Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Őrőkség Fesztival

I have been taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of the Heritage Festival all week.  You have already seen some concert footage and the funnel cakes.  This wide variety of cultural events is combined with much eating and drinking.  I am amazed at the thousands of people who turn out every night for concerts ranging from traditional folk music to blues and jazz and hard rock.   On the promenade there are two levels to walk – one has wineries selling samples and bottles of their wines. On the level below, there are all sorts of food vendors – cooking, mostly on grills, and people sit at long tables eating and drinking.  At another square in town during the heritage days there is a dance festival with a wide variety of dancing from folk to modern to hip hop.  There are also performances at the National Theatre of ballet during this time.  And art galleries have special exhibitions openings.  So it’s like a week long First Friday.  Here are a few clips from some of the performances and sights to give you an idea.  I start with the Croatian band that performed here – a short clip in Croatian and then the Croatian guy singing Pink Floyd.  That was the only song he sang in English.  The "barbershop type" group sang all their songs in English – mainly Beatles and Eric Clapton – I give you here a version of Hello Mary Lou.  

Friday, September 25, 2009

Mecsextreme Park

On Sunday, as part of the visit by the Croatians to Pécs, I went to this adventure park on the outskirts of the city.  Mexsextreme Park is hard to describe because I’ve not seen an equivalent.  Set in a wooded area, it seemed anything but extreme.  In addition to typical playgrounds and a petting zoo, there was a horse riding area that was a small, dusty arena where the park staff escort children on horses around in a circle.  A small park map directs you to the rides –which, thankfully, had English translations.  But, within the park, there are minimal signs.  So it is not overdeveloped and glitzy - nothing like Disney World.  There seemed to be an extensive pathway through the woods that would make a nice hike.  My intial reaction was that it was nice place to take young kids.

Agnes was feeling ill this morning, so she did not go on the trip.  That left, as adults, the two Croatian teachers, myself, and Szilvia.  The four of us decided we would do the bobsled and the zip lines, so we set off to find the bobsled.  The Bobsled ride consists of small “cars” that travel through the woods on a metal track which basically runs on gravity.  Each car’s passenger, with the use of hand brakes, sets the speed.  I first went on the sled with Marina.  She let me be the brakeman.  I was pretty conservative, as Marina seemed a little scared. Then Szilvia and I deicded to go a second time, each in a separate car, so that we could go the course faster.  I took out my camera at the beginning of the course to get a shot before it got going faster.  As I was leaving the ride attendant was yelling something at me in Hungarian . I don’t know if he did not want me taking pictures (they sell those tourist photos of you snapped at the fastest point on the ride) or if he was worried I would drop the camera.  He could have been telling me to slam on the brakes, your car is defective and about to flip off the tracks.  Anyway, there a short snippet below to show you the bobsled.  It’s not exactly extreme, though it does get going and was quite fun.

By the time Szilvia and I got off, the others had moved on, so we left to find the ropes course.  We wandered around, found the parking lot again, doubled back to the bobsled, went back in the direction we came from – took a slight left turn down into the woods and we could see the course.  I found this puzzling – you park buy a general admission ticket to the park and get a map to the rids and all seems like a mini-Disney wannabe, but the rides are not really marked with any signs.  Anyway, we arrived.  The other ladies were not there (apparently, they took off down one of the paths in the woods and got quite lost – but would arrive here later).   I was not sure about the ropes course – there is all this gear and helmets.  Humm, well, Szilvia persuaded me to go with her.  A group of the students were now joining us. 

After getting your gear, the staff gives you some instructions on how to use the clips and such and there is a small practice course to try it out. Szilvia had to translate.  The practice course was not far off the ground – maybe 5 or 6 feet – where I learned to clip onto the cables.  Basically you are going from one tree house like platform to another clipped to a steel cable so that if you slip you won’t fall, you’ll just dangle by your harness.  At the end of the practice course was small zip line – you attach both your clips and this pulley like thing to the cable, step off the platform and slide down.  Ok.  It did not seem too bad.  There is a kids course to one side where the height of the course seems to allow an adult to basically walk around with the kid – only 5 feet off the ground.  I thought about going over there. 

