Final blog entry!

So, the last few days in Hungary were tough. It's really, really difficult having to say goodbye to people, especially when they've all been so amazing and generous. There were also doubts on our end. Were we doing the right thing by leaving? We loved our jobs and our friends and our lifestyle in Hungary so much. And so much of what we were returning to in Australia was uncertain. But we were determined to press on...

Daniel and I spent our last full day in Hungary in Nyírbátor, a town about 15 minutes drive from Máriapócs. We'd heard about an awesome walkway between the town's two large churches, so we grabbed some kenyér lángos and set off to explore. The walkway turned out to be really pretty. There were lots of sculptures including some awesome dragons and replica medieval weaponry. The dragons were a reference to a legend explaining the town's origins. In the year 900 a warrior named Vitus set out to kill a dragon that had been causing problems for the locals. According to the legend, he slayed the dragon with three thrusts of his lance and scored a neat castle as well as a new nickname (Báthory or "brave hero") for his efforts. The Báthory noble family has been associated with Nyírbátor ever since.

Anyway, after touring the walkway, Daniel and I went to Ili's house for lunch. Ili had prepared some wonderful Hungarian cuisine for us, including goulash (gulyás) and Hungarian crepes (palacsinta). Everything was delicious! 

After lunch we returned home and set about finishing our packing. Fitting two years of memorabilia into a couple of small suitcases was no easy feat, but with a lot of grunting and shoving we managed to get the buggers closed. Hooray!

Wednesday morning was very, very sad. We said our final goodbyes to Sanyi and the other teachers, climbed into the town's minivan and were whisked away to the airport. It was extremely hard to look out the windows as we left Máriapócs and the rest of Hungary behind. Once at the airport, we said a teary final goodbye to Ili, then practiced pretending that our carry on luggage was within the allowable limits. Soon enough, we were strapped in to our seats and climbing into the sky, bound for Melbourne via Doha. I won't bore you with the details of our flights other than to say that we arrived in Melbourne feeling relatively fresh and relaxed.

Yesterday we spent the day catching up with family, and getting reacquainted with Melbourne. It's very strange to be back. I miss Hungary. 

And now I can no longer put off bringing this blog to an end. It's been an epic journey. 204 posts, over 10,000 pageviews and many, many hundreds of hours spent writing and researching. Still, I think this blog is a wonderful record of our experiences in Hungary and I hope that you have all enjoyed reading it as much as we have enjoyed writing it. 

There will be no further updates after this entry, but please continue to leave comments as we love reading them.

Goodbye and thankyou for reading!

- Amanda and Daniel

Hits and misses

Okay, so this is going to be a bit of a long entry. You have been warned!

In two days, Daniel and I will be leaving Hungary after living here for two years. It’s been an incredible experience and we will cherish it always. Over the last two years we have gotten to know a lot about Hungary and the wonderful, generous and yes, slightly strange, Hungarians who live here.

So, as a prelude to our final goodbye, I thought it would be fun to post an entry about some of the things we will and won’t miss about Hungary. There is no order of importance, just a simple list of things we’ve grown to love...and hate.

THINGS WE’LL MISS

Our jobs

I know I said there was no order of importance, but this is definitely the hardest thing for us to leave behind. We have absolutely loved being English teachers and our students are the funniest, most creative, most amazing little people we have ever met. They continually surprise and impress us, and we have grown to love them all. Leaving them behind is just heartbreaking.

In addition, we have been fortunate enough to work alongside some incredible colleagues who have assisted us every step of the way and really made us feel like a part of the team. Then, there are the cushy working conditions. Daniel and I usually only worked 21 hours each week, the ‘commute’ to work took less than a minute and we could wear trackpants and other comfy clothes all day long. Plus we actually got paid to sing songs, play football and do arts and crafts. It was awesome!

The food

I hardly know where to start. We’ve had such fun trying out various Hungarian foods, and even learnt to cook a few meals like stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta) and grated potato fritters (lapcsánka). For most of our time in Hungary we were also fortunate enough to enjoy 3-course cooked meals for lunch every day. We really gained an appreciation for hearty soups, thick bread and lots and lots of potatoes and beans.

