Reflections on Budapest and Tata

I’m going to be a bit disconnected in my reflections here, because I am trying to cover the last week or so in a couple of posts to bring us up to speed… sorry for the rambling.

 

Well, it’s only been a couple of days since I left Budapest, but I kind of miss it already.  There is a certain energy that comes with a big city, and a comfort level with so many things that are not so foreign (Subway, McDonalds, Nike, etc.).  I was in Budapest with 30 other English speakers, and I always had someone to hang out with (whether Megan wanted to admit that she hung out with me or not).  Many of the people I encountered in Budapest knew a bit of English, enough so that I was successful in my endeavors out.  However, at the same time – Tata has a quiet charm to it.  I HAVE to use Hungarian here because there is not as much English floating around here, but I feel like that is part of the experience.  Sure, there isn’t a McDonalds here (Maki to those in Hungary) but I am getting out to local eateries (moreso once I get paid I think) and my comfort zone has been blown out of the water.  Having said that, there aren’t the museums and cultural events here that like the ones in Budapest – but again, there is something to be said for a small(er) town.

 

Let me describe Tata… it’s the cutest European town EVER.  Part of my drive to move to Europe was to live in a place that has amazing architecture, friendly people and an opportunity for me to learn about a new culture, and myself at the same time.  Tata invites all of that.  It is a small town (25,000 people) about 40 miles outside of Budapest (an hour by train).  There is a main route that goes through town where you can find numerous small grocery stores and drugstores, a Dutch cheese shop, a tourist information center, and many other small businesses.  There is a movie theater (with occasional English subtitles) and lots of Pizza places.  There is a Tesco – the British version of WalMart at the edge of town.  There is ice cream EVERYWHERE – which is awesome, and two beautiful lakes.  There is a castle – not like the ones I imagined, yet with it’s own charm.  From the castle, you can look across the lake to my school that perches over the “Old Lake” with a sense of authority.  It’s an old school (one of the buildings is 200 years old with minor renovations) and the “new building” is 20 years old.  Hopefully soon I’ll get to put up some pictures. 

 

The people here have been so nice!  My host teacher (at least I think she’s my host teacher- she picked me up the first day, but I haven’t seen much of her since- more on that later) Mirtill is a babe.  I am sure that the boys go wild if they have her for a teacher.  She and Peter came to pick me up in Budapest, and when they arrived, I was stuck in the computer room trying to help Stan figure out the internet.  Sidenote – Stan is an older gentleman who had never used the internet before arriving in Budapest.  For the last 7 years, he paid someone named Rice to check his e-mail and tell him the important stuff.  Stan attempted to learn the ins and outs of the internet in a mere 4 days, and let’s just say that he has a lot of learning to do.  At any rate, I was not in the lobby like I should have been, because I was explaining “the google” to Stan.  When I got to the lobby Mirtill and Peter were waiting for me.  Little did they know the amount of luggage that I had… “Hogy vogy Magyurl ‘embarrassing’” was a question I had for our Hungarian leader, Hajni – it means “how do you say in Hungarian, ‘I’m embarassed’?”  Peter spent a good 15 minutes contemplating, rearranging, stuffing, sorting and shoving my luggage into their large car.  My biggest fear was that they were going to arrive in a Fiat or a Smart car and I’d be screwed.  Don’t get me wrong, there was conversation about making a return trip to get my belongings, but we made it all work in the end. 

 

The drive is beautiful.  Heading West – towards Austria- the terrain becomes a bit more hilly and scenic with farms and small towns along the freeway.  It is absolutely breathtaking to come from the flat Pest and hilly Buda to the western part of Hungary.  As we exited off the freeway toward Tata, the first thing I saw was a Tesco- which would quickly become one of my favorite places in town…more on that later.  We drove through town to meet the Headmistress at the school.  The school building, which I have described in a little detail earlier, is AMAZING.  It’s old, but for some reason, that doesn’t matter.  It’s on a campus that sits above the lake and has the most amazing view ever.  I’ll post pictures.  My desk in the English office overlooks the lake – maybe they are trying to entice the foreigner to love Hungary. 

