Choir trip!!

Well – it was my big weekend “excursion” with the choir.  If I have learned anything in this country, it’s to abandon ALL expectations of ANYTHING – because no matter what the situation is, the Hungarians will blow your mind by doing something totally different.  I walked (a bit nervously) to the “big church” to meet the group.  I realized that on my way there, I had forgotten my swimsuit – I really forgot it, I didn’t not pack it on purpose mom – I forgot it.  I had my towel and other “water park” necessities – and I was a little disappointed, but I was too close to the time I had to be at the church to go back.  Keep in mind that I had never been to the church by foot in a direct route – I just kept walking and looking for the big steeples.  As I rolled into the church parking lot, I realized that this was a serious trip – there were spouses, families, friends – the whole works… all for our trip to Papa.  Tibor (the cutest old man in my choir) arrived with his wife, and he came up to greet me – he went in for the double cheek kiss – and I BLEW IT!  It was my first adult cheek kissing – and I screwed it up.  Apparently there is a certain side that you kiss first – and of course I went the other way, so I almost kissed him on the mouth.  ARGH.  This was just the beginning of the weekend to prove how “non-hungarian” I really am.  Man.  We said a prayer (apparently it’s a church choir – I didn’t know that) and introduced the new people – several of whom are actually in the choir.  Who knew?  We divided into the cars – and off we went.  Thankfully Freddie did not have his motorcycle… so he, Joszi, Edit (Joszi’s wife) and I piled into the little Ford.  I was in the front seat (thank goodness – or motion sickness would have been a for sure) and we drove the 1.5 hours to Papa.  It was a little funny since we were a 11 car caravan rolling across the countryside- all in the name of the choir.  J

 

The conversation in the car was not as bad as I thought it would be.  Apparently people in the choir are a bit more fluent than they let on.  Joszi had studied in New Zealand and told us some funny stories about his time there.  Freddie – who is German and speaks fluent Hungarian, semi-fluent English and German – kept mixing up his languages as he was speaking.  He would ask me something in Hungarian, and then forget and say “argh – English” and ask again.  It was really quite funny since here I was tagging along with so many people who had studied different languages.  It was really quite embarrassing, but nice that they were able to communicate better than I had anticipated.  We talked about Germany, and how there is a really beautiful castle that (according to Joszi) looks like “Mickey Mouse’s house.”  His translations are SO funny – not intentionally, but it really is endearing that he tries so hard.  Keep in mind that his wife is in the back not communicating at all, and here level of hatred for me is probably increasing with every second that Joszi talks to me.   I told them about my palinka experience – and Joszi’s response was “I can see that you are strong, but palinka is stronger than you…” 

more later I have to go teach... stupid job getting in the way of blogging...