Április

Time is truly racing by. I meant to write after Easter and it seems like someone cut out a couple weeks in the middle of April and it's May already. Many interesting things have happened, including turning yet another year older. Oh, and I even found "spiedies" at an ice cream shop in Debrecen (I liked to think so anyway).



Easter was definitely an interesting experience. I decorated eggs with my host mother and some of her friends the week before using different ways to color the eggs. The first way was to use egg white and a small paint brush to stick different small leaves on the eggshell. After, we carefully wrapped them in pieces of leggings and tied each of the ends and placed them in a pot of water and a heap of the outer skin of onions. The pot was placed to boil for an hour or so. Then the shell was a deep red color when taken out. The second set of eggs we decorated by gluing small glass glitter on in different designs and the third was to use white paint on red, hollowed out eggs in traditional designs.





After the egg decorating, I went with a couple friends to an American football game on the other side of the city to watch a classmate play. It was pretty interesting. Everyone played it up so much my friend from Alaska and I thought it was a little overdone with all of the American things. They sold hot dogs and chocolate chip cookies, everyone wore a football jersey or any sort of American sport clothing if they had it and the team even came in on a school bus (which is seen here as being stereotypically American as well). Unfortunately the Debrecen team lost, but it was fun to get to see their version just the same.




There was no celebration on Easter Sunday besides attending church services and maybe having a late brunch with some family. Most of Sunday was spent with the women preparing all sorts of different dishes and getting the house decorated and tidy for the guests which would arrive the following day. I tried to find something I could help with on Sunday so I wouldn't feel so useless, but I was told that I could help the following morning at 7 (not exactly my first choice).



On Monday morning I received a personal wake up call from my host father. At just about 7 I heard a brief knock on my door. I barely picked my head up and opened my eyes when I had a face full of water. Apparently, he has incredible aim with a water gun. I couldn't see anything with the water in my eyes and barely had time to attempt to retreat under the blankets. He laughed and wished me a happy Easter then proceeded to go to my host sister's room. Of course, slightly confused and wet, I couldn't get back to sleep anyway so I went downstairs to help prepare some sandwiches and set the table.





Guests started arriving at about 8:30. The tradition is that the men dress up and travel to the homes or all their friends and relatives, recite a poem and then sprinkle the women. In return, the women treat them to some food, painted eggs, and candy. This went on for about 5 hours and I believe we accumulated about 40 guests in all. The little boys were most adorable when trying to recite a small poem their fathers taught them and then trying to hide behind their legs or needing to be picked up to be able to spray us. Of course, everyone aims for your hair and that night I had to wash it 3 times to get the smell out. Each time a new visitor would arrive, we would line up as the men would greet us and after give each candy and a flower then ask if they would like anything to eat.




Traditionally, this holiday was celebrated by the women wearing traditional Hungarian dress and the men lining up and dumping buckets of water on them or dragging them to a river or lake. Each time a woman was "sprinkled", she would then change her dress to a dry one. Most of the poems are traditional poems and talk about a man finding a wilting flower and asking permission to water it. The holiday is traditionally pagan and is a celebration of fertility. Now they have more of a modern and Christian outlook on the holiday. It's also said that the more visitors a woman has, the better and it has sort of become a competition to see who can get sprinkled the most. It's also become common for the women to travel on the following Tuesday to retaliate against the men with some perfume of their own.









The following weekend I went to Krakow on a trip with Rotary. The mountains between Slovakia and Poland were absolutely gorgeous (I imagine even more so for those of us who have been living in the plains in Hungary for the past 8 months) and the houses in Poland were so cool! We stayed for two nights, really only getting to see the city for a night. Krakow was really beautiful, especially the city center and the castle along the river. The first night we mostly stayed in the hostel and got to speak with people from all over the world and hear about their travels as well in the common area.













The second day we went to visit Auschwitz I and II with a guided tour. I don't have any pictures of this experience. The places where it was allowed to take pictures, I along with many others, decided not to because we didn't feel comfortable doing so. It's also not something that one would need pictures to remember it by. We went to Auschwitz one first, which was where the prisoners lived and the new arrivals were sorted after getting off the train. For me, this one was much worse than the second one. There were still the remains of all the wooden bunks and, looking at it from the observation tower, it was simply massive. The guide would then point out how far away they had to go in order to get where they worked. The rooms where they slept and the rooms where they bathed were just awful and the train stop was haunting. I think a lot of people thought it would have an artificial or redone feel like many historical places or museums, but this didn't. There was something you could feel the entire time we were there. The crematorium and gas chambers at this site had been destroyed, but near it was the International Monument with plaques in all languages of those who had died there and another in English so all could read it.

Auschwitz two was more like a town, having houses and streets.The arch over the electric fence gate said in German "Hard work will set you Free", though we were told that those who were sent to this camp usually did not survive. We toured some of the halls with pictures of those who were registered and saw the way they were arranged to sleep as well. Then we were taken to large rooms in other buildings which displayed the recovered possessions of the prisoners and told that each object represented a person who had died there. There were heaps of eyeglasses, huge rooms just packed with suitcases and baskets piled on one another, shoes stacked to the ceilings, combs and brushes filling the floors of others, pots and dishes filling a giant pit, different child and baby clothes, and a room with 2 or 3 tons of hair that had yet to be sold when the war had ended. There was much more as well along the same lines and when we left, most people didn't have much to say to each other. It was something that would have been hard to imagine if I hadn't seen it. Trying to explain just how large of a space each mound of possessions took up is impossible.