So I start the course – you have 2 clips and you are always supposed to be clipped by at least one to the cables at all times – and, thankfully, the cables are color coded.  Red means use the two clips.  Red with stripped yellow and black means use the two clips and the pulley system. When I started, I was only 5 or 6 feet off the ground.  Each section is a different challenge – a single steel cable that you walk across like a tightrope; swinging logs you walk across – a zip line that you ride from tree to tree. OK. But as you get along the course, it gets very high up.  AND THERE IS NO CHICKEN EXIT.  What happened to the chicken exit – when you get up really high and you think CRAP what am I doing up here?  And I realize, OK, where are all the adults.  Agnes isn’t here.  Marina and Ana are watching – but not putting on gear.  Yes, there is Szilvia, but she isn't even 30 years old.  There is no way to turn back and no way to get off and the course gets increasingly higher and more difficult.  Oh, my gosh.  What am I doing up here? 

At one point I had to clip to a steel cable and hang upside down like a possum and pull myself through a tunnel.  One zip line was so high off the ground, I just could not believe I even stepped off that platform.  Actually, once I stepped off the zips were the most fun, because it is no work really.  Walking on a single steel cable high up on the ground is just amazing.  I can’t believe I am doing this – I place my feet perpendicular to the cable and, of course, I am holding on to the overhead cable to stabilize.  Going slowing – the last thing I want to do is fall off and dangle up there – how would you get back on.  I don’t see any staff around – so who would help you. The thought that I would just dangle, kept me determined to not fall.  The hardest part for me was this rope grid that looked like something out of Army recruiting video – be all you can be.  That was the time I felt most unstable and knew I could fall.  And it took a lot of upper body strength so I was just determined to get to the other side – but this took me longer than any of the other parts.  The course was long – maybe 45 minutes or more, and finally I got to a point where there was a sign – and 2 ways to go.  One was obviously a zip line to the ground.  That’s what I took.  The sign said – end of beginner’s course (Szilvia translated) and you could see the course go on with all sorts of weird challenges – some that looked like torture.  No, seriously, it looked like something in a movie that you have to get through and fight off dragons to save the princess – with dangling bags that can knock you off the cable and was that barbed wire? – probably not, I only imaged that.  But there was no way I was going further, I felt relieved I had made it this far.  I actually felt a fair bit of accomplishment.  I was certainly the oldest person up in the trees.  And my kids would have loved it – as they are far more adventurous with bungees and skydiving.  This was nothing.  I wish I had more video – I took a short bit at the very beginning – when I had no idea how hard the course was.  But I survived my time at the Mecsextreme Park.  And, by the way, the park has this weird logo that is a mad looking bunny rabbit – like a cross between Bugs Bunny and Rambo – like a bunny that could attack you and rip our your heart with its teeth.

Hey, if this post was long the ropes course was far longer!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Croatians in Pécs

At the same time that I am visiting all of the sights of Pécs Heritage Days, I have been having a wonderful time with a group of visiting Croatian teachers and high schools students.  The great folks at the People to People International, Agnes, Szilvia, Hans and Julia graciously invited me to attend.  On Friday, Agnes took me to the local Croatian school where I met the Croatian visitors and toured the school.  On Sunday we visited several nearby sites.  We toured the cave at Abaliget – bats and all – no photos were allowed inside.  The cave was seriously creepy in parts, and one of the kids said it looked like something from a movie.  I had to agree that you felt like you were going deep inside an island where the villain in a Bond movie would have his laboratory – up steep stairways. 

We went up the watchtower at Lake Orfu and toured the mill.  Then had lunch – goulash and pancakes at Racz Tanya.  And the restaurant gave us a shot of palinka before lunch – now that’s my kind of appetizer!!  Of course, only the teachers got the palinka, not the students.  But the drinking age here is 18 – so actually some of the students are old enough to drink. 

Here's a photo of the view from the watchtower, and  above a picture of me, Agnes, Marina, Julia, and Ana at the top, and some shots of the charming little outdoor room where we all had lunch together.  I got to practice some Croatian and learned some new words.  It was great.  Ana and Marina are the Croatians.




Hungarian funnel Cakes Kolács

OK, I don’t know about you, but when I go to a carnival or similar event in the U.S. and see funnel cakes, I just about gag.  Hot, fried dough with sugar on it.  There is always a big line for funnel cakes, but I snub my nose at this confection which I deem unworthy.  I don’t know if these are the Hungarian equivalent, but I had to have one.  I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  The dough is wound around a metal spit and cooked over a charcoal grill!!  You’ll see below.  Then cinnamon, sugar, or ground walnuts – or all of the above – are sprinkled over the hot dough.  The metal spit is cooled just enough to allow the finished dough to slide off and it is packaged and given to you.   Just like having hot Lamar’s doughnuts, I guess.  So I took a video of the process, bought one, and ate the whole thing. 

At the Festival

As part of the festival days, the Barbican is lit at night with special “light paintings.”  The Barbican is a circular, castle-like, bastion from the 15th century that is part of the old wall around the town.  It’s near the Cathedral and square where most festival activities are taking place.  Here is a shot of the Barbican in the day time and at night with the special light paintings.

