I miss the paper. I can access all kinds of newspapers and journals on-line. But it’s not quite the same. I like holding and folding–it’s more fun to do sudoku and the crossword when you can hold it on your lap and wrestle with it. The laptop never really conforms to my lap. On the other hand, I don’t have any of the guilt feelings I used to get at home if I was too busy to read the paper. Once the papers started piling up-Bernard never wants to recycle until he’s had a chance to read everything… the piles would start getting on my nerves and I’d take them to the dump.
When I was a student in Fribourg during my junior year abroad, I fell in love with the International Herald Tribune. I told Bernard it’s one of the best English-language papers available outside of the US. If you’re interested you can click here to check it out. The problem is that we can’t find it anywhere in Debrecen. We tried the train station, the Unideb library, the kiosks, and the large hotels in the city that cater to foreign guests. No luck.
Corner Kiosk – Debrecen
Given the severe withdrawal symptoms we were both experiencing, I decided to splurge. I have ordered a subscription which will be delivered to our apartment. Good news is that they were having a free one-month trial. Bad news….I don’t even know how much it will cost–. It’s a little bit of a guilty pleasure.
On the first day at school, I was doing some work in the office and Bernard went downstairs to the Bufe to get us something cold to drink. He bought me mineral water (with bubbles) and a Coke Light for himself. A colleague from the department came in to introduce himself (he’s an American) and told us that drinking Coca Cola was an elitist thing to do…that many Hungarians cannot afford Coke and that we should drink water. Those of you who know us know that we are very frugal and not at all ostentatious. Bernard used to drive me crazy because he would make one can last for hours and hours. (In my mind, there’s nothing worse than lukewarm diet soda). We didn’t know how to respond, so we didn’t say anything.
The email confirmation stated that the first paper would be delivered in 7-10 days. I can’t wait. Addiction is a terrible thing.
Thanks for tuning in and best regards,
Marcsi
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