Trips to the supermarket were also fun. We discovered new vegetables such as kohlrabi (karalábé), as well as an assortment of other cool foods like túró rudi (a refrigerated chocolate bar filled with cottage cheese), Hell energy drink, strange breads (kifli, pogácsa, poppyseed-covered everything) and entire aisles filled with hundreds of different varieties of salami and cheese.

Then there were the gigantic home-grown watermelons, scrummy jeges kávé, goose liver galore, cherries by the bucket, and of course, daily ice creams from our (very) local shop. Daniel also became quite the pálinka (fruit brandy) fan, but we both agree that Unicum is vile.

Snow

Ah snow, how we’ll miss you! Even though Daniel and I had both seen snow before, seeing it every day and having it be just another part of life, as opposed to a holiday destination, was really something special. It was simply amazing to wake up each morning and gaze out onto a fresh blanket of clean, white fluffiness. And of course, stomping around in it, throwing snowballs, and making snowmen was also part of the appeal.

Church bells

For the last two years the bells in the local churches have provided a steady, if perhaps occasionally irritating, background rhythm to our daily lives. Some days the bells started ringing as early as 4 or 5am, but mostly we were allowed to sleep through until 6am. From then the bells rang every 15 minutes for the rest of the day – one chime at quarter past the hour, two at half past, three at quarter to, and then four chimes on the hour, plus a few more to indicate the exact time. For reasons still unclear to us two years later, the bells also went a bit crazy at 4:32pm each day. In spite of the all the noise, however, we both got used to the bells and will miss hearing them in Melbourne.

Big stuff

Hungarian lightswitches are huge. Sometimes I can’t operate them properly with just my fingers, I need to use my entire palm to switch on the light.  It makes me feel like an uncoordinated toddler, but Daniel really likes the big size so they’ve made the list.

In addition, many Hungarian keys are also huge and old-fashioned. And they fit into those stereotypical keyhole-shaped holes. I don’t quite know why, but this is something we think is pretty awesome and we’ll be sad to return to more modern key technology.

Being in Europe

Hungary’s proximity to many other European countries has been absolutely fantastic. We’re really going to miss jumping in our car and taking off to explore another country for the weekend. During our two years in Hungary, we’ve visited nearby countries including Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Italy and Germany. Many times we were able to take Iago along with us, and we explored some incredible sights together. Europe has so much history, and so much to offer tourists looking for unique experiences and stunning attractions. We’ve particularly enjoyed climbing castles, visiting museums and meandering down cobbled laneways in little rural towns. I can’t wait to come back and see even more!

Thermal baths

Before I came to Hungary the idea of lying in a pool of hot water full of visible floating ‘minerals’ sounded a bit...well...gross. But now I’m a huge fan. Many Hungarians love soaking in thermal baths and strongly believe in the positive health benefits attributed to the various minerals floating around in the water. Going to the thermal baths is a very social activity and we have often observed entire multi-generational families chatting and relaxing together while they soaked. Most of the pools have seats or benches where you can sit down, as well as powerful jets to massage aching muscles and release tension. So awesome!

Feeling rich

Hungarian currency made us feel rich. I loved plucking a crisp 20,000 Forint note from my purse and imagining it was Australian dollars instead. Alas, this was not the case and instead we became adept at dividing by 200 to find the approximate exchange rate.

THINGS WE WON’T MISS

Car problems

For the most part having a car in Hungary was great. We had a lot more flexibility to go where we liked when we liked, and we saw a lot more of the country than many other tourists as a result. Unfortunately, our car was also a bit of a lemon. The trouble started almost before we bought it. I’m still convinced that the owner of the caryard switched the tyres and removed the tow bar. But that was just the beginning. For a while it seemed as if every time we got into the car, something else broke. Mostly it was small things – the dashboard lights didn’t work, the odometer stopped at exactly 150,000kms, the radio turned on and off seemingly of its own volition, one of the inside door panels kept falling off in hot weather, the driver’s side door handle snapped, a rear seatbelt didn’t work – but there were also some bigger, more expensive problems. We had to buy new tyres about a month after we bought the car, we had exhaust problems, then the entire manual transmission had to be replaced. Needless to say, Daniel and I were pretty happy to give away the car today – I just hope it’s well-behaved for its new owner.

