Félmaraton!

Finished my first half marathon...and was not picked up by the sweeper bus! :)
It's pretty unbelievable how fast it all came about.
The day of the race, we got up at 6 am to have our favorite banana, chocolate, peanut butter overnight oats and then went off to Margaret Island for the start. Weather was a bit windy but the sun was shining by the time we were lined up in the corrals.

So much anticipation and excitement in the corral as we waited for the first few groups (the legit trying to win the race runners). We were in the back in good company:

Racing with a baby!

And then we were off! With a fist pump of the giant inflatable pink balloon, the run started. It was a little uphill at first (literally) and then we crossed over to the Pest side to welcoming cheers and motivating drum beats. The whole race was a purely mental game. Coming around to the Chain Bridge en route to the Buda side (halfway point) is when I had my first inkling of...why am I doing this? Followed by self-chiding---just keep going, just keep going. I was the little engine that could.
I think I can, I think I can-- (gulp down iso water and banana mush)--run, run, run...last uphill...back down to the island...oyy jelly legs...last 2K!...why is it so long?...omg...finish line in sight...DONE! :)

V for vegan training! 

or not... :-P

end of great chapter in our adventures--vegan half marathon :)

Afterwards, we chowed down on a phenomenal brunch. Then had very limited walking and stair climbing abilities for a couple days.
But within 3 days, I was ready to run again. And in all the post-race excitement and desire for another goal to work towards...casually started looking into some marathons...
So now, making it official--October 4, 2015 we are going to run the Portland Marathon!
Gloria and I will both be heading back to the U.S. this fall and it is the 26th year of our lives, so what better time to run 26 miles? :)

Hungarian

I enrolled in a Beginning Hungarian Course at CEU in February as a part of my residence permit agreement (where I begged saliently argued my case to allow me to stay due to my love of Hungarian culture and language).

Before I started the course, a random German guy told me that George Lucas actually based Yoda's speech off of Hungarian O_O! I actually had a random phase in my life (okay, this past winter) where I talked like Yoda nonstop and even had my family catching on ha :)
So, I excitedly went online to look up the details of this amazing fact, but sadly, he was just a bloke spinning a tale to impress.

However, there are some similarities where the subject goes before the verb in certain instances:
Ishita vagyok--[Ishita I am] would be how you introduce yourself.

But this does not hold for everything--
Beszélek angolul--[I speak English] reverts back to subject following the verb.
It's quite puzzling how Hungarian evolved into such a distinct language. While there are some similarities with Slavic languages, it really is a creature on its own. One aspect that really sets it apart from any other language I have encountered is the concept of vowel harmony.
The endings in different grammatical structures depend on whether the vowels fall in one of the two vowel grouping categories. This applies to endings for nouns as well as for verb conjugation!

Conjugations (the notebook is a present from my lil sis's travels to China ha)

Pronunciation is also tricky and different.
"s"="sh"
"sz"="s"
"cs"="ch"

And Hungarians always emphasize the beginning syllables and have strong inflection in their phrases, making it difficult to understand when they're speaking at their normal fast pace.

Today was the last day of class. Overall, it was a good introduction to the basic present-tense grammar structures and basic vocabulary of numbers, foods, verbs, etc. I can now at least pronounce the words I see on the signs and buy things at the farmer's market without a convoluted game of charades! We'll see if I continue...

Universal Magic

Partial solar eclipse!

Joyce and I wandered outside about 10 minutes till the "peak" of the solar eclipse, in search of the sun. Walking along Andrassy, we just had to find the street where we could spot the sun between the buildings. After wandering for about 8 minutes, questioning the void "Where is the sun?!", we finally spotted it in a side street.

Now, the tricky part of a solar eclipse is you're not supposed to actually stare into it. We knew there was some trick with getting the reflection on a blank sheet of paper, but after a few minutes of foolishly holding the paper up to the sun without really considering the science of shadows behind it, we had a moment of fuck it--let's stare for just a sec. So we both took turns with sunglasses to look straight into the sun and saw it! It was an incredible crescent sun and hard to look away. But we did reluctantly and had spots in our vision for a few hours moments afterwards (worth it though hehe).

