The deep hearted Hungary

So much has happenned,
we've seen so much, felt so much and learnt so much.  The highlights have really been made by the amazing people we've met on the road, and travelling to a new city means saying goodbye to a new found friend.
In Timisoara we were housed by an architect student and her Maldavian mother.  This is still in Romania, by the way.
The mother cooked us home cooked romanian cusine - spicy meat cabbage rolls, spiced palenta, eggs, bread, creamy sauces, all piled on plates on top of plates.  Timisoara is full of young, creative people and the little city has so many nooks and crannys where people can come and express themselves creatively.  We were lucky to meet such awesome people who each took us to a new place.  I spent a few hours drawing with some amazing comic artists at an animation festival.  We walked past one building, and in each window (there were maybe seven) you could see the silhouette of a person, and hear the amazing music of different instruments.  I'm convinced that all people in Timisoara are gifted.

with Diana :)

It was sad to leave Diana, her spirit has so much energy (or perhaps it was the coffee she replaced food and water with?) but she's one I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere somehow.

  From Timisoara we went to Szeged, a city at the bottom of Hungary.  There, we stayed with a young woman studying Russian, with a vast knowledge of literature films and all sorts of intellectual stuff which highly excited David.  While the Romanian people were talkative and bubbling with friendliness, the mountains alight with autumn colours and the streets wild with activity, Hungary holds a contasting sense of calmness.  The landscape is flat, wisping across earth like the wind, which, too, is so calm its as though it is listening to you.  The people reflect the feel of the land, with their reserved character, and calm take on things.  If you ask a Hungarian if they speak English they say 'No, sorry' rather shyly and walk away, because they're eductaion system with english is lacking.  Though if you ask 'where does this bus go?' or 'how do you get to the station?' they will reply carefully and clearly, and are happy to help.
  It was a meditiation simply being there, as though my consciousness was more present.
  I mentioned this to a Hungarian girl I met,
  Hungarian is a great language, and though some people think it evolved from Finnish I think it evolved rather by itself, by cave warriors or something, because the first Hungarians were tribal people and they fought for land and grew strongly (though the country has made some weak political descisions more recently).
  From Szeged we head off to Pecs, where we were welcomed by two architect students (tehy tend to all stick together, its a study of its own and theyre all so proud to study it and to teach others about it).
  The boys were lovley, and shared with me some good Hugarian music. From Pecs we went to Budapest, the city, the capital and oh my goodness its the life.  It is gorgeous.  First (after a buffet of all you can eat traditional hungarian food for like 4 dollars) we met up with Eni, a girl who wanted to help us from couchsurfing.  she said we could stay at her girlfriend's shared house until saturday, when her housemates brother and sister would come and take our beds.  But first, mulled wine.  Wulled Wine is about a dollar a glass, and it's addictive, warming you inside out on the frosty, winter days.
  Eni studies art, and english, and her friends were all learning english too.  But we all felt so comfortable together so instantly that I dont even remember language being a barrier of our expression.  They were intelligent girls.  It was interesting to learn that homosexuaity isn't quite as accepted in Budapest as in melbourne (the girls are lesbians): their parents dont accept it and people during protests there are eggs thrown.  Hungary has a large catholic population, and most people live in villiages (which are usually more conservative) and move out to the big cities for tertiary education.  So conservative or close minded attitudes are apparently common (though couchsurfing helps you avoid meeting such people).

  We spent five days in Budapest, spending romantic evenings with the girls, climbing up to hill points with amazing views of the big city, sipping mulled wine and feeling the heat relax down our spines.  The city is spread across the magical Danube river (which Ive now seen in 4 countries), separating Buda from Pest.  Buda is alive with old fortress castle walls, basilicas and caves, while Pest is packed with more Baroque, Neo-Gothic architecture.  Its awesome.


Incase you didnt know (i didnt) the AustroHunarian empire controlled Romania and Chzechslovakia.  Todya, there are sitill many hungarians in btoh countries who in fact wish to conquer again.  The girls we stayed with were in fact Slovakian, but spoke hungarian in Slovakia, and was fully accepted in neither country being neither only SLovakian or Hungarian.
  In Hungary they drnk Palinka, and in Slovakia they drink Tetratea.  Tetratea is alchohol which tastes like tea !
  After we left the shared house of Aggy (Eni's girlfriend), we moved into a dorm at art univercity's dorm house.
  It was so cool! We made hot wine! and Eni played the guitar! And we danced.  I was a dorm person!!!

  We also got a tour of the art college, which inspired me greatly.  I look forward to painting and drawing always.

We wanted to stay with our friends, and they wished us to stay too (which makes it so much harder).  It's funny, David said to me after we met Aggy that he swears he already knows her, and it turned out that she'd said the said to Eni. Eni, too, said that before I messaged her on couchsurfing that she'd had a vision of "sofia" come to her.  It was all too strange, and the memories heat me up inside like hot wine.