I was surviving the double shifts, which were bestowed upon me thanks to a bout with the chickenpox suffered by another teacher. I had for the most part remained sane or at least found humor in the frustration of working at Homedsvarsharhey in the mornings and Szegvar in the afternoons. The daily car rides with either Freno (the boss's husband) and his Frankenstein laugh, or the mother of one of my student, that drove like speed racer in a rusted, seatbeltless, circa 79’ Subaru Justy (the year, make an model is critical to imagery-not being snobby) had really gotten to me though. It should be noted that a drive in the country is no lackadaisical experience when there is a Hungarian behind the wheel. Although the degree of roadkill was surprisingly low, despite mention noteworthy fatal accidents between Szeged and Szegvar was enough to instill panic. The sheer manner of the drivers in Hungary would suggest to a on-looker, that one of the passengers was clearly in labor. So we pickup on the story after Ashlee, Mylo and I had made planes to travel to Serbia on one of our few weekends without teacher’s meetings or other pointless weekend responsibilities.
A day trip to Serbia, what fun! When I applied for this job I didn’t have any concept of what part of Hungary we would be living , but once we realized how close we were to Romania and Serbia it became our goal to venture across the border. After asking around we learned that even if we crossed into Romania; the towns that closely bordered Hungary we insignificant. It was suggested that we cross into Serbia instead as it was closer and the border town was more interesting. The plan was in motion; we would catch an early morning train and would arriving by noon in Subotica, Serbia !
Saturday morning I woke up feeling unseasonably warm and my allergies were worse than they had ever been. I had fewer mosquito bites than usual...they must have sensed the plague that had overtaken my face! To this day the mystery hasn’t been solved as to why the area around one of my eyes had swollen to three times it normal size. I was feeling ok, but had significantly less feeling in my face. I had a look in the mirror and it was like that Twiglight Zone episode where it is Marti Gras in New Orleans and the greedy-pain in the ass heirs are meeting in their rich grandfather’s mansion and he makes them wear masks until midnight or else they won’t get their inheritance. So at midnight they all take off their mask and magically their face has been deformed to accentuate their known vices: greed, dunsity, spite, pompous, etc. So it was as if I had been wearing a mask that had made me Neanderthal girl!
Turns out that getting sick in Hungary is not recommended on a weekend! (If I’d only known, I’d have waited until Monday so that I could miss work, bonus!) We knocked up a couple of clinics, no answer "zárva" (closed). We eventually tried the Medical College, which agreed to treat me. It was more like a movie set of a medical facility than an actually clinic, but they saw me prompty and were nice. After attempting to ask me some questions in English about my insurance, they just gave up and treated me for free as speaking English was too much hassle. I don’t know what they prescribed, some anti-inflammatory topical cream and some super-celebrity-strength Claritin, but I was feeling rad in an hour after taking it, and wishing I could rally down to Serbia and meet the homies, but instead I got to hang around the house, did some laundry, tried to play with the house turtle, but she wouldn't eat the apple slices I brought her- stupid ungrateful turtle. Then watched tennis with the stray Hungarians squanter whom no one seemed to claim. (We cheered for Jankavich "the Serbian").How poignant.
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