As December progressed the weather proceeded to get even colder and we finally got our first substantial snow. I have been waiting for this glorious event for a couple of months now, partly because I like snow but mostly because it makes the cold a little more bearable and is much better than the freezing rain wintry mix we've been stuck with for so many weeks. We got the snow last weekend while I was down in Szeged visiting a couple of friends there. I completely forgot to bring my camera which is a shame because the falling snow in Szeged was absolutely beautiful. On Saturday night I went to a dinner party with a couple of my Hungarian friends that I made through couchsurfers and then on Sunday I spent a few hours walking around Szeged's winter markets as the snow fell. Alas, pictures of Szentes will have to suffice.
The snowy view from my balcony
Szentes' main square with its tiny Christmas market
Szentes has pretty much nothing in the way of good sledding hills. The best the kids can hope for are river banks. I think the more hard-core sledders opt for the much larger flood banks of the Tisza river which runs around the Western edge of town, but these kids seem to be having a good time by the more convenient Kurca.
Ducks on the Kurca
I took this picture on my way to school Friday morning. Does it give you an idea of how freezing it is here? It's been a lot of fun seeing the Christmas season take off in Hungary. I've enjoyed bringing Christmas into the classroom, something that's quite easy to do in the foreign language instruction field. In classes we read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," dreamed up wish lists, discussed Christmas celebrations around the world, or even sang Christmas carols. Some of my classes were even lucky enough to learn about Christmas in New Zealand when a friend of a friend visiting from Down Under came to my classes and described a holiday in the middle of the summer centered around beaches and barbecues. During two weeks of Christmas centric lessons I learned a lot about the Christmas traditions of Hungarians, some of which I think might be of interest. For the most part Hungarians celebrate Christmas like we do in America. The first major difference is that in Hungary Santa does not come on Christmas Eve. The Hungarian Santa Clause, aka Mikulash, brings his gifts December 5th late at night. When the kids wake up on December 6th they find their boots filled with candy. Mikulash isn't responsible for bringing the big Christmas gifts here in Hungary, for that is the charge of the baby Jesus, or Jezuska (Ye-zush-kuh), who places them under the Christmas tree. Hungarians open their gifts on Christmas Eve, which seems to be the bigger day of celebrating. Then the 25th and the 26th, both considered Christmas Days, are spend relaxing and maybe visiting more family if they live far from you (rare in Hungary, or at least down here in Szentes). The traditional dinner is roast turkey or Hungarian stuffed cabbage and the traditional drink is forralt bor, delicious warm wine spiced with cinnamon and cloves and available all over the place here during the cold weather. I've been working on perfecting my own forralt bor recipe with impressive success if I do say so myself.
The last week of school was a bit rocky because the students were beyond finished with sitting still. It's bad when you can't even get them to listen to "Jingle Bells." On Friday we didn't have classes and instead had a Christmas party, complete with more performances by the students that amounted to pretty much the same thing from last post's ball except that the ballroom dances were replaced by Christmas carols. A faculty lunch followed, and I had a lot of fun mingling with everyone, especially now that I have finally breached the level of making sentences so I can kind of, sort of, talk to the staff members that don't speak English. Hungarian is complex and involves incredible amounts of subtlety and precision to get across even basic ideas, so communicating involves a lot more than putting together nouns and verbs. Therefore I assume I sound sound something like "Indeed, weather cold very indeed. And spending you how the holiday? Me Turkey to travel will." You have to start somewhere. Yesterday, for my first day of the break, I traveled with Taylor and his visiting friend Stacy to the beautiful city of Eger in northern Hungary. Taylor has rented a car because he and Stacy are going to spend the break traveling around Central Europe, so we were able to drive up. Eger is in one of Hungary's major wine producing regions and is probably the second largest tourist attraction in Hungary after Budapest. It's a city rich in history with a medieval atmosphere and a castle where one of the most famous battles of Hungarian history took place. In the 1500s the Hungarians were (unsuccessfully) fighting the Turks and at Eger castle 3,000 Hungarians fended off over 40,000 Ottoman invaders in a heroic effort still celebrated today. Of course soon after that the Ottomans returned, defeated the resisters, and slaughtered pretty much everybody, but the Hungarians celebrate whatever victories they can. We had a nice time up in Eger, though the weather was unbearably frigid and I was quite peeved to discover that all of my pictures from the day look blurry because of how misty the air was. I will certainly return to this city one day when it's warmer out but it was a good experience to go there yesterday when the city was free from the tourists that descend upon it during the warm weather. We spent the afternoon and evening at the castle, walking around the streets adorned with Christmas lights, and hiding from the cold in a nice restaurant and then a little cafe.
