The Hungarian National Passtime...

On my way back from Székesfehérvár, I again ran into some transportation issues.  It was very cold out, so I didn’t stay as long as I had planned.  This put me on an earlier return train, and it wasn’t the train I was expecting.  It was an inter city train (which requires an additional seat reservation that I didn’t have) and it stopped in Tatabanya, not Tata.  Oh well, what’s another crazy day on Hungarian transportation?  I stayed on the train, and disembarked in Tatabanya.  It was faster for me to just catch a bus, so I did, and I got off four stops early, so I could walk across the lake back to my home.  I had noticed on my way out earlier that morning, that there were TONS of people out on the ice.  While I was gone on vacation, the lake froze over, and life sprang to in Tata.  The people of my town LOVE to ice skate.  When I asked the students what some of their highlights from the break were, about 70% of them involved ice skating – no lie!  So, I walked back across the lake, and spotted many students, families and extended families out on the ice.  There were 80 year old grandma’s skating, and toddlers being pulled on sleds.  There were games of boot hockey, and ice hockey happening on different parts of the lake.  People were selling hot chocolate, and plenty of people were equipped with their own wicker basket of sandwiches (of course).  It was something to walk through and see all the fun people were having as a family or as friends ice skating.  I stopped and played some boot hockey with students for a bit and vowed to return to skate later.  Luckily for me, Dori, my 9^th grade life saver, had an extra pair of skates in my size exactly, so she, Anna and Dori’s mom and I went ice skating this week.  I wasn’t sure how I would do, but maybe it’s just in the Minnesota blood.  Of course there were students waiting to see if I’d bite it, but I held my own and became comfortable very quickly – despite not having skated in 15 years.  I was in awe of the fact that there is still such innocent family fun to be had, and that ice skating was the highlight of many students’ day.  I found out that one of my students travels to school by ice skate cutting a tremendous amount of time off her commute by going across the lake.  While skating with Dori and Anna, I met Dori’s elementary school PE teacher, whose husband is basically fluent in English.  We chatted for a while, exchanged numbers and vowed to get together for a beer sometime.  Interesting how the English speakers find each other.  It was such a pleasant afternoon skating with two of the sweetest kids, and Dori’s cute mom.  In a very mom-like fashion, Dori’s mom made a thermos of tea and we enjoyed a nice warm cup of raspberry tea before heading home for the afternoon.  I will return to the “old lake” tomorrow for an “ice flower” festival.  It’s a day long series of activities on the lake revolving around skating and music that will be played on (near?) the ice.  I’m not entirely sure what exactly is going to happen, but I’m totally going.  It’s the way a foreigner rolls here in Hungary – just go where the action is and something is bound to happen