More flood pictures

The Tisza isn't rising any longer here in Szolnok...but it isn't receding either.

A few kilometers south of Szolnok the Tisza is joined by the River Koros, and a Hungarian friend of mine, Julia, lives in a village near the confluence. That region is being hit hard by the floods and many people have been evacuated. I've told Juli that if her family needs help sandbagging, she can call me.

Meanwhile, Sunday I captured some good pictures of the Tisza at flood stage: Efforts to create mini-locks by sandbagging (note the tree in the distance underwater)

This home has been underwater for weeks. The windows you see are on the second story!

If you didn't believe me that the windows are on the second story, look on the left of the home...that's a basketball hoop!

I think the "Parking" sign should read "Mooring"

Hungary like Iraq?

Hungary's second round of national elections took place Sunday and the outcome in the race for controlling party and Prime Minister remained unchanged from the vote two weeks ago.

In a commentary posted in the Brussels Journal a link is drawn between Budapest and Baghdad, with respect to the Hungarian people opting to reelect an incumbent even during a time when the nation's economy is fast falling behind those of nearby countries like Czech Republic, Croatia and Poland.


If your interest in geopolitics has been piqued by that article, give this one a try. Russia controls one of the world's largest supplies of oil and natural gas, and in the past few years, and especially in the past few months, Vladimir Putin has put the squeeze on former Soviet countries like Ukraine and Belarus, raising gas prices until those country's leaders are essentially forced to make deals with Russian supply companies allowing them to build or control miles of distribution networks between Russia and the European Union. All this sets up the potential for Russia to hold a very powerful trump card over fledgling Democracies in the east of Europe, and economic superpowers in the west.
If you study the European map through the ages, you'll be hard pressed to find a period lasting longer than 50 years in which political boundaries didn't change and national monuments weren't felled. We shouldn't be so foolhardy as to think that this everlasting struggle for power has ended. We should instead be looking forward to realize the next source for a global shift. It seems likely energy will be the flag-bearer of change.

Laundry

As much as I disdain laundry day in the States, here in Hungary it's a real chore.

Saturday I spent the day doing laundry, using the machines in my flat. I have a washer, and a "drier," which is essentially a centrifuge. Now, this is more than many people have. Most have a washer similar to mine, only some have the centrifuge. A handful of people are starting to purchase full size washers, but I haven't met anyone yet who owns a drier as we would call it in the States. However, I strongly believe that during the next five years full sized washers will be nearly ubiquitous, and "American" driers will start to enter the market.

To give you an idea of how long it took me to wash all my clothes (all is a relative word. In my case, it's a week's worth of shirts and two pairs of pants, along with socks and underwear...not that much), while I was washing them I watched Road to Perdition. Then I watched it again with the director's commentary on. Then I watched all the deleted scenes. Then I went back and watched a handful of my favorite scene again. Finally I was done doing laundry. The next day I had to fold all the dry clothes and put them away.

Laundry starts off with the unsuspecting victim having to place the washer in the bathtub, or somewhere where water can be easily added to and removed from the machine (the beach is another nice place to do laundry in Hungary I suspect). Then, using the shower nozzle, the machine is filled with water and just a small amount of detergent (Beware! Use as much detergent as you would in the States and you'll be walking around smelling like an alpine prairie).

Then the clothes are added. On average, I can get one pair of pants and two shirts into a load, or, four t-shirts will fit at once. In other words, "don't overdo it." I made that mistake the first time and the amount of time I spent "unclumping" the clothes cost any time I saved by having larger loads.

Once the machine is full, it's turned on and small disk at the bottom spins, hopefully encouraging the water and the few articles of clothing to spin with it (Again, too much clothes and they aren't going anywhere).

I leave the machine on for about 10 minutes, then return to empty it and start over with a "rinse" cycle. Here you can see how I drain the water (simply lower the hose and gravity takes over).

After two cycles like this, I've learned that it's best to rinse each piece of clothing under the shower head to wash off the remaining detergent.

I then load the centrifuge. This unit is about one-third the size of the washer and can handle 2 or three t-shirts or one pair of jeans. When you close the lid, the tub in the machine starts to spin. About two-thirds of the time it "tilts" because the clothes are not perfectly balanced and I have to open it and reposition what's inside. Once I achieve a good balance it enters high speed and water starts to trickle out of the drain (into the well placed wash tub). 60 seconds of spinning leaves clothes a "light damp" and then to get shaken out and placed on the drying rack or over chairs in the flat.

It's a painfully slow process and one that leaves your dried clothes misshapen, haggard and crispy. It also changes how I dress. At home I never wear a shirt twice without washing it. Here, a button-down might get a third trip around the block before it sees my bathtub.

Miscellaneous stuff

The flood waters are starting to recede. I guess the Tisza reached about 10 meters (30 feet) above normal levels, but it stopped about 6 inches from the top of the levy. Plenty of water seeped through the cracks in the concrete wall, but other than some pubs located by the river, no one suffered any real damage (and even the pubs were serving beer last night while they were pumping their basements).


Here are some more images from my time in Budapest and Vienna. First we can see three of the more prominent landmarks in Vienna: On the left, the Austrian Parliament building, on the right in the distance is the Vienna City Hall, in all of it's gothic glory, and in the foreground is Athena, goddess of wisdom..."may she grant some to the Austrian legislative leaders" is how it must go.


