and upload it to my webpage soon!

A Mass Produced Reality

I've spent the past week living with a friend in London. We live in a marvellous space overlooking a square that changes its character with every minute as the sun, the clouds, and the day moves on. We've come to appreciate our little morning routine of sitting on the balcony, eating pain au chocolates, discussing life, and sneering at the people below. I'll miss these mornings, and it almost makes me want to resist the inescapable arrival of the next little routines I'll develop in place of this one.

Looking over a square with people on their way to work, wearing their suits and carrying their briefcases, we wondered about the uniformity of modern life and the human longing for uniqueness and creativity. Most of what we eat, furnish our homes with, and wear today, is mass-produced. The human touch on these things has decreased to a bare minimum. We live in a world of mass produced homes, objects, even experiences. It's like with the suits and the working hours - the rough lines of the daily flow leaves little room for independent creativity and feeling of being in control. It's as though we all hopped onto a big assembly line and now can't really afford to get off.


This is not to say that the quality of the mass produced objects is necessarily lower than those produced in limited numbers. Often great design stands behind the assembly lines and though it's hard to admit, if not for them, we probably wouldn't have it as good as we do. Unfortunately, personalised design and limited numbers usually mean higher shelf prices, which raises the red flag for most. However, there seems to be an increasingly vibrant market populated by people searching for foods that taste good and clothes that don't appear in every town of the developed world. The strive for individualism, tactility of design, and texture is increasing and more and more people supply these objects and experiences. The uniqueness and the closer interaction with the source of a given object somehow give people more contact with themselves, even if all they can determine is what their table or t-shirt looks like. It gives them a feeling of control and uniqueness, not to mention the style.

The Unexpected Pleasures of Being Human

I'm not sure what percentage of the world's population lives in urban environments today (you can check out Google, just remember not to be evil), but I'm pretty sure that it's not only the majority, but that's it's still rising. We live in an increasingly crowded and anonymous world where others become like white noise, like the background you wouldn't really care to inspect. We're given more and more choice of how to design our social networks and more social tolerance with the way we do so. Our connections are becoming ever more intricate through the development of urban life, the internet, and the wide-spread ease of travel.


Amongst ordinary days, when one really is just a passing grain of the overall texture, there sometimes happen wondrous moments when we discover other people. There is something deeply satisfying about finding a mutual connection with another, a new person. Despite the understood facts of how much we all share though our minds' wiring, emotions, goals, and troubles, for some reason the discovery of another and the unexpected intimacy of minds can be a delight. The other person becomes real and from that point you can review the background noise of surrounding people as a brain-like buzzing network of internal complexities with mutually reinforcing, snapping connections. In our rather closed-in networks of friends, colleagues, and fellow-students, these unexpected pleasures can let us refresh and rediscover our connection to the rest of the world.

London, England

I'm back, breathing its air again. I don't know what it is about coming back to London, but whenever I do, I feel like I'm coming home. I'm always on a train, always happy, always there and not wanting to be anywhere else. I see the people sitting side by side and taking this journey for god knows which time in their life, but when I come back, the journey is mine. I watch their moves and feel as though they are all long-lost friends and that the city brushing past is reaching out to see me.
Beyond the happiness, some creeps of stress are here as well. The search for a place to live, starting school, finding a job, all these are approaching with every hour now. My hair can sense it too now. It's not just bad hair days now, my hair is frazzled and impatient, and looking around in all directions like those little prairie dogs when they sense some sort of danger. Yes, London is here with all its tricks and treats and I can't wait for all the pain and pleasure it's bound to bring.

A Sunday Kind of Love

I'm in Krakow. It's a Sunday morning slowly melting into an afternoon before my eyes. There's something I can't ever grasp about the Sunday mornings here. The light seems different, and the people seem more calm and just happy. They all wear their Sunday clothes with pleated dresses and white slippers, as though they were all expecting to rendezvous with the Lord today. I pass the park around the centre and it bursts with families eating ice-cream and chasing their dogs. Even the couples seem different today - from the craziness of Saturday night they've moved to strolls, holding hands, and dreams of future families and perfect homes. The market in front of the cafe I'm writing from is buzzing today. Lots of jackets in indescribable colours and local people trying to bargain for another toy for their kid. Oh Sundays. It always feels like you don't need to be anywhere or with anyone to feel at ease.

