movies

i've been watching movies in my spare time since i've come to hungary. i've probably seen way more movies than i care to admit, in fact. but lately i've seen some really good ones (all for free online, by the way - maybe illegal, maybe not. i'm not downloading... i'll consult my ethics about it at a later date. now i'm just enjoying the american-ness of it all.) now for some not so wordy movie reviews of the most memorable of the month:

long awaited,
much anticipated,
a bit disappointing,
but still mildly entertaining

drawn to this for the cast,

thought-provoking,

predictably sad,
mildly entertaining

funny,
good acting,
new take on previously done story,
entertaining

sweet romantic comedy,
is very similar to 'as good as it gets',
familiar actors,
entertaining

sweet romantic comedy,
more realistic than most,
superior actors,
entertaining

also saw: up (ok), bolt (cute), the hangover (hilarious), the knowing (lame)
want to see but can't find online yet: the ugly truth (i'll deal with katherine heigl just to see some gerard butler!!)

just some hungarian-ness from this week

i just had to take this picture.

this is my favorite hungarian word. it's a savings and loans type place, but that's not important. here's roughly how it's pronounced: talk-a-rake-sue-vet-kezz-et (roll the R)

some sweet old lady sweeping and gardening near my new place

i didn't even care if she saw me take this.

another lady a few minutes later. now i just need a purple one!

today i met up with laci, an english teacher from zrinyi who is going to teach in the US for a year. we had drinks (soda/tea) and chatted a while. then i went to the school and cleared out my desk (about time, right?) to make room for the teacher who will replace me. it wasn't sad at all, don't worry. then i went to the language school where i'll be teaching in august and had a short meeting with the director (tomorrow is a long meeting with her). i stopped at a little shop to get a quick snack/lunch. it was a new place, which is always stressful going through the whole "i only speak a little hungarian so be patient with me" thing. it was a success, though. relaxed for an hour or so, then went to meet anikó at the plaza (a mall). we shopped for some baby clothes for some babies she knows, hit a grocery store for a few minutes, then went to Rolling Rock Cafe, a restaurant in the city center said to be american (or with american influence). the atmosphere was more american than the food, but both were good. here's the inside:

the middle clock said "texas"

the bar

the other side

we got some chicken dishes, then dessert. she ordered "nut covered cottage cheese balls with vanilla and chocolate sauces" ... it's not really cottage cheese. it's a hungarian specialty called "túró" but "cottage thing" is the only thing close to it. it looks like THIS when it's just cheese. it's more like cream cheese with a cottage cheese texture. anyway, here she is with her dessert:i ordered "somlói galuska" which is a sponge cake with chocolate cream, vanilla sauce, and whipped cream. ummmm, delicious!

castle

annamari and family took me to "boldogok castle". it was a while ago (like in june) but better late than never, right?

destination: old castle - 13th century

setting: mountains (the Zemplén mountains, to be exact)

we arrived and began the trudge upwardat the top there were some knights fightinglater zoli and i tried on the knight gear

haha, they take as many pictures as i do!

we totally walked on that rickety wooden walkway

oldeszter sitting by ... what are those holes called that people shot guns/cannons through?

i loved that little path way out there

here's a better picture where you can see the path part of the castle on the right

i would have loved to go to that gazebo thing but it was closed the day we were there :(

steep steps are no match for us

i totally asked those knights to take a picture with us... ok, i think i said to them "excuse me!" and when they turned around i nudged annamari and told her to ask them, whatever.

(p.s. that little girl who is not eszter is dori, zoli and annamari's niece. she was fun but will not be regularly featured in this blog.)

when we left we drove through some great villages. in most of them we could see this typical hungarian scene: the storks! love, love, love them and their big nests!

we stopped in some town to see these old guys doing a wine festival dance

fyi: those are not hula hoops but flimsy rods held into that shape

we watched for a while (my camera battery died before i could get pics of the wine part of the wine dance) and then ate some food. here's proof:verdict on the food was that i've had better and i've had worse. :)

i'm so glad they invite me to go places with them. they're my favorite nyiregyhaza family!

back to the zoo

i went to the zoo with annamari, eszter, and dani today. the weather was nice today so it was the perfect time to go. we got to see a seal show (sorry no pics/video because the sun was in our eyes) and lots of cool animals. the zoo is set in the forest andyou can walk around in it for what seems like miles!

here i am waiting for them to collect me

lazy raccoons

eszter! (and some lazy raccoons)

aw, we let that little deer lick our fingers

seeeee?

you can get SO close to some of the animals!

selling nuts and seeds

balloons were so tempting to eszter...

gift shop!

hungry giraffe lickin' a tree

lookin' at her lookin' at them...

dani is a walkin' machine!

cutie

some animals are in the same enclosures with different animals

muah! love her

teeny tiny monkey... holding a banana with his feet

this is not on zoom

gotta love the signs: please don't feed the animals

hahaha

we walked around, ate some ice cream, took pictures, named everything, and got tired. a good day, don't ya think? (sorry no pics of annamari this time)

when they got home annamari sent me this pic of them: