Gyula: Road to, Pictures of

As it turns out, we have really enjoyed living in Sarkad.  We live in the center of town and everything worth anything is well-within walking distance...well almost everything (Sarkad Zoo -- coming soon).  There just isn't much to do outside of grocery shopping and stalking horse carts, though.

Now, where Meliss works is quite a different story. Gyula is a tourist town of about 30,000 people. Fortunately, we are going to be able to move there in the next few weeks and as much as we both hate the idea and process of moving...and even though we will be moving to a MUCH smaller flat...a flat with 12 foot (37 meters) walls that are currently covered with cobwebs and other insect(y) type things...and even though the flat is a bit further from the town center (15 minute walk), it's worth it.

But first, we have to get there...and that means the bus. 

Our main mode of transportation (Meliss takes this EVERYDAY)
We took this picture during a brief rain shower and if you look closely you
can see the large plastic bag this lady put over her baby -- seems safe.

Of course no hamburgers or ice cream

I just did a lesson with my classes on "annoying things." One of the prompts was, "It gets on my nerves (which they pronounced nervesh) when I'm on the bus and...".   Here is a short list of their responses:

A) I can't sit down

B) I have to stand and have nothing to hold on to

C) There are smelly people 

D) People cough on me

E) It's late

F) It's early and leaves without me

Coincidentally, these are the same complaints I have heard from Meliss when she gets home from school (especially "C," as Meliss is exactly armpit high in Hungary).  So, everybody hates the bus...not just us. 

However, while everyone hates the bus, it doesn't have the stigma attached to it like at home. So, people may hate the bus, but people still take the bus. 

Bus parking lot (in Gyula)...you can see our "line" forming on the top right

Here's a pic from my poor wife on a normal bus ride home...don't believe me?

The next day...and EVERYDAY

Basically, Meliss gets on the bus to Gyula at the busiest time of the morning and then gets on the bus home at the busiest time of the afternoon.  Now, for most people this would be "annoying," but if you were verging on the cusp of full-blown OCD before we left the States, this is a nightmare.  There is not enough Purex in the world.

Of course, I will be taking the bus everyday on the opposite route after we move but it's not nearly as busy!

While we are on the subject of buses, I guess it's a good time to address the "getting in line" situation here in Hungary.  It has been three months now and this is (luckily, I suppose) the biggest pet peeve we have.  We had always heard that Europeans have a different sense of personal space than Americans. Nowhere can this be seen better than when you are "standing in line." 

Take an ATM machine in America, for example. We all, almost instinctually, give that 3-5 foot bubble for the person to do their business and it's obvious to everyone except total jerkholes that you are in line. 

That's how we approach things in Hungary -- also, we are last in line for everything here.  It seems that if you are not less than a foot away from the person in front of you then you are not in line.  Can you imagine the DMV without a "Take a Number" system? Yeah, it'd kinda be like that.

This is true in grocery stores, post offices, banks, the butcher, etc. (pretty much any place people are supposed to line up in an orderly fashion) but especially, the bus.  Since we rarely know exactly when a bus is going to show up -- and have to plan for getting on and then off the wrong one -- we show up 10 minutes or so early. We stand there and wait. Then, as the bus pulls up and the doors open people just start walking in from all sides and angles. It's not even like merging where one lane goes then the other...it's just a crazy-ass free for all to get on the smelly, dirty, grimy bus. 

Meliss came home one day half-pissed and half-laughing because someone was pushing her from behind and when she finally turned around it was like an 80 year old woman. It's crazy. 

***Side note -- Meliss came home another day and told me about the sick woman on the bus. Surprisingly, the bus stopped along the side of the road to let her out to throw up...but not before she poured Orange Fanta ("don't you wanta") all over her head to try and cool herself down. So yeah, the bus is pretty awesome.***

We have just accepted it at this point. There are times when we don't even realize we're not in line until someone walks in front of us. Oh, well. Neither of us are the pushy-shovy type so we just passive-aggressively bitch about it while we wait for everyone to pile on the bus. But DAMN! it's annoying. 

