The article

  So on Thursday last, April 3, the thing appeared in the local paper. A full page, five columns, all about me and what I have done, am doing, and why I am here. The writer, Molnár Melinda, is apparently free-lance for the paper, seeking out things or people that have some kind of appeal to the local readers. The thrust of the article was that here is this guy who has a background in languages, he somehow gets involved with Hungary, is introduced to some Hungarian literature and decides to start learning the language. So he winds up here in Udvarhely, and then the rest of the article is how do I as an outsider view the local scene. The article pretty faithfully reports what I said—the town is pleasant and peaceful and offers what I was looking for. I don't drive, I use local bus or I ride a bike I picked up at the fleamarket. I don't ride at night because the streets have too many holes and I cant see them. I can't understand why the local equivalent of walmart has a book section which contains only Romanian books, when 98 % of the local population is Hungarian. I question the local artisans' decision to produce only traditional clothing. If you want a shirt with traditional embroidery or decoration, then it is only a dress shirt. There is no such thing as a nice polo shirt with traditional decoration. Anything in that line is simply some cheap printed thing with I “heart” Transylvania, or something of that ilk. I complain that there are no Hungarian films with Hungarian subtitles. None. Well, one, an animated film from the early 90s. But that is it. Lots of good Hungarian films, some with foreign subtitles, but none with Hungarian. Either Hungarians don't want foreigners to learn their language, or they are just unaware of the hurdles that are inadvertently imposed.

During our interviews (all in Hungarian, sometimes it took a while to understand what she was asking me) I could tell Melinda wanted me to feed her some good lines about how great the locals were. I stretched things a little bit, not too much, in saying how nice the countryside was, that I felt safe, that I found people to be a bit more personal than, say, folks in Budapest, that I enjoyed going to the local theater and musical performances, and so on.

She did omit my big story about having to spend about two hours walking up and down the street to find the local tourist information office and being totally put out because the office staff had not bothered to put up a sign anywhere to let people know where they were located. But I wrote about that in an earlier blog. Perhaps that was too too hot a topic to include in the article, because it would make particular individuals look incompetent or foolish. And I can understand that, but my point is still valild. (I can report that the office now is very clearly marked, and that you would have no trouble at all finding it).