Hello I'm Arriving, Hello I'm Leaving

I don't speak Hungarian, they don't speak English, but we all get along just fine.  Last night I made the rounds to a few really cool bars.  I was unsuccessful in my attempt to find someone who could and would communicate with me, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying.  One really cool bar was setting up for live music, and it looks like that's a pretty common thing, so I'm sure I'll be spending some time there.  I left before the music began however, and was only able to watch the Hungarian soccer team lose in their Euro Cup qualifying match.  The Hungarians took the defeat much better than I did, because they were expecting it.

Also, I happened upon a concert at the Csaba Center (the small, but relatively large mall here) that was fascinating.  It was three guys performing, a singer, a guitarist, and a bass guitarist, who were helped along by recorded music (who knows if they were actually playing at all).  The funny part was, every teenage girl in southern Hungary was there, and they were all screaming and trying to climb on the stage like it was the biggest boy band in the country (maybe it was).

While there, I saw a girl with a small animal cage that had two chipmunks in it.  Maybe it's a Hungarian thing...

Today I found Tesco, a sort of British Wal Mart, and was rewarded for my long hike in the heat.  I bought a reading lamp for my bed, and a clock radio (no wonder Borat's neighbor couldn't afford one, they're not easy to come by in these parts).  Hopefully this means the end of my digital watch and flashlight era.

I had my coffee at my new hangout, the Mozart Cafe, who I'm permanently indebted to for teaching me how to buy peppers.  Their English vocabulary is about the same as my Hungarian, but we smile and have a good time.  Anyone who visits must go there.  Tell them "hello" - they know what it means.

Speaking of hello, I don't think I've mentioned how smart the Hungarians are.  They use this term to mean hello, but they also use it to mean goodbye.  It's genius.  They have about 472 different ways to say hello and goodbye, and most of them have this unique feature of being able to be a greeting or a farewell.  Life is so much easier that way!

The theater is right down Andrássy ucta (my local pedestrian street) from the Mozart Cafe, and they were setting up an outdoor stage and seats (while various people were singing).  I saw some very elaborate costumes on the stage, and I don't know if it's some sort of live commercial for a play they're doing, or if there will be a live performance.  Either way, I'll be there.

I attempted to make it back to that market that I found the other day, but I was just too late and they were closing up for the day.  I'll try to get there earlier tomorrow and hopefully when it's full it doesn't project the feeling of a third world country.

The more I get to know this place, the more I like it.  I would recommend visiting, but it's like my own little private paradise so you should probably go somewhere else, like Kentucky.

Hello.