This blog post recounts my week staying with Bettina (if you don't know who Bettina is, read Prelude - 0) and her family in Budapest Hungary
Sunday January 25th 2015 - Budapest Hungary
I rubbed my eyes, waking up on a moving train car. I look out of the window and it is snowing! The ground has a light snow layer and more is falling! We pull into the station and after some searching find Bettina! (If you don’t know who Bettina is, read Blog Post 0 – Prelude). We enjoyed a glass of tea with her and her dad before driving to the airport to send Alison on her way to Dublin. Alison gave them her gift (the Sacher Torta), and Bettina was so surprised and happy. We then went back to the house where Bettina’s mom was waiting for me to come home to make goulash. I was so excited to learn how to make Hungarian food. It was such a unique opportunity to learn in a very unique situation. She taught me each step (with Bettina doing the translating) as I transcribed it as best as I could. The most important thing that I learned, is that Hungarian food uses a lot of paprika, but when you add it, you must take the pot off of the heat so the paprika doesn’t get absorbed too quickly or burn. Bettina then taught me how to make pancakes. But, this isn’t the American style pancakes we eat for breakfast. This batter is much thinner and made like a crepe. To return the favor of teaching, I promised to teach Bettina how to make American pancakes for breakfast one day this week. We wanted to let the goulash cook longer, so for lunch we had soup that Bettina had made. It was delicious! It was a creamy chicken soup with vegetables and tarragon When it was time for dessert, the family brought everything imaginable to the table to put on the pancakes: jelly, jam, sugar, cinnamon, coco powder, multiple types of Nutella, poppy seeds…. Ect. Each person then took a pancake and made their own filling, rolled it up in their own unique style and ate it. Then it all repeated. It was delicious.
That afternoon, Bettina and I decided to take it easy, so we went into her jacuzzi. We looked ridiculous wearing hats, because it was still cold and snowing, with our bathing suits! It was a great opportunity for us to chat and get to know the college-aged girls we had grown into since we’d last been together. We laughed, chatted and gossiped and completely lost track of time. I was/am so joyed that we have stayed such good friends. Even after almost 10 years we get along beautifully well. It is such a special connection that we have and I believe both families are so happy that we have reunited. For dinner we enjoyed the delicious goulash before going to bed early in preparation of a very filled week. | |
Monday, January 26th 2015
Our adventures in Budapest began with visiting Váci Street, a very touristy but fun to walk around area. It has a beautiful square and lots of fun shops! We went in and out of stores, staying far away from any store that was too elite and crazy expensive. We then made our way to a restaurant for lunch. Bettina’s Godmother was very upset that she couldn’t make it to eat with us, so she got us lunch anyways, which was very nice of her. I had gnocchi with spinach and Betti had roasted salmon with pasta.
We ended the day with a trip to Miniversum. Miniversum had cities from Hungary, Austria and Germany 100 times smaller. Seeing Budapest was very fun because I could find all of the places that I had been or was going to go. We would each point out little hilarious details and struggled to find where each of the buttons that made things move had its effect. There were many trains that would go from station to station between the cities. They would actually stop at each station. After going through the entire museum, it went into ‘night mode’. It was harder to see the details, but had a very cool effect on the buildings because you could actually see into the rooms. Everything was lite up and beautiful.
