World Cup o' Goulash

Hungary isn't in the World Cup, but that hasn't stopped the locals from getting excited about the games. When it comes to football, Hungarians are just as European as the Germans, French and Italians, only not as talented. Nonetheless, they love to watch the games on TV. So, in downtown Szolnok they have erected a giant tent where fans can buy beer and food and watch all the games on big screen TV's.

Not being a soccer fan back home, I know little about the game, but that gives me a good reason to talk to the nearby Hungarians to ask questions. Once they know I'm American, they come to expect questions about football.

Tonight Chad and I watched USA get routed by the Czechs. I'm glad I wasn't wearing one of those Alan Jacksonesque American flag button downs shirts...it would have been very embarrassing. And the US loss would have also made it difficult.

The Hungarian locals were rooting for Czech Rep and Italy in the games against the US and Ghana respectively. Asking around, however, I think the most popular teams in Hungary (besides the poor Hungarians who haven't been good since 1954 - and I can tell you all about it because all the football fans here talk about it) are Great Britain, Spain, and Brazil. There's nothing like following a winner, huh? I joked with them that they were alienating their neighbors by not supporting Ukraine, Croatia, and Serbia & Montenegro. Heck, I'll root for Mexico.


On a positive note, I did get the chance to meet and chat with Chris, the husband of Zsuzsa, a teacher at Varga. Chris studied German, Economics, Education and Phy Ed, and has picked up just enough English by watching TV and film to speak quite easily with me. He's a very talented guy. We had a nice conversation about sports, both football and NBA basketball.

(From left, Juli, me, Chris, Zsuzsa, Chad)

Many friends have asked me to return to the tent to watch Germany vs. Poland Wednesday night. We'll see if Cori feels up to it.

And that brings me to the best news of all. Cori arrives Tuesday afternoon! I will take a train to a bus to the Budapest airport to meet here. We should be back in Szolnok by 7:30PM local time!

We are both very excited. There are so many places, people and experiences I want her to know.