Things that are weird – part 1

When travelling outside of America, please be aware of the following items.

1.       The only channel in English is CNN.  I’ve never been a big CNN fan, but it’s the only thing we’ve had to watch for the past week.  All other American shows are dubbed over in Hungarian.

2.       Most beverages are served at room temperature.  This includes water, juices and Cokes/Pepsi. 

3.       The top of the mattresses are about 18 inches from the floor.  You kind of fall on the bed rather than getting in it.

4.       Smoked bacon looks raw.

5.       Some houses have different colored outside walls.  Some of the walls will have 2 or more different colors.

6.       The wording on clothes and jackets is in English.  In the Budapest market, I saw a guy wearing a jacket that had TOP GUN and US Air Force patches.  One of our boys has a shirt with a motorcycle on it and the words ‘Cruising Topless’.  It may not see the light of day in America.

7.     You are expected to bring your own bags to the grocery store.  I knew this so I brought some with me, but I didn’t have enough today so the store cashier charged me 20 forint each for plastic bags.

8.       **Please don’t read this if you can’t handle bathroom talk.**  The toilets – these are reverse from American toilets.  What I mean is that the drain is in the front of the bowl whereas in America the drain is in the back of the bowl.  This causes a ‘flat shelf’ in the back of the bowl. Anything that finds it’s way into the toilet stays on the ‘shelf’ until flushed.   There isn’t really any water in the toilet bowl except a couple inches in the drain.  When you flush, the force of the water cleans off the shelf and forces everything down the drain which is about 3 inches in diameter.