Boskasia

This is the aggregator of all the mini-blogs of Boskasia

| Next >

Recently (cached)
Recently (no cache)

June 2005
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
<< <		> >>
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Search

Choose skin

Recent Referers

Top Referers

Linkblog

Stuff

18 hours
And now I'm totally freaking out.
And...
When I got my coke at the BK this morning I heard the craziest mix of "99 Luftballoons" and "I Will Survive". What was really funny about it though was that there was this kid in there at the internet kiosk (99 Ft. for 20 minutes, which is about 50 cents) who was boogying to I Will Survive and singing a little under his breath.

And I can stay here... I heard "Radio Gaga" by Queen while waiting for my breakfast.
Back to solitude
The three British ladies are gone. We had lunch at yet another cafe near their hotel, where I had the garlickiest chicken and veggies in history. But it was tasty.

Anyway, now I think I'm going to catch Spiderman (Pókember) at the mozi. Wanna see how much I can follow as it is subtitled in Magyar from what I understand. If not, I'll at least know what's going on after seeing it a few times.

Tonight is karaoke. Tomorrow is Bratislava.
Bad language experience
Had my first couple bad language experiences today.

#1: Went to Margitsziget (Margaret Island) and was doing OK with the girl behind the desk as far as asking for what I want (which was to walk on the handball court). However, I couldn't figure out how to ask if I could look at the ball. Luckily, a fellow heard what was going on and translated for me, but I felt awful. That's the very reason I wanted to learn the language.

#2: Went to the post office, and had the postal agent spending time correcting me on how to ask for post card stamps rather than just giving me the stamps. I suppose he couldn't understand me, but I doubt it. I just said it in a different order than he did. Oh well

I got the stamps so it can't be that bad.

And it looks like my review of my food from earlier didn't take.

Still trying to find somewhere to upload pictures.
Bad news on pictures.
Looks like I won't be able to upload them from the hotel. I'll have to find an internet cafe willing in that aspect.
Disgusting
I had said before that the women here dressed modestly if they should because of looks, size, etc. I think I have to take it back. Last night at karaoke, there was a girl who probably should have been wearing a mumu, but instead was wearing a tight top and showing her navel piercing.

Sick and disgusting.
Final post
This will be my final post from Budapest.

As I write from the internet cafe that I've spent my time at updating those that care about this trip, I'm actually going to do a bit of thought.

I came here, on Thursday and Friday, trying to at least fit in a bit. I took 6 months of the language, I tried to dress as they do here, I did my best to avoid the American stuff, etc.

Today after wine 1, I left for wine 2 in classic Boskey garb, polo shirt, jeans that are too big in the rump, white socks, black shoes, watch on the right wrist, and my music. It was a Boskey moment, one that can't be explained unless you know who I am and what I am. For this moment, all that mattered was me. I shed all attempts at being like something else, trying to fit something else. It's not me, it never has been me, and I don't see how I can live with it being me.

I'll be asked what did I find out about myself on this trip, as not everyone can take off for 10 days to a strange culture by themselves. What'd I find out? I may be 1/4 Magyar, an American, a lefty, someone who attempts to fit in while wanting to be the one that stands out, a person who wants to be respected but treated no differently than anyone else. These all may or may not be true, but at the end of the day I'm Jason Boskey, the one and only, the csak csillag ebben a varosban and no one will ever again be able to take that from me.
First entry
This will be my first entry into this silly thing. Getting ready to travel alone is a total trip, I'll say that much.
Going to the football game
That's the plan for tonight. I get to do what I've wanted to do for awhile, but could never pull it off Stateside... go see a World Cup Qualifying game. As the Mighty (ha!) Magyars take on the Iceland she-devils. It's not obvious at all which side I'll be cheering for.

Anyway, I think I figured out why I'm averaging walking 10 miles a day and still my clothes are getting tighter... all this ice cream. It's everywhere and it's so freaking cheap, and it's oh so good.

Today was the chilling day. Went to the mall to see if I could score a converter and no luck, then missed Spiderman. We'll try again tomorrow, now that I know what time it's playing. Opera is tomorrow as well.

I'll recap the game tonight.
I'm here
So far...

I heard a baby screaming in Italian on the plane that left 1 1/2 hours late.

The hotel is OK at least, even if the driver couldn't find it.

Starting roaming around.

Hero's square is cool with the statues of the greats of Hungarian history (who decided that though remains a mystery.)

In fact, all of varosliget is cool. From the guys playing outdoor table tennis to the trampoline to the folks fishing.

My pathetic Hungarian, admittedly, is doing me better than I thought it would.

I do at some point need to eat some food, other than sour apple ice cream. And I'm tired as all I don't know what. The plane ride didn't want me to sleep.

Anyway...
Itinerary
Alitalia Flight 627
Depart 9/1 @ 4pm
Arrive in Milan 9/2 8am

Alitalia Flight 7530 (may be under MALEV)
Depart Milan 9/2 @ 10:30am (3:30am CDT)
Arrive in Budapest 9/2 @ 12:05pm (5:05am CDT)

Staying at Hotel Szõnyi
Phone number
+ 36 1 222 00 15

Thursday 9/9
I go to Bratislava for the day.

