HELLO: Hungary

Meet Bogáti Bogáta… HELLO! I met her while olive picking in Italy and after hearing about my trip she said, “If you are coming to Budapest, then you can stay at my house.” Eager to save a little cash, I answered quickly, “Okay! Send me your information.” Sometimes these types of arrangements don’t work out and you spend most of your time trying to get away from your host. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here. She’s quirky, easy to talk to, and quick to smile or crack a joke; my type of person! We had a great time hanging out and she showed me modern day Budapest her way.

Bogáta has two little girls, Katerina and Agata… HELLO! They are precocious and sweet.  Agata, the eldest, wants to travel like me someday, so she begs her mom to hurry and teach her English; apparently Italian, Hungarian and German aren’t quite enough for her. The youngest, Katerina, is an absolute clown and loves to get dressed up and star in her sister’s plays. I adore these kids and we spend our time surfing YouTube, going through my coin collection and trying our best to understand one another; I speak in broken Spanish and they try to understand what it means in Italian.

While in Budapest, Bogáta introduces me to her friend, Erika Sólyom… HELLO! Erika is an author and director of The American Corners (AC) program at the Pest Side Campus of Corvinus University. There are American Corners all over the world; nevertheless, AC is an U.S. State Department program that makes correct information about American culture, history, current events, and government readily available in foreign countries. “I am being interviewed by a few exchange students about Hungary and the history of Communism. You should come and sit in on the interview. You will learn quite a bit of information,” she offered after we had coffee one afternoon. Eager to learn, I agreed quickly. While listening to Erika’s interview, I learned about life behind the “iron curtain.” She talked about standing in line for food, about being a “little drummer” and later “a pioneer”. She also discussed the 1956 Hungarian Uprising and how life changed after communism fell.

The next day, I was able to take the Free Budapest Walking tour and connect many of Erika’s stories with actual places. There are two different walking tours in Budapest; one that focuses on faith, terror and communism and another  that focuses on Pest and the basics of Buda; I took the latter, but I wish I hadn’t taken the first. The tours cover the Inner City, Saint Stephen Basilica, the Parliament, sites of the Communist dictatorship and the 1956 revolution, the Danube bank, Chain Bridge, and the Buda Castle with Matthias Church. I’m amazed at how much history is in Budapest. I’m also amazed by the horror that exists in their past.

Before communism and the Soviets had their way in Hungary, the Nazis were there. The cruelty that the Hungarian people suffered during both occupations is presented with great detail at the House of Terror museum, which I also visited. This museum is heavy. Walking around actual cells where prisoners were interrogated and beaten and listening to the firsthand accounts of people who were held there is pretty heady stuff. I couldn't help but cry at a few stations and at the end I left that museum gunning it for the nearest “fluff” I could find to balance my emotions; Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Please don’t judge me…

While in Budapest, Bogáta wants me to join her for a new class she is really excited about. She is a fan of Afro Beat music and there’s a new African Dance class she wants to go to. African Dance in Hungary? Umm… “Yes, Budapest is a multicultural city. It will be fun. Let’s go!” We go and while there she introduces me to Cheikh Ibrahima Fall… HELLO! Cheikh is the master; the dance and music teacher with many, many, older musicians under his tutelage and he’s only 26 years old. Since this dance class is relatively new and hasn’t been advertised yet, we are the only “dancers” there. As such, the other musician packs up and head home and Cheikh decides to bless us with a personal concert of sorts. Picking up nearly every type of instrument in the room, he proceeds to play song after song and I’m floored by his talent. “Come to the concert tomorrow night,” he says in French. Eager to hear good music, we quickly agree.

The following evening we head to the concert and the place is packed full of people. The musicians (Abdul Azis, Saïd Tichiti, and Cheikh Ibrahima Fall) are on fire and I’m enjoying myself immensely. I don’t recall ever having been to an Afro Beat concert and I’m excited to be experiencing it in Budapest.

Mid-way through the set, the musicians call up Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson (J.K Nelson) to join them on stage. Jalalu is a New Yorker, now living in Switzerland, and he has flown in for the concert. The fact that he’s a New Yorker piques my interest, so after the concert I approach him and say … HELLO! We begin talking and suddenly he stops and says, “Wait. You live in New York now?!”

“Yes,” I answer and he fires back, “So what are you doing in Budapest?”

Taking a deep breath, I go into my spiel – 33 years old, 33 countries, yada yada yada. His eyes light up immediately.

“So how do you know Cheikh,” he continues.

“Well, I met him through my friend, Bogáta. She is Hungarian and she lives here.”

“And where did you meet her,” he asks incredulously.

“Well, I met her while olive picking in Italy,” I simply answer.

Boisterously laughing, nodding his head with approval and slapping me on the back he says, “This is what travel does… It opens you up. You are becoming too big to fit into little boxes now.” Running to his gear, he pulls out a cd with his information on it and handing it to me he says, “Everywhere you go, I want you to take a piece of me with you! I want to hear about all your new experiences.” Taking a deep breath, smiling, and looking me in the eye, he says, “Wow, child, look how many people you’ve met all over the world. See... sometimes all it takes is ‘Hello’.”