 

Hungarian parking

Still on the car theme and I just have to say that Hungarians may be the World’s worst parkers. We lost count of how many single vehicles we saw taking up two, three or even four parking spaces. And then there were the cars that were parked crookedly, or squashed right up against the lines, or double-parked, or parked at a diagonal angle where everyone else was flush against the curb. Maddening!

Shovelling path

The snow in Hungary was wonderful. Shovelling the path from the footpath to our front door, however, was not. The first year our tactic was simple. We shovelled the path once, discovered what a pain it was, then didn’t do it again. This would have been fine except that if you don’t shovel the path, a layer of ice forms underneath the snow as a result of people walking on it. Ice is very slippery. Our path was very long. Cue many Benny Hill-esque type adventures as we made our way to and from work each day.

During our second year, we learnt from this experience and were more diligent about shovelling our path. But that plan was bad too. Shovelling a path is difficult, physically demanding and takes a long time. Nope, not going to miss that at all.

Telling the time

Hungarians tell the time differently to Australians. For example, if it’s 9:30am, an Australian could also accurately describe the time as being half past nine. Hungarians don’t do this. Instead, they would describe the time as being half ten. Unfortunately, Daniel and I didn’t pick up on this idiosyncrasy for quite a while meaning that we were constantly late to everything (because we assumed they meant 10:30am). Then, once we and our Hungarian colleagues and students had identified this communication problem, the Hungarians made things even worse by trying to correct things. This just got everyone confused and so we were often two hours out of sync instead of just one.

Pooh shelf

The toilets at our house (and in many other Hungarian establishments) have a sort of pooh shelf. I really don’t know how else to describe it. Instead of doing your business and everything falling straight into the water, these toilets collect the excrement on a shelf. It’s weird.

Number 1s

Almost every Hungarian that we’ve met over here has had beautiful handwriting. The kids at school certainly spend a lot of time practicing their cursive writing, so perhaps this is not really surprising. What is surprising, however, is how strange their numeric 1s are. They basically look like 7s. Or perhaps more like a capital A without the cross bar in the middle. It’s very confusing. And oh so annoying because I have now started to write my 1s in the same way! Don’t you just hate it when you think something is silly and then find yourself doing exactly the same thing? 

Stray dogs

The problem is not as bad in Hungary as in other countries such as Romania, but we still see quite a few stray dogs wandering the streets. It’s very sad, especially as many of them seem to be adult dogs who were previously someone’s pet. Desexing of animals is not very common in Hungary (possibly because of the cost) so there are always lots of new puppies and therefore a constant supply of future strays.  

European bed linen

Gigantic pillows and tiny separate doonas. I just don’t get it.

In summary, Daniel and I have really enjoyed our time in Hungary. It's been an overwhelmingly positive experience and we sincerely hope that no one takes offense at these lists. They are intended only as a lighthearted reflection on our experiences. Any complaints, talk to Daniel!

 - Amanda

School Leaving Ceremony

So yesterday was a sad day.

After a week of getting the reports together, the final signatures and stamps were finished and we were ready to trot out and say goodbye for the last time. When we arrived at the school, a lot of the kids were already there armed with flowers and small gifts that they gave to their various teachers. Usually a teacher would get flowers from the class that they teach and as we teach across five different classes we ended up filling our desk with enough flowers to supply a small wedding. By the time the the actual ceremony started, we had already had a number of emotional hugs and words with students. It was going to be a hard afternoon.

