Fast Facts

Here are some fast facts I have been collecting over my stay in Hungary.  Some of these were written awhile ago (I now drink the tap water with the aid of a filter jug) but since its the last week here I think its time to publish these babies!

1. The street signs are on the corner of the buildings.  I find this strange.
2. There is graffiti everywhere, like everywhere! On al the old buildings, all the trams, trains, trolleys, buses even the stairs on the escalators - seriously! 
3. I now appreciate having drinking water from a tap.  The water here is "okay" to drink but if anyone knows me well enough they know I like my water fresh, and the Budapest water has a very distinct smell that has me shying away.  I have tried it and it doesn't taste as bad as it smells but everyone buys their water here.  Admittedly I am paying 115ft a 1.5L bottle which is 0.62c NZD but to think what it is doing to the environment, already on day 3 I had gone through 7 bottles!  I hate to think what it will be after a month!
4. For those of you that think I have hairy arms (Phillip Ryan), you should see the Hungarian girls (and I have noticed the Italians are high up there too). So next time you are checking out the physique of a well done European you should also take into consideration the amount of hair they have on their body.
5. Fat old men everywhere!  This is not really an issue, but it seems to be that in the summer time they like to walk around with there tops rolled up over their bellies.  Exposing their large barrel like stomaches.  I think the thing that bothers me the most is the way the top is rolled up, like it is a crop top.  If they walked around topless which some do, it would be fine.  Take note old men in Hungary STOP EXPOSING UR BELLIES.
6. The smell.  Now its not quite a sewage smell, we have come to the conclusion it is more of a dirty/garbage/sewage smell.  You just get a whiff of it every now and then but boy does it sting the nostrils and leave its mark on the brain. 
7. Homeless.  So Hungary has a large amount of homeless people.  In the summer I can see the appeal of sleeping outside due to the heat.  But come winter I don't know what these poor people do.  One thing I have noticed that has been from the people who look homeless and the people who don't look so homeless is that they pick up ciggy butts from the ashtrays in that are connected to the bins.  The shuffle until they find the least smoked and then brush em off and go.  This for the first time left me speechless as I was in mid convo with someone, and from now on just makes me sick in the stomach. 
8. Lightening.  As you know we have had some storms will I have been here.  But even now I am sitting at my computer on a hot sticky night watching the fork lightening light up the sky orange, its not even raining.
9. For those of you who know our 'family whistle', my Grandmother had always told us this whistle originates from the way that the Hungarian birds whistle.  And she is right!  Sitting in a park one day I heard the whistle, a lot slower then how we do it, so I whistled back only to find out that it was indeed a bird calling out.  I had a wee moment as I thought this was mega cool!
10. Meleg means hot and gay in Hungarian therefore if you are wanting to say: "meleg vagyok" (I am hot) don't be surprised when you get hounded by the same sex as you are also saying "I am gay".  And for all my lovely gay friends out there I take this as a compliment all of you are hot!