16+1 signs you have stayed in Budapest for long

A while ago szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu posted an article about 26 signs that show that you’ve been in Budapest for too long. These aspects were collected by Barbara Litzfellner who had been living in Budapest as a foreigner for some time before writing the article for Matador Network. We kind of rethought these signs, emphasized our favourites and added a few more. Here they go!

1. You got used to the way names work. Hungary is one of the countries where the family name comes first, but foreign people tend to think that that’s our given name.
2. You have practiced the pronunciation of our double letters such as ‘gy, cs, ty, zs’ so much that you’re almost there.
3. You try to get rid of your coins when paying since you have collected so much due to our prices ending like ‘1995 Ft-s’ or ‘1990 Ft-s’. Well yes, they do really weigh your pocket down.
4. You understand how this Buda and Pest thing goes and know that our capital is Budapest, only it has two sides.
5. You put sour cream (tejföl) and Erős Pista (‘Strong Steve’) on to more and more food and you realize how good they go with almost everything.
6. You know what Lake Balaton means to Hungarians. It’s the Hungarian Sea!
7. You eat Túró Rudi when you’re happy, when you’re said, when you’re celebrating; when you need energy… you realize what a multifunctional dessert it is. Works every time!
8. If you’re on a budget you eat pizza for 250 Ft-s in the underpasses or in Király Street.
9. You like the burning feeling homemade pálinka (Hungarian schnapps) gives you. And when you hear that it’s so strong that it kills bacteria you even go out for a drink when you’re sick.
10. Your favourite way to spend your free time in winter is to drink mulled wine at Vörösmarty square and look around at the Christmas market.
11. Your guilty pleasure is eating lángos (scone) or kürtöskalács (chimney cake) too late at night. Salty or sweet, you’ll have something to chew on.
12. You are not surprised anymore that elderly Hungarians start talking to you on the public transport about their personal matters. You don’t even have to answer just smile and nod.
13. You stand back so that the running people can jump into the metro while the doors are closing. The metro is already full of people but you are scared that they will get stuck.
14. The ruin bars first might seem too overwhelming but you get to enjoy them and are not surprised to meet interesting people from many nations.
15. You go out pre-drinking to cheaper bars before going to clubs, discos to save money. This is called alapozás.
16. You order the daily menu and refuse to spend more than 1000 Ft-s on your lunch.
17. You get used to the wide variety of insults, which can be combined anyhow and used in any situation. Sometimes funny figure of speech is also used to swear and it can last for minutes without a breath taken.

Copy editor: bm

Source: Daily News Hungary