Kalocsa

Kalocsa Paprika Festival 2009

Archiepiscopal Palace


Gyöngyi and Imre


me, Gyöngyi, Eta

Sounds of Kalocsa: The City Bells

Every hour, on the hour, right across the street...

Sounds of Kalocsa: The Archbishop's Church

It's pretty loud, you might want to turn the volume down first...

↑ here's the volume

8th Grade Graduation

A Collection of Vincenzo Stories

You may recall Vincenzo from an earlier blog post about Paprika Days last September. Well, nine months later he remains one of the most entertaining and hilarious people I have ever met.

Vincenzo conducting to Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zerathustra"

What follows is a collection of memories from visits to Vincenzo Étterem ("Vincenzo Restaurant") in Kalocsa.

"Drukkolni"
December 13, 2008

To celebrate our birthdays, which are a week apart, Jon and I visited Vincenzo's for a little dinner out, just the two of us. He was as animated as always and it was a wonderful evening. The most memorable sequence of events goes something like this...

Vincenzo asked me about my plans for the holiday and I told him I was going to Germany to visit family. He seemed pleased with my answer and then turned to Jon and asked him the same question. We both replied that he'd be accompanying me on the trip, and a light bulb went off in his head about us being a couple.

I then asked him what his plans were for the holidays (I know now that he must not have heard or understood me) and he started to use a word neither Jon nor I knew: "drukkolni." Thinking he was talking about his plans for the holidays, we looked at him and at each other and shrugged. But Vincenzo was not about to give up, so he gave us "szurkolni" and wrote both words down on paper. Nope. We didn't know what he was talking about. So he got his little dictionary and looked them up. Still no luck. Now it was time to draw pictures.

Clearly the rest of this story is easier to tell with pen and paper, but I'll try to get it across accurately...

Vincenzo draws what appears to be a soccer field.

Jon and I figure he will be attending a soccer match over the holiday break.

He points to the stands and repeats, "lots of people," in both Hungarian and German. We nod. Then he creates to "teams" in boxes and assigns them specific colors. Next he points to a team, then points to the fans and enthusiastically shouts, "Red-Black! Red-Black!"

Ok. He's VERY excited about these plans to see a soccer match.

Then he switches to routing for the other team, "Yellow-Green! Yellow-Green!"

Ummmm.. and he's confused about what team to root for?!

Finally, he points to Jon and I and shouts, "Franny-Jon! Franny-Jon!"

OH!!! He's rooting for US! Now that is adorable.

Once home I looked up the words in my Hungarian-English dictionary and they both mean "to root for" and "to be a fan of." It's nice to have supporters.

~



a fifty-year-old package of saffron Vincenzo gave me


Vincenzo's Surprise
May 9, 2009

When Hanna and Alvin (some fellow CETP teachers) came to Kalocsa for dinner, Jon and I made homemade mushroom ravioli. For dessert we headed to our pal Vincenzo's. Hanna had met him back in September during the Paprika Days festival, but it was Alvin's first encounter. We had told him so many stories that he was really looking forward to meeting our favorite chef in Kalocsa.

As soon as we were seated, he handed us menus and began recommending the meat soup. Before we could even respond he was shouting into the kitchen, "Meat soup!" in Hungarian. We quickly stopped him and told him that we had just eaten dinner and would only like dessert. He seemed a bit disappointed, but canceled the kitchen call and took our orders.

We all ordered an interesting Vincenzo dessert made with vanilla ice cream and Tokaj (a Hungarian dessert wine). He served us and then disappeared into his corner office. Usually he is very attentive, but this time he didn't play us any special music, show us any antiques, or explain anything in Egli-Germa-garian.

We wondered why he wasn't talking to us and worried he was upset we didn't eat his delicious meat soup. So we all ordered a second dessert in hopes that might up the chances of an amazing Vincenzo interaction (and, well, because ice cream cones are cheap and delicious here). When we were ordering what flavors we'd like, Hanna just said, "Meglepetes!" which means "surprise!"

He came back to the table with a huge smile on his face and handed Hanna her cone. It had a single walnut on top of her scoops of chocolate and vanilla. As he handed it to her and said, "kis meglepetes" ("small surprise") and giggled. We all burst into laughter. It was absolutely precious.

After that he was back to his old self. We had already paid and were halfway out the door when he invited us back in for some Tokaj. Naturally we took him up on it. By this point, the place was closed and the cooks had left, so it was just us and Vincenzo. He put on some Hungarian folk music and spent nearly the whole time trying to find the right spot on the record where his favorite song was. When he finally found it, we had to listen to it twice.

~

Vincenzo's restaurant is full of antiques and nicknacks. He even has a small electric organ.

