A view of the Kiraly from his hotel..er...castle.
Upon closer look at my last blog entry, I promised reflections on my second week, and instead left you in suspense. Here I am, ready to talk about the third week, but I guess I have a lot more ground to cover than I thought. Let’s begin!
After my first week of shadowing teachers in a crash course of Teaching Kids 101, I was thrown to the (little) lions! The first class I officially taught was a 2nd grade class, and it actually went okay! Throughout the week, I shadowed maybe once or twice more before graduating to full-time teacher. The 2nd graders were mostly in review mode, so it was fun but monotonous. It’s pretty much a bunch of games, coloring, and songs — I think I can handle that, eh? I like that I can pretty much a big kid and have a fun time. The only catch is they actually have to learn something at some point, and I have to discipline if needed (which may be required sooner than later).
As the week went on, I started to recognize faces and pronounce names (somewhat). However, it’s going to take me a while. No Zoltans or Attilas, either! There are some students who really know their English, and a lot that don’t, so it’s going to be a fun and busy year for me! Jamie’s school experience so far has been less than stellar, having to deal with rowdy students and no classrooms to teach in!
By the end of the week, the novel feeling of having well-behaved classes started to wear off as they started to get used to me and realized that — gasp — they have to learn from me! As the week ended, Jamie and I looked forward to having some familiar faces in town. That’s right, the kiraly (king) himself, Alex, along with the ever-awesome Suzanne, landed on Friday to party hard with us youngsters throughout the weekend.
After meeting Alex and Suzanne at their hotel, we walked down to find some food. Alex, guide book in hand, took us to Raday Utca. The only way Raday Utca can be described is the restaurant alley for locals, versus Vaci Utca being tourist central. We ate at one of the most famous restaurants in the city (I think), which wasn’t too bad. I had piglet, which was a little fattier than I would prefer, but tasty nonetheless.
After dinner, we met with some other CETP teachers at a bar called Fogsor (Teeth Beer), which was actually pretty cool. If you recall from a previous post, we had meandered in search of Szimpla Kert, and walked by a really cool bar — Fogsor was that bar! Set in the middle of an abandoned apartment complex, DJ beats filled the air, along with smoke, as youthful Hungarians chattered away. We had a good time there for a while, but decided to call a cab and call it a night, as we had a big day coming up!
After starting our day with some langos at a market near Alex and Suzanne’s hotel, we headed to the castle to enjoy the views, the awesome weather, and best of all, the Wine Festival. While we were only there for one day, the festival actually started on Wednesday, and continued until Sunday. We enjoyed glass after glass of Hungarian Tokaji, Egri Bikaver (Bull’s Blood)! We also went into the National Budapest Museum, which captured the history of the city. While a lot of it was in Hungarian, it was very cool to see original Coats of Arms, old boots, and a bunch of other artifacts from the city’s rich history.
Jamie and Suzanne and their wine glasses!
Two Hidas' in all their Hungarian pride!
Who's had more wine so far?
Now who's had more wine?!
I'd say the guy with the baby bottle!
One thing that makes life difficult when traveling overseas is not having any means of contact. Jamie and I were doing a lot of guesswork to try and meet with Alex and Suzanne sans cell phone. They enjoyed Margitsziget for the day on bikes, us on foot, but we ended up meeting for dinner at an excellent restaurant. Who knew that a place right across from Szent Istvan’s Bazilika could be affordable, delicious, and awesome? Some local at the bike rental place, that’s who!
Jamie and I had school Monday, so we called it a night, but met up with them after school to hit one of the local favorites: the Szechenyi Baths. Located in the heart of Varosliget (City Park) is this bath house, complete with 15 baths for your enjoyment. Massage pools, hot pools, ice cold baths, saunas, and an amazing atmosphere make this place unforgettable. It’s a shame we didn’t come sooner, and we look forward to enjoying the warm water during the winter, us relaxing and surrounded by snow! We ate dinner at Bagolyvar, which was good, but not as good as our first visit. Our time with Alex and Suzanne had been a blast, but they were sadly leaving the following day.
