Well, it seems that we have an alien amongst us...yes, it turns out that our dear, sweet pooch Iago is actually in Hungary illegally.
Yesterday, after dropping Dave at the airport for his trip to France, we proceeded into central Budapest to start the epic process involved in sending Iago back to Australia. We're not planning on sending him until mid-June, but as it's a six month process, we really need to get the ball rolling now.
Unfortunately, we met a hurdle almost immediately. Our Hungarian vet was unable to locate Iago's microchip (which was implanted in Australia way back in 2002). According to the vet, if his scanner couldn't find the microchip, then it simply didn't meet Hungarian/EU standards. The vet was pretty baffled as to how/why Iago had even been allowed into Hungary without a compliant microchip. Eeeek!!
Anyway, after learning that our dog was essentially an illegal immigrant, Daniel and I made some calls to the Australian authorities to work out how to proceed. Without going into all the boring details, we eventually decided to get Iago implanted with a new microchip and revaccinated against rabies on the new chip. He also got a new passport after the vet told us to burn the old one (which should never have been issued). Double eeeek!!
We have to go back to Budapest in two weeks for more tests and vaccinations.
In other news, Dave arrived safely in France and seems to be having a great time so far.
We've had a pretty cruisey Christmas so far. Last night we ventured out into the snow - yes, it finally snowed!! - to see the annual Christmas play put on in front of the church. Like last year, the church forecourt was packed with people, as well as a noisy pen full of sheep. The play itself was a little boring, but it was so great to be outside amongst all the twinkling lights that I don't think any of us really minded that much.
Today we awoke to more snow and thus our first ever White Christmas. Dave quickly appointed himself as the household's Head Chef and diligently and expertly set about preparing our Christmas lunch - roast pork, potatoes, carrots, onions, brocolli and gravy. It was divine. After stuffing ourselves silly, we took Iago out for a run, and Daniel had his first opportunity to legitimately wear his Christmas present - a new hat!
After the walk, we came home to finish cooking our Christmas pudding. Alas, it seems that I have yet to master this recipe as it was only mildly more successful than last year when I was missing a key ingredient. Methinks that perhaps my idea of 'steaming' isn't quite right. Oh well, it still tasted bloody good. And I'm proud to report that my eyelashes remain wholly intact in spite of a close call while igniting the palinka. Who knew that stuff was so flammable?
Anyway, I hope everyone else's Christmas was as awesome as ours.
Late
Saturday morning the four of us (Daniel, Dave, Iago and I) set off for a
mini-break in Vienna, Austria. The drive from Máriapócs took us about five and a half hours,
so we arrived in Vienna just after dark – the perfect time to check out the
city’s famous Christmas markets. En route to the largest market outside the
Rathaus, we encountered many other smaller markets surrounding the university
near our hotel, as well as along several side streets. There were lots of
people out and about, and in spite of the cold weather and rain, the atmosphere
was definitely festive.
We explored
the markets for several hours, stopping only to chow down on yummy food and hot glue wine from some of the stalls. Even Iago got to taste some of the local fare, with many passers by stopping to feed him tidbits and give him pats. Eventually it started raining so we all made our way back to the hotel. It took a while as the bright lights and twisty turny streets were rather disorientating.
On Sunday morning we set off to explore more of the city. At Stephansplatz we visited Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), Vienna's largest church and one of its most recognisable symbols. While Dave and Iago waited outside, Daniel and I checked out the cathedral's interior. Even though there was a Sunday morning service in progress, there were still throngs of tourists wandering about, taking photos and buying items from the giftshop. In my opinion it was a little disrespectful. But that opinion didn't stop me from taking my own photos of a familiar work of art that Daniel spotted inside the church. It was the original Black Madonna icon from Máriapócs! As previously mentioned, the famous weeping icon was taken to Austria in 1696 and I guess it's been hanging in Stephansdom ever since. Until a few days ago I assumed that it was removed from Máriapócs just because the Austrian Emperor coveted it for himself, but I have since learned that it was actually transferred so that it would be safe from the Muslim armies that still controlled much of Hungary at the time. I guess this means that I should remove Emperor Leopold I from my 'Dead people who I'd like to kill again' hitlist.
