Europe 2022 day #14. “Fight On for Old UCLA?” Budapest, Hungary 10/20/2022

Last night, Wednesday morning for you, I spent some time back in Los Angeles via zoom.  As many of you know I am in the process of changing jobs.  In January, I will start working at UCLA’s clinic in Palos Verdes.  Yes, the boy who went 4 years to USC undergrad and 4 years to USC medical school will be working for UCLA.   As part of the hiring process, UCLA requires new hires to attend 11 four-hour onboarding sessions (4 in person and 7 via zoom).  Why so many you ask?  The obvious reason is people from USC are slow learners. For example, Patrice (a UCLA graduate x 3) has been trying to teach me the traditional Bruin cheer known as the “8-clap” but I still get confused somewhere between clap 3-4.  When she asks me to sing the fight song I instinctively start singing “Fight On for Old SC”.  I’m trying my best but it’s a work in progress. 

One thing I’d like to say is that the UCLA people have been incredibly nice to me.  

At the first onboarding session, I met a number of staff physicians who reached out to me and gave me their cell phone numbers telling me to call if I had any problems.  I also met Robbie from Ambulatory Community Outreach, who personally brought me around to meet some people to help me solve some issues I was having.  A few weeks later I met Jac (who also works at Ambulatory Community Outreach) at a 5K run. She was already aware of my hire and had some great suggestions on ways to make my transition smoother.  Robbie and Jac found out that I will be receiving the inaugural Impact Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and did something that really warmed my heart. They arranged for UCLA to take out a full-page ad in the program for the Foundation Gala on November 3rd. As I said, the Foundation will be giving me its first Impact Award for my work.  This will become an annual award given at the gala to people whose efforts have had a major impact on the foundation.  I’m very proud to be receiving the first of these prestigious awards. UCLA’s support in this regard has been very humbling. If any of you are interested in attending the event please go to this link https://one.bidpal.net/gutsglory2022/welcome. If you would like to participate in the silent auction here is the link to that:  https://one.bidpal.net/gutsglory2022/browse/all

It was fun logging on to the onboarding session because I quickly said, “Hello from Budapest, Hungary” which understandably got some surprise comments. I am sure they appreciate me taking time out of my vacation to join the session when the spa is begging me to come down for a massage.

Thank you for all those responses to the musical instrument question. Many people said it was a dulcimer which is almost right. It is a Hungarian instrument called the Cimbalom. It is in the dulcimer family but there are some subtleties that make it different. I won’t bore you with the specifics (Patrice here, what he is really saying is that he has no idea about any of the differences).

We had a great tour today. Julia (our guide) and Attila (our driver) took us to Szentendre which is about 15 miles (oops, I mean about 24 Km) north of Budapest. This is a quaint little artist community where we went to the restaurant, Aranysárkány Vendéglő (“Golden Dragon Inn” located at Szentendre, Alkotmány u. 1/a, 2000) to learn how to cook some traditional Hungarian dishes. This was an amazing experience. The owner/chef (Attila like our driver) taught us how to make 3 Hungarian dishes. We made “tojás leves” (egg soup), “paprikás csirke” (paprika chicken), and for dessert “túró gombóc” (cottage cheese dumpling). It was a blast. In addition to Attila, we were helped by his assistant, Monica, and Attila’s son, Attila. After getting things going we took a walk around the town with Julia then returned to enjoy the lunch we helped make. While we were eating Attila’s father (the founder of the restaurant) whose name is also Attila came by to have lunch. Trust me not every male in Hungary is named Attila.

Check out this 46-second video of “me making the soup”. If you wait until the end you will notice one of the Attila’s turning my wrist to add the egg to the broth (clearly I was a huge help).

After lunch, Julia and Attila (the driver, not the chef, or the son, or the grandpa) gave us a driving tour of Budapest ending up at our hotel just in time for some real magic. Sorry, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Let me just give this teaser, it has been the highlight of the trip.

Viszontlátásra