The last week of school was a bit rocky because the students were beyond finished with sitting still. It's bad when you can't even get them to listen to "Jingle Bells." On Friday we didn't have classes and instead had a Christmas party, complete with more performances by the students that amounted to pretty much the same thing from last post's ball except that the ballroom dances were replaced by Christmas carols. A faculty lunch followed, and I had a lot of fun mingling with everyone, especially now that I have finally breached the level of making sentences so I can kind of, sort of, talk to the staff members that don't speak English. Hungarian is complex and involves incredible amounts of subtlety and precision to get across even basic ideas, so communicating involves a lot more than putting together nouns and verbs. Therefore I assume I sound sound something like "Indeed, weather cold very indeed. And spending you how the holiday? Me Turkey to travel will." You have to start somewhere. Yesterday, for my first day of the break, I traveled with Taylor and his visiting friend Stacy to the beautiful city of Eger in northern Hungary. Taylor has rented a car because he and Stacy are going to spend the break traveling around Central Europe, so we were able to drive up. Eger is in one of Hungary's major wine producing regions and is probably the second largest tourist attraction in Hungary after Budapest. It's a city rich in history with a medieval atmosphere and a castle where one of the most famous battles of Hungarian history took place. In the 1500s the Hungarians were (unsuccessfully) fighting the Turks and at Eger castle 3,000 Hungarians fended off over 40,000 Ottoman invaders in a heroic effort still celebrated today. Of course soon after that the Ottomans returned, defeated the resisters, and slaughtered pretty much everybody, but the Hungarians celebrate whatever victories they can. We had a nice time up in Eger, though the weather was unbearably frigid and I was quite peeved to discover that all of my pictures from the day look blurry because of how misty the air was. I will certainly return to this city one day when it's warmer out but it was a good experience to go there yesterday when the city was free from the tourists that descend upon it during the warm weather. We spent the afternoon and evening at the castle, walking around the streets adorned with Christmas lights, and hiding from the cold in a nice restaurant and then a little cafe.
Taylor and Stacy atop the castle ramparts from which a small Hungarian force defeated a massive horde of Ottomans almost five hundred years ago. Unfortunately the Turks would return and subjugate Hungary for over 150 years.
Eger's city center, full of old churches and a Christmas market where we staved off the cold with spiced hot wine. Now I have two days to unwind and prepare for my upcoming Christmas break trip to Turkey. It's strange and somewhat depressing to be so far from home at Christmas time, but I'm happy to be in Istanbul soon with a couple of old friends. It's a great opportunity to see a fascinating new place as well as to keep the homesickness of missing the holiday with family and friends at bay. I'm getting quite excited, though it will be an unconventional Christmas morning getting up at 5:30 to catch the earliest bus to Budapest in order to make my flight. Memorable at least. At any rate, I have lots of research to do if I'm going to make the most of my trip to Turkey, so I'd better get going on that. I hope that you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Years!
1 comment:
Quiet here in E TX ~ thought of you Karacsony,enroute Istanbul. Enjoyed your blog and lovely territory photos.Our best for a Happy New Year Love -
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