Szia from Budapest, my last solo trip before my grand return to reality in A WEEK!

Thoughts over goulash: I’ve been worrying and carrying an overall sense of misplacement in the past couple of days.  But this afternoon when I caught myself frowning in the dressing room—it hit me.  I need to give less fucks!! I’m getting tangled in my own messy web of thoughts and taking everything too seriously.  I told myself to remember that all is temporary, take your deep breath, and walk on. Sometimes I forget how young I really am…

Others:

Thrifting by weight is amazing!  I was in a second hand store earlier and picked up a bunch of funky pieces for around 2000 forint (~$10) including a super sweet new backpack that I crammed it all in to cruise around the city.

Fashion has no rules over me.  Okay so I also stopped into my favorite flea market place here, and also found a really neat purse and pair of shorts for 800f or ~$4, and I realized that even if no one else loves or even understands them, I will love them because they are just different. And the conclusion that I have recently come to is that I am drawn towards anything that has its own flavor. Uniqueness.

And lastly, my new favorite phrase: BOLD MOVE.  I was emailing my best friend Michelle and she dropped this line about wearing a long, flowery, bright-orange dress that I handed over to her when I took-off, on two consecutive days.  I just love this girl. And the phrase rolls off the tongue.

Oh yeah and about the city! Budapest is incredible. I did a great free walking tour that lasted about 2.5 hours and learned tons of fun facts about the city (I’ll do another post on that—I took notes muahah :). The people that I interacted with were very friendly.  One little old lady stands out in my mind—I couldnt figure out how to punch my ticket on the little funny bus pictured above, and she showed me that it was a slide function, not an automated stamper. I smiled and said thanks, then later as I was peering out of the left side of the bus, she tapped my knee and pointed out the right window, and we smiled together at the gorgeous view of Castle Hill. Aww.

I ate goulash soup twice. The first time, it was pretty alright. The meat was a little skimpy and fatty, but went smoothly with a delicious Hungarian beer.  Tonight’s was much better, and I spiced it up with some paprika yum yum.

I also ate the normal European street food, a slice of pizza and a Euro.

Ooh! And I made a friend, Owen, but I called him Oven. (Jokes about how Europeans mishear our names and say strange things… He is from Phili and on vacation before settling down to become a park ranger.) We checked out a sweet art-bar called Instant.

It was great to be here, a lovely visit indeed.  Did I mention that my great-grandparents were from this city? I feel proud of it, almost.  Tomorrow I think I am going to try to find one of those H stickers in the plain white circle and maybe some paprika to take home.

This morning, I fell head over heels in love with my beautiful city again.  After four months I feel comfortable enough saying ‘my’ and boy does it feel good.  After a long night and another strong wave of homesickness I was inspired to head out for a morning stroll around my Praha.  At 6 a.m. (yes, AM) I slipped on and tied up my ugly, most comfortable secondhand shoes and grabbed a scarf and sunglasses and headed for the door.

Once the shoes are on, everything works wonderfully; now only if I could be inspired to dig them out and strap them on more often…  I walked the 10 minutes or so to Vitkov park, climbed over the single chain that barricades two flights of stairs, right on to the top.  When you have the park almost completely to yourself, it is so relaxing to move at your own pace and admire the spring flowers (the Czechs are always hurried, but that might be said about all Europeans).

At the far end of the park I discovered a quite magnificent contraption resembling a trampoline/spider-web hybrid contraption.  After jumping around, laughing and doing my best to balance on the ropes, I continued further down the winding path to the right to discover a swing-set.  It should be stated that normally I don’t really enjoy swings due to an unfortunate case of motion sickness, but these were irresistible and that could have been the highest I have ever swung.

I then followed the trail out to the Zizkov side and decided to explore that neighborhood.  After a few minutes I spotted another park and after walking through a very likeable neighborhood found myself in the most magical meadow.  After walking through it, I was landed right in front of the Baby Tower (a horribly ugly radio tower that someone fixed up by bolting crawling babies up the sides-ha) and was presented with not one but TWO rainbows. (Double Rainbow fan anybody? I almost felt like I was in Yosemite..)

It was a gorgeous morning, and Prague even presented me with an opportunity to jog, because as I was about halfway home there was a small downpour that I ran through. Not too bad in 20 degree (or 70) weather.

