Tuesday, April 30, 2013

naps

I'll tell you what, dude. Is there anything better than a nap on a Monday afternoon?

Monday, April 29, 2013

Lyla's Birthday Weekend


On Thursday we went to pub quiz, won, drank too many beers in a park, and went home. I heard there were also tacos involved after I peaced out. On Friday we were rather unhappy at work. In the evening we went to see Iron Man 3, which was great! Then we went to Fogashazkert and had cake and champagne, and hung out with friends. On Saturday we went to a benefit, won yet another trivia contest, and got some cool prizes, too! On Sunday we had pizza and caught up on TV. Hannibal is really good, you guys. Tomorrow, Monday, we will go to running sushi for lunch.

A very happy birthday long weekend to my very best friend, my family, my travel buddy, my soul mate and heterosexual-life-partner. I don't know what I would do without you. I'd be much less awesome, for sure. You are so smart, so strong, so self-possessed, so funny, so caring. I am so lucky to have you as a best friend. I love you bunches and bunches.

From our crazy Americorps Year in California...

to moving to Hungary...



to visiting each other during our Masters...



to all of our many, many travels!
Transylvania
Salamanca  
Scottish Highlands
Paris
the Greek Isles
Berlin
Croatia
Istanbul
the Netherlands
deer parks in Denmark
Gogol Bordello concerts at Slovenian rock fests
Poland... and so many more places!!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Dutch food and drink

  our absolutely amazing lunch spread courtesy of Marlouse              
Easter bread (with a sweet almond filling) and some bread with spekuloose spread and chocolate sprinkles
Chinese food. So much amazing Chinese food.
croquettes  
Greek salad
  Greek food: salad, fries, cheesy lamb, and moussaka

 There was a bagel shop near our hostel in Amsterdam. We had breakfast there both days. The first day: salmon and chive cream cheese. The second day: turkey club. Both days: everything bagels. Oh yeah.
frozen yogurt with awesome toppings
 chocolate-covered stroopwaffels and New Zealand-origin wine

Friday, April 26, 2013

6 photos for Amsterdam

Yes, six. I'm breaking the trend.

The last stop of our Easter trip was Amsterdam. Amsterdam is a weird, weird place. During the day it is a beautiful, calm city laced with canals and quaint squares. During the night it is filled with vomiting Italians and naked women. At all times the faint scent of marijuana smoke floats through the air from normal-seeming doorways. It's a beautiful city. It's a horrible city. It must be very interesting to be from Amsterdam.

We walked, sat in the sun, relaxed, toured a booze factory, ate, shopped, and walked some more. We also wandered into the darker parts of town to ogle and people watch the first night. (There were three facial expressions: drunk, horrified, amused.) It was a great trip.

 museum
 
 canals
 the Red Light District, clean and beautiful during the day
 the main train station
 a carnival in front of City Hall
me and the canals

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Every.Damn.Time.

I stumble across some things on the internet over and over, and usually they become less funny over time. This video, though? I just came across it again and, what do you know? It's still AMAZING! I can't stop laughing. (NSFW)


Also this one.


Spring Thaw

The Danube is so high, so fast, so blue. Biking home late at night, watching it swirl black and gold over the wall of the rakpart, you would be able to mistake it for the sea.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Bols Factory

One of the things we did in Amsterdam was to tour the Bols factory. Bols got its start a long time ago producing Genever, an herbal spirit full of... herbs and such. It now also produces a large number of flavored alcohols and liquors. The tour was super fun. You got to play around with tastes (eating a strawberry flavor strip while looking at pictures of blueberries, eating a different flavor strip while holding your nose, etc.), scents (smelling various vaporized liquors and having to guess the flavor), touch (handling the dried ingredients used to make the liquors), and taste (free cocktails and samples at the end of the tour!). All in all it was very interesting and well-done: a great way to spend a few hours doing something different and also relaxing.








Cheers!!

My First 10K Race


You can see me at the start of the race in the above video from about 17 seconds on. Watch me wave and then run dorkily away! I completed the race in 64:48, which was so much better than I expected... my goal was to be under seventy minutes, and I made it under sixty-five! So I was pretty pleased with the results.

It was a super fun day, too! Before the race I was a bit confused, and it was sort of hard to figure out where to go to pick up my chip and such. I wound up having to jog to the starting line, where I then got to stand for a few minutes while all the fast people filed through. The first three kilometers were on Margit Island, and it was nice and shady. After that we went up onto Arpad bridge and then south along the river on the Pest side. It was hot there for sure! When I got to the water station around kilometer six I just sort of threw the water at my face. (I must admit it gave me a perverse, law-breaker sort of a thrill to throw the cup onto the ground when I finished... someone cleaned them all up, don't worry!) Kilometer seven was a nightmare because it was just a loop, and I knew I would have to do it again on the way back! Plus, when I got onto the island I thought I saw the kilometer nine marker, but when I got closer I realized it was just a bus stop and the actual marker was a few hundred meters further. The last kilometer was actually super easy, and I managed to pick off quite a few people on the way in (and got picked off by a few as well!).

Immediately after stopping the race I felt really wobbly, and got a bit of a head rush, but just a minute or so later I felt fantastic. That's the joy of endorphines, I guess. I'm still just so pleased. I did it. I ran without stopping for over an hour! It's insane.

A big THANK YOU, too, to David and Barbara, who came out to support me/hold my stuff/take photos and video/give me water at the end. That's Barbara greeting me down there. I felt so loved! A thank you also to Anna for talking me into signing up to run the thing, and hopping down stairs with me today (Anna ran, too). You guys rock.

finished

Monday, April 22, 2013

5 photos for The Hague

On the Saturday of our Easter trip we headed to the Netherlands. There we stayed with Lyla's friend Marlouse, who was an astounding host and fed us and showed us around the city. On Sunday morning we work up late, had a lovely lunch buffet, and relaxed before heading out to Amsterdam.

 the Palace of Peace
 We took a walk through the parks of the city, played on playgrounds, and relaxed. We also found an Easter egg hidden in some flowers. 
 The Hague is beautiful.
 government buildings
relaxing, chatting, having fun