Eger

This past weekend I went with my host family to a city in northern Hungary, called Eger. The city best known for it's wine and it's castle. The town has hundreds of wine cellars beneath the homes and all of the rock-cuts on the side of the roads on the outskirts of the city are lined with the doorways to wine cellars as well. It was amazing to see so many. While there, we were originally supposed to help my host grandfather harvest grapes at his vineyard but the weather has been very cold and rainy, so instead we went sight-seeing.







The first place was the cathedral at Eger. It's a new church by European standards, dating back to only the 1850s. Along with the cathedral, we went to see the famous minaret which was built after the Turkish had invaded. I personally only liked it from afar. The staircase was incredibly narrow and so steep your face was always about a foot away from the steps ahead. It was probably about 2 and a half or 3 feet wide and there were three windows on the way up, each about an inch wide and about 6 inches high. The doorway was small and at the top, the ledge you stood upon was a bit scary as well (and heights normally don't bother me). When walking around the top, your arms were always touching either the wall or the railing, though the view of the city was amazing. Also pictured from the top is Hungary's highest peak at a little bit over 1000 meters. It's a joke with many of the locals.







After the hike up the minaret, we went to see the Marcipán museum. For those who haven't heard of him (the name only sounded familiar to me at first), he is a confectionery artist. He holds the Guinness world record for most Olympic baking awards and his feats for creating realistic art using edible materials. He is from Eger and is extremely celebrated there.






The last stop of the day was the Castle of Eger. It isn't like the stereotypical castles most people think about, it is more of a giant fortress. Eger is well known for the battle against the Turks which included the women aiding in battle by pouring tar and other strongly heated liquids onto the ambushing attackers from the sides of the castle walls. When we were inside of the castle corridores, all of which were fairly small, there were shelfs built into the stone built walls where drums or pots of water were placed. The drums would have beads placed upon them and each was used to detect the vibrations of digging Turkish troops. If the beads or water were disturbed, the Hungarians would then also begin to dig to try to beat the Turkish army and collapse their tunnel before they could reach through the fortress. This did not always work though, and the Turkish army had been quicker than the Hungarians causing the Hungarians to die with their tunnel collapsing instead. I didn't hear all of this from the guide but from a British man who was translating for a friend. My host family unfortunately couldn't translate as well so I made it a point to stand in hearing distance from him.








Lastly, this is a picture of my host family at my host grandparent's home in Eger. Pictured is my host grandmother "Piri mama", host grandfather "Béla papa", host sister Zsuzsu , host father Imi , and host mother Zsuzsa.

A Quick Update

Lately in school I have been attending the normal classes with the exception of going to all levels of English classes to help. My first homework assignment has been to write down as many common phrases that my friends and I use at home. The teacher of the advanced course says that "language is a living thing". It's incredibly hard to try to explain some English words to them, such as "stuff" which I had to do the other day. Somehow I did it so they understood though.

My host father is worried that I don't have enough activities going on and that I will become bored. (Hah). He e-mailed the homeroom teacher asking for more activities and she suggested to me a traditional Hungarian folk dancing class. I don't think I'll be doing that one though. As of now, I have highschool, floor ball, and private saxophone lessons. Next week I will be trying fencing and possibly starting courses at the music college. Oh, yes, and I am in the Debrecen Melodia Big Band now also.

Yesterday after school my host father came up to me and said "You know big band saw at the Debreceni Jazznapok? Your teacher said me you play them tonight. Six hour, okay?" and then left. Only the lead alto and the singer speak English so it was quite amusing. I'm pretty sure the lead alto saxophone player died of laughter when they all started doing their assigned moves in one song and I started looking at everyone in confusion. After the rehearsal they said "You come to -insert long, complicated Hungarian town's name here- and play in concert with us?" I tried to tell them I didn't have the right sort of clothing and that my saxophone needed some work (as decided by my teacher). "Oh, doesn't matter. We like you, you come play with us tomorrow. 12:30 we leave by bus, okay." Unfortunately, -or fortunately- I have to go to two family birthdays today and can't make this one.

I did get a chance to take a couple pictures of the school. I took a picture of the outside and a picture from a staircase on the second story of the main lobby. I'll try to get other better ones when I can.

