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From Hungary to Fiji – The Trip of the Year

September 5, 2006

Hungarian Communist Depression or Fijian Tropical Paradise?

Today is my last day in Hungary after 2 months of stay.
The Hungarian culture shock has not worn off and Hungary is where I was born!

The upcoming culture shock of Fiji … I cannot wait to experience!
I lived in Hawaii for 4 years so there is a frame of reference but the word Fiji itself gives me goosebumps!
Seems like I was not meant to live in Hungary. It is perfectly clear now. This discovery is bitter sweet.

Motherly Love

But let me start with the main driving force. The force which is driving me away from Hungary the strongest.
Time has stood still for my Mom and me being 39 years old does not stop her from still cutting up my food in bite sized chunks! At 65 years old she insist on preparing and serving all my meals, doing my laundry, cleaning my room.
She told me she does not want to hear about it and that she will not change because I will always be her little boy and she loves me.
One day I made her cry when I told her I was going to warm up some food for myself!
I swear this is true.

Yes, I am an only child and her smothering “love” was the main reason I left 20 years ago. Free at last! Free at last!
It took 20 years for me even to be able to attempt to experience home life again and almost as soon as I arrived to Hungary I started to plan my escape again. I must get out of here!
She will never know she was the reason; she asked me once and I lied and said no, not to devastate her. She believed it of course because people believe what they want to hear.

The Past, Present and Future of Hungary

Good luck to Hungary but life is too short to be a victim all the time.
In order to be eligible to have the Euro introduced in Hungary, strict economic guidelines must be met.
The current (guessed) forecast to achieve this is 2014.
This means 8 more hard years of just catching-up which means higher prices, lower wages, more taxes and less benefits. More depression, less possibilities.
The country still seems to be in the unmotivated mood which stems from being cared for or should I say being sedated by the Communist Party during the communist years.

After the fall of communism the same corrupt incompetent “leaders” stayed in power under a different name. If it ain’t broke why fix it?
Keep the nation stupid, lie, cheat, steal and explain later or lie more later.
I expected a thriving country full of possibilities in the center of Europe when I came home. All I found was a ship wreck having European Union dreams but communist realities.
Implementing the current drastic measures is the only chance this country has from sinking completely.

Communism had many drawbacks but even today many still wish it never disappeared. Those were comfortable times. During those decades unemployment was unheard of and ACTUALLY UNEMPLOYMENT WAS A CRIME!
There was free medicine, always plenty of cheap food, security of jobs and living standards.

The results of some of the restrictions and government corruption were absolutely ridiculous and unconceivable.
It took a 5 year waiting period to buy a new car. No car dealerships full of cars to walk into. Order your car today and see you in 5 years!
I left Hungary in 1986, pretty modern times right?
We still did not have a home phone because we did not live in the part of the city which was wired or planned to be wired. This was a city of 80 thousand still a sizable one in Hungary. Bananas and oranges were available only during the winter months.

Even in 1986 there were red and a blue passports. The red ones for all communist countries the blue ones for capitalist countries.
The red one could be used anytime to visit our fine communist neighbors.
Some people use to go to Russia wearing 3 pairs of jeans (increasing in sizes to fit over each other). They would sell 2 of the jeans to buy a fine Russian vacuum cleaner. That was considered a communist business trip.
The blue passport could be used once every 3 years to visit the West with a $50 maximum foreign currency allotment!
Great trip – don’t spend it all at one place!
As of today still it is virtually impossible for Hungarians to get a simple tourist visa into the USA!

Yes, these are 20 year old childhood stories and yes, some things have changed but not enough for me to stay.
There are a few superficial improvements like supermarket chains, coin operated shopping carts, cell phones, recycling, foreign cars, McDonald’s junk, Chinese clothing stores, more make up on women (which is usually overly done and I do not find it an improvement).

Escape from Hungary … Again

This time my escape is less spectacular but just as sweet.
This trip home was educational, reaffirming what a great decision it was to leave 20 years ago.
My next post will be from Fiji. Excellent!