The Olympic Weekend

The trip from Liz's flat in Tiszaujvaros to my flat in Szerencs takes about 15-20 minutes by car, but over an hour by train. Oh well...I'll deal. This is where I was this past weekend.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by Liz and Jeremy. We rejoiced in the certain je ne sais quoi we all have and re-capped life in Hungary by reading Jeremy's journal complete with maps, diagrams, and quotes. Oh...ahem...and sipping on a little red wine.

Flocks of CETPers migrated to Liz's that night and even more the next morning. The group slumbered in every nook and cranny of Liz's schoolyard apartment. My favorite part of this weekend had to be the ice-skating at Tisaujvaros' year-round rink. Jeremy did a wonderful interpretive ice-dance to "Magyarorszag" playing scratchily from the bleacher speakers and the snow started to fall as we left hurriedly for the thermal baths. The baths in town make your skin feel incredibly smooth and unlike some famous baths in Budapest, there is a scorching pool that gets you drowsily warm after splashing around in the outdoor maze of water. It was refreshing, however, to float outside in the water under the falling snow and foggy moon.

I have difficulty sleeping on the road (even when I'm technically not on the road, but in someone else's apt.) so I came home on Sunday afternoon feeling like a zombie. But it's better to have broken up the week by traveling somewhere and becoming deserving of your tiredness instead of feeling like a zombie because you haven't been able to escape the winter jail of your flat.

We did watch some Olympics on mute (b/c it was in Hungarian) and to various people's iPods...and I just remember being in awe of the ski jumpers...such a short moment of glory or tragedy.