Also, one day Melissa's bus got in an accident. A car was jutted out too far into the intersection and the bus scraped past it. Meliss said the bus almost tipped over when all the people craned to the crash side to see what happened...also, that the bus driver was really ticked and was screaming at the other guy. Then, all the people had to get out and walk to the next bus stop to wait, but Meliss was close enough to walk to school.

You think this looks bad -- you should see the other car!

Just a little scrape...but the way these folks drive it's just a matter of time

Meliss thought they killed someone because she just heard a screech and a thump and then a bunch of people screaming in Hungarian. She told her colleagues at school about it and they just laughed. Well, all except Csaba who told her that his bus driver recently got arrested because he was drunk. So, that's comforting.

Rush hour on the way to Gyula

Passing said rush hour

More rush hour

Anyway, the road from Sarkad to Gyula takes about 25 minutes.  On the way out of town there is a 24 hour produce market/zoo?/classic car show...place. 

We'll have more on this place later...

Just beyond Sarkad Zoo (not the real name) is a round-a-bout. If you go straight-ish past it, then you are heading to Gyula. If you go right-ish, then you are heading to Békescsaba. This is always the fingers crossed point for us -- but so far so good!

From there, we cross three different parts of the Körös River (for which the bus line is named). I think it's the White Koros, Black Koros, and Fast Koros (I'm not putting those umlauts in every time -- it takes forever -- hmmm, maybe I should use a Hungarian keyboard).

Not exactly the qwerty style we're used to...hell, it's not even dvorak!

But, it has all the squiggles, slashes, and dots you will ever need

Fehér means white

More Koros

Then, the cemeteries...

Most of the graves are raised -- easier for the vampires to get out I guess.

After that, a few herds of sheep (not pictured), and we are on to Gyula...

Not only do we get to finally get off the bus...but then we get to walk around this place!

Gyula Centrum -- Meliss walks thru this everyday on her way to school (well, not now cause it's frozen).

Next to the fountains is this thing...

This is on the ground -- we walked all around it 'til we figured out to look at the reflection.
Focus on the ground, not the chick in black leather hot pants and high heels!

Ahhh, that makes more sense -- kinda feel bad for stepping all over it now.

Melissa's school is about a block away from here -- but straight past the fountains is a walking street.

Shops and restaurants

Over some creek (not the Koros)

We walked under the bridges and there are a few cafés along the way (but a lot of mosquitos)

World clock at the crossroads of the walking street(s)

It was 11:00 PM at home when we took this picture...I think?

Of course, a random fruit and veggie stand

This place did not have Budweiser, but we took the picture anyway...they did have Coke

And random train tracks...probably historic for some reason

Back towards the bus station is Melissa's school...

Not even going to attempt to write the name of it...

Ok, I've been told I have to...

Gyulai Romai Katolikus Gimnazium, Altalanos Iskola, Oveda es Kollgium

Helicopter landing pad right outside -- we didn't know what this was until Meliss saw a helicopter land

Inside...

Faculty lounge...or something to that effect

A busy day at "the school that will not be named again."

Ok, so that's a good portion of Gyula. More to come...like the castle and thermal baths (mental note: have mom and dad send swimming trunks...or even a 1920's style swimming suit with suspenders...anything but speedo's).

But as we go, here are a few clips from Melissa's students trying to cheer the Cardinals on to their Championship run!

Up next: Our 10th anniversary in Eger, Hungary!

Life in Sarkad -- The Food

Hungarian style bacon -- with meat and pickle
This was freaking delicious -- the tips are crunchy and the rest is just fat that melts in your mouth

So much to cover -- but as Meliss and I want to remember what this experience was like on a day to day basis we thought it fitting to devote at least one entry entirely to what we eat here.  As we prepared to come to Hungary, we tried to research the foods we would be eating. Everything we read led us to believe that the Hungarian diet consisted of heavy spices and lots of river fish. It is safe to assume that Meliss was both horrified about her eating prospects and excited about dropping a few lbs.

Turns out that the food IS heavily spiced, but mainly with paprika -- which isn't necessarily spicy.  In fact, much to the dismay of my palette (and Melissa's ass), most of the food is really quite bland.  

