Budapest -- Orientation Week

Love my flat Oilerman!

UPDATE:

1) Sorry we have neglected the blog, blame the Cardinals. We can either stay up til 2 AM to start watching the game (that worked twice) or we watch the games when we get home from school. We bought the MLB package and so we can watch them the next day, which has been a lifesaver (for our students, fellow teachers and each other!)

That has worked better, but it pretty much takes all evening to get thru a game (especially Game 3, but totally worth it). Either way, it's been pretty exhausting trying to keep up with this playoff run -- hope it ends well.

2) We just returned from a day-trip to Romania.  It was what we expected Hungary to be.  Thank goodness it's not.

3) We will be attending the Pig Killing/Bacon Fat/Sausage Festival in Békescsaba, Hungary on Fri. and Sat. We did find out that they no longer kill the pig in public, so that sucks.

4) We will then be leaving for Vienna, Austria for our fall break.

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The week of orientation with the CETP program was extremely useful and productive. It was also like sitting through four straight teacher institute days.  Our schedule was basically the following:

8AM -- Wake up/breakfast

10-11:30 AM -- Practical Suggestions about Hungarian Life

12-1:30 PM -- Teaching tips for the Hungarian classroom

1:30-3 PM -- Lunch

3-4 PM -- Hungarian Language lessons (UGH!)

4-5 PM -- Break

5-6 PM -- Practical Suggestions

Really, the classes were helpful -- but after two days we were spent (actually, Meliss was almost in tears after our first language lesson - it would be like learning English in 4 days).  It was all just a little too overwhelming -- but I honestly don't think there was a way to do it that wouldn't be overwhelming. 

We had Hajni (Hoy-nee), Maria (Maaar-ia) and Bea (Bay-uh) as teachers...all Hungarians. They covered a lot of language and a lot of culture over 4 days (and none had shaved legs... Meliss was super excited!).  

This is Maria, she wrote the book we used
to try and learn Hungarian before we came over.

Her Hunglish was outstanding!
We asked for her autograph -- she was quite pleased.

We were told on the first day...at the first meeting...that we could expect all classes to start on time, but none to finish on time. 

That was true.  

Oh, and don't forget that there was no air conditioning (well, there was some, but not really good air-conditioning) and it was really hot for these four days.

So, it was pretty much awesome.

Here are some highlights from what we learned from our Hungarian teachers: 

1. Hungarians are pessimists. In fact, they are the greatest pessimists in all of Europe. As far as education is concerned, children are raised to survive the inevitable failures to come as opposed to preparing for future successes. It's like a whole nation of Cub fans. 

This is largely due to the many wars Hungary has fought and lost over their thousand year existence.  Hajni talked about always having to be ready to make the least worst choice available and survive the consequences. 

The following are a series of drawings Maria showed us as a way to introduce American expressions to a Hungarian classroom...see if you can figure out what they mean.
I'll give you the first one because I don't know if anyone under the age of 65 has ever used this phrase.
"To buttonhole someone"
And if you just said, "oh yeah, I've heard of that"...well, then you are a geezer.

2. There will be no smiles. Hungarians do not smile at strangers.  They will only smile when you become part of their community. This goes back to the Communist Era and the threat of secret police.  (We found this to be true in Budapest, but not so much in Sarkad and Gyula). 

Ok, so this is awesome! Think about it in your life -- how many times do you see someone walking towards you and think, "Aw crap, now I have to make small talk with this guy/gal." It sucks, well, they don't have that in Hungary, you just get to ignore them like you want to!!! 

Yes, that says Calorie Free Frozen Pork.

3.  Men enter bars/restaurants first and get on and off buses first, women follow.  This is so they can check for trouble...not cause it's the way it ought to be done!

Looking back, we were surprised this didn't say Maths, cause that's what all the books use.

4. You have to pick up a basket when entering a grocery store or people will scowl at you -- and you must bring a bag with you to take stuff home (or pay extra for one there).

They seem so happy!

