Munich - after Christmas

The next morning, we got off to a late start, but everything was still closed in Munich so it wasn’t that big of a deal.  We headed out to tour some of the buildings in Munich, and ended up in some churches (one with a large iPod advertisement on the side of it- not the first that I have seen in Europe) and then to the German royal residence.  The royal residence was amazing.  There was room after room after room of intricate treasures and elaborate decorations.  Some of the palace was damaged in WWII, and they indicated where this had taken place, but it was still amazing.  We got the audio guides (see picture of Jake) and learned a lot about the treasures of the palace in addition to the various rooms of the building.  We had lunch at yet another beer house (I think we hit all the major onesJ)  After lunch we returned to the hostel for some well deserved R&R. 

The pictures are of some museum, Jake with the audio guide, the town square with the glockenspiel, the bright orange thing is art? in the middle of Munich’s pedestrian street, and the Munich royal residence (with the iPod ad on it). 

Christmas evening

Christmas evening, we met up with Vivvi’s friend Marcello and some people he met, and headed out to another German beer house.  We had a nice evening, and returned to our hostel for a few more drinks afterwards.  Fairly laid back Christmas evening.  

Christmas Day- Dachau

We chose a non-traditional way to spend Christmas - with an educational trip to the Dachau concentration camp.  There isn't much I can say other than it was VERY cold out - and the tour was long and outside.  It was a good tour - but a bit long.  I'm just going to post some photos.

Munich!!

The next day was both great and very sad at the same time.  We had a great day, but I woke up to find that someone had stolen the memory card out of my camera during the night.  I had left it in the corner in the room, with cell phones, iPods and laptops – charging over night.  When I got up the next morning to look at the pictures I had taken, I realized that the card was gone.  It was Christmas Eve and someone had taken all of the pictures from this trip.  My Eötvös buddy from the airport, the Berlin Wall, Hitler’s bunker and SS headquarters, Neuschwanstein – all the pictures… gone.  I cried.  Partly because it was Christmas and I was away from family and friends and a little homesick, but mostly because (if you know me at all you know) I love pictures.  They are very personal and I would have been able to use these pictures in my classes.  I haven’t decided if I want to try and get back to Berlin, but I’d much rather travel to other places I haven’t been.  Hmph. 

At any rate, our Christmas Eve was not all lost –we got some reading and laundry done and later, Jake (who was conveniently cat sitting Boo) was coming to Munich.  Vivvi and I headed to the Hofbräuhaus for dinner and liter beers.  It was crazy packed, and we sat at a relatively central table and waited for Jake to get to Munich.  We were joined by three of the cutest people I have ever met in my life.  There was a (blue-hair) tour group that came in, and lucky for us, Phil, Jean and Tom decided to join us.  Phil was a 70+ year old Scottish man, Tom was from England, and Jean was from San Francisco.  We commented on how dapper Phil looked, and he told us of how he lost his wife two years ago.  She was always making sure that he matched clothes, so he has worked every day to match his clothes so she is proud of him.  Brought a tear to my eye... He invited us to Aberdeen anytime we wanted to come.  He gave us his e-mail address- his name is Phil Taylor, but since that name was already taken, his e-mail is piltaylor@.... isn't that cute?!?!  We had delightful conversation with them and enjoyed our wait for Jake.  Phil bought Vivvi and I our second liters and we stayed for a while with Jake once he got there.

Castles Castles Castles

The first picture is Newschwanstein, the second is Hohenshwangau. 

We arrived in Munich at about 6:45 in the morning, and headed to our hostel.  It wasn’t far away, so that was nice.  They were not prepared to let us check in until about 2:30 though – so we were a bit stuck.  We decided that we would head to Neuschwanstein – King Ludwig II’s castle in Fussen.  It was about a 2 hour train ride, but well worth it.  This is the castle that (supposedly) inspired Walt Disney when he was building Cinderella’s castle- and there were parts that certainly resembled it. The clouds seemed to clear just as we were getting to the area where the two castles were.  The smaller castle, Hohenschwangau, was the one we toured first.  It was a site that was the boyhood home of Ludwig the II.  I don’t remember much of the rest of the story, but it was cool to tour.  We saw Neuschwanstein next.  There were strange attributes about the whole building – the biggest being that it was never really finished.  Ludwig died and less than 6 weeks later, it was opened as a museum.  Ludwig was a bit “eccentric” as the tourguide told us, as was evident in the man made cave that connected to his bedroom.  It was strange.  Anyhow, we had a nice time and returned to Munich exhausted and ready for a shower and reaxation.  