After leaving the downtown Vienna area I ventured into the near northern countryside to the community of Nusberg, where they specialize in wine. At these so called Heurigens (wine gardens) you can eat traditional Austrian foods (pork knuckles, jellied pigs brains...I stayed away from these and focused more on the traditional roasted pork and some sort of a cheese-spinach mixture in a flaky crust) and drink great locally made wine. In the area, there a many little winding streets and walking paths. So, to build an appetite, I started walking up one of them into the hills. Along the way I found tiny, beautiful homes with equally tiny, beautiful gardens. Such a peaceful little neighborhood...if this neighborhood had cheeks, I would have squeezed them.


Finally, this is one of those things that I just had to get a picture of. Just a block off Vaci Utca in Budapest is this McDonald's. Why so important? I have read that this was the first McDonald's built behind the Iron Curtain (1988). However, another source says the first one was in nearby Gyor, Hungary. So, I'll have to leave that question hanging out there, and in the meantime, enjoy this one in downtown Budapest (By the way, it costs 60 ft - or about 28 cents - for ketchup when you buy French fries at a McDonald's in Hungary. The guy working there even said to me in a very broken English, "How do you say, there's no such thing as free lunch?" I sneered and walked away.)

With Tyson, it was the "holy left"

I found an article in the Budapest Sun that explains the mystery of Szent Istvan's right hand being preserved in the Budapest Basilica:

On regular days the Holy Right Hand (strangely, it is known in Hungarian as the Szent Jobb, or Holy Right) is on display in a dedicated chapel in the Szent István Bazilika (St Stephen's Cathedral), but on August 20 it goes on a procession. The procession of the Holy Right takes place around the cathedral, with the relic followed by dignitaries of state and church.

The history of the eerie bodypart is curious and remained unexplained for centuries. In 1951 one Dr Ádám Bockor examined the hand and offered an explanation.

He reached the conclusion that the 45 years between István's death and the opening of his sarcophagus in 1083 was enough for the complete disintegration of the corpse. The right hand was the highest bodypart of the corpse which was obviously lying on its back, and its preservation and mummification was because of the effect of the hot, dry air stuck between the rest of the disintegrated body and the cover of the sarcophagus.

Such a phenomenon is not rare in this climate: another example of it is the monastery of Brünn (today's Brno, in Czech Republic) where the mummified corpses of monks are one of the main attractions of the town. After István's death in 1038, turbulent decades followed with struggles for power, and Mercurius, the chaplain of Fehérvár (today's Székesfehérvár), the burial place of the saint-king, considered it safer to remove the corpse from it marble sarcophagus in the middle of Nagyboldogasszony cathedral and hide it in a tomb under the building. He removed the intact right hand and took it to a church on his own land on the banks of the River Berettyó to the north of what is now Nagyvárad (now Oradea in Romania).

Following István's canonization, King László visited the church, thus giving royal approval to the growing cult of the Holy Right Hand. The reverence of the relic became law enacted in the 1222 Aranybulla (Golden Bull), the Hungarian equivalent of England's Magna Charta.

The Holy Right then traveled to Fehérvár, Ragúza (Dubrovnik in modern day Croatia), and finally to Buda. The procession, started after the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49, resumed in 1989 after a 40 year forced hiatus under communism. While a military concert, trooping of the colors and changing of the guard in front of the Parliament, an air parade over the Danube and the procession are integral accessories of Saint Stephen's Day, the event that attracts the biggest crowds to both banks of the Danube as well as on balconies, rooms and roof tops overlooking the river, is the annual firework display.

So, there you have it. The right hand is kept in the Basilica only because the rest of the body had already disintigrated. Too bad, but honestly, would an entire body be as compelling as a right hand?

I didn't think so.

Other sites around Budapest

The Central Market is certainly worth a visit if you're ever in Budapest. This is a massive building (looks like a train station) filled with vendors selling mostly food. On the ground floor the vendors are set up in little cubes selling fresh produce...









...and various meat products.





Meantime, on the first floor (in America we'd call this the second floor, but that's how they do it in Europe), the vendors were selling prepared food. I had a very tasty turkey in paprika cream sauce for lunch. As you can see, the hall is packed with shopper and tourists, but believe me, many of those people are local Hungarians who do their shopping at the market each day.










Elsewhere, I toured the House of Terror. This isn't some amusement park fun house. Rather, it's a Hungarian museum dedicated to memorializing the past 70 years of oppression, first at the hands of the Nazi Germans, then from the Communist Soviets. It's a chilling display of the brutality realized under both regimes, and I read that it (understandably) is too difficult for many locals to enter. There are pictures of many of the execution victims at the hands of the Nazis and Soviets, and there are photos and names of many of the Hungarians who worked for these governments...some of them still living in Hungarian society. So, it's easy to understand how a place like this could trigger such emotion.

This picture symbolically captures the Hungarian uprising of 1956, in which a group of nationalists attempted to overthrow the Soviet dictatorship. For a matter of hours Hungary achieved independence as students and protesters took to the streets and the Parliament Building in Budapest. But, when Soviet tanks rolled into town, thousands were killed and the revolt was crushed. The phrase on the wall reads "Go Home Russians." The flag is that of Hungary at the time. In the center of the flag was a symbol of the communist regime. Protesters took to cutting these out and flying them as displayed.

