Special edition: I almost gave my clothes to a male Hustler; not really..

pic: Benjamin Page is not a Hustler

This is special edition of my blog that is dedicated to the hard working men and woman of Budapest.

I didn't come to Budapest to meet hustlers, nor was I interested in talking to them but for some strange reasons I find them fascinating!

If you have read my earlier blog you know that I had encountered a male hustler while walking on the bank of the Danube. He had some interesting conversations about his life and why he is doing this for work. (see day 13). I never saw him again.

This is the second time Andreas and I went to the the river for the spectacular sunset and the city light that will follow the dramatic sunset. We sat quietly for about 30 mins and young man come over to us and started a conversation. He is 20 and well dressed and nothing strange came to mind but as soon as he told us he is an escort things changed. His name is Steve and he is savvy, boyish and good looking hustler. He asked us for 100 euros each for sex and we refused and it was discounted for 2 of us together for 100 euros. We laughed and told him we just do not do this. He than tried to con us to buy him a beer and said no. We talked a bit more and he went away to look for other possible clients. At 20 he was slick and worldly and his innocence was long lost.

The next evening I had an unexpected trip to Deak Frenec area and just a 2 blocks from the Danube and I said why not. I went for another sunset at my favorite spot of the corso. I meditated and did some yoga and Steve appeared. This time he was more pleasant and less pushy, we had a long conversation about his life in the orphanage and how he got sucked into this business of hustling. He is not gay nor bisexual and just doing this for the money. He told me he had met a 17 year old girl walking her dog just a few mins before he saw me and they are going on a date tomorrow.

He than started to ask me about my life but I didn't feel like revealing myself very much. He than ask me if I would ever have sex with a girl and I told him no. He was shocked and didn't understand why I would say that... He than said what if someone has a gun on your head, would you than? I said maybe than I will think about it!

Our conversation covered many aspects of our lives and He compartmented on the quality of my clothes and ask me if he can have some. He wanted to us to go to the hotel and pick them up immediately. I said no because I needed them....but for a moment I did feel bad enough to want to help out. A few moments later he brought up hiring him for another discounted price of 50 USD my sympathy dissipated once again.

Like the night wind sweeping the river he got up arbropetly and disappeared into the night, I thought maybe he saw another possible client.

I watched the lights for another 30 mins and decided to go check out a club he had mentioned just 4 blocks away. Half way there he emerged from the darkness once more...

He said he saw a really beautiful woman so he ran over to talk to her and he had just walk her home. I was amazed how he he can maximized his time working as a male hustler and finding dates with women at the same.

I told him he can come with me to the club and I offered to buy him 2 drinks in exchanged for the time we spent together. We really had a good time together!

I didn't come to Budapest to write about hustlers and I have never encountered people like this in the States. Budapest forced people of all classes together, tourist or not; the hustlers exist quietly under the shadow of the Danube and the international tourist that came to the river for it's beautiful sunset. On the other hand American hustlers live parallel lives on the Internet and erotic services ads on the back pages of the weekly paper.

I hope Steve's date with the girl went well today and he will finally find happiness.

Day 39- July 3rd : Today was action packed, and again my poor feet! Strange o'rama

try telling me this is not scary

After some breakfast and a lot of laziness, Andreas and I finally got out of the room. It's strange how two of us end up hanging out together but with the others. I guess because we share a room and we are actually very similar; I see a lot of my younger self in him. I can understand him.

This residency is a bit different than the last, this group of artists are fairly independent from one another. Even though Andreas and I have two other suites- mates, Gregory and Howard we don't rally hang out together. Howard is a middle- age photographer with the hormones of a 19 year old college student, so he is always out and about trying to find beautiful Hungarian women to photograph. Gregory... It doesn't seem like he's even this the residency at all. We don't see him other than right before bedtime, he only likes to hang out with his formal student; a Hungarian high school exchange student in the US, now 18. I don't know if he even likes us. The girls are in their girlie world and we can't seem to penetrate. It's all ok because I enjoy hanging out with Andreas.

We went to the castle district, a wonderful collection of Museums and other culture institutions in the old palace castle and old town area on the Buda side. We spent 5 hours walking and sight seeing none stop and there were just so much to see and just the architecture and the views of the city were enough to blew me all the back to America. I love how the old city was laid out and the Palace is just amazing and it offers the best view of the city, naturally.

The highlight of the trip which is also the one of the highlights of my Budapest residency is the Labyrinth under the Buda's old town. I expected caves, mazes and a little spook but it was a out of this world experience. Bizarre is the only word to decribed it. A system of old tunnels used for military, storage, shelter and other purposes since the 1600's and now made into an art, Alien, ghostly, poetic and even per-historic experiences with strange and anything goes art (loosely) installation.

