Stage one - epic FAIL

Ok -well, I have planned this weekend trip to Germany.  Fun right?  How many people can take advantage of the fact that we have Pentecost off from school and travel?  I thought I could... so - last week, I took a 45 minute trip to Győr to get seat reservations for the trains today.  They aren't always necessary, but I don't like to be the odd man out - like I was last time in 1st class on a train in Germany.  So I was in Győr for a total of 8 minutes, secured my seat reservations and paid the fee for them.  I returned home for another 45 minutes on the train.  Not a big deal...

Until you get to the bus stop the morning of your trip and find out that the bus schedule is different.  I planned initially on walking to the train station, but the rain quickly deterred me.  So, I figured I'd catch the 7:20 bus, knowing wouldn't show up until 7:30 and I'd make it to the station just in time for my 7:39 train.  I'd cut it close before, so I wasn't really worried... until I read the sign at the bus stop and saw that the bus only runs on the hour and half hour, until 8 o'clock.  So, if I stayed and waited for the 7:30 bus, I'd miss the train that I needed to get to Győr.  Damnit.  So I set off in search of a taxi, to no avail.  Where are all the Tata taxi drivers at 7:20 in the morning?  Not on duty apparently.  I caught the "7:30" bus which came at 7:40 -and put me at the train station exactly 4 minutes after the train I needed.  Shit.  So, now I had to wait at the train station until 8:26 to catch the next train, and abort the seat reservations I had dilligently planned ahead for.  Fml.  I got to Győr and tried to get seat reservations for the NEW trains I'd be riding, and the nice Hungarian woman behind the international ticket window assured me they were not necessary.  EVERY TIME this happens, I am odd man out and the only one without a reservation.  Ok, fine whatever.  Now I'm at the McDonald's in Győr eating a fake Egg McMuffin.  hmph.  Ok, I'll get there, and only two hours later than originally planned, but that's just what I get for planning.  Sheesh. 

Auf wiedersein or however you spell it.  phoey.

This is my 300th post

I forgot the sandwiches from the weekend festival... even though there was corn on the cob, the aforementioned gyros, ice cream, Hungarian sweets, all kind of carnival food  -  and sandwiches just in case... My question is who would really want the ice cream in the cooler beneath when they have a sandwich right there?

There it is.  the 300th one... happy Margaret?

:)

Boat battle - Hungarian style

A video of the boat battle!!!

Tatai Patara

So I decided that it would be fun to go to the “big” festival in Tata this weekend, the Tatai Patara.  I asked my kids about it, and they weren’t quite sure what it was.  It was only the second year, and it commemorated something to do with the Turks, and that was all they knew.  Oh, they also knew that someone blew his hand off during one of the re-enactments last year.  That’s all they knew.  When I asked one class, “what exactly are you celebrating, didn’t you lose to the Turks?”  The response I got was “thanks for that.”  Priceless from weak English speakers.  Well, it was a historical festival, and I’m a history teacher, so what the heck right? None of my colleagues were going, few of my students were going, but I didn’t care.  I was here to experience anything and everything this country had to offer.  Plus, I was told there was going to be a water battle as part of the re-enactment, so that sealed the deal… along with the big Gyro truck that rolled in and parked on Friday. J  I invited some of the die hard CETP teachers to spend the night and go to the “big festival” with me, so Jamie and Margie came to town. 

boat on fire... yikes!

Note the big bad Turk defending the castle wall

 

The morning began with the big water battle- and by big, I mean two boats against the Turks who had overtaken the castle.  Well, one boat and one framed out boat with burlap sacks covering all the wood.  I had spotted the beginnings of this boat earlier in the week and I just thought that one of the docks on the lake was adding some sort of archway to their dock – nope it was the frame of a big bad Hungarian ship.  The boats fired real-ish cannons (real as in when the cannons fired, there was a sound that rocked my eardrums and elicited cheers from those on the boat) They fired pistols and rifles at the castle, with a rag-tag bunch of Turks firing back.  NOTE: you may find some pro-Hungarian bias in the following account of the day, only because I have grown to know and love the Hungarians – but also because the Turks never matched and their outfits were a bit substandard to those that the Hungarians wore in my opinion.  Having said this, Jamie, Margie and I had all claimed a “Turk” who was to become our boyfriend for the day- so they couldn’t have been all that bad.  We watched in earnest as the boats circled around the front of the castle (one being tugged by a speed boat, did I mention that earlier?)  Every now and again, a large shot would rattle our insides, and the Hungarians would hoot and holler.  From this, however, a small fire started on the front of one of the boats.  Not a good sign in the middle of a battle.  From the sidelines, I yelled out a warning, but they were too caught up in the moment to notice.  Apparently the Turks were much more muted in their battle cries because they just focused on the task and kept shooting.  The battle went on for about a half an hour, and then the Hungarians apparently lost and retreated, and the Turks marched through the crowds to their tents.  

