Happy Spring! Wow, the time is really starting to go by fast. I thought the days of March would drag by but it's already April! I've been very busy lately and have made a few close friends. I feel as if I'm finally starting to get the hang of things here and feel comfortable and now I have to think about going back home. The language is better, but not perfect by any standards. Hungarian is such a difficult language. Many of my classmates help me by speaking with me and I'm constantly studying the grammar in classes I can't really participate in. The weather has started to be really warm and sunny again. It was so nice to walk around the city center today and I guess everyone thought so because I can't remember the last time I had seen so many people. There wasn't a single bench open and there were hundreds and hundreds of people walking around the main street. I'm crossing my fingers that the gorgeous weather is here to stay.
Just to catch you all up on what I've been doing, the month of January was filled with many meetings with the American exchange students in preparation for our presentation to the Hungarian outbound students. It made the cold and dreary winter month and end of the holiday season a little better for us all to get together in Budapest. I was also surprised to find that I had a name day. January 19th is "Sára" day and a friend and my host mother surprised me with some candy and flowers. On the 20th, my friend from Alaska and I got together along with our friends from Venezuela and New Zealand to have a party and watch the Presidential Inauguration. We tried to make chocolate chip cookies and had pizza and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the most American we could get for the occasion).
At the end of the month I went on a hiking trip in Northern Hungary. I must say, I usually like the hiking trips, but this one wasn't exactly my favorite. The hills were all covered with snow and ice and the wind would seem to blow through no matter how many layers you had on. This was the least of my worries though. I was sent off on this trip with snow boots instead of hiking boots because they thought I would be warmer. It turned out that they bruised my ankles and I ended up really hurting my hip trying to walk carefully to not hurt my ankles down an icy slope.
I can't say it was all bad though. Despite all this, I had a really good time speaking with some of my classmates. Especially the ones that were too shy to speak with me before this. There was a lot of "Hunglish" between us, but we were able to communicate and get to know each other better. The views were also very pretty, seeing for miles across the snow covered hills. It was a really great change from Debrecen where everywhere is flat and all you see are the plains when you leave the city. My favorite part of the trip came after the two days of hiking. We went to a place outside of Eger in North Eastern Hungary to go to the hot springs. We all spent a couple hours in the outdoor thermal baths and it was more than a welcomed treat. It was pretty interesting to be sitting in a bathing suit in 10 degree weather with snow all around you.
In February we had all of our country presentations. Some exchange students did power points of their country, some had games, some had dances and others sang songs. All had to have information on their country for the parents and new exchange students (oh, and it all had to be in Hungarian as well). The Americans had an interactive game with the audience of "Igaz vagy Nem Igaz" - True or False - and we would ask random people to take a guess. Many were involving the stereotypes of Americans or common misconceptions of geography, some politics and culture. Of course, the ones that had them stumped were "Do all Americans eat at McDonald's?", "Are all New Yorkers from the City?", and "Is the typical American accent the Southern accent?". For some reason, it's really common for people to think that. Of course, the easiest one was "Do most Americans speak loudly?" We all noticed very quickly while together that we were by far the loudest group.
Near the end of the month were all of the Farsang festivities, better known to us as Carnival or Carnaval in French. The rotary in Szolnok, about an hour or so east of Budapest by train, had a large Farsang Bál and invited some exchange students. We all dressed up in costumes got to see some Hungarian dances before the ball itself started.
The week after, I was invited to go to Chalon, France with the band I play with. It was so much fun. The bus ride took about 24 hours, and we were all exhausted when we arrived. The city of Chalon is very beautiful, although we didn't have the time to really explore. I was also taken by surprise when I was handed a jacket - a marching band jacket - while we were getting ready at the hotel. It turns out that this jazz band started out as a marching band. With it, I was also handed the music. The first evening was the night parade. We went through some of the main streets and into the main square where the selected king and his court would watch from a balcony above and rate the performers. There were people along the streets dressed up, small carnival rides and floats shooting confetti. And at the end we were all given hot French wine and there was a small fireworks display.
The second day we were in an early afternoon parade which was a little longer and then a short rehearsal in the arena. That night there was a large performance of many bands as well as some dances and acrobatics. Our band played a song, then stood at one end of the arena while the dancers who were with us on the trip did their routines. There was a group of ballroom dancers and a group of baton dancers. The crowd particularly liked the ballroom dancing. In the show there were large military bands from Germany and the Netherlands, traditional Bulgarian dancers, gymnasts from Paris, a band from Belgium dressed in an Asian uniform, a marching band with everyone dressed as pirates and drum sets on wheels, a band from the Netherlands who road on bicycles while playing as well as a few others. The choreography of the marching band on bicycles was quite impressive. At the end of the show, all of the acts came out onto the floor and played a song together. Then, one by one, everyone was announced and played their final song as they left the arena.
