Steps Towards an Adventure

Today I started on the final list of things that need to be done before leaving for almost 6 months. I passed through Herberger's -- a department store and picked up a couple of very basic shirts as well as a pair of earrings -- some bling for dress up occasions such as going to the Budapest Opera. The clerks were elderly women -- and since I'm now a Medicare card carrier, when I say elderly, they were really old! Usually when I go the clerks are college student age. It must be that Thursday morning gets a different workforce.

The whole process of making these purchases was a bit different -- they were really bossy and a bit set in their ways and discussing all the time other workers who didn't do work the same way they did. It made me think of the observations I've read about the older women in Poland who work the post office windows, for example, or perhaps now the stories I'm reading about the Hungarian nenis on the buses. Central Europe doesn't own this phenomenon of the older women who set the rules and are going to keep the rest of us in line. It was alive and well in Saint Paul this morning.

Then to Target to get some things to enhance the storage in this apartment. I've yet to tackle putting away the Christmas decorations. This has been postponed because a whole shelf area in a the foyer closet is going to get reorganized at the same time.

Then I went to a License Bureau armed with the e-mail that said I could purchase my license tabs up to a year ahead of time. I was expecting a hassle but the whole thing took about 3 minutes after I waited through the number line from 81 to 99.

My final stop was the Credit Union. I got a second debit card. I'd read advice about this and decided to get a 2nd card in case some ATM -- called Bankomat in Central Europe -- eats my debit card. I found out how much money I can take out in one day. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to routinely get the 150,000 Forints in hand that it will take to pay the rent! I took out cash -- and hurrah, I have received my Fulbright advance -- so that I have two months rent in hand to take to a change bureau in case that will be the best way at the very beginning.

My final task was to get a document notarized. I have to send a report to the probate court every year in my role as my older daughter's guardian. So that task is done except for addressing an envelope and getting it in the mail.

Tonight I'm organizing what materials I have to take with me to write a new course for fall semester at my home university. So little by little things are getting done. Tomorrow I'll start a new list.