Once Again

This was my view for 8 hours yesterday, which means that I’m back in the EU. And I brought my baggage with me—both physically and mentally. I’m referring, of course, to my ability to tell time (or rather, lack thereof). I think it’s a case of déjà vu, as I could practically just re-publish my last post.

I woke up (once again) confused. The sun was already (once again) high in the sky, and my guess was (once again) that it was still before noon. Having just arrived in Budapest yesterday, I didn’t know (once again) when the sun was rising here.

I looked at my alarm clock, and it was dead. Well, actually, before I left Budapest a few weeks back, I turned around the battery to save it. When I returned yesterday, I set the time and the alarm, and turned the alarm on, but I never turned the battery back around. No go on the alarm clock.

I looked at my cell phone, and it was dead too. Well, the battery actually completely drained before I was able to recharge it, which resets the internal calendar to January 1, 2000, 12:00 AM (no blinking). No go on the cell.

I looked at my laptop computer, but then I wasn’t sure (1) which time zone it reflected, and (2) if it automatically adjusted to daylight savings time. No go on the computer.

The last resort was my iPod. But whatever I read from it would be completely useless anyway. My iPod is synched with my Mac, and I have no idea which time zone it is currently set to, let alone how accurate the time is (lately I just use my Mac for iTunes, so having the exact time isn’t all that important). No go on the iPod.

I’m thinking, how could this possibly happen to me twice within 3 days? (note to self: insert opinions and analysis of this same topic from last blog post ... kidding!) I hope I could say that this was (once again) justified: I did just arrive in Europe yesterday afternoon, and my body was still on one of 3 time zones (Chicago-standard, Chicago-daylight savings time/New York-standard, or New York-daylight savings time).

I needed a new approach. I called my office, introducing the conversation with the possibility that I might need to apologize for being late, but that I just wasn’t sure. Needless to say, they didn’t exactly buy my story (but I think they secretly gave me points for creativity). You see, the night before, all of the architects had a really big party. Well, there was some drinking. When I finally arrived at the office (around 12:30), I found out that several of the architects got really sick from the previous night. They were all drinking lots of beer and Unicum, a Hungarian specialty. I only had some wine and mézes szilva pálinka, a more refined Hungarian specialty. From what I hear, it sounds like the office was somewhat empty before 11:00 this morning.

I was flying high, enjoying the pain that everyone else was feeling, as I had none. The photo below is from yesterday, when I was flying high over Zürich, Switzerland.