The Grade One kids started by singing some English songs which they had learned during the year. They were quite good and obviously really enjoyed performing. Then there were a few more speeches until we were suddenly asked to stand up. Sanyi, our principal, then made a very nice speech thanking us for our time here but the really touching moment came when Ili got the kids to approach and say a few words in English. It was really amazing. The Grade Ones and Twos said their piece as a group then sent up even more presents, and the Grade Threes and Fours came up in groups of two. It was amazing and we were soon overloaded with even more flowers and gifts.

But Amanda and I were ready for our comeback. For the last four weeks we have been practicing a speech in Hungarian. We wrote it in English, then sent it to our friend Anikó, who translated it for us and helped us practice.

After the ceremony finished, we went around to each of our classrooms and said our final goodbyes to the kids. There were a lot of tears and yet more gifts. It was really amazing. It was so hard to say goodbye to all these children that have meant so much to us over the last two years. We are going to try and keep in touch over facebook and email, but it's still very sad.

- Daniel.

Teachers' Romanian Trip

This week we began writing the reports. Amanda and Laima have been tackling the Grade 1 reports that involve going through Word document after Word document and marking criteria after criteria. It takes around 10 minutes to grade each child and considering there are almost 50 children you can imagine that it was a long hard slog. I have been putting together the reports for the Grade 2s, 3s and 4s which have been much smoother. We worked fairly hard last year to understand the school's requirements regarding the reports and although there were a few hurdles to jump through, we finally got it settled. This year we came equipped with last year's reports and after confirming that they were to be the same, I worked hard at completing them for each child. Although there aren't as many children (8 in Grade 4, 18 in Grade 3 and 19 in Grade 4) I completed the reports in both English and Hungarian.

Anyway, after a hard day of work on Monday, we took a day off on Tuesday to go with the other teachers on a bus trip to Romania. We have been excited about this as we'd heard that we were going to a Merry Cemetery. We'd heard about this cemetery when we first arrived in Hungary, and although we tried to get there a few times, we always got lost on the way, or something else came up. We were surprised therefore when  after only a couple of hours the bus pulled up in front of the cemetery. Well, there you go, I guess the bus had no trouble finding it.

The Merry Cemetery is in Săpânţa, a small town in Northern Romania, it isn't too far from the Ukraine border. According to Ili, the town used to be famous for people getting killed in knife fights, but in 1935 Stan Ioan Pătraş carved the first tombstones out of wood. They are bright, colourful and generally portray a feature of the deceased's life. i.e. if they were a shepherd, there is a picture of a man with his sheep, or if they were a soldier they might have a gun. There were some very strange pictures that we were unable to interpret however, such as a picture of a man being decapitated. We weren't sure what this man did in his life but perhaps it's best not knowing. It might have helped if we could have read the epitaphs. Apparently, the message of the cemetery is that death should be celebrated because the dead are going to a better place. This might seem optimistic but if we read the translation of the epitaph on Stan Ioan Pătra's grave we'll see that death is only a better place because life is so crap.

Since I was a little boy

I was known as Stan Ioan Pătra

Listen to me, fellows

There are no lies in what I am going to say

All along my life

I meant no harm to anyone

But did good as much as I could

To anyone who asked

Oh, my poor World

Because It was hard living in it

After the cemetery we got back in the bus and spent some time in Baia Mare, the largest town in the region, then off to Manastirea Bârsana in Maramureş, which is a nunnery which sits on the top of the hill. I must admit that my favourite feature of the Nunnery was their spring water-fed well. It was well over thirty degrees by this stage and we were absolutely melting inside the bus. By the time that we climbed up the hill to see the famous wooden churches we were more than happy to pour some cold natural spring water over our heads. Ah, the glory of cold water. As much as we are looking forward to seeing our friends and family when we get back to Melbourne, we are also looking forward to getting back into Winter. 

 
After the nunnery, we went and had dinner at a particularly pastoral restaurant, which bred its own fish (a man was catching them from the man-made lake with a large net, that in itself was interesting to see). The other interesting feature of the restaurant was that the field over the road was complete with sheep, goats, a pony, a couple of dogs and chickens. We couldn't have found a more idyllic scene.

After the restaurant we turned the bus around and made our way home. I think everyone had an awesome time.

