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.
