Let it SNOW!

when i woke up on tuesday it was unusually bright in my room. i went to the window to investigate and was met with this!
this is the tree directly behind my apartment (it was full of beautiful fall leaves a few weeks ago)
(if you want to recall what my backyard looked like, you may view the video here at 1:51)

a short video i made in the morning.

xander ended up going potty on the sidewalk because there was no way i could get him in the snow.


this is the park and statue i pass all the time when i walk around town

can you think of anything less likely for me to see in northeastern hungary on a snowy day?!?! (that is a FLORIDA license plate)

oh, i see this graffiti everyday. it makes me chuckle a little so i finally took a picture.

snowball fight at school between classes, how fun! i have never done that...

so i had a good "first snow" day. in texas, the few times it has snowed since i lived there, there was not a noteworthy amount of snow, only a light dusting of all surfaces. this was hardcore mushy, cold, wet, icy, pretty, fluffy, thrilling snow.

Szerencs - with Laura and Reagan ROUND 2

this weekend i went to szerencs again to see laura and reagan. this time i went for a weekday so i could see their school, too!

this is xander on the train on the way there.

getting tired...

what!?

after i arrived safely in their town, about an hour's train ride, we decided to go to lunch. unfortunately their town is pretty small and there isn't a huge variety of places to eat. i think i'm sick of pizza, so i asked about going to "Buffalo Bill's", a swanky little place they have in szerencs. we braved the cold and wind, walked a couple miles, and found ourselves in a cool little restaurant with a native american/cowboy theme.

soups came first. goulash for reagan...

"meat soup"for me, though it had noodles and veggies, too

i ordered chicken wings and fries. it was delish!

they brought me a separate water bowl with a lemon floating in it so i could clean my fingers. i also had a bone plate. that's how Buffalo Bill's rolls.

laura had some breaded turkey strips, but they were a little bland for her taste. she asked for some kind of sauce and they brought tartar. it was a no go. then the waitress brought a basket with all the sauces they have. one of them was real life barbecue sauce. she was very happy!

this is me and Buffalo Bill... i thinkafter eating we shopped in a store for a little bit, caught a taxi home, and set to work to help/watch reagan with her powerpoint presentation on american christmas. she took this picture of me.

this is proof that the powerpoint presentation existed.

the next morning that very computer you just saw died a horrible death. some messages about "deleting physical memory" and "no rebootable material" and "your computer is dead forever, say goodbye to all your pictures from the last three months in europe" came up and it was game over. sometimes life sucks for no reason.

on monday i went to school with them! classes were fun because of the little cutie kids. i observed a 2nd grade, 5th grade, and 7th grade class.

some boys doing a skit (7th grade had skits due the day i was there!)
a sign in one of the classrooms: he that doesn't know is not stupid, it is he who doesn't want to know who is stupid (translation courtesy of a cute little 5th grader)



in between classes there are 10-15 minute breaks. here is what happens when the children are unsupervised (6 times a day!). omg.


before i left laura gave me a bunch of books, index cards, and supplies she's not using. on the trainride home i looked through them all. there were some hungarian/english dictionaries and flash cards, so i quizzed and taught myself because why not.

other than the computer crashing and the freezing weather, it was a good trip. i'm glad i got to see what it is like to teach in a hungarian elementary school. the other teachers there were nice and some reminded me of my very own colleagues. i hope i can visit that school again some time.

lately

this week i attended a party for a kid i don't know who passed an advanced english exam. he studied in a language school for several years with my little brigi and ma'lna. so they were going to the party, as well as agi (who was their language school english teacher). it had an "english" theme so it was at a teahouse. oh, i mean english, like british english, not just english the language. in theory we were all gonna speak english and have a lovely time. in reality, i'd say it was 95% hungarian. eh, no big deal. after all, it is hungary.

