A holiday is never complete without shopping. Even though this trip was mainly for Nimmy, we had to make the best of it; catch some fun and also include a little shopping.
On past trips, I would buy things that I see at the malls that look lovely. The truth is, a lot of things look lovely. It’s like all the items develop eyes and mouths; winking at me and telling me, ‘pls buy me, you know you need me.’ At the end of the day I buy things I don’t really need and by the time I see things that I really need, shopping money is finished.
This time around I made a list of the things we really needed so that shopping would be more focused.
Yesterday, I left my crew at home and took a train to Ors vezer tere IKEA, shopping is not complete without popping into IKEA to window shop or make purcahses. Prices are reasonable and you would see a lot of household, office and children’s toys and craft items.
As I walked through showrooms (bedrooms and sitting rooms) I saw a black man walking towards me. We greeted each other then he asked me which country I was from. I told him Nigeria. He said he was from Ghana, for the first time I remembered to ask for a name and what he was doing in Budapest. He said his name is Emmanuel and currently studying in Budapest. I asked how he managed to school in a country where most people do not speak English. He said his lectures were conducted in English but he was required to study Hungarian language. He said the language was difficult but lucky him a not for profit organization was teaching him the language free of charge. That happened yesterday. Today, we planned on going shopping after Nimmy’s therapy.
On our way to the train station this morning a lady with a dog, the colour of rust (red-orange-brown) was walking beside us. I was pushing Pemmy in her stroller but once she saw the dog she started shouting ‘dog, dog, wow, mummy see dog.’ Luckily for her not me of course, the owner of the dog entered the same train and sat in front us. Pemmy immediately reached out her hands to touch the dog, as a Naija mum I immediately told her to keep her hands by her side or I would pinch her from the back. The lady with the dog told me to let her touch the dog. She even told Pemmy to caress the tail that the dog would love it. I took a chill pill and I allowed her to enjoy herself. I even took a picture.
After Nimmy’s therapy, we went back to the hotel briefly to eat and catch a bus to Vaci street. We wanted to check out some shops there. Vaci, like I mentioned in my previous post is a long street with numerous turns to the right and left filled with shops, restaurants, hotels and more. Peace and I strapped Nimmy and Pemmy into their strollers and pushed them through the street of Vaci; we looked at some shops without entering but we entered a few.
Have you ever seen a lovely dress on a mannequin and you thought it would look perfect on you until you tried it on? Then you realized that you don’t have the same shape or height with the perfectly sculptured mannequin. Hmmm….by the time I tried on four different clothes and they didn’t pass through my shoulder, I knew it was time to go on a diet. I went back to the shelf to look for bigger size and behold there were none.
After buying a few items, Peace and I pushed the children’s strollers along the streets. We came across a group of grown up guys dancing and performing to musical beats coming from a musical system. They had a metal bucket in front of them so people could give them money after the show. A group of people had formed a big circle around them just to watch the performance; we also stopped, after all, we are tourists. After the show, people clapped for them and one of the performing guys carried the metal bucket, he asked people to show some love and give them money; some people did. Peace turned to me and said, ‘If this performance was done in Nigeria, these guys will wait tire (they would wait for a long time) because people won’t give them money.’
One thing that caught my attention with the dancers was the fact that they spoke good English without Hungarian accent. I concluded that they were also tourist who ran out of cash and decided to make some money off their performance …..We also moved on to check other shops and yes, we didn’t drop any money in the bucket.
I caught sight of a shop with very lovely dresses. I told Peace the items in the shop looked very expensive she encouraged me to go inside alone. I left my crew outside the shop and walked majestically into the shop. I greeted the attendant with a newly acquired British accent and walked towards a lovely dress. The lady walked towards me smiling. ‘How may I help you Madam?’ She asked in English. I told her I was there to check out their dresses. She told me to feel free. I asked her for the price of a particular dress that caught my attention. She asked if I wanted to pay in Euro and I told her I had forints. She brought out a calculator and gave me the price in forints. My eyes widened slightly and I swallowed my saliva in a hurry hoping I wouldn’t choke on it. In spite of this, I appeared calm; like it was no big deal, like I have done this several times. She said the dress had a fifty percent discount on it; even with the discount, I couldn’t afford the dress. I told her I wanted to see other dresses (I just couldn’t leave the shop immediately). I looked around a little bit then turned to the lady, (I was tired of pretending); I told her I couldn’t afford to buy her clothes but I assured her they were very beautiful. I said my goodbye and left.
By the time I left the shop, Nimmy had had enough for the day. I paused to take in how she felt…my mind presented a picture of how Nimmy felt, so this is what Nimmy would have said, ‘what are you guys up to? I had a stressful day at therapy and all I wanted to do was eat and watch TV then you guys dragged me here? To do what? Don’t you get it? I hate shopping!’
She started yelling, initially we begged and cajoled it didn’t work. We tried ignoring her but her high-pitched voice made it look as if we had stolen a baby as people kept giving us curious glances as we moved along. I bought ice cream, she licked it and continued yelling. She didn’t stop until I brought her out of her stroller and handed her to Peace. Since Pemmy had a smaller stroller, I moved Pemmy to Nimmy’s stroller, folded Pemmy’s stroller and hung it on the handle of Nimmy’s stroller. I pushed Nimmy’s stroller with Pemmy sitting in it and we all had peace. We located the bus going our way and we finally left for the hotel. Shopping is never fun with children.
