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Julia and I skipped an afternoon of work, in protest, when her goodbye lunch was pushed back from Friday to Monday. Our rebellious ways took us to the Ethnography Museum, which was quite nice. Right across from the majestic Parliament, it was originally the home of the Hungarian supreme court. The traditional Hungarian displays were free, they charged only to see two temporary displays that may or may not have been worth the 400 HUF.

Noemi and I discovered the joys of 499 HUF frozen pizzas, three to a box. Austerity measures and tastebuds both agree that the pizzas are a good find. I don’t have an oven, though, so we can only make them at her house on Raday utca.

Kalli’s cousin inspired our first trip to Rio. It’s wonderful people watching, our personal favorite was the cow-pantsed young man seducing the mini-skirted young lady. After the music and 700 HUF beers got to us, though, we crossed the street to Zold Pardon, back to where we belong.

I made Noemi take her first trip ever to Csepel, an island just south of the city center on Sunday. It was a planned suburb from the 1960s or 1970s, and to this day retains much of the feel. It’s connected to the city proper by a quick and easy section of the suburban HEV rail line. The reason for our visit was the nearly deserted northern half of the island. It’s rumored to be a tentative site for a potential Olympic village down the road, so I wanted to check it out with my own eyes. It looked, truthfully, quiet promising for the purpose. Close the city center, nice views, and absolutely nothing of value to knock down. Potentially really good.

On the way back, we stopped at the National Theatre. It’s an eclectic building, surrounded not only by a beautiful spot on the Danube at the southern reaches of the city, but also by quite a controversy, but I loved it. The boat part of the design is glorious, and the odd-tidbits surrounding it are engagingly fun. In my SimCity world, the Olympic Stadium is right across the road from the theatre. ☺

And the weekend finished with a screech. The almost rusty-screech of a foot-powered air pump at 11:00 Sunday night. Janos brought over a queen-size inflatable mattress that his brother and sister-and-law had bought to sleep on when they were visiting. Slipped underneath my futon mattress, it’s a wonderful addition to my home! I have a bed finally!!!

Glorious...

Olympic Rings

A wonderful evening with Noemi and Janos last night, as well as his friend who was leaving town come the following morning and was flush with forints to get rid of. The results, absinthe, which you can’t get back home. A not unpleasant drink, much akin to the Ouzo we had for the first time in Greece. A fun little experiment in one of our favorite atmospheres, Potkulcs.

And on the occasion of birthdays, it’s hard not to feel old. Especially yesterday, when I stopped to think how far away the year 2020 is. It's not really all that far away. And it's, courtesy of simply math, the year I will turn 40.

The reason I was focused on the year 2020? A good one. Budapest is beginning to start the process of bidding to host the Summer Olympics in 2020. While the 40-year-old realization carries with it a tinge of concern, I'm jazzed about the prospect of a Budapesti Olimpia.

I first took a curiosity to the pamphlet handed to me at the Bryan Adams concert weeks ago, something along the lines of “Do you want Budapest to host the Olympics in 2020?” Immediately I was inspired and developed a fascination.

I took to researching. Budapest was originally scheduled to host the 1920 Olympics. This was, of course, in the hey-day of Budapest’s imperial grandeur. But along came that darn first world war. And just like how the Treaty of Trianon ripped 66% of the territory and 50% of her population away from Budapest, the IOC ripped the right to host the games away. (And the Hungarian athletes were uninvited to the entire 1920 Olympics.) Around these parts, they’re still irate about the former, if they’ve long-since forgotten about the latter.

More Olympic trivia? Hungary’s been successful in the games. Hungary ranks in the top ten countries in summer Olympic medals. Water polo, weightlifting and fencing glory have paid off. And guess which country among the top ten is the only one to have never hosted an Olympic games. Yup. Magyarorszag.

When calculated per capita, Hungary ranks third all-time in the most medals won! Rick Steves’s figures show Hungary behind on Australia and Cuba, when medals are tallied per person.

The committee of companies and leaders who have banded together to bid to bring the Olympics to Budapest reads like a who's-who of modern Hungarian economics. Malev. OTP. Danubius Radio. All their CEOs and executives make up the high-powered board of directors.

And so, excited beyond believe, I sent an e-mail, asking if I could help. The next day, a response, straight from headquarters:

Dear Jeremy,

Thank you very much for your letter. We were glad to read your lines about your intention that you would be a volunteer of our movement. As you have a special skill you can really help us occasionally. You could review any translations and fine-tune them to ensure the highest quality professional tone, as you had suggested. The only problem is that you will be in Hungary only until the end of August. Do you think you can still help us after returning to the US ?

Best regards,

Akos Baranyai
General Secretary
BOM

So there you have it, I'm an Olympic volunteer. Jo lesz!