Budapest Cathedrals

St. Matthias Cathedral sits atop Castle Hill in Buda, on the west side of the Danube River. Friday evening a brief shower passed, and this is what I saw as I looked skyward:







Meanwhile, across town, Pest's largest Cathedral is named for another great Hungarian king, Istvan (ISHT-vahn). Szent Istvan, or Saint Stephen's as it's known in western Christianity (Stephen was his Christian name after canonization) is just as beautiful but architecturally different than Matthias.









Inside, Istvan is wonderfully ornate with plenty of gold inlay.






Unfortunately, the most unique aspect of St. Istvan was unavailable when I visited. Inside, they keep the mummified right forearm of the great King Istvan. When I was there the church where it's kept was closed for a private ceremony. So, when I return with my dad in June, we'll have to make that a priority.

Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral

St. Stephen's, or Stephandom in German, is Austria's largest cathedral. It's located nearly in the center of the city and is surrounded very tightly by other buildings, making a good exterior picture very difficult. Here is one from the Internet.

I did, however, get inside of St. Stephen's and arrived just prior to the start of the 5PM daily mass, so I had the fortune of hearing the gigantic pipe organ being played. It's too bad a camera can't capture that sound.

Here are a few of the pictures that I did take

5PM mass at St. Stephen's is underway...that's incense hanging in the air like a haze:















The secondary chamber, on the left hand side of the cathedral:




















After a while, the sun came out and lit up the church:















Outside the church, children taunted the pigeons that roam the courtyard. (I thought black and white just captured the moment).

Flooding in my neck of the woods

Pictures of the flood prevention efforts on the Tisza in Szolnok

Men work with large trucks to get sandbags put in position









These men wait for the next batch of sandbags to arrive. Notice beyond the bags the Tisza River. It appears to be higher than the buildings way off in the distance, and it is. Thankfully, there is a fairly high dyke on the opposite bank of the river protecting those buildings (they include Szolnok's only 4-star hotel and the Szolnok sports arena where the basketball and handball teams play)










Notice on the bridge footing a white sign with red lettering. In between the two lines of text there is a red line. That is the record flood level reached in 2000. Normally the river is about 8 meters, or 24 feet, below its current level!

Side trip: Wien

First, I have to apologize for spelling errors, punctuation and brevity with this post. I'm writing from a pub in Austria that offers free Internet access...my hostel offers Internet but at 3 euro an hour and I'd rather not pay. Plus, this was a good excuse to go out for a beer. I was at Kelerty Station in Budapest this afternoon, about 30 minutes before my train to Szolnok was to depart, and I said to myself, what the heck, I have until Wednesday, let's go to Vienna. So, here I am.
I got in around 7, checked into my hostel, and took off walking, looking for an affordable place for dinner. I found a little pizzaria a block off a main street and stepped inside. Between the chef and the owner, they knew enough English to allow me to order - although I couldn't describe an olive well enough for them to get that one (anyone know how to say "olive" in German?).But, it ended up being a good meal with a glass ofPino Grigio all for just 6.10 euro (about $7.50). Now I'm at the pub working on the Internet (that sentance just doesn't seem to make sense), and from here I'll go to bed so I can get an early start onVienna in the morning.

Day 2 in Budapest

Again, pictures will come; I'm still at the hostel and have no access to uploads.

Today was a long day, but a good one touring the Hungarian capital city. I got an early start and was drinking espresso and eating pogacsa by 8:45. From there I strolled (literally) along Vaci Utca (VAH-chee OOHT-cha), the primary shopping district of Budapest, site of the first McDonalds behind the Iron Curtain. Vaci Utca ends at the Great Market Square, a massive building housing fresh produce, meats, handmade goods and prepared food. After walking around a bit, I had lunch there: chicken in a paprika cream sauce over pasta, along with a large Dreher (my new found favorite Hungarian beer).

After this I took the tram to the Hungarian National Museum where I was able to see many artifacts relating to the past 1000 years of Hungarian history (I've read so much about it, it was satisfying to see some of the details!). I then took the subway to the Terror Museum, a complete exposition of the past 70 years of Hungarian history including the reign of the Nazis followed by communism. The tour culminated with in the building's basement: the actual site of the communist execution of Hungarian nationalist like Nagy Imre (EEM-ray NAYDG).

From there I headed to St. Stephen's Basilica to watch the Easter procession, and then went north to the Houses of Parliament where I discovered the 6PM daily tour is only mon-fri :-(

So, I headed back to the hostel, changed, and went to dinner at what I thought would be Harom Dob Vendiglo. Instead, when I got the location, I found the restaurant had changed names, now called Koleves. The prices on the menu were still right, so I went in. I ended up having a wonderful meal: Veal in a red wine and blueberry sauce with potato dumplings. The sauce was exquisite, and the dumplings were perfectly crispy on the outside yet fluffy inside. Wonderful! Szep! (SAYP: Beautiful!) And it only cost 1400 ft ($6.50)

Finally, on the way home I stopped by borfesztival (Winefest), taking place in a small part in downtown Budapest. I had a class of Cabernet Sauvignon and listened to some live Hungarian music with St. Stephen's Basilica illuminated in the distance - what a scene!

