Category: Budapest

Who-is-it

I adore challenges, I simply do.

At this moment I’ve been talking to an acquaintance for 20 minutes, waiting for boarding at Budapest airport. We have talked about different things so far, and I carefully analyse everything he tells me, including indefinite articles, in order to

– not show I have no idea who he is

– try to change the above, preferably asap.

We speak English which means he is not a previous Hungarian classmate or colleague.

At this point he mentions that after landing in Brussels he also takes the train to Antwerp just like me.

OK, so that narrows down the search in my mind: he must be a papa from the children’s school or a neighbour from our street maybe.

Then he adds: upon arriving home he just drops his luggage, and heads immediately to the same place where my husband.

Of course!! He is a colleague of my husband! We met at the family day of their company, now I know his name, too: Olivier, and he is a really nice guy.

It’s a pity at this point I’ve lost all interest in our conversation: to participate in a discussion where I know both who the parties are AND what the topic is about, well, anybody can do that, this doesn’t require any special skills..

This is also Belgium

I just love multiculturalism.

On Sunday I had a discussion with a papa, whose daughter goes for chess in the same club with my son. The man is originating from India, and we often see each other in the cafeteria.

He: ‘Are you Flemish? I can’t tell – you look like one, but you speak English here..’

Me: ‘I am Hungarian. ..Were you already born in Belgium?’

He: ‘No, still back in India. So, Hungary…well, sorry, all I know of the country is that it has its own unique language, and used to belong to the communist block…’

Me: ‘No worries. In exchange, all we know about India is that it is 1 country…a nice big country, though..’

He: ‘That’s right. The size of Europe. I, for example, have never been in our capital.. I see you are also a fan of clichés.. ‘

Me: ‘Absolutely. Anyway, what do you work in Belgium?’

He: ‘I am a space engineer, working for the European Space Agency.’

Me: ‘Oh, you must then be frequently visiting the Mars.’

He: ‘Not so often any more, I don’t have much free time, so only at the weekends. Where do you work?’

Me: ‘At a bankinsurer.’

He: ‘Then you must be terribly rich!’

Me: ‘ Oh, don’t even mention. We’ve just recently changed at home our gas heating for burning paper – in order to get rid of the piles of banknotes.’

He: ‘Okay, I see chess has finished, the children are returning. Continue next Sunday?’

Me: ‘Fine, see you next Sunday.’

Nostalgia

Hungarian grandma calling her grandson in Belgium:

‘What would you like for Christmas?’

He (10): ‘A Monopoly!’

Grandma: ‘But I remember you have already such a board game at home..’

He: ‘The Hungarian version is much better.’

Grandma (touched by this 2nd generation nationalism): ‘Better, right? You also prefer the things which are from your motherland..’

He: ‘Yes! In the Hungarian Monopoly we don’t pay tax..’

When trash is not garbage

My little son has received grandma’s old mobile phone. No SIM card, no nothing – except the camera function.. He is enthusiastically shooting photos of any of us, anytime, anywhere.
Right now he is reviewing the pictures taken yesterday and has just kindly informed me that no doubt, in our family the trash can is the most photogenic.
____________
Walter (9) legutóbbi magyarországi látogatásunkkor megkapta nagyi kimustralt, SIM kartya nélküli mobilját, és 3 napja lelkesen fotózik a lakásban, akit és amit csak ér.
Az imént volt szíves tudatni velem, hogy családunkban a kukának van a legjobb fényképarca.

The truth and nothing but the truth

Returning from our trip to Hungary, just before boarding we are instructed to wait in the airport building for at least 30 minutes. 
After which we can see several grim-looking police officers getting into their vans accompanied by some police dogs – leaving our airplane. 
On the side of the police vans each and every passenger (including those with Serious Eyesight Disorder) can read the comforting message (written in capital letters, font size approx. 36473): 
‘Police Department – Special Unit – EXPLOSIVES’.
I do not doubt those Police officers do their job properly and with utmost care.
I also highly appreciate the efforts taken by the Airport to make sure passengers – in the spirit of full transparency – are properly informed of any relevant circumstances regarding their flights, such as an eventual security operation, e.g. extended search for detonators, explosives.. 
But then – once the airplane HAS received the green light for departure – couldn’t just authorities pretend those officers work for some police department completely different from ‘EXPLOSIVES’, such as Protection of Public Morals or Traffic Violations?
There can be situations in which one may prefer to believe that the reason for Police attendance is rather that two otherwise married  members of the cabin crew have been caught in a heated private appointment on seats 27 A-C, or that the pilot is suspected of having breached the speed limit somewhere in the Belgian stratosphere in the course of the previous flight. And ‘2 minutes before boarding’ seems just one of those situations..
______________
Ma, mikor magyarországi utunk végén a reptéren beszálláshoz készülődünk, kb. 30 percet késik a boarding. Mikor végül mégis megnyitják a kijelölt kaput, 2 rendőrfurgon látható a repülőgép mellett, amelybe marcona egyenruhások sora száll éppen be néhány rendőr-eb társaságában, majd fentebb emlitettek komor arccal távoznak. 
A furgonok oldalán a kb 28384-es betűnagyságú felirat készséggel tájékoztatja az utazóközönség minden egyes tagját (beleértve a súlyos látássérülteket is) miszerint: “TŰZSZERÉSZEK”.
Nem kétlem, hogy a Rendőrség rendkívül alaposan, a legnagyobb körültekintés mellett végzi feladatát – bármi is az.
Ugyancsak nagyra értékelem a Reptér azirányú törekvését, mely az utazóközönség teljeskörű transzparens tájékoztatására irányul, nem rejtve el egy esetleges, a járatot érintő, fokozott biztonsági ellenőrzés (pl. robbanóanyag, detonátor keresése a fedélzeten) tényét sem.
Így csak egészen halkan érdeklődöm, hogy az ilyen, és csupán az ilyen esetekben, nem tehetne-e mégis úgy a Tisztelt Hatóság, mintha nem is Tűzszerészek, hanem inkább az Erkölcsrerendészet vagy a Közlekedési Kihágások Ügyosztálya munkatársainak akadt volna halaszthatatlan dolga a fedélzeten 2 perccel felszállás előtt?
Létezhetnek ugyanis olyan szituációk, amikor a megerősített rendőrségi jelenlét pontos oka helyett – ha már egyszer a gép megkapta a felszállási engedélyt –  szívesebben hinném azt, hogy a repülőgép személyzetének két tagját a közerkölcsöt alapjaiban megrengető bűnös paráználkodáson kapták rajta a 27 A-C ülések magasságában, vagy hogy a kapitány az előző járattal Belgium légterében egyízben átlépte a sebességhatárt, amiért is büntetőpont kerül a jogosítványába, 2x kimarad a dobásból, vagy tudomisén – és a “2 perccel boarding előtt” az épp ilyen szituációnak tűnik..