 

There are three or four buildings on the campus of the school, but I only got to see the one on the first day.  Then Mirtill and Peter brought me to my apartment in town.  The apartment buildings are very socialist looking – rectangular and concrete.  Last year, there was an effort to make Tata more beautiful so someone came to town, whose job was to specialize in colors I was told, and she chose colors to paint the buildings.  So my apartment building is bubble gum pink and lemon yellow.  Apparently the colors caused quite a scandal in town, but they remain, so who knows.  The apartment is large by Hungarian (and maybe even American) standards.  I am on the second floor- which is technically the third floor, but they refer to the first floor as the “downstairs” here.  So poor Peter had to lug most of my luggage up to the third floor.  There isn’t a ton for furnishings, but enough to get by – a living room with what seems to be a large flip-n-@$%@ like the one I had in college.  I think it’s supposed to be the bed, but I use it as a couch in the living room.  There are two chairs and a desk in the living room as well.  I have a lot of storage in cupboards – most of them have crap left from other teachers in them still, but there are some gems too.  I have about 17 different “learn Hungarian” books, some old Newsweeks and many books in English, some that I’ll read – and some that I might burn for heat.  The bedroom is large with another flip-n-@$%@ and a twin bed.  I moved one of the closet storage things into the bedroom so I have most of my clothes in there.  There is a nice kitchen and a pantry that have lots of things left by the last teachers like popcorn makers, coffee pots etc. 

 

There is a separate toilet room from bath/shower room and the washing machine is where the bath/shower are.  There is also storage in the hallway as you walk in, and there are pearls of leftovers in there too.  I’m sure I’ll be adding to the crap left at the place once I depart, but who knows- maybe I’ll never come home.

 

After Peter got all of my luggage up here, Mirtill, Peter and I walked to the center of town.  We passed a roundabout that has a beautiful fountain in it and many other small gardens on the way – it is after all- the town of water and flowers.  We got some ice cream and headed back to my apartment.  After Peter and Mirtill left, I assessed the situation, and avoided unpacking by walking to the Tesco.  It was a 2 mile walk, which isn’t bad, but I had tons of stuff to carry home, so I decided to take the bus.  I had no idea where the bus would be headed, but I figured if it headed left I’d be headed back towards town, and if it went right – I was screwed.  So, after I loaded up all my tote bags, I waited at the stop for the bus.  Sidenote – Hungarians are all about bringing shopping bags with them wherever they go.  My mom, again infinitely wise, gave me a super cute tote to bring with me, but it doesn’t hold all of the things I can get at Tesco.  So, you can either buy a bag at the store that can be re-used, or you bring your own.  It doesn’t matter if you are shopping at Sparr and have a Tesco bag or vice versa- they just want you to bring something to carry your own goods in.  In fact, several people have actual baskets (as in  - a tisket a tasket) to carry their goods in.  It’s quite a juxtaposition of the society here – they have their basket full of bread next to them as they surf the internet at McDonalds… It’s very 1970’s meets 2008.  I’m not sure exactly how to explain these weird scenarios.  So- back to the bags, I have several larger totes now, and my cute collapsible one too.  At any rate, I sat next to a woman at the bus stop, and she started talking to me, so of course my response was “I don’t speak Hungarian, I’m an American” (in Hungarian of course) and she let me be.  I saw that she had a 200 Forint note in her hand, so I pulled out one too, and asked if that amount of money was ok, and she said it was.  So the bus came, and I sat with bated breath to see if I was in fact going to head in the right direction to my stop or not.  Sure enough, after a couple of strange twists and turns, I ended up at my stop and walked back to my apartment.  I spent the afternoon cleaning and organizing and unpacking.