Mister and Misses JRy: Things that make Hungary

Before I post some new pictures, I thought it might be fun to write a little something about the little things that make living here different. Whenever we post, we usually post the coolest pictures we can find and it might leave the impression that we are traveling around and seeing cool places all the time. We do get to see some cool things every now and then, however, most days are pretty typical (go to work, come home, eat dinner, play a game, get groceries, etc.) It feels like home to me except when I see things throughout the day that remind me that I am in a foreign country. I'll talk about a few of them.

1) The traffic lights

Most times, I love the traffic lights here. They are the standard Green, Yellow, and Red lights, but they have some cool features.

a) They have a timer on them. So when you are waiting at a stop light, you know exactly how much time you have until it turns green. I usually read the news while I wait during the 30-60 seconds. Also, our car has a feature that when the car is stopped and I put it in neutral and let out the clutch, the engine shuts off. Then when I push in the clutch again, the engine starts back up. The timer lets me know if I have enough time to kill the engine. When the timer gets down to 2 seconds remaining, the red light turns to yellow and then when the timer turns 0, the light turns green. All of the cars start going at the same time, it is awesome. In America it is quite the opposite, "Oh, it's green....I better start driving I guess."

b) They shut off at night. We usually go grocery shopping at night and the stop lights just have blinking yellow lights until morning. It is really nice to not have to stop when there aren't that many people out.

2) Greetings

In Hungarian, the word for hello is the same as the word for goodbye, szia. It is pronounced "see-a." So it works out nice for us, because when we say "see ya" we are actually saying "goodbye." One funny thing is that when people talk to us, the use the English word, hello, to say both hello and goodbye. I get a kick out of it every time a Hungarian is leaving, they say, "hello."

3) Random things

a) Grocery sacks are not free. They cost about $0.10 each. It is frustrating when we go to check out and realize that we forgot to brings our old bags with us. So we end up cramming stuff into as few bags as possible and hope they don't break.

b) Everybody smokes. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke and most people smoke over here, at least more than in the states.

c) Speeding tickets are expensive......

I received an email from the dealership where we are renting our car, and they informed me that I had received a "highway punishment." There are hidden cameras along the highway and if you aren't paying attention, they clock you speeding and the game is over. No police man at your window, and no talking yourself out of a ticket. I got clocked going 120 KPH in a 100 KPH zone (about the equivalent of going 72 in a 60) and my ticket is for 30,000 Forint (about $125). Not so exciting.

d) Everything takes longer than it should.

Going to the post office is quite the ordeal when you don't speak Hungarian. I get a lot of "Man, you're an idiot" looks from people. But we've been able to manage and can usually find someone that speaks English.

Now for the pictures.....

This is the freeway between Kaposvar and Budapest. Everytime we come around the corner and see the bridge, I start tapping Josie's leg and saying, "Oooo, loook! Hurry get a picture!"

The bridge is at least 150 feet tall and looks even bigger in person.

Porsche behind us. Right after this picture, I changed lanes and it passes us at probably 105 MPH.

Old building by the Danube River in Budapest

Every street in Budapest is lined with building like this.

Heroes square in Budapest. (We had an Asian take the picture and frankly I'm a little surprised that it turned out fuzzy)


The base of the main statue. This horse has elk antlers strapped around its head. Evidently Hungarian kings were elk hunters. Reminded me of some of my dads old hunting pictures.