... in which i visit a Hungarian hospital

Romania was a great trip; it was beautiful, we met all sorts of interesting and friendly people, and things were so cheap, it made Hungary look expensive. That said, I had a little bit of a panic attack, caused by some abdominal pains and... let's just call it a 'symptom' sunday night (by now a week and a half ago). The owner of our pension, Eugene, a really interesting guy, took me to a pharmacy, where they tried to sell me a shot (Eugene said his mother was a nurse and could administer it from home) and also some pills, which were made in Egypt and I'm sure not FDA-approved. If I've heard anything about European pharmaceudicals, though, it's that they're effective. I had a pretty good equivalent of Theraflu called NeoCitran that wiped out my pre-midterms cold, and Kelly reported great success with painkillers sold in Macedonia. That said, although I felt better since then, I wanted to make sure nothing was serious wrong with me or my kidneys.

Thus, the hospital. I had no idea what to expect, and it was definitely a little scary, but things worked out. I got an english-speaking doctor, had an ultrasound (which was as close as i'll ever come, i think, to that one expectant mothers get), and so forth, and all for a fraction (i'm assured it was a small fraction) of what the cost would have been if i'd done the same thing in the US. There were some quirky bits, as well:

--One of the doctors, after asking briefly about my symptoms, started asking me pointed questions about my appetite; although I swore I eat a lot (and I think my friends here would testify similarly on my behalf), she wouldn't let the subject drop.
--I was asked by a doctor how much I drank each day, to which I replied about a liter or two of water. Their response was, "That's not nearly enough. You need more fluids; water, coffee, beer, it doesn't matter. Just drink more. And Hungary has such fine mineral waters!"
--Recall that 's' in Hungarian is pronounced like 'sh', and that there are no dipthongs (vowels are all pronounced distinctly); also note that 'samu' (sounds like the killer whale) is a common dog's name in Hungary, like Fido or something. Now, I was sitting in a crowded waiting room, listening to some music, and a technician came out and said something. Everyone else in the room starts looking around, and I take my headphones off and ask the people next to me (in Hungarian) what she said. They just gesture, and the woman repeats, "Stromberg Samuel". People start laughing. I stand up and walk across the room to much mirth. After the ultrasound, I walk out, and am greeted with the same sort of giggling. ("Look! There's the foreigner named Fido!" or something like that) Oh well. That's Hungary, I guess.

sam