Campaign week at Eötvös!

This week is week two of the campaign weeks at school.  Each class of “school leavers” (12^th or 13^th grades) chooses a candidate from their class to run for the “king” of the school.  I have never seen productions like this before.  Each class has a program that they do after school.  This means that they put on a 60-70 minute show highlighting their class and king candidate.  One class did a karaoke show, one group did athletic stunts, three groups had famous Hungarian actors come and be present on their behalf, it’s been really interesting to watch.  The one common theme is that the students do things to make teachers look stupid.  The karaoke contest was between students and teachers, the sports activity had teachers participate, one program had teachers in an eating contest – it really has no limits.  I participated in two of the programs, both against my own will, but I couldn’t say no.  For the first program, I was given a pink polo shirt with a black playboy bunny on it – you may remember the shirts from the Salagavato dances – it’s the same class.  I was initially asked if I could attend their program.  It was the first one, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  Of course I would go… it sounds interesting.  The next day, I was informed that I would be Britney Spears and that I would sing four songs.  Wait – what?!  How did this go from me attending to me participating.  I was told by one girl that I would be the star of the show.  What?  This is exactly how I got into the movie mess… I said I would do one song – with karaoke lyrics and the actual song in the background.  They agreed… so I began to half heartedly practice “oops I did it again”  only to find out the day of the performance that – oops, they’d done it again.  There were no words (so I scrambled to print off the lyrics so I had something to work with).  There was no Britney in the background singing- it was straight up a keyboard and some kid who had graduated from the school.  There was no practice involved, and in the middle of the program they called me up to sing.  Seriously?!?!  The keyboardist asked me where I sang and I said “in the middle” and he started up.  Mind you – he started at the chorus, not the verse or the intro that I was expecting… and he was playing as if I sang bass.  Oh man- could it get any worse?  Yes it could.  I had backup dancers.  What?!!!  There were three cute girls who had rehearsed a routine to be the backup dancers for my big performance.  Oh well – here goes nothing… and let me tell you – it was nothing… but horrible.  Ugh.

The second program that I participated in had me in front of the school reading a Hungarian poem.  This poem is apparently one that every Hungarian child learns and so everyone knows it.  It’s called “mother’s chicken” (translated).  I was told that I would read the poem (which has 6 stanzas might I add) and a famous Hungarian actor would act out the poem.  I was not sure how that I was going to go, but I agreed – and began practicing.  I spent at least 6 hours practicing this poem.  I worked on it with my 9^th graders, and I listened to a recording of it on You Tube several dozen times.  Have I mentioned how difficult Hungarian as a language is?!  The day of the program, things were organized in a very Hungarian manner – which means, go with the flow.  I was told that they’d point at me when it was my turn.  Remember, this actor involved has never spoken to me, and we haven’t practiced exactly how he was going to “act” out the Mother’s Chicken poem, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  The actor was given instructions in Hungarian, and I began.  He was standing well within my personal bubble, and I was nervous enough as it is, so I stopped, looked at him and said point blank “why are you so close to me?”  He responded in English with “I don’t know – this is where they told me to stand.”  At this point, the emcees of the show stepped in and reiterated the instructions to Peter, and then he began to do what he thought was the expectation of him.  I’d read a stanza, and he’d say funny things about why it was written.  Then I’d read a stanza, and he’d make funny remarks.  He was evidently quite funny since the whole place was laughing – but I made him feel uncomfortable by asking what he was saying and stating that I didn’t trust him.  It was quite an awkward exchange, but I suppose that’s what made it funny in the end.  At any rate, I was congratulated on my near perfect pronunciation (yeah right) and finally my time in the spotlight was over.  Phew.  Now… all I have left to do is survive the showing of the movie I was in… wish me luck!!!

Winter in Tata

Well, I experienced my first “winter” day last week.  There was a mid-week ice storm here in most of Hungary.  There was quite slick ice and it made the walkways and streets slippery.  Now, coming from Minnesota, I know that you just keep even footing, don’t go too fast, and keep charging on – you’ll be fine.  In Hungary though, if you live on a hill, you don’t have to go to work because it’s too risky.  Buses stop running, because it’s not entirely safe (keep in mind that my students depend on the buses to get to their various towns and villages.  People stock up on paprikas just in case the stores are going to close.  Classes are cancelled to allow more time to get home in the daylight.  It’s CRAZY!  I felt totally confident in my Hungarian style moon-boots getting home with not so much as a slight of foot.  My students were clinging to each other for dear life as they made their way along the same paths.  Granted we have much more experience dealing with inclement weather – I had to remind my students that it was – with windchill- negative 41 degrees Celsius last week – so this was nothing.  The true beauty of the Hungarian way of dealing with this situation came after the ice stopped.  I have never seen such creative? ways of dealing with ice as I did here.  It started with sawdust – as if some second grader had barfed the length of the entire sidewalk and Mr. Ricker (my elementary school custodian) had come with the sawdust to clean it up.  Sawdust.  Ok… then I turned streets on my way home and we upped it to wood chips- like the kind my parents filled the strawberry beds with – wood chips.  OK…. THEN – we went right to mulch.  It didn’t do much, but I suppose it’s environmentally sound?  Last but not least, my favorite – crushed class 5 fill (as seen in the picture above).  Really?!  Trust me when I say that none of them really worked – certainly not like sand or salt does, but it was interesting to see what each turn would bring.