Berlin day 2

The pictures are of the Berlin memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the Topography of Terror.  

After enjoying breakfast, (which included a short visit from Clark Griswold – inquiring as to whether or not we had gone to a techno bar or not) we headed out to see Berlin.  We had planned on going on a “Third Reich Tour” to see all the places connected to Hitler and the German Third Reich.  We were determined to see some really cool (maybe dorky) historical things while we were in Germany.  This tour would take us to a number of places and seemed to be pretty legitimate.  The meeting place was at the Starbucks near the Brandenburg Gate.  Hmph.  Starbucks.  We of course enjoyed a beverage and a trip to their bathroom as it was free and almost time for our tour.  We headed out into the Brandenburg courtyard – where the American Embassy is located – strange… and milled around for a little while.  Vivvi got out her info from the lonely planet book she had and started to read about the gate.  I don’t remember exactly what she was reading, but she asked me a question, I didn’t know the answer, and out of now where, a guy stepped in and said “you know that’s wrong what you just read” enter the scene: Cal.  Cal is a licensed tour guide for Berlin.  He talked with us for a while, claiming that he comes out to show off his city to tourists, free of charge.  We could give him what we thought the tour was worth.  He said that if we were interested, we should meet him at a particular gift shop at 1:00.  That was exactly the time the Third Reich tour was supposed to leave… what to do?!?  We discussed, (while looking at the Christmas tree, the Menorah and the faux American and Soviet soldiers posing in front of the gate) and decided that just before 1, we’d check the crowd for the Third Reich tour and then make a decision.  Neither one of us are big into large tours, we like the more intimate if at all possible.  We spotted a large group of people near the Starbucks, and decided that we’d seek out Cal for the afternoon.  We weren’t sure what we were getting into, but he told us that he could customize our tour if we wanted and do many of the things that were on the Third Reich Tour – so off we went!  He gave us the history of Berlin, of many of the buildings, took us to various segments of the Berlin wall, and pointed out the best museums.  He showed us where Hitler’s bunker was, where the SS headquarters were, and brought us to the memorial to The Murdered Jews of Europe in the center of town.  The memorial was quite interesting.  It was multiple slabs of slate?  I don’t remember the material; that were at different heights throughout this open area.  The ground it was on rose and fell and as you moved into the middle of the memorial, the slabs got taller.  In the center, the slabs were at least 4 feet taller than I am.  It was interesting.  We walked and saw many of the areas of Berlin, ending near Checkpoint Charlie.  We stopped in a gift shop (as many of you know, I’m a gift shop junkie- especially in historical places) and I bought the token “piece of the wall.”  Cal was very concerned that it wasn’t real or authentic, but it’s really not that important to me if it’s authentic.  It can still give an idea to the kids of what it was like.  They enjoy the tangibles.  I also have a chunk of wire from the DMZ in South Korea… yeah, sure it is.  It doesn’t matter – if the kids explore and are curious about it, that’s all I ask.  I also found an “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” t-shirt.  I love stupid history t-shirts.  If only anyone here found it to be either interesting or funny… hmph.  He took us to the site where the books were burned by the Nazis, and pointed out the memorial which might have been overlooked otherwise.  Cal gave us more thorough of a tour than I could have ever imagined.  He took Vivvi and I all over the city, and was very conscious of what we wanted to see in our short time in Berlin.  At the end of our time, he told us to pass on the good things we learned about Berlin – which I will, and then escorted us to a good German restaurant near our hostel.  I think we gave him 40 Euros or something, which was more than the Third Reich Tour would be, but we had a personalized afternoon that went all through Berlin.  It was fantastic. 

