There are so many things that are different here....I want to share everything...so I will definitely try!! LOL

The toilets here are different...very different. When you use the toilet, and go "#2" your "#2" sits on the bottom of the toilet, which is slightly raised and not under water. Supposedly the purpose is so the person going "#2" can see their "#2" to ensure that it looks healthy! This did take some getting used to. The back of the toilet, where the tank is located, is very tall. There is a button on top of the tank to flush the toilet. It took me a few days to realize that I could push the button at varying degrees of pressure to affect how much water rushed through the bowl while flushing. The way the toilet flushes is also different. Unlike the way a toilet in the US flushes, with water fairly weakly trickling out from all under the top of the bowl, the water in these (Hungarian) toilets, shoots out from the tank side. It shoots the "#2" into a small hole (about 3"x3") that contains water. If the toilet user has only used the toilet for "#1" then that person can push the flush button softer, and less water will shoot out! Ha!!!

Get this...the toilet paper in our bathroom is scented...chamomile! Again, it took me a few days to realize this! :) I just thought the restroom, or water closet (WC) as it is referred to here, always smelled nicely! Then I realized that the toilet paper itself smelled good!! I am not sure if I already mentioned that the toilet and sink, are in a separate room from the shower and vanity, which also has its own sink. The light switches for the WC are located outside of the rooms, and are big, flat, long buttons instead of switches.

The second day here, I thought that I had already clogged the drain in the shower with my long hair, because the water was not draining very well. I worried, "Oh great, my second day here and I already have to ask my dad to have a plumber come out and fix the shower!!" To my relief, when I told my dad I had already clogged the drain he said, "Oh yea, I forgot to tell you about that. If you twist open the silver cap on the bottom of the shower, there is a built-in drain (to catch hair). Just empty that and the shower will drain fine." I went into the shower and removed the cap from the bottom of the shower floor, and what do you know, there was a drain...completely full of my hair...brilliant!!

Enough with toilets and showers....It is nearly impossible to find liquid coffee cream here, at least I think it is. I can't be positive because I can't read the labels....but I have been using my grocery list translator (a great idea to carry with you on grocery shopping trips!!) and I have not found any cream. I have been using dry coffee cream and have actually been enjoying it! The coffee is also a bit different, so everyone else says. I have heard Americans complain that it is too strong and bitter. I think it's great! I have enjoyed a couple cups every morning from the drip coffee maker at home, and have also had a latte at a drinking shop (which I spoke of previously). I don't think I mentioned before that when I had that latte, it was about 60 cents American dollar!! And that was in a "nice" drinking shop.

The prices here are another unbelievable difference with the US! We already touched on this topic but I feel the need to elaborate. I stated that we paid 60 cents for a latte at a nice place, but other spots offer a nice cappuccino of latte for as little as 50 cents! Ice cream cones cost about the same. When we went to Red Box for dinner, which is considered pricier, our dishes were about $11. At lunch, a salad or hot dish, depending on where you go, will run about $2!! I bought a huge bottle of sparkling water at Interspar (similar to Wal-Mart) yesterday, and it was 40 cents!!!! That bottle, in the US, would have cost me a few dollars. If you buy a case of glass bottled beers, you can return the empty bottles, and the case they came in, back to the store for a small refund. Again, American products are a different story; they generally cost about 2 times what they do in the states. There is a very easy solution to this problem...use local products...try something new!!