May 17, 2024

I’ll pick up right where I left off- the pool tournament. I’m so glad I signed up. My first opponent was Peter, an older guy who works for EuroNet ATMs, but pool is his passion. He started by asking if I knew the rules to nine-ball, I said yes, and he immediately taught me several rules I was not aware of. In order to enter the tournament, I had to join the local league, which meant I received a ranking. Whatever the Serbian word for absolute newbie with zero skill, that’s what they put me as. The tournament included handicaps for each player’s ranking, so I started with three points to Peter’s zero, with the winner being the first to reach four points. Sink the nine ball legally, and you win. Simple enough, especially if you’re Peter. He realized pretty quickly that I am not very good, and he told me pretty bluntly. But he was also giving me tons of tips. After he trounced me in four quick games, he became my coach, giving me tips and putting me through some drills. Nine ball is a hugely strategic game, and I soon realized how superficial my grasp of the tactics had been (and still is, but now I’m much better off). My next opponent was not nearly as nasty as Peter, and I only started with one point to his zero. I was able to take two games and get the score to 3-3, with the winner staying in the tournament. However, I wasn’t able to execute and was eliminated from the tournament, despite Peter rooting me on from across the lounge.  However, I didn’t leave the club yet- I wanted to cheer on Peter as he made his way on. Coincidentally, he and a friend of his, Ivanka, had a couple free hours as they waited for their opponents to finish up with their earlier games (surely not the best tournament design, but I’m not complaining especially since..). I got chatting with them and found out that Ivanka is the female nine-ball champion of Serbia! Holy crap! What’s more is that she spent the next hour or two giving me tips, drills, and coaching totally for free, for the love of the game. I felt myself getting way better, both in technique and strategy. I stuck around well into the finals, cheering for Peter the whole time. It’s wild how many levels there are to pool! Super humbling. I left around eleven since I was really tired and headed to meet my roommate Sarah at a funk jam at a cool bar nearby (she had come to root for me earlier in the tournament, thanks Sarah!), caught the last half of their last song, and then headed home for good. 

Tuesday was calm, after work I headed to the Belgrade bus station and boarded a nearly empty bus to Budapest! I guess you could say I was Hungary for more… Interestingly, the bus to Budapest had only 10 people, and the border crossing took ages, and on the way back into Serbia, the bus was jam packed and the crossing was a cinch. Budapest was a huge treat. What a raw, gritty, unfiltered place that is just unfairly beautiful. It’s got to be one of my favorite cities I’ve visited. The whole trip was inspired by my friend Eve’s presence there. She had a couple free weeks and is doing a bit of solo-travel, super awesome. On Wednesday morning I mostly walked around and worked for a while, before meeting up with her to walk around and see the sights. We got a langous lunch and an awesome dinner (I got Boar ribs and a nice glass of wine, with a starter of fried goat cheese), before going to a suuuuuper cool bar, a ruins bar that felt like Mos Eisely Cantina but more colorful and labyrinthine. A tangle of walk ways, alcoves, bars, stairs, platforms, and DJs. We met some fun Irish girls, then went to another more clubby ruins bar before calling it a night. 

The next morning I headed off to a locals bath house early in the morning where I indulged in several saunas, steam rooms, and baths to great effect. Eve and I got a lunch again, and I made my way to the bus station, enjoying a lovely walk through Budapesti suburbs. In a lot of cities, there’s a really stark divide between the old center and the rest of the city. Not in Budapest– the stunning architecture and gritty elegance spills on and on, far out of the center. Awesome. I got back Thursday night, slept, and woke up Friday excited for my mom to arrive in the afternoon!