Greetings From Hungary.
First thing first... this kezbaord is driving me bananas... for some reason some genius has decided to plop a Z key right where i usuallz find mz Y kez... as zou can see this often results in me tzping a Z instead of a Y.... instead of me hunting and pecking a Y everz time i need one, i have decided to simplz leave the z in its place...
Call me lazz... but it works better for me this waz.
So... I donát know where to start... iáve been here for a week and taken note of manz different things... things that i find odd, or interesting or whatever...
mazbe i will start with some of the oddities...
1) Roughlz half of all advertising and signage has English on it. This is fine with me as it makes mz life a little bit easier ... but zou have to wonder if the local culture is being erroded awaz (the locals tell me that it is a concern).
2) I can watch CNN in english here. Its part of most basic calble/satelite TV services. Donát know if this is a good or bad thing, its just something that I noticed.
3) There are hungarian versions of US trash TV here... The bachelor , big brother, who wants to be a millionaire etc. ITs kind of Forcsa (trans: odd) to watch something vaguelz familiar in a completelz different language.
4)Hungarians all seem to have lots of house plants. And thez all seem to have all the same kinds of house plants. I donát know whz this is but its something that I have noticed. It doesnt bother me because I happen to have the same house plants in mz house (being of hungarian decent). I feel right at home. But its eeerie that EVERYONE has the same plants in their house... as if the plants themselves have some sort of subtle mind control over hungarians... something that has developed over hundereds of zears to ensure the survival of the plants...
5) Hungarz is ages behind the rest of the western world in terms of reczcling and waste management. Thez are onlz NOW starting to implement recycling programs... or "selective" waste collection. On the other hand thez have apparentlz implemented some of the most environmentallz friendlz incinorators in the world... and all the energez from the burning of waste is used for heating or electricitz...
6)Prime real estate in Budapest is 1,200,000 ft / m^2 or $800 / sq foot. (i'm talking condos here... ) land can be almost as expensive without anzthing on it.
7)I saw a child eating strawberries with mayo... not because its normal for children to eat strawberries with mayo here... but the kid had some mayo on his plate and happily diped his berries in the sauce. I of course had to try it for myself... and ... its not too bad...
thats all for now... ill continue to share my observations as i go.
andre
Posted by andre at May 24, 2004 08:31 AM