Next Stop: US Embassy

On Sunday I did a terribly stupid thing. Two, actually. I am pretty sure, and Kristoff agrees, that the second was my karmic punishment for the first. The worst thing is that I wasn't even aware of that punishment until the next morning.

Mistake #1: I was craving fries. I was feeling lazy and didn't want to make dinner. So I decided the best solution to both of these separate issues was a trip to Burger King. The biggest Burger King in the world, in fact. Housed in Oktogon Square, it features 4 stories, free wireless internet, and a plethora of Americana. Truly a horrifying sight to behold. I got fries (yay!), a Coke Light (Diet Coke, European style) and my first ever Whopper. Gross.

Mistake #2: I left my damn purse at Burger King.

I'm not going to try to justify mistake #2.


Monday morning as I was packing my things into my backpack for school, I noticed that my purse was strangely absent from its usual place in my backpack. I started panicking. I called Mihály, woke him up, and had him check his apartment for my missing black Dickies bag, waking Bruce up in the process. My bag was nowhere to be found. And I knew exactly where I had last seen it.

Luckily the only important thing in my purse was my wallet. Everything else, my iPod, camera, laptop, homework, schoolbooks; it was back at in boys' apartment. The only important thing in my wallet besides some sentimental things (a note from Rob, some concert tickets), was my debit card. I got that canceled as soon as I realized it was at large. Besides the hassle of replacing all the things that had been in my wallet (student ID card, driver's license, social security card, etc) plus the purse and wallet themselves, I wasn't too stressed about losing my purse. Losing my backpack would have been a crisis of much greater magnitude.

I called mom on Tuesday to let her know, then called the bank to arrange for them to send a new debit card to her address. Okay, so it's going to take 7 to 10 business days for the card to arrive, but my credit union can wire me money to a Western Union location so I can pay my rent, and BSM can loan me money for food. Whatever.

On Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) the following e-mail arrived in my inbox:

From: Mom
Subject: Your Purse
To: Jessie Brainerd

Good News Honey!
Your purse has been turned in (intact, with cash, debit card, everything) to the U.S. Embassy in Budapest. I got a call this morning from a representative there-- they traced me through your driver's license. You can pick it up in the Consular Section between 1 & 4 pm during the week. You may also be able to call the Credit Union and reactivate your debit card. Isn't it wonderful that it was found by honest people!

Love, Mama

YAY! Someone awesome found my purse! I can't reactivate my debit card for security purposes (I found that out the hard way the last time I thought I had lost my debit card for good: when my wallet fell out of my pocket on a bus in Vancouver, B.C.), but hooray! I don't have to replace my purse, the awesome hand-made Bender for President button pinned to it, the sushi wallet mom got me for Christmas last year, the sentimental crud, or my laundry card, student ID, copy card, social security card, and driver's license. Let's see, it's already too late now on Wednesday, there's Abstract Algebra class and Graph Theory homework Thursday afternoon, so Friday is when I'll have to pick it up. Cool. Perfect. Totally doable.

I got home last night and Éva tried to tell me something in Hungarian that I couldn't catch. So she called her daughter and her daughter relayed the following message to me: The US embassy had called for me today, they wanted to let me know that someone had turned in my purse. I told her yes, I knew, that I could pick it up between 1 and 4 in the afternoon. She said that apparently it had been found at Burger King. Yes, I knew that too, I was stupid and left it there by accident. I thanked her for relaying the message, and asked her if she could explain the situation to her mother, since I hadn't known how to tell Éva that I'd lost my purse in broken Hungarian and hand-gestures.

This morning I got up at 7:30 and was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast with Éva when the phone rang. I was expecting a call from Rob, so I expected it was him when she handed the phone to me. No, it was the US embassy. To tell me that apparently my purse had been found in a Burger King and turned into the US embassy. I thanked them and told them that my mother had gotten ahold of me and already informed me.

When I realized my purse was missing I assumed it was gone forever and I came to terms with that. It had been a stupid mistake on my part that led to its disappearance. I thought it was a stupid mistake I could maybe pretend hadn't happened. Not anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm overjoyed my purse is safe and intact.

I just wish that didn't entail having to be reminded again and again that I left my purse, full of all my identification and means of getting money, in the largest Burger King in the world, in one of the most bustle-ey areas of Budapest.

A little while after I got off the phone with the US Embassy, I got a text message from Anna Fóti, the BSM student coordinator: Hi, I have good news for you! Please come to my office! Anna, BSM.

Oh no. The Embassy got to her, too. I was going to get the good news. Again.

As soon as I got to school just after 10 am this morning I went to her office. Before she had a chance to say anything I said, somewhat exasperatedly, "I know, someone found my purse and returned it to the US Embassy, I can pick it up between 1 and 4". Anna got all sad because she had wanted to be the first person to tell me the news. Sorry Anna :(.


Oh well, I got my purse back. And they've exhausted all my contacts, I'm fairly certain. Unless they call the number titled "Darling" in my wallet, and let Rob know that my purse is waiting for me at the US Embassy.

I'll stop complaining about my good fortune now.



In un-purse related news, we had another group dinner party last night! Zeb and Luke made dough for lángos, Aaron deep fried it in small pancakes, and Voula, Casey and I made rice pudding. And Mihály and Haggai just hung out, looking pretty. The lángos turned out amazingly. We covered it in sour cream, cheese, chopped raw garlic and ate it still hot. Lángos from street vendors is filling, but sort of makes you feel like crap after you've finished it. This just made us feel fantastically full. And the rice pudding was delicious, too.



I'm hoping to make it to Croatia the weekend after next to visit Fraser before he makes his way back to Canadaland. The options we've been able to come up with to get me there are my taking the train to Zagreb and then catching a cheap flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik, or taking the train directly to Dubrovnik. The cheapest flight I could find from Budapest to Dubrovnik was over $500. I'm going to go to Keleti pu. (the train station right by College International) tomorrow on my way to the US Embassy and check out fares. It'll be a long train ride, no matter what, so if it's cheaper to go straight to Dubrovnik, that's what I'll probably end up doing.