Anyway, after Stephansplatz, we walked around many of Vienna's most picturesque streets, marvelling at the wonderful architecture and checking out various museums, statues and yet more Christmas markets. After a few hours of this, our feet were starting to get tired, so we navigated our way back to the hotel and recharged our batteries before heading out into the city again for dinner. It was a rather enlightening meal as we discovered Dave's penchant for young animals, as well as his obsession with a particular type of beer glass (for Deb's sanity I'm going to add here that Dave did NOT learn about the beer glass by drinking out of one). Daniel and I were also devastated to discover that the waiter at the restaurant thought we were Dave's parents. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.
The next morning - Monday - we all set off for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The day started out strangely when we had some difficulty ordering breakfast at a roadside diner. Our Austrian waitress, who spoke both German and English, seemed amazed that we were unable to read the menu (which was printed in German only) and was very insistent that the languages were similar enough that we ought to have no difficulty at all. In spite of this, however, she then had great difficulty comprehending Dave's order and he wound up receiving only a small dish of jam as his breakfast! It was particularly funny as Daniel and I had both managed to order individual frypans full of ham and eggs, as well as bread rolls, freshly squeezed orange juice and tea and coffee.
Once in Bratislava we made a beeline for the city's castle. After a harrowing drive up a series of tight, steep and windy streets we eventually found it...and discovered that it was closed on Mondays (along with basically every other building or museum of interest in Bratislava!) In spite of this setback, we were determined to keep exploring so we changed our plans and headed off towards the city's Old Town. This involved a lovely walk along a path running next to the castle. Since Bratislava Castle is located at the top of a steep cliff, the walk provided some great views of the city.
In the Old Town we discovered many old buildings (what a surprise!) as well as - you guessed it - another Christmas market! This one seemed to be predominantly a food market so we took the opportunity to sample some fine Slovakian dishes. I was particularly impressed with something called Zemiakove Sulance which is basically potato dumplings covered in ground poppyseeds. Very sweet and really delicious (although Iago and I seemed to be the only ones who thought so). From the Old Town, we made our way back to the castle and drove around for a while trying to find a mysterious attraction signposted only as Slavín. Then we travelled back to Austria, stopping along the way to check out a massive factory outlet shopping centre where Dave impressed us all with his shopping stamina. Even Daniel was inspired to finally replace his disintegrating, holey runners.
Yesterday was the last day of our mini-break. While we were all a little sad to say goodbye to Vienna, I think Iago was actually pretty devastated. During the trip he had somehow decided that being away from home meant that usual sleeping arrangements did not apply and so he spent the last two nights sleeping with Daniel and I on our hotel bed. And not even the prospect of going jogging with Dave or for an early morning walk with me was enough to entice him off the bed yesterday morning.
On the way home from Vienna we detoured to visit the town of Sopron. I've been looking forward to visiting Sopron since even before we arrived in Hungary (because my dad was born there) so it was fantastic to finally have the chance to check it out. The central part of the city was really pretty and seemed to be in much better condition than many other Hungarian towns of a similar size. I attribute this to its close proximity to the Austrian border and to the steady flow of tourists and Euros which this attracts. Wiki also tells me that Sopron attracts tourists from other parts of the world due to its excellent low-cost dental services. In fact, the city is known as 'The Dental Capital of the World'. Awesome.
Sopron is also home to the Goat Church. As you can see from the picture, it looks like an ordinary church, but it got its unusual nickname because the funds to build it were allegedly unearthed by a treasure-seeking goat. Alternatively, a more plausible explanation for the name is that the family who commissioned the church had a goat on their coat of arms and this symbol was then incorporated into the design of the new church's tower (which features wreaths and a goat). Either way, I think it's a cool name for a church.
One of Sopron's other major attractions - the Firewatch Tower - is currently being restored. It's due to be completed in June 2012, so perhaps Daniel and I will need to squeeze in another visit to the town before we leave Hungary. I'd certainly be interested in having a longer look around.
After Sopron, we set the GPS for home and arrived back in Máriapócs just after 10pm last night.
This last week has been the last before the Christmas break, and so it has been impossible to get anything done. The kids are crazy, the timetable is crazy, and there is the constant interruption caused by the Christmas ceremony that has been planned for tomorrow afternoon. It is not uncommon to lose 16 of 18 kids in grade 2 to choir, and while it is awesome that so many of the kids are getting involved it kind of makes it difficult to plan a lesson when you have kids wandering in and out of it. This is especially true because we're trying to ensure that the kids have enough homework to last them over the unprecedented 3 week holiday. Ugh, it's all good, it's just another hurdle.