Eating out is quite a production...

This is a picture (that’s actually really funny) of me holding all of our money, and my cheque dejuners in the front.  (I don’t know how to spell cheque dejuner, and I’m too lazy to get up and look- I think it’s actually French anyways).  The first time I really used these coupons that the school gave me was on Friday night.  Megan and I went out and tried a new restaurant in Tata.  I don’t know what it’s called, but it was quite interesting.  It felt like a wine cellar with brick ceilings and walls with arches to make you feel like you were in a basement or something.  It sounds stupid the way I am describing it, but it was actually quite nice.  The dinner was good – we ordered chicken with cucumbers and potatoes – which in Hungarian apparently translates to pickles and tater-tots… but it was good.  I wanted to use up some of these coupons since I rarely get out – and why not?!  They are in 400 forint denominations… ($2.00) so I decided that I’d use as many as I could.  SIDENOTE: In Hungary when they bring the check, they hover to wait for your money – there isn’t a period where you can do the math and collect money from everyone – it’s now or never.  I got nervous because I was using the food-stamp coupons and decided I’d rip 12 of them off at the same time.  Well, try ripping out 12 checks from your check book at once, and see how that goes- not well.  I tore off the ends of about 10 of them, of course the end that has a numerical code that the vendor needs inorder to redeem the coupons.  Shit – the waitress kind of gasped as I did it, so I apologized and used my best Hungarian swear word- Bosmeg!  Megan was horrified and shushed me because I was spazzing by that time.  The waitress left and I managed to coerce the small pieces off the pad of coupons.  I fanned them out so she could see that I had them all, and put a 1000 forint bill on top of the whole thing (which was about 4x what she needed for a tip).  I wanted to bolt out as soon as possible, but as I turned to escape before she came back, I turned right into her carrying a large tray of food.  Yikes!  Argh.  I don’t think I can ever go back.  Oh well.  I got to use quite a few coupons! 

Weekend in Tata!!!!

Last weekend saw some new visitors in Tata.  Jamie, Briggi, Tara and Rob came to town.  Megan was here too, but I consider her more of a roommate than a visitor J  We were able to check out the “trendy” bar – which I will NOT be returning to – it’s trendy for teens… and the bar that’s “for people your age” according to the students.  We also SUCCESSFULLY ate dinner at the pirate bar- that's the picture of the food.  It was quite good!  I managed to spend my “cheque dejuner” coupons – (basically they are coupons to use at any restaurant or fast food place- I call them my Hungarian food stamps).  I have included some pictures of the visitors.

Warming House - Hungarian style

This is a picture of what I referred to as the “warming house.”  It’s actually a little stand sponsored by one of the restaurants.  They sell brats and such, but the big seller is the “forralt-bor” which is the hot wine.  It’s delicious and worth the 300 forint ($1.50)! 

Ice-flower festival

The Ice-flower festival was a couple of weekends ago – and let me tell you, it was the talk of the town of Tata.  There were vendors selling food, mulled wine and trinkets, there were ice-skating races (3km and 8km), lessons on how to “fancy” skate, and lots of faux hockey rinks.  It was quite nice to watch, and feel a part of as I participated in some of the events as well.  In the first picture, notice the bottom of that guy's stick - it's the most intense km marker I have ever seen!!!

Once a Hungarian...

While awkward to try and capture, it goes to show, Hungarians love their sandwiches.  This guy was eating one on the lake in the middle of the “Ice-flower” festival.  I swear, they never leave home without them.  I was describing the Chinese New Year today in class, and I made the reference “the Chinese set off fireworks like Hungarians eat sandwiches – they never leave home without them, and EVERY occasion calls for them.”  I don’t think my reference was really appreciated by my ninth graders.  Oh well- I can’t always be culturally sensitive can I?

Interesting Santas!!

