Pictures...

Ok fine, picture have been (kind of) edited and are now here:


http://flickr.com/send?photostream=76105532@N00


Large chunks didn't get photographed, or couldn't be anyway... and the obsession with accommodations was more of an exercise in compare and contrast.  All of the beds were singles shoved together with separate duvets.  Which is just about the best idea ever. 
On to work on my census homework. 

I may never know what the devil is going on...

While away I glanced at CNN.com on occasion.  Not much, and really just enough to know a rapper had been busted with machine guns.  And I knew something was up with Turkey when I looked at the State Department website to figure out the visa situation. 

I returned Tuesday.  I woke up to NPR on Wednesday... and then this morning I woke up to a pledge drive.  Since it started on a Thursday I can only presume it will go until next Friday.

Even if I cut them a check right now they would still go blathering on about the value of such cultural institutions in a community.  Then I'd resent that I was paying for them to ask me for money.

Alternative Holidays

In Vienna there were already some shops set up to sell Christmas wares.  While it isn't yet Halloween I thought I'd share some Alternative Holidays resources and ideas and ask ya'll to share any you have.  Cause we're blessed. 

Heifer Project
International Justice Mission
M.D. Anderson Children's Art Project
Friends of Houston Public Library
Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless
Brookwood: Pottery by the functionally disabled
The Hunger Site Store
Fair Trade Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
Ten Thousand Villages

Oh Yukio! Or things to consider when staying in a hostel

Good idea to confine your things to a corner of the room.  Bad idea to put your dirty laundry in various cabinets around the dorm.

Good idea to clean the dishes after you use them, not before.  Especially if you burned the rice.

You really don't need to buy vodka for yourself, there will be plenty left around from previous guests.

Good idea say hello to your roommates.  Or at least look at them and smile.

If you are going to eat cereal out of the common bowl use the ladle.  Not your hands.

Slurping is gross.

You can ask a stranger to "pass the bread" or to point.  You don't have to get up and walk around the table to avoid them.

Packing your things in 50 plastic bags is weird.  It is also weird to rustle with them until midnight and wake up to do it again in the morning.

We know it doesn't take two and a half hours to cook rice.  We know you are avoiding us. 

Even if you think everyone in the room is asleep... don't walk around in your briefs.

Get a bit of a mental map of the room so you don't slam into the other guests beds at top speed in the dark.

If you do trip on someone's stuff, it isn't necessary to hold your wound for ten minutes.  You don't need sound effects.  Get over it.

Taking a nap in the morning when you've kept your roommates up most of the night with your rustling of plastic bags will invite contempt.

If you are a competent member of Japan's PSIA you fooled us.  We think you're borderline autistic. 

Homophones

Westbahnhof

We thought there was a train leaving Vienna everz hour.  Turns out thatäs reallz on the weekdazs... and it is Sundaz.  Forgot about that.  So weäve got toms time to kill before leaving the Mecca of great coffee. 

 

To sum up.  Been to the small, medium, and large of teastern European cities... a good summarz of what the Hapsburg Empire has become.  And what communism did... even fifteen zears and more later.  All of these cities are beautiful in their own waz, and invite varzing reflections on the state of the world todaz.  Still chewing.  In some cases fast food is a blight, in other places it is simplz the most comforting thing zou can find in a foreign train station at 5AM. 

 

Iäve been talking to Bethanz for almost eight dazs straight too.  Which will also invite all kinds of varzing reflections.  Still chewing. 

 

On the state of being content... it isnät verz comforting to be far from home and not know where zou )or how far awaz it is) are going to sleep that night, to not know if the ticket home is actuallz a ticket... or some sort os reservation that looks like a ticket.  It also makes me crankz. 

 

Back to Budapest...

 

 

 

Did zou know...

Bucharest is one big parking lot with a bunch of straz dogs.  Thez also donät have manz hotel rooms.

Vienna has plentz and has sidewalks to walk on.

 

 

Read Bethanzäs Blog

In the interest of time Iäll ignore the changes in the German kezboard.  It is just enough to be reallz annozing. 

In anz case we are in Wein now, planning on spending the night and then heading back to Budapest.  We had a bit of a run in with the police, though reallz I slept through most of it... we still have our passports though and are hoping to file for refugee status as an underwater hockey team.  Hez the Moldovanäs did it.  Twice.

 

Oh... the communists trzing to look like Paris is more than a little interesting. 

 

If zou can afford it... alwazs get the sleeper car.  Always.

 

German operas with Hungarian subtitles are great... and ÄMexicanÄ hotels in the heart of Budapest are also lovelz.  Coffee is good.. weäre getting lots of it. 

 

And Iäm going to have a craving for polenta, sour cream, and goat cheese when I get back.  Start looking up Romanian food. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Sam

Hey Sam,

Tell Mőm were going to Istanbul... for more details I will refer you to Bethanys blog. 

Peace out,

Kate

 

P.S. Tonight we will be at the Yellow Submarine Lotus Youth Hostel.

Referal

Two hours till my ride gets here.  I have a lunch to eat and a bunch of stuff to shove into a rucksack.  I finished my homework though... so with the exception of my 1.5 hour midterm that will so rudely interrupt my vacation (it is still the best 12 days we could have picked)... I'm done for awhile.  Grad school is a piece of cake, if you aren't trying to work a 55 hour a week job at the same time. 

When I get back I'll start looking for jobs to apply for.  I'm considering this week a space for a bit of soul searching... I can't talk to Bethany consecutively for THAT many hours.

So I'm not actually planning on writing much while I'm gone.  I'm just not.  In an case I'll refer you to the partner in crime over at Fair Trade Certified in case she writes any.  Or you want to compare our stories.  There's a great moth story in there... she's a better writer than I am anyway.

This Day in History

For all you Yankees and Texans that weren't here in 4th grade I'll offer up this link... on The Texas Revolution.

But they should have learned it in high school...

Just for fun from Mr. Wyman. 
Civic Liberties Quiz