Today I went to my very first professional soccer game. The Nyíregyháza Spartacus were playing against the team from Debrecen. Apparently this match was an important one and, although it has been explained to me many times, I have no idea why it was important. I was surprised to find out that the tickets were only 500 Forint, or just under 3 dollars Canadian.
The Debrecen fans had to sit in a different section from the Nyíregyháza fans because the two sides love to get into massive brawls. Within the first 10 minutes of the match, the Debrecen fans tried to break open the gate that separated the two sides. It was really funny to watch how involved a lot of the older guys got in in the game. Being at a football match seems to give you license to be as crude as you want and I think I learned about 37 new swear words.
My favorite moment of the match was when the rowdy section of the Nyíregyháza cheering squad lit the colored torches and smoke bombs they had brought with them and then proceeded to accidentally light their banners on fire. I also really loved hearing all of the different cheers being sung by all of the fans. It was really neat to actually partake in the chanting that I had only ever before seen on TV.
The match anti-climactically ended in a 1-1 tie.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Rotary Orientation Weekend
I spent this weekend in Debrecen at an orientation for all of the exchange students in Hungary. Debrecen is the second largest city in Hungary (after Budapest) and is located only 45 from Nyiregyháza. There are appoximately 34 students living all over Hungary this year. This weekend, we got to explore Debrecen, visit the Leonardo Divinci Exhibit, listen to a jazz concert, eat lunch at the most prestigious hotel in Debrecen, and we also had a disco at the camp we were staying at.
The camp we were staying at was called Víg-Kend Major and was apparently an old Communist camp. In the back field there was an old statue that had been torn down and a new statue stood next to the old one. Kinda cool...
The camp we were staying at was called Víg-Kend Major and was apparently an old Communist camp. In the back field there was an old statue that had been torn down and a new statue stood next to the old one. Kinda cool...
First Day of School
September 1st was my first day of school. The school that I attend, Krúdy Gyula Gimnázium, knew that I would be coming this year and which class I would be in all the way back in June. My teacher showed the class my picture last year and explained all about me, so everyone already knew I was coming. One girl in my class, Lily, sent me an email at the beginning of the summer, and all summer I bombarded her with questions and we became fast friends. When I arrived at school, Lily was waiting for me and was quick to introduce me to all of her friends. Everyone in my class was so kind and welcoming that I didn't feel like the "new girl" at all.
School starts every morning at 7:30 am and runs until about 2:15 with 10 minute breaks in between each class. There are 8 classes a day, each lasting 45 minutes. In Hungary, you are put into a class and you take almost all courses with that one class. The courses offered at my school are as follows:
Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Hungarian Language Arts, Phys. Ed., Film/Society Studies, Technology, Art, English and German.
Because I am not a full time student I am not required to go to every class, which is a life saver because every class is taught in Hungarian. Also, because I can't understand Hungarian yet, it is really boring for me to sit in class all day and my brain tends to go into Hungarian overload after too many classes. I have been trying to find inobtrusive ways of occupying myself during and outside of class when I have a spare, but I have so far been unsuccessful. I went to the public library downtown to raid the English and Hungarian childrens' sections, so the books I found have been a saving grace, but the English section at the library is very limited.
Almost every kid at school speaks English, so most days at school I have a new person intoduce themselves to me and tell me that they have heard that I speak really good English. Then they ask if they can talk to me for awhile. It's really fun to teach my classmates new words and to meet new people every day.
The other day, out of the blue, my English teacher asked me if I was at all interested in Drama. I told her about my addiction and she told me that every year the school puts on a play in English in order for the students to practice their English. She said that she would love it if I was involved and even asked me to pick the play we would present! The play has to be less than 30 minutes and appropriate for High School. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
I also recently started taking Hungarian lessons twice a week, and they are really improving my Hungarian quickly. I am loving learning the language here because it is so different from any other language. I still only know words, but hopefully by the end of the month I will be speaking in sentences.
Hope everything is going well in the motherland. Love to all,
Emily
School starts every morning at 7:30 am and runs until about 2:15 with 10 minute breaks in between each class. There are 8 classes a day, each lasting 45 minutes. In Hungary, you are put into a class and you take almost all courses with that one class. The courses offered at my school are as follows:
Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Hungarian Language Arts, Phys. Ed., Film/Society Studies, Technology, Art, English and German.
Because I am not a full time student I am not required to go to every class, which is a life saver because every class is taught in Hungarian. Also, because I can't understand Hungarian yet, it is really boring for me to sit in class all day and my brain tends to go into Hungarian overload after too many classes. I have been trying to find inobtrusive ways of occupying myself during and outside of class when I have a spare, but I have so far been unsuccessful. I went to the public library downtown to raid the English and Hungarian childrens' sections, so the books I found have been a saving grace, but the English section at the library is very limited.
Almost every kid at school speaks English, so most days at school I have a new person intoduce themselves to me and tell me that they have heard that I speak really good English. Then they ask if they can talk to me for awhile. It's really fun to teach my classmates new words and to meet new people every day.
The other day, out of the blue, my English teacher asked me if I was at all interested in Drama. I told her about my addiction and she told me that every year the school puts on a play in English in order for the students to practice their English. She said that she would love it if I was involved and even asked me to pick the play we would present! The play has to be less than 30 minutes and appropriate for High School. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.
I also recently started taking Hungarian lessons twice a week, and they are really improving my Hungarian quickly. I am loving learning the language here because it is so different from any other language. I still only know words, but hopefully by the end of the month I will be speaking in sentences.
Hope everything is going well in the motherland. Love to all,
Emily
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Culture Shock!
I was in the kitchen when my host mom, Erika showed me a bunch of bananas that had turned brown. She was going to throw them out when I told her that in Canada we make bread out of brown bananas. I offered to make banana bread for her and proceeded to print off a recipe and translate it into Hungarian. I took the recipe to her and soon found out that she didn't know what a cup measurement was when she asked me which size coffee cup I wanted to use. I then transfered all measurements into mL and started measuring out the ingredients. When I asked for a whisk, she said she didn't have one so instead she dusted off the old food processor that lives at the back of the pantry. Not having a bread pan, we improvized and popped the batter in the oven. When I went to turn on the oven, I noticed that it only went up to 250 degrees... so I cranked it to the maximum. I realized later when my host brother asked me what the F stood for that the oven temperature was set in degrees celcius, not ferenheit . My banana loaf, which was supposed to take over an hour to cook, was completely cooked in 20 minutes. I thought the banana bread was the worst I had ever tasted, but Erika said it was finóm, or delicious.
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