Year Abroad

Chapter 1

Year abroad
150 pounds
No how is that possible, surely this scale must be broken, faulty perhaps I think as I squish away my stomach fat to read the scale.
How have I gained more than 150 pounds in my year abroad, I remember weighing myself when  I checked my baggage. What was I …. 110 ..115 something, well not anymore because if that scale isn’t wrong I’m 280lbs. That…That makes me undeniably fat, I gasp as I turn to assess the damage in my bedroom mirror, a mirror which I appear to now have outgrown as my sides are cut from view and replaced by only a wall of fat. I mean I look more like Tomas than myself, but assessing the damage I look properly bigger than him, no one would believe it now but before I left for Budapest I was quite in shape, not ripped or anything but compared to the average American I was quite slim. But I guess that’s all gone now, I admit as I begin to examine my overfed frame. Holy hell I used to have pecs now I look at my poor pecs swollen beyond recognition, my nipples puffy and round as I pinch them, and I will admit my arms won’t that toned before but as I try to flex my arms I get nothing but jiggle from them. Even staring at my face leaves quite a shock as my fat round face stares back at me, its cheeks chubby and its double chin large, but of course, the biggest wrecking ball to my self-esteem has to be this tank of a thing. The only word that I can think to describe it is obese, I used to have abs (well faint abs) but this beast of a thing is another question. It jiggles and quivers as I try to suck it in and wish it away, how had I become so used to it to not notice how fat I had become. 
Turning my head to my closest, I jog over to see if anything I had would even be able to cover my doughy figure. Shirt after shirt fails, all my favourite going-out tops stretched out and torn as I pull my hardest on them to try and cover my cavernous belly button, nothing fits all snapping back and rolling up leaving my fat gut on display. It's not long till I give up, halve hastily because I know it's fruitless and halve because I simply physically can’t. I’m almost panting by the time I crash down on my bed, red in the face and already broken into a sweat. How had I let it get so bad?


The Karmans lived in a humble house in the outer skirts of their village, not too far of a commute to the nearby towns’ butcher and bakery where Mr and Mrs Karman respectively worked, their humble house meant I would be spending the year bunking with Tomas in room already too small for his size. I hadn’t minded Tomas, only a couple of years older it appeared that he was more than glad to share his room with a stranger, and being an only child myself meant it didn’t take much time for us to brother up to each other. 
It was at that dinner on that first night when should I have realised what I was getting myself into, with Mrs Karman bringing out her traditional goulash, a dish so captivating my mouth still waters about it now. But of course, after a long day of travel, I didn’t notice the inflated portion sizes as Mr Karman served me, making sure to give me the best pieces of fresh bread. Over the dinner we worked out my working arrangements, I was to spend the first half of the week working in the bakery with Mrs Karman and the second half in the butcher with Mr Karman. Tomas had recently left their family business, fed up with his parents and had been shadowing the town’s trailer, leaving ample space for me to fill. Afterwards, as they showed me the rest of their previous host students, I had no idea why I had failed to notice how much rounder they each looked throughout their stay. 

To others life in the village might have seemed boring, a tad dull perhaps but to me, I was eager to explore this traditional Hungarian village and I wanted to do it the right way. No social media, no doom scrolling, no nothing, all that I had left was my digital camera and a weekly phone call with my dad back in Florida.

