The Ökö Debrief

Always

leave

a note.

As it turns out, Sally did go to Ököritófülpös but was two hours behind me.  This is because I was one hour ahead, and forgot to change my clocks back, and (possibly as a result of this) she ended up having to sleep in a train station in Nyíregyháza while I went to a barn party in Debrecen (evidently Hungarians have learned nothing from Ököritófülpös’s historical lessons).  Sally learned that I left at least one note, and I learned that I should have time-stamped it (and the other two).  Either way, the other two notes have probably ended up as case studies in English class in the local school.

Our default was to regroup in Budapest if Ököritófülpös did not work out.  In a way, it still worked out for us, and we got to enjoy Ököritófülpös independently and on our own terms.  If we could do it all again, I don’t think we/I would change a thing.  I think sleeping in a train station in Nyíregyhaza and being forced to look at 90s pornographic magazines by homeless old men who refused to believe she didn’t speak fluent Hungarian was a bit more than Sally was willing to take.  But whatever, every Hungarian assumes that everyone is fluent in its language, so we’ve all been in that situation before.*

We decided to spend a whole week in the Pest, where Sally employed her feminine wiles and well-honed flirting skills to secure us a double room at the dorm rate.  We then proceeded to “get er done” the only way we know how: Bacardi Breezers in the park by day, and atrociously sweet half-litres of fröccs for $1 by night.  It also provided me the perfect base from which to plan my next move.  And perhaps now is a good time to bring everyone up to speed, as I realise I mainly type for an audience of one—me—and I sometimes forget we’re not all, unfortunately, on the same page with my thought process.  
 

At this point, Baku had become my ultimate destination.  Maybe it’s because I have always wanted to see the Caspian Sea, maybe it’s because I have an almost fanatical obsession with the former Soviet Union, and maybe, just maybe, it’s because I have a brother who lives there, but for some reason, I was set.  If I died on my way back, that was fine, but all I cared about was not dying on the way there, which I think is a healthy attitude towards life.  Following in this vein, I had decided to not take the two-day (or two-week.  I’m not sure.  I think it is somewhere between two days and two weeks and you have to pack food accordingly) ferry from Odessa to Poti, Georgia (some outrageous Australian man in Kiev told me is was a “total shithole” and, not yet having been, I was horrified and angry at his fouling of its good name) and instead catch it on the way back.  I instead focused on Albania again, because everyone knows it’s the place to be in the summer.  Everyone!  In fact, I had about three friends in Albania, and potential for more.

One such friend was actually an American (actually all of them are) who was living in Albania by choice.  Perhaps I mentioned him when I was in Albania in February, or perhaps I didn’t, but that’s not important.  What is important is that he was going to be in Ljubljana for May Day, to celebrate the workers’ struggle.  We decided that if there was ever a chance that I was going to go back to Albania, it would be if he personally chauffeured me, so I decided the time was nigh to rush post-haste to Ljubljana and pre-empt this intrepid young scholar.  So after a hectic crunkfest in Budapest with the Sallz, I bought my bus ticket to Nagykanizsa (literally, “big Kanizsa.”  Who or what a Kanizsa is perhaps we’ll never know.  Whatever it may be was certainly not big enough to warrant comment) and we had a tearful goodbye at the Kálvin Tér metro station in Budapest

*As a side note, however, if you’re aware of how outrageous the Hungarian language and alphabet are, then you’ll no doubt remark on the sheer stroke of luck they had in making a capital out of Budapest, while such contenders as Ököritófülpös and Hódmezővásárhely ended up in a respectable second and third place.