Best phone bank calling I can remember. I was questioning my own sanity as I pulled out the directions in the rain and the dark to find my way through those narrow little streets to join the Hungary for Obama group Monday night to call Hoosiers in my home state. At first I thought it was a crazy idea to tell them we were calling from Budapest, but it proved to be a great strategy. As soon as they recognize that you are “selling” a candidate they are going to hang-up as quick as they possibly can. This is when I say: I’m a former Hoosier calling you tonight from Budapest, Hungary. Being Hoosiers they are curious and want to know what the heck you are doing in Budapest. This breaks the ice and sometimes you can even have quite a nice conversation about why you think it is important to spend your time in Budapest calling for Obama.
Of course the most in-depth conversation I had was with a woman who almost convinced me to switch to Hillary. She had been in the front row at the Jefferson/Jackson dinner the night before and the speeches and actions of rude Obama supporters caused her to switch to Hillary. Neither of us could persuade the other but it was a nice conversation.
I know this picture looks a little blurry and I really only had half of a beer.
Hungarian Bureacracy has its good side. The last weekend in April I had to head to Zagreb, Croatia in order to get my passport stamped. It seems Croatia is the closest country NOT a member of the European Union. Apparently, the permit from the convenient housing authority is impossible to get. I was informed that there is a long tradition of foreign English language teachers leaving the country to get their passport stamped. Before Hungary joined the EU you could take a quick trip to Vienna (3 hours) but now we are required to leave the EU and come back. I’m a little confused about this custom because 90 days does not seem too long for a European vacation. Anyway I followed directions. I went down to the railroad station with a piece of paper Budapest à Zagreb and Zagrebà Budapest and along with dates & time. She seemed a little puzzled at first but somehow got it & I was issued a ticket for the next day.
My compartment mate on the way to Zagreb was a Bosnian student working for her Master’s degree in translation at the University in Zagreb. She was delighted to have someone to talk to and she told me everything I needed to know about Zagreb. If she hadn’t been late for her three Saturday classes she would have shown me the town.
It is a wonderful old historic city, apparently untouched by WWII or the recent civil wars. I stayed in the only $$ medium priced hotel recommended by Rick Steves, their aren’t any cheap hotels so my decision was easy.
Too make it even easier, I completely forgot to check the exchange rate before I left so when I was faced with the cash machine and the hotel price sheet I had no idea what I was spending. I highly recommend this strategy for a relaxing vacation.
The seven hour train ride back with no food or water available on the train could be a little horrendous. My food supply thoughtlessly included salty pretzels but I survived.
Slide show of Zagreb http://picasaweb.google.com/Janwingen/Zagreb
I always eat lunch at the university restaurant and then if I want some meat I just have a sausage or salami with a vegetable for dinner. They are Hungarian specialties, flavorful, easy and they even specialize in the Mangalitsa, a “good cholesterol” pig. The second day of my four day weekend I decided I just could NOT eat another sausage for dinner. I got the idea of buying a piece or two of what looks like pre-cooked fried chicken. I’ve seen it in my closest grocery store. Wanting to avoid the long rush hour lines I rehearsed the word for chicken and then headed over to the Match grocery store at 6pm. The store was closed at 6pm on a Friday night. What is wrong with these people they must care more about their employees than their profit margin. I headed to the discount grocery store which is nearly always open. I knew they didn’t have ready to go food but I have to eat something. I was forced to purchase frozen chicken nuggets. My small box of chicken nuggets cost about $6.00. I should have thought of going across the block to Burger King & checking out their deals.
My box of chicken nuggets has directions for cooking in EIGHT different languages and NONE of them are English. Also I am quite sure none of them involve a microwave or an oven. I’m going with guessing the German directions and frying them in “Pflanzenfett or Butterschmalz.”
I have also been doing some traveling. My strangest trip was with Zsuzsa. She asked me if I wanted to accompany her and a group to go swimming at a resort, see the sites of Eger in northern Hungary and visit the wineries there. Quite a bit to pack in one day but we started at 8:30am.
It turned out the group was about 80 Swedish engineers. (90% men) They were very nice but many of them would prefer to sit in the hot swimming pool or drink a beer in the sunshine to touring the fortress, or meandering down cobblestone streets. Well who can blame them. It’s been a long winter. 
It was a great opportunity for me. I got a soak at this very modern spa outside Eger. The Hungarians were drilling for oil but as apparently happens often here, they hit hot water instead.
There is kind of a mini-Mammoth Hot Springs beginning to build. 
The rest of the water is being channeled into huge swimming pools. You are issued a black plastic wristband, which you scan to find your locker in the coed locker room. There are changing booths but it initially seemed a little disconcerting to find I had a swim locker between two burly men. The huge pools are various warm temperatures and large hot tubs are attached. You can enter the warm water inside the building and walk surrounded by water to the outside pools. It is incredibly clean and modern. Restaraunts, bars, cafes, saunnas and various massages and treatments are available in the building attached to the pools. Charge everything to your wristband and pay as you leave. I must confess I found the modern hot spring resort the most intriguing part of the adventure.
After lunch we toured Eger, the town that held of the Turks (for a while anyway.) Istvan Dobo’ was the hero in 1552. Even though Budapest had fallen he managed to hold of the Turks. Unfortunately, they returned in 1596 and took over the town. One minaret still stands. 
The town cathedral (1830’s) is quite interesting; I was surprised to see the walls were fake marble. Apparently the towns people hid from the Turks in limestone caves a few miles outside of town which have now been turned into wine tasting rooms.
As seems to happen to rustic tourist attractions worldwide, what a few years ago were rustic little caves are now very rapidly being fixed into more upscale restaurants and bars. I got a picture of a few less developed caves. The famous wine from the region is called Bull’s Blood. One story being the locals sold it to the teetolling Muslims under that name so they wouldn’t know they were drinking alcohol.
The only downside to the trip was trying to make my way home after mid-night and nearly tripping over the homeless people who sleep in odd corners but I made it unscathed.
Slide show of Eger
Best phone bank calling I can remember. I was questioning my own sanity as I pulled out the directions in the rain and the dark to find my way through those narrow little streets to join the Hungary for Obama group Monday night to call Hoosiers in my home state. At first I thought it was a crazy idea to tell them we were calling from Budapest, but it proved to be a great strategy. As soon as they recognize that you are “selling” a candidate they are going to hang-up as quick as they possibly can. This is when I say: I’m a former Hoosier calling you tonight from Budapest, Hungary. Being Hoosiers they are curious and want to know what the heck you are doing in Budapest. This breaks the ice and sometimes you can even have quite a nice conversation about why you think it is important to spend your time in Budapest calling for Obama. 
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