For four months in 2000 I lived in Budapest teaching English to about forty Hungarian students at a school called Europa 2000. From the moment I stepped off the train at Keleti Pu and came across a visiting party held for me by the members of AIESEC, I knew that I would enjoy my stay in the city called the "Paris of the East."

The students I had were some of the best people I'd met. They knew the English language well enough to understand several jokes and stories. One group assignment I had them do was for each person to make up one consecutive line of a nursery rhyme. They eventually came up with a princess, being saved from a dragon by Michael Jackson and living happily ever after. I loved it.

The living conditions for most Hungarians are bad. A small apartment usually houses an extended family, including a couple children, parents, two aunts and uncles, cousins, and an aging grandparent to take care of. The average monthly salary for a worker is about $200 a month and it's necessary for both parents to work. A family can usually not afford more than one child. A family's car is usually very old and only one person has a driver's license. People generally took the bus, tram or walked.

The transportation system in Budapest was good with new buses, but old trams and subways about a full minute under the earth. The trains were something else. I remember entering one train going to eastern Hungary and thinking of the scene in Evita when she's going to Buenos Aires. I expected a couple of chickens to fly at me at any minute. When I went to the bathroom I could see the ground speeding by through the hole in the floor. That trip was an experience.