Work in the bakery had started slow, Mrs Karman had little faith in me to begin with leaving me to only man the front, but of course, as the weeks went past and her trust grew in me, I was finally allowed to step into the kitchen and help to roll the dough and monitor the oven. Mr Karman on the other hand, had decided the best way for me to start was to throw me right in, leaving many complaints in Hungarian being hurled my way in the first couple of days. This of course too became less and less as I became more competent in my Hungarian and my butchering skills. All of this had been great but the real treat had been the food, from Monday to Wednesday I had strudels, chimney cakes and scones at the tips of my fingers. Free for me to snack and grab upon whenever the morning traffic dwindled - which was quite often, and of course from Thursday to Friday my choice of meats that Mr Karman always prepared to fuel him up doing the day as well as a plethora of smoked sausages and salami to nibble on whenever I wanted to.  This of course didn’t include the beers, that Tomas would supply with me on Friday and weekend nights, those nights quickly became a highlight of my weeks, here Tomas was eager to show me all the dark beers they drank. Each one is more filling and stronger than the next, leaving most of the weekends to recover from our hangovers. It was on these nights were Tomas was proud to show up the American he had living with him, and it was where I first laid eyes on Jozef. To put it kindly Jozef was the kind of man that would fill my teenage wet dreams, he was tall, dark and handsome with muscles that couldn't be covered and thick curly body hair that seeped out everywhere. Later, after a couple of several pints I had drunkenly asked Tomas whether he knew if I was Jozef’s type, and I don’t know if it had been the beers or the question but Tomas couldn’t help but burst out laughing, saying in the best English he could summon between bursts of laughter ‘you.. you too small’



Other than the language border I had grown quite close to Tomas, close enough to show off my skill in the water when we stripped and went swimming in the lakes, I was happy to tell him about my swimming meets and galas, to which he always fond quite a bore.
Stating “You can be so American sometimes, enjoy yourself leave all that stuff over there’ he said splashing a chubby arm into the distance. 
His blankness left me stumbled maybe I should give it a break , with all the hours spent working the gruelling  the early morning runs seemed less and less enjoyable especially when  followed by a day of working. 
It had been on this day when I remember first admiring Tomas's size, well maybe not admiring more examining it. It had been when we were sunbathing to dry off, as naked as the day we had been born, two very stark images. I could see now that without his layers Tomas was more fat than muscle like he appeared. His white skin was taut as it browned in the sun, it wasn’t a surface area not covered in fat, and I guess it was true that fat guys had small penis as I saw him stretch out his foreskin to waken his shrivelled penis. He must have caught me staring as he flirtatiously said 
‘you like what you see American’ in his best American accent, to which I replied “No just wondering what it must be like to be so’ and I rubbed my flat stomach to not want to say the word fat. 
“Oh you’ll see’ or “Oh why don’t you see’ he chuckled as he jiggled his fat in the sun, however my ears had been partially filled with water so I couldn’t quite translate. 

But I guess now, I knew what he must have meant to say, as I’m sure to him he could see it all unfold. Newly determined to enjoy village life I swiftly cut back on my exercising deciding to enjoy the extra hours of sleep I gained in the mornings and evenings, however, I certainly didn’t cut back on my eating to compensate. And how could I, it would have been rude to not finish my meals served to me by the Karmans, plus maybe I had picked up quite a sweet tooth while working in the Baker. As well as all that the food had just been so filling, so delicious so sweet and so rich to cut back on, I was Hungry after all I had to eat the Hungarian way and besides I wasn’t going to have access to such food like this back in Ohio.  So while the Hungarian summer reigned I continued to indulge myself, eating more than my first share, gobbling down on baked goods and delicious meats and washing it down with beers. I paid no attention to how bloated I got after meals as I listened to Mr Karman’s tales, nor did I pay any attention to the number of deep-fried pateirs and bit down into as Mrs Karman’s taught me new recipes. And I of course didn’t count the number of rounds of beer we drank as Tomas ordered another and then another, I was in bliss so why was I to care?

So of course it wasn’t long till I started to carry an extra softness where my abs were, a fuller arse where my tight butt was and some rounder arms where my biceps once flexed. But it didn’t stop there as the summer heat raged and free time was spent lazing around at the lake snacking on whatever Mrs Karman had packed for us, I couldn’t muster up the energy to run in the scenic Valley or hike the woody mountains, it was just too hot, that's what Tomas said as well as walked to the lake picnic basket full. 
But although the heat killed my motivation to work out, it certainly didn’t kill my appetite as I gobbled down goulash, chicken paprikash and krumpil and snacked up on gundal pancakes, tortes and shortbread. Looking back at this digital it was evident to see where all that food was going, mainly straight to my belly, thighs and even budding love handles, the extra softness I was carrying on my abs grew and grew as I plopped confectionary after confectionary down my mouth. In this digital, it must have only been a month or two but I already looked rounder and fuller in the lake pics, my smile gleaming as I bit down into a round piece of flatbread covered in pork fat, while my stomach rolled into itself as I reach for another. But of course, I didn’t stop there, too addicted, too infatuated with Hungarian food to put my foot down and control myself. Even after my third month when my t-shirts were noticeably tight and my underwear even tighter, I still remember Mrs Karman's soothing sentiment that went down like honey as she passed me a 4th chimney cake ‘Have to beef you up for Hungarian winter’ she giggled, she even went through the effort to leave out some of Tomas old clothes that night with a note, “saying all yours’.

