Okay, so it’s been 6 bajillion days since I updated. Mini-recap of my life:
- Got better at teaching, easier after a few months of learning the kids strengths and weakness (mine too) and I owe the internet a lot for lesson ideas and fun activities to keep kids interested.
- I downloaded an extra keyboard program to let me make this letter -> ő so that I could properly type the name of the town I live in finally!
- End of the year makes everyone crazy, interesting to see it from a teacher’s POV instead of a student’s.
- Wonderful visit from my mom! Spent a few days in Hungary (garden party in Mezőtúr, main sights in Budapest) and then time in Italy (Pisa, Cinque Terre, and Florence). I will always love Italy, the food, language and history contribute to an indescribable experience every time. I loved being able to read (mostly) the signs at various sights/museums in Italian. Very sad to see Mom go and there was definitely the urge to jump on the plane with her.
- Strand (pool complexes) visits in Gyoma with Sanyi, Erika and her family were great and I got a decent tan! It’s always nice to spend some time in other towns with good friends and I got some great Hungarian food too.
- The new flat is awesome and having a separate bedroom and living room again is nice. I feel like I have too much space almost but it's in a great location and I enjoy having my own place, even if I do need to get a little better about cleaning it.
- Workout wise I've been trying to follow the Insanity plan. I was good for two weeks but the last 4 days I haven't done anything so tomorrow I need to get back into it. It's a lot of work but I feel better when I work out and I can tell I'm losing weight so I need to stick to it.
- Craft wise, I made a fleece tie blanket (sometimes known as a no-sew blanket) in scarlet and grey. Go Bucks! The blanket is the perfect size to curl up in although I haven't been doing it right now as it's been hot.
- I finally got a used bike to get around town and I am loving how much easier it is. Especially since we’ve been having 90 degree weather pretty often, I only get half as hot and sweaty trying to get places.
- Still loving having Emily and Atilla in Mezőtúr. Their daughter Emma is blossoming as a new little bilingual kid and with my love for linguistics it’s endlessly fascinating to see her language evolution. Her grandmother speaks to her solely in Hungarian so Emma (at 20 months) ends up teaching me words quite often. I’m over at the Tóth’s at least a couple days a week these days.
- Hungarian lessons with Judit have been a lifesaver (had a bit of a break but I swear I’ll get back to practicing soon). She’s a great teacher and I feel like I jumped up several levels in understanding after only a few lessons with her. I need to get braver about speaking and stop worrying about making a mistake! I tell my students that all the time so I need to practice what I preach :P I found a flash card program (Anki) for my computer and I’ve downloaded a Hungarian deck to start working through. I’ve also bought a beginner’s Hungarian-Spanish dictionary (for speakers of Hungarian wanting to learn Spanish) with lots of illustrations so that I get some double duty practice in to stretch my brain a little more. (Yes, I know I’m a giant nerd)
- I took a short trip to Bratislava in Slovakia with Wendy the week before she left for the states. We had a great time in the little city. I'd recommend the free tour if you go. Bratislava was nice but you can definitely see everything in 1-2 days. We ate at a pub that had great chicken wings and brewed their own, delicious beer. We had to move tables midway through the night and ended up sitting with a man and his son who spoke some English and wanted to practice with us. It was great to see Wendy before she left and now I've been to 11 countries!
And that brings us up to the present:
Today was one of those days that reminds me why I love Hungary. I was invited to a mini-Topogo (not sure on the spelling there I think there is at least one accent over an o) party by friends who were cooking some topogo outside in a bogracs (cauldron) over a fire. Emily, Atilla, and Emma came and our hosts were Lajos and Szilvi and their 2 year old Dóri. We sat out in the garden and chatted in English and Hungarian while the dish cooked. Topogo is a delicious mixture of potatoes, bacon, and spices including paprika. Definitely one of my favorite Hungarian foods. After the food we played with the kids for a bit and had some lovely desserts before heading out. When we got back to Emily’s family’s house I hung out for a while before getting coffee at the czukrazda (café/confectionary) next door with Emily.
I was about to head home when she invited me for a bike ride and we ran into Atilla coming home so we waited for him and then headed out. I definitely need some more practice with the bike so that I can confidently take at least one hand off to signal with, etc while riding without being worried about falling over. Atilla is completely at home on his bike and Emily and I were jealous to see him riding without holding either of the handlebars! We went down a street with lots of fruit trees along the side that are free for the picking. The plums weren’t quite ripe but I snagged a körte (pear) that was pretty firm but I prefer mine crispy so I enjoyed it anyway. Riding along Atilla stopped and motioned Emily and I over because he noticed a group of people in the middle of preparing a pig in their garden. He went up and rang their bell, explaining that Emily and I were Americans who hadn’t seen the process before and these complete strangers let us come into their yard to watch what was going on!
The pig was already dead at this point (thankfully, I’m not sure I’m ready to see them actually kill it but I can handle an already dead one) and they had what basically amounts to a flame thrower going to burn the hair off the skin of the pig. The family who had let us in gave us some hazi pálinka so of course we toasted and downed the rather large shots. The alcohol was strong (like all good pálinka) but it didn’t burn too much and I still had enough food in my stomach to soak it up (at least a little bit). Atilla chatted to the people for a bit while explaining to Emily and I how they would clean the pig’s skin and then open it up and cut out all the meat for sausage, etc. We left while they were still washing the skin off with some cheerful waves and hearty “köszönjük szépen”s (we thank you very much) for letting us, as complete strangers, crash their party for a bit to experience something new. Mounting our bikes we headed out and after a short discussion we stopped by a restaurant for some drinks (beer, water, and Coke for Atilla, Emily, and I respectively), mushroom soup for Emily, and some great conversation . We ended up splitting another dessert (I had about 9000 calories today, whoops!) and then heading home.
I'll add some more pictures from today/around town later/in the next post.
