a week or so update

matt started work on monday and is getting a little organized there. his commute is only about 15 or so minutes. it's about a 5 minute walk to the metro from our hotel and then he is only 2 stops up and then he has a short 3-4 minute walk to his building. not bad. there is a mixture of hungarians, americans, canadians, and dutch at his office. a group of hungarians invited him out to lunch on monday, so of course he went. the most common name in hungary is zsolt. it's more common than john in america. i think he is enjoying getting back into the swing of work. although, he was off this afternoon while we looked at a couple of apartments, as we will again on friday.

as for me and reese, we are still adjusting to the time, reese more than me, but i'm definitely taking advantage of sleeping in until 8:30 every day! we get up and go downstairs for the continental breakfast and then she goes back to sleep from about 10-12. so basically our mornings are spent at home. we've gotten out each afternoon. one day we went to the food market at the end of the street...a huge building with a ton of fresh fruit + veggie stands and meat stands...farmers market style. it's definitely not a tourist place, more local people. i liked it, but was expecting a grocery store type place going in. since most of the hungarian meals are starch heavy i decided we'd have a meat and veggie dinner. i tried to find chicken, but ended up with turkey. they didn't have chicken! the veggies i bought were great! reese loved them and she hasn't been eating her veggies lately. the tomatoes were awesome! we stopped at the grocery store afterwards for toothpaste, laundry detergent, beer, wine and cookies. what a shopping list!

tuesday afternoon reese and i went to szent istven park, just 7 blocks away. of course we didn't know exactly where we were going, so it took us more than 7 blocks, but we enjoyed the exploring. after playing in the sand with the other hungarian kids and striking out in conversations with other hungarian moms (gotta try that again), we walked about 8+ blocks along the river to a more main street. there we found the "dm" which is like a walgreens, but much smaller. we got diapers here. they have pampers! same price as the states though. :( we then found a small grocery store, literally, the isles were tiny. they didn't even have any carts, just the handled baskets. anyway, it was an experience. i could barely get the stroller through the turnstile and it was in everyone's way. reese was whining wanting out of the stroller and i had all this food in my hands b/c i couldn't handle a basket and the stroller and the check out line was long. thankfully no one gave me bad looks. i paid my money, got all my groceries either in my backpack or the stroller and we were off again. 10 minute walk home. i am enjoying the walking.

we've decided we look like the hungarians, just not as fashionable. i definitely need to work on my style! reese and i are going to the westend center tomorrow to check things out. my watch and sunglasses broke and my belts are in the air freight, so i'm on the hunt for some new things. the westend center is a HUGE shopping mall within walking distance from our hotel. i already have some shops that i will check out. i would go down to the shops on the pedestrian street, vaci utca, in the city center, but i'm not quite brave enough to take on the metro with reese, the stroller and my backpack yet. i think i need another weekend of matt helping me, so i can practice a little more. i can handle the stairs; it's just the escalators! they are SO FAST and SO STEEP! i would take a picture, but i don't think it would do it justice. let's just say i'm scared riding on them by myself.

we checked out a couple more apartments today. one of them is a possibility. i really like it. i'll refrain from telling all about it because i don't know if we will get it or not. the other one is definitely a no. we LOVED the view of the river and gellert hill, but it wasn't a good apartment. we are going out again on friday. it has been so good for us to look at all these apartments because we have really gotten a feel for the city. we can sort of recognize where we are.

okay, that's enough for now. i just thought i'd give you an update about the real goings on. we are all doing well. reese gets the trooper award for sure!

p.s. matt's picked up a new hobby: ironing! he ironed for the first time in his life the other day and loves it! boy, has hungary already changed him! ha!