Maybe if I had just stopped there, if I woke myself up from my blissful indulgence, and had just lost those 15 extra pounds I wouldn’t have let it bloom into another 100 pounds of fat which  I’m carrying now, officially obese and borderline morbid. 

But it seemed although I had been paying no attention to my budding beginner belly and full arse, someone else had. As later that week still clad in my tighter clothes, it seemed that I was saying all the right jokes to Jozef, and after only a round or two we had already parted from the group and it wasn’t long till he was humping me dry. And What I thought was only a one-night fling however quickly spiralled over the months to spontaneous days where he would appear in his old Ford taking me away for days out, eager to show me Budapest he knew,  to which there was no better to learn than through its foods he said his deep manly voice. Always stopped at cafes and bistros and ordered the ‘very best’ as he said it, which mainly always translated to the very most. There are these photos taken by a passerby of the two of us, it’s in some restaurant somewhere after a long meal, I wrapped up with Jozef’s strong arms looking well deep in his eyes, him staring straight at the camera, grinning - I only notice now that his hands are planted firmly on my belly stuffed and round poking out from under my shirt. 

As summer ended, the heat lingered in the valley, and I was fast getting used to my Hungarian life,  it had only taken 5 months but Mrs Karman was finally allowing me to bake recipes under her watchful eye. She had very strict criteria one imperfection and the whole dozen was thrown out - well not thrown out per se, left in the back to snack on, which always emptied by the end of the day. Mr Karman also had simpler practices although it was obvious he wasn’t impartial and purposely sabotaged a cut allowing us to snack on it while we worked. Tomas always popped up at the end of the shift, hands full of fabrics and garments, we had grown quite close over the last couple of months, bonding over pretty much everything, partially food. The pair of us simply liked to eat, and we were lucky to be supplied by a new endless supply, in fact we almost grew quite competitive over meals seeing you could devour more - all just playful games of course, with Tomas mainly winning. Although I did notice I had packed on a few pounds, I was in no way close to Tomas's size and weight, this helped diminish my gains, my abs had faded and my thighs seemed thicker but that was nothing compared to fat boy number 1, I told myself as I reached over for another roll beating Tomas’s greedy arms.



By All Saints Day, summer was officially long gone and the air certainly felt it, however, one place I certainly didn’t feel was when I was lying in Josef’s bed.  I had grown quite in love with Josef, I loved nearly everything about him, his seductive mouth that he used to cover me with kisses, the smell of sweat that clung to him after a long day of work or most importantly his sex drive. I had never met a guy so horny all the time, constantly pumping me full. And not to make matters worse, he was such a gentleman after spooning me for hours even getting up to bring in food in bed, 
‘The very best for my very best’
He loved to say as he plopped a pile of food on me, I was course too over heels to notice any connection. So infatuated was I by Josef that I might have packed on another  30 pounds alone because by month 6, all I can see in these pictures, is the foundation of my fat now. In one of the last visits to the lake, before it froze after,  the 3 of us stood there naked to the world, except now I can see that my body looks more like Tomas than Jozef. All traces of athleticism were gone, instead replaced with fresh fat, in only 6 months I had transformed myself from a relatively in-shape guy to a borderline fatty. And this photo is the most shocking, from my love handles to my round extended belly I simply look fat, and there Josef is smiling, his hand around my back and if I can remember right clasping on my meaty arse cheeks. Josef of course wasn’t a bad boyfriend, I never went without when I was with him, he always kept me in the conversation whenever  I was meeting his parents or close friends, and he insisted on making sure my plate was always refilled. Hungarian culture he told me as he passed another loaf of bread drizzled in cheese and he never went a day without him keeping his hands on me always feeling my curves, massaging them, kneading them. How could I even think two ways about my body, when I was with a man who simply was glued to my body?

