!Yo Diggity!

Bill Lively came to Budapest just about the time that I did. Maybe a month or two after I did. I met him at church, Danube International, one Sunday when we ended up sitting next to each other. We did the typical, “So, where are you from?” “What are you doing here in Budapest?” and “Where do you live?” questions. That was the funny one for us because when I asked Bill he said, “Oh, this little street by the parliment, you’ve probably not heard of it, Bathory”. OH! That is MY street?! So it ended up that Bill was just a couple of buildings down.

Bill has been a great friend and neighbor. Someone to hang out with, someone to do yoga with. Yes, even while skiing in Austria there is time for yoga.

He was someone to download episodes of ‘Lost’ and ‘The Office’ with. And a great appartment to host… stuff. Even when he was traveling, which was a lot with his job, he would let Tahran and I and whomever come over and borrow his toys. One of my favorite stories to tell is when Bill was traveling on a train, somewhere in Poland, late and night and had not had the opportunity to have dinner. So he was quite hungary when he got the e-mail on his blackberry, “Bill! Your order of pizza, salads and coke will be at your flat in 1/2 hour. ~Don Pepe” Grrrr…. he knew that Tahran and I were comfortably at his place ordering pizza and watching our favorite shows on his big screen Mac while he’s starving, on a train, somewhere in the middle of nowhere!!

When Bill first arrived in Budapest, we had to train him out of constantly comparing Budapest to Prague. You see, he had lived in Prague for a year and a half before he moved to Budapest and so his favorite saying was, “Well, you know in Prague, they do it like …. ” or, ” you know, in Prague this have …”. One good thing about Bill’s extensive knowledge and love for Prague, however, was when my friend Christie came to visit Budapest and Bill drove with us to Prague. He was a GREAT host of the city. Even hooked us up with a penthouse suite at a REALLY sweet hostel, the Czech Inn. Get it, “Check In”? Great name!! And wow - GREAT place!!! Czech it out! (wow ok, a little overkill there… I better czech myself! hee)

If you are ever in Prague, you really need to stay at this place. And hey, I’m not even getting any money for this advertisement - it was THAT cool!

But it was great to be guided around the city by a great tour guide. Thanks again for that, Bill!

Bill was great for music as well. He and I really share quite a similiar pallette in music. So we were always trading… errr… rather he was always giving me really great stuff. I really appreciated that about Bill as it’s not often that some shares that really keen sense of music that is similar to mine! And another of my all time favorite Budapest adventure stories to tell will be the Sziget Festival adventure when Bill accidentally walked off with all my belongings to leave me in a crowd of 40,000 people with no money, no bus pass, no phone… and quite a far ways from home. But beyond that little mishap the festival was REALLY cool and I’ll quite miss Bill at the event this year.

Oh! One other great thing about Bill is that he taught me all about the Mac. Yes, he convinced me and even paved the way to help me to purchase my Macintosh laptop that I so dearly love today.

Bill is one of those friends who walks into your life and is such a comfortable friend. One that you can count on and know you’ll be in touch with always. I’m so glad I’ve had the chance to get to know him and so glad that it was here in Budapest. He made my experience much better and his presence will be missed!!

Stay in touch, Bill! Enjoy your new home in….. A T L A N T A !!!