holy moly.... I'm in a choir

Where do I begin… I had choir last night.   Yeah… I joined a choir.  My colleague Erika (the conservative one who skipped the party at school) is in a choir and she invited me to come.  Well, as you may have picked up, a “maybe” means “yes I’d love to” so I was “collected” at 6:15 for choir practice.  I have had some choir experience in my high school years, and I always enjoyed choir, but this was a totally different situation.  We were the first ones there, so Kata (the leader of the choir) showed us around her home.  It was an old peasants home that was pieced together with the shed.  It’s tough to describe it, but it sloped up a hill and at the top of the hill, you could see Calvary Hill.  There isn’t any significance to this particular Calvary Hill, but it’s representative of the one Jesus died on.  Needless to say, Kata is very religious and explained Calvary Hill for a good 10 minutes with Erika translating.  While we were looking at the yard and garden, her family of peacocks came out to check out the new people.  Yes, I said it, peacocks.  I felt like I was in an old Little House on the Prairie episode with the gardens and the birds… then the choir started to show up.  Again, we are on Hungarian time, so when Erika told me that it started at 6:30, it was no surprise that our first notes were sung at 7:15.  I felt confident in my singing ability prior to showing up, but when we started our Hungarian warm-ups, I knew that this was going to be a bit more difficult than I had expected.  The 16 of us were gathered around this nice older lady- (Kata) saying things that are supposed to help us annunciate, and yet that’s difficult to do for a non-native speaker.  There are, however, two Russians and a German in the bunch, all with much better Hungarian than mine, but there are three other people who speak a bit of English, so I was okay.  I’m the youngest member by a long shot, but I think two of the women are about 35-40 and then the rest are old… really old.  The oldest guy is about 70 I think.  They are very nice and sweet though. 

 With each new song, I had to try and not only sound out the words, but follow the part of music that I was singing (alto) – this is no easy task.  I did well, at least I thought so, but it was a challenging endeavor.  I was thrilled when one song came with verses in German and English – yet – we stuck to the verse in Hungarian. Dang.  Well, we got through the singing, and then it was on to the announcements.  Kata showed off a certificate and a medal of sorts.  Apparently the choir had won a gold medal from the town of Tata for it’s arts contributions to the community.  Yes, that’s right- I’m a member of an award winning choir.   After the medal and certificate were passed around, it was time to talk about the field trip.  Yea, a field trip.  The choir is traveling to Papa, Hungary in two weeks to perform at two church services.  Kata asked Erika if I would like to go, and when I said that I’d have to check my schedule, Erika responded with a resounding “Igen” (“yes”).  Ok, so now I’m going on an overnight field trip with the choir.  The funny thing is that Papa is where my friend Megan lives- so I’m really excited to go – but holy shit.  I’m singing in a Hungarian choir in church.  WHAT??

 The last announcement was about an additional performance that the men of the choir were going to do.  They will be singing at a local Kocsma (we learned in orientation that Kocsma means “dive bar” in Hungarian, and it’s typically for men after work- not a ladies place in most cases).  Well guess what – I’m going to see them sing even if I’m the only girl.  The really exciting thing is that it is the night before our big field trip!!!  A whole weekend of CHOIR!

 After singing and announcements, we retired to the kitchen where there was food galore served.  We met Kata’s husband Steve who helped to serve the food.  Erika told me that Steve was a good photographer and she told me he had a book about Tata.  I thought for a minute, and asked if it was black on the front with a lot of pictures of Calvary Hill- and she replied with a strong yes.  Holy crap – he was the photographer of the book that Megan stated showed pictures of “where Hungarians go to die.”  Admittedly, it painted a bleak picture of Tata with some pictures in the snow and void of life, but they were artistic.  So, my coffee table book author is now serving me Palinka.  Yeah- homemade Palinka.  I know I’ve mentioned it before, but Palinka is the Hungarian Brandy that is SUPER strong, particularly when homemade- and here I am with a shot of it in front of me.  We passed around pieces of bread – LOTS of bread (of course) and homemade wine to follow.  Conversation was energetic, but in Hungarian so I was left out of much of it.  I managed to try several different types of jellied meats and pate in addition to different cheeses.  We were there until 10 pm… what a group.  Not only am I a member of an award winning choir, I will be going on my first field trip with Hungarians to scenic Papa.  Want to come watch us perform???  Yeesh.

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Tata

10. Super cute roundabout with a pretty fountain in the middle

9. You can model or test out ANY new fashion.  Truly, anything goes here

8. Nice running path around the lake

7. Lots of tended flower gardens – Tata is the "city of flowers and water"…

6. You can get whiskey or Red Bull flavored ice cream

5. Bubble gum pink and lemon yellow apartment buildings

4. The pleasure boat that you can ride around the lake (provided you have 12 people)

3. The Castle is interesting and somewhat famous

2. THE GREEN AND WHITE TRAIN

1. I’m here!

Update on the Train...

Apparently several Tata residents saw me on the train with Megan on Saturday.  I was told by at least a half a dozen students that they saw me, and my colleague Anna’s husband (they were the couple that drove me to the train station to pick Megan up) saw me too.  He was driving and wasn’t sure if it was me, but told Anna that he saw the American enjoying Tata.  So I’ve been outed as a train rider, but I don’t care – I loved it and would do it again in a heart beat. 

Signs

Should I be concerned that a black cat roams freely about the school grounds?  It’s kind of farrell looking, and the kids make noise at it every time it comes near, but it’s the school mascot of sorts I guess.  Weird.

Choir practice tonight...

Well, I’ve done it again.  Erika is going to “collect me” today at 6:15 to go to choir practice.  I was singing ABBA with her kids, and she pegged me as someone who has sang, so yeah.  I’m in a Hungarian choir.  Couldn’t say no.  Knowing Erika, these are all conservative religious freaks, BUT she is nice enough, and maybe this will help in my quest to learn more Hungarian.  Wanna come to a concert?

Everything is an adventure?

It seems as if I am moving in slow motion in Europe.  It stems from the fact that nine times out of ten I have no idea what is going on, or how to do things, so I take longer to assess, observe and then act.  Even the smallest things become a bit intimidating and a challenge.  Grocery shopping for example – it begins before you even enter the store.  In my Sparr store, you NEED to have a cart or they’ll kick you out.  It doesn’t matter if you put one pack of gum in there, you need a cart.  By the way, these are the carts that charge money- remember my first trip to Tesco?  Once you get a cart, you have to navigate the produce section which I have talked about before .  You have to be able to differentiate between the water bottles with the pink, green or blue caps.  You have to be able to identify the products, calculate the cost in dollars so you know how much you’re spending, and make the decision about whether or not you have the appropriate dishes to prepare the product.  Then, there are the pop bottles that come in 2 liters that are refundable, and those that aren’t.  So when you get to the checkout and have calculated exactly how many forint you’ll need, and they tack on the deposit for your sprite bottle you get flustered and after a few “Bocsanats” (excuse me, sorry) you just hand them the biggest bill you have so you don’t waste any more time.  Then they glare at you because you have handed them the equivalent of $50 for a $6 purchase. 

 

There is the street crossing.  I see cross walks, but do they mean anything?  I got yelled at by an old lady for not crossing at a time that was hazardous to my health.  Dare I play the game where I start across in the hopes that the other side will cross.  Add in the roundabout traffic- are they turning right or continuing around the circle.  Really?  It’s deadly out there.  I have become much more aggressive since I moved to the thriving metropolis of Tata, but you just never know.  Apparently Jeff Walsh instilled a true sense of safety first when crossing the street. 

