A friend of mine just returned from India, she has told me stories about how crowded it is there. I can’t imagine how crowded India must be, because I already find Budapest crowded. Going home after work reminds me of High School, the school was so over crowded that the their would be frequent “traffic jams” in the hallways, which forced the administration to remove the lockers from the key arterial hallways so the Students could actually move. I’m sure I am going to be in for a shock when I get back to quiet Surrey. Those readers from my hometown who have not traveled to any metropolises might not believe me that Surrey is quiet, but one day when they visit a major city and have to squish into a subway car for way too long, they will know what I’m talking about.

Hope you heard your email on Jeff O’Neil Mail this morning at 8:15!

Thanks for listening all the way from Budapest!

Charis
Morning Show Skirt
Jeff O’Neil Show
99.3 The Fox
Western Canada’s #1 Modern Rocker
Vancouver, B.C.
http://www.cfox.com
Is it just me, or does Madonna look like a pale Bruce Lee?

—–Original Message—–
From: email@scottelliott.com [mailto:email@scottelliott.com]
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 6:19 AM
To: CRVAN CFOX Morning Show
Subject: VIA WEB: Song Request - CFOXFM - Vancouver Market -

Hey Guys. My name is Scott E. (The REAL Scotte). I am a Surrey boy
currently living in Budapest, Hungary. I listen to your show every day
(9 hours difference its 3pm here). Can you play me “Lilly Allen - Oh My
God (I’ve never been this far away from home). Thanks a bunch!

Now that I am well past the half way point in my adventure, I have updated my map. It now includes all the major spots in the city - in my opinion. I’ve included a picture for most of them. Check it out!

Tip: The map is best viewed in Sat (Satellite) mode. Available on the top right of the map box.

This is the typical process I go through ordering food from a non-English speaker. This conversation happend this morning.

Me: Can I have a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McMuffin?
Her: ^&(&^*(^&*(^?
Me: Um. Sausage?
Her: Ah. Bacon?
Me: No, Sausage.
Her: Ah! &*(&^($^&*?
Me: Uh. Sure.
I pay. She gives me a plain Egg and Cheese McMuffin.
Me: Close enough. Thank you!

At least she was polite and patient. I often get quite the opposite sometimes.

It’s a seven hour train ride from Prague. At least this train has electrical sockets for my laptop.

Sometimes my mind convinces me I am somewhere else. Riding on the bus to work, I think to myself that the city streets of Budapest are actually the city streets of Downtown Vancouver, that the rolling hills between Budapest and Bratislava are the Canadian Prairies, or that the small forests that dot the landscape between Budapest and Prague are the outskirts of Montreal. But then I quickly snap out of it, and I realize how far I am from home.

I woke up after my first night back from Prague with the over whelming feeling that the last three months has been one long party, and that I was tired. I go to new places and see new things every week, if not every day. I thought I had settled down to life in Budapest, but I think I am just settling in on the wild ride I am still taking. Austria or Croatia next? Who knows.

The year has almost come to a close, and my Christmas is Budapest was a successful one. Christmas morning I went to the home of my Canadian friend and supervisor at the ERRC. With her boyfriend and another Canadian friend, the four of us had a nice Canadian Christmas brunch. Later that day I went to the home of a Hungarian friend and co-worker.  Together (mostly her) we prepared and cooked a Turkey, along with Potatoes and other fixings. It wasn’t a quiet Christmas, but it definitely had a different feel then previous Christmas’ back at home. This Christmas was a slower, more relaxed one, a simple day of friends and festivities. I enjoyed it very much, and might try to emulate it next year, somehow. 2008 is almost upon me and in mid-January I will reach the half-way point of my adventure. Its all downhill from here.

Its 4:41pm, but its pitch black outside my window. No electric light where I am. The long rolling fields of Slovakia are outside. I am writing this on the train returning me to Budapest. There 6 of us in this room of the carriage, a grandmother, mother and daughter, and another mother and daughter. Once again I am the black sheep of the group. I had a great trip to Bratislava and Skalica. I got the chance to meet some great Slovakians. Went to some nice bars and restaurants in both cities. Braitislava is a growing metropolis, like many others in the region. Skalica was somewhat unique, its old communist cement high rises somehow reminded me of Lloydminster, Alberta. It also had the new capitalist-era area, that purposely blended nicely with the pre-communist buildings which bare a resemblance to Whistler, BC. The difference in areas are of the city were striking to me, but I am sure so was the transition to democracy. Stano’s parents were wonderful hosts, near the entrance of their apartment was a souvenir plate from New York city, Stano told me that they never took it down during the Communist era. Now their son is a Human Rights activist - the times are certainly-a-changing.

When I was very young, in one of my families earliest homes, there was a photograph that always facinated me and yet scared me at the same time. It was of a street sign, at the end of a road, at night, with a field behind it. The street sign was yellow with arrows pointing left and right, indicating a fork in the road. The picture almost scared me; this sign - in the dark, in the middle of no where. However it also facisnated me at the same time - where was this sign? Who took this photograph? Under the photograph was a poem I have since memorized, it is my favorite poem to this day, and it has become my personal motto and one I think is relevant to my current adventure. Isnt it interesting how something from so long ago, that effected me in that way, can come full circle and be so relevant to me today.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost

In Grade 11 I was forced to take part in a “Career Preparation Program”. It was a feeble attempt at assisting the young students of my High School in choosing a profession so that they could begin to form their academic foundation in post-secondary school for the career of their choice. The biggest reason this was a flawed approach was that the process of choosing our careers was made through a computer program. It was like some kind of Sci-Fi movie of a Utopian society gone crazy.

We inputed various information about our hobbies and interests and it magically calculated what career we should begin preparing for. So I filled out the survey and the computer told me I should be a Computer Programmer. I knew this is what it was going to say, and I also knew it wasn’t the answer. Unfortunately I didn’t know at the time what the right answer was.

The whole program lied to us, telling us we had to choose a career, right there and then, if we didn’t it would be a disaster, I would be working at McDonald’s for the rest of my life. They put incredible pressure on us that we had to choose a career, finish High School, and immediately go to University and get an education or our lives would be over.

But what if you don’t know what you want to do? My only choice was to pick a career. So I went against the computer’s answer and decided I would be a Web Designer. I liked Web Design, I wasn’t totally convinced it was what I wanted to do with my life but it was the best idea I could come up with. Unfortunately I finally decided what I wanted to do with three months left in Grade 12 and my graduation.

At this point, in March 2001, I had managed to get chosen to go to New Year as a participant in a Sustainable Development conference at the United Nations. The whole adventure I had there is a very, very, long story, but suffice it to say that apart from almost being arrested by UN Security, I had an overall amazing experience. It allowed me to experience a life in politics, which brought me a passion I had not experienced before then.

However when I made it back home to Vancouver from New York I arrived to a process that had already been started, become a Web Designer. I got through art school with minimal excitement, but luckily for me, when I finished, my parents announced they still had money put away for my schooling and I could return to post-secondary school for education of my choice. I quickly decided to begin an education in Political Science.

My Political Science education has been stimulating and beneficial. And it has brought me to where I am today, hopefully making a contribution to fighting for human rights. I believe the situation of Roma in Europe is the most important Human rights issue in the world today, and I am glad to be a part of it, and hope I continue to contribute to the fight after my internship is over.

The Photo Album has been upgraded to directly connect with the photos I have been putting on Facebook. So their are now more pictures on my photo album, and it will be continually updated as I upload pictures. The link to the photo album is on the right in the “pages” box or you can also click here.