Jovitauti

It's wonderfully funny how much difference a day can make. Another tour with German-speaking folk, this time through the "gimnasium" itself. More than 1,200 students attend Heves' school, and about a hundred even live in dorms on campus. After the school tour and a meeting with the Russian-speaking Herr Direktor, tour guides Adel and Peter watched me eat lunch, that was really good fun. We bought groceries and an alarm clock. The later turned out not to work, so I had to return it to the cashier who spoke only Hungarian. The word "kaput," apparently, has international clout in getting the point across.

But perhaps the highlight was buying five pens and two small pads of paper at a local "school supply store." This is not Staples, but it'll get the job done. When I told the old woman at the counter "nem tudok Magyarul," she pulled a young woman out from a back room, who shyly said that she spoke a little English. I smiled out a quick "good," but what I really meant was some sort of "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Doesn't matter what kind of English you've got darling, just spit it out! Yes! English! Woo woo!"

I asked if she studied at the kozepiskola. She said that she used to, but now studies at a college in Eger. I asked her what her name is and she told me her name. I even had her repeat it several times, but all I could get out of it was the mumble of "jovitauti." I have no idea if that's a name. I have no idea if that's two names. But for the moment, I'm willing to cling onto it as the promise of an English-speaking friend.

I just have to start making some other friends so they can translate my first friend's name for me...