On the way home, before getting on the tram, we had a beautiful look across the Danube River. You could see the places that I visited with Alison all lite up in the night. There was the beautiful castle, the church and the Fisherman’s Bastion. This view at night across the river is one of my favorite things about Budapest, and I enjoyed it each time we went home from a day in the city. |
We didn’t want to end the day there, though. So, we went to the store and bought ingredients to make our own strudel. We made one apple and one cottage cheese strudel. Cottage cheese is quite different in Hungary compared to America. It is much less wet and comes in bags or wrapped. I also tried one of their snacks, called Pöttyös, which translates to dotted. It is chocolate covered cottage cheese. We realized, that what I consider to be dark chocolate is what they considered to be regular chocolate. If you could imagine, I really liked that snack. The strudel also turned out very well. We made a cinnamon pudding to go with it. |
Tuesday, January 27th 2015
My alarm went off at 6AM this morning, before the sun had risen. We were going to visit Eger, a city about 1.5-2 hours away. Gergi, Bettina’s brother, was visiting a university in Eger, so we went to visit the city. Bettina, Gergi, their dad and I piled into the car before seven and went on our way. I fell asleep almost instantaneously and awoke right as we arrived into the city. Bettina and I left Gergi and her dad at the university as we went out to enjoy the city. We grabbed some breakfast on the way up to the castle. The castle was a very large and amazing fortress. Just as we reached the start of the castle, we were able to look out over the hills and have a beautiful view of Eger. We took turns taking picture of each other and then setting a timer on our camera and racing into position. We then reached the main grounds of the castle. Thank goodness I had my own personal guide, who studied the stories of the castle in middle school, or else I wouldn’t have a clue what I was looking at. I learned all about the book that all Hungarian middle school students read in the context of what I could see around me. We went into the wax museum and saw wax figures of the members of the story I was just learning about!
From then, we headed back down the hill took a walk around the city. We goofed around in second hand stores and admired the cute merchandise in a tea shop. From there, we toured the beautiful Cathedral. The doors were so big, I could barely reach the door knobs (actually I couldn’t even reach the main door’s knob). The inside was beautiful, my favorite part was the painted ceiling. For lunch, Gergi, Bettina and I had a very fancy and delicious meal. This was one of the times I felt I had the opportunity to connect to Gergi and chat with him. He is interested in studying video production at University and since that is something I focused on in high school, it gave us a lot to talk about. We discussed videos he had done, the studios and equipment at this university and the videos he would make for his application. For lunch I had roasted duck over pumpkin puree with a mixed berry compote, and for dessert: frozen ice cream! It was all very delicious! Before ending our trip to Eger, we had to visit the wine cellars. This area is known for their wine because of all of the vineyards. The wine cellars are dug out of the side of the mountain and lined up on a road like a little neighborhood. We went into one and enjoyed a delicious sweet red wine.
After taking a nice nap in the car, Bettina and I picked up her friend from high school and headed out to the theater. We were going to see an English improv show. It was a small performance, maybe 20 people. We all sat on the stage in a café-style seating. Some of the acts were hilarious, others were just eh. My favorite, and the most funny, was when they were going to sing a love song to who they thought was a couple, but really just two people who met at the entrance. I was truly laughing at the song they ended up improvising (and we saw the ‘couple’ chatting after the show). It was a very fun and entertaining evening, although none of the three of us were in any way involved in the show.
Wednesday, January 28th 2015
Since Bettina taught me how to make pancakes Hungarian style, I thought I would teach her how to make pancakes the American way. We made it from scratch the way my mom taught me. It was fun to have the opportunity to exchange recipes and give her something back. She thought they were delicious. For lunch, Bettina’s mom taught me how to make the chicken that Alison and I had the first day, but with potatoes. The recipe was relatively simple, but I took very careful notes. We again had the fun language translating and showing rather than telling. I am very excited to repeat this recipe, especially with the chicken. I think it is something I will be able to handle and will be a very yummy dish to make.
We then went to Bettina’s work. She works at an English language school. She brought me with her, because she thought it would be fun for me to be in her class. Each time we met a new class, she introduced me as ‘my best friend from America’ and I felt so happy that she considered me to be that special to use the word best friend. I certainly feel the same way about her. In these classes, I mostly observed. But, I would have the opportunity on Friday (when she has work again) to interact more with the students. The one student who I did get to work with is 15 years old and studying for her English exam. She was quite nervous about talking to me. My presence seemed to make her very nervous because I am a natural English speaker. It made the lesson quite hard, but I think was a valuable experience for the student.
That night we Skyped Casey and Myles, which was really fun! I enjoyed saying hi and telling them all about our adventures. It was particularly fun because I was sitting with Bettina, and she was talking with them also. Afterwards, she told me that the way Casey and I gossip is even better than the movies. We were just catching each other up on the ongoings of our lives and Olin, but since it is such a small school it sounds crazy when we talk about what is going on with everyone, because we know the entire school. The entire thing was very weird and surprising to Bettina.
