Hi my friends, please pardon my French but ever since I started blogging I have been toying with the idea of doing an entry in English so that my dear foreign friends, who „nem beszélek magyarul”, could also have a little bit of an insight on our lives in the not so big, but far away city of Philadelphia.

So it has been around 182 days that we packed our very practically picked personal belongings in Budapest and left for the United States, knowing very little about what is waiting on the other side of the Atlantic for us and for our little furry companion, Höri. Since then we have learned an awful lot about life, different cultures, squirrels, ourselves and each other, but let me give you a short list of our most important findings so far:

You only drink Budweiser at your own risk, preferring a local brewery or your neighbor’s own home brewed beer is far more chic. Oh yes, and forget about the Coronita dear, it may be classy in Szimpla, but not here.

Walking around on your actual feet is a very surprising sight for most of those who are living outside of a city, so be prepared to drive even to your favorite coffee shop 666 feet away. If you take up walking as a hobby (as I did in the first weeks), be prepared to basically anything, from explaining to people that your car did not broke down - you just prefer walking, or (oh my god) don’t even have a car, to jumping over bushes only to find out that there is no pedestrian crossing on the suburban roads.

People actually have an idea where Hungary is, but sadly not much people know about Pálinka.. But fear not my friends, Csuszi and Dávid is here to change that! Our connection in Salgótarján hopefully will supply us with enough to get the whole neighborhood drunk before they know it.

You think you can park in tiny places? Come see our hood in Philly. Not only the cars are not monstrous, but people can actually drive and park. That is, except for me of course… Though I am getting better and better I am still the clueless blond who once raided the streets of Terézváros.

The food is awesome, you can have anything you want, anyway and anytime you want it. Authentic food of excellent quality from different parts of the world can be found in Philly, although sometimes they come in interesting pairings, like the little Sushi-Café nearby. I should know, I gained a wonderful 20 pounds since we are here.

Last but not least, living in the US has been wonderful so far. With all the ups and downs of changing our home, our faces still light up when driving home from work we see the silhouette of the downtown skyscrapers. Our families might be far away but frankly, in these 6 months I have talked more to them than in 2 years at home. And more importantly, moving from one place to another can show you what are the things that you don’t need in your life anymore. I mean old flat irons and such of course.

I hope you are doing great and miss us like hell! Enormous hugs to y’all!