27 September 2008: Budapest, Hungary

I left the hostel in the morning, with a wink to the cutie at the desk and my stuff stored in the room. That's just how I roll.

Figuring I'd stick around Budapest for a few weeks on account of the job, I went with Neil and Laura to look for student housing. Neil had lived in Budapest over the summer in a student dormitory and paid 10euro per day for it. That would have been the cheapest price in the city, and would have been a ton of fun to live with students, but the place was full because school was back in session. There was another student dormitory with empty rooms, but it was 4000ft/night. No thank you.

(By the way, this reminds me. When Neil told me about the student dorm I got pretty pumped by the idea and, in faux-but-real excitement I said "Damn, I'm gonna be living with students" or something like that. And Laura turned to me and said in her baby-sweet voice with a baby-sweet smile, "Yes you are, you really are!" So there's the example I was missing in the last post.)

When we left the dorm and headed back to city centre I got two bananas and two tomatos for 195ft. Not exactly a steal, but definitely a bargain. About the same price as the Ham and Baguette Deluxe, but much better tasting and MUCH better for me. And since fruit is cheaper than the Deluxe in Budapest, that's looking like long-term plan.

The previous day some guy had come up to me on the street and said he would give me 240ft for my American dollars. I didn't have any dollars on me, obviously, but even if I had I wouldn't have done it. 240ft is loads more than the dollar is worth, but I assumed the guy was bogus and it was a scam.

But, when we went out last night, Neil said that it was legit and that, since the dollar still commands such a high respect out here, Hungarians on the street offer a lot more than the currency exchange booths give. But it's legit.

Anyway, knowing this I kept my eye out for the guy, since I had 15euro left from Ireland and thought I might be able to get 300ft a pop for them. But alas, no luck.

Neil and Laura wanted to get coffee, and though I try not to spend any money on such frivolous things as coffee, I went with them. I tried to find some reading material, since they went out for a smoke almost as soon as we got there, and picked up "The Odyssey," "Crime and Punishment," "Hamlet," and "The Railway Children." Guess which one I selected.

("The Railway Children" really is a brilliant novel.)

By this point, I hate to say it, but I was getting a bit tired of Neil and Laura. I admit that the coffee thing was my own doing, since they were going and went along with them, but I was getting into a pattern and I didn't like it. It's nice to have company when you're somewhere new-- and Budapest is probably the most vital "someplace new" in that regard-- I feel a bit cramped whenever I'm traveling with people. It's different if someone comes to visit me somewhere because I already know the city and enjoy taking them out, but when I'm somewhere new I like to explore it on my own terms. I decided that, for my own sanity, I had to break off from Neil and Laura.

The next day.

(Dinner, so you know, was a falafel plate with rice and salad. 800ft. I wasn't doing so well with the cheap eating thing.)

I went back to the hostel to get my stuff and Beate, the cutie from the morning, was still working. I figured I'd see if I could crash at her place, so I asked if she was going out. She said no because she was working at the hostel all night, which meant that she herself wasn't even going to be crashing at her place. But it also meant that she would be the only person of authority at the hostel that night.

Beate said that she sleeps on the couch in the hostel on nights that she works, which was a good sign, and so we talked for some time about Budapest and things to do and see while I'm here. Finally, at just the right moment, I threw in a "Is there any chance I can crash on the couch here, too?" The answer: Yes, but I had to be gone by 7:00 in the morning because someone else was coming in for a shift and Beate would get in trouble if whoever it was saw me there.

(The thing to keep in mind here is that, really, it wasn't just A couch. It was HER couch. And not that I was planning on sleeping on the same one as she, since there were a few different couches, but I figured if I played my cards well, there was room enough for two.)

(And after agreeing to let me crash on the couch, Beate made me a plate of chicken, mashed potatos, and beets. It looked like a Thanksgiving dinner and was delicious, although in hindsight it was one more reason why I shouldn't have spent 800ft on dinner. Oh well.)