30 days in HungaryDay 28 (10.08.17) ThursdayA holiday is never complete without shopping. Even though this trip was mainly for Nimmy, we had to make the best of it; catch some fun and also include a little shopping.On past trips, I would buy things that I see at the malls that look lovely. The truth is, a lot of things look lovely. It’s like all the items develop eyes and mouths; winking at me and telling me, ‘pls buy me, you know you need me.’ At the end of the day I buy things I don’t really need and by the time I see things that I really need, shopping money is finished.This time around I made a list of the things we really needed so that shopping would be more focused.Yesterday, I left my crew at home and took a train to Ors vezer tere IKEA, shopping is not complete without popping into IKEA to window shop or make purcahses. Prices are reasonable and you would see a lot of household, office and children’s toys and craft items.As I walked through showrooms (bedrooms and sitting rooms) I saw a black man walking towards me. We greeted each other then he asked me which country I was from. I told him Nigeria. He said he was from Ghana, for the first time I remembered to ask for a name and what he was doing in Budapest. He said his name is Emmanuel and currently studying in Budapest. I asked how he managed to school in a country where most people do not speak English. He said his lectures were conducted in English but he was required to study Hungarian language. He said the language was difficult but lucky him a not for profit organization was teaching him the language free of charge. That happened yesterday. Today, we planned on going shopping after Nimmy’s therapy.On our way to the train station this morning a lady with a dog, the colour of rust (red-orange-brown) was walking beside us. I was pushing Pemmy in her stroller but once she saw the dog she started shouting ‘dog, dog, wow, mummy see dog.’ Luckily for her not me of course, the owner of the dog entered the same train and sat in front us. Pemmy immediately reached out her hands to touch the dog, as a Naija mum I immediately told her to keep her hands by her side or I would pinch her from the back. The lady with the dog told me to let her touch the dog. She even told Pemmy to caress the tail that the dog would love it. I took a chill pill and I allowed her to enjoy herself. I even took a picture. After Nimmy’s therapy, we went back to the hotel briefly to eat and catch a bus to Vaci street. We wanted to check out some shops there. Vaci, like I mentioned in my previous post is a long street with numerous turns to the right and left filled with shops, restaurants, hotels and more. Peace and I strapped Nimmy and Pemmy into their strollers and pushed them through the street of Vaci; we looked at some shops without entering but we entered a few.Have you ever seen a lovely dress on a mannequin and you thought it would look perfect on you until you tried it on? Then you realized that you don’t have the same shape or height with the perfectly sculptured mannequin. Hmmm….by the time I tried on four different clothes and they didn’t pass through my shoulder, I knew it was time to go on a diet. I went back to the shelf to look for bigger size and behold there were none.After buying a few items, Peace and I pushed the children’s strollers along the streets. We came across a group of grown up guys dancing and performing to musical beats coming from a musical system. They had a metal bucket in front of them so people could give them money after the show. A group of people had formed a big circle around them just to watch the performance; we also stopped, after all, we are tourists. After the show, people clapped for them and one of the performing guys carried the metal bucket, he asked people to show some love and give them money; some people did. Peace turned to me and said, ‘If this performance was done in Nigeria, these guys will wait tire (they would wait for a long time) because people won’t give them money.’One thing that caught my attention with the dancers was the fact that they spoke good English without Hungarian accent. I concluded that they were also tourist who ran out of cash and decided to make some money off their performance …..We also moved on to check other shops and yes, we didn’t drop any money in the bucket.I caught sight of a shop with very lovely dresses. I told Peace the items in the shop looked very expensive she encouraged me to go inside alone. I left my crew outside the shop and walked majestically into the shop. I greeted the attendant with a newly acquired British accent and walked towards a lovely dress. The lady walked towards me smiling. ‘How may I help you Madam?’ She asked in English. I told her I was there to check out their dresses. She told me to feel free. I asked her for the price of a particular dress that caught my attention. She asked if I wanted to pay in Euro and I told her I had forints. She brought out a calculator and gave me the price in forints. My eyes widened slightly and I swallowed my saliva in a hurry hoping I wouldn’t choke on it. In spite of this, I appeared calm; like it was no big deal, like I have done this several times. She said the dress had a fifty percent discount on it; even with the discount, I couldn’t afford the dress. I told her I wanted to see other dresses (I just couldn’t leave the shop immediately). I looked around a little bit then turned to the lady, (I was tired of pretending); I told her I couldn’t afford to buy her clothes but I assured her they were very beautiful. I said my goodbye and left.By the time I left the shop, Nimmy had had enough for the day. I paused to take in how she felt…my mind presented a picture of how Nimmy felt, so this is what Nimmy would have said, ‘what are you guys up to? I had a stressful day at therapy and all I wanted to do was eat and watch TV then you guys dragged me here? To do what? Don’t you get it? I hate shopping!’She started yelling, initially we begged and cajoled it didn’t work. We tried ignoring her but her high-pitched voice made it look as if we had stolen a baby as people kept giving us curious glances as we moved along. I bought ice cream, she licked it and continued yelling. She didn’t stop until I brought her out of her stroller and handed her to Peace. Since Pemmy had a smaller stroller, I moved Pemmy to Nimmy’s stroller, folded Pemmy’s stroller and hung it on the handle of Nimmy’s stroller. I pushed Nimmy’s stroller with Pemmy sitting in it and we all had peace. We located the bus going our way and we finally left for the hotel. Shopping is never fun with children.
Gepostet von Diary of a Special Needs Mum Initiative am Sonntag, 20. August 2017