Luckily, there was also a group of the most altruistic, mysterious "nerds" (aka highly intelligent Big Bang Theory vibe superstars) who set up a contraption with a cardboard box and telescope so the solar eclipse was reflected in the box.

baby eclipse :)

After reveling in the wonder of how wonderful universal phenomena are, we went to a flower market in a nearby square. Joyce had a lovely thought to surprise a friend with daffodils--random act to brighten someone's day. Later, we found out she had actually had some bad news earlier in the day and the daffodil surprise had cosmically "eclipsed" :-P her sadness. So wonderful when things align that way.

Holidaze

Last weekend was full of random holiday celebrations amidst the busy times of shooting interviews and B-roll footage for our documentary.

First up--the most epic Pi Day! I started Pi Day celebrations back in middle school when my favorite math teacher would have a pizza party and have everyone sing a "traditional" Pi Day song--

Oh Number Pi – Song (to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”)

Oh, number Pi
Your digits are unending,
Oh, number Pi
No pattern are you sending.
And even more if we had time,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
For circle lengths unbending.
Oh, number Pi
You are a number very sweet,

Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
Your uses are so very neat.

There’s 2 Pi r and Pi r squared,
A half a circle and you’re there,
Oh, number Pi
Oh, number Pi
We know that Pi’s a tasty treat.
--------------

And this year, it was a once in a lifetime Pi Day--Pi to the ninth decimal place! So at 3/14/15 at 9:26:53, we celebrated with a classic pizza pi :)

Vegan Hungarian pizza from our favorite Napfenyes Etterem

The following day was a Hungarian national holiday commemorating the 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule. Many of the festivities centered around the National Museum, where a famous poet, Petofi, had delivered a National Song. 

National Museum

Love the "secret service" men. Cheers for PM Viktor Orban's speech--quite a controversial figure right now with his conservative agenda and hob-nobbing with Putin

After, admission to all the museums was free so perfect time to check out the National Museum.  

Liszt Ferenc's (Hungarian composer) broadwood piano that originally belonged to Beethoven

Stalin's right hand--remnant from a statue overturned in Hungary's October revolution against the Soviet Union

Gömböc--first known convex, homogeneous object to have just one stable & unstable equilibrium point so it always self-rights itself to its single stable position without added weight. Explains the mystery of the tortoise! :)

Overall, the curation was a bit of a mish-mash from WWI and beyond, but a cool collection of artifacts and a good outline of national history. 

Yann Tiersen

Amélie is probably my most listened to movie soundtrack. My college biffle/music guru introduced it to me. Thus, it became the background to many all-nighters and intense essay writing sessions. So naturally when I learned Yann Tiersen, the composer, would be performing in Budapest, I bounced on the tickets. 

Before the concert, I only knew his work in Amélie, but coming out of it---he is soooo much more than just that one soundtrack. It was likely one of the best concerts I've been to based on the quality, creativity and range of musical compositions. Plus, I loved his attitude. Dude is definitely the shit and he just works his magic on stage without too many extra frills/words. Here are a couple videos to share some snippets of his awesomeness--

A little homage to Amélie

Jack of all trades!

A year ago, Yann and co. met a guy named Martin in Berlin. Martin had composed this collection for the East German Olympic program from 1972-83 and this is the first time it's being performed live. Crazy cool mix!

Taco Night

Globalization is a fun buzzhappening that I always love to grapple with. Some champion how it brings everything to your doorstep so you can experience the "world" without ever having to go further than your closest urban center. While I don't think it can actually replace the firsthand experience of travel, I have noticed a continuous spread of some of the most conspicuous goods and foods from stretches of the world in everyday markets and restaurants. Even present day staples like Nutella and Sriracha used to be a rare find in my childhood.

As a foodie with an ambitious palate, I especially love how different places get creative with global foods. In San Francisco, I experienced not just the classic Mexican burrito but also the Sushiritto (a sushi burrito stuffed with tons of fish, veggies and sauces) and Korrito (a korean bulgogi burrito with kimchi rice).

