Down With Webster

Been catching up on music at home, and I have come across Down With Webster. I think the sound is different from a lot of things I have heard before and it keeps getting stuck in my head.

If you want to take a look,

Easter a la Magyar, part 2

No pictures today, but it was still a good day.

As soon as I arrived in Nyirbator today, breakfast was on the table waiting to be eaten. Judit and Akos were there too, they had arrived last night.

Before we could eat there was the Hungarian tradition that needed to be followed first. The tradition at Easter is for the boys to "sprinkle" the girls with wwater or perfume in order for them to bloom and become real flowers. Jancsi takes this very seriously and uses a soda water spray can. Luckily for me, not having slept over at the house saved me from waking up to a bunch of soda water in my face.

After saying their verses, Akos and Jancsi sprayed Ili, Judit and me. It was not that bad, except for the cold water that was sprayed on me.

We ate breakfast and then headed over to Ili's sister and mothers house. We got some more perfume in our hair.

This was followed once again with Marci's arrival. All in all, I think I had 4 or 5 different perfumes sprayed on my head, along with the water on my clothing.

As I was getting ready to head home, Ili's neighbour came over and asked if we wanted to head to the brand new bath complex in Nyirbator. It was really a nice place, not too big, and I was really happy to see the actual swimming pool. I did around 80 laps. It made me feel so nice, just going back and forth doing the strokes I haven't done in nearly a year. I was also happy that my hair no longer smelled of different perfumes after going into the pool.

I finally made it home at 8. It was a long day, but nice to spend with my favourite Hungarians doing a variety of things.

Easter a la Magyar, Part 1

Today, I spent a large portion of my time helping Ili and Jancsi make things for Easter. It was really fun and interesting to do things I had never done before.

Here are a few glimpses into my day:



Welcome!



Making Sa'rga Tu'ro (Yellow Cheese) Ili and I, mostly me, blew out 19 eggs to decorate later. Jancsi, trying to do it faster, broke one, hence 19.



Mmmmm...Stuffed cabbage. I finally got the chance to stuff the cabbage.



The result. Don't they look pretty?



Sa'rga Tu'ro after cooking. It is milk, eggs and sugar.



We made French Cream Cake.



Our extra table, where we blew out eggs, made creme and a variety of other things.



Some of the Tu'ro balls





Not the best picture, but here is Ili making Tu'ro balls.



Our eggs. We tried to decorate with wax beforehand, but you can see that failed.



Relaxing after a long day.

I am really looking forward to eating most of this food on Monday.

Crazy Day

Today, I went shopping at the market in Nyirbator. It was nice, I got to get a lot of fresh vegetables and spend time out in the fresh air. After shopping in the Spar, Ili and I were waiting in line to pay, when the man in front of us tried to use a 10,000 Ft bill. The cashier looked at it and something was wrong. She spent a long time looking at it and talking to the cashier beside her. There was a policeman standing in line behind me, and so after spending nearly 10 minutes looking at it, she turns and asks him what she should do. He tells her he will call the police to come and see what is up.

We didn't spend that much time there after we had paid, but I thought it was funny that there was a policeman just standing there trying to buy his own groceries.

In the afternoon I got some acceptances for Teachers College at home. My sister and I should be going to the same place, so next year will really be different.

That is it for now.

Peanut Butter Chips

When I came back from summer break, I brought many types of chocolate chips with me. I have been trying to figure out how to use the peanut butter ones in a new way for a while. Being on Easter Break, while almost everyone else is still in school, I have a lot of spare time on my hands. Today, I decided to bake a little and found a recipe for eggless chocolate chip and cinnamon bread.

Here is how it turned out:



I think they taste pretty good.

I am trying to think of what else to make this week, I am making the trip to the market tomorrow.

Canada Day....in Hungary

Today was a day for me to teach about Canada. I think it went well. I tried to cover as much information as possible while still trying to make it interesting and fun for the kids. We made some flags and tomorrow we will make antlers.











Also, you know you live in a village when there are chickens running around the school yard. ( this has happened twice this week, I find it amusing when the chickens try to go back on the other side of the gate )

Horoscope/Spring is here

This weeks horoscope:

Aries - Clumsy by Fergie
Taurus - Pure Love by Arash
Gemini - Popsztar by Barbie
Cancer - Get Up by 50 Cent
Leo - Te Vagy Az by Papa Joe feat. Dukai Regina
Virgo - Automatic by Tokio Hotel
Libra - Gangsta Luv by Snoop Dogg
Scorpio Starstrukk by 3 OH! 3 feat. Katy Perry
Sagittarius - Ba'rhogy Szertene'd by the Anti-Fitness Club
Capricorn - Don't Believe in Love by Dido
Aquarius - Morning Sun by Robbie Williams
Pisces - Rude Boy by Rhianna

Interpret at your will.

This weekend was quite a way to start spring. The weather was amazing, a big change from last week, about an 18 degree difference. It finally felt nice to be outside when the sun was shining and there was no ice and snow.

Ice cream has also returned. The real acknowledgment that Spring is here.

Go outside. Enjoy the sun. Smile.

A little late, but enjoy it anyway.

DJ Earworm - United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)

March 15th weekend

This is the 2nd year I have been outside of Hungary for March the 15th. I was able to attend our school ceremony this year, so I did get a feel for the day. It was a nice ceremony, lots of poems, songs and acting.