The last place we visited there was the gas chamber and crematorium. Most people walked through this and didn't stay long. It was small, dark, and just the quick view of the ovens with the carts on tracks to take the ashes out was enough. Of course, everyone has learned about the Holocaust and just how completely terrible it was. However, I don't think one can begin to really understand what was taught until being there and seeing some of it. It's hard to even begin to imagine what it must have been like.

Boldog Tavasz!

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!

Boldog Karácsony és Boldog Új Évet!!

Sziasztok mindenki!
Boldog ünnepnap kívánok. Ez múlt héten jó volt. Nincs hó de nagyon nagyon hideg van. Szenteste Debrecenben voltam és Karácsony második napja Egerben voltam. Szilvester Budapestban voltam. Ó, és Gratulálok új csere diákek!!!





The Christmas holiday started off pretty slow in comparison to how the holiday feels at home. On the 6th of December, we celebrated Szent Mikulás/St. Nicholas' Day. The week of the sixth all classes within the school would choose a day to celebrate with each other and exchange gifts. On the morning of the 6th, I was surprised with some candy and small gifts in my shoes. In Hungary, Santa Claus comes on the 6th and brings children small gifts and leaves them in their shoes. On Christmas, the baby Jesus brings gifts for the family. The 6th isn't a big holiday, except for the smaller children, but some friends from school still wanted to celebrate by going out to a karaoke club. I watched, using the excuse of not knowing Hungarian to the fullest. Watching them was more than enough fun.



On Christmas eve, I woke up to the sound of loud Christmas music from downstairs. As soon as I reached the bottom step, I was offered a quick breakfast then told to help decorate the tree with my host grandfather while my host grandmother was tying szalon cukor together, a brightly wrapped Hungarian chocolate candy, to decorate the tree with. It was like I had suddenly ran into a wall of Christmas. There were decorations, food being prepared and a tree appeared in the living room. This year, as I was told, was a red and gold year for decorating the Christmas tree. I've heard other exchange students mention that their host families did this as well. Instead of using all their decorations each year, they use one or two colors for their ornaments.






That afternoon we had lunch at my host grandmother's then everyone came over to my host parent's home to celebrate, eat, and open gifts. There was a large dinner with the special Hungarian fish soup and the main course of turkey. Some of the cousins laughed as they apologized for the "Thanksgiving foods". Before opening gifts the entire family sang Hungarian Christmas songs while sitting around the room by the tree. They were surprised that this wasn't a custom back at home and even more surprised to find out that I wasn't used to celebrating Christmas until the 25th!

Christmas Day is a day of traveling to visit friends and other family members. We went to my host grandparents' home in Eger and then we went to four homes of the family's friends and cousins that evening. It was more than exhausting! Everyone of course wanted to feed me or give me something to drink and no one spoke any English. My host sister though my inability to politely decline the offer of yet another Christmas meal was more than amusing.





On the 30th, my host family took me and another American exchange student to Transylvania with a large group of their friends for a winter hike. There were about 50 people all bundled up for what we were told would be a six hour hike through a meter of snow in -20 degree Celsius weather. It turned out that the snow wasn't quite that deep and the temperature a lot warmer than -5F! The bus ride was about 3 or 4 hours of loud speaking and laughter as they all opened their bottles of liquor and stood around the back of the bus (we started at 4am!) After winding up the snow covered mountain roads that were made of 180 degree turns as the bus zig zagged up the steep slopes, we put on all our gear and started our hike through the snow covered fields and pine trees. Finally I saw some snow!











As soon as we reached the top, my host father pulled two bottles of champagne out of his bag and everyone drank at the top. The way down was a great deal more amusing than the trip up. While this group had a good and early start which continued through the morning and at the top, it made it a hilarious spectacle to watch them climb - fall back down the mountain while continuing drinking songs and snowball fights. It was impossible to keep your footing and my host sister, friends and I decided it would be better to just slide down the steeper parts making it a competition to go down the mountain seeing who could stay on their feet the longest.









The best part of the day would have to have been the sunset over the mountains of snow. The sun colored everything gold and the clouds below us created a feeling of being in an everlasting desert of snow.







For New Years Eve, I went to Budapest to a party with my host sister and a few friends of hers. Budapest during New Years was filled with people from all over and the streets were filled with stands of hats, gloves, colorful wigs and noise-makers. Fire crackers were being lit everywhere and there were many stages set up for bands to play throughout the night. It was so cold that it was a welcomed treat to try some Hungarian hot wine. It's actually really good.


Later that night we all headed to the Danube River for the party. The party was thrown by a friend of hers on a yacht that was to sail around the river as soon as the ship contained the maximum allowed guests of 200 people. Everyone danced and sang the entire night as the DJ blasted music. At midnight, there was a brief countdown and everyone began singing a sort of Hungarian version of Auld Lang Syne and then we went out onto the boat deck. We passed the lit city, Parliament and other official buildings as well as pass under the major bridges. As we watched these go by, fireworks appeared up and down the riverside.