 

Clothing and hair are an adventure- which reminds me, I’ll need a haircut soon… yikes.  There are shades of red and orange hair that only my aunts and cousins on the Staffa side have perfected.  It’s the trashiest look ever –and it’s EVERYWHERE.  The mullet is alive and well, in addition to the faux-hak.  Really, the hair is reflective of the 1970s in some cases, and just your average trashy society in other cases.  There are white blondes with dark roots- and they style it with pride.  White pants live strong after labor day (though the concept of labor day blows the average Hungarian’s mind.  “You don’t have to work, on a day that honors laborers?”  They have an international workers day on March 15^th – I’m looking forward to it since I didn’t get MY labor day off).  There are tevas with white socks, men in capris, stone washed jeans, shoulder pads – it’s crazy.  And yet, I got funny looks this morning when I left home with my pants rolled up circa 1985 to avoid the puddles from the rain.  Really a-hole, you’re looking at MY outfit?  Take a look around buddy- this is YOUR country… take pride. 

 

It took at least 10 minutes to figure out how to work my toilet in the apartment.  They have funny flushing here- it’s got to be the most water wasting option, but essentially you turn on a strong stream of water until your toilet contents are gone.  My toilet is an old school pull the chain, but I had been trained to look for a spigot of sorts… so whatever. 

 

I went to an electronics store in Tatabanya, and before I entered, I assessed the situation.  There were lockers outside of the store with backpacks and bags from other stores.  I decided that they must not allow large bags into the store, and I had my back pack on.  So instead of getting accosted at the door, I was going to nip this situation in the bud and just go ahead and put my bag in a locker.  I approached the lockers with caution, observing and assessing as I inched forward.  Of course the instructions are in Hungarian (duh) and after about a minute long staring contest, the lockers won.  The security guard came up to me to help, but only confused me more.  He asked for my name, and only on the 3^rd try did I understand what he was saying.  I walked with him over to a clip board and signed my name next to #11.  He gave me a key and then proceeded to indicate that after I was done shopping I was to return the key at this table.  He walked me over to the locker and opened it for me, shoved my bag in and gave me the key.  Into the store I went.  I was looking for some speakers for my computer to make the music louder when I play it in class.  There were several sets of speakers, and they were not necessarily lined up with their prices.  So when someone asked if they could help me find anything (at least that’s what I think he said)  I told him I didn’t speak Hungarian and motioned to ask if the speakers I had in my hand were a particular price.  He took the speakers, scanned them and asked for my payment.  Awesome.  I guess these are the speakers I wanted.  Thank you very much – now I’ll go retrieve my backpack from the locker.  Easier said than done.  I couldn’t get the key to come out of the lock once I got my bag, but after about three minutes, I finally got it.  Yeesh.  One of these days I’ll take on the Hungarians and their demands and just say that that is NOT what I want, but this was already a stressful situation stemming from the key incident, so I let it go.

Sunday in Tata

Sunday consisted of more Autobusz roulette.  After we got Megan to the train station, using a bus might I add, and I ran home from the station by way of the lake, I decided to go to Tatabanya.  There is a “mall” there with a McDonalds that has free wireless internet.  Don’t ask me why, but it’s awesome, provided you can get there.  I waited patiently at my bus stop for the bus that read “Tatabanya” on it, with my 250 forint in hand.  After three busses passed by, mine finally came.  I still don’t know how to read the different columns on the bus schedule, there is surely one for weekends, but whatever.  I just sat and waited.  I got to Tatabanya no problem, but as I was riding the short distance between the towns, I remembered it was Sunday.  As we were passing the better part of Tata, I was noticing that EVERYTHING was closed. Surely a mall was open for a bit on Sunday right?  They had to be.  Well, it was too late now, I was on my way.  I got off at the end of the road which stopped below the Media Mart at the train/bus station.  It was perfect.  I observed (of course) other people entering the mall and all was well.  I ordered a “middle” chocolate shake (medium to Hungarians) which is actually very small, but did the trick and I set up my computer.  Not only was the mall open, but I was near a store with tinted windows that advertised Lotto and gaming.  Very well dressed people were entering this tinted “store” and the whole thing just looked sketchy.  I have no idea what was really going on in there, but this is Europe and anything goes, so I stayed away. 

Saturday with Megan

My first weekend spent in Tata!!  I bailed last week, but I was ready to tackle the tiny town with Megan and show off all the places I know about (ok, both of the places I know about… the castle and my school).  We set off after a breakfast of bread and juice (I’ll write about the food at a later date- but there is a TON of bread here.  No Atikins diets here that’s for sure).  We walked to the TourInform shop, which has tourist info about the town and maps and such, as we approached, I found out that it was closed.  What the hell.  It’s a tourist town, and you are closed on a WEEKEND?  Ugh.  Hungary.  Anyways, we walked the path that I take in the morning to get to school, but we actually stopped at the castle this time.  I decided that it was high time that I took my inaugural tour of the castle that is so famous.   We found the ticket office, and I saw a photocopy of different id’s on the wall, one being a student id suggesting that there would be discounts for students.  I busted out my international teacher’s card, and she basically shot me down and charged me full price – 600 forint.  When Megan (who is 27) went to pay, she knew that the lady didn’t take the teacher id, so she didn’t show hers.  The woman charged us and gave us the receipt with the total on it.  900 forints.  Wait.  She told me I was 600 forints- and then pointed at Megan to charge her 300?  Was I getting charged more because I was a teacher?  What was happening here?  Apparently I am old enough to be Megan’s mother or something, and so she was charged a child’s, or maybe student, rate.  Eff you Tata castle.  I don’t look any older than she does. 

 

Oh well.  The Castle was nice on the inside, of course 90% of it was in Hungarian so we had no idea what we were looking at, but it was still neat to see.  At the very top, there was a little lady with postcards and books of the castle.  Earlier that morning, Megan and I discussed how much time was appropriate to let go by before you cut someone off to say that you don’t understand them.  Well, we totally over stepped the boundary with this sweet old lady.  Even though I told her we didn’t understand, we don’t speak Hungarian, often times since I said it in Hungarian, they just ignore what I was saying, or I said it wrong and they don’t understand me either.  At any rate, Megan got a post card, and we were going to continue to the outdoor café that was right behind this lady.  Unfortunately, she pointed her finger and motioned to use that we should continue upstairs and not enter the café.  At least that’s what we interpreted her action to be, but there was not an upstairs, so we just left.  Ugh.

 

We walked up to my school, and then explored the older part of Tata.  As we got closer to the midday, the head intensified (30 degrees Celsius – Celsius?  Centigrade?  I don’t actually know what the “C” stands for, I just know that it was really hot!!)  We stopped at a little place for lunch.  It was a nice cafeteria type place – but as we are foreigners, it took us a minute to figure out what was going on.  We ordered from the young cashier and ended up with huge plates that we didn’t really expect.  As we paid and sat down, more people were coming into the café, and we realized that, once again, we had biffed.  They (clearly knowing what they were doing) started at the other end of the counter, used trays, and as this was happening, Megan and I just sat and watched.  Sidenote: I have learned to become an observer.  At the grocery store, I watch in the produce area- sometimes you have to weigh your produce, sometimes they have a station where someone does it for you, and sometimes the cashier does it at the checkout area.  I watch at the check out, what are people using to pay, do they take credit cards, should I leave the tote bags in the cart until I’m finished, or start packing as they are ringing my order.  There are lots of things to observe and learn from. 

