I’ve been worried about being able to eat on this trip as a vegetarian for a while before I actually arrived. Luckily, the food has far surpassed my expectations, and I have enjoyed almost every meal. Still, while eating out, the language barrier has somtimes made meal-time a funny experience.
My first restaurant gaffe occurred today at lunch. Erin and did not go with the group to the movies this afternoon, and decided we needed to go for lunch. We asked for local recommendations at the front desk, and were told to take the metro to a local mall that had good options. We left a message for the group at the front desk and set off. At the time, it seemed easy enough.
We set off, and after asking a few locals, were pointed in the direction of the Metro. Once inside, we bought our tickets, and descended to the platform on what I am pretty sure is the longest and steepest escalator ever.
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| I Wasn't joking. |
Once our 3 minute ride on the escalator was over, we waited on the platform for our train, and prayed we were heading in the right direction. We got on what looked like a train from the 1950’s, never cleaned or painted. It was so loud on the train Erin and I couldn’t hear each other. Luckily, we got off at the next stop.
Once we were up and out, we decided to call Mr. Fischer and let him know where we were. The payphone system was very complicated to understand, and when we finally got through, we were told Mr. Fischer’s number wasn’t valid.
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| An actual picture of the payphone. |
We decided to make it a quick trip so no one would worry about us. After several minutes of looking, we couldn’t find the mall, but found a local McDonalds. Here is where things got complicated.
I decided to order a big mac meal without meat. At first, the cashier seemed to understand me, but soon he had to call over another employee to help. As I gestured wildly at the menu, she just nodded and smiled, before calling over yet another person to help. Finally, I was pretty confident they had understood my order, and got ready to enjoy my meal. Out of habit, I checked my bag on the way out, and found meat on my burger. I proceeded back to the front counter, and with a few more wild gestures, explained what I was looking for. The gentleman at the counter was really helpful, but he kept making sure that I really didn’t want meat on my burger!
The second interesting dining experience took place today at dinner in the hotel. Halfway through the second course, the waiter approached Cassie and me, asking what we wanted for dinner. I requested a grilled cheese, and after a few hand motions and explaining bread was involved, he seemed to understand. Apparently not. For dinner, I got a salad, topped with two pieces of cheese that had been grilled. It was actually quite tasty, but now I know my comfort food doesn’t transfer into Hungarian.
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| Expectations |
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| Reality. Except the cheese was grilled, not fried. |
My culinary adventures have all in all been enjoyable and funny, and I’m looking forward to more in the many countries we have ahead of us! TTFN!
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