Wednesday, September 16, 2009

embarrassing market experience

I just wanted to make an experience I had this afternoon public, mostly for your amusement (and partly because I hope that I will look back and laugh about it in about two months). A bunch of us went to one of the really nice indoor markets in Pest after class today. I was really low on food, so I was ready to do some serious shopping. I was in the mood to get some meat because I actually haven't had much of it in my diet over the past two weeks. I went over to one of the meat stands and mentally rehearsed the ordering script ("Szia. Kerék __ kilo sonka.") ("Hi. I would like to have __ kilo of ham). The blank is where I was planning to insert the amount I wanted in kilos. For some COMPLETELY ABSURD reason, I said that I would like 1 kilo of ham. o.m.g. Obviously detecting my American accent, the stand owner confirmed, "Egy?" ("One kilo?"), and, without really thinking, I just said "Igen." ("Yes"). Well, as she continued to pile on the ham for what seemed like an eternity, I fought an inner battle with myself as to whether or not I should tell her to stop. But I couldn't bring myself to face that embarrassment, so I chose to be embarrassed instead by the enormous hunk of ham I was stuck carrying home on the tram. Needless to say, I'll be eating ham sandwiches, ham and cheese omelets, and possibly even ham-on-cereal for quite a while :/

5 comments:

  1. haha ham is great with anything. Also, ordering/carrying/consuming large quantities of meat is an international symbol of awesome.

    -Brad

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  2. lol thanks, buddy. i feel better now, though i still have a kilo of ham in my freezer that i just don't know what do with.

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  3. The good news is that ham is freezable. It would have been great to see a pic. :)

    -TJ

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  4. haha, yes TJ, it's excellent news! Today in language class, I asked how to order a quarter kilo...."Kérek huszonöt kilo sonkat"...hmm yeaaa we'll see how that goes next time....
    And you're right! A picture would have been excellent! Perhaps I will have to order another full kilo just so I can document the ridiculousness of it!
    Hope all is well at IV at home :) Miss you guys, and you're all always in my prayers!

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  5. ...crap wait, no it's "...huszonöt deke..."
    What i said above would be ordering 25 kilos. Ugh, hungarian just makes things so complicated.

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