 

After lunch, we stopped and got some ice cream.  Again, another experience.  We were looking at the flavors and as Megan pointed to the berry mix, the woman scooped it and handed it to her.  Be careful where you point, because it will be yours.  She only gave one scoop, and since I thought it would be rude to get more if Megan only got one scoop, I followed suit with a scoop of chocolate.  After we left, I asked how her ice cream was, and she basically said, “well, it’s not really the kind I wanted, and I wanted more, but I get nervous when ordering.”  Lesson to those traveling in foreign countries (myself included) don’t just give up if you aren’t getting what you want.  Don’t be too aggressive, but really – if you want three scoops, ask for three scoops, or at least make motions to try and get what you want. 

 

After our ice cream experience, we walked back toward my place with the intention of taking a nap.  However, we ran across the green and white sightseeing train that tours the major areas of Tata.  I asked the driver what time it left, and he told us at 1:00 – which was in 45 miuntes.  We rested by the lake for the 45 minutes (watching as the pleasure boat traveled around the lake.  Megan told me, as I longed to go on the pleasure boat, that I had to choose- the train or the boat.  She could only handle one as “tours” were not her thing.  I’m still trying to convince her to do the segues in Budapest with me.  Anyhow, we returned to the train and as I confidently marched up to the driver to pay our 500 forint, he started talking to me in Hungarian and refused my money.  Hmph.  Confidence shot – again.  Why wouldn’t he take my money?  Could we go for free since we didn’t speak Hungarian?  What was happening here.  Hmmm… so I backed away, and watched.  The observer is a foreigners best friend.  Apparently, though he had sat there in his train for the 45 minutes that we were by the lake, he was NOT the train that was going to leave at 1:00.  We waited and another train passed by in the other direction, and he pointed at that one.  Evidently we were going to ride that one.  Well where was it going then – why was it traveling in the other direction?  Were we supposed to catch it somewhere else?  Oh shit.  Now what.  Luckily for us, there was another couple there who had money in hand, and were not concerned once the other train passed by, so, we just waited with them, not knowing what our train fate would be.  Thankfully, the other train returned and we boarded.  This is a fairly aggressive train for it’s looks.  It rolls through Tata in the midst of traffic, travels on the path around the lake, even off roading when necessary.  There was a truck of kayaks blocking the path at one point on the lake, and the driver took us through some trees and around the truck.  Clearly this was not his first time driving this bad boy.  As we were traveling through Tata, if we passed anyone who could be a teenager, Megan would ask “is that one of your students?” and I would always respond with “nem” (no) they aren’t my students.  Until, as we were coming around the lake, I hear “Hello Carla” (with the rolled R as they do here in Hungary).  It was cute.  We toured the campground/resort area that was further down the lake, which Megan accurately described as very “Dirty Dancing.”  There were old school cafés and restaurants, ice cream vendors and lots of bikes and pedestrians.  We traveled around the second lake, and through town.  Much to Megan’s dismay, we passed many of the sites we saw on foot, which we could have avoided doing had we known about the train earlier.  At any rate, it was fun to have Megan there to explore my town a bit more. 

 

Post train, we decided to get a drink by the lake, and we ran into some very nice people from the Netherlands.  When I asked if we should visit the Netherlands, I’m pretty sure they thought I meant their home – and after a short hesitation, they said “yes, come visit!” 

 

On our way home, we stopped at the Sparr (grocery store) to seek out some snacks and ice cream.  We ran into some other Americans there who were in Tata for work.  One of them asked me how long I had lived in the United States to attain such an accent free command of the English language.  When I told him I had lived there for all of my 31 years, he laughed and realized that I was actually from the United States.  Once we had relaxed a bit, we decided to use my gas stove for the first time since I’d been here.  Megan has used hers, and it only took her 7 matches, so we were going to try and attack mine using less than 7.  No question about it, the gas stove scares the shit out of me.  There is a large propane tank sitting right next to the stove, and it just does not seem safe.  After we attempted to measure out deciliters of milk and water to boil, we got the stove going with 6 matches.  We went out later that night for a couple drinks and then crashed after a long fun day in Tata.  

Friday night in Tata...

Friday came with welcome thoughts of the weekend.  I taught my 9^th graders TGIF- in addition to “straight pimpin” but that’s for a different story.  I had 5 classes today, and two of them were double sized because Zsuza was gone somewhere.  Sheesh.  The 10^th graders, who the American teacher had last year, must have not believed that I was serious about anything.  The American teacher from last year is known for a couple of things- going to the Tesco (Wal-Mart) every Thursday, playing poker, and not really doing much in class.  Well, having me enter the room was a bit of a culture shock for them, but they’ll get used to it.  I have no pity for 10^th graders in the USA or in Europe.  My 11^th graders were working with the fall, winter and spring sports programs that Burnsville started putting out under the athletic director Scott Garvis.  They were to choose a team and give me 5 statements about the team.  Depending on the ability I had them create questions as well.  The students of course loved this, because they got their first glimpse into my American High School.  They were busy taking cell phone pictures of many of the “good looking ones” and judging what the difference between Nordic and alpine skiing was.  They asked where the handball team was, and when I told them that I had only seen handball for the first time in the Olympics, they chided me for my lack of worldly sporting knowledge.  Oh well.  I end friday with one section of the 9^th graders, and they are really fun – so things were good.

 

After 5 lessons at school (which is quite a load here, but wouldn’t really be if I was at home) I decided to ride the high of my previous night’s performance in town.  I was going to ride the bus TO the Tesco.  I was going to stop this foolishness of walking two miles to the store, and I was going to ride the bus both ways.  Well – that was the plan anyhow…  So I confidently had my 180 forint out, and stood with pride at the bus station.  I even ventured over to look at the schedule, pretending that I knew what all the bus numbers and times meant, checked my watch and returned to my spot to wait for the bus.  I was sure that those around me believed that I was a local Hungarian just interested in riding the local bus, because that’s what local people do.  The bus came, I got on, delivered my 180 forint and sat down.  I wasn’t sitting very long though, because this bus turned about 300 yards up the road and stopped at the town bus station.  Everyone on the bus got off, and he stopped the engine.  So, I too got off the bus and began to walk confidently.  I wasn’t sure where exactly I was walking, but there was a student of mine on the bus as well, and he kept looking at me wondering if I knew what I was doing since I just paid to ride the bus for two whole minutes.  I am a firm believer in doing everything with confidence, so I marched to a bus schedule on the side of the building, again portraying my obvious expertise of the bus system, and stood there long enough to try and convince this student that I knew what I was doing and that this was all a part of the master plan.  As soon as he rounded the corner though, I hung my shoulders at my first aborted attempt to get to the Tesco by bus.  I ran into two other students waiting there, and when I asked them if they knew which bus went to the Tesco, they laughed and said they were waiting to go to Budapest – they had no idea which bus went there.  (as if I were beneath them because I actually live in Tata, as opposed to living here during the school week).  Ugh.

 

I crossed the street to the smaller grocery store that is literally a football field away from my apartment and picked up some groceries there, instead of exploring the treasures of the Tesco.  I admit defeat on this occasion, but I am not finished with you Tata bus system. 

