Budapest Jewish Quarter

Hi, so I recently received a friend request on Facebook and accepted, but I haven't updated this blog in about a year. So, I was in Glasgow all of last year, and am now in Budapest.

I've been renting a room in the Jewish quarter. The hostel I found online had 12 beds to a room, and the lockers didn't have locks, so since I didn't want to risk anything since I have everything with me for school and this conference, I decided to look elsewhere for the week's accommodaton. Since I was here a month ago, and found it easy to navigate around the Jewish quarter, I used that as a starting point/home base. I remembered the pizza store ladies, but the store was closed on Sunday. I went down the block to one of the restaurants and explained the situation I was in, to the waiter that's always there. He remembered me from last time and was able to help. He also remembered that I don't speak Hebrew, which was nice. The main lady who's there isn't the friendliest, but maybe that was because the restaurant that day was pretty full!

The main lady made a phone call and I waited an hour or so for the guy to come over to the restaurant. Since I was there, I got soup for dinner: meat soup with vegetables and pasta, which was pretty good. While I waited for my soup, an older couple came in, followed by a French family, and then a group of people who could have only been there on an arranged date: a young couple and their parents, trying to see if this would be the day their child would have a successful shidduch! I passed this last group when I went to wash my hands, and on the way back to my table, neither young person looked pleased with the situation they were in.

The older couple: the wife, was fairly rude to the waiter in the way that she asked for a menu. No, not the menu, but the paperwork that says the type of kosher food supervision and which rabbi oversees that supervision. She was married and wearing a wig that seems to be a bit too young for her, style-wise.

Then this lone older lady comes in and sits down at the table next to me. The main lady came over and they started chatting. I don't know if the older one, or both, are matchmakers, but from what they were talking about, they sure could have been! First they were talking about this English guy, -- well, this guy -- who studied in Manchester, in England, and then they switched to some girl's Sheva Brachos. I don't know if they were trying to set up the sister of the girl who got married, with the guy from Manchester, but it was an interesting conversation, nonetheless! At least what I could understand...

Then the guy who was going to show me the room I'm staying in, showed up. We spoke English on the phone, and then I said hello and such to him in Hungarian. Well, the main lady just LOVED this (<--sarcasm). She's like, "She's American but doesn't want to speak English...?" and threw her hands up, glancing at the other lady and the guy, who didn't seem to mind whatever language we spoke.

I really don't like Hungarians who do this. Just like I don't like Hungarians who repeat back to me in English whatever I've just said/asked them in Hungarian. Fortunately, that hasn't happned too much yet, and I hope it won't become a habit.

PS: I have limited internet so I might not be back til the 9th.