    

After the battle, we started to meander through the crowds and look to see what else this festival offered.  We came upon two Turkish ninja types, I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but it was with big whips and looked dangerous.  We started through the area where they sold wares from both sides, Hungarian and Turkish, including one lady who sold various pieces of battlewear, my favorite being the helmets.  Though attractive, I decided I didn’t really need a leather helmet with chainmail on the back, nor did I need a hard steel one, so we moved on.

belly dancers in battle is a must

note the head on a stick... oh the Turks...

We played around for a little while where the different merchants were, and happened upon a totally abandoned baby… 

maybe her mom was belly-dancing?  She sat alone in the middle of the sidewalk, unattended, but hey – who were we to judge?

At this point, it was just after 11 in the morning, so we decided to get a beer.  Drinks in hand, we continued on and happened upon the petting zoo/humane society.  We don’t know exactly what it was, but there were two goats, and then three pens of dogs.  Ok, great.  Next?

 

goats...

dogs...

I don't know...

Margie and Jamie

We continued on around the lake and were just in time for another battle.  Rather, we heard the shots and I picked up the pace so I could see some of it.  It wasn’t nearly as exciting as the water battle, but entertaining none-the-less.  The first couple of cannons shocked me and I spilled some of my beer – it was really loud.  The Hungarians employed a tactic I hadn’t seen before in battle, using long – maybe 15 feet long – sticks to push the enemy away.  Now, you tell me, long stick versus gun?  Hmmm….

 

The palace from the outside

a mural of early Tata - the castle and lake

a "decorated" (with droopy flowers) room in the palace

the confused docent explaining the posterboards on the walls

After the second battle, we walked by the Eszterhazy palace which is NEVER open, and sure enough, the gates were ajar.  I went in to check on the price of a tour, having always been curious about this building, and we decided to go ahead and do it.  Once we learned that this was a guided tour rather than just a peek in and explore tour, we knew we were in for it.  We sat a bit away from the group and chatted among ourselves while the docent gave a thrilling speech on the history of the building.  At one point, she came and asked us a question, and I flipped off “we don’t speak Hungarian” and her response was an angry “Then why are you here?”  Yikes… we just want to see the inside of the building!  OK, so we moved from the courtyard to the beautiful… white hallway that ran the length of the building.  We toured the poster boards that hung on the wall.  Great.  This was worth it.  We eventually went upstairs and saw the interior of the second floor, but it was quite sad.  The building had been neglected for quite some time, then used as a hospital, and then neglected again.  There was beautiful paneling and you could tell that at one point, it was elegant, but now was left for lack of money – like much of the rest of the buildings in this country. 

 

The "pleasure boat"

me and Jamie on the boat

the castle from the boat

After the tour, we grabbed a much needed gyro and then headed to ride the “pleasure” boat.  I had been wanting to ride since I saw it the first time, but you need 12 people before it will sail, and I’ve never had 11 of my closest friends with me at any given time.  We enjoyed a cruise across the lake and relaxed for a bit.  On our way back to the festivities, we stopped for ice cream, and wine – two necessities on a hot spring day.  The ice cream was delicious, but the wine, a white specialty from just north of Budapest, was warm.  For toting itself as a “wine cellar” this guy (though he was extremely nice) didn’t know much about wine and that this should have been chilled.  At any rate, we rested again, before forging on for the last part of the festival.

As we finished our wine, we spotted our favorite outfit from the day – an obviously Turkish woman, wearing some pink frock that she had purchased from one of the merchants.  Or maybe she already owned this beautiful cloth – we didn’t really know, but it definitely earned a picture and mention on my blog. 

 

Next, we passed some small boys playing with mini-swords and shields; thankfully the EMT ambulance attendants were right there, in case anything happened.  Shouldn’t that send up some sort of red flag if your child’s activity needs EMT’s to supervise?  Anywhoo… it was on to the last round of the merchants area.  I wanted a treat, and maybe to go back for one of the helmets (not really) and I’m so glad we did…

 

Jamie stopped for a minute because they were tying a rope in a very weird place.  It was between two trees, but there was quite a dip down in-between the trees.  We wondered aloud, was it “tug-o-war” – a tightrope?  It couldn’t be… how unsafe would it be to walk across that rope?  Well, we decided that we needed to remain in the general area to see what was going to happen.  Lots of people by this time had stopped and seemed to be watching for something… so we did too.  It turns out, we stopped right in front of the action- or so we hoped.  We weren’t sure what we were waiting for, but lots of people had stopped, so it had to be good right?  We’d wait 20 minutes to find out.   We met a nice security man, who happened to be Budapest police, but he was adorned with very Hungarian fashion.  The smock of the festival, and a mace for a weapon, apparently to keep in character with the 1571 battle.  Other security guards had fanny packs on that they tucked their weapons into… it was very Hungarian.  We spent some time talking to the guard- in the beginning he looked at us and said only "they're coming..." I of course responded with "who are" and he said "the Hungarian team."  He told us a bit about what was going to happen, the end of the battle, to which I responded with,  "who won?"  He scoffed and replied, "you joke..." 

the "tug-of-war" rope

the guards - note the fashion

Margie and Jamie waiting... for what we didn't know.

