Week 2: September 13th - 19th

Monday 1999-09-13

Boring. I took 4 hours Hungarian a week. The 6 hours group didn't fit my schedule. I bought a pass for the school swimming pool. It was easy, but I couldn't find the pool yet. [I never found it.] I went shopping, supposedly. The jeans were too expensive. Pretty pissed off. Shopping never fails in doing it.

I planned to go to some museum, but couldn't get myself out in time. I went jogging. The air is so polluted it might have been more wholesome to go smoking. In the evening we played billiards in Pest, next to the market hall. Sarah broke her tooth and finger. I went sleeping as the others headed towards Közgáz.

Tuesday 1999-09-14

The time-table conflict solved itself. The "operating systems" and "computer architectures" overlapped, but I'll skip the latter. At eight I went to the OS lecture, but the class room was reserved by two courses. Our teacher came there, didn't say much anything and left. Soon the other teacher took his group and they left. Our teacher didn't show up. After waiting half an hour, I went to look for the other course. It was lectured by some f*******. I knocked the door and stepped in. After I had said ca. "Good morning, I..." he pointed at me and shouted OUT!!!. I left, won't go back. He should've shouted to someone less sensitive. Asshole.

I looked for the swimming pool again, but still couldn't find it. But I think I know where it is. Went to bed at six. Slept 14 hours.

Wednesday 1999-09-15

The operating systems lab teacher didn't show up, only maybe he did. I'll try again next week. I visited the statue park. It was smaller than I expected, but otherwise interesting. They sold all kinds of commie stuff that I didn't need. I drew some pictures:

Still couldn't find the swimming pool, and Selçuk didn't know either where it is. In the evening we (M,S,B) ate well and expensively on Váci utca.

Thursday 1999-09-16

"Hungarian Culture" seems to be a nice course. Chiefly she just told stories (About the first kink of Hungary.)

We got the residence permits. We were told to go to the police station between nine and eleven. We went after ten, and there was no-one there. They told us to come again at one o'clock, or that's how we interpreted it. At one there was a queue of about 50 meters. Although we had an own shorter line, it took over 2 hours on the yard in sunshine. Certainly over +30°C. Inside all went surprisingly fast, and I got the permit. The name is misspelled, though. I'm Makko Pekkarina now.

We celebrated Nakki's birthday with cake and balloons. Probably the party continues in the evening. They say we're going to Croatia tomorrow ({Finns}\Janne P, Sarah & Becca)

Friday 1999-09-17

Reveille at four a.m. A most senseless weekend begins. According to the time table our train leaves at Déli (southern) railway station, but we went to Keleti. The right thing to do, since the train left there. We buy two-way tickets to Zagreb, and notice right thereafter that the train goes directly to Rijeka (==our goal).

The IC-train was surprisingly tidy and comfortable. The carriages are divided into compartments for six people, and the seats can be made to beds. Even the toilet was OK and had paper. The trip went fine sleeping, drinking wine and playing cards. We ran out of wine pretty soon, though.

According to the time table, the train stopped in Zagreb for an hour. In practice it stood 8 minutes. We bought tickets to Rijeka and back. An old local man comes to our compartment. He said he's retarded, but might have meant retired. He gives us some place names worth of visit: Opatija, Lovran, Baska Voda (approx. Finnish slang "Shit Water") etc.

The views are hilly and beautiful, and the marks of the war can't be seen anywhere. The view alone would have been a sufficient reason to take the trip. Especially the descent from the mountains to the Adriatic coast was just gorgeous.

We intended to stay the first night in Opatija. However, as we asked for the right way on a bus stop in Rijeka, a 17-years old local girl Anna promised to guide us. She was quite ... er... physically superfluous. She took us to her home village, whose name I've forgotten. (Medveja?) It's on the Istria peninsula a couple of kilometers from Lovran. They say Opatija is a bad place to camp on the beach (200 policemen/10000 inhabitants).

The place we stayed in is a small village that apparently makes its living out of German tourists. Despite that, it was a beautiful place. Mountains are always beautiful. The beach and the bottom of the sea is small round stones, which is in fact better than sand. The clothes, towel and everything remain tidier, and the pants are not full of sand.

We swam (there's a slide on our beach), drank wine and talked (the others talked, that is). PosSibly sometHing illegal might Have hAppened. (Not me.) We slept on the beach. The sky was bright and it was cold enough, at least for those who didn't have a sleeping bag. I had a winter jacket, which is a bit too small to work as a blanket and mattress at the same time. My feet were freezing, and I guess the girls weren't too warm either.

Saturday 1999-09-18

We rented diving masks and snorkels, which I can't really use. The water was clear, turquoise and full of fish, anyway. It's a bit cloudy, but very warm. We elephant-marched to Lovran along a road dangerous for pedestrians. On the way we stopped to take a nude-swim in the sea. The rocks were really sharp, and I got some wounds in my hand and feet. Sarah tried to find out why Nakki is called Nakki.

From Lovran we took bus to Opatija. We (==the others) drank in a bar our own spirits. We played cards and listened to music. It starts raining. We move to the beach to drink and look for a place to stay. Nakki and Sarah performed a rain dance, but the rain continues. We found kinda shelter under the eaves of some pavillion. Nakki and Sarah are having wine in a nearby piano-restaurant, Jarkko tries to sleep, J-P is arguing with some local teens, Mikko is somewhere and so is Becca, and I'm pissed off. Don't feel like going any disco or bar or anything. Typical. Eeyore.

J-P scared the teens away by speaking some Norwegian. We went to say hello to Sarah and Nakki. The headwaiter mistook J-P for some kind of troublemaker, and probably was right. J-P wanted to by a bottle of wine, but the proposal was defeated by votes 4 to 1.

Mikko passed out in some bar, and Jarkko got fever. He had to go to a hotel (chicken). The rain ceased but we got a some showers during the night. I slept a couple of ours in Mikko's sleeping bag, and after his bar closed I had to move into my jacket.

Sunday 1999-09-19

Before 6 a.m. I was conscious enough to notice the smell of our residence. I swam naked and walked on the beach clothed a couple of hours before the others got up. J-P washed his sleeping bag in the sea. I brushed my teeth in the sea. The water is too salty to my taste. We had breakfast in a pizzeria and took a bus to Rijeka. We had about an hour to spend in Rijeka before our train left. Nearly all shops were closed and I couldn't spend the rest of my kunas [1].

The return in the train was more boring than the trip the other way. Soberness might have had something to do with it. We didn't have the place tickets required in IC-trains. The seats would have costed 1000ft a piece when bought in the train. The conductor took 500ft and let it be. It took me some time to understand the deal. When the train began to get filled, we lost our seats but the conductor took us to the first class.

Budapest is like coming home, and Martos is a five star hotel.

Summary

The morals of the story:

1. Do not sit on a backpack that contains shampoo and toothpaste.
2. Do not place a sleeping bag where someone has puked.
3. Do not piss on your shoe.

[1] ^ The old geezer told us that the Croatian currency kuna means the fur of a Martes martes. That's Latin for a pine marten (which none of us knew at the moment.) ^

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