Weekend Festivals and I Survived My First Train Rides

Train travel seems a bit less scary on this side of the 3 train trips (5 trains total) and Hungary seems a bit less intimidating after finding out fellow teachers were running into the same kinds of problems as I am.

The weekend started when my contact teacher drove me to the train station, and thank goodness for that. I probably could have managed my ticket with what she had written down for me before but there was a possibility of a different train and I would never have been able to understand that exchange without her. Once I found my platform we said our goodbyes and I headed out on my First European Train Ride. The capitals were for emphasis but really everything went smoothly. I made it to Szolnok, switched trains and got to Hajdúszoboszló (which I can finally say, most of the time anyway) at exactly the same time as Skye's train which was coming from the other direction. Seeing Jenna and Skye was nice although both Skye and I were jealous of her and Lee's apartments (mainly Lee's).

Random Tangent:

I had a weird fixation on being envious that Jenna had a shower curtain and I think that is because I am such a privacy freak normally. I am that person that locks the bathroom door to shower when home alone in an already locked apartment. Hungary is extremely lacking in shower curtains, which leads to uncomfortable showers as well as the constant threat of flooding the bathroom floor.
Aside from my shower curtain envy, I also was jealous of the fact that Jenna has Lee and Emma (a returning CETP teacher) to talk to. I am much younger than the other teachers and I am already having trouble with students not willing to listen to a teacher only a few years older than them so I don't really have someone close to talk to in Mezotur. It was amazing to be able to prattle on in English, and not have anyone beg me to slow down.

End Random Tangent.

Jenna, Skye, Emma and I checked out the wine festival in the town and Skye decided to face her fears by approaching one of the (admittedly gigantic) cows that were part of the atmosphere. I got a lovely magnet souvenir pictured below. After Emma left to go to aerobics class, the rest of us found ourselves hungry and wandered to find something to tide us over until dinner. What we found was a delicious potato pancake about 8 inches across and topped with cheese. Not only was the food good, but the people in the stall helped us with our pronunciation when we ordered. We also sampled some wine relatively cheaply, 200 ft (~1$) for what we estimated to be 3-4 oz of wine.

First souvenir purchase!

 Later we met back up with Emma and grabbed dinner. I had turkey stuffed with fruit and mashed potatoes. We also got pálinka (either on the house or as a gift from a teacher Emma works with who saw us there, we aren't entirely sure). It was sour cherry pálinka and had a good fruity taste once you got past the bite from the alcohol. Sitting across from Skye and Jenna I was once again treated to their hilarious faces when downing the drink, thanks guys!

We went to the train station to meet Dan, and to make a long story short the poor guy has a series of unfortunate events that led to him being phone-less and arriving on the last train in two hours after we expected him. Needless to say, when we spotted him waiting to climb off the train there was cheering. We stopped in at Emma's (talk about apartment envy she not only has a separate living room and bed room, she also has a guest room!) and chatted until it was time to grab some sleep before our train to Szolnok in the morning.

These are actually the train tickets (with kontrol's marks) from Szolnok
back to Mezotur on Saturday. The one on the right is the extra
ticket necessary for an Intercity (faster) train.

I had a super Harry Potter nerdy moment on the train in the morning when we got on and it was like the Hogwarts train with separate compartments. Unfortunately no wizards in sight, but we did run into Joe, who we had planned to meet up with in Szolnok and he just happened to be on the same train as our group. Christian got on in Karcag and I discovered that he also teaches at a Calvinist school. We had a small laugh at our similar experiences with the Calvinist greeting "Grace and Peace" that is used between teacher's and students and becomes an unending cycle when passing a group of kids. One kid says it to you, you repeat it back, the kid behind repeats it because they heard you say it and on and on and on ad nauseam.

Emma on the Hogwarts train :P

Emily met us at the train station and thankfully let us dump our bags in her and her boyfriend's flat so we didn't have to lug them around the festival. We got to see a little bit of Szolnok as we walked to where the festival was and it was nice to see a city with (relatively) tall buildings. Living in Columbus for almost 4 straight years has made me a bit of a city dweller and Mezotur is a small town by any standards.

The goulash festival was fun (if lacking in public bathrooms) and we ate and drank the entire afternoon and into the evening. We ended up at a bar nearby before we all had to head back to the train station. It was great to hang out with the other CETP teachers and share stories about our towns, contact teachers, students, schools and apartments. Commiserating about shared experiences was cathartic and reminded me that I wasn't the only first year teacher in the program who was finding syllabi and lesson planning somewhat stressful.

Here are some pictures from around Szolnok:

Jenna is probably the best photog of the group, I steal her photos sometimes :P

A really cool fountain by Emily's flat

Pedestrian bridge. We could already smell the goulash before we crossed it.

The main street at the festival.

Enjoying our goulash.

My goulash = finom

Soproni Narancs = a fruity beer of awesomness

Sunday was full of laundry, syllabi and lesson plans as well as a much needed nap. Monday went well in some classes and so-so in others but I found out I will be going to Szolnok on Friday to file the paperwork for my residence permit so I will finally be legal :) Speaking of lesson plans, that is what I should be doing now!

sziaszotk