Hungarian language, food, and Jamaican curry chicken

One of the greatest feelings of freedom I've ever experienced is the capability to go anywhere in the world I want, whenever I want.  I love the feeling of not knowing where I'll be sleeping the next day.  I love that everything I have for survival is being carried on my back.  This is what makes traveling fun for me.  Even though I spend a short amount of time in each city, always being on the go, and being immersed in a new culture with a new language and new food every few day keeps things very interesting.

I learned on one of the walking tours that Hungarian language is considered one of the top 5 most challenging languages to learn.  And it was confirmed by this website http://www.thirdage.com/learning/top-5-hardest-languages-to-learn.  My guide on the Budapest walking tour said that because the Hungarian language is considered to be so foreign sounding to most of the world, in movies when an alien communicates, they often say something in Hungarian.  I found an example online of the movie The Rite in which Anthony Hopkins when possessed says words in Hungarian.

I learned a few words in Hungarian.  Goodbye is the same as hello, which is pronounced like "see-ya".  Thank you is pronounced like "go-she" which I think of the coffee store cosi.  And goodnight is "yo-ate" which I think of "I" in Spanish and ate.

Wednesday morning I went on 2 walking tours, a general tour and a Jewish district tour.  Through the tours, I visited the highlights of Budapest, including the Green Bridge, the castle district, the largest orthodox and the site of what is now the reconstructed wall of the Jewish ghettos.

 On the Green Bridge

 The Danube river, separating Budapest into Buda and Pest

Water fountains like these are all over the city.

I didn't enjoy Hungarian food very much.  The two Hungarian dishes I had were goulash (which is the national food) and töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage).  Both dishes had a sour taste, probably from vinegar.  Because Hungarians also put sour cream on literally everything, I suspect they like sour tasting food.  The best dish I had was langos, which is fried dough served with toppings.

 Stuffed cabbage

Goulash, from Most Pub which per my guide has the best, most authentic goulash in Budapest.  The pita bread is served with sour cream on the inside.  

 Langos- fried dough with sour cream, cheese, tomato and olives

A CS is meant to be an exchange of cultures (for both the surfer and the host), I was very happy for the opportunity to cook Judit and her family some Jamaican food.  I very randomly walked past an store labeled "International Food and Spices".  They store was owned by Indians and they had a lot of West Indian food and spices, including curry and coconut milk in cans.  At Judit's home, I showed her how to prepare curry chicken and THANK GOD, it actually tasted good!  Cooking for people can be so stressful when you are representing your national dish!

Judit's parents had already eaten but they sat with us for dinner.  Her mom is very funny and actually wants to couchsurf herself the next time she goes traveling.

After dinner, I spent all night planning my next move.  Though I wanted to go to Croatia, most of the accommodation in the hostels had already been booked leaving only a few expensive options.  I realized after looking at the map that it made more sense to approach Croatia from its Southern part, via Montenegro.  I decided to take the train to Belgrade, Serbia, from where I could get a bus or train to Montenegro, and then a bus to Dubrovnik.