2022.12.05-09. – Föltámadott a tenger / Drowning in work

Had quite a busy few days for our last full week in UB this year.

2022.12.05. – Föltámadott a tenger

To start my day, I taught my class, then came home to read some more academic papers, but got really depleted quite quickly, so we ended up watching an episode of the Mentalist, taking a long bath, and then I finished the Spanish HP book – which is amazing, my first ever book read in Spanish! Also, there was a demonstration at the Parliament today – it didn’t bother us personally, but it was all over the news.

2022.12.06. – souvenir shopping

I tried to get up early but failed spectacularly. Made a nice breakfast and read two articles before going to Loving Hut for lunch (we had hot dogs, khuushuur, and chocolate cake, all super tasty).

Then we went souvenir shopping, scouring proper souvenir shops for the first time (went to almost 10, I think). Once loaded with a bunch of souvenirs, we went to Golomt Bank (getting my hubby’s card), then I had a swim at ShangriLa, and a quick stop at Good Price afterwards (for bread and some cashews for Mikulás). Met a crowd and saw some ruined fence elements at Sukhbaatar square – the demonstrations are still going on, apparently. Spent all night on my research, and my hubby made pancakes.

These quill (pen) sets were the only HP merch we found in UB in all these weeks!

The 'souvenir shop' floor - best value we found so far!

2022.12.07. –

We got up kinda late to the sound of knocking (they came to read our electricity meter), made breakfast, then I did some work (not too much) before we went to lunch with the intern from the embassy. After lunch, my hubby came home and I went to the teacher’s office to work on my research paper. I taught my class (we discussed holiday traditions in Hungary, I gave them sweets, it was fun), then came back home and spent most of the evening working some more and also chilling a bit (watching another episode of the Mentalist).

2022.12.08. –

 I spent most of the day working on my publication (we also went to do a load of laundry in the old apartment, taking our last pictures of the sunset there, as I’ll be giving back the keys tomorrow). In the evening, there was an event at the Embassy with lots of people who used to study in Hungary and also my students. It was nice but we got tired by the end, from all the standing around and socialising. We left just a bit after 10 pm (after 3 and a half hours of being there) and came home to do more work on my paper. I’ll be so glad to not have so much on my plate once we go home (and it’s usually the other way round, me having way too many things to do at home, so it’ll be weird – I just hope I actually will have time to relax, although chances are I won’t, speaking from past experience).

Enjoying the last sunset in the old apartment
(sun went down so fast it was actually visible with the naked eye as it sunk below the horizon)

2022.12.09. –

I’ve been up till 4 am (working on my research paper), then was tired all day. Taught a class, did some lesson planning in the office afterwards, and came home for lunch. Dropped off the old apartment keys at the uni, then went to Galeria (the mall nearby) for some last-minute souvenir shopping. Spent almost all evening and night working on that paper.