thanksgiving

joyce, my replacement at ZIG, invited me to go to debrecen (a bigger city a couple towns away) with her and her daughter for thanksgiving. the "american corner" was having a celebrations with none other than a bunch of americans! i was feeling particularly sick of the hungarian language, as i use it all the time, and was craving english fellowship. so, off we went on a train.
there were a bunch of strangers there, obvisouly, since i don't live there, but we had a fun time chatting and eating. it was potluck, so there was a wide variety of food.















here is my plate








then of course there were a ton of desserts. here were the most interesting ones. waffles with chocolate sauce to dip them in and a peachy cheese cake. nice!

at the end of the meal some scotish guy who had spent a lot of time in the US (i could tell from his accent) sang some typical american songs (or what he thought were typical american songs) and - no kidding - we had a sing along... with words on the screen overhead and everything. it was weird, but enjoyable. i've been asked by hungarians if there was dancing. no. no, there wasn't. that's not how americans celebrate stuff, silly hungary.

weekend shenanigans

this weekend i met up with some lektors in my town. tara came from her village a few towns over, kim - a new lektor fresh from teaching in hong kong and japan- came over from her slightly larger village, sean, a teacher in debrecen-a decent sized city about 45 minutes away made the train ride, and andrew, another lektor in nyiregyhaza, walked into town.

we stopped off at a brick oven pizzeria to get some delicious chow. while i didn't take pictures of our yummy broccoli, chicken, and corn pizza, i did snap a shot of the baggies our silverware came in. it says 'bon apetit' in hungarian, something you can never start a meal around here without saying. look how cute the little pizza man is.
we talked a bit, getting to know each other, ordered some diet cokes and ate. soon the boys left to go take their stuff home, so the girls headed to a cafe for dessert and more talking.
we had some cakes, sweets, and tara treated herself to some hot white chocolate. yum!


then sweet kim had to leave to go to her school's ball (mine is this weekend!), so tara, sean, andrew and i headed further into town to the ice skating rink. it's open from november to march, so we had to squeeze in at least one trip there.

after paying, renting skates, putting them on, and putting our stuff at the coat/purse check, we were ready. tara and me, that is. the boys couldn't be bothered to ice skate, though that had been the plan since before we met. oh well, we were off. after a lap or two i noticed my friends eszter and annamari making their way around the rink. soon i joined them, as it was eszter's first time (and annamari's second!). skating, like many other things, is more fun with kids.

tara, eszter, and me
boys who couldn't be bothered (andrew and sean) :)

me, eszter, and annamari- bundled up and having funwe went out for some drinks and more chatting. tara spent the night and left in the morning. sunday afternoon i went over to eszter and annamari's house to play in english. we read some books, played in her tent, watched some youtube cartoons, and had dinner. they're such fun.

eger - with lektors!

we didn't choose the best weekend to go to eger, as it was wet and cold, but we had some fun!

here are tara and kim getting some kürtőskalács. kim is new to hungary this year so this was her first taste of the doughy goodness!

the eger castle

tara and megan playing on the castle playground

some pathway around the castle

castle roofy room thing

the castle and the city

megan peeped through the binocular thign

kim and tara were a little loopy

the skyline - that pencil thing is called a minaret. a skinny little tower

church and such

aww, hungary

the minaret (from the castle)

walking up the minaret's stairs

at the top. tight fit!minaret on a clearer day

xander came along. carla liked him.... but he didn't really like herthe church at night

the first wine cellar we went to (mold on the walls, coins pressed into the mold)

second cellar

third cellar, gypsy music to set the mood

wine lady pouring into my mouth, dry white wine (not my thing)hot wine is all the rage in eger. here is a bird... dispensing it through with his beak

this was us for most of the weekend
i'm glad we went. there was a lot of climbing and walking in the rain, but there were good experiences, good food, and good company that more than made up for it.

halloween party

(a little late but worth it)

tara, another teacher in CETP, invited a bunch of us lektors (native english teachers) to her house for a halloween party. it was kind of international with an australian, a canadian, and a bunch of americans.

i went to a costume store and found something i had never been ever in my life.

santa! (or mee-ko-lash in hungarian)

then this happened, of course...
(me and franny, a funny teacher who was dressed as a ... geisha?)
you gotta sit on santa's lap
(snata and klara, and australian teaching in a small village nearby)santa and tara, the witchy hostess (and a little xander)

santa and a ninja, andrew, another teacher in my town
(please note i have a pillow under that suit)

we made mummies, too...toilet paper mummies. here i am with klara, my mummy

we even had caramel apples (laurel, jon, and franny)

here are klara and lisa biting into the delicious treats

we played some games like pin the bow tie on the skeleton

we took a REALLY hard test about halloween and the origins of halloween traditions - franny won! she got 11 out of 18 right! we bobbed for gummy worms in bowls full of whipped cream- fun!
she sure was a good hostess! there was snacks, goodie bags, and jello... plus we ordered pizza. Mmmm.

all in all it was a GREAT party and i'm glad i went to that little village. thanks

november 1

i tried to convince other native english speaking teachers to go to the cemeteries in their towns on november first because it's such a cool thing to see. i don't know if they went or not, but in this post i'll show what kind of sights you can take in on that special day.

november first (all saints day/day of the dead) is celebrated in hungary to honor and remember the dead. people go to the cemetery and decorate their loved ones' graves (which are above ground) with candles, flowers, and wreaths. they tend to the graves all year round, unlike we do at home, but on this particular day or weekend, the place is packed with more life than an ordinary cemetery.

last year's blog about this day

this year i went to the huge cemetery in my town with the lady who has been teaching me hungarian, edit and her son geri. we walked around looking at the multitude of tombs and gravestones. the feeling you get while there on this day isn't the normal creepy feeling that usually accompanies a trip to the local graveyard. there is a somber feeling, of course, but the many families walking around with you give you a sense of peace about death. well, at least for me.

there are different sections of the cemetery, some newer, some older, so the graves differ.
there are even places for burying atheists or non-religious people. there is a relatively new structure in my city's cemetery made for that reason. they mix water with the ashes of the deceased and bury them in a common grave, just writing the names of the dead on a large plaque.

at the common graves

with the year they died

i can't really show in pictures just how many graves and candles and flowers there are

florists must make half of the year's profit this time of year

it really is quite pretty