Magyar News, 1997. szeptember-1998. augusztus (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1997-09-01 / 1. szám
HUNGARY IN PIECES visit to an old village in Hungary includes a short trip to the outhouse. For a person who has the routine of using city conveniences, this could be a bit puzzling - to put it mildly. One of our traveling companions, not having the manualbook for the outhouse, beckoned my son, Justin, to help him out. He had a problem, he didn I know how to flush it. We were driving on a highway in the country. After many kilometers we sensed a pattern. In farout places, not even close to any settlement or farm, we noticed some girl standing on the roadside now and then. They were quite young, early twenties, good looking, dressed nicely. Non of them showed any sign of hitch-hiking. They totally neglected us. Our question was “if they are at a nowhere, do they want to get somewhere?” The first night driving in the country, I happened to mention it to friends. We were enlightened that these lovely girls were prostitutes who knew that they would be picked up. Well they sure were going somewhere! Our accommodation, food, service and everything at the Marriott Hotel was the best one could ask for. We even had a Bible in our night-table. Next to it a phone book lied in the drawer. I needed to find a few numbers so I took it out. Before opening it 1 got very suspicious. The color of the pages were yellow. True enough it was the Yellow Pages. The system they use is different to ours. I didn’t take the trouble to study it because I wasn’t interested in any business. I was looking for the white pages that has residential numbers. I went around in the hotel hunting for one. 1 must say I wasn't successful. Moving around the reception area, gift shop and others I happened to get a glance, through a glass door to a Business Center Office, at the receptionist who put something on the counter in front of her that look just like a Phonebook. I was desperate so I went in and through the kindness of the receptionist I was able to borrow it for a few minutes. Not everything worked with the phonebook because the phone company is constantly changing the numbers, adding a new digit, regrouping the prefixes and God knows w hat. You might be better off if your feet do the walking not vour fingers. t the Opera in Budapest we had the best seat. We were in the front row of the first box. Practically we could reach Page 6 out and shake hands with the actors on the stage. We tremendously enjoyed the long performance, the Walkur by Wagner. The lyrics were in German, but for the Hungarian audience an electronic display above the stage showed it in Hungarian. Since my German got very rusty during the past decades, I relied on the Hungarian text I had a problem with my son who couldn’t follow either language. So I volunteered to be his interpreter in English. Though I was whispering, many times I had to over ride the orchestra. After a while we noticed that the couple sitting behind us left the box. We felt bad about it If our behavior was the cause of their sudden departure, then I apologize, I deeply regret it 1am used to turn my head, here in America, if I hear somebody speaking Hungarian. It would be stupid to do the same thing in Budapest. But. To make the adjustments one needs time. At the hotel and in many places the Hungarian staff speaks English. So when you walk out of this kind of an environment you automatically notice if Hungarian is spoken. Force of habit. One time being among people. I turned to a couple and asked them in Hungarian if they speak Hungarian. They sort of nodded. so I continued talking to them - in English. First I was surprised that they walked away, but then my son told me what I did. It occurred to me to go after them and clarify what 1 did. but I got a better idea; I wanted to hide my face. At an other occasion, deep under ground waiting for the Metro (Subway, Underground or whatever you call it) there was an announcement that I didn’t hear right. Next to me were standing young, high school size girls. I turned to them and asked what was said. They just looked at me. so I checked it out if I said it in Hungarian. I did. So I repeated the question again. Same faces, but no answers. They were a school class visiting from Idaho. After finding this out we had a nice chat in English. They told me about potatoes from Idaho. I told them about potatoes from Szabolcs Megye. miles speed is about 80 kilometers. This speed is designated for the highway that is marked with a yellow square, wide white border and standing on its point. The speed is fair enough for travelling. The highway has two lanes, one for going and one for coming. If one wants to pass then one pulls into the oncoming lane and says a prayer. This happens often because trucks are traveling on the same road and for some reason they are slower then the speed limit, contrary to what we experience here, where the trucks lead in breaking the limit. This is really not the problem. To pass, makes the situation hectic. Specially when there are two, three or ten trucks ahead of you. And there is no space between them. To get ahead one has to pass all of them or just sit behind the last one and try to remember the exact words of your drill sergeant from the time your army vocabulary was extended. Once, when I put my life on stake with the lives of my passengers to cut of a few hours on a few hour trip, with a gentle smile I was beckoned to the side of the road by a smiling policeman. He told me that I have been photographed as I was speeding and he can’t do anything about it. He sympathizes with me and he is heart broken also. “That would be 100 Forints per kilometer. I went 22 kilometers above the speed limit, but he will give me a break and only charge 2000 Forints. I could make good use of the 200 Forints that he saved me.” I found this very generous and recalled that at the last stop I paid 30 Forints to use a public bathroom for number one. 200 will cover four of us, plus tip. Ihave to get technical with flushing. That is flushing the bathroom. Not the outhouse but the hightech WC (Water Closet). Very seldom have we seen toilet tanks. In the hotel - the best one could ask for - was our first puzzle. There was no tank and no lever. Our investigation gave us the answer, there is a nice metal plate the size of the top of a shoebox. Pretty big. One has to push the center segment of it and run. It sure does the job. But in general, at apartments, restaurants instead of the big plate one finds in place a small lever like the ones we are used to. It is a faucet and works like a faucet. One turns it then the water gushes. To stop one has to turn it back. Otherwise it will let the water flow till eternity. You could determine how much water you want to use. It might be a good point. Soon a computer chip will make the decision. Sure beats the outhouse. In my experience one doesn’t need a car to get around in Budapest. It could be a real headache. I dropped off my people so they could fetch their luggage. There was no way to wait for them because traffic is very heavy . 1 figured the old trick going
