March 15--The 1848 Revolution

People place flags around 1848 Revolutionaries statues.

The colors of red, white and green have been on display throughout the country since the weekend. Today the celebration of the 1848 Revolution Day took place. March 15, 1848 was the first day that Hungary proclaimed its desire and right for independence from the Austrian Empire. Today is known as "The Hungarian spring" - a bloodless fight for freedom against Habsburg domination which later led to war against Austria and its allies.

Kossuth was one of the main leaders of the
1848 Revolution.

The main demands of Hungarians were: freedom of the press, and the establishing of a Hungarian parliament in Pest with its government. Revolutionists also demanded freedom of religion, a jury, a national bank, a Hungarian army, and the withdrawal of foreign military presence from the country.

In 1849 Russia intervened on the side of Austria, and won. The Austrian retorsion included the execution of 13 generals of the Hungarian revolutionary army and of 5 civilian leaders of the short-lived independent Hungary. One of them was the first prime-minister, count Lajos Batthyany.

Hungary celebrates many holidays, but this one may be one of the most important. The Hungarians may have lost the Revolution of 1848, but the ideologies of freedom remained deeply ingrained. Like all countries who have struggled for liberty and then finally received it, Hungarians do not take their independence lightly. They will not soon forget the hardships they had to endure to get to this point in time.

A special small tram-car went around Debrecen today
in celebration of the holiday.

Here is a link to Hungarian Holidays where I got a very condensed version of the 1848 Revolution.

Day One In Pécs

You pronounce the name Pécs similar to the way you would say the word "peach" in English. We pronounced it wrong every which way before visiting the city this past weekend. We left Saturday for a trip to Pécs--we have a long weekend because of the March 15 holiday. (That will be in tomorrow's post)

We had been wanting to visit Pécs since we arrived in Hungary. In 2010 it was named the cultural capital of Europe. It is a beautiful city full of ancient ruins, churches, mosques, synagogues, museums, art and great places to eat. The only downside is that it is on the other side of the country. It was about 6 1/2 hour trip by train with about a one hour layover in Budapest. 

When we arrived in Pécs the sun was shining and we actually took off our winter coats for the first time in 5 months! Pécs is known to have a more mediterranean like climate since it is in the southern part of Hungary. 

The view from our hotel window.

Another view from our window.
We were a minutes walk from the city square.

The name of our hotel.

The first thing we did after dropping off our bags at the hotel was to get some gelato ice cream. I hadn't seen ice cream for sale since September...so you can imagine our excitement. We ate our ice cream and explored the city. 

City Square.

Mosque/ converted Church.

Eating ice cream!

A street band performing and a typical Hungarian youth near by. 

For dinner that night we found a Tex-Mex restaurant to eat at. Not that we don't love Hungarian food, but it is always nice to have a change of pace. Besides we were curious what kind of "Tex-Mex" this actually was--was it paprika sprinkled on potato chips or was it more authentic? We were not disappointed, we order fajita's and a strawberry frozen margarita. It was delicious...maybe not completely  like back home, but good enough to hold us over until then. 

Ben pointing to the Tex-Mex restaurant. 

Synagogue 

Ben and his favorite Hungarian, Kossuth.

We strolled around that night enjoying the sites of the buildings lit up. At 7:00 p.m. all the bells in the town went off. The music was wonderful to hear...however the next morning when they went off again at 7:00 a.m. the bells were less entertaining.  :) 

A beautiful theater.

The streets of Pécs.

Today is a holiday, didn't you know!

Today is Women’s Day in Hungary. It is an international holiday, but if your from the U.S. like I am then you probably don’t celebrate it and/or have ever heard of it. This holiday takes the best parts of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day a puts them in one.

It is a holiday celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. You gotta love a holiday that screams “girl power” without being overtly obnoxious about it. 

Chocolate's from one of my students.

It was funny arriving at school today and not realizing what today was at first. I saw signs saying boldog nőnapot with flowers on them, but for some reason I thought it had something to do with the arrival of spring time. I wanted to say, “You know spring isn’t for a few weeks still.” Obviously, I need to work on my hungarian language skills still, but that’s a post for some other time. (The signs actually said Happy Women's Day!)

