Paprika Festival - Kalocsa

Oh…… Kalocsa.  Saturday we traveled to Kalocsa – Friday night Megan and Lisa (new teacher in Megan’s town) came to Tata, and we went by bus to Budapest (1.5 hours) and from Budapest to Kalocsa (3 hours by bus).  We met up with Hanna and Eliza in Budapest – and as we boarded the bus, we realized that there were NO seats left.  Wait, how long is our trip?  Yup – three hours.  Ick.  So, the 5 of us jammed into the stair well, Hanna and Eliza down below, Megan, Lisa and I hovering from above.  It was not the most comfortable way to travel, but we really had no choice.  We stood for an hour, and then people eventually started getting off.  There was an entire aisle of people standing, so we weren’t the only ones.  At any rate, once we were allowed to sit, it wasn’t that bad.

We arrived in Kalocsa in one piece and ready to party.  We went there for two reasons 1.) to visit Franny one of our other American teachers, and 2.) for the Paprika festival.  Megan and I checked into Hotel Kalocsa (not as nice as the one in Gyor, but whatever) and met the group at the festival.  Kalocsa is a cute town, probably about the same size as Tata.  Everything was closed down because the emphasis was on the festival.  Once we arrived at the actual festival, things got a bit crazy.  You purchased your ticket, which  got you a plastic bowl and 4 pieces of bread – and you sought out the paprika gulyash you that you wanted.  It was a bit difficult because we didn’t know the difference between all the gulyash dishes, but luckily we met up with someone who knew Franny and he helped decipher the dishes.  It was almost as if it was a contest – everyone setting up their family or group tent to cook their gulyash.  In addition to helping us choose our paprika, Mate also gave us our first shot of palinka.  You can’t have a Hungarian festival without palinka – and we were thrilled to christen our trip to Kalocsa.  We returned to our table with a potato pancake and some gulyash and were ready to go.  After the gulyash, we decided to go check out the other tents to see what else was going on.  We wandered through the different parts of the festival – and this is where things went from bad to worse… I was on a mission to see how much free palinka we could get – and unfortunately I was very successful.  I approached two or three different gulyash stands and scored palinka at each of them – for no charge.  One of these stands was where we met Sily and his friends – where we sealed our fate with paprika flavored palinka.  Yeah- pepper flavored alcohol.  Sily began to talk to us – mostly Eliza since she was the most fluent of us – I just made stupid phrases and signs to him.  After way too long (and way too much palinka) we left and headed back to Franny’s (not before giving Sily – pronounced like Sealy posturepedic beds- my phone number).  We went back to Franny’s for a short while and then headed out to dinner.  There is a really nice Italian place near her house, so that seemed perfect.  Vincenso, the owner, was more than thrilled to have us there.  After we ordered, I decided (in a palinka inspired stupor) that my help was an asset in the kitchen.  So I found an apron hanging near the kitchen door, put it on and asked if I could help (in broken Hungarian of course).  Next thing I know, I’m shredding cheese, stirring pesto, deep frying potatoes and cooking chicken in frying pans.  As I’m “helping” Istvan (the assistant cook) make dinner, Vincenso brings in a bottle of wine and two glasses – just what I needed… I took my role in the kitchen very seriously – particularly when preparing dishes that were for other patrons – not my group of friends.  I don’t know why I was inspired to start cooking with Istvan and Vincenso- but I had a blast… and the rest?  Is a blur… I am not a huge drinker - especially when it comes to hard liquor - or REALLY hard liquor like Palinka, but for some reason I was on a mission to get free palinka.  It was not a good choice, and I don't advocate it to anyone... and I have 14 reasons why that is the case... Sily sent me 14 text messages that night - in a time spanning from about 6:30 - 12:30am - all in Hungarian.  I have no idea what they say - I had a couple of them translated by a colleague - but she was getting uncomfortable so I stopped.  He hasn't called me since, but whoa - calm down Sily....  Nothing says I love you like an indecipherable text message...