Dave has managed to acclimatise himself to both the weather, time difference and the style of living. The thermostat has slowly worked its way out of the high thirties, he's going to bed and waking up at a decent hour and has ensconced himself fairly securely to the couch. It's actually been a little boring for him, I think. I mean, it's great to have him around, but we feel a little bad that we haven't really been able to travel every day. Anyway, he says that it's okay and that he's entertaining himself with movies and computer games that he's availing himself of through our unlimited internet connection.
This weekend should be more exciting. We're headed off to Vienna for a couple of days, so we'll have a look at the Vienna Christmas market, walk through the old town, and see what we can see. Last time we were there, the city seemed pretty alive with things to do, so I'm sure it'll be a fun weekend.
On Thursday morning, Dave and I went with Amanda to her class in Mátészalka. We had been invited to teach an upper class that morning, but we weren't too sure what we were walking into. These kids were older than I was used to, they were around 12 years old, but it seemed unlikely that they would have had as many English lessons as our kids have had. This meant that we really didn't know their level, so we basically had to go in there and wing it.
David was awesome. We set up a couple of activities, gave the kids a structure around which to ask questions then he and I went up and down the class and just talked to the kids. He spoke slowly and kept the idioms to a minimum which really helped the kids understand what he was saying. Speaking slowly and clearly sounds like a simple thing to do, but you really don't understand how many odd turns of phrase we use in everyday language until you meet someone who doesn't know them. Dave was able to remove these from his speech and yet maintain the feeling that he was speaking naturally to the kids. That's what this lesson was all about, giving the kids the confidence to speak. It was great fun.
On Friday night, we went out for dinner in Nyiregyháza at that awesome restaurant that our friend Christie showed us. It's always a good night at this place, but even more so when we get the meat platter. This meal is a testament to everything that it is possible to kill and put on a plate. There is chicken, beef, pork, liver, veal, chips and rice - that's right ladies and gentlemen, we kill from both the plant and animal kingdoms. Dave and I made pretty short work of it then rolled our way into the car and had Amanda drive us home. It was really nice just to spend a meal chatting about this or that. It's something we don't tend to do when we are just bumming out at home. Good times.
On Saturday, Amanda, Dave and I jumped into the car and went to Eger. Eger is my favorite city in Hungary and I always make sure to take anyone who comes to visit us to see it. There is so much history and wonderful buildings that I think it is a must see for anyone visiting Hungary. We were lucky on Saturday as there was a Christmas market in the main square, so we had some big Hungarian sausages and some piping hot stew with a couple of slabs of bread between us. It was awesome winter food. When we'd finished we indulged in a kürtőskalács, which is a cylindrical Hungarian pastry around 30-40cm long covered in sugar and either nuts, cinnamon or chocolate powder. It's freshly cooked on a fire in front of you and it's awesome, so we were pretty happy that we found that. After sating ourselves, Dave and I climbed the Minaret, which is a tower constructed by the Ottomans in late 16th century to celebrate the fall of the Hungarians in the area. I was reading on the sign, that when the Hungarians took the town back 90 or so years later they tried to pull the tower down with 400 oxen but it was too stable so they left it be. From there the three of us explored the castle, saw the sights then made our way home.
After coming down from the heady heights of finishing the last of her coursework for her masters, Amanda had a hard week. In addition to the additional classes that the new timetable has given her, she had to take all of my classes on Monday and Tuesday as I was sick. This left Dave and I at home watching movies and Amanda going out into the cold to provide for us. Other than the fact that I felt pretty damn ratty, it could have actually been quite a good situation. I could have gotten used to that. Unfortunately, surely enough, I felt better today and had to go to work.
During my first period today, the Grade 3 and 4s had a Skype conference with some students from Finland. This is all part of a program that our colleague, Ili, has been involved with called eTwinning (as in electronically making two or more schools twins). In our case, we are now twinned with a school in Finland and a school in France. Ili and the students have been hard at work creating posters about their environment, the town and their lives so they can be sent to the twin schools. It is very exciting for the kids and a lot of them are really getting into it. This was especially true today as they were going to actually get to talk to the kids that they'd previously been writing to.