I’m not sure what the tradition is, or where it came from, but Hungarians LOVE to hang Santa’s off their balconies or somewhere falling out of a window.  There are also very long ladders that Santa is climbing – maybe because the reindeer and sleigh is out of fashion here?  I don’t know.  I love it though!

the gift that keeps on giving

One of my students from last year, Hanan, recently sent me a lovely winter package.  Actually, she wasn't a student of mine, but she was on the Debate team, the Cross Country team and the Track and Field team.  At any rate, we have gotten to know each other very well the last few years, so apparently that means that I have earned a package.  She knit a scarf and mittens for me, included a blanket that has come in handy and some other winter treats - sweets and holiday lights!!  Her gift is extra special since it has given Boo hours of entertainment.  She likes to hide inside the box and relax a bit.  I don't know if I'm that scary to live with or what, but she really likes to play with the box and jump around in it.  So thanks Hanan!!!

...I'll never get it right...

So Last week I decided I’d head to TESCO since I hadn’t been there since almost Thanksgiving.  I really needed some cinnamon square cereal – I was totally out and I eat it every day for breakfast.  I have a new schedule – since after the holidays- so I don’t have a 6^th period on Tuesdays anymore.  I thought – what a good idea that I can head to TESCO early and still make it home while there is daylight.  So, I hoofed it down to the bus stop to catch the 1:40 bus.  As I was crossing the street to the stop (at 1:37) I saw a bus – and conveniently it said “TESCO” right on the front window.  Usually there is a number – 1 or 1E is the bus I was looking for, but what a deal that I have my own limo to TESCO.  Cool!  So I jumped on the bus, showed the driver my pass, and sat in the front row, eager for my adventure to the big store.  I had my backpack on, so I was sitting on the edge of the seat, and my TESCO bags in each hand – I was ready for this trip.  The busdriver said something to me, I didn’t know what.  I heard “… blah blah blah Tesco blah blah…”  I nod and say “igen” (yes).  I was thinking, I want to go to TESCO, sure – whatever you’re saying.  He repeated himself a couple of times, each time I nodded and assured him, “igen.”  I could tell that the other three women on the bus were talking about me, I wasn’t sure why, but whatever – I’m used to it.  The busdriver said his statement one more time, and I busted out my best Hungarian statement “unfortunately, I only speak a little Hungarian; I’m an English teacher” and smiled my big “I’m a foreigner so excuse whatever I do” smile.  He gave up and continued driving us to TESCO. 

SIDENOTE: I was telling my 9^th graders this story the next day (because what happened once I got to TESCO was the story-worthy part) when one of them interrupted me.  Little Nori raised her hand and said, “um Carla, the bus that says ‘TESCO’ on it is the one that picks up the workers… did you ride it the whole way there?”  Oh man… I stopped to look to see if she was joking, and she certainly was not.  Holy crap.  I rode the employee bus to TESCO – no wonder the busdriver kept asking me things – he was asking if I WORKED at TESCO, not if I wanted to go there.  ARRRGHGHGHGHGHGHG!!  Just when I think I’ve nailed it, I get screwed again.  Ugh – Tata and your buses!

At any rate, the “story-worthy” part happened after the bus incident.  I was preparing to catch the 2:40 bus home (which I actually belonged on) and was shooting out the door at 2:39 when the bus pulled away.  No problem, in each hour there are TWO buses that leave the TESCO – on the hour and either on the 20 or the 40.  So I walked over to check when the next one came, and of course, for whatever reason – there are NO buses that leave during the 3 O’clock hour.  So I had to sit at TESCO from 2:40 to 4:00 waiting for the next bus.  AND – the killer is… guess what I forgot to buy.  Cinnamon square cereal.  GEEZE.  Another day in the life of Carla.

From Russia... with Love?

Ukranian Prime Minister Tymoshenko and Russian Putin... Maybe if she loosened up that braid she'd relax a little bit.  We are deep in the midst of a crisis here in Europe.  Russia and Ukraine have not yet settled their dispute regarding gas flow through the pipelines from Russia to the rest of Europe.  Many European countries either rely on the Russian natural gas, or are at least 60%+ dependent on the Russian supplier.  As a result of the dispute between the two countries, Hungary is suffering.  Thus far, it hasn't truly hit me yet, save the fact that we cancelled a day of school to save in the heating, but many people are starting to feel the pinch.  Slovakia is 10 days from running out of gas, their solution is to fire up a Nuclear plant that they closed as part of the terms of their admittance to the EU.  Romania is suffering heavily, as is Bulgaria.  There are stories about this on the news every day, and yet there is still no resolve?  Keep your fingers crossed that this gets settled soon, as it is starting to affect the nation I'm now living in.

It's official... almost

As I returned to school the Monday following the break, I realized that I was very excited to get back and to see the students.  I have much the same feeling when I return to school at BHS, but I think that I finally felt comfortable here.  I have moved past the "survival" phase of life in Hungary, and I have really enjoyed the culture, the people and the students.  As a result of this, I am planning to extend my time here in Tata, through January of 2010.  I hope to return to BHS for the second semester of the 2009-2010 school year (if everything works out with HR - and I really hope that it does).   I have put things in the works on this end talking to the headmistress (who isn't thrilled about switching teachers mid-year, but she seems open) and on the MN end by contacting HR and the current principal of BHS to see if this is even possible.  Keep your fingers crossed that everything works out and that I will be able to enjoy a summer of traveling and teaching in Europe!