i ordered warm apple tea, or something like that. and this is how it came! that little bowl is sugar crystals, i think it was infused with some kind of other flavor. a few times i saw a certain hungarian eating her sugar right out of the bowl with her little spoon. she may even have taken a spoonfull of some other hungarian's sugar when he wasn't looking. just maybe.

here is the group. i talked with the crouching guy, zsolt, most out of all the kids. of course agi would translate important things for me. she really couldn't be any sweeter. it's impossible.

this was zsolt's tea. some argentinian "mate" tea. whatev, it was such a cool presentation.

agi brought along scotland yard (the boardgame) so the guys played it most of the time. i played a round too. i didn't find it interesting, but at least when i played they spoke a tad more english.


brigi and ma'lna and i still have lessons every tuesday. we have a book now, which means homework. sad. i don't have the teacher's edition (YET!) so it really makes me feel dumb when i don't know all the terms for english things (phrasal verbs, connectors, etc.). i'm looking into getting the book fast... so i can at least tell them if they did the assignments right.

uh, could we BE any cuter?

and why shouldn't we have a photoshoot in our private lesson!?
brigi, me, ma'lna

i went to dinner at a mexican restaurant with a private-student-turned-friend the other night. i've now been to this place three times. but when i asked a coworker for a suggestion of where to eat she told me some hungarian name. turns out it USED to be called that, but it was recently renovated and is now las palmas, the place i had already been. whatever, oh well. it's good food.

we shared some chicken tacos, salad, and rice. pretty mexican mexican food, for hungary.

(i look retarded, sorry)

i ordered some summery drink, which wasn't all that great, but we shared.

fondue! look how pretty! well, it was sooooo delish. chocolate can't miss.

in other news, the mex restaurant across the street from my house has been closed for like 3 weeks. someone mentioned to me that it closed down permanently; bankruptcy. well, i was so sad since it's good, inexpensive, and so close. then, out of the blue it opened this week! i heard the music and saw the lights from my window. the place has been packed all week. i went back too and got something to go, mostly because i want to patronize the place and keep it open. so did everyone else, i guess. i saw one of my students and her parents there. i introduced myself to them and told them their daughter is cool. well, she is. and so is "mexicana."

the ball!

after the ribbon ceremony everyone went home to change for the ball, including me. sadly, i didn't get a picture of myself all "balled-up"... you know, like "dolled-up"? well that's what i was going for. anyway, i wore a black dress, new black shoes, and my new black coat. also some black and silver jewelry. before you ask, yes i looked hot.

the ball was held in a pretty well-known fancy hotel in nyiregyhaza.
here are some pictures of the place:

this is the room the banquet was in, though the tables were different

imagine this lounge outside the banquet room OVERCROWDED with high schoolersthis is what the tables looked like, long and banquet-y

the banquet started at 8pm and was only for teachers and school-leavers. if they had invited people from other grades, they had to wait outside until 9pm. no admittance - there were even guys guarding the doors. haha.

i sat with a few english teachers and speakers, so as not to be too left out. to my surprise teachers brought their own alcohol (bottles of wine, jaegermeister, brandy, bailey's) for the evening. there was a bar there, but it was pretty pricey. that didn't stop the students though...

people were taking pics, of course.

this is a student i know and Ibolya, our headmistress!

this is what my place looked like when i sat dow
that's a french salad (the dressing didn't repulse me, how did they do that!?), with some cabbage, cucumbers, and turkey cuts with a magical pepperoni thing baked in.

the main course was some lovely stuffed chicken, breaded cauliflower, rice, and potato puree

(not pictured: the dessert tables, cakes, cookies, fruit set-ups, etc.)
as the party was getting started, people were watching from the balcony

more people, don't they look nice!

at one point i went to use the restroom and found a few of my students in there. they seemed really happy to see me (i think mostly because they were already 6 shots in). there was a lady selling roses in the bathroom, so one student offered to buy me one. naturally i accepted. little did i know that i had entered into a contract by accepting the rose. now i owe her a "5" in class (an A) apparently. she was really cracking me up.

