Esik a hó and other Adventures in Hungarian.

Somehow January is over and I failed to update throughout the entire month. I did make it back from the Ukraine! There is a lot to say, a lot of updates, and I think I will start with December happenings and Christmastime.

December started with Mikulas (December 6) – or Saint Nick—where Mikulas came to visit the school and give the children little packages of treats! A popular tradition is for children to wake up and find candies in their shoes (we woke up to Kinder Surprises in our shoes thanks to the teacher who lives with us during the week). Throughout the morning the children continued with their lessons, but a bit on edge, knowing that at some point Mikulas would come to their classroom. I was with the second graders that day and they were very excited. He came into the room and they all got quiet, but you could feel the tension of excitement in the air! There were some exclaimations but they got a little bit shy, knowing that they had to be good around this guy. He called them up to the classroom one by one and read a little verse about each of them and then gave them each a package. Even the children known to be a little naughty acted very coy and shy around good ole Saint Nick. The afternoon continued with little parties in each classroom—some of the other ones with music and dancing and the younger ones with games and Christmas movies.

In the evening we went to Gilvanfa where we processed around the village with not just one, but two Mikulases and torch lights, singing songs and giving gifts to families and baby formula to those families with young babies. A fun day and wouldn’t mind bringing the tradition back home! Who wouldn’t want to wake up to some chocolate in their shoes!

Field Trip!

Went with the fourth grade class (or at least the kids that weren’t bad and were allowed to go) to Pecs one day for a little field trip to…the MALL! Who would have thought. But yes we went—to look at a little Christmas program that the mall had (which turned out to be disappointing), but there was also a little station in the mall for children to make ornaments, so we did that and also visited a natural history type museum (which had some old “stuffed” animals). A fun little trip and nice to do something different.

Really into the escalator! They went up and down at least four times I think!

Mall decorations for Christmas. Actually really nice--lots of animals in those woods too!

Karácsony

Livia and I set out very early to travel to her family for Christmas. Leaving Magyarmecske at 5.30am and arriving at her house around 6.00pm (I think), it was a long journey. Bus from Mecske to Pecs, train from Pecs to Budapest, train from Budapest to Nyiregyhaza, and her father picked us up to drive about two hours to her house. The border crossing was how I expected the border of Ukraine to be—we drove for awhile in what seemed to be pitch black and out of nowhere came the border—toll booth looking, lit up with a slighly yellow glow. The people in the booths had camoflague clothing and what I would think of as typical Soviet winter hats, fur and all. I had to fill out a little paper saying where I was going and why and got my passport stamped. No problem.

Christmas was a different experience. In some ways it didn’t even seem like Christmas at all. There were all the fixings—the Christmas tree, candies, cookies, cakes, and special foods, but just wasn’t that holiday that I experience at home. While it wasn’t the usual Swedish meatballs, rice pudding, and the tree had blinking colorful lights and tinsel instead of straw ornaments and white lights, I was so thankful to be with Livia and to get a chance to meet her family and friends. Living a life in Hungarian is also a different experience. Especially when people are speaking fast. Most of my time was spent just listening and eating and drinking, saying thank you, good, and delicious. Her grandfather gave me lots of homemade wine and chocolate liquer and I won’t lie, everywhere we went I’m pretty sure we took at least two or three shots of some kind of alcohol (and we went a lot of places!). It was a lot of fun even though I was basically mute and I once again learned how kindness can be shared without words. I was sad that I couldn’t speak more and share in the jokes, stories, and converstaion, but I hope that in the future I might meet some of the same people again and understand and speak more! As I spent my time in Carpathia I also realized the importance of family, friends and tradition, and while I missed all of those things I found comfort in the family and friends of a faraway place and the many wonderful Christmas greetings that I had received from the States.

Livia and I made these rolls--delicious!

Livia with the cookies we made

The cookie making process

A belated Thank You to everyone who sent me Christmas greetings!

Boldog Karácsony!

Boldog Karácsony!
Merry Christmas!

A quick update before I won't be doing much computerezni (a great thing in Hungarian I have found out is that pretty much everything can be made into a verb by adding an "ezni" or "azni" to the end).
First snow last Monday.

Vienna & Lindt Chocolate Factory on Tuesday (with teachers from the school).

Friday night Avatar in 3D (in Hungarian) with kids from Gilvanfa.  Took a bus with no heat and about 30 kids/young adults.  Really good time and good movie!
Good snow on Saturday (approx. 5 inches. A nice white blanket!)