Sunday more than any other day is also good for accidental people here. These are random individuals in Krakow I know from somewhere, but never sure from where. This morning as I was approaching the tram stop to get into town I passed a guy, about my age, huge, tattooed from head to toe, and with a pit bull on a ornate leash. 'Matt'? I asked. Sure enough, we went to primary school together. I attempted to compliment on his dog, but as he tried to snap off my hand, I decided to change the subject. We didn't end up having that much to talk about as he escorted me to the tram, but nevertheless enjoyed the Sunday exchange of meaningless questions and answers. On a final note, with a sort of a worry in his voice, he confirmed that I wasn't dating a black man, nodded, and sailed back to his life. Oh Sunday, the things you make us do.

Anyway, I'm here and leaving again in a couple of days. I'm sorting though piles of clothes, electricity converters, letters and photographs. Soon all my folded goods will become my home base with a timer set to unfold in London.

Hyperballad

I'm not sure why, but I've been listening to this song lately. I'm also far from suicidal thoughts if those are what you read out of it.

From the road again

So here I am, opening another chapter in the book of wonder. (You should watch Bjork's video I posted yesterday if you haven't done your homework on those yet).

I'm leaving Budapest this morning and although it's upsetting I feel like it's just another swerve on the strange sequence of my last few years. We're slowly approaching the brighter horizon and leaving the dark hours of the sleeping city behind. I passed the corners, the lights, the rain, and the blurry-eyed people on the metro. The dark face of the city only showed a few scars this time, as it always does when you see it at its hour of weakness - when sun doesn't shine yet and the coffees of the city haven't brewed long enough to shoo away its crooked expression.


I feel like this year will be a yet another year of changes. Change seems to follow me ever since I've left home behind and in the long run it seems to be the only constant in my little life. I'm going home for a few days before I make the bigger move back to London. I felt a tickle of happiness when I saw a little Polish flag and a familiar looking license plate. But today when it's so much easier to move, what is it that drives us to go home, stay home, or have a home period? Is it the longing for familiarity and belonging? Longing for the meaning we build around our states, objects, and people? It's amazing how deep the wiring for this goes. I always get so much pleasure out of speaking Polish to shop keepers and little people when I go home, but I'm not sure that this at all shows how much I belong. I feel ever more distance to the idea of belonging to any certain place year after year. I love going home, seeing people, and re-visiting memories, but I can never quite decide if it's more than a visiting place anymore. I feel more and more comfortable around people who share this confusion of space and decide to re-create themselves and their 'homes' outside their birth-place bracket; they have become a sort of a refuge for me. Maybe later on age will bring answers to these questions.

So long!

I'm in and out of being heart-broken today, as I'm leaving Budapest for good early tomorrow morning. The dizzying lure of London seems ever so distant right now...

A friend (whose webpage you can find under 'Equivocality') showed me these Michel Gondry videos and I can't help but share. Sorry to you who are already 'in' on this one!

Another try for Romania!

Oh, Romania, what a strange place you are. I'm back in this country again and again my feelings about the place are a little mixed. The purpose of this trip was to attend a friend's wedding, but to get to it, I had to fly through Bucharest, spend a sleepless night because of the heat and gangs of dogs going about their nightly business, get in a car the following morning and spend 8 hours listening to the Romanian world chart hits. I guess the cracks in the roads and the on and off traffic did provide variety, but not so much entertainment. Sibiu, which is where the wedding was taking place, was a cute place, but god do I not understand how all its tourist commit to taking the hike out there.


The wedding turned out to be a blast, though in a pretty extreme manner. I thought Polish weddings were hardcore, but this one with its streams of paulinka, fire torches, and a whole wild boar on fire kind of blew it all away. I have plenty more stories to tell about the time there, but I'll have to save that for another time.


To hit it from the good old EU point, I sometimes really can't believe this country is where it is. The worrying thing is that I hear it's gotten a lot better. It feels a lot like some places in Russia, which should be fine, but this is now considered as a part of the EU. Walking or driving though Bucharest is like a long sail though an ocean of ugly grey blocks, row after row, covering the horizon. Stray dogs are ubiquitous, whether you're looking at the center or the suburbs. The traffic is fast-paced and reminds me of the rivers of cars I used to see in Moscow. I still find places in Transylvania charming, but the towns between and even the capital for the most part - not so pretty after all. Bucharest is a peculiar place though. I think my favorite thing about it are the electricity lines hanging everywhere, which draw great lines across the city and remind me of the fire escapes in NYC - not pretty, but with personality. The bubble in the middle of it really is very interesting both architecturally and otherwise. It definitely has kept its character, which is somewhere in-between being gritty, fast, and majestic. A country and city of great contrasts for sure.