- Daniel.

Last Day and Ballagós

Yesterday was our last day of teaching.

Well, teaching might be an exaggeration, the last day of teaching might have been sometime last week but this was the last day of forcing the kids to play with us. I played English word games with my kids then we went outside and played football. My soccer skills are definitely improving but I'm still not at the level of a nine year old Hungarian boy, although I have surpassed the abilities of nine year old girls. Yeah, I got them beat.

Today was the Ballagós, which is the Graduation Ceremony for Grade 8. We don't teach them, but it was a really nice event. Everyone was dressed up, there were flowers decorating the school and the choir sang a few songs including one by Adele. Then, once all the speeches had finished the kids released helium filled balloons. It worked out amazingly well as the balloons rose into the air and disappeared together into the horizon.

I've embedded a video of the choir singing 'Someone Like You' by Adele. My sister, Anthea, suggested this to me and the kids loved it. It starts off quietly, but they get there in the end.

- Daniel

Iago-go-go-go-gone

So today Daniel and I travelled into Budapest with our puppy to send him back to Melbourne. We started preparing for this event over six months ago, but it's still hard to believe how quickly the time has flown.

Getting Iago ready to meet Australia's strict import/quarantine requirements has not been an easy feat. In addition to early microchip issues, we've also had to deal with lots of problems with our courier company, as well as some drama yesterday regarding exactly which of Hungary's Official Government Veterinarians would sign Iago's paperwork. At one stage it seemed as if nobody was ever going to sign anything - then our AMAZING vet from Budapest intervened and suddenly we were back on track again. Hooray!

By this afternoon it seemed like Iago was definitely ready to make his way home. On Sunday we took him for a goodbye treat at our local icecream shop, yesterday he went on another long walk with Daniel and Panni, and then today we also spent several hours playing with him and his favourite ball in a park in Budapest. By the time I shoved him into his travel crate at about 11am this morning, I think Iago was actually quite looking forward to a long nap and a bit of alone time.

 

 

After waving goodbye to our pooch, Daniel and I quickly set off to finish our "Locks of Love" quest. Several hours and a few more false starts later, we eventually located a man who seemed to be the only person in Budapest with the ability to engrave padlocks. What a rush! We then made our way to Erzsébet Tér (Elisabeth Square) and attached our new Lock of Love to a heavily adorned tree cage. Afterwards we braved the heavy rain to throw the keys into the Danube River. I just love this anniversary tradition and hope we can keep it up in Australia :)

- Amanda

First last and a new first

Yesterday morning I taught my last class in Mátészalka. Because it was the final lesson, I tried to keep things fun - lots of singing, dancing and drawing. When the lesson was over, it was the strangest feeling walking out of the classroom and knowing that I wouldn't ever be back. As I drove away from the school, I was very aware that I'd probably just experienced the first of my teaching lasts. 

Next week is the final week of school for the kids here in Máriapócs. Daniel and I aren't working on Monday or Tuesday and the kids finish school early on Friday, so we really only have 2.5 teaching days left. After that, we'll only see the kids one more time to hand out their reports. It's making me very sad even thinking about it, so I'm going to change the subject!

A few weeks ago we asked one of the local priests whether we would be able to climb the famous Máriapócson church to take some photos of the town from its highest vantage point. He was happy to help us make the arrangements, and so yesterday afternoon Daniel and I got to climb one of church belltowers. I was too wussy to make it to the top (suspended ladders and creaky wooden platforms really aren't my thing) but Daniel toughed it out and soon found himself sitting on the roof! If you look at this photo of the church, you can see four columns at the top of each tower. Had you been in Máriapócs at 4:30pm yesterday, you would have seen Daniel sitting in between the columns on the left-hand tower. There was no safety barrier, just a small space of approximately four square metres with a great view of the surrounding area. It was awesome fun...well apart from the fact that I was waiting for Daniel right next to the tower bells when they began to chime at 4:30pm and then again at 4:32pm. They were amazingly loud even with my fingers plugging my ears!

 - Amanda