3 October 2008: Pécs, Hungary

I woke up at 11:30 and made myself some pasta with ham and mushrooms that I found in the deep-freezer. When Tomi woke up I went with him to get stuff for an omelette and, after an apple, headed into town while Tomi went to meet friends. I left my stuff in the flat and Tomi told me the code to get into the building. So I guess I was staying for a while.

I walked around the entire afternoon, just looking at the town. It's a nice place, and there is a ton of history from the period of Turkish rule-- one of the churches has a Muslim crescent just below the cross on the pole above it, from when it was a mosque centuries ago-- but I'm not sure there is enough to do in the city for a week.

However, I much prefer Pécs at dusk. Although it's a city, the five or so blocks around the main square are where nearly everything is located, and when it begins to get dark people fill up the bars and sit outside and just hang out in the square. It's really a lovely place.

I asked some kids where a good bar on a Friday was, and they said that there was a "student party" at this one club but it cost 1000ft to get in. Otherwise, they recommended two clubs called Rak and Opollo.

It was getting dark at this point and I tried to get back to Tomi's place, but I had no idea where it was. A guy at a bar drew me a map, which got me a bit of the way, but I still got lost. I asked a couple girls in a park how to get there, and one of them said "follow me." So I did.

They walked me all the way and when we got to Tomi's place I asked if I could buy them a drink as thanks. They couldn't because they had to go somewhere, but we planned to meet the next afternoon at 2:00 in the square.

Tomi had been supposed to have dinner with a friend that night, and so I stayed out to give them privacy, but when I got back Tomi said that dinner had been canceled. I made the rest of the pasta from lunch and, when the friend came over, they headed to the bar from the first night-- the first bar from the first night. I told them that I needed to finish eating and take a shower but that I would meet them at the bar in a bit. The friend, Blanka, said "you have to come," and I assured her that I would.

(It took a bit longer than expected, though, because I got distracted by watching "The Mighty Boosh," a British sketch-comedy show. Very funny, I highly recommend it.)

When I left the flat I wasn't sure how to get to the bar, so I asked a couple and their response, like the girls earlier, was "follow us." That's the thing about Hungarians, most of the time they're incredibly helpful with giving directions-- if they speak English they'll tell you, and if they don't they'll literally show you. However, every once in a while you'll ask people for directions and they'll talk amongst themselves for 45 seconds and then just walk away without saying a word. It's actually pretty funny, although annoying as hell.

When I got to the bar I found Tomi, Blanka, and another friend. At this point I had met five or so of Tomi's friends and they were all lovely. Which makes Tomi a good dude with good friends. Pretty hard to beat.

I liked Blanka a lot more than the other friend, though, and after a while she offered me a place to crash if I ever make it to Vienna. Actually, she did a bit more than that-- "my bed is big enough for you, too." Well, hello there. Then she said "my boyfriend is visiting me in Vienna next week," which was discouraging. But then she said "Tomi is one of my best boyfriends." Which was confusing. Maybe Hungarian is like Spanish, where the word "friend" is given a gender, and Hungarians translate that "friend" into boyfriend or girlfriend. I don't know. Either way, Blanka was being a friendly girl, indeed.

As for the other girl, well, she was nice but got drunk very quickly. And when she got drunk she became practically incoherent. She started rambling on about how the USA is going to lose the War in Iraq, how they're going to lose "without question," and I said that the war is stupid but there was no way the USA would lose the war if it was "finished." I mean, if it went to completion.

And the girl went on and on, asking how I could support the war, and I told her again that I don't but am pretty confident that the USA has the ability to win the war. Which, depending on what happens in November, might happen.

Anyway, I couldn't believe I was actually arguing this position. It was as close to jingoism as I'll ever get. No question.

And the girl kept drinking, and getting more incoherent by the minute, and she started going off about the American economy. She must have spent ten minutes talking to me about God knows what, and when she asked if I understood her I said "not a word."

(Blanka said she doesn't understand the girl "in Hungarian, either.")

The girl got mad that I didn't understand, and so she went on a drunken rant about "Who's to blame for the economy problem?!" I said I wasn't really sure, and when that wasn't a good enough answer for her I said "the Eastern European communists." She didn't like this answer, but Tomi cut in with "you mean the Eastern European terrorists." I said, no, it was Middle Eastern terrorists. But also Eastern European communists.

(I was glad Tomi was having some fun at her expense, too.)

At around 4:00 I left the bar to try to find Rak, but must have missed it. Either way, I went back to the flat, let myself in, and went to sleep.

That's right, I made it back at 4:00 despite being drunk and alone. Pretty impressive, right?