We were right in front for the final battle – the one where apparently the Hungarians take back the castle – the finale of the whole engagement – and we weren’t about to miss a thing… unfortunately the Hungarians almost did.  We waited, and waited.  The Turks were ready and waiting, the prayed to Allah and prepared, and waited.  Where were the Hungarians?  They eventually showed up, after some Turks peeked around the corner of the wall and alerted the others that they were on their way.  Soon the Hungarians (and some Germans – we noted the flag of Bavaria) came in and re-took the castle.  Thank goodness for victory!

the Turks answering the call to prayer before battle

The Turks peeking around - looking for the Hungarians

the attacking Hungarians

Reclaiming the castle for Christianity

victory!

marching out as the winners

Hilbilly's unite!

I was told last week, by my supposed significant other, that my pizza cutter is the ultimate display of hill-billy-ness, if that's a word. At home growing up, we had a lot of frozen pizzas, and we cut each and every one with a scissors. We had a pizza cutter, it just was easier to use the scissors. So, living in Hungary, a pizza cutter is not something that I have invested in. So, I returned to my roots, and cleaned off the scissors to cut our pizzas... Justin about died, but when we called my parents on the computer, my parents confirmed that it was not abnormal to use the scissors for such a task, he didn't believe them even though he talked to them. My response to Justin, which he's hearing more and more lately was "this is how I roll, take it or leave it." Hopefully he's taking it for a while longer...

Hopefully better militarily than as a handy man…

I decided at the beginning of spring that the easiest way for me to make it through the summer without air conditioning, was to invest in a ceiling fan. Having asked all my classes where I could get one, I was a little disappointed. All of them said, “they are not quite common in Hungary” or “we just open our windows.” Ok, I get it, but I want a ceiling fan. We checked OBI and TESCO, Intersparr and another store we thought might have them. Then, I tried the light store in Tata. Sure enough, they had ceiling fans… in a catalog. I garbled my way through an order, pointed out the one I wanted and eventually was satisfied with my choice. Only then did she tell me that it was 24,000 Forint – the equivalent of $120. Holy crap… but I was already knee deep with this nice woman who was patient with my Hungarian and really wanted to help me. So, I gave her my 5000 Forint deposit and she said she’d text when it came in. Three weeks later, I got that text. I went to the lamp shop that afternoon excited for the fan, dreading the payment. She opened the box, and was taking out all the parts and showing me, which I started to say was not necessary, until she uncovered a broken cylinder where one of the light bulbs went. I told her I’d come back the following Monday and she said she’d order another one. That Monday, I dutifully returned, and as she went through the “new” fan, we found yet another broken cylinder. After she said she’d get another one, I told her I’d return the next day. It was at this point, that I decided that this was my out – after all, I was nervous that it’d break during installation… so I haven’t returned to the store to pick up the third one. Though I lost my 5000 Forint deposit, I was able to purchase a ceiling fan at OBI for a third of the price of the other one.

The next step was installing it… so I called “handy” man/boyfriend Justin. (I'm beginning to like the times that we just hang out more than any time he tries to fix anything. Thank goodness we do more hanging out than anything) We got the other fixture down, and he began to create a hole for the base of the new ceiling fan. As the ceiling crumbled easily from the pressure of the screws and screwdriver pressure, he realized that there was solid concrete just a bit above where the ceiling started. Hmmm… how would he get these screws into the concrete? We didn’t even need to wait for an answer, because more and more of the ceiling was falling in his presence. So, the next day I went BACK to OBI to get some anchors for the screws. I got all the way to OBI when I realized that I had forgotten the screw, and I didn’t know what size anchor to get. Dang. So, I came home with a set of 80 pieces of anchors, many sizes to choose from. When Justin came over that day, he went back to work, and ended up cutting down the anchors AND the screws, and though one worked, the other didn’t and a huge hole was created. He made an executive decision that it wasn’t going to work this way, and tried to get the wiring down so that he could re-attach the original fixture. As he retrieved the wires from where he tucked them while working, he noticed that the procedure involved in “grounding” the original light fixture involved putting some electrical wire over the end and tucking it up into the ceiling. He retrieved the original “hooks” that held the light in place and the rusted pieces of wire came out with more ceiling, damp ceiling at the same time. Oh boy… it’s wet up there, and not grounded. Safe. I have since sent for some cement to be used to mend the ceiling so I can put the original light back, having given up on my dream of a ceiling fan. At least I didn’t pay $120 for it… yeesh.

To take our mind off yet another defeat, we headed out for a walk and a dinner before he left for Germany the next day for training. He's helpful, but it just didn't work this time. I like him a lot anyway and will miss him while he's in Germany. Thank goodness for text messages and e-mail!!!