Children's Christmas performance at school today (pictures to come).  They did a great job, and of course it was cute!
Sledding tonight, which involved 4 sleds getting pulled by a car down the streets from Magyarmecske to Magyartelek and back and partway to Gilvanfa.  Great.
And tomorrow the beginning of my Christmas adventure!
Will be travelling to Carpathia in the Ukraine to Livia's village to have Christmas with her family.  Should be fun to meet her family and friends!
And of course will be missing everyone at home!
So a Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Lots of entries to post!  After the Karácsony time make sure you come back for some new things!

Budapest Adventures!

More highlights from the time in the big city...

Our Saturday started out very rainy, which wasn’t too promising for a day of exploring the city. So we cancelled our plans to be outside and instead went to the Nagycsarnok (or Great Market) in Pest (indoors) and looked at all the fresh meats, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits, as well as many different Hungarian crafts and souvenirs. Afterwards the weather had cleared up a bit so we went across the river to Buda to make an attempt up to the Citadella (which looks over both Buda and Pest). [Budapest is separated by the Danube River into two parts Buda and Pest, which joined together in the late 1800s.]

The Great Market

Up to the Citadella...

We met Saint Gellert...

We peeked into the Cave Chapel...

Found that most things are free game for graffiti canvases, even beautiful stone carvings (and giant crosses)...

And as we climbed the sun began to come out! Allowing for a nice little walk and a beautiful sunset at the top!

Pest

Sepp and Trazy (with whom I had the pleasure of spending the day with!)

Buda + Pest = Budapest

Sunset...

And a great big beautiful moon with the Liberty Monument, which stands atop the Citadella.

Afterwards, went to a little palacsinta (pancake, like crepe) place off the beaten path in Buda. A really good day and great way to see the city from a new perspective!

Palacsinta

We also got a chance to go to one of Budapest’s Christmas markets, which had many little stands selling beautiful handicrafts, as well as lots of delicious looking foods and treats.

Meeting with the Bishops
Part of our stay involved a meeting with many of the other volunteers in our program here in Hungary and the bishop of the Lutheran Church and a representative from the Reform Church in Hungary.  It was an important meeting as they acknowledged the ODE organization (Reform Church volunteer program we are working through in Hungary) and the work that it does--which I think can be somewhat controversial (maybe not said outright) because ODE sends its volunteers to many Roma communities and also supports Roma volunteers.  

Overall Review:
A great stay in Budapest! 

So there's this American holiday...

And I'm going to be gone for a few days...

Thanksgiving in Budapest.

I recently got to spend five days in Budapest for the Thanksgiving holiday. The six YAGM volunteers who are in Slovakia and in Hungary, as well as the two Reformed Church volunteers all got together at Dick and Carolyn Otterness’ flat in Budapest to talk, eat, and enjoy speaking some regular English, share in good conversation, jokes, and of course we filled ourselves with some delicious traditional Thanksgiving fare. (Dick and Carolyn are representatives from the Reformed Church and have been living in Budapest for three years, establishing wonderful connections with many people in both Hungary and the Ukraine, working on many important projects with both Roma and Gadje, and have also become an important support to all of the volunteers thanks to their stories, sharing their experiences, their willingness to be there for us, and for opening up their home to us all. A BIG thank you to them for their hospitality!)


One of the main highlights of the time in Budapest was of course the Thanksgiving meal itself—delicious turkey (which at this time of the year is hard to purchase in whole, but Carolyn found one great big 26 lb bird!), stuffing, squash, mashed potatoes, cranberries (also hard to come by in Hungary—the word for cranberry and blueberry is actually the same, neither of which I have seen in a regular grocery store), pumpkin pie, apple pie, pecan pie (pecans also hard to come by), and cherry crisp. FINOM!  Good company was also shared as Arden Haug, Regional Coordinator for Europe for ELCA Global Mission (among many other things), John, the head of RGDtS, and a Kathy and Joe, a couple from PC USA who are also working in Hungary, were all able to join us for the meal.  Afterwards we also had a chance for some singing and great music as Matt played the violin, Arden the piano, Kristy a little guitar, and later on a former volunteer joined us with his guitar.  An excellent way to digest all that delicious food.

Carolyn working hard to make a delicious pie!

Lisa chopping squash (volunteer in Slovakia)

The HUGE turkey BEFORE...

And after! (Just a funny angle...it really was a normal bird, I promise!)

Cute little turkey candle...

And my oh my was the food good!!!!!

More on Budapest to come!

Village Life.

Is a lot different than living in Cambridge. Or even Old Saybrook.