The next day, we headed over to one of the biggest synagogues in Berlin.  It was one of the hard hit buildings on “Kristallnacht” (November 9, 1938 when the Nazis destroyed businesses owned by Jews, and many synagogues in Germany).  We toured the synagogue which is mainly a museum now.  It was interesting as they had left some of the different areas damaged from the original attacks so you could see how devastating the effects were.  We continued on and returned to some of the sites we saw the day before to take pictures and stop at other shops.  We also visited the site of the former SS headquarters.  It was left to the basement floor walls and room dividers, most of it in a shambles, but it was an interesting way to have an outdoor museum.  It was called the “Topography of Terror.”  It was really neat to read about all the things that had happened there, and there was something powerful about it being outdoors.  We had lunch at one of the German beer houses, it was DELICIOUS!  We checked out some more of the Christmas markets and had a relaxing afternoon walk back to our hostel… that is, until I went on a mission to find my guide book.  There HAD to be one on Germany in the country of Germany right?  We stopped at a department store that advertised “books” near the front door.  Well, as soon as Vivvi and I walked in, we knew that there wasn’t going to be a guide book inside here.  We forged on through this Saks type store – with cameras and backpacks in tow- to finally find the selection of books.  It consisted of about 5 fashion magazines and some extremely expensive coffee table books.  Hmph.  We backtracked through the store and decided to call it a day.  We headed back to the hostel, and gathered our things for our late trip to the Berlin train station.  We were taking an overnight train to Munich.  

Getting to Berlin...

This picture is Vivvi's - I stole it!

After the night of craziness getting to Budapest, I was thankful for the (seemingly) easy journey to the airport.  Little did I know that actually arriving in Germany was going to be a lot more difficult than I had originally predicted.  Vivvi and I enjoyed a nice lunch at Pizza Hut with Jake before taking off on our new adventure.  I was excited to go- but frustrated that I didn’t have a guide book for Germany.  I love the “DK” books – though they are expensive, and I like the commentary of the Lonely Planet books – so either of them would have been just fine.  I had been to at least three different book stores looking for a guide book – to no avail.  Call me dorky, but I always like to read up about where we are going.  I like to know what I’m looking at and I enjoy learning about the different buildings and monuments that are in the various cities that I visit.  So – I tried one last time -during lunch- to find a Germany guide book – again with no result.  I did find a nice little paperback about Tata – all in Hungarian- but with nice pictures.  It was only 400 ft. ($2).  What a deal!

After lunch, we said a quick goodbye to the cat – wished Jake and Ellen luck with her – and set off for the airport.  We were traveling by metro on a fairly busy Saturday work day – cultural sidenote: there are about 4 or 5 Saturday “work days” where many people in the country have work scheduled to make up for a lost day of work during the holiday.  We have school on these days – but I had already planned my trip to Germany, so I was off the hook.  The train we were about to board was packed full, except the short segment at the very end of the car.  I told Vivvi – “go to the left, go to the left” – to the empty part of the car - and as we did, we realized exactly why that part of the car was empty.  There was a homeless man in the corner of the car, who might have been sleeping – at any rate, he put off the most rancid smell I had encountered in a long time.  For a girl who got teased about living near the manure smell of the U of M, who worked in the produce department with a drain full of sludge, who has run marathons having forgotten to put deodorant on, who smelled and then ate durian graduation cake – I have smelled some bad things.  This smell, however, was by far the worst.  He managed to clear out an entire section of the metro during the most busy time of the day.  After charging into the train and making the left turn as directed by me, we decided again – and squished in to sit down next to two young people about 10 feet away from the homeless man, but well within the radius of the smell.  As we sat there – Vivvi and looked at each other not knowing whether to cry or laugh.  We watched as new people boarded the train at each stop, observing the inevitable squinching of the face as the newcomers realized the dire situation that we were in.  To our surprise, after about 3 minutes, the teenage boy next to Vivvi, out of nowhere, pulled a functioning gas mask out of his bag.  I don’t know why a random Hungarian is traveling the metro with a gas mask- nor did we ask, but I definitely was jealous.  Many people around us giggled and sighed with envy at his possession.  At each stop, some of the people from our car defected to a nearby car- despite them all being packed – for a little fresh air.  It only took two or three stops for the metro police to be called and for him to be escorted off the train. 

