Perpetual Change

Notes about Hungary

So in the middle of all my Central Europe adventures, the office calls and says they have a problem in Eastern Europe on our Budapest to Krakow trip. Actually, it doesn't really work that way, you just get an email that says your schedule has been changed, but knowing someone else had dropped work and who they usually 'gonna call', I was expecting it. And my manager did say at the end of the season that my willingness didn't go unnoticed, which was very appreciated.

So off I went to Hungary, via a short trip to Ukraine (more on that tomorrow). I really liked it. I had been in Budapest just one day two years before, and I hadn't gotten a very good feel, as is usually difficult in a big city, even if it is the capital. This time I stayed in a small town north of Budapest called Szentendre. It is the last stop on the commuter rail, but well worth the trip even if you just go for a day. It is an artsy community with great restaurants, shops and galleries along the river front (Danube still - it goes through 9 countries and 4 capitals). The trip we do is pretty amazing too. It is nine days, and you bike north out of Hungary, and all the way through Slovakia into Poland. I was just doing van support for this trip because we move so much and it is logistically challenging, but because there were only 7 people on the trip (and two leaders that I really like), I got a lot of free time. I would start at 7 and usually be done by 11 but paid for the day, so it was more like a paid vacation for me - I got to hike, bike and explore (especially castles); it was great.

Hungarians are NOT Huns. They are a people that came out of Asia late in the nomadic period of great migrations, and they do have a language that's closest cousin is Finnish, but that is still quite distant, and it is very unusual. But, they looked to me a lot like Americans, and they often have no accent when they speak English, which anyone under 30 seems to. The word Hun (which is not what they call themselves; they say they are Magyars, and the country name is a deviation on this word), comes from the word "On-Ogour, which in Bulgar Turkic meant '(the) Ten Arrows'" referring to the ten tribes that they were organized into under this Bulgar alliance (I believe). They were a very powerful nation until they lost 2/3's of their land after WWI. They even have a huge Cathedral city, that rivals Romes's as they are mostly Catholic and their king was recognized by the Pope all the way back in 1000.

It was the first time in a while where I was in a country where I spoke NOTHING. I traveled there with a friend from Ukraine, who knew a few words. Yes is 'egan' which sounds a bit like our again, and they normally say it again, and again, and again in short succession when one yes would suffice.

I saw a kid commuting home from the train station by unicycle.

I had the spy feeling again here, as I switched currency and phone chips again, and left my friend to try to follow my (company) notes as inconspicously as possible, so as to get to our house in Szentendre.

Let me say again, that I loved doing the van support. On one of my bike rides in Slovakia, I saw two deer, and just before that I saw a WOLF! It was pretty far in the countryside and at first I thought it was a dog. He was a small timber wolf, I think, but I biked right up to him standing in the road and he kind of circled out of my way and then took off.

Finally, I have been trying to pick up some French (mostly last year) and some German and Czech, and I must say it is pretty nice right now, not to be working on any of that (though Spanish is more useful everywhere in this country; I could have used it several times in the last 3 weeks). Though one day, a French family in a small, out-of-the-way World Heritage town in Slovakia, saw me working on the van (which in Europe all have French plates) and started asking me questions. After we established that they didn't speak any Italian or English, I was able to (feebly) answer their questions. It was empowering.


Parliament in Budapest

Labels: old notes

posted by jjs @ 9:18 AM