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Sziget, what else?

Budapest is entranced by the Sziget festival going on 24/7 for the next week on one of the city's islands. The streets seem to have reclaimed their tourist population, but this time a peculiar one: everyone seems a little over 20, sweaty and with rather ragged expressions. Sziget is what they're here for.

I decided to check out what they came for and went to see Manu Chao yesterday. Sure enough, I was caught up in endless lines with the fellow sweaty passengers and proceeded to enter what seemed to be the biggest music event I've ever seen. As far as I can remember, the island hosted over 60 stages with different music themes and performances. Lots of fun, though the ubiquitous dust forming a yellowish cloud over the entire island was a bit hard to bear. Maybe I'm just not the camping kind anymore.

Oh my...

I can't believe I haven't written for so long! Part of the excuse is that I'm in Krakow right now and have abandoned my dear laptop back in Budapest. As for the rest of the time of my blogger absence - no real excuse this time. I'll get back on track as soon as I'm back in Budapest, which is this weekend. Now that I'm about to leave, I already kind of miss Krakow and find myself thinking that maybe I could live here?

The frenzy continues...

The iPhone is just about all you can see and hear about on TV in the States...well, maybe plus Paris Hilton. As I was nervously picking out my new laptop in the Apple store (yes, I've been a member of the Apple congregation for years now), I couldn't help but notice the shop assistants' t-shirts with 'the wait is almost over' on the front. What the wait was for, I wasn't really quite sure at that point, but after seeing the iPhone on every commercial break on TV, watching David Pogue rave about it, and finally hearing about lines of people in front of Apple stores, it finally hit me - the iPhone was coming out and everyone wanted one. Even today, I found my husband glued to an AT&A window shop after closing hours...

Finally, last Friday, the frenzy climaxed and the iPhone was out - literally out - no shop had any in stock after the day it went on sale. It touched even the uninvolved with my in-laws stuck in a restaurant waiting to be served for over an hour while everyone else in the half-empty restaurant was entranced by another customer's iPhone. What a day. Anyway, if you'd like to follow up on the ups and downs of the iPhone and get to know what went wrong on the big day and thereafter, feel free to follow up on your Apple conversion here...

Mexico City

I got back from Mexico City just a couple of days ago. 20 mln people, all in one city. One of the most impressive things on this trip was the descent on the plane and seeing an endless concentration of urban activity, spreading over miles of flatland and mountains. I took two side trips, one to Teotihuacan and the other to Acapulco, which allowed me to see the city's outskirts both north and south. Again, the suburbs just would not end and their density did not change into anything resembling suburbia, but remained concentrated right until the last street. The city bustles with activity day and night - it's really like an ocean of people in constant motion. The metro system works remarkably well, though it does get packed at peak times. I heard they use those people-squash pushers like in Japan to fit as many people as possible when the traffic is high. The system is so vast that you can easily spend an hour or two sitting (though more often standing) on the metro.


The diversity of Mexico City's neighborhoods reminds of that of London or NYC, but are still far less commercial and more crowded with side-street stalls and tilted churches. I did not feel threatened at any point and people there were really welcoming and helpful, though not as English-speaking as I expected. We stayed with a Venezuelan/Chilean family, which had moved there about 3 months ago. Great exhibitions, Chilean wine, and delicious food were only some of the highlights of our stay there.


Oh yeah, feel free to check out my Mexico photo album here...

Paul Potts

What can I say, I've never been into or watched Idol or Talent (if that's the name of this show), but I've been getting emails with links to this guy and well, he is pretty impressive for what it is.

Not so bad after all...

Bringing up baby
Jun 14th 2007
From Economist.com

EUROPE'S demographic picture has long been painted as one of low fertility and a declining population. But according to Jitka Rychtarikova of the Charles University in Prague, there is a demographic tale of two Europes. From Scandinavia to France, countries' populations are recovering and childbearing is increasing. Indeed, France and Ireland are reaching the magic replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman in a lifetime. By contrast, from the Mediterranean through to eastern Europe, low fertility rates and ageing populations still abound. Various measures appear to encourage having more babies, from flexible working hours to removing the stigma from illegitimacy.