Thursday, January 29th 2015
We had a big day today exploring the city and visiting friends. We drove to Bettina’s friend David’s house in the morning to leave our bags and car. Since we were going to the pub that night, we are left everything at David’s so we could stay the night (his house was reachable by public transportation, unlike Bettina’s).
The more time I spent with David (throughout the weekend), the more comfortable he became having a conversation with me. At first, we didn’t speak very much, but the communication we had was very interesting to me. When we walked into his house, he said “Give me your bag!”. My immediate reaction to a man saying give me your bag was to hold it tight and say absolutely not! If a natural English speaker was saying that, it would be quite rude. But quickly, I realized he was trying to be very polite and those were the words that he knew. Although it came off as forceful to me, I quickly realized it was just an intricacy of communicating in English with not natural English speakers. Throughout the weekend with Bettina’s friends (and sometimes with her family members) this was an important lesson to keep in mind. I actually find it quite interesting, and think these lessons are very valuable and fun parts of living in a different country and interacting socially with the locals.
The more time I spent with David (throughout the weekend), the more comfortable he became having a conversation with me. At first, we didn’t speak very much, but the communication we had was very interesting to me. When we walked into his house, he said “Give me your bag!”. My immediate reaction to a man saying give me your bag was to hold it tight and say absolutely not! If a natural English speaker was saying that, it would be quite rude. But quickly, I realized he was trying to be very polite and those were the words that he knew. Although it came off as forceful to me, I quickly realized it was just an intricacy of communicating in English with not natural English speakers. Throughout the weekend with Bettina’s friends (and sometimes with her family members) this was an important lesson to keep in mind. I actually find it quite interesting, and think these lessons are very valuable and fun parts of living in a different country and interacting socially with the locals.
We made our way to the Holocaust Museum in Budapest. Although I’ve been to many Holocaust museums, it is very interesting to go to one in a new city. The view on the Holocaust from the Hungarian perspective is extremely different then what we see from the American side. The city itself dealt with a lot of the destruction. I found it most interesting that, unlike other museums I’ve seen, they didn’t try to glorify their part in it. They just showed the facts. What I also really like about Holocaust museums is there is generally a lot of symbolism in the building. Bettina translated for me what a Hungarian tour guide was telling a group. We first learned that the ceiling of each room got lower as you got further and further into the museum to create a feeling of becoming more and more trapped in it. Secondly, there was white stripes on the walls, that started out very plentiful, and as you went through the Holocaust in history, got less and less frequent, which symbolized the lost lives. It was also a very unique experience for Bettina and I to do together. We have grown up with very different perspectives of the Holocaust and it brought up many discussions on how we think about it. As well, we discussed how things are taught differently in schools in Hungary versus America. There was also an old synagogue attached to the museum. It was quite unique from any other synagogue that I had seen before, but had all of the essential elements. I really enjoyed showing Bettina a bit of me even in her homeland. |
For lunch, we went to a homecooked food restaurant, very similar to the style of place I ate while in Israel. It is meant for a lunch place for work. You order your food and then bring it upstairs to eat. I ate an amazing cabbage and beef stew, called Székelykáposzta, which is a very traditional dish. Bettina ordered a very common dish, which is turkey coated and fried. They were both delicious! I have come to really like Hungarian food.
