sometimes hungary is so lame

what's the reason for these oddities? anyone who can tell me... will save my sanity.

is it because they're cheap? is it because they're an ex-communist country and so they're still 20 years behind? or is it just because they're hungarian. tell me! please.

-hungary is still closed on sundays

-some shops still don't accept debit/credit cards

LET ALONE offer cash back anywhere in the country

-checks? never heard of 'em. seriously.

-dryers are luxury items and even the few rich people who have them don't use them every time they launder

which means bring on the clothes lines, drying racks, and ironing

-everything is on PAPER and must be because no one trust electronic anything around here

like gift cards... or as hungarians would say, "what's that?"

-techno, seal, mariah carey and other top 10 music

-women are 50s housewives: cook, clean, take care of the kids single-handedly as well as work full/part time jobs (insanity!) while husband works a regular 9-5 then comes home and watches tv (there are exceptions, but not many)

-FDA regulations? huh? you can buy milk straight from the cow, eggs straight from a hen, or a live farm animal if you know the right people, you know, so you can have PIG KILLING or make homemade sausage... and DESK lamps heating food in buffet style restaurants instead of heat lamps

this stuff won't strike any hungarian as odd, by the way...

-for necessarily cheap people, there are no garage sales, craigslist-type sites, and the hungarian ebay-like site is not well trusted or often used

-i've never seen anything in hungary i'd call "state-of-the-art" ... in 2 years.

-chalkboards in schools, as well as minimal classroom computers, projectors, etc.

-air conditioning is rare and where available it's advertised in the window on a sign

-TAPE DECKS in cars

-still use winter tires and summer tires and say "all weather tires" are unreliable

-have "as seen on tv" shops.... can you think of anywhere else to buy that stuff?

-speedos

-small fridges/freezers means 3-4 trips to the store per week

-old (style) hard beds that open for storage, no box spring, no pillow tops, no reason to sleep in it

-heavy pillows stuffed with feathers that protrude and poke you and make you wonder if you just got some farm disease

-wardrobes instead of closets. why!? for the life of me, why?!

-SEVERE prejudice - gypsies, black people, asian people (or as hungarians say "chinese" as all asians are chinese to them and are ruining the world), and people with mental/physical disabilities/ailments

-fenced-in property, all the way around every square centimeter (to keep out aforementioned 'hooligans')

-toaster over? crock pot? ohhh, how i miss them.

-customer "service" ... guards follow you around in stores, they harass you at closing time, waiters come twice: to ask what you want (the millisecond you sit down) and to bring your food... if you want them after that, get ready for a nightmare

-itunes? ipod? mac? hahaha, what??

-doing business legally? that's for suckers.

-sandwich on your person 75% of your waking life. sure, why not.

add some if you have any i've left out.

p.s. i've had a really frustrating/infuriating couple of weeks and this is me venting. it's not meant to be (overly) mean to hungarians, though they've been overly mean to me lately! ugh.

October 23 - fall!

october 23 was a big deal in 1956 in hungary.

this weekend it was commemorated across the country.... with flags and wreaths.

having missed the all-hungarian poetry reading ceremony in the city center (i assume it was the same as last year) i decided to take a walk with my camera to capture some fall.

enjoy!

i did.

Zrínyi Gimnázium szalagavató bálja

though i haven't worked at ZIG since june 2009, i was invited to their ribbon-pining ceremony and ball for seniors again this year. it's always good to see my former colleagues, but this even was special for another reason.

when i began working at ZIG it took me a while to get to know the students. i took role everyday in every class - aloud - so i would learn the kids' names. i addressed them by name in the halls, too. i loved (most) of them a lot and i really missed that school last year.

the first ball i went to with ZIG kids was in november 2008. i had worked at the school for less than 2 months and NONE of the students i taught were seniors that year. so i went to the ball and ONLY knew the teachers, and i only knew them by sight and voice from the staffroom.

i was lucky enough to be invited to the ball again last year, but since i was working in two other high schools i had a duty to attend one of their balls that night first. i did make it to zrinyi's ball, but i only knew 2 classes of seniors graduating (and to be honest, they weren't my faves).

enter: this year. the kids i got to know and love in my first year of hungary, the ones who taught me hungarian and helped me learn to become a good classroom teacher, the ones who asked me about home and my dog and boyfriends and my opinions of hungary, lotttts of those kids are seniors this year. when i went to THIS ball of all the graduating seniors, i taught like 80%!

there was a time when the students toasted champagne with their teachers and offered cheek kisses. i was surprised and even moved when so many of my former students recognized and made an effort to greet me as well.

in extreme contrast to how i felt at kossuth all year last year, i didn't feel utterly forgotten and unappreciated at zrinyi.

we got dolled up...

we ate...

and we danced... a lot!

we had a ball. ;) (i just HAVE to say that!!)

the new place - video

vidor festival!

there is a festival in nyiregyhaza each year called VIDOR FESZTIVAL! it's about 'happy art' like theatre performances, street artists, bands, face painting, live statues, etc. and this year i'm both in town AND aware of it. so i went!

click the flower to watch a VIDEO of vidor festival - it's long but a good representation

there are mimes and actors in the streets for about a week!

they aren't camera shy at all! :)

the only band i know, have heard and liked their music, and is pretty popular around here (csik zenekar) was in town to perform this friday night... as a headliner. here they are, the little sweeties.

but there are also random unknown-looking bands in the city center as well

and people who seem to have just mpicked up instruments and started playing them for passersby

holding the progam, this little girl's dreams come true as she takes a picture with... some face painters?? haha.

i've always been intrigued by the living statues. they stand there for an hour without moving. i'd be fired at the first itch.

these entertainers are actually in town for theatre performances, but when they're not in plays they're out in the city luring in customers with all their charm (everything in the festival is free except the theatre stuff)

there are fire throwers, people balancing stuff, jugglers, the works.

and these type of people...

acrobats, bikers, stunt people...

of course, once in a while they get the crowds involved too

my favorite thing i saw was the caricaturist an his works of art

and he's pretty good (these portraits are free! but you have to wait in a long line full of teenagers to get yours)

scary

happy

tonight is the last night. the people are packing up and going home or to wherever they're going. and the city center is going back to normal, but it was a good happy-art week if you ask me. :)