Just a taste of it...

Here we go, the London Olympics team has finally given us what I guess was at least intended to be a pleasant prelude to the whole monstrous event. Having sat through the underground train delays, taken bus replacement routes, and generally thought of emigrating for a while from London for the time of the Olympics, you would think that at least the symbol I'm might be seeing all over London for the next 5 years would be designed to be more visually pleasing. There have actually been reports of people having epileptic seizures upon seeing the logo! (You can read about it here...)

With London having more than enough tourism as it is, I can't think of what the city will be like when thousands of people will arrive and behave pretty much as the British do in eastern Europe - which is watch sports with too much alcohol and drugs while effortlessly making the lives of the day-to-day Londoners that much more to get through. As though this wasn't enough, all of us getting through the construction and the dubious entertainment of the Olympics tourists, will also have to cover the bill at the end of the day. Yay!

I can't even imagine what the public transport will be like around that time either, as it is not much fun to be on the underground in the summer as it is considering both the amount of people trying to breathe in the same space and the novelty-free approach of the tube management to provide any wider scale cooling system. So far the only 'hot weather advice' is "Carry a bottle of water with you and, if you are feeling unwell, contact a member of station staff who will be able to help. Water will be available to passengers if it is needed." Luke-warm water anyone?
By the way, I've added a new album with some of my May 2007 London pics. Feel free to check them out!

Two Stupid Dogs

These are some of my all-time favorite cartoons, which my brother and I (perhaps regrettably) grew up on...

On the other side

Hi everyone, I'm back and this blog is officially still being written! I made it through the hellish few too many trips from Budapest and am now recuperating from yet another case of bronchitis. I took a train from Budapest to Krakow to see my parents, a day later another train up to Warsaw where I saw my dear brother, a day later a flight to Amsterdam, and a dose of antibiotics later yet another flight, this time an 11 hour one to the heart of Texas. I've really come to not expect too much upon boarding a plane or train. It's kind of like getting into a really long tunnel with high traffic - you just hope you get out in one piece, when becomes a little less important.

I shall keep y'all (as they'd say it here) up to date with my 'adventures' here...

Everyone Says I Love You

I watched a movie called 'Corporation' last night and strangely enough it got me thinking about all the kids I work with...Well, guess what my kids' all time favorite thing to do is? It's to make a teacher re-arrange one of the rooms with them so that the toy kitchen counter can be about a meter away from the wall and they can get in-between the wall and the counter. Then they continue to carry out a diligent search for all the yellow pieces (yes, only yellow) of the legos and collect all the food resembling toys from the school, set them on the counter, and start taking orders. Oh yeah, did I mention that they like to put a familiar looking yellow sign Magdonalds (sic.) over the whole thing? Yes, my nursery kids are very much into McDonald's - the yellow legos are the crispy french fries, the little balls become chocolate-covered ice-cream, and the wooden blocks magically turn into all kinds of burgers. They don't want to serve other food and they cannot really think of any other 'restaurant' except perhaps KFC. I gave in yesterday and tried taking an order, but all I got was: 'Sorry, we don't have salad, but would you like a cheeseburger with some french fries?'

My springtime days in Budapest are slowly coming to an end. I finish work this week, go to London next week, and move out the week after to go on to Poland and the States. I already ordered a giant chocolate cake to bring in to work on Friday and have a goodbye snack with all my little companions. I think I'll actually miss them a little bit despite their little high-pitched voices and their dubious love for McDonald's.

London calling

I'm in London for a couple of days and all I can say is that it feels like a breath of fresh air. As the plane touched the ground yesterday I felt like I was home again. I love my life in Budapest and the city itself, but among all the places I've been to I've got to say that only London consistently gives me that thrill of being in the right place, in an aorta of the world, in a place I can call home.


I was going to come back to London in September when school resumes, but I think I'm going to come and take in some of the summer in the city after all. I guess it was all that work and study I had to do when I first got here, but I really don't have any worthwhile pictures from London yet. Just walking today and yesterday, with the skies loud and clear made me realise how much fun it'll be to be around this city with a camera by my side. I got some good shots today, but I'll wait a bit with making a first London album on the website to build up a catalogue to choose from. Oh London...