This week was photogenic. On Tuesday evening, a group of CIEE people climbed Gellert Hill to see the view of the city at night. The paths, which are darker/sketchier, yet also seem safer than those in most US cities, wind up Gellérthegy, culminating in the citadel (a citadella) at the top. Seeing the view of the city all lit up at night was magnificent. Some pictures:
View of Pest
Me, Allie, and Matt and the view. Credit to Audrey.
Friends at the top. Credit to Audrey's camera, but posed and photographed by moi.
Me being creepy with a child. Credit to Audrey.
On Wednesday, I met up with my Buda friends (in Pest, though, how confusing), and we went to a gay bar beside the Danube, for the purpose of watching a drag show. The show came on at 12:30, so naturally, we broke it down on the dance floor for a while. I dropped a beer while dancing (sometimes I forget how vigorous my moves are!), which was quite embarrassing. The drag show was a hoot--lip-syncing galore. It was almost all in Hungarian, though occasionally words like "sexy" and "Madame Tequila" could be recognized. The international language of drag shows, obviously. One of the drag queens had two back-up dancers, who had some killer moves. Pictures to follow.
With back-up dancers.
Fabulous.
On Thursday morning, my art history class had a surprise field trip to the Hungarian National Gallery. How can a field trip be a surprise, you ask? WELL, Kata was supposed to email us about a field trip not on the syllabus the night before, but she emailed us that morning, at 8:15. We were supposed to meet at 10, in the Castle District, which is in Buda. I got the email at 9:45 when I pulled my computer into bed with me (it was a lazy morning...). I woke my up my roommate and we booked it to Buda, but we still didn't arrive until 11. It was certainly an exciting start to the day.
Thursday also brought my first skipped class (don't tell!). I figure that 3rd week in is legitimate for a first skip. I didn't plan to--I planned to go get my tragus pierced with my Midd/Buda friend Johna, who was piercing her eyebrow, after Hungarian, and get back in time for Contemporary Cultural Trends. However, when we got to the piercing place, they told us the piercer was busy and that we should come back at 5. I was already committed, so...no class for me. Instead, we wasted some time and sat in city park reading/studying (Johna) and reading/childstalking (me). God I love parks. The best picture of that day here.
Perfect child euphoria.
It was a beautiful day, too--the weather has been SO GOOD to us lately. Though honestly, I am so infatuated with this city that I am passionate about it when it rains, as well. I'm a little worried about my winter blues when it gets really cold and daylight-less here (it already gets dark by 6:45-7 every night), but as long as the sky stays SO BLUE, I think I'll be ok. Anyway, Johna and I went back at 5, but...the place was locked up. I think they tricked us. I was so hurt--it seemed like such a nice place! We went to seek out another place (Johna was very determined), but it ended up being way more expensive there, so I didn't get pierced. Johna, however, did--please see her VLOG for some video documentation. You can hear my voice through the piercing and I have a lil cameo at the end, too!
On Thursday night, I went folk-dancing at Gödör Klub again. I was a little worried that it might not be so magical this time--second time jitters. Not to worry, though. It was fabulous. Meghan and I only stayed for an hour this time (compared to the three hour marathon two weeks ago), but it was a good session. I even managed to photo-document the dance that was going on when we got there.
Usually we would have tried to jump in, but this particular dance involved extra inter-lockation! I looove the singer for the band that plays these dances. She just sits there with her hands behind her back and smiles and sings and it is so beautiful and fun. I kind of want to be her. I'm excited to go back in two weeks (and I'm SO glad I don't miss one this Thursday when I am Transylvania traipsing.) Also, I really want to go for the whole time one week--8 PM-2 AM, baby! Great exercise.
On Friday, CIEE left for an excursion to Eger, with is in northern Hungary. That day, we stopped in Recsk, at the site of a former Communist death camp. After a quick look around, we continued to Eger, and more light-hearted activities. We climbed up between rows and rows of grape vines, to the area where we were to harvest. Before beginning, we were given a shot of pálinka, a Hungarian alcohol distilled from fruit, to "warm our spirits" before we started. Yes, at 11:45 in the morning. Egészségedre. Harvesting the grapes was actually quite fun, appealing to my task-oriented and my manual labor-liking sides. They left jugs of wine for us in case we wanted a break, and most of the group stopped cutting grapes after 10 or so minutes, but a group of us kept going, determined to finish the row we were on. We almost did, too, but the real workers finished their row exceedingly quickly and moved on to finish our before we could make it at our clumsy, amateur pace. The grapes were delicious...I had several in my mouth basically constantly from the beginning, but had to stop because I had had enough to give me a bit of a stomachache.