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

Never leave home without a sandwich...

How jealous was I when the man traveling across from me pulled out his sandwich?  Pretty darn jealous.  How I left on another train journey with no sandwich was beyond understanding... when will I learn?  What you can't see is that on the underside of his sandwich, a full paprika (pepper) is flattened to the bread so he gets a bite of it every time... I love Hungarians!

Székesfehérvár

The pictures are of the early ruins of the town, St. Stephen (founder of Hungary in 1000) is supposedly buried in the white tomb in the foreground of the picture.  The second pic is a monument to St. Stephen, next is a picture of the street, a picture of their famous clock, and another picture of the street.

I decided that I couldn’t spend 5 days in a row in Tata doing nothing, so on Saturday, I took off for Székesfehérvár.  I’ve talked about the drama in getting there in my post about the transportation system.  Here are some pictures from this cute town.  I read that it’s the oldest settlement in Hungary, and the Germans launched their last offensive from the streets of Székesfehérvár during World War II.  The “old town” has been preserved quite well, but everything outside of this small area was destroyed so Tesco and McDonalds has popped up close by.  At any rate, I had a wonderful day there, and I am glad I took the time to travel there. 

New Year's Eve

I ended up running into some students on New Year's Eve, and we enjoyed a beer and a glass of champagne together - it was low key, but I wasn't on my own, so it was nice.  (the students are 19 and the drinking age is 18 - not that I readily encourage drinking with students... it apparently is not out of the norm here.)

End of the trip...

We headed back to Budapest the next day, to regroup and catch up on some much needed rest.  I was excited to see Boo and to get back to Tata the following day - though she was not excited about her first train ride... 

Sound of Music Tour - name that movie location!

Salzburg

Vivvi and I met Megan in Salzburg, Austria.  The train ride there was only about 2 hours from Munich, and it was beautiful!  I was very excited to be there since I LOVE the Sound of Music – and the official Sound of Music tour was on our list of things to do.  Lucky for us, the hostel we were staying in played the movie EVERYNIGHT!  I’m sure that gets old if you work there, but that is why people were there – so it made us happy.  Before Megan arrived, Vivvi and I headed out to a grocery store (thanks to the advice of our Mexican hostel-mate) to get some food for the following day.  Sunday is interesting in Europe.  Everything closes down – I mean EVERYTHING.  So if we wanted to eat, we learned that we’d better hustle to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and such.  We settled on salad, chips, wine, some fruit and dip for crackers.  It wasn’t the most healthy, but whatever – the salads counted for something.  Back at the hostel, we sat reading in the lobby, along with about a dozen soccer teams from around Europe, one of which was Hungarian.  I don’t know what they were there for – must have been a tournament, but there were kids ALL OVER.  Promptly at 8 we sat in the designated “movie watching area” and sang enjoyed the showing of the movie that made Salzburg famous.  It was great – I hadn’t seen it in a while, but I still knew about 98% of the lyrics by heart and I sang along freely.  We were embarking on the big tour the next morning, so I went to bed directly after the movie.  

...Always be on your best behavior... you never know who is watching

The pictures are Matt (the Johnnie) and I, Marcello the Italian and I, Marty, Lon, Me and Matt, and Lon and I.

As I was relaxing and reading the fourth book in Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series at the hostel, I had an interesting experience.  There were two young men at the computers in the common room.  They were discussing how to get to Neuschwanstein as it’s a little confusing.  One was chiming in with the train times, and the other was talking about ticket prices.  I thought to myself, I should really go help them because I have been there recently, and it would be easy for me to tell them how to get there, but I sat and continued reading.  About 5 minutes later, one of the young men stood up from the computer, turned around, looked me in the eye and said, “Staffa?”  It was a former Burnsville student, Lon Stousland, at the same hostel as me in Munich Germany.  I was so shocked- it was funny and awkward at the same time.  As it turned out, we were sleeping in the same room and everything.  So, I decided I’d buy him a beer – and the evening began.  As Lon and his friend Marty and I sat there, another weird coincidence occurred.  I was wearing my “MN Twins” shirt, so maybe I was more of a target, but two young men came into the bar, and as we started talking, I found out that one of them currently goes to St. Johns, and is going to move in with Bobby Klint, the younger brother of one of my friends from high school.  What a small world!!!  Once the rest of my team had awoken from their rests, we headed out to yet another beer house and then returned to the hostel for some more drinks.  It was quite an unusual evening.