I just spoke to my mom on the phone, and she seems to think that I exaggerate things a bit, so she looked at Vivvi's website (which is where I got the picture) and realized that the smell truly was as bad as I (and Vivvi) described it.  Thanks for the confidence mom, I don't exaggerate anything on here!

Getting to Berlin- part 2

Following the train incident, we had to board a bus to take us to the airport.  When we purchased our plane tickets, I had printed off the information and felt that I was prepared to get us from point a to point b.  I didn’t factor in the recent train/airline strike that had plagued the country.  I read the information and it said that we were at Terminal 2.  So, we got off the bus at terminal 2.  Upon arriving at the front door of the terminal, we came to a sign that read “all flights are taking off from Terminal 1.”  Great.  Terminal 1 is about a 10 minute drive from terminal 2.  We got into a taxi (which were conveniently the only other people at the abandoned terminal – how very saavy on their part to line up where unsuspecting foreigners would be dumped off the bus) and rode to the other terminal.  Once we arrived at the correct terminal, we proceeded to try and enter the terminal – again, stopped in our tracks.  This time, there was a “suspicious package.”  The Hungarian guards stopped us about 50 meters from the suspicious package – so had it blown up, we would have been dead anyways, but I guess this was their way of protecting us.  Dogs and officers circled the red suitcase and put it into some sort of container.  It took about 25-30 minutes, and we were finally allowed into the terminal we needed to be in. 

We were traveling by a cheap European airline, so the check-in opened two hours before the departure of your plane.  You were not assigned a seat so that they could save on overhead- so people liked to check in early to then line up at the gate to choose their seat.  As Vivvi and I were chatting and waiting for our check-in to open, a nice man (over 80 years old) approached us.  He asked us where we were going, and told us he was going to London.  His check in was at the same time ours was, so he was looking for where his line was.  He noted quickly that we were not Hungarian and asked what we were doing in Hungary.  We told him that we were teaching – Vivvi in Guyla and myself in Tata.  He responded by saying that he had taught at the Gimnázium in Tata.  I told him that’s where I teach!!  He was a head teacher here 48 years ago – in 1956 – and after that school year, fled the country in October during the revolution.  What a small world.  I took a picture with my Eötvös friend and we were on our way.  The line to check in was long, but we eventually made it up there.  We worked our way through security to our gate and waited.  And waited and waited.  We changed gates, and waited.  And changed gates and waited.  Our flight ended up being almost 2 hours late – but whatever, we didn’t have connections to make or anything, and it was a cheap airline, so what the heck. 

Once we got into Berlin, it took just over an hour to get to our hostel.  We rode a commuter train into the city – and a homeless man (who didn’t smell) was nice enough to direct us as to where to go.  There is nothing as daunting as a new subway system to try and maneuver on little sleep and with travel fatigue.  We got to where we switched trains, and ran into another group of English speakers.  The dad of the group immediately struck up conversation with us.  It turns out, their two families were going to the exact same hostel that we were.  He worked on some army base in Frankfurt (I think – I don’t remember) and had been living in Germany with his family since 2004.  This was the FIRST time they had been to Berlin.  Excuse me – you’ve been here over 4 years, and you’ve never been to the capital of the country you are living in?  It only took me 4 months… I judged him based on that.  I also judged their entire group to be a bit crazy and too American.  The adults were running frantically to read maps and make sure they were going the right way.  The four (or five?) teenage kids all milled around not helping the situation.  The one dad struck up conversation with complete strangers while one wife was totally freaking out.  Vivvi and I dubbed them the Griswolds of our European Christmas vacation.  The dad was totally Clark Griswold like – a little obnoxious, but friendly.  He talked – in the first 10 minutes of meeting us – about going to a techno dance bar in Germany.  While not on the list of things Vivvi and I wanted to do, it seemed to be one of those mid-life crisis things that he would feel totally cool and hip doing.  We decided to board a different metro car than they did – and it was on.  We got to our subway station, and prepared to switch trains.  We only had a 20 Euro bill, so we had to stop and get change and it set us back, but Vivvi and I joked that we were doing the Amazing race, and we were competing against the Griswolds.  We looked over our shoulders as we searched frantically for a ticket kiosk, and put the money in.  We weren’t sure which type of ticket we needed, but guessed quickly and set out for our train.  We were sure they were still bumbling around trying to figure out where to go.  We got off at our stop, and though we surfaced at the wrong end of the station, we still were sure that we would beat the Griswolds.  We hustled to the hostel – I jokingly asked where the clue box was, we barreled through the front doors – only to find the Griswolds checking in already.  WHAAAAT?  How did they beat us?  With all those people – and the bumbling wife and Clark?  I don’t know how it could have happened.  We waited to check in – and of course they had issues finding ID’s and passports and splitting the costs… it was frustrating to watch.  They beat us, and now were holding up our time checking in.  Ugh.

