Innocents Abroad: Episode 2 - Croatians and Hungarians

Okay, Episode 2 in the trials, tribulations and new experiences of the Texans. We were invited to a party Thursday night at the Klingenbach Community Center to celebrate the advent of spring and May Day the next day. First, they had a band from Siegendorf, and I have to say it's a little disconcerting to hear country western songs and soft rock in German and Croatian. Then later the main headliner appeared. Her name is Danijela Joy, and she is the current Croatian sensation. A sexy blonde, wearing black pants and see-through black top, she has really good stage presence, moves well, but her voice would make Martha, Becky and Meg cringe occasionally. It seems that a big part of Klingenbach was there and of course all dancing, singing along and drinking. The drinking age in Austria is 18, but no one cares; we saw several obviously-younger teens eagerly imbibing. The center has a long bar against which young people milled three and four deep. Long cafeteria-style tables with benches accommodate the rest, and there is a stage and large dance floor. The sound system was pretty sophisticated and was, of course, loud. There were children running around the place, so different than you would find in the U.S. in a venue allowing drinking. But no one seems to mind. Lots of people dancing, including women dancing with each other.

We went to Sopron, Hungary yesterday - about a 15 minute drive. It was odd to drive straight through the former border guard stations that are now unmanned. We went to a mall in Sopron, walked around a carnival celebrating May Day and then got lost in Sopron. When you get into these cities and drive into the various old towns, you keep circling around and it's hard to get out. They don't have four-way intersections with stop signs here; they have traffic circles which people seem to know how to feed into in turn. I think they all drive like maniacs.

On the subject of the ethnicities over here, it seems that this part of eastern Austria was settled by a lot of ethnic Croatians about 500 years ago (which to hear them tell the story seems like last year). Klingenbach and Siegendorf (and I imagine the other communities around here) have definite populations of Austrian and Croatian types. The Croatians all seem to look a lot alike, what I call a very large group of first cousins. And that is even more obvious over in Hungary. They all look related to one another. Most of those over the age of say, 60, look so grim, too. Not a smile to be had. That must be a left-over from the Soviet domination era. And, no I'm not being paranoid, a lot of people are giving us dirty looks. I really think Americans are not liked which is something we've suspected for a long time. So of course I'm being very polite and nice which doesn't seem to affect the glares much.

Practically every woman you see over here over the age of 12 has her hair dyed - and usually badly. Odd colors - bright crimson, purple, orange, frequently black. Very few blonde or blonde highlights. My hair looks better than most, and anyone who knows me knows how rare that is! And Bob has commented that "bellies and butts" are much more obvious over here, especially among the young. We think maybe they're not as hung up on body image as Americans. Although just across the border in Hungary there is a big, new-looking facility for "Plastiche Chirurgie" that also offers spa and wellness treatments. Parking lot is packed. "Implanten" are advertised.