 

That night was the “party” at school.  Talk about awkward.  First of all, one thing that must be understood is that Hungarians don’t really operate on the clock that Americans do.  When they say 8:00, it means 8:15.  When they say 6:00, they really mean about 6:20.  So earlier in the day, I was “asked” in very Hungarian fashion, “you go to the party? Be there at 6”  which was not only a request but a demand at the same time.  Be aware of saying maybe to anything because it essentially equates to a firm yes.  My response was “yeah, I was thinking about it” and I was told “see you at 6.”  Ok then, 6 it is.  Well, I strolled into the court yard at 5:50, since I like to be early, and there were three other people there.  Really?  Kick ass party.  Ugh.  So I sat on a bench and waited for other people to show up.  I did take note of the treats that were set out for people – nice looking rolls with cheese, and champagne.  Wait, what?  Alcohol at a school party?  Hmmm…. Europe is so fascinating.  Eventually people rolled in and some even sat to talk to me.  Many people are trying to hard to give me all of the English words they know, it’s actually very cute.  However, at an occasion like this, I am limited in terms of who I can talk to – since many of them either don’t know who I am, or don’t speak English.  People continued to mingle, and one of the school secretaries sat next to me for a bit.  She also teaches one class of math in English, and yet her English is weak at best.  Can that make me nervous?   Anyhow, we were sitting there, and then all of a sudden at 6:22, she rose, clapped her hands and declared, “we start now” thus began the program.  It started with the deputy headmaster saying thanks for coming, yaddah yaddah yaddah.  Then the Headmistress spoke, and then we had a toast- with alcohol – at a school party.  This was crazy.  There were students all over, some of them serving the drinks in fact, and there was champagne without alcohol and water as well.  But there were teachers (some, not all) parents and community members out in the courtyard of the school toasting to the fact that they did not become a private Catholic school.  Interesting.  After the Headmistress, there were going to be some student and faculty performances.  I was looking forward to hearing some cultural things as the kids could show off their talent.  One young man got up and recited a poem from a famous Hungarian poet – they are VERY into their poets here.  It was during his recitation that I decided that Hungarian sounds either like the chef from the Muppets, or like someone playing a backwards record.  Not the prettiest language, but interesting to listen to none the less.  Megan thinks that there are really only 4 Hungarian words and they say them with different tones just to mess with all the other people.  Following the poem, there were musical performances.  You can imagine my surprise when the first song performed was the theme song from Friends, with strange accents.  They continued with two other songs in English, and then a bigger band came out to play.  I was thinking, ok, now I’ll get some Hungarian traditional music.  Wrong again.  They played a cheesy song that I don’t remember the name of, but it’s a jazz song circa 1970- I’d imagine not really connected to the Hungarian music scene, but whatever it’s a party.  I chatted with my colleagues from the English department.  Mirtill brought Peter – and I asked him if he was still sore from hauling all my luggage… he said of course he was not, but he totally thinks I’m a spaz I swear.  I saw the funny gym teacher who says “good morning” no matter what time of day it is, and he offered me an additional glass of champagne.  I nodded and said I’d like one, and he poured one and said “egeszsegere” (with some accents my computer doesn’t do) – the Hungarian version of “cheers” and I walked away.  He’s trying so hard, he just has no English to work with, and my Hungarian leaves much to be desired yet. 

 

After the party, I was to travel to the train station to pick up Megan.  She was coming from Papa to visit for the weekend.  Papa is about two hours away by train, if you go through Gyor.  Since I was still unsure about the busses and such, I gladly accepted a colleague’s offer to drive me to the train station.  The big train station, not the ghetto hole that I was at when I went to Budapest the weekend before.  As I was turning to leave, I got tapped on the shoulder, and it was the mom from the Budapest train.  She whipped out the double cheek kiss, and I went with it, since apparently we are now good friends.  I explained to the English teachers who she was, and they conversed about me in Hungarian.  She told the teachers that I was very resourceful to get all the way to the train station, but her bubble was burst when I told them I walked there for lack of better understanding of the bus system.  We chatted through the English teachers for a while, and I told her I will be traveling to Budapest next weekend, and I asked if she wanted to come along for the ride?!  She thinks I’m quite funny.

 

I got to the train station in plenty of time to pick up Megan – and I observed some interesting things at night at a sparsely populated train station.  First, the bathrooms don’t have lights that work, second there were homeless people who fully got out sleeping bags to sleep under the lights of the station (I’d think that the noise of the trains would be distracting) and last, there are some creepy people who hang out at the train station at night.  She arrived on time and we rode the bus back into town.  I have no problem getting back home on the buses, it’s just getting somewhere that trips me up.

 

We enjoyed some wine and had a nice night comparing stories from our first week of teaching.  I was glad that there was another native speaker in my presence!!!

Victory is MINE!!!

Well… I’m starting to really get comfortable in town.  Sure, I’m still not much better at Hungarian than I was when I showed up, but in the week that I’ve been here, things are looking up.  Thursday night, I decided I’d venture out and “top up” my t-mobile phone and eat out.  Well, it started off rocky at the T-mobile store when I walked in and said that I didn’t speak Hungarian, did you (the lady) speak English.  She nodded and got up and left through a door in the back.  Hmmm… a minute or so later, a man came out of the back- who really had no more English than she did- but he was the one brave enough to attempt to assist the American.  After I produced a post it pad with my number (I still don’t really know it) we settled up and I had 5,000 forints worth of minutes on my phone.  I never really know how much things cost, or how much that really translates into in terms of minutes, but when the scary sounding Hungarian lady starts speaking to me when I’m on the phone, I know I’m out.  I have embraced this living by the seat of my pants and I have become accustomed to the lack of planning in every facet of my life. 

 

At any rate, I wet to dinner at a restaurant afterwards- but oh where to try?  I hadn’t been out to an eatery in Tata unless you consider the ice cream stand an eatery.  This was my first try at the real thing.  I even went to a place that had “etterem” in the title – that means “restaurant” so this was going to be exciting.  Let me fill you in on the criterion that I use in choosing places to eat in a foreign country.  There has to be at least something familiar in terms of advertising.  In this case, “pizza” was decipherable in the official title of the place (Mahagoni Pizzafutar Etterem).  Second, I have to be able to see a menu before I enter the establishment.  You never know what’s waiting for you in a foreign restaurant, and at least that way I could be prepared for the prices.  Third, there have to be other people there- both to avoid the question of whether or not it’s open, and to solidify the fact that I am not the only one who chose this particular establishment for a meal.  All three categories fulfilled, I poked my head in.  Upon first glance at the menu, I saw that the choices were in Hungarian, German and English- score!!  The waiter came out and said something to me in Hungarian and I responded with Igen (yes) thinking that he asked me if I wanted to have dinner.  Well, who knows what the hell he said, but he pointed at a table for me to sit down.  I ventured towards it and even though it was in the sun (I was eating outside) and it was really hot out – I sat down because I have not quite mastered “can I sit somewhere in the shade” in Hungarian quite yet.  I ordered a pizza in Hungarian, and not only did I order it in Hungarian, I reinforced my choice with the number of the pizza in Hungarian.  I’m so fluent it kills me.  I ordered a sausage pizza with hard boiled eggs and onions.  I figured if I am out to get pizza in a foreign country, I better at least try a new one.  I also ordered a beer, which was a bit confusing because I prefer draft beer to bottled, so when I asked for a glass with the beer, it came with the bottle of Dreher.  Dang.  Oh well – relish the small victories.  The pizza was interesting, good, but interesting and I enjoyed my meal in the blazing sun proud of what I had accomplished- despite the fact that I was eating out alone.  My friend TK told me that I should never eat alone, but in a small town like this, the percentage of people who actually know English is slim, and the only other people were a young boy and girl on a date.  Yeah, definitely not joining that table.  I managed to ask for a box “take away” is very popular in Hungary, and I headed home proud of the fact that I had mastered a meal that wasn’t from a grocery store or a fast food place.  On my walk home, I ran into one of my students, Niki and waved as she biked by.  She asked me the next day what I was doing out, and I told the class that I went out for pizza.  When another girl asked me who I was eating pizza with, I told them that I was by myself since I don’t have any friends in Tata.  Immediately the saddest look of pity came over their faces and two girls volunteered to eat pizza with me if I wanted.  Pity from 14 and 15 year olds is not something I’m used to.  Oh well.  I still claim victory.