Friday before our trip to Germany

What a day.  First of all, it was crazy at school.  I had a meeting with Mirtill and the headmistress (just to check in… not because I was in trouble – settle down everyone), I had to be a part of a video shoot – more to come later – and I had to get to Budapest with a cat amidst the train strike.  Yeesh.  First things first – meeting with the headmistress.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t as nerve wracking as previous trips to the principals office had been.  She welcomed us with tea, and though I initially declined, I remembered my Hungarian manners and said of course I’d like some.  Mirtill prodded me with an “she has really good teas Carla…” why would I ever say no – especially to the headmistress?  Dummy.  So she had water prepared for tea.  Remember that I am still fairly new to tea drinking, and most recently I have only had loose teas.  As I watch and copied the movements that Mirtill and Martha made, I realized I have a lot to learn.  First of all, I accidentally ripped off the paper tag from the end of my rope, so it was bound to be lost in the water at some point.  Then as it was perkilating – or whatever it does- in the cup, they both did something with the spoon and twisted the bag around and squeezed.  I looked like a bafoon trying to do the same, but whatever.  She asked me questions of my perception and impressions of the school, namely of the students.  Of course I told her exactly what she wanted to hear (which isn’t all that far from the truth).  She asked me if I needed any help with anything involving the neighbors, and I told her that I was pretty much over the whole neighbor thing.   I decided that I was going to give each apartment a Christmas card and sign it “with love, Carla” – she thought that was a witty answer.  She asked where I had traveled to in Hungary, and though I padded my list a bit, I made the most of her offering advice of where to travel next.  I told her that my parents are coming before Easter – and uncomfortably had to insert that I would be missing three days of school as a result of their visit – and she said that would be no problem at all.  She also suggested some places to take them while they are here, and told me to nail down the dates so she can try to arrange some tickets to programs and things like that.  What a lady.  Then, she came in with a doozy – so are you going to stay a second year?  Jojj… (pronounced yoy in Hungarian).  I still waver upon wanting to stay and wanting to return to finally “grow up” in the states – but man… the thought of staying is becoming more and more appealing as I become more comfortable here.  I told her that my school was only going to hold my job for one year, so that it was not possible for me to stay, and she seemed genuinely disappointed.  Much different than had I spoken with Kay Joyce (the old BHS principal) about the same thing.  She’d probably push me off a ledge to stay in Hungary.  At any rate, the meeting was good. 