Budapest!

Friday I took the train to Budapest...my first time in the Hungarian capital city. I had planned to travel to BP Thursday, but I started doing laundry Wednesday night and I knew I needed a part of the day Thursday to finish (More on that later).

I'm in a hostel tonight and tomorrow night, then Easter I plan to attend Mass at either St. Stephens Basilica or St. Matthias on Buda's Castle Hill. I spent this afternoon walking around and through both cathedrals, with most of the day on top of Castle Hill. I don't have the ability to post pictures to the blog from this computer, but when I get home or if I can find wifi I'll post some - at the end of the afternoon as I was about to walk down Castle Hill a horizon-to-horizon rainbow appeared right over the steeple of St. Matthias Cathedral! I took numerous pictures and I hope they capture the beauty of the moment.

Tomorrow I'll explore Pest (Buda is in the west side of the Danube, Pest is the east) and tell you what I find!

Szia for now!

Márta Sebestyén

Last night I attended a concert of Márta Sebestyén, a traditional Hungarian folk artist who is very well known in this country. Even the kids in my classes today knew who she is. Americans were exposed to her music when she sang the opening credits song in The English Patient.

Sebestyen provides the vocals (mp3), while two men on stage play intruments. One plays the zither and other strings,while the other plays woodwinds including traditional Hungarian bagpipes and oboes, and a 5 foot tall wooden recorder that produces a whispy vibrato, not unlike the sounds of Iniut music.

Hungary's ethnic roots are in the Magyar (MOHDG-yar) people, nomadic horsemen who migrated during the 9th and 10th centuries from the Ural Mountains in west Asia to modern day Hungary in the Carpathian Basin. Therefore, there is a lot of Mongolian influence in their traditional folk music. The woodwind player last night was able to perform traditional Tuvan Throat Singing, a style of singing that is rooted in Mongolian tradition. A throat singer is able to produce multiple "layers" of sound simultaniously, including a deep, throaty vibrato, and a mid to high range flute-like sound. Here's an example. Heard live, this music is simply amazing! I had to look closely at first thinking he must be playing a small instrument like a mouth or jaw harp, but no, it was all coming from one man's mouth!

Left over from the communist days

There are a number of little reminders of the era of Soviet occupation that ended only 16 years ago here in the Hungary. My flat building, for instance, was built after WWII and includes a few relics from that age. When I moved in, I asked the landlady if she had a clothes iron I could use. This is what she gave me:


My first reaction was, "man, that's old, but it's better than nothing so I'm sure it will be fine."








But upon closer inspection, I realized I was going to need some help figuring out how to use it:



That's Russian. The word on the top that starts with "x" is roughly pronounced "KROP-ok" and the next one down is "SHURST," not that I know what that means, and not that Hungarian would have been any easier for me to understand.



Hungary, and especially Szolnok, has been destroyed many times in history (by Germanic and Czech armies, by the Turks, by the Austrians, by the Russians in WWI, by the Americans in WWII, and by the Russians again during the Soviet era). As a result, there aren't too many historic buildings left standing. Oddly though, as an American I look at the buildings in downtown Szolnok and think many of them appear to be "old." Today I asked one of the history teachers about these buildings. She said most of them were built during Hungary's golden era: the second half of the 19th century, when Budapest joined Vienna to co-rule the Austria-Hungary Empire. Varga's building was build in 1856. To an American, that's old! But when you live on a continent that's home to 6-700 year old castles and cathedrals, I guess it doesn't seem like much.

Are you ready for some Amerikai football?

8000 miles from home and the first live sporting event I attended in Hungary is Amerikai Football. The upstart Szolnok Soldiers semi-pro team battled the Eger Heroes Saturday afternoon in Rakoczifalva (RAH-koh-chee-fahv-uh) a small village about 25km south of here.

(Here's the Szolnok team preparing to take the field. I'm sure it's an ominous feeling to have to sprint past the ambulance on your way to the field of play.)


Only in the past few years has American Football started to grab hold here. Last season, a handful of NFL games were broadcast live here, although they were on at around 4 AM. Last fall, a guy named Gary (who was given a football for a gift by his Godmother when he was very young and ever since has been a big fan of American Football) organized a team, and gained entrance into the Hungarian Semi-Pro Football League. I had the chance to talk football with Gary at a pub the night before the game. Through broken English, he described to me their offense (fullback run plays between the tackles and end arounds) and defense (they run a base 4-3), and when I suggested the idea of running the option offense, he explained that his players are so new to the game they have to keep it very simple and add little bits at a time. When I showed up at the field Saturday, it turned out that while the team may be short on experience, they are long on commitment: Szolnok far outnumbered Eger in terms of players, and on the field it showed.

(The Eger Heroes doen't realize that they are about to get shutout.)

The Soldiers rolled out to a 10-0 halftime lead, using a lot of fullback dive plays with the occasional end-around to a strong, quick wide receiver. Szolnok went on to win 19-0 (Including a very impressive 41 yard field goal into the wind). The style of play resembles the smallest high schools in the US: very simple and relying more on strength than skill. On occasion the teams were forced to pass and it became quite clear they lack American Football skills. A Hungarian who can deliver a tight spiral is quite a commodity.