But still I could have stopped there, and lost the weight, however I was always in shape growing up, never watching what or how much I ate, I never had to control myself I simply didn’t know how to, so of course I made no effort to limit myself, showed no restraint, never turned down an extra serving, and how could I was to happy to care.

Needless to say by the halve point of the trip I wasn’t fitting into any of the clothes I had packed at the start of the trip. Jeans couldn’t be pulled up, t-shirts ripped at the sides, however from their cheap materials and the hot Hungarian sun, I wrote those off as un of my wrongdoings. Maybe if I didn’t have to option to wear some of Tomas’s old clothes I would have shown some concern, but why would I? Tomas's clothes were roomy and comfortable, and it's not as he minded he was more than glad, even when I started to rock his old underpants, he would often say I was becoming a mini-him, and now looking back on it I realised what he meant.

If I had any thought in my head, I would have thought that the Karmans were purposefully fattening me up or knew how fat I was getting and was keeping it secret. They never mentioned my weight or picked up my growing laziness they encouraged me, I was allowed to miss the hour of the working day most days and I was let home early on slow days. Never did I have to stay behind and clean up or do anything strenuous. Or maybe they were just being good hosts happy to indulge their guests, either way, the damage was done, officially 278lbs is what the scale says. I can’t even imagine what everyone's gonna say about me back at college, my spot on the swim team is long gone.
Fuck I curse out as I see an old pic of me only desk, what have I done to him, what’s my dad gonna say he’s such a health nut freak. What is he gonna say when he come home and see the pig of a son? To make matters worse nothing fits, I resulted in wearing a pair of old sweatbands, although I can feel the elastic band tight around my waist. Giving up unpacking I collapse onto the bed that groans under my weight and reach over for my camera, it seems I had gotten up to winter, the real damage to my body 

As anyone could expect, when winter began, my weight only really started to snowball, the cold wintery days and chill mornings, left only the fireplace and food to keep me warm. Coming from Florida meant I had never truly experienced such coldness before let alone all the snow, even with my added padding I still felt the cold to my bones. Luckily for me, it seemed Mrs Karmann had the perfect recipe - hot stews and thick steaming goulash, she was always happy to keep a fresh pot brewing for me whenever I got back from outside I always made sure to beeline to the kitchen to help myself to a serving. 

The combined snow and coldness truly killed all my desire for weekly runs which had already grown quite rare in themselves, and as the holiday season ramped up it wasn’t like I had the spare time to do anyway, both the bakery and the butchers were packed day in and day out. Everybody getting in their holiday shopping, it was exhausting but luckily the pay was good, and by pay I meant food, the Karmans happily allowed me to eat whatever I wanted showing no restraint. And eat I certainly did, as the holiday season reigned over the village, I could not help but get swopped up in the holiday mania, in the chocolate-coated cakes, the thick sugar-coated doughnuts and steaming apple pies all in reach of my pudgy arms. Not to mention my promotion at the bakery to prime taste tester nothing was sold unless I gave it my approval. I could spend hours resting in the back, trialling new cakes and cookies with my feet up happily stuffing myself and not even question it. I must have been getting fatter by the week shovelling down trays of baked goods and delicious,  I ate with no restraint as if I was a pig getting fattened up for Christmas dinner. And looking at this photo from Christmas Day I certainly looked more like a pig than a human, it is a photo taken by the fire I’m fast asleep having stuffed myself full after Christmas dinner, my belly now a proper gut, round and solid, my moobs filled out my chest as if I had boobs. My face is round and plump the look of indulgence written all across me as my guts peak out from under my shirt. Josef is in the back towering over me, his thick muscular frame all on display, a part of me blames him for all this damage, he showed no disdain to my piling figure, in fact I think he encouraged it, always buying my gifts in the shape of chocolates and cakes. I must have grown quite in love with him by the holidays and it shows in this picture of the two of us, where it looks like I gained all the relationship weight. I w