Later that afternoon, I had agreed (reluctantly) to be a part of a senior campaign video.  The senior classes all nominate one boy to be their candidate for school king.  They have a big campaign around “Eötvös” Day – (the end of January I think) and create a video that the whole school sees and then people vote.  That is at least the impressions I have at this point.  I was asked by the 12E class to be in their video.  Initially it was as a playboy girl, but then I was assured that it was just to play poker.  When I told them I didn’t know how to play poker, they said, neither do we – it’s okay.  So… the filming point for this video was at one of the bars in town – club Cocoon… and I have heard only trashy things about this bar, so I was not thrilled to be going.  Additionally, it was about a mile from the town center, so I was getting a ride with a student- Soma.  How uncomfortable could one be?  We get to Cocoon – along with the 9 others in his van- and there is a professional videographer there with equipment and everything – this was apparently legit!  Also, I saw one of the other teachers there, so it couldn’t be all that bad if we were in this together right?  We were told to be there at 2:00… the rest of the cast – and the special BMW car – weren’t there until 3.  I had to leave by 3:30 or 3:45 to get home to finish packing and get my stuff to try and get to Budapest –so it was a tight squeeze.  Eventually other teachers showed up, and I felt more comfortable with the situation… until it came to filming my part.  Somehow – between 2:00 and 3:10 or so, the storyline had changed radically.  It went from me playing poker, to me being courted by Hugh Heffner (the other – older – teacher) and him fighting Péter (Péti) over me.  I just sat at this table in this bar… and as I watched, my name was said about a dozen times followed by actions that no student should be doing in the same sentence as their teacher.  It was crazy.  The next thing I know, Soma is translating to me “Mr Takacs will rub your leg with his leg ok?”  “WHAT – NO that’s not okay!!”  “Then you have to show him you like him too by licking your lips” “ARGHGHGHGHGHHGHGHGHG”  How did this happen?  The other teacher (Mr. Takacs) and I just kind of shrugged our shoulders and looked at each other like – here goes nothing… we filmed the scene and things were fine, or so I thought – until we got a “migatsen” from the director – that means “again.”  Geeze.  The next scene unfolded into Péti coming into the room as a waiter, seeing me and falling in love – only to pour his glass of water in Heffner’s lap.  Then they were to fight – over me.  What?  It was getting late, and I was getting restless to leave – and get the heck out of there before I landed myself doing something else crazy – when I was told of the last scene to be filmed.  I was to run, hand in hand with Péti looking like we were in love.  Seriously.  I’m still not sure what the whole point of the video was, but I know that it was a humiliating experience for me- though the kids loved it.  Maybe I’ll be absent on Eötvös Day when they play it.  Ugh.

After my big screen debut, I had to rush home (thanks to a ride from one of the students) to finish packing all my stuff.  I dropped off the Christmas cards to all of my neighbors, did one last check of the place, caged the cat and headed to the bus station.  The trains all throughout Hungary were on strike, as were some flights at the airport – so we had to figure out different means to get to Budapest.  I arrived at the train station 40 minutes early (for a 5:40 train) in case there was a big line.  I did have a huge backpack, a small backpack, a cat and a bag of all of her stuff.  I waited and watched for my bus, and when it was time I hauled all my stuff outside to stand by the posted stop for the Budapest bus.  Hmmm… 10 minutes late… 30 minutes late… 45 minutes late… I sent a text message to my 9^th grader Dori asking if her dad had heard anything about the trains, and if I’d have better luck at the train station.  Her dad has to ride the trains every day – so he has experience with alternate routes.  I also texted Mirtill and asked how long I should wait before I realized that the bus wasn’t going to come.  She had (reluctantly) offered to drive me to Budapest, but only after she had shoveled and could check out what the problems with the buses were.  So I waited for her to call back.  She eventually called and said that she and Peter would come and get me and drive me to Budapest, but they wanted to do it before it got too snowy out.  Sidenote: from a Minnesotan, this snow was nothing.  It had yet to stick to the ground in fact – but whatever, be concerned about it…  So I waited for her and Peter.  Keep in mind that now I had waited in the bus station for over two hours – with a cat – and a bunch of drunk homeless people.  It wasn’t exactly my idea of Friday night fun.  In the mean time, I got a call from a Hungarian number I didn’t recognize.  Usually it’s not like me to answer calls I don’t know, but I was feeling a little wonky anyway – so what the heck.  I picked it up and the other end said “Hello Carla, this is Zsolt Wagner, I am Dori’s Dad.”  Holy crap.  Her dad had called me to answer questions I had about the trains and buses.  He said “today is your lucky day – a colleague of mine and I are on our way back from Vienna through Tata to Budapest.  He has to drop me at home here and then continue to his house in Budapest- he will take you to where you need to go.”  Oh my gosh – how awkward – a man I had never met, but had been in my apartment cat sitting with his daughter – was offering his colleague (who I’d never met- and to my knowledge had never been in my apartment) to drive me to Budapest.  Jojj.  I told him that I was at the bus station and that I would just wait for them there – and he insisted that I return home to wait in the comfort of my flat.  Man.  It would take so much effort to get back to my apartment with all this shit – ok Zsolt.  I’ll be waiting at my apartment for you in 45 minutes.  Weird weird weird.  I called Mirtill back and aborted the mission – I told her that a strange man was going to drive me to Budapest, and I had no problems with it.  Zsolt and Gábor showed up at my apartment exactly 45 minutes later, ready to tow all my stuff to Budapest.  To make things even more awkward, Gábor was totally a handsome man approximately my age who spoke fluent English.  He was witty, smart, insightful and – of course – married.  Oh well, we still had an enjoyable ride.  He dropped me off right in front of Jake and Ellen’s house – without accepting any money at all.  I was saved – even thought it was by a strange man named Gábor.  What a day.  