Pre-harvesting snack.
Grapes.
We took our grapes back down the hill and to a restaurant, where we used very complicated manual machinery to press them into the sweetest unsweetened grape juice possible. Delicious.
Grape juice.
Quite hungry by this time, we then ate at the restaurant. LOTS of goulash/gulyás. Yummy. This is also when the wine squirters were debuted--waiters deposited wine into our cups with long skinny syringe-like devices. Amazing. The wine flowed freely from that lunch and after, when we visited a crazy lady's wine cellar and tried the "Boar's blood of Eger."
Hungary is boring.
Brief respite from wine as we checked into the B&B and took a walk down to the Eger cathedral, a beautiful bright yellow building, and around the main street of Eger. A highlight was a McDonald's walk-thru window.
The Eger Cathedral
For dinner, we went back to the same restaurant, where, big surprise, wine abounded. It was an early night that night...for some reason, everyone was very sleepy!
On Saturday, we toured a horse barn, with famous Eger horses. I bonded with the barn cat.
After, we went to the Eger castle/fortress, then were let loose for lunch.
Sam and me waiting for lunch in Eger. Credit to Tasha.
I walked around for a while with three CIEE girls. The Buda friends were also in Eger on Saturday. After talking to camp/Buda friend Meghan on the phone and deciding we wouldn't be able to see each other, we ran into each other on the street! A happy Eger coincidence. Finally, we left Eger and drove to Kékestető, where we were able to touch the "highest point in Hungary," at about 1014 meters above sea level. Highest point is in quotation marks because there was very clearly an area that was higher than the designated marker. There are pictures on a friend's camera of me looking outraged beside it. What a gyp. :)
Back in Budapest, I rested a lot on Saturday night and Sunday. I've been sick this past week, though you may not be able to tell from how busy it was, so I tried to sleep and drink a lot of water on my down day. I think it helped--I'm feeling significantly less stuffy. I also got a chance to video chat with Middlebury friends and hear a report on Saturday's rugby game. I believe this inspired a very vivid rugby dream on Saturday night. I miss playing a LOT. Running and folk dancing are nice, but they are no rugby.
Also yesterday, my Hungarian roommate Mirella took me and our other roommate Audrey to a yummy place called Sugar! We got some candy (as a result I ate jelly beans while I lay in bed yesterday) and got pieces of dessert as well.
My caramel cheesecake.
Mirella also took us to her theater, which was cool to see. She assistant directs plays and spends a lot of her time there--it was nice to get a tour around her other home.
Today, Monday, I visited the Ministry of Education, where I am volunteering. The program offered internships for credit instead of a 5th course, but they didn't really get their shit together, and none was available. Instead, I'm going into the Ministry of Education once a week (Tuesday mornings) to discuss an article in English with some of their employees. It's a little out of my comfort zone: as I just said to a friend when describing it, they're all about 25-35 years older than anyone I feel comfortable leading in anything. I think I'm going to feel pretty silly doing it, as they are all clearly more advanced in age and career than I am, and I am supposed to lead the discussion group. I'm not sure I like having a position of power just because of the language I speak. It should be interesting, though. They're very eager to practice their English. It's no babies, but I like having something besides school and leisure to work into my schedule.
My first transportation pass (insert one more pleased sigh in honor of how much I love the public transportation system here) expires this Wednesday. Officially one month in--crazy. Several times this week, I have found myself realizing just how comfortable I feel here. It's ridiculous, though...how dare I feel so comfortable in a place where I clearly belong and I still know frighteningly little of the language. I try not to think this, though, and relish feeling of walking out the door and feeling safe and normal.
Until next week...expect tales of Transylvania! We head out super early on Thursday morning and won't be back until Sunday night.
Big hugs and kisses,
Avery
No comments:
Post a Comment