will you be my friend?

so we've yet to find the ex-pat scene.

we've looked everywhere! sometimes we go into bars or cafes just because the people inside look like ex-pats, but no luck. only hungarians. certainly we didn't come to eastern europe just to hang out with other americans, but it WOULD be so helpful to have a couple english-speaking friends to show us the ropes.

but we've been doing ok on our own. we didn't really notice the progress we'd made until the last couple evenings, spent with new friends from our hostel. we actually were able to help them order food and drinks (!), teach them a few polite words in Magyar, and answer some questions about the way things are done here! exciting!

at the same time, we are constantly reminded just how little we DO know about what's going on around us. for starters, we thought we were so awesome for knowing that their language is not "hungarian", but "Maygar". yet, several days ago, we discovered that the reason no one understood us when we said, "we are trying to learn Magyar," is because we were mispronouncing "Magyar". yeah, i know, how hard can it be? aha, in Magyar the letters "gy" are pronounced "dj". so every time we said, "Megg-yarr" we should have been saying, "Mad-jar".

also, the sign for "one" is an upraised thumb. so when you order something at a cafe (OF COURSE, this is a hypothetical example, *cough*) and the barista gives you the thumbs-up sign, she is NOT saying, "oh, excellent choice!" rather, she is asking whether or not you are ordering just one drink. heh, heh. if, for some reason, you forget this rule of "thumb" and try to order one item by upraising your pointer finger, they will bring you TWO of that item. oops. at this point you hope that you 1)have enough cash to cover the double order, and 2)can drink/eat both of them before they get too cold/warm (whichever extreme is the undesirable). this rule applies to the other numbers as well: if you order 4 stuffed grape leaves by raising the four main fingers, you will be served 5 of them... despite the fact that it is physically impossible to signify "four" by folding down only the pinkie, while keeping the thumb and the three center fingers upraised.

we'd met very few americans on this trip, and NO west-coasters, until the past two days. but it's been the week of the portlanders at this hostel! our newest friends are another couple from Portland, Dean and Emily. meeting them was an unusual experience: we tried to correct their mispronunciation of our names, only to discover that, no, their names really are that close to ours! they are very cool, like all portlanders, but a bit intimidating--they are both tall, gorgeous, and well-dressed. we quickly found common ground: we four feel like old farts, thanks to the 17-year-old chileans who party in the hostel before partying at the pub before partying at a club, returning to party at the hostel at 3am, then somehow rising bright and early to party with their guitar, expecting everyone else to party with their party. groan.

our other new friend is Hannah, from Hong Kong. she is the most bubbly person i have EVER met. we might have to add hong kong to our "to see" list, just for the opportunity to have this delightful girl show us around!

also, matt from liverpool (the 2nd matt-from-liverpool that we'ver met this week), on his way to the middle east. josh from west virginia, taking a semester off from georgetown to WWOOF in western hungary. josh is only 20, but quite mature. he is planting fast-growing willows that will be used to make biofuel. apparently he has the farm to himself most of the time, except for the neighboring gypsies who stop by frequently to see if he needs cigarettes or pot. we wasted no time in indoctrinating him with our buy-local, grow-organic, back-to-the-land, herbal-meds theories. he was a patient, open-minded listener... we are going to make him a "reading list" before we part ways.

i guess i didn't write about 1st-Matt-from-Liverpool, but he and his aussie buddy, chris (they met in thailand), are snowboarding across europe. chris is taking a gap year; matt is taking two months off from a master's program, but in his words, "I don't righ'ly know if the Uni knows i' cuz i'm ge'ing these messages callin' me in for mee'ings." they found the love of their lives in romania: a 1984 Datchia (sp?), bile-yellow, up on jackstands, with torn seatcovers and no mirrors. 200 euros and 2 tires later it was theirs. it made it to budapest, at a top speed of 80 kmh. within their first hours in budapest they had run countless red lights, cut off several trams, done illegal U-turns in front of cops, driven on the wrong side of the street, and gotten two parking tickets.

these other travellers have been good company, until we get to know some locals or ex-pats. we've made one hungarian friend: a bartender at Apa Cuka who helps say things in Mad-jar, and we leave large tips. we've only made one hungarian enemy: a barista at Drum Cafe, where i--god forbid--put one of my feet on a chair. so things are looking up!

Viszontlatosra!