5. Do not ask a Hungarian "how are you?" unless you are prepared to hear the answer.

And our favorite. Pretty sure I'd get kicked out of an American classroom for showing this one.

6. You must be firm when saying "no." This goes for all things...a Hungarian host will "make you eat until death" if you do not firmly refuse more food. It is not rude to say no, but you can't be wishy-washy about it. 

Also, this goes for the ladies as in "no means no, unless you smile and then it means yes."

We have seen these (and many other) little characteristics of the Hungarians play out on a day to day basis. From all that, it sounds like Hungarians would be really gruff and stand-offish or mean-spirited, but that has not been the case for us.  

Every person we have met (with the exception of one waiter in Budapest -- but it was hot and he was fat) has been for the most part really friendly to us. Oh, the other good part is most have been very patient with our lack of Hungarian and seem to enjoy our pretty useless attempts at speaking their language.  

Throughout the week, we met a lot of nice people -- but we spent the evenings mostly in our room exhausted.  Again, we were very happy that we had already seen a good portion of Budapest because we didn't feel the need to sprint out after lessons to see what we could see. 

I am pretty sure I would've have been livid if we had shown up the day orientation started only to be cooped up in classes all day long.  

Didn't get to take pics, or really even get a chance to sit and talk w/ everyone, but we have since been in contact with many more folks thru facebook during the last couple months.  It's become a nice support group for all of us displaced Americans.  Here are a few pics of some new fellow CETPers. Hopefully, more to come as we get out and about.

Meliss and Lee

Marielle and Skye

Emily and Meliss

We had found that bar (with air-conditioning) a few blocks away and walked there on a couple of nights.  Here is us relaxing with some new friends at Bernardo's Bar AKA Rex William's Snooker. We loved this place.

By Thursday of orientation we were out of clothes, so we walked to a laundromat down the street.  Two very nice and very old Hungarian women helped us get things started and then we sat and waited.  It was soon after that we realized the water in the wash had turned red.  

Y'see, on the plane trip we were given those little pullover covers and so we kept them (since any blanket is a good blanket for my wife, plus -- hey, free blanket). Unfortunately, we didn't think about washing them for the first time.  Ooops (in Hungarian -- Opa).

The old Hungarian woman laughed at us and then gave us a lecture (though she was really only talking to Meliss -- women's work, you know) about separating colors before washing.  Or that's what I was pretending she was talking about because neither of us had any idea.

Good thing I had another bag full of extras

So, pink underwear is not a problem...but I did wonder how my pink socks would be received as I walked around Sarkad and Gyula.  

As the week drew to a close we had another dinner outing at a very nice restaurant near Heroes' Square. 

I got to eat Melissa's too --  but she tried it Sarah, so another quarter for the piggy bank

Chicken Paprikesh -- and sour cream. I did not get to eat any of Melissa's on this one.

After dinner, one of our new colleagues was kind enough to buy everyone a shot of Palinka. How thoughtful!  Still terrible...and all subsequent attempts have been just as awful.

From there we walked and trammed back to the hostel to pack as we were leaving the next day (Sunday) for our real new home in Sarkad.  

All we knew was that my contact teacher, Szilvia (Sylvia), was picking us up and that we started work on Monday. So, I suppose we can pick it up from there next time. To end our Budapest blogs, these are some random pictures of Budapest that didn't quite fit anywhere else!

This means emergency exit...but the responses on facebook for what this COULD mean were much more colorful!

Ha!

No, they did not have beignets...but it is NOT Cafe Dumbass as my wife calls it.

Yep

A Coca Cola Light? and 0.31 liters of Soproni?
We have no idea how much we're drinking.

It's a Brave New World
The city workers have all different colors

Oilerman or not, this statue is creepy!

NEXT -- Szilvia, Sandor, and the road to Sarkad.

***Picture 1 To buttonhole someone

Picture 2 -- Culture Shock

Picture 3 -- Truth is stranger than fiction (ok, easy -- but they really do call it Maths here.)