So, moral of the story, if you ever get that nagging urge at 6 a.m. to go for an exploratory walk, I highly recommend you follow it. You never know what beautiful things might lay in store.

Here is an example of the Czech language and how strange advertising is here… This was a youtube commercial that made me laugh.

Hahaha so difficult all you can do it laugh:

1) Calling any bank ever. Always a hassle. For like 30 mins.

2) Doing it over Skype—reduced volume quality (throw in a stereotypical mystery accent for fun too!)

3) Trying to explain a Czech address, 3 lines of madness.

1+2+3 = !?!!(*&$(*$

Silliest part of today. And of course there is that mystery hang-up at the end to leave you tearing your eyebrows out. Wait, just kidding? …..

with someone on my level! C’mon weird people stop hiding!

I do not want to go outside and explore anymore.

Let me begin by explaining that this last week has held the highest highs and the lowest lows for me in Prague thus far.  Last Tuesday and Wednesday were among some of my most treasured memories here. Sharing great experiences with D&Q, meeting some really fun new faces, and feeling that sense of connectivity that always follows a surprisingly beautiful day.

But, alas, after a few wonderful days, the feeling of mediocrity creeps back in and  that sense we briefly held seem to slip away…

Plus to make matters worse, my future travel plans have been jeopardized and several items of convenience have slipped down the drain in an unfortunate act of someone stealing my favorite bag.  Complete with iPhone, wallet-both cards, one of my notebooks (not my main one thank goodness!), and address book. Along with that my keys, my only pens, and a few other items of mid-importance. (Not to mention that was a great bag, so many pockets… definitely a favorite.)

I try not blame myself. I didnt steal my own purse. But I feel like was not myself in the decisions that I made Friday night.

GROUND RULES:

1. ALWAYS, ALWAYS coat check at a busy bar (ehem, Chapeu on a Friday night?! Really, what was I thinking..)

2. Never go to the ATM right before going out. That is too much cash to carry.

3. Dont have both cards on you!! One is for emergencies. Keep it safe.

4. Smaller bags are better unless an adventure is on the horizon.

It’s really unfortunate. I’m trying not to be mad at myself, I just dont know how I could have made all of those mistakes when I am usually so vigilant about keeping everything in its right place and doing things in the right order. It really feels like I was in some sort of fog…. Or perhaps a cloud.

(I feel incredibly guilty now, writing about this sucks.)

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon after a day and a half of moping and feeling lost and alone and confused.  Every time I get a little sad, my mind immediately tries to assess the situation and takes me back to the same question on repeat in my mind:

Why Prague? Why here?

But as Steve Jobs cleverly states, we cannot connect the dots looking forwards, only backwards.  And I know this is where I was almost divinely called to…. I would not have chosen another place, Praha was always number one.

And I also know that the lessons I have learned here and the growth that is happening internally will all be worth it in the end, I just didnt know that it might be so painful to experience being so lonely, so far away.

Three weeks left of this wild segment of my life, and honestly I couldnt ask for more or less. It is really a bummer that all of my stuff got hijacked by a creep in a bar, and that I do not have any money available for my final trips (maybe a miracle will happen and I can get some in time!!) BUT

I know I have the summer of a lifetime ahead of me, and out there…. wayyyy out there I have tons of people routing for me and who love me. I’ll be back to my own galaxy soon and continuing on my path in the real world.

H :)

They had me at field notes 

at least that’s how it seems;

this must be the life of my dreams.

Afternoons spent a’learnin

Why my heart keeps a’yearnin

For those golden beaches

And delicious peaches

Long hot days

spent under

beautiful bright Rays

But alas here I am,

In a quite foreign land.

Time spent as quick as rent money

I’m just drinking my tea with some honey

With rain domination

In this Czech nation

Nothing to do

but wait………..

For, one day, the fog

Will pass over beautiful Prague

The previous quote about the weather could not prove more true.  I find that each day as I get closer and closer to BEAUTIFUL AMAZING WARM BREEZY California weather, I become more sensitive to the chill bite STILL in the air when it was supposed to warm up mid-March.  Alas, here we are, mid-April, and I am being forced to make peace with the chilly breezes and jackets that I would rather not see again let alone wear…

That might be a little strongly worded, but I am just so appreciative of nice weather! And I know this city has the potential to showcase it, yet in stubbornly hiding it away from me, as if it knows I am going to leave soon.

Touche Praha, but I would love you more if you would show me your golden warm side.