More interesting questions

Each day this week, I have had new classes, except my 9^th graders, who I have 4 times a week.  I am dealing with more interesting questions as I do the same lesson plan for various grades.  Yesterday I was asked how I felt about the hypocrisy that is the US involvement in the Kosovo situation… and why I wasn’t fat.  The first one is just plain interesting – and the second one begs a little explanation.  I use an activity that worked as a first day activity in the United States.  I have the students introduce each other with small bits of information and then a “fascinating fact” about themselves.  My stock fact is that I love to eat hot dogs, and I’d like to participate in a hot dog eating contest in New York City.  So, I shared this with all of my students, and then at the end of the class – some 30 minutes later, I was asked “why aren’t you fat?’ meaning, as a result of all the hot dogs you eat.  I subsequently was challenged to a hot dog eating contest, and I said maybe at the end of the year.  Many of the students want to know what I think about Hungary, and why (in the world) I came here.  They want to know if I like Hungarian food- some of it yes – and how long I will be staying.  They are also curious about the other places I have traveled and my attitude towards these other cultures.  We talked again about the Russian invasion of Georgia (do my Burnsville kids know that Georgia is a country in Europe – not just a state originally intended for debtors?) and I told them I was worried that the Russians were going to attack Hungary.  They laughed initially, and then said, “yeah, they might.”  This again reflects some of the attitude the Hungarians have towards the world- inevitably we’ll be attacked again – yeah.  I see it every morning on my walk to school – the lack of smiles, and questioning looks as I half smile and nod while passing.  By Hungarian standards, I believe I’m up to about 34 boyfriends, though sadly none of them talk to me and almost none smile back at me- so in that case, Hungary is just like the United States in terms of boyfriends.  Oh well.  

Today, I had the students do an activity with their favorite English word - interesting to see what they came up with: hippopotamus, miscellaneous, butterfly, forever, July, unfortunately, royal, umbrella, muddle, wildcat, pumpkin, fabulous, cocoon, little and gorgeous.  I made the young man who chose "cookie" pick a different word (as I think I explained before, cookie in Hungarian refers to a little boy's private parts.  Oh the tricksters they are...

Barack "peaches" Obama

One of the first words I learned in Hungarian was “barack” (pronounced bara-tsk) meaning Peach, and apricot too.  The Hungarians are apparently fascinated by Barack Obama as a result of the connection of his name to the Hungarian language – even though to my knowledge there is no actual connection.  I wore my “Obama for your mama” shirt the other day, and several people pointed and said “Bara-tsk” and pointed.  I learned today that the country of Hungary actually sent 100 kilos of Peach (barack) jam to the Democrat- so if you have heard of the fate of this Peach jam, please let me know.  

The start of school

School has started for the year!!! Well, it’s the first time in 9 years that I didn’t have a hard time sleeping the day before school. Perhaps it was knowing that I didn’t have to perform in a silly skit early the next morn, or prepare for bus safety instructions. It was a bit disconcerting in that I didn’t have a schedule until I walked in on Monday morning. Though the rest of the teachers didn’t have a schedule either, so whatever. There are apparently going to be some changes in the schedule in the next few days, so it’s not that productive to get worked up about it. I was given a tour of the campus by Edit, a really sweet lady who has been very excited to talk to me in English. I will be teaching in what Erika refers to as “the shack” as well as in the main building and the Kollegium, the student dormitory building that has classes on the first two floors. The classes begin on the hour and last 45 minutes. There is a 15 minute break in between each class. The students don’t have a “lunch break” like we do at home, they are expected to eat in those 15 minutes.

The first period starts at 8:00am and the last one starts at 1:00. Theoretically, I will be done at 1:45 everyday- but that’s only if I have a 6^th lesson. If I am not teaching a certain period, I don’t have to be in the school building, but since I don’t have internet at my apartment, it seems like the smartest thing just to get things done on-line and then be a bit early for the next period. There are two bells that ring for each period. One starting the period – which is typically when the teachers start to mosy to their next lesson, and one ending the lesson.

My first class was 9^th graders, and some of them are absolute beginners. They have quite a range, from nearly fluent to basic beginner. What to do with this group… they are quiet, attentive and eager to have me as a teacher (at least that was the honeymoon of day one). I have all of the 9A students, but they are split in half so I don’t have more than 16 at a time. I had to laugh on the first day because I have the ambulance kid (from the opening ceremony) in class- he has some rugged stitches in his chin.

The students are all divided into “specialties”. If you are an A student (9A, 10A, 11A) you are specializing in English. If you are a B student, you specialize in the arts, a C student specializes in Math and Science and the D students are IT and computer kids.

At any rate, I did an activity that we would be doing if I were back at Burnsville. You have a partner and have to introduce them: name, favorite subject and interesting fact. For some of the 9^th graders their interesting fact was that they ride bikes. Hmph. Not so interesting, but they are novice English speakers, so I’ll give it to them. One of my young men shared that his partner’s favorite class was biology, but only in the 8^th grade… you can see where this is going. I responded to the introduction with “and what do you learn in biology in the 8^th grade?” and the students responded with parts of the body. Playing into his silly game, I said “like cookies?” Apparently “cookies” in Hungarian means a little boy’s peter, not the sweet treats we know and love. Other than the sex kid, they were fairly harmless and easy to handle. We moved on to questions they might have for me, and theirs ranged from “what is your favorite color” to “what do you like best about Hungary?” When I got to my 12^th and 13^th graders on day two, the questions were “How do you feel about the Russian invasion of Georgia and what should the EU response be to the Russians?” and “Why aren’t you married yet?” So there is quite a discrepancy between the 9^th graders and 12^th graders. However, I have the 9^th graders 4 days a week, and all other levels once per week. So the younger ones are expected to advance rapidly.

As any American school, there are your kiss asses, your smart asses, and your plain old asses- and I have been able to distinguish them pretty easily. There are two young men that the American teacher before me warned me about – and I met them today. I was able to nail them quickly and told them that I knew all about them – they weren’t happy that I had been warned.

I am learning more about the culture of European schools too. OR maybe it’s just a Hungarian thing, but there are a couple small teams here at the school for athletes to participate in. The interesting thing is that they are in sports like handball and floor ball. Keep in mind, that two weeks ago I was mocking floor hockey and handball as they were playing it at the Olympics, only to learn that it’s quite popular here among kids. So, I take my mocking back and I look forward to watching my first handball match whenever I figure out how to find a sports schedule.

