this week so far

a colleague told me about a different mexican restaurant in town and i decided to find it. it was supposedly cheaper than the one across the street from my house. so off i went - on a bus - to find some mexican grub. so far in nyiregyhaza i hadn't been asked to show my bus ticket by the bus ticket nazis. in budapest they are everywhere, buses, trams, the metro, but here i was kind of surprised not to have seen any. then i rode the bus in the evening. i got on at the stop i always get on the bus from and sat down. some grubby lookin' guy dressed in navy coveralls walked from the back of the bus straight to me, and i saw him coming. when he got to me, in the middle of the bus, he whipped out his arm badge which really looks like the badges nazis wore on their arms, and started insisting people show him their tickets or monthly passes. i showed him mine but he didn't seem satisfied and said some stuff to me. i handed him my badge because i didn't know what he wanted. he just turned it over to the other side then gave it back to me. whew. safe.

i got off at a stop near my school where my colleague said the mexican restaurant was. i didn't see it. i went into a pastry shop i frequent and there was a man working there. usually there is a woman and she knows me, so i was bummed to see the guy. i asked him where is the mexican restaurant. he said voshvaree ootsah (my street - where i live!). i said, noooo, not voshvaree ootsah, this street. somewhere near here. i live on voshvaree ootsah and i know that restaurant, but it's not that one. it's here. he said, no no no. another customer came in, overheard our conversation and agreed that there wasn't any on the street where we were. i think he offered to take me to the one on voshvari ootsah. no no no. fine, thanks a lot. bye.

i asked a stranger on the street where was the mexican restaurant. he spoke english to me (!) and told me turn right and it will be on the left. i did and it was. dumb pastry shop guy. i knew there was one! sheesh.

there was a menu with hungarian and spanish all over it. i pointed to a picture or two and asked what things were. the hungarian speaking hungarian told me everything was good (of course). i asked what the chili con carne looked like and he went to another table, asked them if he could borrow their chili con carne, and brought it over to show me. what the?!?! i thanked him and the table, but didn't want that. i ordered nachos and he left me alone. a few minutes later he brought me the chili con carne AND the nachos. grrrrreat. it was probably my fault so i just tasted them both, took them both home in a box, and paid for way too much food. it might have been cheaper than the one by my house, but not if you buy two meals.

on the way home i stopped at a bus stop. the bus wansn't coming for 15 minutes so i decided to walk. as i did i saw one of my students and his two friends also walking. i said hi to him and they all walked me home for about 15 minutes. we talked and talked in english and they tried to convince me to buy them "pink cigarettes" when i go to vienna this weekend. i told them how smoking will kill them and i can't be part of that. they laughed and one girl was persistent. "if you buy me just one pack of pink cigarettes in vienna, i promise it will be my last cigarettes in my life." hahahaha. no.

i lost my phone. sad, sad, sad. i am in the process of replacing it. it's terribly inconvenient to lose your phone and all your numbers any time. i think i'm finding it more inconvenient in hungary than ever in the US. *sigh* at least i'm still alive.

BYE!!