The adjustment to village life has not been so difficult but I have found the quiet that exists in this small village to be both comforting and alarming. There are no sirens going by, no trains, and only the occasional car or bus or tractor that passes down the street in Magyarmecske. In many ways, a welcome calm. There are cocks crowing randomly throughout the day and if you walk around you will see chickens pecking in people’s yards, likely hear geese and ducks honking and quacking, the occasional pig snorting, sheep baaing, and dogs barking. All welcoming sounds of life.  But at many points during the day there seems to be an absolute quiet--in the house, in the garden, walking along the road, or near the fields.  Just Quiet.  Now this is the part that is sometimes alarming to me and makes me never want to go anywhere alone.  But I think it is something that I will just get used to. 

Magyarmecske

During the day there is usually some kind of group of people gathered in front of the small store talking, but other than the animals, the occasional group, bus, or car, there is not a whole lot going on. There is also not a whole lot to “do” in the village. In all the places I’ve lived there has always been something to “do” on the weekend, usually meaning going to a store, going to a restaurant, sporting event, ect., basically participating in some kind of commerce. If you think of these as the only things as something to “do,” then there is nothing to “do” here in Magyarmecske on the weekend. The store closes at noon on Saturday and isn’t open on Sunday (as is also the case with many things in Pecs), so get your shopping done early, and after that there is the library (which hasn’t provided me with too much happiness yet, other than being in the presence of so many books, since I can’t understand enough at this point), and the “bar,” which I am avoiding...

With some of the girls who live in Magyarmecske

Kitti (2nd grader) we made a jack-o-lantern

So if I am not on my way to Pecs on a Saturday morning, I have had to find new ways of “doing,” which has involved a variety of things from playing with children in the village to helping someone with English to just hanging out with Livia and Simon to reading or having a few friends come over. Whether I am with Livia and Simon, with children or families from the village, or even enjoying some quiet time alone, I have found the pace of life to be much slower and simpler, and have had to find more seemingly quiet ways to “do” things. This has been fine and in some ways has relieved a kind of pressure to always be doing something or going somewhere.

Sometimes we play poker...

And Sirius wishes he could play too...

In the same way that slowing down has helped to relieve some pressures, living here for these first few months has also made me appreciate and think back even more fondly on when I was living in Cambridge and could just walk down to Porter, Harvard, or Davis Square, meet some friends at a café, sit for hours just talking, or head into Boston or some other neighborhood and just explore, always being in the midst of many people, cars, buses, and trains. But one thing about living in the city that I really missed was the stars. Some nights it would be somewhat clear, but many times there would be that city light ambiance, blocking the vibrancy that the stars have. One night as I was walking with some other people down the street in Gilvanfa I looked up and was struck by the stars. I realized how infrequently I actually look up at the night sky and was happy to be able to experience such a clear black sky with so many stars dotting the canvas.

Hanging out in Gilvanfa

Before I close my entry on village life I think something must also be said about village gossip.  Word spreads quickly.  Especially via teenagers.  I don't have much of a gauge on what people think about us, especially in Magyarmecske, but I know that the people in Gilvanfa (with whom we are closest to) are quick to find out about our every move.  For example one Saturday Livia and I bought boots in Pecs with one of our new friends from Gilvanfa and on Monday when we were at school and again in Gilvanfa after school all the girls knew that we had bought boots and wanted to see them.  People here are also very up front about asking how much something costs and it seems that anyone and everyone will ask you how much something you bought cost, as well as ask you how much money you make, ect.  This was kind of startling at first, coming from a place where people are usually private when it comes to money.  But such is the life here!

So the village ends up being both a blessing and a curse, but for the most part a good place to be, a new experience, and a new way of "being."

Simon!

Livia!

That's me!

My parents sent me a package with a great Halloween mask, little spider, and little turkey (the spider and turkey both make sounds!).  Simon, Livia, and I modeling the mask!

Friss.

So this is a little bit old...
But I am finding it hard to find the time to write what I want...
More to come in the next few days (I hope!).
And a Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone!  (More on that to come as well!)

50+ Days in Magyarmecske.

The language, village life, and dealing with new addictions.

So it is just after noon on Sunday, November 15, 2009, a beautiful sunny day in Mecske and actually quite warm. Google tells me that it is 15 in Pecs, so I’ll take that to be the same here (60 F). Not bad for what is already mid-November (can you believe it!). There is a new “friend” outside who is insistent with talking to us. A shrill honking/clucking sound is the form of speech. Livia and I looked out the window to investigate. Nothing but a lone female turkey standing outside our house. I tried chasing it away, but it just came back, so for now there is lots of chatter outside. Other than our turkey friend, it is a pretty quiet day in the village.

Sirius hanging out chomping on a stick in the backyard.