Alitalia Flight 7531 (may be under MALEV)
Depart Budapest 9/12 @ 7:40am (12:40am CDT)
Arrive Milan 9/12 @ 9:20am (2:20am CDT)

Alitalia Flight 626
Depart Milan 10:20am (3:20am CDT)
Arrive O'Hare 1:20pm
Karaoke, Magyar style
First off, the eats...

Went to my first vendéglo, which is home cooking. It was some tasty food. Hortobagyi palacsinta as an appetizer followed by marhaspörkölt, with boiled potatoes. Tasty.

Then it was off to the Upside Down. When I got there there was nobody there for karaoke, so I went back upstairs and watched the Hungary-Denmark hockey game (bad hockey).

Then when I got bored with that I went back downstairs and what do I hear, but Hungarian rap music. And they all (1/3 being gay) get into every singer. Only heard one English song (Material Girl) and didn't sing myself. Maybe Wednesday night. If you do something slow, you get booed off stage. It's crazy!
No on Bratislava today
Yesterday, while avoiding a pack of senior citizens in their underwear (we're talking bras and thongs) at the top of a small hill at Varosliget, I stepped in a whole and slightly sprained my right ankle. Couple that with the 35,000 steps yesterday and the two blisters on my right foot, I think today we're going to take it easy, maybe go to the Budapest archives first, but definitely hitting the Szechenyi thermal spa for the healing effects of the water here.

Bratislava will have to be Thursday.
NOMAD
Got the NOMAD going. Now the 1,824 songs of Boskasia will be on that little dude.
Opera???
OK, let's get it out of the way right now. When I saw that the National Opera House was in the middle of rehearsals for their next performance and wouldn't be performing this week, I found an alternate plan at the Budapesti Operettszinhaz. Well, guess what? It ain't an opera house, it's a musical theatre.

Now that that's out of the way...

I saw Elisabeth, which was about the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (affectionately known as Sisi in these parts). It was in Magyar, but above the stage, they had an English translation going, which I did my best to avoid.

As an aside, for singing, the Hungarian language is extremely beautiful and melodic. It's form makes it easy to rhyme which means you can choose many different ways to say something and make it work if you believe in the rhyme and the rhythm.

Now, this show followed Elisabeth's rise to Empress of Austria, and her close relationship with death from a young age (not as in everyone around her died, but rather she had close calls with death) treating it as a love affair with the Angel of death. The most powerful songs of the show involved this Angel. It showed her incessant fighting for control over the Emperor with her mother-in-law, her succeeding in winning this battle but then ignoring her husband and children in a desire to remain free of the bond of royalty, with a smattering of Hungarian nationalist scenes, some helping the plot and some superfluous. She again became tight with death when her son commits suicide because he fell out of favor with his father and she wouldn't intercede ("I've never asked him for a favor before and the first won't be for you"). The climax is her own death at the hands of an Italian anarchist.

Overall, in spite of me not understanding enough to know what they were saying but enough to see the subtitles were insufficient, I thought it was stupendous. The music was very powerful, in the same vein as Lloyd Webber or Schoenberg (I hope I got the name right)-Boubil (the Les Mis/Miss Saigon guys). The singing was out of this world. And I was in the 8th row.

About Hungarians... they believe in buying their tickets the day of the show, and they clap in unison all the time. Seriously, it's quite fun to be around. Now if they didn't have 6 curtain calls. Oh yes, and this appeared to be the premiere and I was the goofy American there.

Oh, and dinner tonight? Chinese food, Hungarian style. Not much different than Chinese food, American style.
Pictures
Photos from the trip
Pokember
I've given up on spiderman. No matter what I do, it seems to just not be in the cards.
Right now I hate Hungary
I totally misread the price at a place I was. I thought it was 1800 for each drink I was having, but it was 18,000 (which is $90) so after4 drinks, I'm out a lot of money.
Sleep is my friend
It's amazing how sleep and coca cola revitalize the soul. Of all the things that I was told about Hungary that are wrong, the one I am most glad was wrong was that Coke was not something you could get here, and that this was a Pepsi country. How awful would it be if I had to disown 1/4 my heritage because of their soft drink preference?
The baths...
Man, what a treat for the body.

The baths are wonderful. The water is toasty and natural, you can smell the minerals in it. My blisters felt totally better after the soothing of the baths. If you come to Hungary and don't go to the baths, then either you weren't here long enough for your just crazy.

But you haven't been in a sauna until you've done a Hungarian Bath Sauna. 80C (176F) room. 5 minutes, tops. It's so refreshing but you could bring your hot dogs in there and cook them.

Anyway, an awesome way to start the morning. Tonight is the soccer game, at 9:15 local (not 4:15 as I had thought). Today I AM going to see spiderman and I need to find a power converter, otherwise the flight home will truly be awful.