pictures don't do dancing justice, really.

see those people holding hands? there were many instances of this - dancing together in circles. you just grab hands and move and shake around. it's insanely fun. sometimes all girls, all boys, teachers, students, sometimes mixed. i was involved in several of these. the one i remember the most was with the tipsy rose-buying student i have mentioned. she asked me to dance, i tried to say no, excusing myself by saying i hadn't had enough to drink to start dancing. haha... no, she bought me a shot and demanded we dnace. so we did!

the only dance that was performed was this one, i think because it was the most formal.


then there was a waltz! i wished i knew how. too bad we don't really dance in america.

for the most part, i spent the evening talking with coworkers. it was really a good thing for me since at school when i see people it's always so rushed. i got to talk with the headmistress, the assistant headmaster, several english teachers (all of whom i love), and of course practice tons of hungarian. we stayed until about 1230am, though the ball was scheduled to go on until 3, as it does every year. WHAT?! 3am!?!? yeah, 3am. i love this country.

with a little incidence on the way home, i made it home safe and sound at about 1am. xander was happy to see me, and i really think he liked my dress. he's such a sweety.

i had a ball, my very first one.

Szalagavató

this is me when i got home from the ribbon ceremony. i was happy and wearing my new sweater so i took a picture. that's who i am.

this afternoon i went to the szalagavató (ribbon ceremony) at ZIG (my school). i had been hearing music all week long at school because kids were practicing for this event.

in the begining all of the classes who will graduate this year, the school-leavers, walked on stage with their form teachers to receive ribbons from them. the form teachers are with the kids from 9th to 12th grade. the teacher had a pillow with the ribbons pinned on it and she distributes the ribbons to the kids one at a time, kissing each student on the cheeks. to save time two classes went at once.

each class chose a different skirt, some black, long, short, blue, with stripes, etc. the white shirts they're wearing are a uniform everyone in the school has but they only wear it on special occasions. so far i've seen them three times.
the kids all seemed to take it very seriously. there wasn't any joking around or silliness as there might have been in an american ceremony. it was neat to see each kid's face for a full 5 seconds as they stood at the front of the stage. emotions seemed to range from embarrased, shy, nervous, fear, and this-is-lame, to pride, honor, and confidence. i have to say i was also impressed with the guys who helped the ladies down off the stage (you can see them in both pictures, in front of the stage). they were solemn, helpful, respectful, polite. truly gentlemen. i noticed this because i kept comparing the ceremony to how i think such a ceremony would go at home. it's kind of like a graduation (at the start) but it's just different somehow. i really liked it. there was beautifully dramatic music playing while the school-leavers were ribboned and people's moods seemed to swell in time to the music.

after the ribbons some 11th year kids recited poems and sang together. it wasn't terribly exciting (i couldn't understand the poems or songs) but i liked that part too because those are kids i actually know and teach. so, horray for 11A and 11B!

....and then the dancing started....

this was the first one, by far the most elegant. it was beautifully choreographed. i tried not to laugh upon hearing seal's kiss from a rose though i did find it pretty amusing.


this video shows what happens when hungarians start applauding. they first applaud like regular applause, then they all find the same rhythm and clap to it together. it's a phenomenon i noticed at the opening ceremony of our school and the opening of the new dorm. i like it because it lets the audience perform too... sort of.


this was a fun one - grease! they had choreographers teach them the dances and they were executed pretty well, i think! also, i noticed especially with this group, that they had MUCH more confidence while dancing than they did when they received their ribbons and faced the crowd of families applauding them. it's probably because dance is a familiar thing to them (people folk dance as an extracurricular activity all throughout school) while familial recognition and praise is more foreign. well, that's just my opinion.



ahh, this one was fun to watch because everyone seemed happy while they were dancing. like, they smiled and stuff. whoa. i'm not too into the music of ABBA, but it was a great dance.



favorite!


