Summer Updates

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. 

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

Short Post While I Procrastinate Packing

More classes today; more exhaustion today. I am pretty much over jet lag but I never sleep as well in a new place and I won't be at the hostel long enough for it to feel like 'home.'

After classes we headed to Hősök Tere (Hero's square, sorry the Hungarian is in a different font. I have yet to figure out how to make the vowel with a double accent on my Mac, it's on the list) where Hajni explained some of the history behind the monument (that doesn't sound like a grand enough word for it, but it's all I have). I won't go into it now because there is no way I will do it justice, but if you like history read about the square and what it represents. I have to admit, one of the big draws for coming to Hungary was just how many years it's been around in some form or another. The historical background I need to catch up on is overwhelming but at the same time I'm fascinated by it.

I feel like I need to work on my transitions but you know what? Only friends are reading this so I am not terribly worried about my narrative voice, although I do need to recapture my Power of the Pen skills. Random topic changes are my downfall, at least everyone who knows me realizes that is just how my brain works.

Anyways, we ate at this restaurant -> www.bagolyvar.com and the food was amazing. I commented on the carved wooden owl decoration and one of the helpers, Jon, explained that bagoly is the Magyar word for owl and vár is the Magyar word for castle. So the name of the restaurant is basically the Owl Castle. We all got soup and I had the paprikás csirke (I am pretty sure I got that right). The meal was delicious and we even got dessert so it was a lovely farewell dinner for the program.

At dinner many of us new teachers got our first taste of pálinka, a Hungarian fruit brandy. Don't believe the Hungarians when they say you just taste the fruit, I could tell the first drink was pear but mostly it just burned, so after the first taste I just did it like a shot. It definitely has a kick and most Hungarians will tell you it's good for you because it kills germs! For the next drink we got málna (raspberry) and I actually just sipped it while eating my dessert. Jenna and Skye were across the table from me and made the best faces ever when trying the pálinka!

So that was our final night as a group in Budapest though I have a feeling all of us will be back at some point to see more of the city. Tomorrow morning we have to have moved out of our rooms and brought our bags down to the lobby by 9am. Our contact teachers come in for an info session with Hajni and Maria at 10am and then we all get together at noon before we scatter to the wind and our new cities/towns/villages. It is going to be strange to say goodbye to the group (for now) but I am excited to meet the teachers from my school and then get to see Mezőtur, my school and my apartment.

Jó éjszakát!