Sounds of a beating heart from a caged wells, red wine flows though fountains in almost complete darkness; half of a huge had sculpture in the middle of the large cave.... spooky army like stone sculpture guarding every corner. This is just too much fun.

Day38- July 2ed : When have a better understanding of Budapest's mass transit than locals, it's time to go home!!!

have to catch up....
lah lah blah

Day 37- July 1st :Modern Architecture in Budapest

come see the ugly

I skipped breakfast and had lunch with Balasz and his boyfriend today. We than took the train and went to Alex's apartment to hang out. The apartment is near one of the last stop of the Blue metro and is one of the city's “newer” suburbs. The building gave out clues of the areas age and I think it was mass developed in the 60's and early 70's. Most building are fairy utilitarian and not very attractive. It looks like the projects in the U.S. But the area does feel safe. Upon entering his apartment I notice how many gates he had to pass, exterior security gates, interior gates and finally the apartment door with 4 locks.

I fell in love with his rodent pet! I am not sure what they are but they are utterly adorable. They are so cute but they do bite strangers... I think of them as miniature puppies.

After the visit I met up with Andreas for a “scary adventure” we took the Metro and picked a couple of random stops and see what would be awaiting us at the other side of the exit. First it was ....... stop and we saw a collection of contemporary buildings just on the out- skirt of the city. The style of these building are very geometrical with very little design elements. They are pretty bad in terms of design and offered almost nothing to the architecture community and Hungarian culture. There are also buildings that are 5 blocks long with no signs of design and style and they would have continued the block for miles and no one would noticed or not noticed.

We went back on the train and went to the last stop and it was worse... modern buildings disappeared and ornate Gothic buildings feels like a few light years away... What what there was South Central Los Angeles low rises with fast food joints and unkept sidewalks, overgrown empty lots, and trash littered streets. We walked around briefly and went back to the Metro station.

It's strange how “newness” became the universal language for “better”. The real estate here never shows exterior photos of any beautiful ornate buildings of Budapest. The only time exterior photos are show if the building is new or newer and often times they are just another soul-less “contempoary” building that can be found anywhere in the world; simply just buy the plans in insert it in any empty lots.

Day 36- June 30th: IT'S COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pic: my friend Alex's rodent (not sure what they are) but adorable!!! They tried to attack my fingers

Wow I can't believe it's June 30th already, last month flow by like a hawk. It's my 34th day in Budapest and my 39th day or so in Europe and I am really getting used to the life and the lifestyle here. I understand Hungary is not perfect but it does start to feel like home.

As I am doing a mapping of Budapest for my last art piece, I started to mentally revisit all the places I have visited and the streets I have wondered on. It's amazing everything is coming back so clearly and wonderfully. It like it had just happened last week. On the art work I can physically see I had cover a huge portion of the city and all the places I had visited and revisited.

I know my time here is ending in just over 8 days and I will be traveling to other parts of Eastern Europe and new adventures will be discovered but I feel this city will always be special in my heart.
Other than being a little sentimental about my last days in Budapest I had been busy all day making my art work, managing email and other typical tasks. I also saw a couple of my Hungarian friends tonight.

Day 35- June 29 oh it's Sunday, again

pic: I can't take a pic of myself sleeping so I will use Andreas pic

Today is Sunday and I am beginning to get used to the norm in Hungary for not doing very much. I finally started my final piece of art work and spent most of the day working on that. I did manage to take a couple of naps and had a great dessert with Andreas in the evening at this faux American Western restaurant called “the cactus juice”. Under normal circumstances I would never set my foot in this place just by looking at it's name but my Hungarian friends said the food is actually good and it was! It came as a total surprise and I have since been there at least a couple of times. The night was hot and I stayed up working until 3am.

Day 34- June 28th: very drunk and confused

Pic: Alex and his/our friend Balasz

Today I met up with my new 19 year old friend Alex I met in a club the night before. We arranged to have lunch together and this made me feel a little dirty and a little like Gregory (lol a little insider joke, we love you Greg). It was a interesting because I think alex really likes me and is very intrigued by me but the down fall is he speak the least English out of everyone I have met in Hungary. This meant our verbal conversation almost doesn't exist and body language, drawing and writing are more useful in this case. We managed to have a interesting time together regardless of the obstacles we faced. We took a nice walk on he Danube, went shopping on Vaci street and had ice cream.

A side note:

I was hit on by a old Hungarian man today; he pretended to be lost and asked me for directions and just would't take a hint. He was at least a little sauvey than other guys I have encountered, he also made kissing sounds at me. This happened around 1130am.

Later in the evening I went to a couple of bars and clubs and had a bit too much to drink. I got really sick and was pucking for a couple of hours... I have used up my once a year drunken privileges last night. Today I am really paying for my sins last night. my roommate Andreas took really good care of me last night and thank him for that. We always have such interesting and candid conversations.