School Choir Concert

Barna's new purchase from a Christmas festival - it has skulls on - and the choir with the Headmistress speaking off to the left

Thursday night was the Christmas choir concert.  Barna is in the choir, and I had told him earlier that I would go… hmph.  I hadn’t packed for my trip yet, I did have the things for the cat together, and I was flat out not wanting to go to the choir concert.  BUT, I went.  I hopped on the bus and got off at the church.  Exiting the bus at the same time as me was a petite woman who also teaches at Eötvös.  I don’t know her name, but she was at my choir concert, the jewelry auction and at other events I have attended.  It’s like we’re kindred spirits without having spoken to eachother.  She chatted me up the entire walk to school, pretty impressive since I don’t speak Hungarian and she doesn’t speak English.  I told her I was going to Germany for the holiday, and that I was liking the school and Tata etc. etc… small talk.  We got to the school, and I quickly realized that I was completely underdressed.  I had on jeans, a sweater and my red Columbia jacket.  Bad choices all around.  There were suits, dresses, fancy coats – the works.  I had no idea that it was that kind of affair – leave it to Eötvös to do it up right.  Sheesh.  I peeked my head in the doorway, and to my surprise, this was one Hungarian event that was going to start on time.  The room (the multipurpose room) was full, and there was hardly a seat left.  I did see one of my English colleagues, and she flagged me over to sit down, but on my way, I spotted two members of the choir and they flagged me down.  Who do I sit with?  I had so many friends I didn’t know what to do!!!  I ended up sitting next to the people from choir, even though they didn’t speak English – we have a common choral bond.  The songs were good, and though the students sang in their sailor shirts and suits, it felt a little more like Christmas.  Then there was some sort of Christmas program, I have no idea what was really going on, though some kids were in angel wings like I had been in my St. Rose of Lima performance – so I knew it had to be Christmas pertinent.  Then, the choir returned for a rousing performance of “O Happy Day” previously viewed at the Salagavato.  Once they finished, we broke out into the typical Hungarian coordinated synchronized clapping, and they began the song over again.  Barna snapped and clapped his little heart out.  After the concert, Kata (my friend from the first day; the train to Budapest) sought me out immediately.  She struck up a conversation (that I didn’t understand) without even batting an eye, as if we’d been friends forever.  Once we stopped and looked for a minute, we realized that they had opened up the back doors of the room into a classroom, and there was a large banquet table filled with sweets, bars and cookies.  There was also wine – red and white – and forralt bor.  Kata (the secretary and part time math teacher) ran to me with a pitcher of the forralt bor (knowing I like it) and immediately filled a glass for me.  I chatted with Kata (my first friend) and some of the students who performed in the concert.  Then, a tall woman with striking black hair tapped on my shoulder and said, “are you Carla?”  I replied with a yes – and she went on to introduce herself as Barna’s mother.  She told me she was looking forward to meeting me at conferences, but I wasn’t there – of course I told her that they didn’t tell me about them… we chatted for a while, and between the three of us, (Kata, Barna’s mom and I) we had a very funny bilingual conversation.  A few moments later Kata (the secretary) rushed over to me and whispered, “this is my Christmas gift to you, you get two glasses” and she re-filled my spiced wine.  She knows me too well!!  All in all, I’m glad I went.  I got to see Barna perform – and they did quite a nice job – and two of my other students played the violin in the concert.  I got free forralt bor and got to see my best friend Kata J again.  It was definitely worth it.