One thing that is interesting about these Hungarian kids – English is their third language. All of them are also learning German, French or Spanish. They all have backgrounds in other languages, some also have Russian and Latin in addition to English, Hungarian and one other language. They are very motivated to learn, and the 12^th and 13^th graders really surprised me as to how advanced they are. It’s like I was teaching a regular class at home. I definitely will have to bring my A game to these classes, as they are witty and will see through any gamey things I try to bring to them.

First (of many) cultural faux pas... yikes!

I was very excited because today I had a lunch date.  One of the English teachers said that “they wanted to take me to lunch.”  She first asked me if I was doing anything on Sunday.  Yeah right.  I’m going to be hanging out with all my friends… in Tata.  So of course I had nothing to do – lunch sounded great.  She said that she would “collect me at noon.”  So – sure enough, at ten to twelve, I was waiting outside for my ride.  At 12:30 I got a phone call that her husband drove to my place and didn’t see any American girls waiting out – so he returned home.  She double checked the address, which I don’t even know –and sent her husband back.  Once the husband came to my place (he was on the wrong block, and let’s be real… one concrete square looks like the rest) I realized that I was in for a trip to Erika’s HOME, not a restaurant with other colleagues.  Well frick.  I’m on my way to her house, and I don’t have a gift.  What the hell Carla.  That is one of the first things they told us.  If you are invited to someone’s house, bring some flowers.  Well, I didn’t know that we were going to her home, so I felt like a dumb idiot.  At any rate, she has three beautiful daughters, who spoke no English – so needless to say it was a bit uncomfortable for them.  They were studying German in school, and had one English lesson a week, so I tried a little German- which didn’t go very far, but whatever. 

 

Erika served a delicious fruit soup- which until this time I had scoffed at when my mother made it, followed by Chicken and potatoes.  It was a delicious lunch with her family.  Afterwards, we retired to the living room and we bonded over their cat, ABBA and  map of the United States.  The girls were not ready to start school the next day (they are 10, 8 and 6 I think) but they were interested in learning more about me so we chatted through their parents.  Erika drove me home and I immediately got one of my books on Minnesota and a card to bring to school the next day as a show of my thanks to her for the hospitality.  What a nice gesture it was to entertain me – I was extremely moved by the entire experience, though I am sure there will be more to come.

 

On Sunday night, I tried to figure out the problem with the internet at my apartment, and I failed – so whatever.  I’ll try again another day.  In the mean time, I can get wireless access at school, so I’ll upload these all at the same time, and maybe some pictures too!!!

 

Hope you enjoyed reading!

 

Carla

My birthday

Saturday was my birthday (which many of you noted on Facebook, so thank you) and I decided that I wasn’t going to spend it in Tata by myself.  So, I walked to the train station to head into Budapest for the day.  I found the train station on the map, and walked there no problem.  But it was a challenge from the get go.  First of all, the station was run down, boarded up and covered with graffiti- which is not unlike other parts of Budapest or Hungary, but it was a bit disconcerting as this was my first venture into the world of trains in Hungary.  I didn’t know when the trains came, or when the first or last one was – virtually nothing about the train system at all, and yet here I was ready to conquer it.  I saw a mom and her teenage daughter waiting for the train, so I asked them if they spoke English.  The daughter said she did, and I found an instant life preserver.  She explained that I bought the ticket on the train, and how much it cost.  We chatted a bit on the train and once in Budapest, they took me to where I buy a return ticket, and to the Metro stop to bring me to the place I needed to go.  I was shown how to buy a metro ticket, and they made sure I knew what I was doing.  Turns out, she is a student at my school – I told her I’d have her English teacher give her extra credit for helping me. 

 

I got to the Buda side of town  - which is inconvenient for where I needed to go, but once we were on the metro it was no big deal.  I met Jacob at his place and we headed to Ikea for a big birthday spending spree.  Unfortunately, since all of the people from my group were placed in different parts of Hungary, we all have varying degrees of accommodation.  In Budapest, the apartments are smaller and you have less in terms of “perks” in some cases.  Jacob is in one of these situations.  His apartment is small, but it works for a bachelor.  Unfortunately, while I had many of my things already stocked in the kitchen and apartment, he was missing many of the basics and needed to spend quite a bit of money bringing his place up to speed.  Ikea was a bit overwhelming with all the people there on a Saturday, but we made it through in one piece.  We had a really good hot dog at the cafeteria afterwards for less than a dollar.  They didn’t serve Swedish meatballs though – I might have actually tried them for once.  This was only one of two Ikeas in Budapest – seems a bit weird to be in such a foreign country with something so familiar, yet totally foreign.  Did that make sense?  At any rate, we dropped his stuff off and headed up to the Castle Hill area.  We were in search of a wine shop that supposedly had free wine tasting, but we never found it.  Instead, we had a nice bowl of soup on Castle hill and enjoyed the scenery of Budapest from above the Danube.  Afterwards, we picked up some Palinka (Hungarian brandy) and headed back to enjoy some Hungarian drinks.  Palinka is an interesting (really strong) drink that I’m pretty sure could reverse the effects of rust.  It’s not something to drink on a daily basis, but worth trying.  Lyla and Lauren met us for a bit and we shared the Palinka as a bunch of ex-pats in Budapest.

 

Tata day 2

Today was my first day at the school with everyone else.  I met some of the teachers the day before, and secretaries and staff as well, but it was really a blur.  Today was my big day to be introduced and see the rest of the faculty.  I attended the AM staff meeting, after being abandoned in the “big teachers room” by Mirtill and I fended for myself prior to the start of the meeting.  After two or three people approached me and spoke in Hungarian, they figured out that I was the Amerikai tanar (the American teacher).  I would of course respond that I did not speak Hungarian and they would look away uncomfortably and eventually leave where I was.  A couple really worked hard at speaking to me, and it was so much appreciated.  I am constantly amazed (and mildly embarrassed) that so many other people know English and we have no drive to learn other languages.   At any rate, I was introduced by the Headmistress, said a few sentences (which were then translated into Hungarian) and I left.  I was told that it was very important to tell the faculty that I had been a teacher prior to this year in Hungary, as that would in some way, build my reputation with them.  I get the sense that this is a very elite school in terms of Hungarian education.  They have to apply and take an entrance exam to get in, and there is a high level of motivation among the students.  When I asked the Headmistress what she was most proud of about the school, she responded (through Mirtill’s translation) that she was proud of the fact that students want to be there and they are motivated to learn and to do well.  It was like a dream come true!  The conference with the Headmistress was interesting – who do you look at as someone translates a conversation.  I watched the Headmistress when she was speaking to try and get a sense of her tone and emotion, but she was looking at Mirtill, and as Mirtill was translating to me, I wanted to nod in agreement, but I wasn’t sure where to do it, because the ideas being conveyed were not Mirtills, they were the Headmistresses.  Oh well.  Whatever.  It turns out that she speaks a bit of French, so we spoke briefly in French – but she has absolutely no English.  Which means maybe I won’t get in trouble for anything because she can’t yell at me?!?  At any rate, Mirtill outed me in front of the Headmistress by telling her we had to leave so I could unpack all of my luggage.  Luckily for me, the Headmistress said that she too liked to travel with everything she’d ever need.  Whatever.  J

 

After I was released from the faculty meeting, I decided to check out town a bit more.  I walked around the lake a bit, and checked out a few of the shops.  I stopped for a Coke light and enjoyed a patio seat on the sidewalk.  The weather here has been absolutely beautiful – and that makes it easy for the 20 minute walk to school.  Who knows what is going to happen once the winter comes…  I walk right by the lake on my way to school, so hopefully there isn’t a ton of wind in the winter time.

