Lights in Vienna

Food of the Christmas markets

Potatoes, chestnuts, pretzels, open faced sandwiches and sweets.

Rathaus Christmas market

At the Rathaus Plaza (town hall) there were many more booths, but not as much Christmas stuff it seemed.  It was kind of like the state fair, where people were selling fake bags, jackets and coats, non-Christmas goods- in addition to the Christmas stuff.  I liked the atmosphere here though, and Jake and Ellen met me here, so that was nice too.  We had lunch- a giant cheesy hot-dog in a large bun (which is some German word that I don’t remember).  And wandered a bit through the area.  Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks (I’m starting to collect the mugs from different Starbuck’s that say the city on them – it’s a weird thing, but I love them).  It seemed both at the Christmas markets, and at Starbucks, that we had not actually left Hungary.  I heard more Hungarian being spoken than I did German.  It was quite interesting.  We then headed to St. Stephen’s Cathedral to see what it was like.  On the way there, we saw many Christmas lights and decorations – very festive for the Holiday season.  

Saturday in Vienna, Austria

Well, I hadn’t been to Vienna since I got here, and I’m only 2.5 hours away.  I figured what a good time to go – the Christmas markets are in full effect!  So, off I went for a Saturday of Christmasing in Austria.  I headed first to the market at Schönbrunn Palace.  I was amazed by it!  It was so festive with the spiced wine, foods and large Christmas tree at the center of the grounds.  I purchased some small items and some chocolates for gifts, and headed to the next one at the town hall.  

News from School...

Well, we still haven’t replaced the English teacher who left earlier this year.  NOW, Mirtill is pregnant and will not come back after the Christmas holiday.  So we’re down two teachers, not good.  I’m not sure what is going to happen with the schedules, as Mirtill was the one who taught American Civilizations – don’t ask me why I didn’t, but whatever.  Also, I have no contact teacher now.  Not that I envision needing one, but she is the department head, a class leader and my contact teacher.  And she just tells us yesterday that she is pregnant and leaving.  Ok.  Good plan.  Hmph.  Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for her, but leaving school at only 12 weeks?  I have colleagues who taught up until the day before they gave birth.  I shouldn’t judge since I have no frame of reference, but to leave at 12 weeks, when the rest of the department is in a lurch already, seems not good.

Mondays with Mattias

One of my Monday students, Mattias, has taken an interesting turn in the last three weeks.  He has bright long firey red hair, and sleeps up until the start of class every week.  He has never participated in class, and doesn’t seem that interested in learning English- until I walked home with him one day.  I was on my way to my Hungarian lesson, and he happened to be walking in the same direction, so I chatted with him and learned many things about him.  We had a nice conversation all the way to my language school – I told him that this was where I had lessons and asked if he lived near there.  He didn’t, in fact, he lived in the opposite direction, but walked with me anyhow.  It was a big awkward at first because I didn’t know if he wanted to come in with me or what – but what a nice kid.  The next Monday, he walked with me as well, though I stopped at the grocery store to pick some things up instead of going directly to my lesson.  I stood with him outside the store for a few minutes before he figured out why I had stopped – again I thought he’d want to accompany me inside, but he didn’t.  We talked about art, his weekend plans, his future and why he doesn’t like to do homework.   He told me he is a metal head (which explains the long hair) and loves American movies.  Yesterday, we left class at the same time, and hoping to avoid the walk with Mattias (sometimes I just need time away from small talk) I waited a bit after class… so did he.  I walked slow, and so did he.  When I passed by him, he sped up – I wasn’t winning at all, so we struck up the small talk again.  He amazes me – no enthusiasm for homework or studying (“learning” as they call it) but he’ll talk my ear off after class, when no one else is around.  Oh Mattias.  

European haircut #3

I was standing outside of my original Hungarian haircut place last Friday.  I was rousing up the courage to enter (through the clothing shop) to the beauty salon when I saw my student Tono.  He loudly admits to disliking Americans and preferring British English, customs and traditions – but there is an element of teacher crush alive and well (as evident in the fact that he leant me his Hungarian Christmas CD- with pride, but without any of his friends seeing him do so…).  I asked him if he would help me ask if there was an opening for a haircut- despite my advances in Hungarian language, I have not gotten up the courage to phone a salon and ask for an appointment.  He accompanied me (through the clothing store) into the beauty salon and translated that I’d like a haircut.  When he asked “what kind of hair do you want?” my response was naturally, “beautiful hair – duh!”  He didn’t get it and I told him just to say that I wanted it basically the same, only shorter.  He confirmed that it was okay and left me in the beauty salon.  When I thanked him, his response was “not at all” to which I said, “how very British of you.”  Do people actually use that phrase?  At any rate, the woman told Tono that she had an errand to run and that she’d be right back.  In the mean time, 20 minutes passed… and I was referred to as “the foreigner” and “the American” many times.  Oh well, comes with the territory I suppose.  When she returned I retreated back into the role of non-Hungarian speaker and though I understood most of what she was saying, I just responded with “igen, igen” and a smile (“yes, yes”).  When she made motions of giving me bangs I haven’t had since I was 8, I responded with an “igen, igen.”  When she asked if I wanted it shorter on the sides, of course I said “igen, igen” even though I’d been trying to grow it out a certain way.  Oh well, you just go with the flow, and your karma is the haircut you leave with.  There was two cups of mousse, half a can of hairspray and lots of love in my new haircut, but I didn’t really like it.  Oh well- what do you do?