Before going to the circus, we went to the very famous Gundel restaurant… ok, we went to the not as famous but just as delicious Gundel confectionary. We ordered lattes and hot cocoa (which is much more rich and chocolaty then the sugary versions we get in America) and cakes. I got the chocolate with almond marzipan cake and Bettina got the raspberry fruity cake. They were both delicious. Mine was rich and chocolaty, and hers was fruity and really interesting and different. It was snowing outside! The park looked absolutely incredible with the snow. I have to say, I was not expecting to get snow in Budapest. We then walked past the zoo to get to the circus! |
We had great seats in the bottom section close to the floor. The building was actually made for the circus, and it was the only performance, so the building made it so you felt much closer and involved in the action then the huge stadiums I’m used to. Fortunately for us, the show that we saw was a collection of Hungarian performers! I found that I enjoyed this circus much more than my last experience in Worcester, MA at the Ringling Brothers circus. Instead of there being 3 rings with lots of flashy action, this show displayed the raw human talent. You were focused on one act, doing very talented things that weren’t necessarily very flashy. Overall the show was geared more towards the individual talent of the acts and not the circus and show as a whole. Not to my surprise, a lot of kids attended, but they actually made the show better! They laughed and clapped and made a great atmosphere, even though most of the show wasn’t geared to them completely. The teeterboard was my favorite act. They told a story with their performance, almost like dancers do with their numbers. They integrated the story well with the act and did some very impressive tricks. On the teeterboard they would jump back and forth to gain momentum instead of just jumping from a platform. The timing was impeccable. One of the performers cut his hand during the performance, but didn’t let it stop him and finished the act. There were two students doing an act with a pole. It seemed simple, but the isolations they did required so much core strength. They would hold the pole and teasingly slowly move their legs from down to horizontal to vertically up, all while holding onto the pole. They were clearly very ripped… but only like 17 or 18! I hadn’t seen anything similar to their act before. They did drops and would catch themselves inches from the ground. I very much liked it because it showed extreme strength in an artistic and impressive fashion. This contrasted the strong man, who was infact very strong, but added danger for the sake of it, instead of it being inherent in the performance. The high wire man was also great. He took a very serious and concentration required act and made it very showy and entertaining. He would dance, moving his hips and showing his big grin before and between each trick. And he did some very impressive tricks, as well. Bettina’s favorite was the elephant. He had an adorable bow, and had the motor control to put shaving cream on a man from the audience, push it off, rinse him and then put the bucket of cream on his head. Finally, there was a pair of two very famous brothers that also performed. They did partner gymnastics to a level almost unbelievable. After experiencing partner acrobatics at Olin, it was amazing to see the control that some of their tricks required. I forgot to mention that during intermission, Bettina sat on the elephant! The people were quite rushing and a little rude, but Bettina looked like a queen on the elephant! |
After the circus we took a walk around the park outside the circus and the Vajdahunyad Castle. It was absolutely beautiful in the snow at night. It was lite beautifully. We met a British man who took a picture of us, and told us in a very strong accent that “That’s quite a good picture”. I sat on Anonymous’s lap, which was very cold and slippery in the snow, but I felt very loved. We then walked by the outdoor skating rink. It is pretty much a huge lake in front of the castle that freezes into a rink in the winter. In the summer it is big enough for boats to drive on! We then enjoyed a walk in the snow before meeting up with Bettina’s friends for a pub night. We went to three pubs throughout the night. At the first, I had to try the Hungarian liquor Pálinka. I tried a berry flavored version. It was strong, kinda tasty, but mostly pretty strong. Hanging out with her friends was very fun. I met four friends, each did a very amazing job trying to speak English for me. It made for some fun translating |
(especially by the Davids, which I appreciated very much). We then went to a bar that had junk on all of the walls. It was actually a very fun place. For a late night snack we got 200Ft (less then $1) pizza. At the end of the night we made our way to David’s house, not going to sleep until at least 3. Throughout the whole night, they were trying to teach me some Hungarian (which I did a pretty terrible job remembering). But, they would not let me leave without learning egészségedre which means cheers! They also enjoyed asking me things about English or America! It made for a very unique pub night.
Friday, January 30th 2015
We woke up at David’s house and took our time getting up. I ate Lángos for breakfast. It is a fried piece of dough served with sour cream and freshly grated cheese. Normally, it is served as a beach food. It was very yummy. We then went to Bettina’s second hand store to do some shopping! Bettina bought a dress and I bought a new top and sweater. It was fun to do things that I do with my friends back at home but with Bettina!