 

After I walked around a bit and took some pictures I returned to my apartment, and several pieces of luggage that had yet to be unpacked.  So my solution was of course, to walk back to the Tesco.  There were some other things that I found that I needed, and I didn’t want to start unpacking yet because it seemed like a daunting task at the time.  I got there and totally owned the carts – I don’t think I mentioned this, but you have to put a coin in to release a cart to use if you want, but you can only get them outside.  So when I was there the day before and started with a basket, and then tried to get back outside to get a cart – I threw the whole store for a loop… anyhow, you get the coin back when you return the cart and all was well.  I also rocked the bus on the way back… it’s just getting to places that trips me up.

 

After the trip to Tesco, I cleaned up a bit and prepared for the Opening Ceremony.  It’s a big gathering at the school to kick off the new school year – but it seriously was like the opening funeral.  We were outside on the school grounds, with the students lined up facing the audience.  Each class has their particular spot and the lined up with their “form teacher” – which is the homeroom like teacher for them.  They were all in uniform (hopefully I’ll have a picture here soon) but the uniform wasn’t really specified very well.  The girls had a sailor like shirt, and black bottoms.  Whether or not these bottoms covered their butt cheeks was up to the individual student.  There were some of the shortest skirts I’d ever seen on school children.  BUT, I’m in Europe and I’ll go with the flow.  The boys were all in suits – which was also a change for me.  The ceremony started with the national anthem - which has got to be the most depressing song I’ve ever heard.  Then there was some poetry from a student that seemed to be very aggressive, but who knows what she was saying.  The 9^th graders were introduced and each student was given a flower.  Then the new teachers were introduced – starting with me.  It wasn’t a big deal because I heard the “Amerikai tanar” key words and my name, so I stood- but then a student came to me with a flower and said “welcome to our school”.  She kind of took me off guard by showing up like that – BUT – then she went in for the kisses on either side of the cheek.  I hadn’t experienced a true European cheek kissing, and here I was doing it with a total stranger in front of the whole school and their parents.  YEESH – It was quite an experience. They continued with the other new teachers, and the mayor of the town spoke.  The Headmistress got up to give her speech and it was downhill from there.   At the very beginning, Erika (an English teacher) told me to watch for all the students that fell.  I thought she was kind of kidding – but she was dead on.  The students stood for the whole time- but it wasn’t longer than 45 minutes – and in that time, 4 students fainted and three were escorted away from the group because they were faint.  Really?  45 minutes?  At one point, someone interrupted the Headmistress and asked her to seek a doctor’s help – she asked if there was a doctor present in the middle of the opening ceremony!!!  As it turns out, one student fell hard on his face and needed stitches – an ambulance came to the opening ceremony.  Seriously?  Pansies.  Oh well.  After the ceremony, I headed back home to prepare for my first day – even though I didn’t have a schedule yet.  It was quite an exciting Friday night.

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.

I'm finally here and settled in.

Well... I still have yet to figure out the internet at my apartment... so this is the first time I've been on a computer since Thursday in Budapest. I had a nice weekend getting settled in to Tata- the town is absolutely adorable. Hopefully I can get some pictures up and running soon...

My school is old and beautiful. It reminds me of a gigantic Catholic grade school- very similar to the one I attended in Roseville. My office desk overlooks the lake, and the view is stunning.

I went back to Budapest for my birthday- Jacob and I went to Ikea to get some things for his flat, and then had nice afternoon and evening on Castle hill. Lyla and Lauren came over that night and we toasted some Palinka (the local beverage- that tastes like crap) to celebrate my "big" day.

Anyhow, I have to go teach my first lesson, 9th graders. Yeesh.

Hopefully I can get the internet working soon at my apartment.

Carla

Getting into the swing of things

Well things are coming along well here. We are finished with our second day of orientation - and I have mastered the Hungarian language. Just kidding. We have been working with two native Hungarians, one on "every day stuff" and one on Hungarian language. I am determined to learn the language if it kills me. It's intimidating though, since there are different rules, word order and vowel harmony. I even tried on our boat tour tonight to ask for a drink in Hungarian and the guy said back to me "you're better off using English" even though I totally rocked the "I'm thirsty, could I please have a beer." I mean why cut me off if I'm trying the languge? REALLY?

I have been learning a lot about the Hungarian people as well. They are pessimistic by nature, as should be the case after having been conquered over and over and over again... there was a story they told us yesterday about a man who lived in the same village for his whole life, and yet he'd been a citizen of 5 different countries. I mean really. They are always expecting the worst, because if something good happens, something terrible is about to follow - as history has repeated itself here over and over again. We were also told some interesting things about a meer smile. If you (as a woman) smile at a man and say "no" or "no I don't want to go out with you" despite what comes out of your mouth, the smile means you are interested. By that token, I think I have about 22 boyfriends. At the same time, we were told that if you smile while here, Hungarians will wonder what the hell is so good about your life that you are able to smile about things... and not care for your company. They are very interesting people. They have to work more than one job to make ends meet, and even then, they have NO money. So, I'll be making about (funny thing, I'm looking for the dollar sign on the keyboard, and there isn't one here...) 650 dollars a month, and it's heaps more than the local people are making. They are heavily taxed, and they have rent to pay for. Neither of which applies to me. Additionally, they as a country are the only people paying back the debts owed from the pre-communist era and from the Soviet rule, so a lot of their money goes toward paying that off. The parents typically use 50% of their take home pay to support their children, and over 65% of their income is paid back to the government in taxes. No wonder they are pessimists. With the recent Georgia/Russia situation, the attitude here is "well of course we'll be invaded, it's what the Russian's do" - so even though the actual threat level of a Russian invasion is minimal, the attitude is that it is inevitable. Luckily I'll be on the west side of the country - an easy train ride out to Bratislava or Vienna.

Last night Jake and I walked over to the Pest side of the river and just familiarized ourselves with the popular part of town. They have a magnificant Basilica- where I attended two weddings on Saturday afternoon- it was interesting. I was not invited or anything, but i decided to go in and hang out for a while. It's very popular to get married at the Basilica, so there were more brides waiting outside to have their turn once the other weddings finished. The outfits of the guests were something to see for sure. Everthing from Lake street hooker to Ann Taylor like formal dresses. There were also several ladies in "hats" but they were more like feather tiaras. It was interesting.

We then had dinner at a little Greek place that was showing the Hungarian/American water polo match. The food was excellent!!! Don't worry, I'm warming up to the idea of goulash and porkolot (both traditional Hungarian dishes) but I have 10 months for that crap. On a similar note, the largest minority here are Chinese, so there are many Kinai (chinese) places to eat - which is cool.

We walked back across the river at night- which was beautiful- and we were exhausted when we returned. Today we had a long orientation day and then Regan, Laura, Steve and I took a night time Danube tour. It was perfect - the weather was great and there was narration about the buildings along the Danube.

