Life in Budapest

On the Town
Monday Mar 15th was a national holiday commemorating the 1848 revolution. We decided to go out that afternoon for a walk. But when we got to the street, it was crowded with people coming up from the metro and off the busses carrying signs for Fidesz, a centre-right political party that is expected to win the Apr 11th elections and take over from the Hungarian Socialist Party. It was cold and blustery so we walked down to the Danube and decided to ride the trams. We ended up on Tram #1 which makes an outer ring around central Pest and then ends up on the Buda side. We then took Tram #17 down Bécsi útca with its restaurants to the metro and home. As we came out of the metro we saw all the Fidesz supporters on their way home from their rally, probably at Petofi Ter.

One of the guide books reported that Hungarians are not into queuing to which I can add they don’t shove but will cut lines at grocery stores, or movie theatres if you’re not watching. They also do not stick to one side or the other on metro stairs. Of course when fifty or more get off a metro train they take over the whole staircase leading to the street. It is best to wait until the pack has come up and then go down sticking to one side or the other as the stairs are often a bit slippery in rainy or snowy weather. I’ve learned it’s best to go up the middle of the staircase behind someone else, although about half way up they inevitably begin veering towards one side where they want to exit to the street, while I want to go off to the other.

I thought I was making headway on at least reading signs and advertisements in the subway. I already knew that a “k” at the end made the word (noun or verb) plural, like adding an “s” in English. Then I learned that “bb” at the end of a word made in comparative, equivalent to “er” [nagy = big; nagyobb = bigger]. So I thought I could concentrate on finding the root word in the first few letters. No such luck. I discovered that putting “leg” at the very front of a word that ended in “bb” makes it superlative [legnagyobb = biggest]

When we first got here Tari got some info on the North American Women’s Association leaders, including things they missed here in Budapest. We laughed when one wrote all she wanted was to be able to do grocery shopping at one store. But we’ve learned it is oh so true. Not only do different chains carry different types of products, store size also makes a difference. Packaging is not big here, so many things come sealed in plastic rather than placed in boxes or canisters we are used to. We really missed plastic wrap in a box with a cutting edge, and this week we finally found what may be the one store that carries it. We also discovered one store that imports salmon fillets and shrimp though they are very expensive. We plan to try the salmon offered at the Central Market to see if it is as good.

You can’t get a dozen eggs in Budapest. Eggs come in cases of ten. All are brown shelled which is not a problem except the shells are very tough and don’t crack easily. Similarly, finding low fat milk is difficult as well. Only a few stores carry a small quantity of the 0.5% “Lite.” The most prevalent, at least in shelf display, is 2.8% (which is less than the 3.5% of whole milk) and 1.5% (which is less than the 2% that is common in the US.)

The Home Front
We have been in the apartment for two months and it has slowly become home. But we have had to make a few adjustments beyond the European shower system which consists of a hand held shower sprayer. The kitchen sink has a very small water heater and the hot water comes out scalding. That makes it dangerous to simply run a little hot water on your hands or a utensil to get rid of some grease. But the amount of hot water is very limited. So I’ve leaned to fill a big pot or bowl with the scalding water, add some cold water and wait a few minutes before washing the other pots, pans and bowls that will not fit in the dishwasher.

I am convinced we have a Communist era stove. It has no burner pilot lights so every time we want to boil water or cook something, we need to use a match and hold the burner knob in for at least 30 seconds until the gas really starts flowing. The oven has no broiler and no thermostat to control the level of heat. We have yet to find an over thermometer. As a result we are left with either pan frying or microwaving. Apparently Hungarians are not into grilling or barbequing, so we are now into pastas with chopped chicken or ground beef which yields at least one day of leftovers. I don’t know how long I can hold out before I need a steak fix at the Argentine steak house no matter how expensive it is.

Academic Matter
On Tuesday I met with a few faculty and a senior graduate student from the Health Economics and Technology Assessment Research Centre at Corvinus. I had sent them my slide presentation on health policy—Clinton and Obama. They asked some good questions and realized that part of the US problem rested more in American values and politics than on economics and rational choice. They will have me present this to their students and other faculty in April. I told them I had read on the internet that the House was going to vote on health care by the end of the week and I would have to hold off on sending them a final abstract for the announcement until I knew what had happened.

On Wednesday Peter and I went to Szeged, a University town about two hours southeast of Budapest. We arrived a bit early and went into the Dom (Catholic Church) that occupied part of the square that the public health and medical school was on. The Dom was large but the transept only had pillars in front rather than the four as I have seen in other churches. In contrast to the four intellectuals depicted in Esztergom, the Szeged Dom depicted “Justice” representing the virtue of temperance and “Fortuna” as a warning against the sin of envy.

I gave two lectures. The morning lecture dealt with US Health Care Policy, which I updated given the developing events, and the afternoon lecture presented an overview of the US health care system.

In-between we were taken to the standard fish restaurant near the Tisza river (which was very wide and fast flowing), to have the standard Szeged fish soup—some river fish, perhaps carp, and plenty of paprika. I was assured by the department chair, an expert in toxicology, that all the fish came from a nearby lake and not the Tisza itself. I liked it and also had the perch-pike as the main course. As we were leaving the restaurant another group came in. I looked at one of the men and finally recognized Huba, that is Dr. Bruckner, who is the executive director of the Hungarian Fulbright Commission. I thought he was in Washington DC for some meeting, so I tentatively said “Huba?’ and he gave me a big smile and nod. I then tried to introduce him to my lunch companions, but since I couldn’t bring up everyone’s name and only knew Dr. Bruckner as Huba, I just said this is Huba, head of the Hungarian Fulbright Commission. Huba took over and introduced himself as I am sure he has done many times in his career.

Calvin and Hobbes
As a final aside, I found that the newspaper handed out in the Metro carried the cartoon. Kázmér és Huba, that is Calvin and Hobbes. But I think the Hungarians are missing the innuendoes of the conflict between (John) Calvin a leader of the Protestant Reformation and (Thomas) Hobbes the British political philosopher. I noted this because one of the metro stops on my way to my office (and a major inner ring tram stop) is Kálvin tér which was named for the early 19th century Hungarian Reformed Church that still stands on one corner.