First Day on the Job

Today was my very first day on the job. The embassy is in the Buda side of Budapest, and when I exit the metro I have a beautiful view of the Hungarian Parliament (the photo on the right is my view when I exit!). It takes about 30-45 minutes to get there in the morning. Maybe less. There are about a million different ways I could go, and well I haven't figured out which way is the fastest. Today I took the metro and then walked. I actually ended up walking to the metro station (because I missed my tram). It turns out that the trams literally run every 3 minutes, so I should have just waited for the next one (I guess I was thinking of OC transpo and the TTC schedules....lol). The metros run every 4.5 minutes (they have clocks in the stations that measure the time!).

The people at work seem very nice and eager. It was also nice to talk to people in English, and ask the burning linguistic questions to an anglophone who might understand my confusion....I did find out that the proper pronunciation of my name in Hungarian is literally YEA-shi-saw. yup. that's right..I guess my name isn't exactly as 'international' as I had hoped it could be. I also made a new tea friend! yay!

Starting my first day I was a little nervous. I mean first days are always a bit nerve racking, but I had the added stress of the potential for getting lost (which of course I did... I would like to call it an 'unanticipated detour' through central Buda....hehe). When I got there I also wasn't really sure what to say other than 'Hi I am the new Intern'. I mean I have started new jobs before where the person at the front wasn't aware that I was coming,It's always a bit awkward.......oh well, I made it through the day. As per usual, as an intern, you are sort at the bottom of the totem poll. This means that I have yet to get a permanent desk or space as of now. I actually think it might be nice to move around for a while in order to get to know everyone.

So far, I haven't really made any real 'friends' but its only the first day.

After work, I decided to take a small detour across the Danube to check out the Hungarian Parliament up close. It was beautiful! As I carry my RS book pretty much everywhere, I decided to see what he had to say about the nearby surrondings. I didn't go through his whole tour (I was waaay to tired to attempt that), but I did read about several interesting monuments that are near the parliament. I shoud say that Hungary has a unicameral parliamentary system of governance, and the head of state is the Prime Minister (who is elected by the Members of Parliament, who are elected by the people). In order to become a MP the person has to win at least 50% of the votes in their riding, so there are several rounds of voting (where the bottom candidates in each round are cut out, etc). The parliament is mix member proportional. This means that some of their MPs are directly elected by the people, while others are nominated via party lists according to each party's percentage of the popular vote.


Across the street from the parliament there is a neat statue standing on a bridge (left photo). He is meant to 'watch over parliament' to ensure that they are law abiding (the photo on the right). His name is Imre Nagy. He was a famous politician whose job it was to made Stalin's communist regime less harsh. He wasn't beloved by the Soviets, who arrested and killed him. After the fall of communism in 1989, he was named a national hero, and a statue was erected in his honor.

I also walked by liberty square, which is a controversial square commemorating the Soviet liberation of Hungary from the Natzi's. The significance of the square is a bit perplexing though, as while the soviets did liberate Hungary from the Natzi's, the soviety reign on the country for the next 40 years wasn't exactly warmly regarded either. But as RS questions, " Does their leader's oppression of the Hungarians make these soldiers' sacrifice less worthy of being honoured?" (pg 125). Its quite a question, eh? I can say that the monument is fenced off.....so you can't get up close....or so others can't destroy it...

After that I walked around the area a bit more (beautiful buildings!). Then stopped for a too-roh -rodi (this one has a Hazelnut centre, which was a bit nicer as it wasn't pure cheese). I am now home, exhausted from the day....and trying to figure out if I really want to attempt to make dinner on the one element that currently works in my apartment....you wouldn't think this would be a problem, but making rice or pasta + a sauce of some sort it a bit of a challenge with only one element (and no microwave!). oh well. Hopefully I can get this fixed.... I am out of Listerine.....so tomorrow I have to attempt to find some......