When traveling/living in different cities, there's usually access to an array of Italian, Western (burgers and other assorted interpretations),  Thai, Chinese, Middle Eastern and Indian foods. Not always the most "authentic" but good to have options. However, much to my chagrin, a key cuisine is grossly underrepresented/invisible outside of the Americas. Mexican food.

I think I became particularly hooked to the burrito craze in California last year. Starting off in Sunnyvale, I lived a stone throw away from what is likely hands down one of the best Super Burrito joints in the world,  Tres Potrillos. From the flavor of the chicken to the freshness of the salsa, it was just...wow. Moving to San Francisco, particularly the 24th Street Mission neighborhood, I was surrounded by a dizzying array of Mexican food options. In fact, our neighborhood is home to some of the top contenders and winner of the rigorous nationwide Burrito Bracket Evaluation (although I may still be partial to Tres Potrillos ha).

The international Mexican food void makes sense in terms of historical migration patterns, but you would think with globalization, more people would be spreading the phenomenal flavors. I have seen some feeble trans-Atlantic/Pacific appearances of Mexican food. Bangladesh is notorious for its "book menus" where they attempt to list a smorgasbord of unending options, which you have to cleverly pick through to find the items the restaurant can actually prepare. On such menus, you could find the occasional "taco" or "Mexican" chicken/salad dish, but usually they would just be Bengali roti and meats spiced in a South Asian style. There was also a buzz of excitement with news of Accra's first Mexican restaurant. I ventured over with a big group of people (some who had never even tried Mexican food before) in anticipation of indulging my long neglected craving. Sadly, it was just simply an overpriced ($15-30 a dish...in Ghana!) underwhelming mishmash of flavors (the owners were Lebanese so the "burrito" was more like a Middle Eastern wrap).

The heartbreaking gap in the international food market has at least inspired some fun DIY Mexican food nights/cooking experiments. In Ghana, there would be piles of avocados, fresh tomatoes and bunches of onions lining the streets and my mind would jump to guacamole, which we enjoyed with plantain chips as a delish tortilla chip substitute. In Budapest, we have had fun experimenting with "Mexikoi" spice combinations and whipping up all forms of tacos and clean-out-the fridge batches of chili (quite an excellent vegan option).

So when my former Sunnyvale roommate, Kyle, recently came to visit during his Europe woofing adventure, our fond Tres Potrillos reminiscing naturally led to a delish taco night.

Beans, salsa, guac, peppers, meat for the non-vegans & a side cocktail

We couldn't replicate Tres Potrillos, but a happy food coma worthy night nonetheless.

Needless to say, I strongly believe an international Mexican food diaspora would be a smashing success. The ingredients and spices are accessible in most places. Plus its versatility allows it to be dished out in mass street food style batches or sit-down places with relatively low production cost. Pitch to the next restaurant start-up venture capitalist? 

Szimpla Sunday

Szimpla is a ruin pub in my hood. Ruin pubs are fashioned out of old abandoned buildings and are a circus of odds and ends. It's always fun exploring all the different nooks and crannies and seeing what clever decor has transformed the rundown spaces into artistic pieces. In the past, I had only explored Szimpla at night, when it is quite a...show ha. Bachelor parties donned in milkmaid costumes, British blokes causing a ruckus and all sorts of interesting characters.

Did you know rubik's cubes were invented by a Hungarian?

But, on Sunday mornings the madness transforms into a lovely farmer's market. Farmer's markets are one of my favorite places to troll. Just walking around and seeing the variety of produce, breads, jams, honeys, etc. is so relaxing. I love experimenting with new, fresh flavors. Szimpla hosts a completely locally sourced farmer's market. So crazy wonderful seeing the transformation in the daylight---variety of fresh cheeses/dairy (vegan distress...I had to resist every urge to try the truffle butter...), breads, jams and nut butters, sauces and much more. A perfect start to the day wandering through the odds and ends and discovering delish treats with light jazzy live music in the background :)

Why hello Mr. Gnome!

PEANUT BUTTER! Soooo good and fresh---I got two jars--one salty and one with chocolate

I've never seen so many varieties of honey

Love the fedora and the well-positioned coffee cup ;)

Such happy jazzy music to start the day