24/08/2009 – 28/08/2009

Although I had access to the Internet at the hostel, I’d like to see you try and sit in a sauna and write a thoughtful and insightful blog entry! Jamie and I have now moved into our apartment, which I’ll discuss in detail in a later post, but for now let’s stick with orientation. Fortunately, we found an Internet cafe where I can enjoy a cappuccino while I type!

The Central European Teaching Program includes a 4-day orientation following that first dinner on the river. For four days, we met in an air-conditioned (!!) classroom at the university with a linguistics teacher fluent in Hungarian, English, and Hunglish. She was very funny, enlightening, and helped us trudge through the three-hour classes with ease. We learned about the culture, language, history, and some teaching tips to help us survive the next year. Let me give the highlights of what we learned:

• Szabad a gazda! = “The master is free,” as in I give up.
• Barack = peach, not Obama.
• You can buy cheap nosebleed tickets for the Opera on the day of the show
• Population of Hungary = 10 million.
• Hungary is ranked around #50 out of 3,000 for top languages in the world
• Hungarians are taxed a lot on their salaries. For every 100 Forints, more than 90% seems to go to taxes. I will not be taxed (I don’t think).
• Don’t clink your beers when cheering — just don’t.
• If you mail anything to me or Jamie, make sure to write “Jacob Hidas’ (or Jamie Stubblefield’s) Belongings” on the package, and maybe even on what’s inside.
• Hungarians have 20 fingers; Americans have 8 fingers, 10 toes, and 2 thumbs.
• English: And they lived happily ever after; Hungarian: And they lived until they died.
• The language is crazy!
• The US Embassy will come visit me if I’m in jail, but won’t tell anybody where I am should I tell them not to.

If any other teachers are reading this and want to mention anything else they learned, please do! It was a long week to get through, but we also had some fun.

High School Battle of the Bands at Rocktogon!

I think just about every night was spent out and about until 1 or 2 in the morning. We had some good dinners, some great drinks, and even better times getting to know one another. Here are a couple highlights of our teacher adventures:

• Sitting next to the Danube under the Liberty Bridge. While there enjoying some beers and wine, we met a Moroccan-Hungarian singer. Despite the language barrier, some of the teachers sang Red Hot Chili Peppers songs into the early hours.
• Eating salami, cheese, and bread in a park while gaggles of Hungarians make out around us.
• Going to a high school Battle of the Bands! It was sweaty, smoky, stuffy, but a rockin’ good time!

On the last night of orientation, CETP once again took us out for dinner. One of the most famous restaurants in Budapest is Gundel. It is also very expensive, which is why we did not go there. Instead, we ate at Bolgyvar, which is a sister restaurant with the same chef. This truly was an amazing dinner. Located near Heroes Square, Bolgyvar is a grill/restaurant with a great outdoor patio.

Jamie and I shared spicy cheese balls, and I also had a bowl of chilled sour cherry fruit soup. For the main course, Jamie had catfish with cottage cheese

Some hard choices at Bagolyvar....

noodles and paprika. Unfortunately, it was bland and too rich, but it was probably one of the few times that we knew we could eat fish safely here. I had a turkey breast stuffed with ham and cheese, with rizibizi (rice with peas) on the side, and I was thoroughly pleased! It was a great dinner, but we all knew that the fun of orientation and getting to know one another was soon coming to an end.

After heading back to the hostel, Jamie and I packed up and called it an early night. Waking up on Friday was almost like that feeling where you knew you were getting a gift today but you didn’t know if it would be a new video game or a hand-me-down sweater. After eating breakfast with everyone, we watched as the group of Hungarian contact persons from our schools arrived. After sweating bullets for another hour, we went upstairs to meet them.

Unfortunately for Jamie, her contact person could not be there, and she was informed that she’d be meeting them the following Monday. A man named Dan from the United States Embassy came to talk to us and tell us about what the Embassy has to offer. There are teaching materials available if we need anything, but more importantly, they can help if we get into trouble. Now, I don’t plan on causing any mayhem, but when in Hungary, do as the Hungarians do, so who knows what’s going to happen (just kidding, Mom)!

Well, that was a week’s worth of information for you all to enjoy. After the orientation, we headed to our new cities and apartments (or in our case, same city, new apartment). We knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore, but are we in Budapest anymore? Guess you’ll have to wait and find out soon…

Party like it's 1 am by the Danube, Jamie!