Who knew that during my time teaching, I’d find myself with a mystery to solve! Solving mysteries in Hungary?! I feel like Scooby Doo! Let me start this post by saying that teaching English has been quite the experience thus far. It’s fun, it’s tough, it’s different, but I’m having a great time.

Despite all the fun I’ve been having, I’ve also had some trouble as of late keeping them quiet in my class. I’m working on keeping control, but seeing as how teaching kids is new experience for me, it is a skill I’ll continue to acquire.

Earlier this week, I had just got one of my rowdier second grade classes quiet so we could continue our work with The Little Red Hen. All of a sudden, a student I’ll call “Zoltan” starts shaking his leg.

Startled, I ask, “Zoltan, what are you doing?!” Zoltan keeps shaking his leg. After some hard jolts, a blue pair of underwear fell out of his pant leg.

Zoltan looks down at the underwear, looks up at me, looks back down at the underwear, and then picks them up. He examines them, looks at me, throws them at the ground, picks them up again, throws them at the ground, and finally, exclaims, “MYSTERY!”

He stands up, and I asked him if they were his. Smiling from ear to ear, he exclaims they’re his with a quiet “yes.” Before I could tell him to put them in his locker, he bundles them, puts them in his pocket, raise his arms in the air and states, “OK!

The whole class burst into laughter, myself included, and I wasn’t sure any of us would regain enough composure to cut some wheat, grind it into flour, and make some bread for the Little Red Hen to enjoy.

MYSTERY: SOLVED?

While the Hungarians recognized the day of the 1848 revolution on Monday, March 15, Jamie, me, and 4 other teaches decided to take advantage of a 3-day weekend and head to Prague/Praga/Praha.

Prague is a fairy tale of a place, and easy enough to get to that it fit perfectly for a weekend trip. We all found different means to get there, whether it be plane, train, or Student Bus Agency, but we all managed to meet up for some good times.

Jamie, me, and another teacher (we’ll call her “Eleanor”) took the bus from Budapest (or Gyor) to Prague. It was a seven-hour ride that included Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Czech subtitles, Ocean’s Thirteen with English subtitles, and a movie called Lonesome Jim, starring Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler. It was strange, but I have to say I enjoyed it.

When we arrived in Prague, it was 11:30 at night. We booked an apartment near the Old Town Square, famous for it’s astronomical tower. It was a good location for a great walking city. After walking around for half an hour, we found the apartment, and met Jeremy inside. Let’s breakdown the weekend, but for those who are not interested in that, let me first give some general thoughts on Prague.

For me, Prague was a great weekend trip. You could easily see most of the sights in a single weekend, most of which by foot. Like Bratislava, I felt like Prague was right out of a fairy tale, with his cobblestone streets and old buildings. The prices were pretty similar to Budapest, which is nice coming from America or Western Europe, but not the price break I had imagined coming from Hungary. Regardless, it is still very affordable. It’s also a clean city, English-friendly, and has plenty of delicious beer.

Anyone who has the chance to should definitely see Prague at least once.  Now, onto our itinerary for the weekend, which is more than you care to know!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

• Enjoyed a bagel (yes, a bagel) at an ex-pat favorite called Bohemia Bagel
• Watched the coolest show ever at the Astronomical Tower (see video)
• Walked around the castle, and saw a really big church
• Enjoyed delicious Thai food
• Walked across the Charles Bridge, famous for tourists and knick knacks
• Admired but did not purchase Absinthe or Cannabis Vodka. Big mistake.
• Walked, and walked, and walked
• Drank a beer sampler at a microbrewery. Beers sampled included: wheat, dark, coffee, banana, nettle, marzen, and a light beer
• Ate dinner in a 12^th Century cellar
• Guzzled Czech beer as well as the Palinka cousin known as Slivovice
• Ended the evening with some of my wonderful hypnosis skills. No comment on the parties involved, but this included swimming on the ground and snakes in one’s pants

I forgot to rotate the video, but it’s probably more exciting watching it sideways anyway!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

