for valentine's day

in hungary, the name day for valintine's day is "balint" so people wish each other "happy balint day" more often than they wish "happy valintine's day."

this week some of my students asked me "what color are you going to wear on friday?"
i was like... "uh, i don't know; it's tuesday."
they explained that if you are taken/in a relationship then on friday you should wear red.
if you are in a complicated relationship which may or may not continue, you should wear yellow.
if you are free/single, you should wear green.

i wore a burnt orange shirt on friday... because i forgot all about valentine's day.

BUT, there were signs all over the school reminding people (in hungarian) and in each class i had people take it seriously.

this is one of the many signs around the school. the first word in each circle is a color, underneath it says what each color signifies. under green it says "i am free"

here are some kiddies advertising their status to the school (and via my blog, to the world).

it also snowed a lot on thursday night/friday all day. here is a short video:

sorry i was grouchy in this. i think i'm so homesick because i'm sick of the cold weather. i miss texas!! or even florida. :(

today

the weather today is this:

that's snow, sleet/hail, and rain... i think. well, that's what it's doing outside. just ask xander.

i think i'm going to return to hungary next year. it's pretty certain i'll be in a different town, and very certain i'll be in a different school (even if i do stay in this town). bittersweet news, but i'm always game for a new adventure. i'll write more as it unfolds.

this week i've been feeling pretty homesick. i miss things you can't mail me. things like:
my family and friends,
the way america runs (with certainty, direction, purpose, logic),
shopping and being able to understand what i'm reading,
watching t.v.,
american accents,
a queen size bed with no crack down the middle,
doorways without threshholds to trip over,
radio (playing songs i know... that aren't from 10+ years ag0),
driving,
eating out,
smiling faces of strangers,
my esl immigrants,
whole wheat bread,
skim milk!!!,
chick-fil-a,
dryers,
modern buildings everywhere,
customer service,
having people around me who understand that i sometimes laugh for no reason and they don't make me explain it - you know, people who know me know me.

i realize the irony of the juxtaposition of my decision to stay another year and my recap of homsickness, but that irony has been staring me in the face all week, so i thought i'd share it.

Budapest with Gabi - part 5

XANDER had a good time in budapest, too. (yes, i bought him... i LOVE that dog!)



he got a sweater...

but he wouldn't stop moving around when i first put it on him. isn't he scary!?!?

i thought if i held him he would be still. but, no.

finally he calmed down enough for a proper photoshoot.

Budapest with Gabi - part 4

marzipan - who knew it was good for something? in szentendre, just outside of budapest, there is a marcipan muzeum and gabi's family took me there to experience it. i couldn't have ever imagined...

(this is Zrinyi Ilona - the lady after whom my school is named)

the crown jewels

creepiest thing ever

(the parliament is such a landmark and i think it's pretty well liked)

this one was really impressive in person, click on the pic to enlarge it

of course there is a gift shop where you can buy a bazillion kinds of marcipan: sugar candy, chocolates, chocolates with alcohol, figurines, caramels, suckers, and gummy candies... all mixed with/infested with marcipan.disney is so famous - everywhere

they look cute but they kind of taste like playdough

in case you didn't realize, every single thing in the museum was 100% marcipan, made by sweet little hungarian ladies. they work in a glass room in the front of the museum and you can watch them if you like. there are small signs in front of every scene/figure/statue that says who made it, when, whether it was for a competition or not, and how many hours it took (many took over 100 hours). do you agree with me that hungarians are the most patient people ever??

Budapest with Gabi - part 3

when walking around szentendre we saw such sights as these:

walking down the streets of szentendre you can see many vendors, shops, and artists

here is one such artist whom i asked in hungarian if i could take his picture. love his face in this

the average size of passageways in szentendre (gabi was in the pic, so i asked her to say hi)

cobblestone everywhere, so quaint

i want to go back to szentendre in the spring or summer when there are leaves on the trees

some guy was selling little secret boxes that are hard to get into. he'll carve your name or whatever on there if you buy it. kathryn and tom are my sis and dad, so i took a pic for y'all.

these otherwise cute purses are made out of MUSHROOMS

have you ever seen a "shop" so fulllllllll of stuff?!?!?

gabi with her apa and anya

look at her lovin' on him!

we had a nice quiet morning walking around the pretty little town. there are houses, flats, shops, museums, restaurants, and traffic... but not a lot of any of those things. it is some sort of non-touristy hungarian hideaway, so i consider myself privileged to have been taken there. :)

thanks AGAIN gabi!!