Update: Scotland is saved. (Lucky bastards...)
9/30/2008
Next stop...
Scotland. That's even more odd. Wonder when Hungary gets a tropical storm.
Update: Scotland is saved. (Lucky bastards...)
Update: Scotland is saved. (Lucky bastards...)
9/28/2008
Hung(a)ry
I just realized that I haven’t spoken Hungarian with anyone (except over the phone) since I left NY in July. Sure, some people wanted to learn how to say this and that in Hungarian or at least try to figure out if it’s similar to any language they know. Usually they couldn’t find anything similar. On exception was when I met a bunch of Kazakhs and we found one common word: “szakáll” (i.e. beard). That's a real conversation starter. What can you possibly say about beards? How is someone supposed to talk about them for more than 2 minutes? :) And also, people wanted to learn swearing in Hungarian. At first they asked how I would say certain four letter words and when I told them it depends on the situation and I could think of at least 5 different words for it just out of the top of my head, they agreed that it is a rich language indeed. 
Anyway, a couple of days after Ike hit us a friend of mine currently studying in Belgium sent me a link. I read the article, it was about a guy also in Houston who had some trouble with Ike. I sent him an e-mail asking which part of the city he lived in and we exchanged contacts. A week later he sent me a message that they are having a BBQ at his place and I should join, it will be only Hungarian ex-pats. So I went there this Friday and we had an awesome time. There were three guys, two with their wives, who are both gorgeous btw, and we had some old fashioned “shashlik” together.
It was so much fun speaking Hungarian again with actual people and not through the phone. They were really funny people, jokes kept flying around all night. Luckily, I was the only lawyer there so we didn’t talk much about work. Now I know that if I fly back home through Paris, I have to be ready to break my personal record on 400m flat run, because the layover between the Houston-Paris and the Paris-Budapest flight is quite short.
9/23/2008
Playing cards again
No, I haven't moved to Vegas. I just got my Texas ID card. Finally, I have a better chance to fool the bouncers at the clubs (luckily the ladies don't ask for an ID when you start talking with them once you're inside). Not that they had any problem with looking at my passport for my date of birth (=DOB on my new ID, which I think is funny because of its Hungarian meaning: drum). So far, even my Hungarian ID card was good enough to let me in at places where alcohol is served (remember: the legal age for drinking is 21 and they really care about it around here). But I can finally ditch questions about my home country, which is nice if asked by some random girl but pisses me off when bored bouncers hold me up with such cr*p at the entrance. Come to think of it, maybe I will use this new ID to play some of the old games I used to. At some places in Budapest I was better off posing as some guy from NYC. Now I have "proof" for "being from" Texas. :D
I also got a bunch of business cards. From the university. Try the convince the university that you need a business card at home. :) At first I didn't know why they wanted me to have them but then I realized that all these mixers, parties and conferences are good occasions to get rid of them. And I can also add them to my collection. I always keep some of my old cards just for fun.
Another somewhat surprising development of the day was that when I started writing this post, I heard yelling and screaming from a neighboring home. I pulled up the blinds and saw someone running around with something on fire in the dark. Then I realized that the voice sounds familiar so I looked closer. I turned out that one of the Russians tried to put out a birthday cake that was on fire. Since she is in my class I went over to help her when she told me I should join her birthday party. The guys surprised her with a cake and those candles that relight themselves once you blow them out. They couldn't stop the relighting. :)
I also got a bunch of business cards. From the university. Try the convince the university that you need a business card at home. :) At first I didn't know why they wanted me to have them but then I realized that all these mixers, parties and conferences are good occasions to get rid of them. And I can also add them to my collection. I always keep some of my old cards just for fun.
Another somewhat surprising development of the day was that when I started writing this post, I heard yelling and screaming from a neighboring home. I pulled up the blinds and saw someone running around with something on fire in the dark. Then I realized that the voice sounds familiar so I looked closer. I turned out that one of the Russians tried to put out a birthday cake that was on fire. Since she is in my class I went over to help her when she told me I should join her birthday party. The guys surprised her with a cake and those candles that relight themselves once you blow them out. They couldn't stop the relighting. :)
9/19/2008
Homework
Everyone, look up Jeff Dunham on Youtube. It's R.O.F.L.M.A.O (that is rolling on the floor laughing my a** off).
9/14/2008
Stranded
Finally, we got electricity back even though the water is regarded unsafe. So, we survived Ike "sheltered in place" as the administration called it. This basically meant that I went from my wooden cottage to a friend's brick house. I never thought I'd ever refer to the "three piglets' tale" as authority.
As the storm hit on Saturday evening... I slept like a baby. :) I didn't even hear a thing in that fortress I was staying in. It was bad that we lost power and tap water but sine we stacked up on bottled water and non-perishable food we had no problem with the survival part. I began to be really uncomfortable when I couldn't take a shower next day. The friend hosting me decided to fill up the bath tub with water the day before, so at least we could flush the toilet the old fashion way, that is with a bucket.
Once we lost power, all the hallways turned black and we lost cellphone coverage, as well. We found out the next day that if we went up to the second floor, the neighboring towers gave enough signal to phone, text or even browse the net from my Blackberry. You may remember that this part of town is pretty far from everywhere. And the wind stripped all parks like a bulldozer so trees were everywhere cutting down powerlines and thus almost all road were closed. So we decided to study for the upcoming mid-term exams. The professor told us we would have the exams on this Thursday if there are classes on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we will have classes tomorrow.
Anyway, the resident assistant supervising the building knocked on the door sometime at night and told us he just kicked out some looters so it was safer to go upstairs where the few residents gathered. When we went upstairs we found some 10 people dozed off from the tremendous amount of booze they poured into themselves. so after an hour of laughing at them we just went back down to finally get some sleep. Sometime early morning I saw water rising up just outside my window. Now that was really scary. Luckily, it drained by the time I woke up a couple hours later.
Today, we found out that some stores were open so we jumped into the car and went around town to see what we can find. Interestingly, traffic wasn't so tough except for one part of a highway. The funny thing was that the biggest mall was open, they had fresh food (I still don't like Chinese) and even some perfume shops tried to have people linger in. I actually bought a pair old jeans that were on sale. :)
I'll be able to move back to my original place tomorrow and school will resume on Tuesday, so I guess I better go back to my readings.
As the storm hit on Saturday evening... I slept like a baby. :) I didn't even hear a thing in that fortress I was staying in. It was bad that we lost power and tap water but sine we stacked up on bottled water and non-perishable food we had no problem with the survival part. I began to be really uncomfortable when I couldn't take a shower next day. The friend hosting me decided to fill up the bath tub with water the day before, so at least we could flush the toilet the old fashion way, that is with a bucket.
Once we lost power, all the hallways turned black and we lost cellphone coverage, as well. We found out the next day that if we went up to the second floor, the neighboring towers gave enough signal to phone, text or even browse the net from my Blackberry. You may remember that this part of town is pretty far from everywhere. And the wind stripped all parks like a bulldozer so trees were everywhere cutting down powerlines and thus almost all road were closed. So we decided to study for the upcoming mid-term exams. The professor told us we would have the exams on this Thursday if there are classes on Tuesday. Unfortunately, we will have classes tomorrow.
Anyway, the resident assistant supervising the building knocked on the door sometime at night and told us he just kicked out some looters so it was safer to go upstairs where the few residents gathered. When we went upstairs we found some 10 people dozed off from the tremendous amount of booze they poured into themselves. so after an hour of laughing at them we just went back down to finally get some sleep. Sometime early morning I saw water rising up just outside my window. Now that was really scary. Luckily, it drained by the time I woke up a couple hours later.
Today, we found out that some stores were open so we jumped into the car and went around town to see what we can find. Interestingly, traffic wasn't so tough except for one part of a highway. The funny thing was that the biggest mall was open, they had fresh food (I still don't like Chinese) and even some perfume shops tried to have people linger in. I actually bought a pair old jeans that were on sale. :)
I'll be able to move back to my original place tomorrow and school will resume on Tuesday, so I guess I better go back to my readings.
9/11/2008
Weather update
As Hurricane Ike is closing in on Houston, I just wanted to inform you that I may not be reachable during the upcoming days. I'm not under a mandatory evacuation order as of now, but this may be expected anytime. Therefore I won't be reachable on my landline phone and I try to conserve battery life and airtime on my cell phone for emergency calls, which I hope I won't have to place. So please don't try to reach me there. I'll try to continue monitoring all my e-mail accounts but don't be surprised if I don't reply soon enough. We were told to expect shortages in power services so I may lose electronic connection to the outside world.
The hurricane is expected to hit Houston in early Saturday morning potentially as a category 3 hurricane. So tomorrow, I'll move to a friend's place, which appears to be a safer location.
If you are interested in keeping track of Ike, check out updates on cnn.com, chron.com and at the National Hurricane Center.
I will post updates as the storm has passed and conditions have been restored to normal. But I guess I still have to study for my mid-term exams. :(
The hurricane is expected to hit Houston in early Saturday morning potentially as a category 3 hurricane. So tomorrow, I'll move to a friend's place, which appears to be a safer location.
If you are interested in keeping track of Ike, check out updates on cnn.com, chron.com and at the National Hurricane Center.
I will post updates as the storm has passed and conditions have been restored to normal. But I guess I still have to study for my mid-term exams. :(
9/08/2008
8/28/2008
Denny Crane! Never lost, never will!
In case you were wondering, I do go to classes. In fact, the most interesting and fun ones have just started this week.
