nawl: Foreigner, but clever

This week the folk dancing teacher yet again announced to the entire class that I was not Hungarian. I was disagreeing with the guy I was dancing with about arm placement, and the teacher noticed and told the class that I was right, that I was a foreigner, but clever (kulfoldi, de okos). Of course, all I understood from the exchange was that I was indeed right about where my arm should go, and that he had just said something about me being foreign that caused the entire room to laugh. It was another half an hour and most of the way around the circle of guys before I could get a translation.

I talked to an American tourist on the tram and told him where to get off to go to the big market. He complimented me on my English.

This is one of those cities where people are really into being prepared to exit public transportation vehicles long before they come to a stop. Toronto is like this. The bay area is not.

Anyways, it's always these frail old ladies who arise from their seats with great effort and at obvious expense to their well-being five minutes before the next stop, as the bus is rattling over potholes and broken cobblestones and tram rails, and shove their way closer to the door, disturbing the delicate balance that those of us standing have achieved in packing ourselves in the bus like sardines while guarding just enough space so as to not actually touch anybody around us as the rattling bus tests the stability of our feet position, as if the next stop wasn't Blaha or Keleti where 90% of the people on the bus will, in fact, be exiting, which would give them more than enough time to get up and follow the crowd out from their comfortable seat, which surely they were given out of the international politeness-to-old-ladies protocol in the first place.

I'm having these dreams about being in front of a crowd when an announcer says something long and complicated to me in Hungarian, and I have all sorts of anxiety about politely getting across the message "I'm sorry, I don't speak Hungarian, could you please repeat that in English, if you happen to speak it, or failing that I might fare better in German." in the most concise way possible and in the proper language.