First Orientation in Budapest

This past weekend was the orientation for all new inbounds to Hungary. Below is the entire group in front of one of the Capital buildings in Budapest. (The Brazilians are a very proud bunch as you can see by all the flags). Hungary is all one district so it's very interesting to get people from literally every continent into one place. Everyone stayed up late (some as late-early as 5am) talking with others and getting to know everyone. There is a bit of a language gap for some, but it will all become easier when we start to pick up Hungarian.




This is the group shot of the Americans (I think all of them)being stereotypically American. The other is of the New Yorkers: one from New Hartford and the other right down the road from Deposit.



The orientation was also a bit interesting due to a slight misunderstanding about the conversion of Kgs and lbs. The elevator in our 2 star hotel had a weight limit of 550 kg and a few exchange students decided to all ride back downstairs together (about 8 of them). This caused a slight problem in the mechanics of the elevator and they ended up being stuck in there for about a half an hour. The elevators here have one sliding door, and one door which pushes open - that one wouldn't work. By the time someone could gather enough Hungarian to inform the hotel workers and get someone to pry open the door, most of the other students were waiting around and laughing at the situation. The elevator ended up being below the level of the ground floor and slightly crooked. The woman who was at the desk left the group first yelling in Hungarian then saying "500! Only 4 persons, Okay?? You crazy, You crazy! Always!"



The next day we left the Rotarians and were led around some of the sights of Budapest by some Hungarian outbounds of last year. We saw many of the popular areas including Parliament building, and one of the famous churches in Budapest. We couldn't go all the way through the church to see the main part because there was a couple from the UK getting married (what a gorgeous place to get married!)

Tisza-Tó

This past weekend I went to Lake Tisza (Tisza Tó) with my host parents and a few other families. The house is this old run down little building that they all go to once a year to spend time, coming from all parts of Hungary. There were cracks in the walls, parts of the ceiling had fallen and there are no stairs to the second floor; just a built in latter. The house didn't matter once you were in there tough, there were some many people catching up with one another and so much food, you could barely have time enough to think. (I won't remember what hungry feels like when I get back home).
The homes in the town near the lake, the town is Sarud, are all like this. Some are kept up a lot more by those who use them as full time summer homes. The weather here has been 100 degrees everyday for the past week and I believe I counted 15 raindrops. It's extremely dry.
The days were filled with time spent eating and being at the beach, the nights were filled with a lot of drunken songs (I sat from afar and watched). Their campfire songs are very amusing. Especially after midnight and "Memory" from Cats has made it into their playlist for the night (all songs sung with a Hungarian accent are amusing anyway). I believe the first night they stayed up until 5 in the morning singing. The younger people all went to bed long before that though.
The lake is 40 km by 10 km as I've been told, and is fed by the Tisza River. Because the land is so flat I am able to stand in the middle. I think it's deepest part is about to my neck (and I'm only 5'2"!). The lake is filled with all sorts of aquatic grasses which hide hundreds of birds. When we went closer by boat, it sounded almost like a roaring crowd in a stadium. The grasses grow very high and in various places in the lake so it splits the lake into multiple parts. When you're on ground level, you cant see the other side because of it. Some of the plants in the water produce a spiked seed which makes everyone have to wear some sort of water shoe. I found one to take a picture of and they really are incredibly sharp.

This evening my host parents took me to the last night of the Debreceni Jazznapok. It was mostly composed of American standards, but the scat-off they had in one band was really impressive. They translated a bit for me and Debrecen is the "city of the saxophone". Music and arts are a huge part of their culture here. The bands which played were the Melódia Big Band, Debrecen Dixieland Jazz Band (who have toured world-wide as I've been told), and Jazz Steps. -left handed trombone player- It took me a bit to finally realize why something looked odd to me.

This week I will start floorball and rock climbing in the evenings. I was asked to play by a couple classmates and my host father so I'm going to try it out. Sports here aren't a part of the school but the buildings are used. They are also a bit less important and practices take place three times a week. I didn't exactly know what it was but as I've read, it's similar to field hockey and ice hockey only a little less violent than both. The rock climbing will be indoors on Thursday and should be fun also.