Another Choir experience

Ok backing up to before the break… the pictures are of the church we sang in, the advent wreath lighting, the food we had afterwards, and me in my snappy matching scarf.

 

Sunday I went with the Choir on another mini-excursion.  We were headed to Magyaralmás (a small village of 1000 near Székesfehérvár).  We were doing a similar program to the one we did at the town hall, and I knew all of the songs, so I felt comfortable.  It was a nice drive, just over an hour, though Jozsi drove, and he drives very fast.  Plus, I didn’t have my music organized, so while I was squeezed inbetween Freddie and Erika, it was a difficult task.  We got to the village, and it was a small, nice church that again, was not heated.  We practiced and our lady accompanier (is that a word?) was there so the organ sounded cool.  I was all excited because this time, of course not knowing what the day would entail, had packed two sandwiches.  Little did I know that I would not need them.  Figures.  I also had a Milka chocolate bar that I ate half of while waiting to perform.  We did a nice job, and surprisingly – the church was packed.  Apparently there isn’t much to do on a Sunday afternoon in this village.  Afterwards, unknown to me (surprise) we continued on our journey and attended the village advent wreath lighting.  Basically the entire village was there, and there was singing and praying and then the lighting of the candle.  It was an interesting ceremony to watch, except for the fact that it was outside and cold as heck.  By this time, it was about 6:00 (we left at 1:30) and I was wondering just how long this excursion was going to take.  After the advent wreath lighting, of course we weren’t done yet – we continued into the village common room where we were treated to sweets and forralt bor (the traditional Christmasy mulled wine).  The forralt bor was good seeing as we had just stood outside for the last 45 minutes – and the treats were good too.  Again, the idea of saying “no” or  even “no thankyou” to food or drink is just foreign to the Hungarians.  I had about a dozen bars, treats and biscuits (even though I had a perfectly healthy ham and cheese sandwich in my bag).  They pulled out all the stops for us, and it was a big day for them in Magyaralmás.