Today Daniel and I spent the day in Nyírbátor with two of our favourite colleagues, Ili and Laima. As we've previously mentioned, Ili hasn't been at work recently because of a nasty finger injury, and Laima only arrived in Hungary from Lithuania about a month ago. So it was great to be able to spend some more time with both of them today.
Our first stop this morning was an art studio in the centre of town. Several of the kids from school attend art lessons at the studio every second weekend and Ili thought it would be fun for us to check it out. The lessons are run by a local artist named Zsuzsa Makrai and there were examples of her beautiful artwork hanging on the studio walls. During our visit Zsuzsa was kind enough to answer all of our questions about her art and the process of creating it. I'm still not sure that I entirely understand it, but basically it seems to involve painting multiple layers of special ceramic (?) paint on copper and steel surfaces. Once the paint has dried, it is possible to scratch out designs on the surface of the work. After this step is complete, the artwork is fired in a super hot kiln and comes out looking nice and shiny. Then another coat of paint can be applied and on and on until the work is complete. Laima and I were so impressed that we've both decided to join in the next lesson in two weeks' time. Yippee. I've also decided that I like the idea of buying a kiln.
After the art studio, at Laima's suggestion, we wandered across town to check out a display of outdoor ice sculptures. The sculptures were unveiled yesterday and since the weather has been consistently cold lately (usually between -5 and -14 degrees each day and probably colder at night), it should be quite a while before they start to melt. Most of the sculptures depicted Disney cartoon characters, but there were also some busts of famous Hungarians as well as an impressive dragon - the symbol of Nyírbátor.
Once we'd finished admiring the sculptures we went back to Ili's house for lunch. We enjoyed two delicious Hungarian dishes - gulash soup (gulyásleves) and homemade lángos with garlic, sour cream and cheese topping. Nagyon finom! Then, once we'd finished stuffing ourselves, we set off to find some nearby horse stables that Ili had heard about. After a few wrong turns, we eventually arrived at the right place and were just in time to join the owner on a tour of the farm. I'm not a big fan of horses, but even I had to admit that some of the animals we saw were just beautiful. I was especially fond of a spunky little pony named Zorro.
Big thanks to Ili and Laima for making today so much fun :)
- Amanda
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