Kiscsillag Concert

Pécs has a big Heritage Festival in September, so Thursday after having coffee with some of my students, I stopped by the opening day activities.  Much tasty food and beer, with long tables set up for people to eat, and wineries from the area with booths to taste and buy wine.  A big stage is set up in front of the Cathedral.  I went to the Kiscsillag Concert.  From the response of the crowd, it seems they are well known. Google - they have a web page and My Space page. The square was packed, and with the lighted Cathedral as a backdrop – what an incredible place for a concert.  Here is a short look at a Hungarian rock band.  At the end of the song, the lead singer says "Co SEE"  This is a shortened version of the Hungarian word for thank you - Kősőnőm.  

Monday, September 14, 2009

Cooking in My Flat

I shopped for groceries and cooked my first meal in my apartment.  That’s a bigger deal than you think.  Here are the photos of my cabbage sausage soup. 

Folks have asked me about the cost of groceries.  I have not done a lot of shopping yet – but the items in the photos cost as follows in American dollars:  the ½ of a cabbage – about 50 

cents; the onion – about 15 cents; the sausage – little less than a dollar; the loaf of bread – about 75 cents; and the bottle of cabernet – a bit over $5.  So, yes, the bottle of wine was the most expensive thing about the meal – hey, I have my priorities.  But I did not drink the Font sizewhole bottle.

I did enjoy cooking on my little gas stove with the kitchen window opening into the courtyard.  While I was cooking, Gabriella (my landlady) brought me 3 tiny new kittens to look at through the window.   She does not speak English, but I think she gets that I like her animals.  I regularly feed the bunny rabbit – sometimes it is right outside my window, so I lean out and give it lettuce or cabbage. 


 

Going to Croatia

 Friday when I met my new friend, Ágnes for coffee, she told me she was going to Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. I remarked that I had always wanted to go there – had heard it was spectacular.  She had booked a day trip with a local travel agency that had a few seats left on the bus leaving at 3 a.m. Saturday. The very next morning.  I was surprised when she asked “Do you want to go?”  But I thought Why Not?  I would be alone for the weekend anyway, and this would be a great opportunity.  Ági took to me to the travel agency where I booked the trip.  So, I got some kuna (Croatian currency) at the exchange office.  Ági booked a taxi to pick me up at 2:30 a.m. since the tour bus stop was too far away to walk at that time of the morning.  So, I set my cell phone alarm and got up at 2 a.m., caught the taxi to the McDonald’s parking lot!!!!  And got on the bus. It’s a six hour ride to the Park – so we slept most of the way there. 

Well, no wonder this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  An amazing place with a unique geography.  Tavertine is  a porous carbonate rock formed by the sedimentation of calcium carbonate from water.  The amazing color of the lakes come from this process.  And the chemical process is ongoing, changing the landscape literally day to day.  It produces geological formations, especially waterfalls among the lakes and streams.  There must be hundreds of waterfalls.   And it’s all set in a beautiful forest – apparently a portion is a virgin forest. 

We walked about 5 hours throughout the day on the paths – many of which are built right above the water. There are too many to walk in one day – it is a very large place.  A word about the fish – wow, the water is so clear that you can see the fish all over the lake.  And I saw all sizes of fish in the lake – apparently there is no fishing allowed.  But I did not see a black bear – they are supposed to live in the park.   Botonists have identified over 1200 species of plants, 55 of orchids alone, and over 300 species of butterflies have been recorded. 

So here’s is a short video look at the park – I made while hiking the trails.  I kept the video in chronological order, so that you could “walk” the path that I took.  It was a great day – but long 6 hours over, about 5 hours of hiking, 30 minutes for lunch – well, actually, mostly for a beer, and 6 hours back. 

In fact, about the beer break.  Ági and I got so immersed in our conversation and pivo (beer in croatian) that we forgot to meet the group as it left for the next hike.  But we took the path and knew we would catch up, as they did not walk very fast.  There were quite a few older women on the trip - yes, even older than me.  I was surprised they walked so far as I can not imagine many Americans that age making such a long hike.

 

Friday, September 11, 2009

Lovers Fence




The Story:  Two lovers put a padlock on a fence in Pécs, locked it and left it there as a symbol of their everlasting love.  Or so I think that is the story.  Here are photos of both the original fence and one a few yards away which couples started using when the first one was full of locks –thousands of lovers still come to place their locks here – and they just keep adding onto the space.  This is a block from my apartment, and I see many people taking photos of this famous place and couples placing locks there.  


