I've seen fireworks and I've seen rain...

Some people fall in love with Budapest for its charm, its old world elegance, or its architecture.

I started to fall for Budapest after an evening of wind, rain, and trash. I've never been quite normal...

so last night was St. Istvan (Steven) Day, the holiday commemorating the first Hungarian king. They traditionally have fireworks off of the most famous bridge over the Danube, right in the heart of the city. I'm told the fireworks put any American displays to shame. And I have to say the 30 seconds I saw were spectactular. I pulled out my camera, and the wind started blowing. Hard. Trash flew everywhere, and the barricades beside us started blowing over. All of a sudden we realized we could no longer see the bridge or the fireworks, which were maybe 5 minutes down the river.

And then came the rain.

In about .8 seconds we were totally drenched. We stood there for a second, and then realized it was lightning and we were holding on to metal barricades, so we joined the throngs of people running to the semi-shelter of the buildings across the street. We splashed through the nasty river that used to be the street and huddled with the Hungarians, thus giving me ample opportunity to practice my Bocsanat (Excuse me).

It sounds terrible, but it was so much fun. It was a true bonding experience with the girls I was with, and with the city itself. When all this happened, it didn't matter if we couldn't speak the language. We all just ran together and laughed.

Thankfully, the three of us were with a veteran teacher, Heidi, who looked at our wet t-shirts and decided we shouldn't try to take the jam-packed bus full of drunk Hungarians back to Diosd. She called and found some other teachers up the river who --miracle of miracles -- had a car with available seats!

I do feel bad, though, because there were some people who were injured, and a lot of trees fell onto parked cars nearby. For some people, it wasn't exactly the fun-filled experience it was for me. I can't say I want to do that again, but I can safely say I wil never forget St. Istvan Day!

In other news, I met my Hungarian neighbors under less than ideal circumstances. I live next door to two other teachers and ran over for a second to help them move some furniture. I left my door propped open. Mary heard some people talking in the hallway, and we looked out to see a couple standing at my door. They had seen the door and thought I had been robbed, and the guy was going in to the check on everything. It took quite a lot of gesturing to get them to understand that I lived there and had propped the door open myself! So I met my neighbors, barefoot and in my pjs. I guess it's nice to know that there is a man nearby willing to risk facing robbers if necessary! They were very kind.

This ended up being much longer than I intended. Thanks for reading this far...promise not to make the next one quite so long!