One is called Energy Law: Emerging Markets. Now, I suppose it is fair to say that, at least to U.S. standards, I come from a country that may be regarded as emerging. OK, a lot of you who have lived there in the last 8 years would dispute that to some degree but I hope we have made some progress (again, it depends on the basis to which we compare). Anyway, an interesting feature of this class is the professor who teaches it. He is an of-counsel (i.e. a working pensioner in U.S. terms) at a tiny law firm. Also, he speaks somewhat slowly. Normally this would be a good thing, since a lot of us don't speak English as a first language and this makes the guy more understandable. But he speeks reeeally sloooow. Some of you may know a certain attorney in the Frankfurt office of Freshfields, who is about the same age (approx. 65), speaks really slowly and lost a considerable portion of his hair (probably due to the case we had involving a certain arbitration and its challenge). This is one fact I cannot put aside. This resemblance is quite distracting. Anyway, the class is more or less a historic study of how former communist command economis have been transformed into something else. When I took the class, I thought to myself, I might as well tell these folks what life is like in such a country. I wouldn't have thought that most of the people who actually took this course came from such countries and apparently the teaching process has been reversed. We teach the professor of some things he missed while he was practicing in Russia in the 1990s.
Another class I took is Oil & Gas Law. Seems obvious to take when I try to major in energy law around here. What I didn't know was that this class is solely and completely about Texan law. No international or even interstate elements of any kind. Well, I came here to study some real American law, so I guess I'll have to settle with that. The professor is a really funny person. He's not so young anymore but is as energetic as no other.
First thing he said after introducing himself:
Another example of his realistic approach:
He has a pretty innovative teaching method: comics. He draws little comics while he explains cases and makes the class really interactive. Today, for instance, we were arbitrarily divided into three groups: "strict fathers", "black letter lawyers" and "nurturing parents". The purpose was to look at some issues from these standpoints, like what happens if some drills an oil well and drains oil from his neighbor's land.
A constant line he drops every other minute, that is when he finishes a block:
Well, the main difference probably is the prof has no trace of arrogance in him.
One is called Energy Law: Emerging Markets. Now, I suppose it is fair to say that, at least to U.S. standards, I come from a country that may be regarded as emerging. OK, a lot of you who have lived there in the last 8 years would dispute that to some degree but I hope we have made some progress (again, it depends on the basis to which we compare). Anyway, an interesting feature of this class is the professor who teaches it. He is an of-counsel (i.e. a working pensioner in U.S. terms) at a tiny law firm. Also, he speaks somewhat slowly. Normally this would be a good thing, since a lot of us don't speak English as a first language and this makes the guy more understandable. But he speeks reeeally sloooow. Some of you may know a certain attorney in the Frankfurt office of Freshfields, who is about the same age (approx. 65), speaks really slowly and lost a considerable portion of his hair (probably due to the case we had involving a certain arbitration and its challenge). This is one fact I cannot put aside. This resemblance is quite distracting. Anyway, the class is more or less a historic study of how former communist command economis have been transformed into something else. When I took the class, I thought to myself, I might as well tell these folks what life is like in such a country. I wouldn't have thought that most of the people who actually took this course came from such countries and apparently the teaching process has been reversed. We teach the professor of some things he missed while he was practicing in Russia in the 1990s.
Another class I took is Oil & Gas Law. Seems obvious to take when I try to major in energy law around here. What I didn't know was that this class is solely and completely about Texan law. No international or even interstate elements of any kind. Well, I came here to study some real American law, so I guess I'll have to settle with that. The professor is a really funny person. He's not so young anymore but is as energetic as no other.
First thing he said after introducing himself:
"Oil and gas law was not biult on rationality. It was built on the notion of MORE OIL!"
Another example of his realistic approach:
"Law is all made up. All you need is a set of words and you can solve any problem."
He has a pretty innovative teaching method: comics. He draws little comics while he explains cases and makes the class really interactive. Today, for instance, we were arbitrarily divided into three groups: "strict fathers", "black letter lawyers" and "nurturing parents". The purpose was to look at some issues from these standpoints, like what happens if some drills an oil well and drains oil from his neighbor's land.
A constant line he drops every other minute, that is when he finishes a block:
"Questions? Comments? Outrage?"In any event, the best way to describe his way of speaking: Denny Crane!
Well, the main difference probably is the prof has no trace of arrogance in him.
8/26/2008
working hours
I just overheard a conversation of U.S. law students, quite possibly 3 year J.Ds, talking about their future plans, interview sessions they've done or plan to do for internships. It made me wonder. I never really thought about questions like "Do I want to work with a big law firm, or I'd rather be an in-house counsel or even a prosecutor?". Also, it's been severl years since I graduated and I suddenly feel really old amongst these folks. It's funny to hear about the ridiculous "personality tests" these people had to face before being asked even a single legal question in their interviews. I try to restrain myself from giving tips to them. They'd probably dismiss them at first saying I'm from a different legal culture. But is the culture of big international law firms any different on the old continent and in the new world?
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