"An American tourist in Budapest..."
June 3, 2009

I have heard a number of times that a mark of real fluency in a foreign language is the ability to successfully tell a joke. Of course I still feel light years away from telling a joke in Hungarian, but I didn't realize how long it would take me to actually think a Hungarian joke was funny. I heard my first Hungarian joke in 2006 during my intensive language course at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Translated, it goes something like this:

A bunny rabbit with a speech impediment (that is not crucial to the punchline, but is a requirement when telling the joke) goes into a bakery and asks, "Do you have any carrot cake?"
"No." replies the baker, and the rabbit leaves.
The following day the rabbit returns and again asks, "Do you have any carrot cake?"
Again the baker says, "No."
This exchange continues for days, weeks, months, until finally one day the rabbit enters the bakery and asks, "Do you have any carrot cake?"
"Yes, I do!" says the baker.
"Eww." replies the rabbit.

When I first heard it, I laughed a bit out of discomfort. And that's how I've responded to every Hungarian joke I've encountered since then. I smile awkwardly wondering if I just didn't understand the punchline or missed an essential detail.

Even at Vincenzo's, where I laugh at just about everything that happens, I don't find the jokes he tells very funny. Though there's one in particular that I've come to love only because I don't understand it. He's told it to us twice, and now Jon and I just laugh because we still don't get it.

An English couple are staying in room 222 at a hotel. They call the reception desk and say, "2 2 2 room 2 2 rooms." The man at the reception desk thinks they are crazy and hangs up the phone.

I'm guessing he's just not telling it right. It's probably supposed to be some combination of two's and to's, perhaps even a "too" in there somewhere as well. The funniest part is how severely he cracks himself up when he tells it.

Well, at long last, it finally happened: I laughed at a Hungarian joke. Last Tuesday Vincenzo told us a series of "An American tourist in Budapest..." jokes and had us genuinely laughing. They all follow the same basic format: There's an American tourist in Budapest who thinks everything is bigger/faster/better in the States and then a Hungarian comes along and zings them. My favorite was this one:

An American tourist gets into a cab in Budapest. As they are driving the tourist marvels at the beauty of the Hungarian Parliament and asks the driver how long it took to build.
"Nineteen years," replies the driver.
"Ha! We could build that in 5 years in America!" boasts the American tourist.
They drive a bit more and the tourist sees the chain bridge. Again the tourist asks the driver how long it took to build.
"Ten years," replies the driver.
"Ten MONTHS and that would have been finished in America."
They drive on and the tourist sees Buda Castle and once again asks how long it took to build.
"I don't know what that is," says the driver. "It wasn't here yesterday!"

I laughed. Maybe it was because for the first time I understood a joke told completely in Hungarian. Or maybe I've lived here long enough to see things from a more Hungarian point of view. Whatever the case, I feel like this place is starting to wear off on me.

~




a photograph taken by Vincenzo, which he gave to me


Ice Cream
June 6, 2009

Whenever someone comes to visit me in Kalocsa I try to make a point to go to Vincenzo's. To me, he's as much a part of Kalocsa as the paprika museum (and a lot more fun!). Yesterday our friend Margie trekked over 400 km all the way from Kisvarda (a small town in northeast Hungary) to spend a day in Kalocsa.

Vincenzo really does make the best espresso in town and Margie needed a pick-me-up after her long journey, so we decided to pay him a visit. The espresso was perfect, as always. He even brought out a fresh bowl of local cherries for us to snack on.

Jon and I had just visited him last Tuesday and he had us try some new ice cream he picked up at the supermarket. It's called Rákóczi túrós, which is a type of Hungarian dessert. Usually he only keeps chcolate and vanilla on hand, but it was delicious so I asked if he had any left. He paused for long enough that I realized he probably ate the rest himself.

me: "Oh, it's okay. I was just wondering if you had any left..."
Vincenzo: "Just a moment. It will be here in just a moment."

Then he walked into the kitchen, handed one of the assistants some money and told her to go across the street to the supermarket and buy some of this kind of ice cream! A few minutes later she returned with two containers of it.

The most uncomfortable part was that I was the only one who wanted ice cream! He made me up a beautiful dish of it, complete with a paper flower, whipped cream, caramel sauce, fanned apple slices, and a single, frozen red currant on top. Then he convinced Margie to try a "taste" and came back with another dish, AND three cones: one for Jon, one for the kitchen assistant, and one for himself.

I think I will need to go back and order some more soon.

~

me and Mr. Vince Mondovics, a.k.a "Vincenzo"

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!

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.

Easter Eggs 2009

Without any PAAS Easter Egg Dye kits in sight, it was a good time to try something new. Thankfully Briggi came to Kalocsa on Easter Sunday and taught Jon and I some new techniques for dying eggs.

First we used needles to puncture holes in either end of the eggs and blew out the contents, which were saved and eaten later.

