A Day of Not Understanding

Well, I wish I had written the last post in a more stable mental state, but so it goes. Essentially, we went to a futbol game for a team (Ferenc Varos, in case you didn't get that), that is rather controversial. Bank happens to be the VP in his free time (which I don't imagine he has much of considering he teaches 6 days a week--yes, Saturdays--in different cities, is a political scientist, and Sundays are, surely, entirely devoted to the games), which, as we found out more about the team, seems to fit right in with his personality. We called him when we got to the stadium, because we couldn't find him at the corner (embarrassingly enough for us, when we found him at a different corner he said "sorry for the confusion. but really, is that a corner?" pointing to the "corner" we had been at. It was not, in fact, a corner.), then, when we told him we wanted to sit "as close as possible for as cheap as possible" he did the classic "obviously" Bank head nod and led us past security, for the small fee of free ninety-nine.

I guess you have to understand, to fully comprehend why we were so excited to spend a day with Bank, why our whole class is so obsessed with Bank. And I don't really know how to explain it. It certainly has a lot to do with his name, and the fact that we can insert it easily and humorously into conversation. It also has to do with his weird voice/accent. I guess I would call it a combination of a crow and a beaver? Like, it's very deep for his small body, but it's oddly nasaly too. Like, he pronounces "to" as "tyew". I suppose it is exactly the voice you would expect to come from a Hungarian who looks like this:

actually, he looks too gentle in that one. Try this:
(thank you google.hu image search)

Also, it has to do with the fact that we all know that he is way smarter than us. This is made particularly apparent when he will mention a historical event (e.g. the Prague Spring) in class that we should all know. When we all sit there silently, he will respond with either: "seriously?" "really?" or "oh my god". At this point, we all just laugh. Basically, the idea of "Bank" is fascinating to us all.

Anyway, we found out that our team (green and white, mascot: the green falcon[or actually some hungarian bird with a funny name]) used to be first division, but because of financial reasons, they are now second division. This means they win all the time, which is a plus. With Bank's guidance, we learned that the "hooligans" sit on the sides of the stadium. We laughed when he said this, imagining a bunch of fun drunk fans, but Bank said, "No, seriously, they are really hooligans." After the game, which included a halftime full of cheesey pretzels and hot wine, and Kelsey receiving "the best text message of her life" which said "had to go outside be back in 10" just when we thought Bank had ditched us for good, the three of us bought green and white Ference Varos scarves. Today, to please our prof, we wore them to class. However, our Lit professor who we had beforehand, informed us that we should be careful wearing the scarves around because the team represents extreme right values, and has a reputation for getting in fights. They later told us about riots caused by the "football hooligans" who burned buildings. Okay, so I guess they really are hooligans.

Our Contemporary Issues class was pretty cool because the ex-president of Hungary came to speak! He was president from '89 to '90, during the transition from communism to democracy. Apparently he is a very respected figure, but was kicked out of his party (socialist) a few years ago because he voted for FIDESz (a right wing party)'s budget plan. Yeah, shit's fucked up over here. He "only" speaks Russian, French, and German fluently, so one of our professors, Marcel, translated.

Let me take a minute to talk about Marcel, for he is a wonderful, wonderful human being who we have developed an almost Bank-like adoration for. He is very tall, about 6' 5", but he looks and acts like an 8 year old trapped in a very big man's body. He is always beaming from his childish face, and despite his sometimes broken English, has fully mastered the phrases "okey dokey artichokey," and "see you later, alligator". He led us on a tour of Krakow while we were there this past weekend, and though he was the only real adult among a bunch of international students, had to be constantly reminded to wait for people, and that we were hungry, or needed tickets to the museum, etc. He also made a hilariously horrible joke that he was still apologizing for today-- at a church he said "Yes, and every country has a different saint. Do you guys know what yours is? (everyone looks blank) Yes, in the U.S. it is St. Bush." Basically, Marcel makes bad jokes that we laugh very hard at because of the way he says them, and the giant smile on his face as he does.

But, the ex-Pres, who helped draft the new democratic constitution after 50 years of a socialist dictatorship, and delivered it to the people from the windows of Parliament, was really cool. One of my favorite quotes, after he told a story of getting wasted with Kadar and Brezhnev at a hockey game, was "God save the human race from the leaders who want to push buttons". Amen.

Then we went to the Hungarian National Theater and saw a three hour play in Hungarian. The sets were great!!! That's about all I can say about that.

Just for funsies, this is Bank circa 1998

Hopefully that can bring you only a fraction of the joy I feel everytime I look at it.