It was quite good. One kid from each country went up to the camera, asked some prearranged questions, then when the answers were given the rest of the class tried to take notes. As our kids were a bit more advanced, they did most of the talking. It was actually a little funny. When Roosa, one of the Finnish girls, came up to talk she gave the typical one or two word answers but (un)fortunately she was paired with Kitti, one on the more chatty girl in our class. When Roosa said her name, Kitti quickly gushed "Oh, what a beautiful name", "Do you have brothers or sisters?" "What are their names?" "Do you have pets?". Kitti then started wonderfully chatting about her siblings and her pets leaving poor Roosa a little left behind.
Still, it was an awesome experience for all the kids as it was an opportunity to have a real conversation with different people. We are having another Skype call tomorrow, this time with the twin school from France.
Well, uni results were officially released today and I am pleased and proud to announce that Daniel and I both successfully passed all of our subjects. It was such a huge relief. This semester was really tough for both of us and I personally had a lot of trouble keeping myself motivated. This was especially true in early November when I seemed to be doing very little apart from sleeping, eating, teaching and writing long essays. After a while I lost all ability to judge the quality of my work and I had just about convinced myself that I was going to fail. Fortunately, I worried about nothing.
While Daniel still has another year of study to go in his Bachelor of Letters, my own course is now complete and I'm planning to graduate when I return to Australia. Seeing as I never attended a graduation ceremony when I finished my undergradutate degrees, I'm quite excited about the idea of donning a robe and silly hat to collect my Masters.
At this stage I have no plans to undertake any further university-level study...although Daniel seems pretty convinced that I will. I guess time will tell.
Well, the weekend finally rolled around and so we decided to show Dave that there is more to Hungary than just our tiny little town. The three of us set off on Saturday morning for Tokaj, Hungary's premier white wine region. Daniel and I were hoping to replenish our white wine supply, while Dave just seemed pleased to be leaving the house :)
On the way to Tokaj we passed through Nyíregyháza and stopped to check out a large wholesale flea market on the outskirts of the city. I must admit that I was a little hesitant to stop because the place was absolutely crawling with people and well, it looked like some kind of crazy ghetto shanty town, but it turned out to be absolutely awesome. There were heaps of stalls and a large variety of cheap items for sale. We spent some time wandering around buying a bunch of stuff we didn't really need (well, except for Dave who was really disciplined), then decided to continue on to Tokaj.
In hindsight, I wish we'd spent more time at the market because Tokaj was like a ghost town by comparison. All of the wine cellars were closed, none of the shops were open and most of the streets were deserted. We couldn't even get a good look at the gorgeous river running by the town because a heavy cloud of fog made it impossible to see much at all. Still, we wandered around for a bit, then decided to grab a drink at the one place that was open - the local biker bar. Again, I was a little apprehensive, but the lure of hot chocolate on such a cold day eventually triumphed over my fear of running afoul of a vicious gang of leather-clad bikies. I needn't have worried. The biker bar was completely empty and we were able to sip our hot chocolates in comfort while watching the Disney Channel on TV. It was strange.
After Tokaj we headed home and began preparations for our attendance at a school fundraising ball in Mátészalka (at the school where I teach once a week). Dave ironed his first shirt EVER and Daniel and I reluctantly scoured the back of our closet for our formal clothes. We've gotten so used to wearing cargo pants and trackies to work that it was rather shocking to have to don something else. Still, we eventually managed to make ourselves presentable and we headed off to the ball.
It turned out to be a great night. The evening started with modern dance performances from some of the younger students, but the real highlight was the traditional Hungarian folk dancing routines performed by a troupe of past pupils. I've seen similar dances before in Hungary, of course, but they never cease to impress me. The male dancers are particularly awesome. They seem to get all the good moves and they make a hell of a lot of noise stamping their feet and slapping their boots and thighs. I took a video of one of the dances. It's a little long (5ish minutes) but I just didn't have the heart to edit it.
The rest of the evening was also enjoyable. There are many English speaking teachers at the school in Mátészalka so we were able to converse with a number of my colleagues, and of course the palinka and Unicum were flowing freely all night. Egészségedre!
Well, it seems that we have an alien amongst us...yes, it turns out that our dear, sweet pooch Iago is actually in Hungary illegally.