Plumbing 101...

Note in the pictures: Boo watching the whole process, and my mom and dad on the computer screen trying to see what I was doing...

I have tried not to be a bother while here in Hungary.  That has included letting the water drip (hot water mind you) constantly for the last few weeks.  And by drip, I mean flow enough so I don’t have to “turn it on” to wash my hands.  I purchased a thing to put on the end of the faucet thinking that would let me stop it up, no such luck.  So I went to the Hungarian version of Home Depot and purchased a new faucet.  It was only about $20, but still, kind of annoying.  I was bound and determined to fix this dripping.  It wasn’t costing me anything, but it was probably the right thing to do so the school wasn’t paying for all this hot water that wasn’t being used.  I cleaned out all the stuff from under the sink (which was all really random might I add) and got ready to roll.  I enlisted the help of my parents via video-chat, and we were set for an adventure.  I turned off the water, both hot and cold, and got started.  Boo was on her perch watching the whole thing.  I tried a number of different things, but the way the old faucet was in place was NOT conducive to an amateur plumber (and by amateur meaning I have zero experience with plumbing) without the proper tools.  I have left it for a while now, only turning the hot water on when I need it so there isn’t a constant drip – waiting to figure out the next step.  I finally told Mirtill the other day that it was in need of fixing so it should be dealt with shortly… maybe. 

Advent at Eötvös

I have been fascinated by all the various Advent wreaths in the school.  Many of the classrooms have them, here are a few.  The first "wreath" is the worst - they get better! 

Saving Hungarian lives... It's what I do.

I had an opportunity last week, and boy did I take advantage of it.  I had a free period since one of my classes was practicing for the Christmas party (more to come later).  I found out that morning, that it was blood giving day at school.  I never missed a bloodmobile at BHS or when I was in high school – so why would I miss now?  I wasn’t sure if it would be easy or not, but I thought I’d give it a whirl.  I brought a copy of my passport and my driver’s license and off I went.  The students were surprised to see me, it didn’t appear that there were many teachers giving blood, but whatever.  I got in line and started the process.  Unfortunately, the whole process was in Hungarian.  So, I enlisted the help of one of my students to lead me through the process.  It was not easy – at all.  I had to give a bit of information to the nurses, my address and things like that.  Then, I was pricked and they tested my blood by putting drops of it on two different circles to see whether it was A or B blood.  Apparently that’s as deep as they go- just A and B.  Once it changed a certain color, she was convinced that I had A blood.  Then I had to fill out the questionnaire – also no easy as my Hungarian is coming along slowly still.  Tell me it isn’t awkward to have one of your students ask you about your sex life, and your disease and mental history.  Lucikly Niki was a good sport, but it was still weird.  After that, I had my blood pressure taken and was a little low, and then they guessed my weight because I had filled it out in pounds which means nothing in this metric world.  I was then handed a bag, with the needle facing me – and off I went.  The blood giving was easier than it had been in the past – they found my vein a lot quicker than nurses at home had, so I was pleased.  I became a bit of a freak show as classes were changing and I was giving my blood.  Afterwards, I was “bandaged” using a cotton ball and gauze wrapped around my arm.  I went to the “goodie” table, and retrieved my treats for giving blood, a cloth bag, a candy bar, a bottle of water, and a coupon for 500 forints ($2.50) at McDonalds.  What a deal!

St. Nicholas came to Tata!

I stole this story from my friend Vivvi's blog... because it's funny and double blog worthy.

We had a Visitor

All little boys and girls in Hungary put their boots near the door for Saint Nicholas (Szent Mikulas) on the 6th of December. If they have been good children, Saint Nicholas leaves them little gifts, oranges, and candies in their boots but if they have been bad the Krampusz, a demon, leaves them a stick. Saint Nicholas comes early in December and baby Jesus delivers gifts on Christmas, unlike secular America where Santa Claus crams his fat ass down our chimneys on Christmas! Hungarians have the right idea.

This last Friday night, as all the children in Hungary arrange their shoes for Saint Nicholas, I was on a train to Tata, a town on the Hungarian-Slovakian border, to visit my friend Carla. When I had arrived at her house, I took off my shoes in the hallway. 

I woke up Saturday morning to Carla banging around in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Good morning Carla!" I shouted a bit groggy, "Can I use your computer?"

"Jo reggelt! Igen," Carla shouted back. She is really trying to embrace everything Hungarian though she is from Minnesota. 

