Gratitude 9

I am thankful for this beautiful sign. (I know...you have to look quite closely, but it really is there. I promise you!)

Yesterday was my 21st birthday! :) While I was eating breakfast, Tom and his wife (Tom is a master's student here) came into the dining room with a "birthday pastry," singing "Happy Birthday" like middle schoolers. It was very sweet of them. The pastry, whatever it was, was very yummy, too. Yesterday was also our first day of orientation at the Institute, which consists mainly of day trips traveling around and getting to know the country. We all met downstairs to begin. Agi (I hope that is how you spell it. If not, I apologize.) is our guide. She will also be our Hungarian Culture teacher. I met Zita, one of the main administrators and dear friend of Dr. Mathias, very briefly. She already knew who I was, and she reminds me very much of Dr. Mathias. The morning was spent on a short walking tour of Kecskemét. It was pooring down rain, so it was even shorter than planned. The sun came out for about three minutes and cast a beautiful rainbow in front of us! (See picture above.) It reminded me of the double rainbow we saw on my 10th birthday. (Quite a long time ago now that I think of it.) We learned that the street upon which the Institute sits means "the street between two churches." I think that is neat...and it literally is a street between two huge churches. In the afternoon, we took a trip to Budapest. We arrived in Heroes Square and walked around from there. We took the subway to a place nearer the opera house. (Igen...the public transport in Budapest still creeps me out!) We saw the Liszt Academy (Gorgeous!), which I found out the Institute is part of. Pretty cool. Before our tour of the opera house, we had some time, so we wandered down a side street. The windows to a rehearsal room in the opera were open, and the street was flooded by the brilliant sounds of a beastly bass. He was incredible, and it was so amazing to be walking down the street hearing music like that. :) Priceless. As for the opera house itself...oh my goodness! I am in love...again! I want to sing here, too! And apparently, it has the second best acoustics in the world. Sweet! Again, someday, hopefully, I am going to be just hanging out at places like this. hehe! After the opera, we saw St. Stephan's Basilica (not to be confused with St. Stephan's in Vienna) before makin gout way to the Buda side of Budapest, the Castle District. There, I saw the outside of Matthias Church. Very beautiful! Tucked away in a little corner of a square, we saw a bronze statue of Kodály sitting on a bench, so we got our pictures with him. hehe!

Then, I wandered the streets but made sure to stay fairly close, since I needed to be back for dinner. In my wandering, I ran in to a young man in his 20s. He hit on me twice! I think he was maybe Greek or something. I am not sure, but he was pretty darn cute. It, too, was priceless. It was quite hilarious. We had dinner there in the Castle District. Not many people can say they did that on their birthday! I had a glass of white wine with dinner. (After all, it was my 21st!) Dinner was very nice. and our dessert was traditional Hungarian. Back at the Institute, I found my laundry unstuck from the devil washer (yes...it was literally stuck in the washer and wouldn't come out...the cleaning ladies had to get it out for me.). I also spoke with my sister Jessi on Skype and got to see the baby through the webcam. He is so precious!

Today was not as interesting. We went to Szeged. It was cool but not every exhilirating to me. We learned a lot about the history of Hungary, but I am not really one for historical museums so much. I get a little "ADD." I think it was good to learn about, though. We saw a really neat panorama and some sheep. There was a horse and archery show, where we saw how they used to fight battles. Then they pulled people from the audience to come do things. The old guy saw me laughed, mimicked me, and then made me go, too! I had to shoot the bow and arrow, and I actually hit the wooden people both times...but in the head instead of the chest. I was still pretty impressed I actually hit something!

We also saw a cathedral and a synagogue. The latter was really cool. I had never been in one before. It was really impressive. So ornate, and they hold so much of the heritage of the Jewish people.

So, Hungary is pretty sweet. :) I like it a lot. It is kind of like an ancient and forgotten gem: a little rough on the outside, but inside, the true heart is purely golden. I am so glad I am here. :)