We ran home to grab a snack. We had a creamy pea soup-like thing, which was very yummy! We then headed to Bettina’s English school for an afternoon of work. At the beginning of each class, Bettina pulled out an atlas and asked the students to point where we were on the map. After finding Hungary, she would then say that I was from America, and point to the other side of the map at the United States. This time, I really had an opportunity to interact with the kids. They kids had great reactions! Some looked very surprised while others were very curious. I would ask them questions (like their favorite things or where they lived) and they would ask me back questions as an exercise in English. We did a lot of vocabulary games that I would give them tasks, either to find the notecard or color a certain thing. I think it was both a good experience for me and the students. They had an opportunity to interact with a natural English speaker, and I had the opportunity to appreciate the differences of living in a not English speaking country. Listening to the way they spoke was also interesting. The language exams in Hungary encourage the use of the word ‘got’ way more than any natural English speaker would use. Secondly, there are some words that I didn’t even know! I held up a card and all the kids respond with ‘courgette’ (which I’m just learning isn’t even a word in the Microsoft word dictionary!). I looked down and was staring at what I thought was a zucchini, but Bettina was nodding that it was correct! They must use the word courgette in England, and that is what they teach the students. I also had to be very careful with the words that I used. I had to make sure I stayed within the vocabulary they learned (which was difficult since I didn’t exactly know what they knew. Overall it was a fun experience and I enjoyed spending time with the kids.
After work, we ran home to get changed. Bettina pulled things out of her closet for me to try on. Although it was very rushed, it was a fun chance to share clothes and be girly girls. As a thank you for such an amazing week they have given me and how incredibly generous they have been in welcoming me into their house. We went to Trόfea grill, which was incredible! For a set price, you could take as much as you want, both food and drinks (yes, wine and beer included). Bettina and I enjoyed our dinner in many, many courses. First we had sushi. The nigiri butterfish was so good! I don’t think I’d had it before, but very much enjoyed it. We next had a cock soup. Next, we had the small appetizer course. I tried so many things, including beef tartar and chicken liver pate. My favorite, however, was goose liver pate with blackberry jam. I had no idea I would like it so much, but it was delicious. From there, we had the main course. This included picking raw meats from prepared dishes and giving it to the chef to cook. I had such a spread! I ate some fish, beefsteak, seafood, some chicken, a lamb chop, a piece of goose liver and some grilled cheese! They just take the cheese, like the meat, and put it on the stove and it grills. It was all very good. I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like. Oh and of course there were side dishes, which included salads, vegetables, sweet potatoes, fried vegetables and croquettes. Let’s just say, I didn’t go hungry. But, the meal didn’t end with that! Of course there had to be dessert. I had some fried bananas with honey and whipped cream. They were so good because they didn’t break down like they do in bananas foster. I also had a few Hungarian desserts, including Eszterházy, a nut filled cake, a French cream cake and Gesztenyepüré, which is a chestnut puree, along with some amazing grapes.
Saturday, January 31st 2015
This morning, Bettina did my hair very fancy before going out. She put a braid across the front of my head. We took public transportation to Margarite Island and walked around the park. It was very pretty and seemed like a great place to relax. We then took the tram to the mall to go bowling with her friends. No, bowling was not different at all from bowling in America, but it was fun to be with her friends and spend time chatting about new things. Especially since this was the second time I was with David and David (and two other friends joined us) we were much more comfortable and could chat with each other. From there, we went to get dinner at a food court. I ate another traditional dish which was a piece of fried chicken with creamy mushrooms and chips (fries). We then went earring shopping (because I had to get a pair in Budapest, of course!). The boys waited while the girls (Bettina, Brigi (Bettina’s friend), and me) went shopping. We ended up buying some pretty studs. And Bettina and I bought matching earrings that, of course, had little bows on them! We are very excited to wear them and each time think about what a fun time we had with each other. Somewhere between picking out my earrings and buying them, I lost my hat! So, we stopped in a store to buy a new one (which is actually better anyways). You of course can't come to a city for a week and not leave anything! From there, we went to a cocktail bar for some drinks. I had a very yummy blueberry daiquiri. It was fun to spend time with Bettina’s friends. They were all super nice and fun to be around. The communication at this point had gotten very seamless and without any problems. It was a great opportunity for all of us to learn from each other. To end the night, Bettina and I got Kürtős Kalács, which is a very traditional and popular street food. It is a rolled bracelet of dough that is cooked over an open flame so the sugar carmelizes, and then rolled in a topping. Bettina got cinnamon and I got walnut. They were amazingly good and a great way to spend the last night together. We walked up the street and once again got the amazing view of the Buda castle at night before climbing onto the tram for the last time. | |
Sunday, February 1st 2015
I woke up to my last morning in Budapest and spent some time packing up my bag. For breakfast we made similar eggs to what we had with Alison along with Bunda. Bunda is the Hungarian version of French Toast, except it isn’t sweet! It is bread that has been dipped in an egg and milk batter with spices and then deep fried and served with vegetables. It was very good but quite oily as well.
