Day of the Dead!

I FOUND THIS MUCH BETTER PICTURE ONLINE SOMEWHERE AND IT LOOKS LIKE WHAT WE SAW: CLICK THE PICTURE



every year on november first the hungarians all go to the cemetery in their towns to honor or remember the dead. they bring flowers to the graves and put candles on them, too. that's basically all i knew about it before this evening.

tonight my private student ma'lna showed me and laura and reagan around the cemetery after she and her family went there. we went at about 5pm (but it was already dark) and it was one of the busiest times, according to ma'lna. she told us that there are priests who say prayers or sing songs over the graves and families all go together. she also told us that when you're at the graveside of a loved one you tell happy, fun memories you have of that person and remember all the good things about them. you do this as a family, as opposed to the very private ways we grieve and remember the dead in america. even though i knew about candles and flowers, i couldn't have imagined all this.

the whole town had millions of flowers and candles for sale this week and especially today

some famous guy from nyiregyhaza's monument

uh, don't mind the stroller... though it shows that everyone in the family goes to the cemetery.

i liked this one a lot

oooh, what a lucky dead person!

ma'lna said this person must have only very recently died, that's why it has so many wreaths, flowers, and ribbons (she said they must have been buried in the last few days)

a close-up of that recent one

it's hard to show you just how HUGE this place is!
it was a bigger than most parks, maybe as big as an airport!

aw, this little unmarked grave with no flowers or candles was so sad

i figured out the "twilight" setting on my camera when we were on the way out

this was us after we got outta there

me and one of the cops who were directing foot-traffic

and then we ate at mcdonald's - we were happy to have MEAT!

oh, here is a video i took while we were in what seemed like the middle of the cemetery. i did a 360 degree shot to show all the candles everywhere but you can't see it too well. you'll just have to come here one year and see it for yourself!

Szerencs - with Laura and Reagan

in the american halloween spirit we carved a pumpkin! first we walked to the store to see if they had any pumpkins. along the walk we met one of laura's students (i forget her name, sorry little girl!). we asked her if there were pumpkins at the store and she said yes, so we continued on - with her in tow. when we walked in the store there was a nice fall display with beautiful orange pumpkins! but they were not for sale. and there weren't any for sale in the store. :(
luckily, the little girl's grandpa has a garden and she said we could have one of his pumpkins. and she was right! oddly, the pumpkin was light green... oh well, it'll do.
it starts...


laura assumed the task of carver while the rest of us excited girls just watched. it took a really long time to cut the top off because the rind of this particular pumpkin was like 1.5 inches thick!

when she got it off she was VERY excited! we all were! that's real joy in that picture.

an eye!

xander was watching me watching the carving. reagan made him a little bed out of a bucket and a blanket. he was happy in there, but still really cold.

the hungarian girl and reagan

two eyes!

and a nose... i see where she's going with this...

oh yeah, we all helped gut it


that's pride and joy as they took pictures of the newest member of their household was born...

the jack-o-lantern! (no hat in this pic)

the surgical equipment...

hat-less jack and Laura
awww, he has his hat on and a candle inside now! little sweetie!!
trick or treat, happy halloween, etc... from hungary. :)

Eger - with Laura and Reagan

there is another CETP teacher in a town not too far from mine. she, laura, and her 11 year old daughter, reagan invited me to spend some time with them on our fall break. here's what we did. we took a train to another city/town, eger to see what we could see.
(NOTE: the pictures are in reverse chronological order because ... well, they just are)

laura and reagan (at dinner)

we took a tour of a somewhat well-known castle in eger. there were people dressed in costume to add ambiance. we took a few pictures with them and asked them some hungarian vocab.

you gotta have drummers in the castle yard, right?

this is a view of the big church from the castle, pretty at night, don't ya think?

she did that all on her own.

aw, i'm so cute in the castle yard. too bad there's a car behind me. also, we didn't wear the same outfit on purpose; that would be weird.

laura with some costumed guys

reagan with a costumed guy, who incidentally asked HER to take a picture with him

splendid!

there weren't too many people, but it was a nice night. here is what we saw when we walked to the top of the castle's hill. some unexplained buldings, pretty trees, and costumed men.

the entrance to the castle property... ooooh.

a wine store i popped in while laura was getting some must (moosht)

the must (moosht) men... ok so we wanted to taste the "hot wine" they were serving from that big crockpot looking thing. we did. it was gross and kinda pricey. we were tourists, though. that's what we're supposed to do.

they took a lot of pictures, so i took pictures of them taking pictures because that's what i remember about the trip. yay for pictures!

the big church in the day time

down the street in the city center in eger

up the street in the city center of eger

ok, this takes some real explaining. we went on a tour of the "city beneath the city" in eger. i'm not too sure what it was built for, but there was a maze of cement/rock under a basillica and under the town(?). we paid a little and went on the cave tour. it was creepy and dark in there, there was about a foot of water throughout most of it due to faulty construction. we had a tour guide but he spoke in hungarian on the tour. he offered to take us through alone after the tour, but we were already kinda bored and wanted to see the rest of eger. so he pointed us to the castle and off we went.

there were some old-timey contraptions in the underground city. this is a loom. when he talked about it he said my last name because my last name means weaver. that's the only reason i took a picture of this creepy old loom.

see those little jar things? on top of them were tennis balls and we were supposed to throw a big rock at the tennis ball and knock it off. i don't know if the medieval people had tennis balls, but this was what they did for fun.. i think.

some parts of the cave-maze were poorly constructed which lets water into the place. thirsty trees somehow found out about the water and they started sneaking in to drink it.

this was our tour guide. i forget his name because all i could think about was the very large, very noticeable lump on his forehead. laura said i shouldn't talk about it or stare. couldn't help it!

some stuff - maybe tools?

some of the other tourists. they're happy, you just can't tell. hungarians don't smile for pictures

see? water! lots of it. made it very musty and damp and humid and dank and creepy down there

this was one of a billion tunnels. some had wooden sidewalks over them because the water was so high in the cave.

this is what most of the halls looked like. i'll spare you the other 20 pictures of them.

this is the entrance to the cave-maze which lured us underground.

the basillica above the cave-maze.