I sat at the computer and wiped the sleep from my eyes, I could focus just enough to find iTunes. I picked Amy Grant's "Home for Christmas" album. I like that one. Then I began to check my email, like I do every morning when I wake-up. 

"Hey Vi?" she shouted a few minutes later.

"Yeah!"

"What shoes did you wear yesterday?'

"I don't know. Nikes, I think," I said a bit confused.

"Well, where are they? I don't see them in the hall," she said a bit flustered.

I was busy reading emails and rocking out to Amy Grant, so her concern about my shoes didn't really bother me.

"Do you see them?" she asked again.

"I'm not looking. They have to be there," I said, not quite connecting the dots, "Where would they have done?"

There was a long pause... then...

"Dammit Vivvi, look at your shoes!" Carla shouted with force.

I got up and headed into the hallway. There I found Carla smiling from ear-to-ear and our shoes PACKED with Saint Nicholas treats. 

"We had a visitor!" Carla said almost unable to control her laughter, "Merry Christmas!!!"

I looked between Carla and our shoes half a dozen times, laughing. I finally got to experience the joy of Saint Nicholas on the 6th of December. It was a great surprise, though she nearly had to throw my shoes at me to get me to look at them. I think this is a tradition I will carry on forever. It's way too fun!  Thanks Carla... I mean St. Nicholas!

Church on Sunday

The last picture is the nativity scene outside the small Catholic church... isn't it interesting?

The next morning, I had the opportunity to sing at the lighting of the advent wreath outside the big Catholic church here in Tata.  I wasn’t sure what the plan was, since I had missed choir that week.  Oh heck – if I’d been at choir I still wouldn’t have known what was going on.  I had to get the troops roused and be out the door by 10:20.  I arrived at church – since I was told we were singing after church – early and went inside.  This was the first time I had been in the big Catholic church in my town, and it was beautiful.  It had very interesting murals and all different types of art on the inside. I hadn’t been in there but 5 minutes, when it was time in mass to kneel.  I was standing in the back with about 2 dozen other people, and they all proceeded to kneel, so I did too.  Kneeling on a hard concrete floor wasn’t exactly my idea of fun, but hey.  Shortly thereafter was the handshake of peace.  Sheesh – all of a sudden Hungarians were approaching me and I didn’t know what to do or say so I just stood there and smiled.  Some did the handshake, some did the double kiss… it was stressful.  Speaking of stressful, it was coming on Communion and I hadn’t spotted anyone else from the choir.  Oh no.  Where was I supposed to be?  What was I supposed to be doing? I didn’t even know what songs we were singing.  Shit.  Then, the army walked in.  I was glad that they all had skipped out on actually attending church and came just for our songs.  Nice church choir we are huh?  At any rate, Communion was an interesting experience.  It was not as orderly as I was used to – row by row… it was a free for all.  Anyone who wanted communion could go – and at any point that they chose.  It was really weird, but anyhow.  As church was wrapping up, it all started to make sense to me why we were singing after mass – we were singing for the lighting of the advent wreath- which was outside.  Hmph- it was freezing out, but hey- it was for the church so I made a sacrifice J  We lined up and before I knew it, we were singing.  Luckily I knew this song, so I was not worried.  Then the priest spoke for a bit, and we sang again.  I had sung this song before, but Edit luckily had the music so I looked on with her.  The last song we sang, I totally faked.  I had never seen it before, so I spent the entire song looking over Edit’s shoulder to see what was next.  It was not good – especially since the Tata Television guy was there filming us.  Man.  Oh well – We sang and life was good.  

The after prom party

After the dance part of the prom, we headed out in Tata.  We ended up near one of the bars many of the students were meeting at, and ran into a number of them.  Ultimately, we ended up on the dance floor with them, and a song was requested and dedicated to me.  It was fun and weird all at the same time.  My students were drinking, I had been drinking – it was prom.  Weird.  My favorite picture is the one with Szábi (in the red shirt).  The alcohol had taken it’s toll on him… he is only a junior, but they really don’t check ids here.  Sadly, when I was showing some of these pictures to those who were in the ball, one girl piped up and said “that’s my brother.”  I had no idea that they were related. Oh well – your secret (which isn’t so secret) is out young man…

The actual dance... and afterwards

These pictures are from the actual dance part of the prom.  There weren’t that many students dancing, but the Americans were in full force so all was well.  We also made quite a stir at the after party.  Most of the students look forward to the after party the best – since the school leavers are all 18 and they can drink.  Totally random thought, but keep in mind that for this day, they have had several outfit changes, the rented wedding dresses (yes – real wedding dresses, no one here actually buys them – they’re all rented) the class dance outfit, the uniform for the ribbon ceremony and then a prom dress.  It was quite nice to see them all, but I can only imagine what it took to haul all those outfits to school for one day.  Anyhow- these are dance pictures.  One student asked me to dance which was quite embarrassing because this kid can waltz and I can’t even do the Roger Rabbit.  I tried to make it as not-awkward as possible, but of course Vivvi documented the entire weird situation on film.  I love that girl.