October 7-8th & defeat of the consumption girls

Thursday I had lunch @ the embassy cafeteria (turkey pasta and chocolate crepes) and met with the GSO (General Services Officer) Christina Hernandez, and Tim Betts from the Executive Office. Timothy Betts works in the Executive office with the Ambassador. I am not sure exactly what he does in that office, but it sounds executive pretty official. After meeting briefly with Tim Betts, I took a taxi from the embassy to the GS Office, where the embassy keeps all of the furniture we own. The embassy owns every piece of furniture in the all of the housing here in Budapest. It is also where the offices for housing and leasing are, it is where the commissary is located (special store full of American goods brought in from Germany) where you can find all of the stuff you miss from home. It also has a mechanic who works on and fixes all car problems for State employees, among a myriad of other general services for the employees living here in Budapest.

Kristine called a taxi driver to come pick me up and drive me to the complex, and when he showed up I just jumped in thinking she had told him where I was going. Wrong. The taxi driver had no idea where he was going, I didn’t know where I was going, so he drops me off on some part of the street that the GSO is on, and 25 minutes later I finally wander into the embassy’s GSO base. He had dropped me off a couple of blocks away from where the actual compound was located. >.<

After meeting with CJ, the GS officer, I got a ride back to the embassy with one of the Public affairs Officers who happened to be driving back to the embassy.  Then I met back up with Kristine and wrapped up the day. We talk to Eric, one of our Consular officers, and Jeff, Consular chief, about what projects they would like me to get started on. After some discussion and deliberation, I got my first big consular project assignment! I get to work on validation studies for visas granted in the year 2009. A validation study is basically an in-depth comprehensive review of visas issued to include specific age/race/nationality demographics, the type of visa issued, whether the visa recipient respected and followed the visa’s validity period, or if they overstayed on their visa. The whole process involves the usage of several information system programs, including some really great Department of Homeland security information systems that help us keep a track of our visa recipients and their activity in the United States. We confirm return for the recipients, or an “overstay”, and if so, why did they overstay? We file any records that are too vague or require further investigation under “inconclusive.” Kristine said that this kind of project was something that I could, and I quote, “hang your hat on.” I hope that it will look impressive on my resume for next year’s fall internship application, alongside a positive evaluation of my work done here for this fall. After they explained the kind of work it involved and that knowledge of excel was necessary, they asked me to be at work the following morning around 9:50 a.m. to sit in on their weekly office meeting. After saying goodbye to all of the officers, I departed for home, slightly nervous and very excited for my first big internship project.

Before going home I decided to stop by the Buda branch to see what was going on, and was very happy to find the missionaries preparing to teach   “hold” their English conversational club. I am not sure what Hungarian restrictions are on missionaries here, but in Russia we were not allowed to say we taught English, merely, that we held a weekly conversational club for people wanting to practice English. They caused a ruckus if they found us saying we were teaching when we were not issued teacher visas, but rather, religious missionary visas. Anyways, it was a nice to see the same work we did in Russia being employed in other parts of the world, and to see the gospel being spread to people in all corners of the world. I sat in on the intermediate English class and offered some help and participated with the introductory activities for a good half hour before taking off.

A small confession: I ate at McDonald's before going home… :(

I really tried to give one of the many small restaurant shacks in Moscow Square a try, but everything looked like it would either
a.) Break the bank.
b.) Leave me unsatisfied and hungry for more. (Meager portions)
c.) Give me terrible gas.
d.) Give me violent diarrhea.
e.) All of the above. (The most likely, to be honest.)

  

So I went with something safe, familiar, relatively inexpensive – a Big Mac. Never has a Big Mac tasted so good in all my life. I never eat McDonald’s, but I thought the irony alone from my first post concerning American fast food merited a visit. *And* you get free Wi-Fi there regardless of whether you purchase something or not, and until they fix my internet at home, this will be my internet haven when I need to check emails when I am not at work.

  

After McDonald’s I spent the evening dusting off the ol’ Microsoft Office and polishing up on my Excel skills, which, were pretty much non-existent. Well, okay, maybe not that bad, but my working knowledge of it was fairly rudimentary and I wasn’t sure if it would be satisfactory would be prepared for the work I had Friday morning. After studying for a few hours I felt pretty confident that I would be prepared for the project next morning, and my brain was feeling pretty fried. So I decided to go take a walk and clear my head for a bit, and that is when it happened……….

Rodolfo: 1     Consumption Girls: 0

  

Probably the biggest ongoing tourist scam here in all of Hungary, and the one that we get the most reports/compaints about at the embassy from U.S. tourists, is the consumption girl scam. Here is a brief explanation of what the consumption girl scam is all about.

1.       A restaurant/pub/bar hires a handful of young, outgoing, very attractive Hungarian girls who speak fairly good/decent English.

2.       Said girls have one purpose and one purpose only: to lure unsuspecting tourists into their employer’s establishment under the guise of “getting drinks”. Usually 1-3 girls work the same tourist to convince him to hang out with them and buy them drinks.

3.       The tourist thinks to himself, “Wow, I love Hungary, this is first-rate.” Little does he know….The tourist then proceeds to treat his new lovely friends to some drinks, thinking he is having the night of his life, until he gets the bill…

5.       A bill of 500 Euros is not unheard of for scams like this. That’s about $693 U.S. Dollars. The establishment insists the customer pays for the expensive drinks that his lovely lady friends ordered.

6.        

