A Tour of the Jewish Quarter, and a Surprise Visitor

After a long day at the language school on Tuesday, I went on a school-sponsored tour of the Jewish quarter of Pest. We looked at a few synagogues, but the world-famous Great Synagogue was the  most impressive. It's one of the largest in the world, and the architecture is beautiful. Gentiles are even allowed on guided tours or attend worship (as long as they meet a modest dress code.)

The Jewish quarter has lots of history, but much of it is overshadowed by the Holocaust. The area was a Jewish ghetto when Hungary joined the Axis Powers. Unlike almost all other synagogues, the Great Synagogue has a cemetery in its courtyard. It was the only suitable place in the ghetto to bury the dead. There is also a memorial by the synagogue honoring some 400,000 Hungarian Jews murdered by the National Socialists.

Holocaust Memorial

A block away, a sculpture tells a more inspiring story in this grisly chapter of human history. It honors two diplomats, one Swedish and one Swiss, who saved thousands of Jews by issuing false documents to protect them. It shows an angel reaching down to an emaciated Jew.

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In the evening, I met up with a friend who graduated in my high school class, Marin. I hadn't even known she was coming to Budapest until two days before, and we made some last minute plans to meet up on Tuesday. I would never have guessed that we would reuinite in front of a synagogue in Budapest, but I suppose it proves it really is a small world.

She brought along a friend; the two of them are traveling Europe before studying abroad in France. The three of us had some Hungarian food, and at nighttime we went to a ruined pub called Szimpla. Budapest is well-known for its ruined pubs: old, abandoned buildings renovated as pubs. They have an adventurous feel to them, and Szimpla is considered one of the best in Budapest.

Fireworks on the Danube on St. Stephen's Day

August 20th is a national holiday in Hungary, St. Stephen's Day. St. Stephen was a Hungarian king who became Roman Catholic. According to my guide, the significance is that King Stephen allied Hungary with the Western world, instead of Byzantium in the East. The main celebration in Budapest is in the evening, when the city has two identical, simultaneous fireworks display over the Danube river. I went on a boat cruise on the Danube with some some other students to see the fireworks. They lasted a long time, and it was the best fireworks display I'd ever seen. The view on the boat was incredible, especially the view of parliament which lights up like a Christmas tree at night.

Water Park

On Monday the 19th, with no classes yet, I went with some fellow students to a water park.

While not exactly the epitome of Hungarian culture, the water park did have some hot baths. They are large pools filled with hot water to relax in. Some even have chess boards in them. The most unique feature was the sulfur in the hot baths. It takes a few minutes to become inured to the pungent smell, which resembles rotten eggs, but I'm told the sulfur kills microorganisms in the water and is healthy for your skin too.

Like any good water park, it had several tall slides. Unlike the US, there were few lifeguards at any of the water-slides, customers just used common sense. Instead of having a lifeguard tell patrons when to go down the slide, people simply watched themselves and waited until the previous person was already at the bottom of the slide. The slides were also much steeper than their American counterparts. Some people slid so fast that it looked like they flew about 10 feet across the water after they reached the bottom. It was thrilling to shoot down these slides, but also a sad reminder of how watered down American parks have become due to ubiquitous lawsuits.

We swam in a wave pool too, and the waves were a good six feet high or so. We all had much fun at the water park, and I was pleasantly tired at the end.

Szia, Budapest

I flew in to Budapest last weekend, my first time leaving the country for nearly 15 years. I tried to learn some basic Hungarian phrases on the airplane, and chatted with a friendly Slovenian. I was too excited to get any sleep on the plane.

During my layover in Munich, I first encountered the much-feared language barrier. A stranger approached me and started to talk to me in German. I think she just wanted to see if the seat next to me was available, so I tried communicating with hand gestures. The stewardess likewise addressed me in German, and I sputtered out the few basic words I knew to order. Having never experienced such a dilemma before, I felt so peculiar trying to communicate to adults with such little speaking.

I met my contact and another student at the airport, and we took a cab to my apartment. The apartment really deserves its own post, but suffice to say it lies somewhere between living in a shipping container and a converted hotel room, the only other places I've lived away from home.

The first couple days I was exhausted from the jet lag, and mostly did shopping and errands to settle down in my apartment. I also ordered my very first drink. I met a few other students who are going to the same program I am. I'm looking forward to a successful, adventuresome semester in Hungary. I'll do my best to post interesting events and hopefully many pictures.