Gitta, our exchange manager here, is a saint.  I hope she doesn't hate us.

To start, out of about 25 students, 3 didn't have their luggage arrive with them.  They still don't have it, except for one (more on that below).

As noted earlier, on our first outing, one of our bunch got pick-pocketed, with all that entails.

Meredith, the American manager on our end, came down with the flu yesterday.

Gitta arranged for a bunch of us to get SIM cards (and about a half dozen of us to get phones, and the SIM cards don't work.  Gitta arranged for all of us to go back to where she bought them, after talking to the retailer to make sure they could fix it.

The retailer was closed.

Gitta got everyone but me, as it's near where the students are staying.  She tried to call me, but my phone was dead.  So she waited until I showed up.  And then she took me to a Vodafone dealer, who tried to explain that due to a Vodafone glitch all the SIMs she bought weren't working.  So it took about 1/2 hour to get me squared away, and the rest of our group needs to do the same.

While we were squaring this away, Gitta got a phone call saying that one of the students' luggage arrived, but the facility where they were staying was refusing to take delivery.

You can't pay this woman too much.  And I'm sure they aren't.

MY day was pretty good... at the end of it all, I got a cell phone that worked.  Then I took a long walk, up to St Istevan (St. Stevens), then across the Chain Bridge, down along the Danube to the Elizabeth Bridge, and then back home.  Along the way, I passed a fantastic "pass the hat" trio -- two guitars and a bongo -- playing a combination of U.S. hits and Western/Hungarian fusion.  They guy playing "lead" on a mediocre Ephiphone accoustic was AMAZING.  I'm not sure I've ever seen such skilled and aggressive picking technique.  He made that guitar sing.

Talked with Adam by Skype tonight... am excited to have my family with me in a couple of days!

Good students... challenging circumstances

So now I've had 3 classes with these guys, and I really like them.  The first class was the day after they landed... then got to know each other... then partied... that's a professor's nightmare.   Seriously sleep-deprived, probably hung-over students.  And yeah, some folks were dozing.  Who could blame them?  But actually, the class was more participative, more engaged, more lively than we are usually privileged to enjoy without those circumstances.

I really like these guys.

Today's bad news.  Meredith (our class manager, who was amazing dealing with our first pick-pocketing experience) has been diagnosed with the flu.  I feel terrible for her - we have a long weekend and she is going to spend it recuperating.  She has spent her days and nights serving the rest of us.  I hope she feels well soon and gets to have some fun.

I want to post some pictures, but am dealing with the animosity between Apple (my iPad is my camera) and the world (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.).  I have been too lazy to go thru the gyrations to make that translation, but it will be forthcoming.

First interaction with the students, first pick-pocketing

I haven't blogged for awhile because, really, nothing happened.  On Monday, met with Gitta and Meredith to get the lay of the land at Corvinus, then worked on class prep.  Tuesday, the students were arriving and I wasn't having any interactions with them.

Today, we met at 10:15 for a Danube river cruise up around Margaret Island and back.  We got on a tram up to Corvinus University, where we changed to a tram along the Danube that took us to a stop between the Elizabeth and Chain Bridges, where we would pick up the river cruise.  It is the same launch we used for our evening cruise next year, but a different boat with a headphone set to get a little English dialog.

Within 2 minutes of getting off the tram, we discovered that one of our students had had her wallet snatched out of her purse on the tram. It had been very crowded and she felt the bumping, but attributed it to the crowds.  This was the students' first outing, and not 10 minutes in, the first pick pocketing.  A tough lesson!

Nothing else exciting today: class preparation, and getting the landlady to fix the washing machine.  Hopefully, some more interesting entries shortly!

30 hours in

Got to Budapest flawlessly.  Gitta and Meredith were waiting outside the apartment when my cab arrived (THANKS!).  We'll meet tomorrow at noon.  I was exhausted when I arrived but unfortunately got that second wind and can't sleep.  Watching Hungarian TV.   Here's my latest insight: Lethal Weapon is truly language-agnostic..  I'm watching it overdubbed in Hungarian, don't understand a word, and it makes no difference whatsoever.

15+ hours in

Sitting at a table in Frankfurt Airport.  It's 9AM on Sunday here... 3AM back home.  My journey began 15 1/2 hours ago and I still have 5 hours to go before I arrive at Ferenc Liszt Airport in Budapest.  My "handlers" -- Gitta and Meredith -- will meet me at the Adler Apartments, the same place Judy and I stayed last year on our way back from our mission trip to gypsies in Eastern Hungary.

I'm teaching W&M students at Corvinus University until the end of May, then going with them to Prague for a few days.  Judy and I hope to visit the gypsies for a couple of days after that, then head for the Croatian coast by way of Belgrade and Sarajevo... have not booked anything yet, but that's the general plan.  We fly back home on June 19th, so lots of time to look around.

Judy and Adam will be joining me in Budapest in another 9 days -- I have to teach this week, but Adam graduates from GWU on the 19th so most of the family except me will be in D.C. next weekend. Adam managed to score a school-related project in Budapest so he will be with us for part of our journey.

But right now, I need to find some coffee!