Picture 4 -- Like a house on fire

Picture 5 -- Headhunter. Yep -- as Hajni would say at the end of each lesson..."Welcome to my country!"

Budapest Day 5 (Part II) -- Orientation Dinner

***UPDATE***

1.  I wore my Cardinal Jersey to school at the start of the playoffs and had four kids yell, "Oh, angry birds!" Silly Hungarians. 

2. I came back to the teacher's lounge after my first class yesterday and had two packages waiting for me on my desk.  Thanks mom and dad!  Lots of stuff, most importantly -- peanut butter and random halloween candies (because they don't celebrate Halloween here -- we have found Twix and Kit-Kat but they smell funny...or maybe it's just cause we put them next to the sausage in the fridge). 

After dinner last night, I had a Butterfinger for dessert and Meliss had a piece of peanut butter bread. Delightful!

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After St. Stephen's Basilica, we hopped back on the tour bus -- the Yellow Line this time -- and toured the rest of the heart of the city.  Riding around, we really just talked about St. Stephen's.  

I grew up Catholic and so, while it was truly incredible, it was just a grander version of most Catholic churches -- much, much grander in this case.  It's been a LONG time since I've been in the Old Cathedral in St. Louis and I wonder how that would compare to this. Either way, I, at least, had some reference point for what I was seeing -- more statues of saints, more stained glass, bigger dome, lots of shiny gold and silver, etc...

Granted, I had never been in the presence of a thousand year old hand, but the rest was at least familiar -- just greatly enhanced.

For Meliss (raised Southern Baptist), it was a different experience altogether. Viewing it as just a tourist attraction -- beautiful.  Viewing it as a place of worship -- intimidating.  She definitely got a Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" feeling from it.  I imagine medieval townsfolk felt the same way about their cathedrals.  

But, it didn't burn down when we walked in so I guess that's a good sign.

We mentioned earlier that the tour buses have open-top rides as well as half and fully closed buses. It's random as to which bus type shows up when trying to get on one.  Unluckily, we got stuck on a closed bus after St. Stephen's (non-air conditioned) and so hopped off at the next stop. The next bus was a halfer (covered on top, but open sides) so we hopped on and rode around for the rest of the afternoon. 

That being said, picture taking was again minimal but we had been to most of the places on this route already.  

We really just wanted to ride around, listen to the recorded tour guide, and relax. Also, this bus was supposed to take us up to the Citadella again -- that's where the Damned Serving Tray Lady was and that's what we wanted to see!

So, we rode and relaxed. Since the yellow line focused more on the hilly Buda side there were lots of hills and such. We came across the Fishermen's Bastion again...

Then the bus continued climbing and finally came to a full stop at the top of whatever hill we were on (we were still talking about St. Stephen's, so we didn't know).  Turned out to be a picture taking spot overlooking Budapest -- again. 

                                           

We bought cold drinks that were actually cold (which was a nice change) and hopped back on the bus to head to the next stop.  We started getting the camera ready because we thought the Serving Tray Lady would be coming up soon.  

As the bus left the picture area, it took a hairpin like turn and we saw a bunch of people standing around taking pictures (this was less than a football field away from where we were standing in the pics directly above) but because of the bus covering we couldn't really see what they were gawking at.  

As we finished the turn and started down the hill, we looked behind us to see what it was and --- YEP! Sure enough, it was the Serving Tray Lady in all her glory.  Then, the bus turned another corner and out of sight she went.  

That was that.  

We missed her walking up the hill at the beginning of the week and we missed her on a bus at the end of the week.  Second to the Parliament, this lady is the most prominent feature in the whole of Budapest and we couldn't manage to find it?!

Basically, in that video above, if we had panned to the right for another few seconds we would've been  staring right at her.  

ARRGGHHH!

We're going back to Budapest for New Years' Eve and that will be our first stop.  

So anyway, we headed down -- saw this mansion.  It was or is somebody's house but we were still pissy about missing the statue so I wasn't listening. Nice house, though.

I'm sure there is a pretty neat story behind this place -- but we don't know cause we weren't listening.

