TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

1:34 PM
Posted by jodi rose

am having a very lazy morning, lounging in bed while I type, reading the guardian from last weekend, contemplating making scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and wishing I could just walk up to satellite for them.

The Winter Ball is fabulous - very high society, Gyuri made the introductions, members of parliament from hungary and slovakia, also included yours truly from australia in the speech, I don't know how I'm going to cope with going back to australia and being an ordinary person and scumbag artist again. Albrecht Durer talks about this in a letter during his time in Italy, here I am a gentleman, he says, while at home I'm a parasite and freak (or something like that).

Andrea and Robert organised a lovely group, Mikey from the vadas thermal baths and his wife malinda, a biology teacher who invited us for a lagnos party soon; the headmistress of the elementary school and her husband, and another couple whose names and jobs I don't remember but won twice in the tombola. I scored the silver earrings hidden inside chocolate truffles - eat safely - the girls selling them giggled with me. Andrea gave us instructions and Robert waltzed with me, he said we were the best dancers but I'm not so sure...

The Honorary Consular General for Hungary from Colarado introduced himself, saying we had travelled the furthest to be there, and that he visited sydney in 1970 on r&r from the military. His parents had escaped Hungary with him in 1956 after the revolution, in a midnight flight, they thought about going to australia but it was too far away.

Another woman Judy comes up and she's from Melbourne, her family also escaped after the '56 revolution - in the night, middle of winter through the forest, when she was a baby, and now lives in esztergom now with her husband and daughters. They come to Sturovo for a drink every weekend, so we will catch up and I find out more. Fascinating life-stories all around, and Terry invites me to interview people at the kappa paper factory on the hill, which i look forward to.

My very favourite moment was dancing the csardas (hungarian gypsy dance) in a big circle with all of our group, Gyuri and Sofie, a nice woman from san andras whose name I don't know but was very friendly and fun - round and round one way, gyuri would make us change direction, then all meeting in the middle - fabulous. Although my hips are killing me now - glad of those painkillers the lovely dr gave me. wouldn't normally take such things, but it's all part of the feral weekend I'm having.