And that is how we get from here to there

Day 4: I assured myself that Friday was the day I would emphatically declare "Budapesti vagyok!", which means "I am a Budapestian!" More precisely, I am a Pest (pronounce "Pesht"), as my residence is a fifth floor apartment on Erzsébet Körút. It's bloody hard to pronounce, as there is no English equivalent to the "zs" sound - it is a letter unto itself, one of 44! - but it's a combination between a j-sound and a z-sound. What matters, though only slightly, is that the name means "Elizabeth Boulevard" in Hungarian ... which the locals call by a completely different name, as they do their country: Magyar. It sounds like "Modjor" in English. The building, Erzsébet Körút, 41, is next door to the Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal, which is probably the swankiest hotel in town. And if you've been doing you research on this town, you know that it's pretty swanky! But, before spoiling the plot, let's start at the beginning. I was feeling a little helpless as I had only a book of ten transit tickets - one per leg of your trip, no transfers - and the transit police are most diligent, as I shall elaborate on further on in this post. I rose early and made my way to Moskva Tér (Moscow Square) to the main transit station on the Buda, or west. side and about 16 minutes by tram. I managed to negotiate the self-serve passport photo both, clawing at every bit of relief inside, trying to locate my photos or 700 Forint. It was pointed out to me by a very patient local, who spoke first in Hungarian, then English, that I needed to wait a little longer and they would appear in a slot OUTSIDE of the machine. And they did. The lady at the ticket booth was very helpful and I succeeded in getting my first monthly transit pass (see above), which was crucial because a ton of trams and subways figured in my immediate future. So, I waited at Moskva Tér for the real estate agent and the new sixth grade science teacher to show up so the three of us could resume our viewing of flats that were neither within the housing budget nor conveniently on the transit grid. I may not have made this known to any of you, but both of these figured hugely in my pre-arrival planning. After waiting 45 minutes at the appointed spot, I decided to forge on to my next appointed viewing, one that I had arranged from Canada over craigslist. I managed to find my house in Costa Rica on craigslist, and by gum, there's also a craigslist for Budapest. If you're headed abroad, first check to see if that destination has a craigslist website, trust me. Instead of boring you with details - and not finishing the post - I'll share some interesting linguistic discoveries. "Pályaudvar" means "station", as in "train station". Can you see the connection? Neither can I, but that's what's so charming about Finno-Ugric languages. "Estación" in Spanish, "station" in French, they're just too obvious. Heck, if you could read Hindi, I bet it would look and sound just like "station". Actually, and in all seriousness, I think this language sounds like Inuktitut, the Inuit language. Inuksuk (the stone signposts from the Arctic that look like little men made out of stone blocks) could be a Hungarian word. It sounds Hungarian. Kayak is probably Hungarian as well.

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Sziastok

Next: my balcony (for real this time)