So I'm back in Budapest, in fact I've been here for just about a month now, and so much has happened it's hard to know where to start. As we all know, pic
tures are far more eloquent than words, particularly mine, so when I get the chance I'll post as many pics as possible.First off, I should mention that I experienced one of my greatest winter vacations yet (though it seems so long ago already!). We were once again able to stay at the Dancing Bear Inn in Nelson over New Years for some great days at Whitewater and one day of backcountry for me. It was such a treat to be able to enjoy that BC snow, especially during the completely funky snow-less winter in Spokane. Unfortunately I got only 4 or 5 days of skiing in the entire season! One of my worst yet! But.. to make up for it I had 6 amazing days in Joshua Tree, rock climbing. I wasn't even aware of the novelty of winter climbing until I started talking to people over break (mostly on the chairlift at Whitewater) and the idea was spawned. I flew down to Ontario, CA and met my friend, Whitney, and we began a week of some of the funnest climbing I've done! Unfortunately no pics, but highlights included my lead of Sail Away (5.8), a skinny pinaccle deep in the Real Hidden Valley that allows for spectacular sights, particularly of the swarming tourists gawking at us sexy climbers. Another great day was had in the Wonderland of Rocks, where the approach to Mental Physics (5.7+) was great fun as we had to carefully navigate around, on top of, or under gigantic boulders in probably the densest rock field I've ever encountered. It was a great privilege to be climbing with Whitney also, as he had all sorts of tips and lessons regarding equipment in general, as well as leading all of our most challenging climbs! He unfortunately had to leave the night before my cronies from Reed arrived, who happened to bring El Nino along with them - after planning to stay 5 more days in JT we were forced to evacuate due to heavy rainstorms after only one day of them experiencing the JT winter awesomeness! It turned out to be a great decisio: the next day as we drove out there were tornado warnings in the park. However, it ended up taking 4 days to get back to Portland due to the weather conditions, including 2 days trapped in a motel in Redding, CA with nothing to do but drink, and bug each other. I ended up loving it, and it was just perfect to be able to hang out with my fellow Reedies for so long after not seeing them all semester! I was able to enjoy 3 days at Reed catching up with my friends, although it was very bittersweet because I miss them all so much. Nick was able to drive down and spend a few days checking out colleges and then drive me home, where I stayed in Spokane the rest of break.
On Feb. 4 I departed for Budapest and was suddenly shocked to find myself back in this foreign, but now strangely familiar, land. I stayed the weekend in a hostel waiting for my apartment to be ready and then moved in to my single near Hero's Square. (above)
city park, "woolly pig" (aka mangalica) festival
As you can see, it was pretty dreary in Budapest, although the snow was stunning in places.
So classes went underway and I started to re-explore the city (found a cheap bouldering club close to my home for example). In case anybody's wondering, this semester I'm taking Intro to Abstract Algebra, Galois Theory, Topics in Geometry and Functional Analysis.
Life picked up pretty quickly and so a couple weeks into February I travelled to Bukkszentkereszt, a tiny Hungarian village in the "mountains" (even East Coasters would describe them as nubbins I believe), but it was stunningly beautiful, hardly anyone spoke a word of English, and it was greatly relaxing. And we stumbled upon an "ice soup" festival in Miskolc on our way! I'll let the pics speak for themselves (although the orders all messed up, I haven't gathered the courage to try and mess with the html). I included a couple videos, one of a freaky gorilla man at the festival and another of some friendly villagers on a horse drawn sled! Also, the picture that doesn't look to have anything in it besides a yard actually includes what we believe to be a pet deer! Thought it was too funny not to share.
I also want to mention that during our weekend travel, I read David Finkel's The Good Soldiers about the 2-16 battallion of US troops attempting to secure East Baghdad during the "surge" of summer 2007. It was given to me by Dad, and I would urge anybody who hasn't read some type of journalistic report about the actual fighting in the Iraq War to pick it up. It stuck with me for a number of reasons: first, it was obviously harrowing, as any real war narrative is, but it also reached quite deep into some of the soldiers psychology, which could be even more frightening than the fighting on occasion. It's clear to me now that the cost of war can't be measured in dollars. Another striking aspect of the book was how recent the events were; the books takes place during my high school graduation, first summer working at the farm, and first year of college at Reed - all of which I distinctly remember. Meanwhile, I was completely oblivious to what a war in Iraq really meant for the people involved in it, just as I feel completely in the dark about the current Afghanistan war, or really anywhere that has sustained consistent violence to this day. Anyway, the only way to get a fair opinion of this book is to read it, which I recommend. Thanks Dad!
The picture with the "FIDESZ" written all over it is an example of how much the country is warming up for the coming elections on April 11, I believe. I was treated to an hour and a half long discourse on Hungarian politics from one of my professors during the office hours, and it is so intriguing that I've become addicted to sites like politics.hu and pestiside.hu (not really a politics site but it's Hungarian and wacky). Hungarian politics it seems have been a bit hectic since the 2006 protests that occurred after the prime minister leaked a voice recording in which he used numerous obscenities to describe the state of the country, as well as an admission that his party had lied to the public constantly for 2 years! Naturally this caused an uproar, all of which is too long to write about here but is totally worth checking out on wikipedia. FIDESZ is the "conservative" party (from the sounds of it, they've never really maintained consistent policies, but I'm hardly one to comment) in Hungary and currently it looks like they'll end up with a 2/3 majority in the capital, enough to change the constitution! Apparently the fascist party is also expected to get about 15% of the vote, so basically Hungarian politics are completely bonkers and worth checking out if you're super bored.
Well, that's about it for now, but the weather has cleared up a bunch in Buda, so hopefully you'll get some climbing pics soon - I'm trying to organize a climbing trip to Croatia for spring break, so we'll see if that works out.
Feel free to comment, I'd love to hear from anybody who is willing to read my update!
-Daniel