I'm warming to the idea of spending 10 months in another country- especially since we have met a lot of the teachers who were here last year, and they loved it. However, I feel somewhat secure at this point because I am surrounded by native English speakers. I know that that won't be the case for very long - and that frightens me a bit. Thankfully, I have met lots of people who are going to be all over the country, so I'll have places to go on the weekends to visit my new "friends." Additionally, I am only about 45 minutes out of Budapest in my town, so one of these weekends, I'll make it back to ride the funicular up to the top of castle hill.

The orientation has been so intense that we don't have much time to get around and enjoy the city, but it has been interesting information. I have learned a lot already -and the language teacher is really dynamic and teaches in a really neat way, so even if you are lost - you can somewhat follow along. Perhaps thats what our Burnsville kids say about their language teachers? Or even history teachers :)

At any rate, I am feeling better day by day about my decision, though I know the homesickness is going to settle in soon. I also am realizing that I am at "home" at our little hostel that doesn't have toilet paper or water that actually makes it up the shower hose all the way- but in a few days, I'll be shipped off to scenic Tata to start over again, this time on my own. Yeesh.

More later... miss you all.

Carla

P.S. I won't be able to get any pictures on here anytime soon because it's a public computer and I can't very well download them to this machine - but I should have some in the next few weeks I hope.

I - and all my luggage- am here!!!

Well I have survived a VERY long commute to scenic Budapest. It was a tough trip at first, the last goodbyes to the parents was tough- they have done a lot to get me here, and without their support, and sometimes their checkbook, I wouldn't have had this opportunity, so thanks guys.

The flights weren't bad, just tedious. MSP to Chicago 1hr, Chicago to Munich 8.5hrs. Munich to Budapest 1 hr. I arrived on time, and with all four of my checked bags. Don't ask me how I managed to get all this crap through the airport and out to my ride BY MYSELF - I know, I know "you packed it, you haul it" is the mantra I've been taught, but whatever. Luckily my - incredibly smart- mom gave me one of those clasp things to connect one bag and the carryon, and I pushed the rest on a cart. I was quite a site that's for sure. When Mary came to greet me, she said that we were waiting for one other person, Tara. Tara strolled in with two duffle bags, both "almost at 23kg" (WHICH IS LESS THAN 50 LBS). The cab driver gave us the once over but decided that he could fit everything in, and he did.... phew. Unfortunately he dropped us off at the wrong place. Now, we're staying at a place called "Hostel Hill" - so imagine where we were dropped off... the bottom of the hill. OK, not really the bottom, but at the base of a large staircase that brought us up to our hostel - so all 300 lbs of luggage and I schlepped up the stairs. Only to find out that there is of course a driveway that will bring you to the front door. YEESH... the whole time I was chanting "you packed it, you haul it." Lesson learned... yeah right. I met a few of the "veteran" teachers upon my arrival and they helped me get my things up to my room- and then I relaxed for a bit.

I decided to check out the town after about an hour in my room, and walked across the river to the "touristy" part of Pest. Budapest was originally two cities, Buda and Pest, and they eventually grew together to form one large city - for those of you wondering the etymology of the word....

I was surprised that I was as awake as I was, but I think I was just really excited to get here. Sadly, I did stop at a Burger King for a diet coke instead of anywhere authentic - I had been up too late to jump right in.

I love the "tourist" areas of major cities. It's a showing of the country's finest crap to sell to dumb strangers. All of the stalls are exactly the same, selling the same shit for the same prices. How do they all make it? For those of you who know me, I did not buy ANYTHING - yet. I figured this is not going to be my last trek into Budapest since I am less than an hour away. I did stop at an outdoor cafe to have a beer at the end of my sightseeing adventure. I was in the middle of the pedestrian mall surrounded by people selling their crap, but this particular bar/cafe had two large flat screen tv's showing the olympics - and it had been a good 30 hours since I had seen anything, so I figured I'd check it out. The sign outside also said, "buy one, take away two" (must be the Hungarian version of two for ones).

I want to close this post with my list of first impressions and things learned in my first 24 hours here...

-water bottles with a blue top are charged water, water bottles with a pink top are not.
-the 80's are alive and well in Budapest, from frosted jeans to frosted hair, neon colors to shirts --with large English sayings on them
-even if you think you're being sneaky trying to get on a random hotel's computers, someone knows you AREN'T supposed to be there
-120 forint (less than a dollar) is not worth it to use the bathrooms in the "tourist area"
-I'm going to learn to love peppers (paprika - peppers- are like their own major food group here)
-I'm not going to learn to love the things kids will wear to school... yeesh.
-the city is a bit dirty, but it's probably mostly foreigner's crap
-trying to buy a hairdryer is NOT an easy feat
-I wish I was fluent in the language so I didn't feel like such a d-bag


I'll write more later!

packing... actually, contemplating packing...

Well, I've begun the daunting task of packing for a trip of enormous magnitude.  I started with shoes... for any of you who know me well, I am a shoe whore.  Well, I started with 12 pair, and narrowed it down to 16 pair.  Can this be happening?  I get to bring two suitcases, at 50lbs each.  I think I've already decided to just suck it up and pay the extra fees to go up to 75lbs each.  That's 150 lbs of luggage, and yet - it still doesn't seem like enough.  Not to mention, I have a "carry-on" which is my smallest suitcase.  Yes - I'm going to be one of those people who brings a huge carry-on bag, not to mention my "purse" which is my big backpack.  I had all kinds of curriculum things I was going to bring, but those are going to go by the way-side as I focus on things of more importance, like several pair of shoes and jeans.  

If you have any advice on how to become a minimalist in two weeks, please let me know!  

Finally... the school website (that I can't read)

Greetings again... I have slowly but surely begun my Hungarian language learning.  Please let me emphasize the slowly... it's a difficult language.  I have also started corresponding with the teacher who was there last year, and he already has cleared a lot of things up in terms of curriculum (there is none - I'm free to do whatever I want) and other things regarding the school.  I have also finally gotten a hold of the school's website - so feel free to click away and check it out - see how much Hungarian you can figure out!!!!

www.eotvos-tata.sulinet.hu

If this bores you - which it might (since it's all in a foreign language) try this site: 

 http://www.c3.hu/~tataitv/   

and click on one of the thumbnail prints - and then on the British flag so it's in English.  It's a site of the town I'll be living in!!!

Yay for beauty!

This is the view from one of the classrooms in the school!!!

Map of Hungary

If you look on the map, Tata is about an inch (if you've clicked on the bigger map) to the Northwest of Budapest.  It is on the main train lines from Budapest to Bratislava and Vienna.  I am very excited to be close to Budapest, but a little leery of living in a town of 25,000 people.  

First lesson in traveling abroad - be flexible...

Well - as of yesterday, my placement has changed for next year.  I was originally split between two schools located in Mohacs and Pecs- both of which are in the southern part of Hungary, near the Croatian border.  As of yesterday, I have moved to a different city, much closer to Budapest.  There was apparently a teacher who returned early from maternity leave, and that would have then divided me between three schools to accommodate for the loss of hours from her return.  I opted to re-locate, and have thus ended up in Tata, Hungary.  It is about 40 miles from Budapest, just northwest of the capital city.  It is a smaller lake town, with a "castle" and plenty of running routes.  I am looking forward to only being in one school, and the idea that I'll be closer to Budapest.  I just found a youtube video that highlights some of the nicer summer scenes in Tata  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMTxcCdAaog&feature=related.