• So impressed by the bagels, that we went back to Bohemia Bagel
• Toured the Jewish District of Prague. Saw five synagogues, a Jewish cemetery with bodies layered on top of one another, and even the home of the Golem
• Ate lunch at a big lunch hall called Lokal. Excellent bread dumplings and meat, along with beer to wash it all down
• Followed our tour guide, Betsy, until our feet fell off as we searched for cheap beer. By the time we went to the bar (post-dinner), beer was sold out. Instead, we enjoyed a lightning and thunder and snowstorm show

Monday, March 15, 2010

Seeing as this was the last day in Prague, we thought we’d try and see something awesome! We headed to some old church and cemetery that was very cool. The gravestones were quite intricate, making the experience all the more memorable. Jamie and I were having so much fun that we tried to switch our bus to a night bus, but we were out of luck. We did, however, enjoy an amazing milkshake before heading home.

It was great to get away from Budapest for the weekend, and now Jamie and I are preparing for our next adventure, Venice, Italy!

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…
Nellie the elephant packed her trunk and
said goodbye to the circus
Off she rode with a trumpety trump
trump trump trump

Nellie the elephant packed her trunk
and trumbled off to the jungle
off she rode with a trumpety trump
trump trump trump

(Nellie the Elephant by The Toy Dolls)

Jamie and I decided to take advantage of a sunny Saturday and go to the Budapest Zoo. Too bad that sun doesn’t necessarily mean warmth. The zoo is actually pretty close to us, seeing as how we are near to the Varosliget (City Park), which happens to also be home to the zoo. Now, I, like many people out there, don’t appreciate seeing animals locked up in cages. However, I have to say that most of the animals seemed pretty happy to be there. The zoo was a pretty big place, so we had a lot of ground to cover!

Seeing as how it was still cold out, and the fact that it was breakfast time, many of the animals were inside smaller enclosures eating a delicious meal. We had the chance to be especially close to the rhinos and hippos. Speaking of hippos, we walked into a very Middle Eastern-esque building, and as we turn the corner, we hear a loud SPLASH and caught some water spritzing into the air. We were literally two feet away from two hippos locked inside to avoid the cold weather. They were beautiful creatures, happily swimming in their unfortunately cramped quarters.

After the incident in San Francisco with the tiger jumping out of her enclosure, it was a pleasant surprise to be able to get so close to some of the animals. We felt entirely safe walking throughout the zoo, admiring the different architecture and

feel throughout the zoo. Jamie and I even fed some elephants. As one of the trainers was carrying a bucket of apples outside, one of the elephants stretched their trunk through the fence and snatched an apple before the trainer could snap at the big guy. Jamie and I braved the elephant feeding, which seemed more like vacuums as they sucked up their apples and carrots from us.

While we didn’t see any butterflies or penguins this time around, we spent quite some time in the gorilla enclosure admiring a mother and a recently born baby gorilla. It was definitely the highlight of the day, as the little tyke clung on to mom while she meandered through the enclosure, looking for a place to sleep.

Next to the gorillas were some orangutans, which was the perfect way to end the day. One of the orangutans was playing with a pink bucket full of water. After splashing it around for a while, he grabbed a shirt and began to wash it!

If only we had him doing our laundry! He would wash it, squeeze it, try it on for size, rinse, lather, and repeat!

After carrying the water around for a while, he accidentally knocked it all over and decided to put the bucket on his head instead. With his lack of vision, the orangutan swung himself right into the glass. After a while, he took the bucket off, and started licking the glass. With that, we knew it was time to go, and so ended our day at the Budapest Allatkert!

Well, the snow has melted away, and it’s slowly getting warmer (and then colder again). As I said ages ago, here are some pictures highlighting the end of 2009 and the start of 2010:

PLEASE NOTE: I am aware of the formatting issues and am working on it. For best results, make sure your browser is open to its full screen.

Paul comes for a visit:

Amanda comes for a visit:

James comes for a visit and Parliament, round 2:

Jamie and I visit my family here in Hungary:

A visit to Memento/Statue Park, where remnants of the Communist past are locked away, January 2010:

Bratislava, February 2010:

Meandering near the Danube, admiring the memorial recognizing the Jews that were shot and pushed into the Danube:

Mmm…homemade salty goulash!

And last but not least…