Kezet Csokolom

After school on a Friday I am continuing my Hungarian lessons. They are at the worst time in the week, but my teacher makes them so much fun that I look forward to them and the time whips past. Over the past couple of lessons all my classmates and I have been discussing the correct greetings to make to the right people and how we have been choosing to say hello to our neighbours.

Kezet csokolom is a very old saying apparantly and directly translated would mean something like 'I kiss your hand'. It was the greeting that young men would give ladies when kissing their hand and behaving in a very Mr Darcy like manner whilst smelling of lavender one assumes.

Anyway, it is seen as a mark of respect and so one may say it to a very old person, or a young guy to a young girl. These things go in and out of fashion in any language, I certainly don't go around saying 'Hiya!' to people from an older generation, it is a bit cheeky. Csokolom seems to be very gentle, very sweet, and I know that the older women in my building smile sweetly when they get a Csokolom, but merely grunt when the greeting is a Jo napot or similar, maybe they think they are due a bit of a formal greeting from the English girl who lives on the third floor.

I had my first csokolom on Saturday morning. It was in my local electrics shops where I bought a hand blender entirely in Hungarian. He used csokolom as a greeting and a goodbye and when he said it, I smiled as I knew he was being gentlemanly. I am really liking my Hungarian lessons, I feel every week like I have a couple more words to use in my Budapest life.

White weekend

It is a non-uniform day at work today and so I am in my jeans. Outside the snow is falling, but not beautifying the world as there is no white staying on the ground. I have made it alive to another Friday and am a week closer to Christmas. All this and a trip to the Embassy bar after work. In the dark! Out! On an evening and everything!

I have been promised that there will be snow in the city over the next few days and I have my camera charged and ready to bring you photos of that event. It no longer feels like Autumn, it is definitely winter now. I am researching different recipes for Pogacsa, a little cheese scone like Hungarian snack and will be baking this weekend when the cold wet weather might keep me inside once more. I am enjoying collecting recipes from all over the world at the minute and have even coerced a Korean parent into giving me one for Kimbap, which I love.

Do you have any recipes from your part of the world that will fill my Budapest apartment with the lush scent of fresh baking? Comments in the box please...

Sometimes

Even though I am nearing my fourth month of living and working in Budapest, I still get flashes of total confusion. Most of the time I feel settled and work is still going very well, but there are occasions when a voice screams 'You don't belong here!'. Maybe it is a moment when the cashier at the supermarket asks me a question I don't know the answer to, or maybe it is when the taxi takes a turn down a street that I have never been on before.

When I daydream that life is more simple, less challenging and more settled, I drea, of York. I dream of a life where I can study for my Masters in Theology, and buy a tiny flat within the city walls. I can see S, J or P every Saturday and we will sometimes have Sunday Brunch at Meltons too. In my daydream, I am not bothered by the grey skies of England, because for a couple of months a year I can travel to Latin America, finally travel around India and see Alaska. All this is funded by a very successfull debut book.

Sometimes, I don't know why I write the things that I do on my blog. I imagine that this is a travel blog, all about places and people, but it really isn't. When your mind wanders at work, where do you go? Do you find yourself in a French field of Lavender? Are you high- flying and rich in New York? Or are your daydreams highly specific, as I believe mine to be?

Let it snow

I hid away all weekend and lost myself in thoughts of where I want my book to go. Yesterday, it snowed and I spent the day inside, wearing fleecy pyjamas and not straying very far from my computer. Being at work today will seem like a distraction as I want to stay in the headspace of trying my hardest to produce something creative, something that represents the sort of person I am.

Yesterday when it snowed the whole sky was white. I opened the window and an icy breeze flew through, but I wanted to breathe in the cold because I had stayed inside too long. I feel like I am turning into a bit of a hermit on weekends. The truth is that at the moment I just want my own company. I have made plans to get out into the wide world this next weekend though, so I don't feel bad about enjoying my solitude.

The world seems a little more open today and although the air is like opening a freezer door, the skies remain blue and that is all I need to feel happy to start another day. The next few weeks will go fast, but I am determined to approach agents before Christmas. I am getting ready to come up for air.

Dreams in the day

I have been having happy day dreams over the last few days and last night I found my mind wandering again. I read somewhere that day dreams show you your hearts desire and if that is the case then my hearts desire is complicated and highly unlikely to make it into reality. I still have big plans for writing this weekend, but think I will also try and go see the Anne Frank exhibition at the Holocaust Museum.

I often wonder how people really see a city in a few days. I have lived here for over three months and only now get a feeling for what sort of a city Budapest is. There are loads of museums and galleries that I want to go to, but there are also different cultures, food and coffee houses to be discovered too. At least the beauty of Friday is shining a light on all other things, guiding my way to the weekend. As well as writing and the Holocaust museum, I will be watching more of the BBC adaptation of Robin Hood, which was filmed in Hungary. I am not sure if I will be recommending it just yet, I'll let you know after a couple more episodes.

Glass half full

The week is nearly half done, and so far things this side of half term are all fine. Now that the clocks have gone back it is still light when I get up and at the end of this week there are only five a half more to go before my Yorkshire Christmas. Work is still going well and most days I feel busy and productive. It is cold today, only 3 degrees, but the sky is very blue and I will be happy to be outside with the kids at break.

In other news, I am doing lots of planning and reearching for the new book, which I am quite excited about. This weekend will be putting together a synopsis and trying to finish the first chapter to send off to some agents. I have decided to be social and have put my name down for a 'meet and greet' at the British Embassy and am looking forward very much to meeting old friends from Paris and Warsaw when I go to Madrid.

I have had a few days where little snippets of happiness float past me and before I realise it, I am smiling and looking forward to the next few weeks. I love the new bed that I made with my own hands and is still standing, even after three nights of sleeping on it. Life feels OK at the moment, good things are coming.

Sisters are doing it for themselves

I am building a bed. My landlord bought one for me, as the bed that is there is very old. So here I am, on the floor, screws and planks of wood strewn around me, reminding myself that I have a degree in Womens Studies and do not need any help from any-one. I can build a bed, I know I can, although my brother laughed out loud and told me not to injure myself. Stay tuned for pictures of the completed bed later.