Later, we walked into town to catch the bus back to Szolnok. On the way we passed several homes. At the majority of homes, yards had been fenced in and converted to vegetable gardens. Some also had chickens and roosters (look out bird flu!).

(These two very nice ladies helped us find out way to the bus station in Rakoczifalva)

Their was a water polo match in town Saturday night, but after staying out too late Friday, and spending much of the day at the football game I was beat. So, I stopped by the local gyro stand, grabbed some supper (the gyros here have french fries on them, and they're really good!), and headed to my flat where I listened to music and went to bed early.

(I attended Saturday's game with (from left) Chad (from DC), Emesa (EM-uh-shay) and Julia (Yulia) along with Agi (AH-gee) who is Gary the coach's fiance and isn't pictured.)

Politics

Note: As I write this I'm sitting in the teacher's lounge nibbling on a pepper and bacon pogacsa (poh-GAT-chuh) and drinking espresso (I already miss large cups of Amerakai Kave - everything here is espresso and the size of a shot glass).

Sunday was election day in Hungary and the Magyars selected their Prime Minister for the next four years. Gyurcsany Ferenc of MSZP (M-S-P; a party that has historical ties to the former communist regime but now is more liberal than their chief rival) was elected by the slimmest of margins to a second term. Voters here do not directly select the PM candidate, but rather vote for a party which then nominates their candidates (similar in ways to our system of delegates). MSZP's fiercest competition is from Fidesz ("FEE-dez" The conservative rival to MSZP, they have been joined by Hungary's more right-wing Christians, not unlike the Republican Party in America). In addition, two smaller parties earned enough votes to be represented in the Parliament. Those parties, Szdsz (S-D-S) and MDF, each barely earned 5%, the threshold necessary for representation in Budapest.

During my first week here I've seen countless advertisements on TV and plastered on billboards, street poles and the sides of buildings making me familiar with the different parties and the faces of their candidates. Many of the signs simply read "Igen, MSZP!" or "Igen, Fidesz!" (Yes, Fidesz!) Perhaps if you click this picture you can make out the orange and red advertisements hanging from the streetlights.

Wednesday and Thursday night's debates between the candidates were televised throughout the country, and Sunday night I sat with Chad and Julia watching the election returns (Julia interpreted the important comments).

Like in the United States, there is strong partisanship and depending who you talk to, you will get a different story about the parties and their candidates. Gyurcsany Ference is a very wealthy man, and when I asked a teacher at Varga how he got his money, she told me that I had asked "a vary good question." She said much of his money was made during the breakup of communist Hungary when public property was being sold off to private interests. It turns out, this woman is a supporter of Fidesz, Gyurcsany's opponent. Later, when I asked Julia about his money, she told me he is a very intelligent man who has a good business sense. She supports Szdsz, the smaller "third party" that is affilliated with Gyurcsany's MSZP Party. When I told her of what the teacher had earlier shared with me, she scoffed at the explanation and dismissed it as partisanship.

Finally, the country is divided into a couple hundred districts, from which there is one representative in Parliament. There are another 180 or so seats that are floating, and not assigned to a geographic region. The parties that earn 5% of the overall national vote are entitled to a share of these seats. Any district in which no candidate earned 50% of the vote, there will be a second round of voting in two weeks. If the outcome of those elections is radically different from Sunday's voting, the Prime Minister could change, but it's not likely.

I'm very interested to know if on the national news in the US or on the new networks there is any mention at all of the Hungarian national elections. I doubt it.

The Floods are Coming

Last week's flooding in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, is now tormenting Hungary.
The Danube (or Duna in Magyar) has flooded its banks and poured into the streets of Budapest.

(Parts of Budapest underwater)







Here in Szolnok, the Tisza (TEE-suh), Hungary's second largest river, is quickly rising and preparations for a flood are being made.







(These are a couple of pictures of the Tisza I took on Thursday afternoon, just a few hundred meters from Varga. In the distance you can see the sandbags and tarps that have been places to try to contain the pending floodwaters.)


Apparently this winter there was record snowfall in the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine and Slovakia, and warm temperatures in recent weeks have triggered the floods.

Groceries

Things you wouldn’t know unless you visit Hungary or read this blog:

When you go into a grocery store take a cart or basket. Those who do not are thought to be stealing things. That brings up the culture of cheating here. It’s in the schools, it’s in business, and it’s famously in government. Cheating amongst students it rampant I hear. While I have not witnessed it myself, (editors note: this entry was written 24 hours ago. In that time, I did see two girls creating tiny cheat sheets. They were doing this out in the open like they were simply preparing for a test) I have been told by a number of people (all American) that the students will help each other cheat without regard for ethics, or the devaluation of the grades themselves. Students strive to earn “5’s,” the equivalent of an “A,” however, the grades are not nearly as important as the score they receive on the graduation exam. This is an especially powerful exam. It dictates all four year’s of the high school’s curriculum. The exam is created by the Ministry of Education and is standard across the country. The closest we would have to this is the SAT or ACT, but this one tests in specific subject areas like history, physics, biology, and mathematics. Material that could be on the exam is in the curriculum, and everything else is excluded from the student’s four years of high school. Finally, a student’s performance on the exam determines the university s/he can attend. So, when it comes to routine tests, quizzes and homework in high school, the students have little reason not to help each other cheat, because there is no grade competition. However, most students understand the importance of performing well on the graduation exam, so the effort put into memorizing historical information is amazing. But, as I’ve mentioned before, I question their critical thinking skills, because I have not seen this being taught. I would like to observe some science classes to see if the material is presented in an exploratory fashion, or if the students are lectured to. I would guess the latter is true.


