Saturday with Megan

My first weekend spent in Tata!!  I bailed last week, but I was ready to tackle the tiny town with Megan and show off all the places I know about (ok, both of the places I know about… the castle and my school).  We set off after a breakfast of bread and juice (I’ll write about the food at a later date- but there is a TON of bread here.  No Atikins diets here that’s for sure).  We walked to the TourInform shop, which has tourist info about the town and maps and such, as we approached, I found out that it was closed.  What the hell.  It’s a tourist town, and you are closed on a WEEKEND?  Ugh.  Hungary.  Anyways, we walked the path that I take in the morning to get to school, but we actually stopped at the castle this time.  I decided that it was high time that I took my inaugural tour of the castle that is so famous.   We found the ticket office, and I saw a photocopy of different id’s on the wall, one being a student id suggesting that there would be discounts for students.  I busted out my international teacher’s card, and she basically shot me down and charged me full price – 600 forint.  When Megan (who is 27) went to pay, she knew that the lady didn’t take the teacher id, so she didn’t show hers.  The woman charged us and gave us the receipt with the total on it.  900 forints.  Wait.  She told me I was 600 forints- and then pointed at Megan to charge her 300?  Was I getting charged more because I was a teacher?  What was happening here?  Apparently I am old enough to be Megan’s mother or something, and so she was charged a child’s, or maybe student, rate.  Eff you Tata castle.  I don’t look any older than she does. 

 

Oh well.  The Castle was nice on the inside, of course 90% of it was in Hungarian so we had no idea what we were looking at, but it was still neat to see.  At the very top, there was a little lady with postcards and books of the castle.  Earlier that morning, Megan and I discussed how much time was appropriate to let go by before you cut someone off to say that you don’t understand them.  Well, we totally over stepped the boundary with this sweet old lady.  Even though I told her we didn’t understand, we don’t speak Hungarian, often times since I said it in Hungarian, they just ignore what I was saying, or I said it wrong and they don’t understand me either.  At any rate, Megan got a post card, and we were going to continue to the outdoor café that was right behind this lady.  Unfortunately, she pointed her finger and motioned to use that we should continue upstairs and not enter the café.  At least that’s what we interpreted her action to be, but there was not an upstairs, so we just left.  Ugh.

 

We walked up to my school, and then explored the older part of Tata.  As we got closer to the midday, the head intensified (30 degrees Celsius – Celsius?  Centigrade?  I don’t actually know what the “C” stands for, I just know that it was really hot!!)  We stopped at a little place for lunch.  It was a nice cafeteria type place – but as we are foreigners, it took us a minute to figure out what was going on.  We ordered from the young cashier and ended up with huge plates that we didn’t really expect.  As we paid and sat down, more people were coming into the café, and we realized that, once again, we had biffed.  They (clearly knowing what they were doing) started at the other end of the counter, used trays, and as this was happening, Megan and I just sat and watched.  Sidenote: I have learned to become an observer.  At the grocery store, I watch in the produce area- sometimes you have to weigh your produce, sometimes they have a station where someone does it for you, and sometimes the cashier does it at the checkout area.  I watch at the check out, what are people using to pay, do they take credit cards, should I leave the tote bags in the cart until I’m finished, or start packing as they are ringing my order.  There are lots of things to observe and learn from. 

 

After lunch, we stopped and got some ice cream.  Again, another experience.  We were looking at the flavors and as Megan pointed to the berry mix, the woman scooped it and handed it to her.  Be careful where you point, because it will be yours.  She only gave one scoop, and since I thought it would be rude to get more if Megan only got one scoop, I followed suit with a scoop of chocolate.  After we left, I asked how her ice cream was, and she basically said, “well, it’s not really the kind I wanted, and I wanted more, but I get nervous when ordering.”  Lesson to those traveling in foreign countries (myself included) don’t just give up if you aren’t getting what you want.  Don’t be too aggressive, but really – if you want three scoops, ask for three scoops, or at least make motions to try and get what you want. 

 

After our ice cream experience, we walked back toward my place with the intention of taking a nap.  However, we ran across the green and white sightseeing train that tours the major areas of Tata.  I asked the driver what time it left, and he told us at 1:00 – which was in 45 miuntes.  We rested by the lake for the 45 minutes (watching as the pleasure boat traveled around the lake.  Megan told me, as I longed to go on the pleasure boat, that I had to choose- the train or the boat.  She could only handle one as “tours” were not her thing.  I’m still trying to convince her to do the segues in Budapest with me.  Anyhow, we returned to the train and as I confidently marched up to the driver to pay our 500 forint, he started talking to me in Hungarian and refused my money.  Hmph.  Confidence shot – again.  Why wouldn’t he take my money?  Could we go for free since we didn’t speak Hungarian?  What was happening here.  Hmmm… so I backed away, and watched.  The observer is a foreigners best friend.  Apparently, though he had sat there in his train for the 45 minutes that we were by the lake, he was NOT the train that was going to leave at 1:00.  We waited and another train passed by in the other direction, and he pointed at that one.  Evidently we were going to ride that one.  Well where was it going then – why was it traveling in the other direction?  Were we supposed to catch it somewhere else?  Oh shit.  Now what.  Luckily for us, there was another couple there who had money in hand, and were not concerned once the other train passed by, so, we just waited with them, not knowing what our train fate would be.  Thankfully, the other train returned and we boarded.  This is a fairly aggressive train for it’s looks.  It rolls through Tata in the midst of traffic, travels on the path around the lake, even off roading when necessary.  There was a truck of kayaks blocking the path at one point on the lake, and the driver took us through some trees and around the truck.  Clearly this was not his first time driving this bad boy.  As we were traveling through Tata, if we passed anyone who could be a teenager, Megan would ask “is that one of your students?” and I would always respond with “nem” (no) they aren’t my students.  Until, as we were coming around the lake, I hear “Hello Carla” (with the rolled R as they do here in Hungary).  It was cute.  We toured the campground/resort area that was further down the lake, which Megan accurately described as very “Dirty Dancing.”  There were old school cafés and restaurants, ice cream vendors and lots of bikes and pedestrians.  We traveled around the second lake, and through town.  Much to Megan’s dismay, we passed many of the sites we saw on foot, which we could have avoided doing had we known about the train earlier.  At any rate, it was fun to have Megan there to explore my town a bit more. 

 

Post train, we decided to get a drink by the lake, and we ran into some very nice people from the Netherlands.  When I asked if we should visit the Netherlands, I’m pretty sure they thought I meant their home – and after a short hesitation, they said “yes, come visit!” 

 

On our way home, we stopped at the Sparr (grocery store) to seek out some snacks and ice cream.  We ran into some other Americans there who were in Tata for work.  One of them asked me how long I had lived in the United States to attain such an accent free command of the English language.  When I told him I had lived there for all of my 31 years, he laughed and realized that I was actually from the United States.  Once we had relaxed a bit, we decided to use my gas stove for the first time since I’d been here.  Megan has used hers, and it only took her 7 matches, so we were going to try and attack mine using less than 7.  No question about it, the gas stove scares the shit out of me.  There is a large propane tank sitting right next to the stove, and it just does not seem safe.  After we attempted to measure out deciliters of milk and water to boil, we got the stove going with 6 matches.  We went out later that night for a couple drinks and then crashed after a long fun day in Tata.