Bettina also gave me a few earrings to help start my collection. She said since she helped put the holes there, it was part of her responsibility to fill them. We spent some time walking down memory lane. She showed me videos of her performances and high school prom/graduation and I showed her the senior video I had made. Her high school experience is so different from what we have in America. Their prom is almost a formal show they put on for the parents. There are class dances, duo performances, and a large class dance. They change at least 4 times! One of the outfits is a wedding dress that each girl rents. It was absolutely beautiful and remarkable how much effort goes into their prom.
Bettina also gave me a few earrings to help start my collection. She said since she helped put the holes there, it was part of her responsibility to fill them. We spent some time walking down memory lane. She showed me videos of her performances and high school prom/graduation and I showed her the senior video I had made. Her high school experience is so different from what we have in America. Their prom is almost a formal show they put on for the parents. There are class dances, duo performances, and a large class dance. They change at least 4 times! One of the outfits is a wedding dress that each girl rents. It was absolutely beautiful and remarkable how much effort goes into their prom.
We ate a final meal as a family, which was a beef and vegetable soup. Then we also had pasta that you topped with sour cream, cottage cheese, and either sugar or jelly. YUM! I really liked it. It was delicious! I also tried her version of spaghetti with meat sauce. They make it much less saucy, with actually very little at all sauce. It is meat and vegetables and they get crispy. It was quite good.
We then packed my bags and made our way to the airport. That was its own disaster, but I’d rather not get into it. We gave final hugs good byes and huge thank yous! We decided that she would come visit me in Belgium during the semester, so look for that later in the blogs!
We then packed my bags and made our way to the airport. That was its own disaster, but I’d rather not get into it. We gave final hugs good byes and huge thank yous! We decided that she would come visit me in Belgium during the semester, so look for that later in the blogs!
Also! I got to walk onto the airplane. Although that is less nice and not as desirable, it was still a pretty cool experience and made for a fun foto-op.
I could not be more happy that I spent this week with Bettina. We have such a unique opportunity to have a multi-continent friendship that dates back so many years. If not for the internet, we would both be distant memories. But, our adorable 6th grade attempts at Skyping and then later catching up on Facebook and following each other’s lives kept us in touch all these years. Not only did I see an amazing city/country but I rekindled a miraculous friendship. Just spending time this week learning about each other’s lives, talking about nonsense, hanging with friends or piercing my ears have been bonding moments that I could never replace. I’m overjoyed as to how well we got along and enjoyed each others company. Although it was nearly ten years since I had seen her, I feel like we just picked up our friendship where we left off, just as adult-selves. It is good that she is coming to visit me in March, or it would have been a very difficult goodbye for us.
Before this week, only I had the opportunity to show Bettina my home and culture. Now, I feel like I know her, her family and her culture. I am so thankful for her family welcomed me into their house. I felt very much at home and as if they enjoyed my company as much as I was grateful for being there. I can not thank Bettina and her family enough for every aspect of the week I spent with them.
Before this week, only I had the opportunity to show Bettina my home and culture. Now, I feel like I know her, her family and her culture. I am so thankful for her family welcomed me into their house. I felt very much at home and as if they enjoyed my company as much as I was grateful for being there. I can not thank Bettina and her family enough for every aspect of the week I spent with them.