Everything is quite orange after paprika spice is added...but it doesn't seem to add much more than color. Now, I can find spicy paprika (eros) and it does have a good kick to it. I think it would be really good with some butter and chicken wings -- and as soon as I figure out how to say chicken wings, I will buy some from the butcher.  

As for the fish, well Hungarians eat much more pork (like snout to tail style) than anything else and that is alright by us! 

Anyway, one of the (many) first things we needed to figure out when we arrived in Sarkad was what we were going to eat. There is a pizza joint at the base of the apartment complex as well as one full-blown restaurant down the street. There are also several hamburger stands -- but they are not very good.  

Besides, we can't afford to eat out every night so home cooking is a must.  We took inventory and had several pots but only one pan.  

We have become quite the rice/potato/pasta connoisseurs. Basically, every night we have onions and garlic with either pasta, potatoes, or rice. Throw in some kind of meat (chicken or pork) with lots of paprika, sour cream, salt and pepper (white pepper til it runs out because I didn't realize that's what I was buying), and we are good to go!

But first, we had to figure out how to buy all this stuff -- not so easy.

All kinds of meat we had to learn

CBA produce section -- less gnats and fruit flies

Assorted fruits and veggies

And the rest of the market (CBA)

 Milk -- just sitting in the middle of the store 

Meat counter at REAL

Sausages at CBA

Tesco aisles

I suppose I can't go forward without mentioning the first real thing we purchased in Hungary -- a cutting board.  We moved in and found a wood cutting board that pretty much disintegrated in my hand when I picked it up. For a few weeks we just used chunks of it to cut parts of meat and veggies, but it wasn't really a tenable option for the long term. 

It just so happpened that on the way home from one of our trips to Békescsaba we had to wait for our bus back to Sarkad. We had to go to Békescsaba several times with Sylvia to take care of all of our paperwork -- residency permits and work visas, etc. Each trip was about as pleasant as going to the DMV with the added bonus of it being in a different language.  

Across the street from the bus station was an OBI (we didn't know what the hell it was) and so we went in and walked around (it's a lot like Lowe's).   

Great! Now I am not handy in two languages

But, they did have cutting boards -- they had pans too, but we were surviving with the one we had so decided on just the cutting board.

Dreaming of cutting food stuffs without them flying all over the place!
Who am I kidding? I'm still in short sleeves, I was dreaming of not being hot anymore.
It's cold now -- I wish I could have this weather again!

Back to the food -- and my favorite meal we made at home thus far -- problem is I can't remember exactly how I made it!

Chicken, potatoes, garlic and onions

That looks like just about every meal we have at home in some way shape or form. Unless, we include eggs.

Big orange eggs.

Big orange egg, pork chop (karaj) and potato, onion and garlic

Breakfast for dinner
Eggs, potato, onions, garlic and BACON!!!
Buying bacon is a whole other headache

We have bought bacon a few times but bacon comes in a several different forms. The bacon above was kind of in a Canadian bacon type form. It looked good in the window so we bought it.  Came home typed the name of it in the computer translator and realized we bought bacon!

The last time I bought bacon we got it home and realized there was no meat to it at all. I asked for the same thing...I know I said the same word...and the butcher just turned around and hacked a slice off some slab hanging up behind him. Got it home, unwrapped it, and we just had bacon fat.

Bacon fat -- we just cut it up and use it instead of oil

After a few weeks, we were eating well enough but something was missing. No green! We had eaten kaposta salata (cabbage salad -- somewhat similar to coleslaw {the oil and vinegar kind}) at restaurants and at my school so we decided we could probably make that. We stopped at one of a few little veggie stands along the road in Sarkad and picked up some cabbage (not one of my favorite veggies) and some cucumber along with some vinegar from Tesco. 

We cut up the cucumber (it was actually zucchini the first time but these are mistakes we just get used to -- long green vegetable?  Must be cucumber...nope) and an onion, threw it in a container with some vinegar and water, and we had a nice vegetable mix to pour over some cabbage -- and the zucchini tasted fine.

Plus, I got to see this!

Look Grandma, Melissa's cooking!!!

Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd see this!!!

That opened the door to a whole new set of dinner options -- like pretty much all the same stuff we had been eating but with a salad on the side.

Now we're talking!

