Budapest

Budapest 2010

I went to Budapest / Hungary for business one week in April 2010. Some may remember this month as ist was the start of the ash cloud.
Work was the main part of this trip and in the beginning I thought I may go with colleagues for dinner some evenings or just have a coffee after work. But it turned out that they were not really happy about me being there and checking what they did for several reasons. I had to check the quality and when I started on the first day to detect quality issue after quality issue and they were more than angry. Not my problem as I didn't had the task to please them, I had to ensure quality, means they did wrong and tried to blame me to be to strict.
Nevertheless, I wasn't there to make friends and to get at least a glimpse of the city where I stayed for the week I decided to discover it on my own.
Fortunately my hotel was directly on the chain bridge and it was easy to walk in all directions from there. The weather could have been better as it was foggy and rainy the whole week. But instead of sitting in the hotel room after a tough day with only a partly working TV a walk was not the worst option.
I never took so many pictures within such a short stay but Budapest is full of nice spots, even in rain. The atmosphere hits me quickly because people there are smiling and friendly whatever they are doing. Given the fact that Hungary isn't one of the wealthiest countries it proofs again that money can never make you happy.
The last night was the most impressive for me as the whole trip turned out to be a mess in regards to work. One catastrophe was following the other and instead of trying to fix it together the colleagues started to work against me. I was never in a situation like this, handling everything professionell for sure, but it was not as in other countries. This was the attitude from colleagues not being able to admit mistakes, single persons, so not to judge the rest of Hungary because of them.
On my last evening it was almost the feeling as if you walk along the Thames in London so much fog over the city. I'm not sure if that's common for Budapest or if I picked exactly this time.
I walked across a market place in the centre where you hardly could see the lights surrounding the streets through the thick layer of fog over the city.
A man with a saxophone was playing and it was the most awesome time of my stay.
There I was, completely alone in a country where I don't even speak one word of their language and in the middle of a city which is completely new to me but I felt at ease at this moment. I was breathing in the atmosphere not to loose one second of it and I still remember the smell of the air. Its always the small things which last forever. A moment to remember and this one moment overlayed all stress encountered in the same city. Thanks for saying goodbye like this, Budapest. I love to think about visiting this city again one day, maybe in summertime...

City or countryside?

City or countryside?

I will turn thirty-five in November and luckily met a man who's thinking in the same direction as me about life.

I have a small flat in the middle of the city. Perfect if you wanna have the complete city feeling. Cafés and restaurants are just around the corner as well as supermarkets and the green stripe of the river where you have the feeling to be in nature. That was exactly what I ever wanted when I moved to this place. My area has grown during the past years and is nowadays one of the hip places to live in Munich. But why am I not satisfied anymore? 

It's not that I don't like my flat, it's still my home, my place where I'm feeling so comfortable but I'm starting more and more to miss the silence.

Not silence like taking earplugs and shut down the world around you. No, silence like hearing no cars outside twenty-four hours, like not closing the window just to hear what they say on TV, like being outside and having only birds and bees and wind around you which makes sounds while hitting a tree. A place to step out of the door and being in peace. A place to slow down and also a place where you can imagine to raise up a child freely. 

Am I getting old or is it just the normal way to settle down at a certain age?

On the other hand I will not completely loose the comfort a city has. A wide spread variety of different restaurants, we have almost each country here and it's always exciting to try some unknown food. Shopping is also so easily done as you will find everything you can think of. Meeting friends in a café especially in summer is awesome. Sitting outside and just watching the busy people around you is something I like so much. But would I like it if I always see the same persons like in a small village? For sure not because this was one of million reasons why I moved. You have to decide what you want...

I want a quiet place with a small garden and nature around me but it should only take me no more than fifteen minutes to be in the middle of the city. Also important is that it's near to an airport as we will need in more often in future. I need it from time to time as I'm not traveling too much nowadays but my future husband will not move completely to Germany. He has his job which he likes so much and we may be able to start our life together in 4-5 week rhythms.

So what to look for? I'm a person who always wants to plan and organize and know where to be when. But that's not what life's about. 

Perfect would be a small house around Munich where we live and raise our children one day? 

No, because where is the father - just there every four weeks? 

Perfect would be a house in Libya? No, as I haven't been there up to now and I cannot imagine something I never saw. 

Perfect would be moving to a country we both can imagine like UK? 

No, as we don't know how it work out with our jobs. 

Too many No's at the moment but where we have a big YES is the question if we want to travel the path of our life together and wherever it will lead us, we will make it hopefully or how libyans say, inshallah.

Keep the faith!