Then Briggi and I went on a little nature walk around Kalocsa and returned with all kinds of leaves and flowers.



We wrapped the eggs in strips of nylon to hold the leaves and flowers in place. Once the eggs were wrapped, we put them in a stew of onion skins we had prepared while cleaning out the shells.



After a few hours we took them out and hung them up to dry. Another few hours and they were ready to unwrap, rinse, and string!

April Fool's "Bikini"

Kalocsa got me good this past April Fool's Day.

Well, okay, the event I'm about to describe was not directly related to me or April Fool's Day, but if I am ever in the position to have an 80's Hungarian rock group play outside someone's window, I'll probably schedule it on April 1st.

Hungarian rock group Bikini plays outside my window

I live across the street from the local radio station, Korona Rádió FM 100, and on April 1, 2009, they celebrated their 10th birthday. All day there were contests, giveaways, and bands playing on a huge stage right outside my living room. The headliners were a Hungarian band called "Bikini." I think they got started around 9 pm.

I'm glad I didn't have to go anywhere that night. This was the crowd outside!

It was loud. Wow, was it loud. After a few crabby hours in earplugs, I eventually gave in and opened my window.

view of the stage and crowd from my living room window

I realized it was silly to be such an old grump about the whole thing. It certainly was a unique experience.

Frosty and De-frosty

November Rainbow

One afternoon in November this lovely rainbow was spotted by my students during a lesson. It only lasted a few minutes and for an even shorter time you could see a second rainbow above it.

This was the view of it from my classroom window.

Paprika Days

Kalocsa is famous for their paprika. Every September they have a festival called "Paprika Napok" (Paprika Days). Although its name might suggest it lasts more than a day, it is just one long day full of events including: a huge cooking competition, parade, music concerts, dance performances, carnival rides and fireworks. This year it was unseasonably cold and cloudy, but thankfully the raindrops were few and only in the morning.

Notice the yin-yang is made of two paprikas!

The day began with a run for school children. I am still fuzzy on the details, but I think the local schools were somehow rewarded for the number of students and teachers that signed up. Margo, a fellow teacher at my school, offered to pick Jon and I up and bring us to the run. Until we were handed numbers I did not realize we would actually be IN the run. I wasn't more than a few kilometers, and we did not run very fast. This was in part because we were not wearing running shoes or appropriate running attire, but also because we were jogging alongside third and fourth graders. The whole experience was a bit odd, but it was nice to get a little fresh air and exercise first thing on Saturday morning.

At the run with Margo, the head English teacher at my school



Following the run, Margo offered to show us the main festival area and give us a little tour before the afternoon crowds arrived. Rows and rows of tents were set up, each decorated to reflect the group or organization whose stand it was. The main event of the festival was the cooking competition. Each group makes their own special stew or goulash and naturally the key ingredient is paprika.

I am not sure exactly what a "Knight of Paprika" does. I think perhaps they judge the cooking competition. There was also a parade, so they might have just been checking out the tents before the show. Whatever their purpose, they certainly added a degree of majesty to the whole experience.

The "Paprika Knights"

In addition to the cooking tents, many people and business set up tents with samples of their products they had for sale. Quality cheese is not something you can pick up at any grocery store around here, so I jumped at the chance to get a nice chunk of good cheese. Somehow my request for a small piece of cheese resulted in over a kilo of very expensive (but delicious) cheese. Margo was kind enough to pay for a third, so we cut her off a hefty slice when we got back to my apartment. It's nearly a month later and I still have about half of the 2/3 of the piece I bought that day!

Nearly $40 worth of cheese... oops!

A group of fellow CETP teachers arrived that afternoon and we all headed back to the fest. To eat at the festival, you had to first buy a food ticket, which came with a bowl and an optional stack of bread. That ticket was good for one fill of the bowl at whichever cauldron caught your eye. I had packed an apple in my purse figuring everything would have meat in it. Much to my amazement, there was ONE tent that had vegetable soup! The soup was not part of the competition, so they wouldn't take my ticket and I had to pay a little more, but I was happy to also dig into a hot meal on that chilly day.

Eliza trying out a fish soup

With Carla and Megan, toasting to Paprika fest

Eliza and Hanna: The Traditional Kalocsa Couple

Our evening ended at my favorite restaurant in town: Vincenzo's. He is not only a great cook, but so hospitable that you forget you are in a restaurant. To foreigners he speaks a special combination of Hungarian, German and English. His seamless transitions are quite confusing even when you know the words in each language, but his food speaks for itself. We stayed long past closing time talking and listening to his jazz records and classical CD's. By the end of the evening we had learned a few new Hungarian words and Vincenzo learned how to high five. It was a great way to end an incredible day.

Lisa, Jon, and Eliza at Vincenzo's

Eliza teaches Vincenzo how to high five and fist pound