Pump up the Jam

Yesterday my assistant principal, Ancsa, handed me a big bag of cherries after school that she had brought from her trees at home. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat them all before they went bad, so I decided to try to make jam.

The cherries were so soft and ripe that pitting them was just a matter of squeezing them.



After they were pitted, I cooked them with sugar, lemon juice and a bit of lemon zest.

My bag of cherries yielded two full jars and one small jar of jam. I gave one jar to Ancsa the next day and the other to my contact teacher Margo.

I kept the little jar for myself. Hooray for my first successful jam!

5th Grade Outing: Álmosvölgy & Pécs

Meet the Kalocsa Fire Department

Today I was in 4th grade. I started off as a teacher, but that only lasted for about twenty minutes. During my first lesson, Ancsa, the assistant principal, interrupted my class to tell me that I had been invited to visit the first station with the 4th graders.

Ancsa: "Just go with the children when they come get you, okay?"
me: "Um, okay. But what about the rest of my classes today?
Ancsa: "I will tell them you are gone, don't worry."

A few moments later a couple excited little 4th graders knocked on my door and gestured that I must follow them. I looked at the 6th grade students in my room, shrugged, told them class was over early today, and followed the 4th graders outside.

The rest of the class was waiting in a nice double line, snacking on apples. I approached the teacher and thanked her for inviting me. She smiled, handed me an apple and said, "lunch." At that moment I realized the rest of my afternoon would be spent as a 4th grade American exchange student. Walking with the children across town with my apple in hand, I felt a bit like Billy Madison.

"Kalocsa Fire Department" patch from a fireman's jacket

We arrived at the station and filed into the building for an introductory cartoon about fire safety. After the film we were shown the dispatch room and the firemen answered some questions. Then we headed outside for a tour of the vehicles.

They extended the ladder all the way up and explained how it is used.

We were shown each type of truck and a group of fireman slid down the pole to illustrate how quickly they can get to the trucks. Then the children were set loose, free to climb in and all over the trucks.

There were two different trucks for the children to explore.

The children had a blast sitting in every seat and even trying on some helmets.

Szabolcs tries out the driver's seat.

The kids had a great time and I became the photographer for the group. Once each kid had a chance to explore every part they wanted to, we lined up again for the walk back to school. I enjoyed my afternoon as a 4th grader. They are one of my favorite classes, mostly because they are so excited to learn English. Even though I played the part of a student, I did enjoy the sneaky English conversation practice that the trip prompted.

Irises

Today is Mother's Day in Hungary, so I am posting some pictures I snapped of one of my mom's favorite flowers - the iris. Right now they are in full bloom here and nearly every yard has some.



I remember learning what an iris looked like when I was a little kid because they were on all the Puffs tissue boxes.



My mom told me what they were called and that they were one of her favorite flowers.

Because we had pictures (on tissue boxes) of this flower all over the house, the iris was one of the first flowers I learned to recognize and one of the first favorites of my mother's I remembered.

My dad and I tried grow some in the back yard, but the squirrels would always dig up most of the bulbs before they ever bloomed.

(Hungary does not have squirrels.)



To this day, whenever I see this flower I think of my mom...



... and squirrels and Puffs tissues.

Boldog Anyák Napját Kívánok!

Happy Mother's Day!

Dinner in Dóc: The Height of Hungarian Hospitality

Twenty-five kilometers outside of Szeged lies a tiny little village called Dóc (pronounced "dotes"). With a population around 800, its "city center" is a traffic circle and a bus stop.

downtown Dóc

Jon and I were invited to visit Dóc by high school freshman Norby Rostás. Norby attends the high school in Szeged where Jon teaches, though he is not actually in any of Jon's classes. Norby met Jon when he and some other classmates interviewed him for their English class. A few months later he invited Jon and I to dinner.

the guys check on the lamb stew

I had never met Norby until that afternoon. He speaks English pretty well, but was very shy at first. We met him and two of his friends in Szeged and rode the bus together to Dóc. When we arrived at his house we first met his father and his godfather (who is also his uncle). They were cooking bárány pörkölt ("lamb stew") in a bogrács (a traditional Hungarian cauldron). Shortly after we met his mother, his godmother (also his aunt), his younger sister Letícia, and his little cousin Martin.

notice my huge plate of veggies on the left

The meal was enormous: lamb stew, fish soup, breaded mangalica pork, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, fried fish, a plate of various pickled treats, plus fried eggs and a special plate of veggies just for me. For dessert we had coffee and palacsinták (Hungarian crêpes) with jam and cocoa.

I had never seen black tulips before

Jon and I realized that we make a great team for pleasing Hungarian hosts. Jon eats, and I talk. Since I do not eat meat (Hungarian cuisine is very much centered around meat), I save face by speaking in Hungarian. Since Jon doesn't speak Hungarian, he pays the host(ess) the ultimate compliment of eating and eating and eating. It worked quite well in Dóc.

looking for fish in the backyard pond

After dinner we walked "across town" (maybe 4 blocks?) to Norby's godparents' house. There we saw his godfather's garage where he works on cars and sat for a few minutes before heading across the street to Norby's grandparents house.

Norby's cousin Martin strikes a pose in his mom's arms

At the grandparents house we sat down to coffee and two different kinds of pastries. It was hard to believe that just a few hours before I had never met any of these people. By this point we were all more relaxed and having fun sharing stories. Both Norby and I got some good language practice translating for each other. Norby's grandma even got out the photo albums so Jon and I could share in their family history through pictures. Norby's grandparents used to run a little convenience shop out of their home. We saw pictures of everyone when they were babies, various bad hair cuts and fashion mishaps, and some wedding pictures too.

Norby and his grandfather

In the front room of his grandparent's house Norby has a little museum of antiques he's collected, so he gave us a tour. The feeling of the whole visit was so intimate, and I was just amazed at how quickly I felt like part of the family. Before we knew it Jon and I were walking to catch the last bus to Szeged. They insisted on paying our bus fare both ways and told us that we had to spend the night next time. (They had invited us to stay the night that night as well, but Jon and I had to travel to Budapest the next morning.) I am already looking forward to our next family dinner in Dóc.