The following day there was another small performance at a theatre. Each group played and then sat at a table on the main floor in front of the stage and watched the others. The audience was watching from the normal theatre seating above in a strange sort of balcony. After everyone played, we ate lunch together. It was a nice idea, but with all the languages, not very many people spoke to one another. All the meals we were given in France had baguettes, cheese and wine. On that day we were given cream cheese. All of the Hungarians looked at the small containers and then put it aside not knowing what it was. I looked around, feeling a little bit strange but seizing the opportunity at a food I haven't had in a long time, and started to put it on my bread which they had also given us. It was the most amusing thing to see everyone watch me first with looks upon their faces expressing how strange they thought I was. The person next to me asked "Finom?" (It's good?)then, slowly, they all started to do the same while glancing back at me from time to time. I went from feeling a little awkward to trying not to laugh.
After the lunch was the final parade. Floats, dancers, bands, clowns, and anything else you could put into a parade lined the main road just outside the city center. We had to ride our bus to get into position. I can hardly explain how many people there were. We had to walk from the bus to a small side street where we would enter the parade. As we walked through we got to see some of the floats. There was a KISS band, belly dancers, the King and Queen of the parade, pirates, and an American float. This one particularly stuck out to me and I couldn't completely decide if it was bashing Americans. There was Uncle Sam at the top with his face half white and half black. Then it had a cartoon of President Obama dancing around a large pot in what appeared to be the jungle. They had the same in the float itself with many people dressed as uncle Sam around it. I tried to read what it said in French when one of the people came up to me and started saying something and attempting to take my hand and dance and sing something in French. My band mates lost it as the man realized I was American as soon as I spoke. Of all the people there, he had picked me. I laughed as well and he looked a little surprised, though he laughed as well.
The parade seemed to take forever, even after we waited an hour and forty-five minutes to leave our spot as we watched some of the parade go by. We spent another good hour and a half marching, half marching, waiting, and dodging. As we got further along, it became more and more crazy. I quickly discovered that it is extremely common for the parents to buy their children bags of confetti to throw around during the parade. I also learned quickly that many of these children like to throw it at the performers. And I was lucky enough to be on the outside right next to them and of course with my height and instrument I'm the absolute perfect target for them. At first I thought it was cute to see very young children throw confetti around laughing. Then it became not-so-cute as the slightly older children would throw it in your face and, their favorite of all, into the instruments. Everyone was coated with confetti and the saxophonists especially had a hard time keeping children from dumping fist fulls into their instruments. I was surprised when even some parents started to put large handfuls onto players' heads and into instruments.
We did have a few times where we had to stop and attempt to avoid being buried. During these times though they would hand out free French wine that was made locally. It made the waits a bit better. At the end of the parade we made our way, in the rain of course, through the fair. It felt more like walking down an overly crowded city street than being in a parade. We had to walk around and avoid running into so many people who would just walk through the band or right along side. There were a few times the security had to make us stop so they could get the crowds to back up. It was so hectic! After a group photo and vigorously shaking out the wet and confetti plastered instruments we went back to the hotel and left the following day for a very, very long ride home.
In March things were a little less busy with Rotary events and I had thought that the month would go by slowly. I still don't know where the time went. Most of the past month was filled with different get-togethers in Debrecen with other exchange students and some of my friends that I've made from the university and the high school. No one in Hungary celebrates St. Patrick's Day, so my friends from Alaska and New Zealand and I went around the city asking "Arulnak zöld sört?" or, do you sell green beer. It was, of course, a lost cause but it was fun to see them try to give us green bottles. At the end of the afternoon we settled for hanging out at the only Irish pub in the city. It was the only place we didn't get strange looks for being dressed in all green.
As for April, it's going to be a very busy month. My friends and I are already looking at our Rotary and AFS schedules and thinking how little time we have left to be together and in Hungary! Next weekend is spring break here, then the following weekend is the Rotary trip to Poland. I'll remember my camera and extra batteries this time around for sure!!
I hope my internet works a bit better now and I remember to set aside time to keep you all updated. I miss you all and I can't believe how soon I'll be back!
