Yes, we have moved. To another city, to another country. Yes, we were really afraid.
How many times I have read my own blog post from 4 years ago (this one): just do it, just do it? But how many hours we have spend talking if it even makes sense. Moving the whole family: changing job, challenging the company, starting another school, with other languages and friends – isn’t it too much? Isn’t our life in Berlin good enough?
But what if one can do something more in this world? Maybe against his or her complete comfort, maybe with a bit more troubles and comfortable life? Isn’t it worth to try?
This we have in common with Tom: trying. Not being afraid of trying. Trying to build international relationship, trying to travel with small baby, trying to travel with another small baby, hitch-hiking on the yachts at the end of the world with two of them, trying to help as many refugees in Berlin as possible, trying to talk to those, who are very far from us, trying to do something by organising Civil March For Aleppo.
It doesn’t always work. Sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes the results are smaller or slower, than we expected. Sometimes it’s annoying to travel together, sometimes it’s really hard not to be together for long months.
But we have never regret to try. So now it’s time for Budapest.
I started my new job there: for Minority Rights Group, very impressive organisation I applied to… 9 years ago;). I can put together all my skills and experience from last years and run big project “Reporting effectively on Development, Minorities and Migration”, which will be mainly focusing on the right-now-not-that-easy-region: Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. I will be sharing much more with you about it, but for now let me just say: those guys in last 49 years (the organisation will be 50 next year!) have done really good stuff in this world, real change, in the topic close to my heart. And now I’m one of them;)
So in the first two weeks of my work I had the impossible task of finding 1. a great flat for us (those, who know our Berlin flat – can imagine the high expectations;) and 2. school for our girls. Our first choice was a German, private school – just to keep it as easy for them as possible. But the German school is very expensive (very), it’s private (you know what I think about rich German bubbles) and is situated in the most expensive and also far district of Budapest. And the flat should be of course near the school, right?
Well, impossible is nothing, no?;)
The machine of our friends and friends of the friends has started, hundreds of advices and flat announcements were coming to me every day, I went to visit few schools and few flats and… after few days we moved to an absolutely lovely apartment, in a nice district, 10 minutes from our school and just on the metro line, bringing me in 10 minutes to my office.
Happy goes lucky? The family who owns the flat is super nice, they let us stay for a “week test” period and when Hanna and Mila arrived to their new room – they immediately said that we are not moving out from here (the picture is taken at 1am, on the first night!). We had our doubts: you know, The Family Without Borders doesn’t need much. We can travel with two backpacks for months, we really don’t need such a space.
But the most important in this crazy time of new job, new country and new school is – those two girls are happy. I don’t remember when I saw them more happy than in this room. The flat is too big for us. The flat is a bit too pretty. But has this calm soul and potential for many big serious and not serious meetings. Good couches and big kitchen, ready for cooking together. In fun neighbourhood.
It feels so comfortable to just give ourself this calmness and not look for anything else any more. Nothing wrong in feeling comfortable? I’m not good in giving presents to myself. After many years of living in one room, and then in two rooms, it just feels so strange. New life? New home.
We will still show you our flat, we will tell you all about the neighbourhood (we went for a little trip, to draw our own map yesterday: met a lot of nice people and little corners), and for sure we will be reporting about discovering Budapest and Hungary too!
Girls for sure will tell you all the new adventures from their German-Hungarian public school! For now, after first 3 days they are very happy. They even say it’s better than in Berlin! Their observations and comments are just so funny: about the language, about Hungarian politics, about friendships.
For now I can tell you, that we are sitting at the map and what we see is: 1h drive to Slovakia, 1,5h to Serbia, 2h to Romania, 2,5h to Austria, 2,5h to Croatia, 2,5h to Slovenia and 3h to Ukraine. The changes of perspective are good!!
What to see in Hungary? Who to meet? What to check? Where to swim? How to eat? Which places to visit? Why in spring? Why in summer? Tell us what we should know!
Our first book is out!
We have published our first book (for now just in Polish:) about our Central America Trip.
See, read and order here »