I went to Krakow again, this time with a Hungarian group. I was really looking forward to being back in Krakow because I loved being there for Easter last year. This year, it really just wasn't the same. The weather was either rainy or snowy and freezing cold. Jamie wasn't with me, and I was with a bunch of people who didn;t try talking to me because they though I didn't know any Hungarian. Joke is on them because I understood most of what they were saying, especially when it was about me. The time sitting on a bus is what really got to me. We left at 6am on Saturday and spent the next 10.5 hours driving. Sunday, luckily we got a break from sitting on the bus. Monday, I dreaded the most. We had to drive back to Auschwitz, the opposite direction of our way home, drive back close to the city and then start the way home. All in all, we were probably sitting on the bus for 14 or 15 hours. It was crazy, I don't want to sit on a bus again.

This week it really started settling in that I only have 3 more months here. I can't imagine leaving and going back to life at home. I will miss everyone here, but most of all, my 2a kids. I don't know what I will do when I won't be going into school everyday and seeing them.

I know this seems like a sad post, but hopefully after this weekends langos and palacsinta party, it will be a much happier blog.

Weekly horoscope

Viva has a show that assigns a music video to each sign of the zodiac. I really don't know what it means if anything, but here they are for this week. Enjoy!

Aries - Remember, December by Demi Lovato
Taurus - Happy by Leona Lewis
Gemini - Rude Boy by Rhianna
Cancer - Crawl by Chris Brown
Leo - Gypsy by Shakira
Virgo - I Can Transform Ya by Chris Brown ft. Lil' Wayne
Libra - Hiszed vagy sem by Unique
Scorpio - Wear My Kiss by Sugarbabes
Sagittarius - Who I am by Nick Jonas and the Administration
Capricorn - Mi a szívemen a számon by Tóth Gabi vs. AFC Tomi
Aquarius - One Shot - JLS
Pisces - Utolsó Éjszakánk by Josh and Jutta

Random sighting of the day

Today, while I was waiting for the bus, I saw a man on his way to the town hall. This was really something. He was riding a horse, and talking on his phone.

I don't know why it was so weird to see this, but I guess I just don't associate riding a horse and talking on a cell with each other.

I wasn't the only one who found it weird. Everyone else waiting for the bus watched too, with confused looks on their face.

Canada is Golden

The past couple weeks, I was really grateful to have my TV with cable. I was able to watch many of the events, even with the time difference.

The past weekend, I was up very watching two important Gold medal events for Canada. We won both. The curling game definitely was not as exciting as the hockey game, but in both events, the teams played very well.

I have been really missing my winter sports since coming to Hungary, but I was able to get my fill for a while.

Every athlete deserves congratulations and I am really looking forward to being back in Canada for the next winter season.

Farsang

I haven't written in a while. Here are some photos.

A is for...Artichoke?

The second grade was doing another spelling test this week. They had to write down 3 words that began with a, 3 for b, etc. While I was correcting them, I noticed some very interesting words that the kids had put down. One had written dividi, for DVD. The oddest one that I saw must have been artichoke. Zsofia had spelled it correctly. It really took me by surprise because we have never mentioned artichoke in class.

When I asked Zsofi where she found the word, she said it was in a book she had. I was really impressed by this. Many kids who speak English as their first language would not be able to spell artichoke when they are 8, yet Zsofia could do it. I keep thinking about it, and I am looking forward to see what she can come up with next.

The holidays

It has been a long time since I posted anything. I am not really sure why.

The holidays can be summed up in 2 words for me

delays
food

My way to Denmark took much longer than expected. Europe isn't really used to getting much snow from what I have seen and the train and plane rides were no exception. My first train was more than 2 hours late going from Nyiregyhaza to Budapest. I can promise you it was so much "fun", something you never want to happen.

I arrived, drank and went to sleep after 2, needing to leave at 8 to head to the airport. I made it, but my plane was still an hour late. More fun times. In an crowded airport just waiting. My next train, from Copenhagen to Aarhus was also late, this time almost an hour. But, I finally made it.

The second part. Food. I honestly didn't know what to expect. My sister had been warning me that they eat a lot around Christmas so I should be ready to eat.

It started with a rice dish on Dec. 23. It was really good, much better than rice pudding, even though I was told I wasn't eating it correctly.

Dec 24, two big meals. Too much food, with a break for church in the middle. On the bright side, I have now been to a Lutheran church.

Dec 25th, when things really got serious. I was told that the meal was going to be smaller that year. It was only 9 courses, yes 9. That was smaller. The year before it was 11 or 13, depending on who you asked. It had been 18 courses at one point. I am not sure how you could eat that much food, though it is interspersed with breaks. It is just so much food.

New years eve was not as many courses, though there was still plenty of food.

It was nice being outside at midnight watching everyone, literally everyone setting of their own fireworks along the streets. We watched for nearly 30 mins before heading back inside. The fireworks continues the rest of that night and into the next couple days.

There were no major delays in getting back home, I was very thankful for that, leaving at 1am to catch the train back to Copenhagen. I was just happy by the time I made it to my own bed so I could pretty much just pass out until morning.

It was good to be with my sister for Christmas and really experience a Danish Christmas.

So that, in a nutshell, was my vacation.

I am now looking forward to my school ball and Farsang. I have been told the tetative dates, and they are both supposed to fall when my sister and her fiance are here. Should be an interesting experience for them.