      Here, a number of things can happen.

a.        The tourist can think on his feet, and realize that these girls are in on it and duped him. Threatens to call the police/embassy, and that is usually enough to let him off the hook.

b.      The tourist thinks that the establishment is crooked, that the girls are innocent and victims just like him, and he decides to come to their rescue and pay the bill, thus, in his mind, impressing them in the process for being the hero.

c.       Worst case scenario, the tourist refuses, and the establishment calls out two-three monstrous behemoth looking bouncers to scare him, and escort him to the A.T.M. to withdraw the money (plus an additional fee for belligerence).

These sad, yet very realistic scenarios, happen to these gullible travelers who are enjoying the city and happened to get lured in. Granted, kind of their fault for being so naïve, but that’s life. Here is the U.S. embassy’s establishment “blacklist” where any place with multiple reports gets placed on it as a warning for U.S. travelers.  

http://hungary.usembassy.gov/tourist_advisory.html

Anyways, back to me, two consumption girls tried cornering me on a street thinking I would fall prey to their charms, but I was evasive and uncooperative, and they eventually gave up, but not before sighing exasperatedly and muttering what I assume were Hungarian obscenities. It was pretty comical, every time they would try to run ahead and wait for me at a street corner I would pretend to see something off to the side, stop, and then turn back around and head in the other direction. In another instance, they thought they had finally found the way to get me to talk to them, so that when I turned around girl #2 was ready for me at the other end. That’s when I stopped to slowly tie my shoe, and then proceeded to cross the street just as I was about to reach the end of the street where the trap lay waiting. I don’t think they are accustomed to young men being so determined to avoid them, they looked pretty disconcerted. I am sure this won’t be my last encounter with these notorious restaurant bandits, and I can only imagine what nefarious schemes they will try to come up with to snag me in their scam. Maybe I should just give them pass-along cards inviting them to Church on Sundays whenever they try…you never know!

After my tactical maneuvers were done with, I felt it was time to go home since all of Budapest’s creeps were emerging from whatever trash can/tree/dumpster/phone booth/litter box they were crouched in. There have been some real kooks on the public transportation late at night when I ride, although the same can be said for any large  neopolitan  - metropolitan city. Although I think Hungary might take 1^st place…

The following morning I arrived at the embassy with some time to spare before the weekly office meeting, and I brushed up on my consular affairs terminology/jargon in the FAM (Foreign Affairs Manual). Anything you need to know about working in the embassy, in any section or capacity, be it a big or small question, you can find in it in the FAM. It is simply amazing how comprehensive and massive this manual is, and not only that, it is fairly enjoyable and interesting to read unlike most other manuals. I would say it ranks somewhere between reading a Harry Potter book and a How-to book in terms of content. :P

After the meeting we were briefed on the current National Disaster that took place in a province in Hungary – the toxic red sludge spill. One of our consular section leads went to a press briefing with the Hungarian Minister and came back to brief us on the proceedings and developments concerning the disaster, including the scientific/political/economic/international ramifications and results from this disaster. I am actually joining a group on Monday morning to drive out to the affected regions to help with the clean-up and relocation of the people there, and helping provide any other necessary services. The spill has had a tremendous effect on the country, including here in Budapest, where the spill has raised the PH level of the Danube River (our drinking water) to 9, which is still safe in moderation for a short amount of time. Prolonged exposure to drinking water at this pH, which is 20 times more acidic than a pH level of 7 which is neutral , can be adverse to our health and cause problems further down the line. The biggest fear is that if the clean-up isn’t fast enough, this toxic sludge will dry, and the thousands of tons that were spilled will gather in huge clouds and cause toxic contamination, and possibly blow across not only Hungary, but other parts of Europe as well. It is similar to the Chernobyl meltdown scare, but on a smaller scale, and not quite as lethal. Certain parts of the most affected region will be uninhabitable for a very, very, long time, since the concentration of toxic material was so strong, the soil has become inhospitable to any farming, not to mention the toxicity and lethality of any crops grown in that soil. The government will need to clear the top soil off for a large portion of the region before allowing people to move back and resume their farming.

As the consular section, we handle all American Citizen Services, which means we are in charge of taking care of our citizens here abroad. This is a perfect example of the embassy in action. We looked at registered U.S. citizens here in our database to determine if any Americans were living in or around the affected region, and trying to contact them to make sure that they are okay. In case of an emergency, where a citizen cannot be reached or is in need of help, the embassy would send immediate help to them and help them get to safety. We also handled a large number of calls from concerned family members back in the U.S. who were concerned for their loved ones safety here in Hungary. Colin Powell, former secretary of state, stated that “A U.S. embassy’s first, and primary function, is simply, to take care of its citizens abroad in another country.”

Following the briefing, I finally got started on my project, and I am happy to say, it was a success! I managed to finish all of the studies before the end of the day and submitted the file/paperwork I had printed and worked. I was tasked with studying all Iranian and Chinese visa applicants whom the embassy granted travel visas to in the year 2009, and finding out how they used their visas, if they overstayed, or if they chose to simply not travel. Then, within that category was a sub-category of F1 (student visas), B1 (Business/Pleasure), H1B (Work visas). Within that, was an age sub-category, and so on and so forth, and it was my job to put a report together to see if there was any repeating trends in the visa applicants data from 2009, any similarities or differences in how/why the visa was used/abused/unused. 

That took up most of my day, and following that I just wrapped up some last minute paperwork before leaving the office for the weekend.

I left for home, and thats where I crashed on the bed (finally made it all the way to the far end of the apartment where the master bedroom is). 

A great first week of work!

I look forward to wrapping up the last of my consular rotation before jumping into Management for the remainder of my stay.

R