Our goodbyes were short and sweet, with them giving us towels stolen from the hotel, and us rushing to the immigration office to become legalized residents, but I’m glad to have gotten to spend time with them here. The best part certainly was Alex being called out for his Hungarian. Example:
Setting: Wine Festival
Scenario: Alex talking to one of the vendors
Alex: (Something in Hungarian like “How’s it going?”).
Vendor: (In English) Where you from?
Alex: San Francisco.
Vendor: So are you here studying Hungarian?
Alex: WHAT?! (Rants about Hungarian roots in the mother tongue).
The best part of this is that this was not the only time Alex was called out for his Hungarian. Sorry, Skunky, but you just got schooled. Speaking of school, this was my third week, and it was moving fast! The students were slowly moving onto new material, from school supplies to fruits for the 1st graders and The Very Hungry Caterpillar for 2nd grade. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t awesome either. The 2nd graders, already familiar with the story, had to be enticed into hearing it all over again. Another native teacher helped me with material by preparing laminated fruits from the story, which really saved me! For the most part, the kids enjoyed it. 1st graders were growing tired of school supplies quickly, so starting fruits was a fresh change — for them and for me!
Real birds eat...other birds? (Margitsziget zoo)
The weekend couldn’t come sooner, as it was my birthday! Some CETP teachers came from other towns for the weekend, so we had some good times, good meals, and good drinks. On Friday, we went out for dinner followed by some bar (which one — good question!). On Saturday, we decided to go to Margitsziget for a walk. The island is located in the center of the Danube, complete with a singing fountain, trees, flavored cotton candy, and remnants of an old church and castle. It’s a nice change of pace from the city located within the city. Following our walk, we met with the other teachers to check out the Terror House.
It may sound scary by name, but it’s history is much more frightening than some Halloween haunted house. Both the Nazis and Communists used this building to torture thousands of people. The building, complete with an underground prison, is a very intense experience, and there were definitely moments that gave me the chills. There was a lot of information about the 1956 revolution, which really hit home as that’s when my Dad, Grandma, and Grandfather left Hungary for America. After exiting the museum, we encountered a “Save the World” festival on Andrassy Ut. It’s amazing how such a main street can be closed seemingly every weekend for unknown events. This one included a giant robot, a bed that you sleep in standing up, and the most famous singer in all of Hungary. As we trekked up the street, we found even more fun with the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Opera House. We came just in time, as balloons with messages attached were released into the air! As the fat lady hit the stage, we left for dinner (Videos soon…promise!).
We decided to eat at an up-and-coming restaurant called Menza. We were given a two-hour slot to eat, as there were reservations at our table at 2100 hours, but we had a great dinner there. The prices were reasonable but the food was delicious. Afterwards, we hit up Pub Morrisons for some karaoke, dancing, and more drinks. Beer, palinka, unicum, and absinthe — now that’s a concoction! The night ended on some rooftop bar, which was cool, but at 0230, Jamie and I were ready to call it quits. Happy birthday to me!
On Sunday, my actual birthday, Jamie and I decided to lay low and spend some time shopping at Tesco. Tesco is the Wal-Mart equivalent of Europe (and maybe other parts of the world?). It is huge, and it is Hungarian! However, we have been fortunate enough to find the following:
- Peanut butter
- tortillas
- tortilla chips
- salsa
- Taco seasoning
- To be continued…
It’s nice to enjoy comforts from home, and if you readers out there have any comforts you’d like to share, please send them our way! Too exhausted to go out anymore, Jamie and I made some dinner and relaxed. I had a delicious pastry for dessert, complete with a match (Jamie’s search for candles turned out to be a challenge, even in the stores with candles in the window display!). However, it was a great way to cap off an excellent birthday weekend.