Prices are much less here for nearly everything (except gas). A movie ticket is about 800 HUF ($3.70) and in one of the local theaters here, they are showing four movies: Memoirs of a Geisha and another one are in English with Hungarian sub-titles; Big Mama’s House and another one are in Hungarian with no sub-titles (I can only imagine what the characters in Big Mama’s House seem like when they have Hungarian voices; it’s almost worth the price of admission to me).

I went grocery shopping Wednesday and walked through the wine section: Bottles of quality Hungarian Merlots and Cabernets ranged from 800 to 3200 HUF ($3.70 - $14.60). The best come from the eastern Hungarian village (everything, except Budapest, is called a village here) of Eger (AYDJ-ehr). I’ve been told Eger’s Boars Blood vineyard makes a nice wine (1600 HUF – $7.30). Like many things in Hungary (and elsewhere I would guess) the strange name is born out of some local historical legend.

I wanted to give you a chance to see an average grocery trip for me. These are the items I bought Wednesday evening at "CBA," (the grocery store with my dad's initials for a name). Other grocery stores in Szolnok include Coop, pronounced "cope" ("COOP" is actually the Hungarian term for a supository, and when the students hear us Americans mispronounce the store name they erupt with laughter. When I asked, they said "COOP" is what your mother puts, ahem, in there, when you are sick), Cora, and Tesco. Sunday, Chad and I will go to Tesco: it's like a Wal-Mart and has everything. It's the only grocery store open on Sunday.



As you can see by the photo (click it to enlarge), I have purchased very American items. In total, this trip cost me 3200 HUF ($14.50). The conditioner was the most expensive item (almost $3).

Classrooms

Wednesday I observed Guth Roszika's (Last name is always listed first in Hungarian...people on the street would call me Aronow Michael) 10.C history class. In Hungary, the grades are numbered so 10 would be sophomore. Then, at Varga, the students are divided into letter groups (a-d) indicating the program they are in. C is bilingual, so I will always be dealing with C students. Today the students were giving oral presentations about a topic in Hungarian middle ages history. Some talked about reformation, others talked about the Tripartition of Hungary which occurred after the death of King Matthais in 1490. The Tripartition occurred when the Ottomans from Turkey occupied the central and southern portion of ancient Hungary (this includes much of Romania to the south and east, and Slovakia to the north; land that was lost in the treaty of Trianon following WWI).
I knew nothing of this history until arriving here, and am finding it fascinating - an absolute black hole in my history knowledge.

The students speak fairly good English, however they have heavy Hungarian accents, so I have to listen very closely to understand what they are saying. Plus, because they are talking about Hungarian history, they are using a lot of names and locations I am unfamiliar with.

In the weeks to come, the students will have to give oral presentations about aspects of culture during the middle ages. Some have selected music, other medicine, and others executions, sports, fighting, and fashion. They have been asked to use me as a resource for their English in writing these presentations.

Every time I enter a classroom, there is a buzz amongst the students. I get the sense that they are excited about having a "native speaker" present, and those who are more bold, will take a few minutes to ask me questions before and after class. One boy talked to me extensively about American football (he plays on the local Szolnok semi-pro team) and the NBA (he loves the Cavaliers because of LaBron James, his friend is a fan of Dwayne Wade and the Heat - I explained where Wade went to "University" and showed him my Marquette bracelet).


Finally, the physical conditions in the classrooms would be completely unacceptable back home. The chalkboards are old and warped; the desks and chairs are wooden, creaky and probably date back to the 1950's or 60's; and everything is very compact. Despite this, the students tend to be very well behaved, they pay attention, and they have impeccable memorization skills. As for their critical thinking skills when it comes to history, I have not been able to assess that, but I have my doubts.

(This is one of the bigger classrooms I have seen. Later I will post a picture of the smaller rooms with more cramped quarters.)

Pizza!

Wednesday was the first time I had a meal out alone. There's a pizza place about two blocks from school and I had heard it was good, so I stopped in for lunch today. The restaurant is called "Pizza Pronto" and from the outside looks like any American pizza place, except all the words on the window are Hungarian (except "pizza pronto").

Inside, I went to the couner and said "Angolul," or the second half of the question "do you speak English." "English" alone would be "Angol" but when you ask if they speak it, you would say "Besel Angolul" pronounced "BEH-sayl ANG-guh-luhl."

The guy behind the counter produced an english menu from the drawer in front of him so I looked that over. The pizzas all came in one size (I think) and were measured in centemeters (somewhere around 30 cm which would be about 12 inches). There were about 30 different combinations of toppings, or you could build your own. Most of the pizzas had toppings that we do not have in the US, including peas, caviar and raddishes. I had one of the few combinations that we have in the States: ham, pineapple and cheese, along with a large Coke.
The bill came to 840 HUF ($3.85).
I sat at a table and sipped my Coke (served cold in a large glass, but no ice - and I'm a big fan of ice; it's something I'm getting used to).
A bit later the server brought my pizza on a 12 in (30 cm) plate, uncut. I was supplied with a fork and a steak knife and no other plate, so I just cut the pizza and ate off the big plate.
I finished half the pizza and when the waiter came by, I asked him for a box (in English) and motioned with my hands what I wanted. He quickly understood, took the pie, and boxed it for me.

