Hungary 2008!!: These are the times that try men's souls...

Ok - no, I'm not in the midst of the American Revolution - but it seems as if Thomas Paine's quote from "The Crisis" is the only one fitting for my current situation. Yesterday, I set out for Debrecen in Eastern Hungary. I will be here for two weeks teaching at a language school. I'm not entirely sure what I will be teaching, or when I'll have lessons, but I'll find that out eventually I suppose.

At any rate- I had a stressful time even getting someone from the school to contact me once I had agreed to this position. I was about ready to abort the mission and not show up, but the director called me at 9pm the night before I was to leave.

So - that was settled- I would leave Thursday morning and start lessons Friday. OK fine. Now, I have to pack for a two week vacation, and pack for a cat. I don't know how parents with toddlers do it - since I was worried about her being comfortable the whole time I packed for this trip.

Ok- so yesterday we were supposed to get on a 7:35 bus to catch an 8:16 train from Tata to Budapest. In Budapest we'd change trains and head to Debrecen. No big deal right? Well, yeah it was. at 7:10 a pipe in my bathroom burst and sprayed hot water all over the place. All I had time to do was turn the water off and clean up the mess. Mind you- "clean up the mess" meant take all the towels I had and put them on the floor and then transfer them directly to the washing machine. I started the wash - and then realized that they'd be covered in mold and mildew by the time I returned. Ok - crisis averted we raced out the door.

Picture this - I have a large camping backpack on my back, my school back pack on my front, a large grocery bag in my left hand, and a cat carrier in my right hand. Quite a sight - now, picture me running to the bus stop. Not good.

We got on the bus no problem, and transitioned smoothly to the train without a glitch. Boo was scared out of her wits - especially when we were on the train platform and a train would come racing through that wasn't stopping in Tata.

Exhausted, we boarded the train for the 45 minute ride. At the Keleti train station, I had about 5 minutes to make the train to Debrecen. As I ran (again, picture all the gear) to the train platform and hopped on the train at the last minute - I was stopped. Now what - "is anything in the box" the ticket guy said - well duh dumbass. I'm not carrying a cat case because it compliments my outfit- seriously. Of course there is something in the case. I learned - as the train was about to pull away, that cats are not allowed on the InterCity trains. F*#k.

Sweaty, exhausted, sore and frustrated, I backed off the train headed to the waiting area and proceeded to start to cry. UGH. Nothing seemed to be working out in trying to get to Debrecen. I couldn't believe this. The reason I had chosen these trains was so that I wouldn't have to take Boo on the Metro or on a tram - to my knowledge, that is not allowed either. So now what? Best solution - wake my parents up with an inappropriately early call. I woke them up, naturally, and told them my frustrations - and also alerted them to the scary homeless guy who was circling me as I sat. I felt like that girl from Adventures in Babysitting who lost her glasses at the bus station and couldn't see anything - that's how helpless I felt. After waking the parents, I decided to buck up since I really had no other option. I paid $20.00 for a taxi to take me to the other train station and off we went.

We boarded the train - where cats are "okay" and relaxed for the ride to Debrecen. UGH. I was so tired when we finally arrived... more on that later. Boo was spectacular the entire ride- she did not make a noise and entertained the two small children in our compartment. It was a welcome relief to the crazy morning we had.