That was pretty much it for the bus tour, we hopped off at a stop close to the hostel so we could go get ready for a meet 'n greet with the CETP folks and then dinner on the Danube.

Before dinner, we went to get a drink at a bar down the street from the hostel. We had seen this place everyday on our way to and fro downtown Budapest.  We never went in because we weren't really sure it was open, but it was close and so we decided to try it.  It was open and it was air-conditioned!

We met the owner, Bernardo, and ended up returning here a few of the next couple nights because we didn't really have a ton of time for anything else.  Bernardo's mom is Hungarian and his dad is Greek, but he lived in Brazil, New Orleans, and Chicago.  His English was terrific and he introduced us to Fröccs, which is a wine spritzer. 

Anyway, we headed back to the hostel and met up with the CETP group.  We received our free, all access, mass transit card for the rest of the week and the whole group headed off for the tram.  

We ate at Duna Corso Restaurant on the Pest side of the Danube (this was near where we watched fireworks a few days past).  It was a really nice place -- "quite posh" as Bernardo told us -- and the food was great.

                            

I ordered the beefsteak plate hoping beyond hope that it was a steak-steak like at home.  It wasn't. It was like pot roast.  Meliss ordered chicken paprikesh which is one of a few Hungarian National dishes, along with stuffed cabbage and goulash.  

The plate as it was delivered (above)
and
after Meliss "fixed it" (below)

Both dinners were good -- but we (Meliss) were so worried about how spicy the food was going to be -- we were a little surprised at how generally bland it all was. 

However, both dinners came with a side of foie gras. I was excited to try it because it is always on Top Chef and they always are raving about it. Meliss had decided that she was going to try everything once (because my sister is paying her a quarter for each new food she tries) and so she was in as well. Here is my attempt to document her first bite of goose liver.

Your sister is paying me a quarter, right?

I was laughing and the camera shook..no way she would like this!

Hmmm...

Hahahahahahahhahaha!

What? She liked it? Damn.  She still gave me half though -- what a trooper!

You know how the fat in a really good steak soaks up all the seasoning and can be the best part of the meal?  That's what this tastes like -- salty and seasoned and it just melts in your mouth. So, so good.

After dinner we decided it was time to try another Hungarian specialty -- Palinka, their national drink.  They seem to view Palinka like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding views Windex -- whatever your ailment, a shot of Palinka will cure it.  

Our research led us to believe it was kind of like a schnapps drink. So, we ordered two Palinkas and the waiter got very excited...he said, "Oh good, I will bring a plum for the gentlemen (that's me) and a raspberry for the lady (that's Meliss)."  

So, we felt pretty good about the whole situation -- I mean, I'm not a big fan of the plum but if a shot is gonna be fruity and sweet, then I'm good with that.  

He brought the drinks and as he set them down he said, "these...these are not for (made a sipping motion)...these are for (made a drink the whole thing at once motion)." Ok, good enough.  

Egeszegedre to both of us and down the hatch.  

Um, yeah, our research was wrong.  Or we were. Or whatever. This was moonshine.  Melissa's eyes started watering and I think I could've blown a fireball off the candle in front of us.  Oh, and the waiter just laughed and laughed.  Awesome. 

It was worth trying...and we've tried it a few more times since...but it's just not good. I guess the men take a shot in the morning before working the fields and then a shot before dinner to help with digestion, but really? I don't think so.  

After dinner, we walked along a new street to the tram and I am glad we did -- I am also glad we hadn't seen these previously in the week!

We didn't go in - maybe over New Years -- I mean, just to see what Euro Casino's are like...we'll treat it as research for my mom.

And that's that -- 5 days in Budapest.  The next morning we woke up at 8 AM and had class (on and off) til 6 PM -- and that continued for the next 4 days. We talked the rest of the week, and still do, about how glad we were we came early or we would've been really frustrated being in a new country and stuck in class all day.  In either case, vacation was over and now we were gonna try to figure out what we were gonna do for the rest of the year!

UP NEXT -- Orientation week and randomness.