I was still clueless to what was going on even when one of my students gave me a box of chocolates. I looked at him and said, “What is this for? Well, okay thanks!" He just smiled politely and went to his seat, probably thinking I’m a crazy woman for not knowing that a holiday about women is going on. By my third class I finally decoded the mystery that it was Women’s Day. 

A flower from one of my students.

The best part of this holiday is that if you forget as a woman it doesn’t matter, however if you forget as a man...yikes! I had a good laugh after work watching men scurry to and from flower shops. Like a scene from Valentine’s Day back home, men were lined up outside the shops anxiously waiting for their turn. You could see the men silently praying that they get home with their flowers before their wives realize that they forgot the holiday.

Now don’t be mad at Ben, but he did not get me a gift or flower for Women’s Day. He got me flowers on Valentine’s Day a couple of weeks ago and that was good enough for me. I even shared my box of chocolates with Ben, since he didn’t get any at his work today.

It isn’t always easy being a girl/woman, but today in Hungary I’m pretty sure it was. Thanks Hungary for making me feel special.  :) 

Our night at the Opera.

Last Friday night we went to see our first theater show in Debrecen. Our friend Nancy invited all the Debrecen people for a night out to see the Opera, Carmen. It also just happened to be opening night for the show too.

It was a little surreal to watch the Opera. The story of Carmen takes place Spain, but the set design looked more like circa 1970's Hungary, then the music was sang in French, and the subtitles were in Hungarian. Talk about a melding of cultures all in one night! 

After the play we all went to a local pub for a beer. It was fun because the beer tap was right at the table. I got to practice my bar tending skills, or there lack of and enjoy the company of friends. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera that night, but Nancy had brought hers. So thanks to her I have record of our fun evening.

Each balcony area had a special door to it.
Here we are with fellow Debrecen friends
Chip and Kit.

Inside the theater.

Beautiful details decorate the inside of the theater.

The front steps of the theater.

After the opera we went to a pub for a beer.

Outside of the theater during the day.

Time to Myself--by Ben

One thing we have done a lot of is walk and ride public transportation since we have arrived in Hungary. We have to do this everyday to get to work or simply get to where we need to go. At first we just sat on the bus, watched the locals and observe the surroundings. However, when you see the same buildings, trees, buses, and trams you get a little bored. So we started listening to music on our ipods and that helped. Then that started to get boring because we would be walking or riding transportation for at least 1 1/2 hours every day. Then we discovered podcasts. We knew they existed before but we didn’t really use them because we listened to NPR in our cars back home. Here we have become addicted to podcasts. We listen to all our favorite programs from NPR like Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, Prairie Home Companion, Diane Rehm Show, Fresh Air, etc. It also helped with keeping our vocabulary sharp since we weren’t really using English in anything more than extremely simple terms. I fell in love with a newly discovered podcast that I am hooked on and have gotten Dana hooked on as well.

The podcast is called Stuff You Should Know. It is my new crack. Each one is about 1/2 an hour which is perfect for my walk or ride around town. Any one who knows me knows that I love random information. I like Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, National Geographic, etc. That is probably the reason I am a teacher. Well, this podcast is perfect for that. It is 2 staff writers from Discovery named Chuck and Josh. They research random topics and then do a podcast about it. For example, they have done podcasts on pirates, bounty hunters, Scooby Doo, The Muppets, Tourette Syndrome, green energy, Jack the Ripper, you name it. This fills my desire for random information. The hosts are both laid back personalities and they are in a way figuring the information out with the listeners. They remind me a lot of my friend Eric and I if we did a podcast. I am positive that many people who read this probably know about this podcast. However, those who do not need to check it out. It is free and is on itunes. I listen to it all the time when I am walking to work in the morning or taking the tram to the city square. People look at me weird when I chuckle to myself while listening. It is also nice because it is a piece of home. I sometimes forget that I am in a foreign land when all I can hear is the podcast and my own thoughts. It also helps for the long train rides and flights we have taken in our travels. I even listen to it while I am shopping at the InterSpar (Grocery Store). That may sound weird but the truth is I don’t care. Everyone is speaking a language that I still haven’t even begun to understand so I would rather be in my own little world minding my own business. I obviously take out my headphones if I am approached because I don’t want to be rude and people here are very nice.