this one was ok... maybe i was just getting tired by the end. i like the music but the dance wasn't very complicated or extremely interesting to watch. but the costumes were SO GOOD!



all in all, i'm very glad i went. i loved seeing students dancing and moving on to the next stage of life. life after high school - well, they do have to finish the year. i'm not sure why they do this whole thing at the begining of the year, but this way they get to wear the ribbons they got today for the rest of the year. kinda cool.

ok, i'm off to the ball in a little while. another post to follow!

museum and festival - with aniko!

this weekend my friend aniko took me to an open-air museum. i thought the idea seemed a little boring, but that's because i didn't know about the festival!

we took a bus to the "salt lake" part of town. to my surprise the bus was LOADED with people. this is the #8 bus which i take all the time and i had never seen it so full. then everyyyyone got off at the stop we got off at. my suspicion was aroused.

we entered the open-air museum for a fee of about $2.50 each, which got us some free tastes of random foods and drinks.

here i am tasting hot wine and cracklins on buttered bread

(of course they were both kinda sick)

then we saw through a clearing this little site. fun was happening in the open-air museum!
we went through some old buildings, looking at old crafts, paintings, woodworking, etc. in one of the little houses there was an old lady serving hot rosemary tea. we got some and it was ok.
there were a LOT of merchants selling jewelry, jewelry boxes, crafts, goods, and other handmade wonderfuls all over the festival.

see the people? they were all eating, strolling, being entertained, and being festive.

this is a basket weaver guy. i spent some time with him, watching him weave some stuff. later he let me try!

i made the one in the middle. see the holes... and he gave me the other two coasters as presents! sweet, free hungarian stuff! i don't know what i'll use mine for. he called it a sun.

here was a honey booth

some geese.

here are some old people eating. this picture was taken on zoom, but they really were looking right at me. i was most interested in the guy on the right because he had sour cream on his face but he just kept on eating happily - and with gusto!

walking around the open-air museum village place. a sign i couldn't read pointed to places.

aww! look how cute this kid was! his little ears on his hat were so precious!

in the back of the open-air museum there were some sheep and roosters. just 'cause.

we ate some palacsinta! like crepes with a layer of chocolate, hazelnut, or jam rolled inside. mm.
since there were 90 billion kids there, there was entertainment for them in the form of skits by some people dressed as geese. i think maybe there was a mild goose theme to this festival. i think this because of all the geese... these people... and the goose soup. ew.

aniko was telling me about a contest they were about to have. there were three tasks, ten contestants, and a bottle of wine to be won. the first task was to wheel a keg of wine around some poles, zig-zag like, then run back straight after you get to the last pole.

i still have no idea how she convinced ME to be one of the contestants. but aniko is somewhat of an evil genius. see that little lady with the microphone? i snatched it from her before i began these events and said in hungarian, "i'm not hungarian, i'm american. please clap for me!"

here i am with the wheelbarrow ful of wine. it was REALLY heavy.

the next task was to suck water from a bucket through a fat straw... into some kind of a liter container which is part of the straw. then run to the other end of the field and dump out the contents of the straw into a pitcher. minimum of 2 trips! i was a good sucker and a fast runner. i got high marks on this event. i am awesome. and aniko took pictures!

i ran, i was happy.

the third task was to straddle a barrel on a sawhorse, throw five balls into a basket. see the basket!?! it's pretty hard to balance on there, fyi.

here was me doing it. i had strangers i asked help from. i was supposed to let go of those guys, but i held onto them while i was throwing the balls. i only got one in, and i only threw 3.

the coveted bottle of wine! all the losers got a chocolate bar, myself included - and aniko!

i WON her that chocolate. i hope she enjoyed it.

there were some folk dancers and i asked if i could take their picture. they allowed.

weird barrel crafts taking place...

ok, i can't believe i'm putting these on the internet. this is me in the water sucking, racing, dumping task.

i overflowed the pitcher!!!


i found xander some snacks he really likes. this is him a-chewin' away.