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Eight fifteen pm and not dark yet. Everyone is starting to act manic with so much light. The Moscow sun takes forever to go down. In Niger we'd go out to the sand dunes to watch the sunset, and we'd have to race to our cars as soon at the sun set; so close to the equator, it was like a door closing, the sun went down and that instant, it was DARK. In Niger, the sun rose and set every day of the year between 6 and 7, even in December the kids went to school in the morning in shorts with the sun in the sky. So out at the sand dunes we'd run, no street lights or ambient light to find the cars or to prevent you from driving off the cliffs off the dunes. Here, it's night time, but light, and the spring twilight is lasting FOREVER. Kind of freaking me out.

My metro ride in this morning was full of school age kids holding hands. Their backpacks almost too big for them. A teenage boy gave up his seat when a pregnant woman got on. These are sights which make one proud to be a member of the human race.

Coming out of the metro tunnel, the sun was shining and all the old buildings with their statues and columns were golden. I stopped to have a coffee and pastry (no cholesterol check for the next few days).

I saw a few patients and did some follow-ups from the day before; looking at lab results and calling folks to see how they are doing. For lunch I met a colleague who took me to a Mexican restaurant. I never expected to have a burrito in Europe but here we are, looking out over a park, talking shop and eating salsa while the waiter shouts out our order in Hungarian to the cook.

This afternoon was a going away reseption to the Ambassador. She was appointed by President Bush and asked to stay on a bit longer by President Obama. They showed a side presentation of her many accomplishments. Speeches were made and I got to shake her hand, the visiting FSHP from Moscow.  She thanked me for my service and I wished her well. Deserts and Hungarian champagne were served.  

It is still warm out and seemingly spring. Time for a walk!

I'm in Hungary and it's raining and the city is old and I'm loving it. Not much to say about the Aeroflop flight. It was much better than the stories I had heard from my mother in the 60's or even 10 years ago when Tanya's uncle told me the pilots are always over an hour late so that they get sped along without blood alcohol checks. But if I didn't have a drop of that countries blood in my stream, I'd say the food was terrible. Gellatinous coldcuts with huge chunks of fat and a hard boiled egg served with a sliver of rye bread and butter. Mmm! Desert was a 4 X 4 chocolate stale black forest tort. Thank God for the beverage cart.

It's been rainy off and on here but I did manage to get out and walk quite a bit. It's a beautiful city although many of the buildings look in need or repair. My housing is in an old 1810 building up on a hill overlooking the city. It's not centrally located and quite a walk from the embassy and the clinic but only a short ride on the metro. But when you're walking down old streets, smelling goulash, and looking over the castles at the Danube who cares?

But the language here is insane! It doesn't sound like anything familiar. Sort of reminds me of how we felt in Greece. No cognates. I got in the cab at the airport and showed the two addresses I needed; one to pick up the key and the other where I am staying. That conversation took about 5 minutes and I was about to get out of the car when he figured it out. Between the two of us, we tried speaking Hungarian, English, Russian, Spanish, French, and German!