Potty Train - And Other Language Misunderstandings

 

No matter how well you try to translate from one language to the next or to figure out what something means in a different language, there are bound to be misunderstandings.  Here are a couple of mine from my first week living in Hungary.  I went to the drug store to buy a few items: shampoo, body lotion, toilet paper  That evening I rubbed the “body lotion” on my legs and feet, thinking the consistency was a bit different.  The next morning, after my shower, I was putting lotion on my legs and hands when I noticed that there were tiny bubbles coming from the top of the container.  When I put my hands under the sink and ran water, I realized that I had been rubbing liquid soap into my skin instead of lotion.  OH, well.   Another great one was when I went to a restaurant here and the menu had a list of Spaghetti dishes.  I looked down the list and ordered what I thought would be a spaghetti dish that had an oil and garlic based sauce.  I wound up with a huge plate of plain spaghetti for dinner.  Yes, it did have oil and garlic on it – but not anything else.  It was probably meant to be a side dish (garnish it’s called here) to go with some type of meat dish.

Lest you think this goes only one way – here is a cute one.  I met some very nice people at a local People to People Meeting the day after I arrived.  They are planning to host a group of Croatian high school students in a couple of weeks.  They had a list of the planned activities that looks like a lot of fun.  On the list was a guided tour of Pecs via the “Potty Train.”   Hum, I asked how did the train get that name.  It seemed that one translation of Potty was little – so this is a miniature train or a toy train.  I said that in English “potty” was not used as a word for little, but was a word for toilet that was often used with a child, hence potty training.   I hope I did not embarrass anyone.  I thought it was funny.  Here is a short video of the “Potty” train – taking a group of young people sightseeing through the town. 

 

Monday, September 7, 2009

Pécs Wedding

On my first weekend in Pécs I was standing in front of the beautiful St. Peter’s Cathedral and noticed a small crowd of people looking over a railing that overlooks the Christian Mausoleum ruins opposite the Cathedral.  A couple was getting married in this ruin of a small chapel.  This video begins at the Cathedrel, as I walked down the stairs toward the ruins to see what was going on – so that you can see what I saw.  I, along with the others surrounding the rim, watched as the couple got married. 

 

Sunday, September 6, 2009

What I Left Behind

This is not for my U.S. friends, as you already know my family, but for anyone else these are the precious things I left behind and miss.
These are the shots I took with my new little HD camera before I left home.  

Settling In

I arrived in Pécs, Hungary on Wednesday, September 2.  Flights from Kansas City to Houston to Amsterdam to Budapest uneventful – just long.  My shuttle service picked me up at the Budapest airport and took me right to my apartment door.  What a great deal.  On the ride with me – several students attending medical school at the university where I will be teaching – one each from Norway, Sweden, and Germany. 

My landlady, Gabriella, was out-of-town, but her friend Agnes showed me to my flat. Anyway, I had been up around 25 hours – except for naps on the plane – so I was pretty tired.  Well – seems Gabriella has three dogs and they barked constantly all night – oh, my – until 3 a.m. when Gabriella apparently came home from her trip.  I admit I was a bit worried thinking I would never be able to sleep at night – seriously the dogs were very loud and constant – but those dogs have been great since Gabriella came home from her trip.  I hope she does not travel much!!! 

I’ve been settling into my flat – I’ve posted photos below.  It has been great for me to arrange things and get a few extras to make the place more useful (an electric coffeemaker) and more comfortable, but probably boring for you to hear about. 

I have already had some adventures.  First, of course the dogs.  But that turned out ok.  Then there was the “body lotion” I bought at the drug store. I thought the consistency was a little weird and it felt sticky the first night, but the next day – after putting it all over my legs – I realized there was a little bubble at the opening of the bottle.  I went to the sink and put my hands under the water – and lo and behold – yep, it’s not lotion, it’s soap.  So I had been walking around with soap rubbed into my skin.  Well, I could always use some nice smelling hand soap. 

I’ve had a great meal of korhelylevés (levés means soup) and this soup is made of smoked sausage, saurkraut, and smoked pigs knuckles.  I have heard it called “drunkards soup” as it is supposed to be good for the hangovers.  It was wonderfully tasty – full of paprika and with sour cream dumplings on top.  I’ve had only 2 gelatos so far – trying to control myself – one mango and one grapefruit.  Heavenly

And I had a real cappuccino (hard to get in Kansas City, I think).  Here is a very short video of my first cappuccino in Hungary – look how they put a heart on the top in the foam.  Heavenly.

Saturday, September 5, 2009