But, we don't just eat at home...or at least I don't...because I get a free school lunch! Melissa's school does not serve food. Instead all the kids and teachers just bring food and eat all day.  Many times the teachers will go out to lunch at 2:00 (14:00) and have what they call menü. Menü is just a lunch special for the day. Most, if not all, restaurants offer it. They just put a sign out for whatever the meal is that day and that's the only option. I assume my school serves lunch because there aren't that many places to eat here in Sarkad. But, a free lunch is a free lunch!

Sometimes it's good -- like when they have chicken or fish. Sometimes, it's not so good -- like when they have gyulmolcs leves (fruit soup). It tastes like apple pie...kind of, but not in a good way. It has the taste of assorted fruits but the texture of soup and it's warm. My teachers and students say it's better when chilled. Actually, my students say it is "phooey."

Melissa and I switched schools for a week and she got to experience a similar dish called forest soup. This was a soup made from the different berries one can find in the forest...and there was a piece of chicken in it.

Chicken and forest soup...and Meliss ate it!! That's a quarter at least!!!

Other examples of school food...

Liver and veggie soup -- not one of our favorites

Noodles and onions with bread

Ok, so Sylvia made a point to mention to us that the school serves a lot of traditional Hungarian dishes, but if we didn't like them to make sure to try them at a restaurant because, you know, school food and all. 

I've had some really good meals at school and some I could do without. Most importantly, I never leave hungry because every lunch includes two big bowls of food -- sometimes those two big bowls are both soup, sometimes it's soup and some meat dish. Either way, I at least like one of the two and the lunch ladies enjoy getting my take on all of them (which consists of frowns or smiles while pointing at each dish).

On occasion, we do treat ourselves to a night out at the one full-fledged restaurant in Sarkad, Avar Vendeglo. If we both get a meal and two glasses of wine it costs about 20 dollars...and we can eat on the leftovers for a few days.

A-var VEN-day-glu

We knew it was a nice place to eat because of the quality of bikes parked outside...we're not joking about that.

Always the place settings first -- and that is one single ply napkin they give you

Meliss in full-on Lynn Kasten pose (Meliss: did not work, forgot how to do it)

Fried pork cutlet and fries
We had the same thing in Vienna, it's just called wiener schnitzel (viener)

And fried pork stuffed with cheese and ham

Mmmmmmm

Yeah, it was good -- and good for about two days after this!
But, how did we know what to order, you ask?

Ok, they had an English menu too -- very surprising and very welcome!

And dessert? There was a couple behind us that ordered something so we just pointed at it and told our waiter "kettö," which is two (except it's not an umlaut over the "o" it's quotation marks and I don't know how to do that on the computer).

We got two of these.

It was half parts rice pudding and flan. It was all parts un-good.

We left soon thereafter though as a wedding party showed up.

Back to food though, and speaking of things Melissa doesn't like, she went to menü with her faculty a few times and ended up with some odd meals.

One day, she got this...

She ate a bite of hot dog looking (heavy on the looking because
Meliss says it did not taste remotely like a hot dog) thing, but none of the flour/lard/fat soup

Another time, we both went and shared a bowl of chicken soup.

Chicken soup...the bowl fed four and then we got to the bottom...

Wish we would have seen this sooner
When we tell our Hungarian friends about this they say, "Oh, well I always take the nails off before serving."
Yeah, like that's the problem!

Outside of that, we just walk around and find places to eat when we're hungry...or thirsty.

Truth in advertising...finally

We didn't go in here, though...no ice cream?  C'mon!

The more the pictures, the more we understand.

Early on, we were walking around Gyula and stopped at a restaurant for dinner. I had fish soup and Melissa had onion soup.

Fish soup -- carp in paprika broth, loved it.

Onion soup -- not French onion, just onion -- and couldn't really find the onions?

And then, lo and behold, the waiter we were semi-talking too gave us a free shot of Palinka.

That peach picture is just a front -- it doesn't taste like peaches.
It tastes like burning.

Ok, so basically that's what we eat on a daily basis. Most days we are at home eating rice, onions, garlic and whatever meat we know how to translate.

Oh, and after eating all of that -- well, you might need this!

Haha!

Up Next -- Pics of Gyula and Melissa's school