Day 7- May 24: Being Dramatic... oh

Our residency host and coordinator Beata invited us to see her work at her house so all of us took the trains and a bus over to her house. She is such a great story teller, she lives a very interesting life and have so many intriguing stories to tell. She bursts into life (even more) when she tells stories about her ex marriages, old communist days, and her family drama. I can really relate to her pain but I decided not to share with everyone in the group so I kept it to myself.

Beata is such a wonderful artist, she did work in many different medias and had shown in some major museums in the world. I feel she is able to understand my work. I wish to be like her one day but I do feel bad that she still struggles financially, the life of Artists sigh....

I wanted to do something fun tonight so decided to go to a bar and next thing I know it's 6am... made my way back to the hotel and had breakfast and went to bed.

Day five- May 22ed: Lecture and Nakedness

Day of the presentation- I had a hangover from the night before and rushed to pull myself together for the lecture and slide show. Thankfully I am scheduled in the afternoon and it was amazing experience to have seen what other artists have done. My presentation went pretty well even though I wasn't 100 percent there.

After the presentation I thought it would be fitting to go to a historic bath for some relaxation. I took the Streetcar over to the Buda side and had a interesting time at the Kiraly bath (built 1566). The bath has an old historic essence oozing out it's very pores. The common changing area still has the old Soviet Union feel, everything thing is utilitarian; blend without personal identity. White floor tiles with baby blue accent borders, white paint with white changing cubical and wood mesh painted white as screens.

I walked through a seemingly endless hallway with paint peeling on the edges, as the wind whispered though my ears, came the centralized circular pool with a large group of men sitting on the edge of the healing water. The very same moment as the sunlight beaming down the shadowy interior through small fist size holes on the dome above, I realized most of the men around me are as old as the the building itself. To me they appear to be gentle, classic, with a sense of over easy comfort to public nudity.

After 2 hours spent in the bath I emerged from the water almost a brand new person. I walked the streets around Kiraly Bath and walked on the Margit bridge and watch the spectacular views this wonderful city has to offer.

Day Three- Work starts

We had our Art residency meeting today for 7 hours, went over the program's history, information, and what we are expected to do. We later drove to a hardware store on the outskirt of the city and did some material researching. I also realized I haven't had the need to speak a word of Hungarian... shocking how people are able to understand each other without the need of a common language.

I got a metal rod and needed a wire/ rod cutter for it at the store and got the wrong tool. I asked a worker and made a sawing action with my hand and he pointed me to the right tool. We didn't understand each other's language but we understood each other's hearts. That was beautiful.

It's been only 3 days since my arrival but I am starting to fall in love with Budapest and can see myself living in this beautiful city. I can's say the same about Taipei, which is totally ironic because I was born there and lived in Taiwan for 14 years. Life in Taiwan is either too boring in the country or too exciting in the city and Budapest is just right with a mixture of everything and very much like a larger Pasadena, which I totally adore.

Due to unexpected internet problems my blog and flicker sites will be uploaded once every 2 days instead of daily

Escape from LA!

I am all packed and getting ready to head to the airport and heading for Budapest and later Vienna. I feel extremely lucky to have this opportunity and am glad to be escaping this 90 heat wave of S. Cal.

However the flight might delay for about 2 hours and I will be blogging/ flickr again once I have landed in Budapest.