The best part of the story: now I have a $2 dinner ready to go tonight or tomorrow.

My numbers

Okay, here's a run at pronouncing the numbers, from memory:

1 - Aydg (this is the hardest one to pronounce - It's like "egg" but with more of that french g-j sound. Personally, I don't think I can make the sound.
2 - KET-tyoo
3- HAY-rahm
4 - nadg (this one's also difficult to master - It's spelled negy and the "gy" is the same as in the Hungarian name for Hungary: Magyar, making the pronunciation of that word "MOH-dgyar." It has a very subtle "g" sound, almost like our word "Ledger."
5 - eyoot
6- hot
7- hate
8- nyawtlz (sounds like you're from Brooklyn when you say this)
9 - KEE-lentz
10 - teez

Also, thank you is Koszonom pronounced "KOHS-uh-nem"

Again, in EVERY Hungarian word, the stress is on the first syllable...which make the speech patterns very rhythmic.

szia!

Two Americans

Monday was my first day at Varga, and I was pleased to meet two American teachers who are here for the year. Chad is a 23 year old, just out of college, from the Wasington DC area. Mark is in his upper 40's and is from San Francisco. He has taught abroad many times, including stints in Rome and Syria.

I had lunch with Mark at the restaurant across the street from the school (no staff eat at the school cafeteria. Everyone says the food there is terrible and one administrator also told me she thought it was dirty - I wonder why they continue to let the students eat there?).
The restaurant is called Halaszcsarda ("Hal" is the root word for fish, so anytime I see that, I am told to know that it is a seafood restaurant). We both had their signature menu item: Carp Soup. I was given a soup bowl and plate, and the soup was presented in a larger bowl - almost a mini kettle, hanging from a little hook on a stand that was placed at my table. Similar to the way some places serve pizza on a stand at the table. Both of us had out own "kettle" with a ladle in it.
The fish was good - vary flavorful with large chunks of carp and big clumps of roe, or fish eggs. They were good, but will take some getting used to. I had a couple of Cokes (served in little bottles - probably 8 oz. ). We sat and talked for about 5 hours about both of our backgrounds and his experiences teaching overseas and in Hungary. As we sat I had my first beer in Hungary - the German Edelweiss. It's never been one of my favorites as I'm not a weiss drinker, but it was on tap so, when in Rome (or Szolnok)... Total bill for soup, two cokes and one beer: about 1800 ft or $8.25

Monday evening I met up with Chad for dinner at his friend Julia's (different Julia) flat. She is about 25 and a teacher at a nearby elementary school. Chad is here to teach English and tutors at the elementary school in the evening for extra money (about $7-10 per hour). Julia's mother lives nearby and had made a mushroom soup (not creamy) and it was great. She also made some creamy chicken that was served over pasta. It too was good. We sat around the table afterwards picking at a bowl of walnuts and pecans, and drinking pear juice (very yummy). Also there was Emily, a 20-something from Minnesota, also here, like Chad, to teach English, but at the elementary school where Julia works. She has already agreed to stay another year in Szolnok, and has really taken to the Hungarian lifestyle...she is also the best foreign speaker of Hungarian that I have met.

After talking a while, we decided to go to a club and have a beer. There is a place in town called Jazz Klub and inside the atmosphere is exactly what I would have drawn up. They served a beer called Skol which was good. I'm not sure if it's Romanian or Austrian, but it was cold and that was good. By the way,"beer" in Hungarian is "sor" and is pronounced "shoor." I also learned "wine" is pronounced like the English word "boar" but with a heavier, classic Eastern European "o" sound.

The group also decided I should have a shot of the traditional Hungarian liquor: Unicum (OO-nee-koom). It smells like Jagermeister and is served ice cold, but the aftertaste is very unique - almost herbal. Overall, not bad, but I think I'll stay away from it in the future as it seems like some pretty serious stuff.

Finally I had a glass of Dreher (Hungarian beer). It was okay and better than I anticipated Hungarian beer to be. It was also cheap: 300 HUF or $1.40 for a 23 oz glass.

While out I learned the Hungarian table cheer: egeszsegere (accent mark over all e's except the last one) - it means "to your health" and is pronounced "EG-uh-shegg-uh-ray." Also, you say it while looking others right in the eyes and you do not clink beer glasses (other glasses are okay). In 1849, the Hungarians declared independence from the Habsburg rule. However, with the help of the Russians, the Hungarian rebels were crushed (they had requested help from the US and UK but to no avail, neither government was willing to get involved). The Austrians then executed the rebel leaders include the so called "13 Martyrs of Arad." While these men were being killed, the Austrian army leaders clinked their drink glasses in celebration thus making the act taboo in traditional Hungarian culture (at one time it was actually illegal). However, I'm told that younger Hungarians now clink, but in mixed company it's wise to avoid the practice.