I cleaned the plates after dinner-- earning me a sheepish "thank you"-- and then I headed back to Adagio Hostel, which was the name of the place that Laura and Neil were staying at. We had agreed to go out that night before I resolved to branch out on my own and I wasn't going to stand them up just out of principal for my resolution. Even if it was the last night of my first weekend in Budapest.

But at this point I was feeling pretty good. I was back onto a free couch-- not quite as rustic as staying with a student, I'll admit, but a hell of a lot better than paying for another night, and equally better than the night in the hotel-- and I had started to take the tram that runs from my hostel to Adagio. There's something about taking public transportation that just makes you feel like "now this is MY city." I'm normally against taking public transportation for financial reasons, but usually you can get away with not paying to get on the tram. You just have to watch for a guy checking for tickets.

When I got to the hostel Neil gave me a plate of chicken and pasta. I could barely eat, but there was no way I was turning free food down. I would just store it in the inner part of my stomach until I was hungry again. I can do that, you know.

I went to the bar that night with Neil and Laura and also a British dude named Robin, and we met a bunch of Hungarians. Crazy Hungarians. My favorite of the group was this dude named Mishi, who "made a free-style" no less than three times during the hour that we were in the bar. He could have been saying anything, of course, and it might not even have been real words for all I know. But every time he said something that rhymed it was like "oh shit!" anyway. The dude was tight.

Mishi's brother was the second main player of the night, although he was notable mostly because he kept saying "I hate America." I wasn't offended by this in the least but was a bit nervous he would realize that half of the four people he had just met were, in fact, from America. I'm sure he had no idea, though, because he was the nicest guy in the world and loved us.

The third dude was completely drunk and was doing the Hungarian dance-clap thing that you would have imagined he would do. At least, that I imagined a Hungarian would do, this being only my third night in the country. He was also furious with the Hungarian government. I didn't catch why, but better them than me.

(There was also a dude named Attila, who was about five feet tall but made up for it with a bad-ass name. Seriously, is there any name more bad-ass than Attila? Maybe Genghis, but I think that sounds a bit too hokey. It's got to be Attila. I think I'll name my first son Attila. Attila Shell. Has a nice ring to it.)

Anyway, there was lots of beer and lots of unicum, which is basically Hungarian Jaeger, and lots of jollyness. After a while the Hungarians invited us back to their place, and of course we went.

I hadn't a clue where we were going, but Neil said he'd be able to find the way back. Anyway, I was far too consumed with Mishi, who must have sang "Give it to me baby, uh huh uh huh" half a dozen times. That was it, just that one line. Over and over. He was also a big fan of singing "It's a beautiful night oh oh oh oh," the song where the next line is "I just want to be here beside you." He of course didn't know that next line, though, nor did he know that the words are actually "It's a beautiful LIFE." I didn't want to give him the bad news.

My most favorite thing about Mishi, though, was he would sing "I'm the scatman," which is again the first line to another song. Except that after he sang this he would just start scatting. Or what he thought was scatting. If I were to try to quote him, the best I could do would be "Beep bop bibbady doo jibber jabber scibber scabber." He wasn't much of a musician, but he was the funniest guy in all of Hungary, maybe. You have to give him that much.

When we got to the Hungarians' house there were vats of homemade unicum and potatos and sausages and onion soup. It was a freakin' feast. And delicious. And these dudes were hilarious and out of control. Seriously, we had found the greatest dudes in Budapest. There's absolutely no doubt about it.

We left at around 3:00 because it occured to me that I still had to go back to the hostel and wake Beate up to let me in. It was already going to be rude to wake her up at such a late hour, especially since I wasn't paying to sleep there, but I figured that doing so at 3:00 would at least be better than doing so at 4:00. So we left. But there were hugs for everyone, and disappointment for the Hungarians because we weren't crashing for the night. I would have been game for it, too, I really would have, but since I had to be out of the hostel by 7 that would have meant a long walk in the morning hours to get back.

So we left. With hugs for everyone.

And when I got back, Beate let me in with a smile on her face. But she had been sleeping since midnight, so she went back to sleep in an instant. And I took the other couch.