My Beauty Treasure Chest, My House is Budapest
4 BUD — How is the world is connected? By miles, by dots, by people, by magic. “By chance” it’s what I chose to believe. Between love and hate, I never thought this relationship would last so long.
I remember as if it was today. “I`m going to Hungary”. All I knew I’ve seen in History classes, and for some reason I imagined Hungarians as some sort of Vikings — bocsánat.
Walking distractedly through the utcas and koruts I still have deja vús about my first moments. I remember who was with me, I remember the songs that were playing, I remember feelings and sensations. I remember as if it were…
28th of June of 2012. The day I got into a plane from South America to Europe for the first time. It was a mixture of excitement with conquering a new land — without actually conquering it. This was one of the first big decisions I made, some of the few times when I had to make a big decision and I knew what I wanted, I was not afraid —I was ready to go.
When I landed in Budapest I was expecting people to pick me up and the airport, but differently from Brazil when people pick you up in the airport sometimes they don`t mean to have a car. So yes, first adventure was crossing half of Budapest from the airport to my final destination with “my life” packed into 32kg.
Everything I heard or I saw was delusional, in magyar nothing made sense. I`ve never been to a place where I couldn`t understand what was going on around me. I thought I was not going to survive for long. In the tram a women voice announced, “Kiraly utca következő”, doors opened and “WTF?” I reached medieval times, 40O degrees outside, the yellow modern bullet was a time capsule, I felt like I went back in time.
I remember entering in a building that looked like falling into pieces, “Oh boy! Where did I got myself into?”. I was sure I was participating on a movie, if it wasn`t for the fact I had no make up on and I was really struggling with going up with my 32kg luggage to the 3rd floor with no elevator. The flat had a really high ceiling, I guess I never saw that before, I felt like I was in someone`s doll house and the wardrobe was going to take me to Narnia.
I also remember the first time I went out, to this new bar called Ankert, a ruin pub and I remember ordering my first froccs “Hosszúlépés kerek szepan”, the waiter just smiled — it was a good sign though, they don’t smile that often here. I remember getting lost between going from Paulay Ede utca to my Kiraly utca apartment “Hey just turn right, and left and your building will be on the left”. OMG! I did that but the streets were creeply dark, walking on a dark alley thinking my life could end at that exact moment — you know I come from Brazil. Now I know these dark alleys are perfect movie sets.
And oh…how can I forget the first time I exchange Real money to forints. I thought I was a millionaire for few seconds, great times, it lasted a few seconds though.
I also remember that being Brazilian in Hungary was very exotic — Hungarians couldn’t understand why I came from so far to come here. Brazilians are no longer exotic species here.
I remember the real good first chat I had with Gordinho from Baszilica.
I remember the most valuable lesson I took in my first week — if you thought English was a global language, try Gestures. This is the real thing.
I remember the hits Call me Maybe, I Follow you…
I remember the first diet I made, called “Fornetti by day and Kiraly pizza by night 200ft”. I also remember staying in bed for one week after that.
I remember organizing my own welcome party — I invited all the people that I didn`t know from the all farewell parties I went when I got here. It was incredibly good.
I still remember how amazed I was with the lights at night near the bridges, and the sun raise after long nights. How nice was just to relax in Margit on the weekends.
I still remember how I pressed the red button in the metro, and nobody notice it was me, and I ask myself why I did it — yeah I know what you think.
I still remember the first time I went to the supermarket and how hard was to find the stuff I wanted, not because there`s no illustration but just the fact that everything is written in magyar made me confused.
I still remember my body reaction when people started talking to me in magyarul . First my body froze, my eyes rolled and I couldn’t even gesture that I was not understanding.
I still remember my first day at work, it was a mixture of fear and weirdness, I was the only foreigner in the company, but it really felt I came from another planet.
I remember the first time I was bullied by a controller in the tram, and I had the pass and a student card. They wanted to call the rendőrség, and I freaked out! I didn’t want to be arrested.
I still remember my first words in Hungarian and how proud I was to learn it, shame on me I haven`t learned it properly, but I never thought I`d stay for so long.
I still remember the ritual Mondays on Morrison Opera, the Wednesdays at Barrio Latino, the Thursdays in Szilvuple, the sunsets we watch after Holdudvar, the Sundays in Akwarium.
I still remember how disappointed I got with the two minutes firework on my first New years eve here that I ran to catch and the first Sziget were I got a marriage certification.
Oh and I got to see LFMAO singing “I`m sexy and I know it”.
I remember the first time I went to the famous “Hungarian beach”, and how frustrated I was by being in a lake, with no sand and a fence behind and entrance fee.
A proverb says first impressions are the most lasting. I`m still collecting memories as the days go by, but nothing would beat those. So many times, I was eager to leave this place for good. I even did it for some time, many times actually, but there must be something I need to accomplish before let go. Often, I get myself thinking, “this is not real” — lot of people have entered and left my life, lot of things I don’t believe I’ve seen, lot of new addictions I got, lot of hungarian words I still don’t understand.
And if there`s one thing I noticed from these four years: only the strong ones shall survive in this environment. The ones who stay will always think about leaving, the ones who leave will never forget, the ones who are here for years, well they might write about it…
Lot of things have changed. Somehow I am still here, surviving.
To 4 intense years BUD, Egészségedre!