Friss Kenyér, Sárgabarack lekvár, Vajkrém, és Keksz.
[Friessh ken-yeer. Shaargo-bor-otz-k lekvaar. Vaij-krem. Eesh Keks.]

Before I get into anything too serious, I think it’s important to talk about what has happened to my palate. My addictions here in Hungary. When we arrived in Monoszlo I think all of us were overwhelmed with the amount of white bread that was served and overwhelmed at how much we ate. Every meal, baskets and baskets of white bread. At the beginning I was somewhat disgusted—why so much white bread? With not much nutritional or any kind of value other than being something to put in your mouth and fill you up for a short period of time, why, why, why? I started out limiting myself to just two pieces when it was served at breakfast and one at every other meal because in the beginning I practiced restraint with the new tastes and dishes of the Hungarian variety (not because I didn’t like the food, but because our servings in Monoszlo were absolutely enormous. Imagine going to an Italian restaurant and being served a huge plate of pasta. You can’t eat it all at the restaurant, but decide to bring half or a third of it home for lunch the next day. Well imagine that, but for lunch and dinner everyday for two weeks! By the way, the food was delicious, absolutely wonderful, so restraint was extremely difficult!) [See Matt’s Blog for food pictures, YAGM currently in Budapest]. But by then, the seeds of addiction had already been planted. Sometimes I would allow myself three pieces at breakfast. And after that it was just a slippery slope, down, down, down to pure white bread addiction (I think my record for a day is nine pieces—which I am quite aware is absolutely absurd).

After Monoszlo I thought I would need a break from all that. But no, somehow I developed an appetite for fresh, soft, white bread and now I am pretty sure that a day without it would be incomplete. (Not that my love for fresh bread has ever been in doubt—for example, Olive Garden breadsticks, I could eat dozens; soft, warm, white rolls or bread as an appetizer with butter or olive oil, I would eat all night long.) However, I am not alone in my addiction. This is both comforting and horribly encouraging for the consumption of white bread. Livia also shares a love for the smell, texture, and taste of a beautiful loaf of fresh bread. We talk of trying to limit ourselves and practice decent restraint when the loaf is two or three days old. But that first day, when it is fresh and soft…it is basically impossible. So that has been phase one of my addiction.

The following addictions are not nearly so severe. Before arriving in Hungary I only ate raspberry and grape jelly, thinking that I didn’t like orange colored jellies. This had to do for the most part because many times I do not like orange flavored things (other than juice and oranges themselves) and for some reason the color kind of turned me off. But here in Hungary a popular jam is Sárgabarack lekvár (also known as apricot jam). (And yes the word for peach in Hungarian is none other than our president’s name. Barack. Unfortunately it is said quite differently. More like “Bor-otz-k.”) I tried it at the beginning and thought it to be fine, but nothing special. I was missing raspberry jam and crunching on the seeds. But slowly I realized that it was delicious. And now! It is the only jelly that I want coating my soft, white bread. (Now I wouldn’t say no to a nice raspberry or apple jelly or some other variety, but there is something great about the combination of apricot and white bread that just makes my taste buds happy.)

A few weeks into my time here in Magyarmecske I also discovered something called “Vajkrém,” which literally means “butter cream.” I am not quite sure what it is, but it is somewhat like a cream cheese, except softer and lighter, and not really like butter at all. In any case, it is another great accompaniment to white bread (and even to sargabarack lekvár!).

And finally, there are keksz. These delicious little cracker/biscuit things are great. And for 300-400 forints at TESCO you can get a whole kilo! (Translation, for about $2 you can get 2.2lbs of crackers at the huge Wal Mart like store.) So these little crackers make a great snack, a little bit sweet and a good thing to munch on. Unfortunately we don’t get to revel in the cheap prices at Tesco too often because it is in Pecs. In comparison a 200g bag of keksz in Magyarmecske runs at about 150 forints, which when you compare with Tesco is expensive—more than double the price.

So that is a little about my addictions here in Hungary, luckily they are not harmful (except to the waistline...). There is also the kakaos csiga, but I’ll get into that some other time (fortunately or unfortunately it is not a daily experience).

And now you have learned some of the most important Hungarian words!


Friss=Fresh
Kenyér=Bread
Sárgabarack=Apricot
Barack=Peach
Lekvár=Jam
Vaj=Butter
Krém=Cream
Vajkrém=Vajkrém
Keksz=Cracker/biscuit

More to come soon on the rest of the topics and more about life in Magyarmecske and Magyarorszag!

Looking out over Pest from the top of the Citadella in Buda.  I was in Budapest for an awesome Thanksgiving!