I know this is a random post but I thought I should share it. I figured it has been something I have been up to for the last 5 months or so. Therefore it is part of the experience.

Finally I will end with a joke that one of my adult students told me. Here it is:

The devil was visiting hell. He saw three caldrons and started to observe them. The first one had a sign next to it that said “No Getting Out of The Pot.” Satan asked a demon why that was there and was told that it was the Germans because they follow instructions. The next pot had a metal lid on it. Satan asked about it and was told that it was the Russians because they only understand force. Then Satan saw the last one and it had nothing on it. He asked who it was for. The demon said “that is the Hungarians, anytime someone tries to get out the others pull them back in”

I thought it was clever. If anyone is offended by it I do apologize. It is just one of the first jokes about Hungary I have heard since being here. Plus, it was told to me by a Hungarian so I figured it would be excepted as just a joke. :)

Is it really better to teach in the U.S.?

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed teaching in Hungary. Sure there are days that more challenging than other days. Days when I long for the piece and quiet of my own office again. Then there are days that make me so happy that I want to break into a "High School Musical" number. Not that I know any. 

Yesterday at school was entertaining on a few levels. The primary school in Ebes is going through a much needed remodeling. The school just opened up the new wing and shut down the old wing for repairs. The new part of the school looks fantastic! However, my new classroom is bit smaller than it use to be. Every student came in saying, "This room is tiny!" Even the cleaning lady who I like to practice my Hungarian with was saying,"nagyon kicsi (very small)." 

The other amusing part of the day was that the school bells were not working yet. So what to do? I know, get a cow bell! At the beginning and the end of each class one lucky student would walk through the hallways ringing the cow bell. I could just imagine my nephew, Logan (who's in second grade) taking the responsibility very seriously saying, "Excuse me, it's not 9:45 yet, you must wait another minute before I ring the cow bell." 

The teaching atmosphere here in Hungary also seems to support teachers more than what is currently happening back home in the States. There is so much negativity towards teaching right now it makes me nervous for the future of teachers and the education system as a whole. You can read about some of it here---->Ambitious governors shift political power, focus to states and here--->The Wisconsin Teachers' Crisis: Who's Really to Blame?

I suppose I'm a little biased about teaching since I'm married to a teacher and now have taught myself for a while. I truly hope that the State governments start supporting teachers again. Then again we could always just outsource education in the U.S. to places like Hungary or even China. After all Hungarian teachers get paid much, much less than the average U.S. teacher. Comedian Jon Stewart said it best last night, "What I am proposing is that we disassemble our children, ship them, and have them reassembled over there. We will win the future!" Click on the link to read more about Jon Stewart defending teachers. 

Today's Hungarian word is: oktatás (it means education in English)

The death grip of winter

The death grip that winter has over Hungary does not seem to want to go away! I'm not going to lie, I've been spoiled having winters in Texas. Here in Hungary this week the average temperatures will be in the 30's (around 0 in Celsius) and in Texas it will be in the 70's (around the 20's in Celsius). Now we did sign up for this so I suppose we can't complain. But then again this is our blog, so why not!

Last week we went from completely dry sidewalks to thick snow. It snowed for 48 hours straight. All day Thursday and Friday we had nothing, but cold little pieces (____fill in your own expletive here____) of white fall down. Normally this would excite me, but now it just annoys me. Just when I thought we had finished with all the snow we get a ton of it! So in the tradition of making my readers suffer...if I have to see snow, then so do you. Enjoy the pictures if you dare.  :)

The University covered in evil fluffy white snow. 

Wouldn't be a photo montage of Debrecen without including
the Big Church. :)

Off to clear the roads with one shovel and some brooms?

Beautiful? 

I could hear the statue whisper, "Help me my face is cold."

Frozen lakes...again.

Also, I recently discovered that my boots are wearing thin and have holes forming. So not only do I need the snow to stop for my personal sanity, but for the sake of my footwear too!