Another note: Gas prices here are about 300 HUF per liter, or about $5.15 a gallon, so you guys can feel better next time you put $2.60 gas in your car.

(Two teenaged boys play table tennis in the yard outside my flat. Table tennis is a very popular recreation in Hungary, along with basketball, football (soccer), handball and water polo.)

Arriving in Hungary

I have to say, in terms of customer service, MALEV Air is a step ahead of US carriers. The gate agent was pleasant and helpful (he suggested I not go through security after checking in 4 hours before flight time because “there’s really nothing to do down by the gates”). Once on the plane, I was pampered in traveler’s class with a nice blanket (which everyone was allowed to keep) that had MALEV Air embroidered across it, free headphones (some carriers make you pay a few bucks for them) and two meals (dinner and breakfast). Both meals were very good, and dinner included free drinks (beer and two selections of Hungarian wine).

Everything about the flight was delayed, however. The inbound flight to JFK arrived late, then it took longer to turn the plane around than it normally does (based on the regular schedule) so we were late taking off. After all that, we got into Budapest around 10:10 Sunday morning (100 minutes late).

When I awoke Sunday morning, we had just crossed the English Channel. I know because between movies and shows, the airline displays a flight tracking graphic showing the airplane’s location against a world map. Then the map zooms in giving a localized look at the plane’s position. It also displays altitude, ground speed and outside temperature (just right for a flying junkie like me): it got down to -77°F between Newfoundland and Iceland, the coldest I saw.

After waking up I looked out the window and saw nothing but clouds all the way to the horizon. A bit later, however, the clouds broke and I got my first look at the European continent. We were probably somewhere over Belgium or Germany and maybe it was the geography lover inside me, but I have to admit I was a bit moved, emotionally, when I saw Europe. Something inside of me knew it was a monumental moment for me, and one I won’t soon forget.

I was met at the airport by Julia (YOU-lee-uh) and Suzie (in Hungarian it’s JOO-jee), two teachers at Varga. Both speak English, but it is a second language and I had to remember that when choosing my words.

We reached their car (my luggage came through just fine – thank you MALEV) and had to wrestle with how to fit 100 lbs of baggage into a compact car. We got it done and were on our way.

The first thing I learned about Hungary is that drivers love to pass one another. No matter the situation, whether there’s someone oncoming or if the car they’re passing is going 20 km over the speed limit, they will pass. Julia must have passed about 8 cars during the 80 km trip to Szolnok. Oncoming motorists passed countless numbers of times. On more than one occasion my toes clenched with anticipation and fear as we passed with oncoming traffic, but we made it through the ride home.

Once in Szolnok, I was introduced to my flat (apartment). Very modest but it has everything I will need. More on the flat later on.

(A view out the window of my flat...My building looks like the one across the yard)

Julia and Suzie took me to lunch at Szolnok’s only four-star hotel, the Garden Hotel. They had a Sunday brunch buffet, however, because of jetlag, the airplane breakfast and the car ride I had little appetite. Still, I took a few small servings of food. First I had Paloc Leves (PAH-loats LEH-vish) – A paprika seasoned pork soup that was very good. Next I had turkey and pineapple in cream sauce with pasta. This too was good, but I couldn’t eat much as it was too filling.

When lunch was finished we went to the only grocery store open on Sunday (Hungary is a Catholic country and most businesses are closed on Sunday). This market was huge, and inside reminded me of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. They had clothes and house wares in addition to food. With Julia and Suzie’s help I picked up a few basic items to make sandwiches and something to drink. The bill came to about 2500 forint, or just about $12. In the States, what I purchased would have cost at least $20 if not more.

JFK

Any minute now I'll be boarding MALEV Hungarian Airline's flight 91 to Budapest. The American Eagle flight from O'Hare was eventless.

I spent the last 6 hours waiting in the international terminal at JFK amid some British, some Spanish speakers and some Hungarian speakers among others. Now that I've passed through the security check and am waiting at the MALEV Air gate, there's a large representation of Hungarian speakers. I had one many approach me and ask me if I spoke Hungarian to which I said "no." He replied "nem, nem," Hungarian for "no, no."

I spent the flight from Chicago working on memorizing Hungarian numbers. Here're the English pronounciations from memory (stress is always on the first syllable):
1 - ej
2 - (two syllables, starts with 'k')
3 - hay-rahm
4 - nyej
5 - eeyoot
6 - hot
7 - hate
8 - nyahts
9 - (two syllables, ends in 'ts')
10 - teez
I'll keep working on them once I get on the plane from JFK. I should have them down shortly, then I'll start on the rest of the numbers to 100.

Let the adventure begin!

Departure Eve

It's 12 hours before my flight lifts off from O'Hare, and Cori and I have checked into a Super 8 motel near the airport. We'll be getting up at 5 AM and hope to be at O'Hare by 6:15.

Good news about my baggage issue. Malev Airlines emailed me back stating that I could check two 70lb bags! Now, I believe I'll be limited by American's domestic policy of two 50lb bags, but that's a whole lot better than one 44lb bag.

On our way to Chicago we stopped at Barnes and Noble at Mayfair Mall where I picked up a Hungarian phrase book. Should be good readin' on the plane. I'll see if I can test out my new found Hungarian phrases on the passengers around me.