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. :)

in the city center this afternoon

today i was in the city (with three other americans!) enjoying the nice weather and the remains of vidor fesztival...

we bore witness to at least 3 wedding parties walking around the city center, which is typical of a nice saturday in summer.

but as we sat and drank beer and ate pizza, one such wedding procession turned a bit odd:

i haven't seen any of the 100 weddings in town stop and play in the fountain before.

but man, i love this town.