wine tasting

Last night I went on a wine tasting at one of the best wine producers in Eger. Yes, on a school night....that was a bad idea. But going was a very very good idea, even though I was not feeling too hot for the better part of the day.

This particular wine producer, Kalo Imre, is so passionate and philisophical about creating, aging and drinking wine that he turns away people he doesn't like. Apparantly, the Queen of England's workers came to Hungary seeking wine and wanted to buy 200 bottles from this seller...But the owner refused and said they could only have one! He doesn't let many people in his cellar, but through a friend of a friend, we found ourselves there. It was literally a cave under the ground with barrels and barrels and bottles and bottles of wine--I've never seen anything like it.

I was literally in a cellar drinking wine with a bunch of Hungarian men last night, and although it was quite cold, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. The wine we drank came straight from the barrels, he used a "stealer" to suck a bit of wine out and pour it into our glasses. Each time we were presented with a new wine, I was able to taste something very distinct in each of them and so I started naming them "summer," "honeysuckle," "forest," "smoke," "dinner".....We tried at least 30 different wines and each was so so so good.

In the middle, we went into his house for dinner, which he cooked for us, and it was incredible. We played with his 2 Hungarian Vissla dogs (which are so adorable!) and ate and drank more wine. Dinner was this wild hog amazing paprika sauce over pasta and cabbage. I thought it was interesting, he even had a hope chest in his dining room kind of like the one my Grandmother has, but it was painted with Hungarian folklore designs!

After dinner, it was back down the cellar for some more wine down the hatch. At this point, everyone was pretty giggly, and it almost didn't matter that I didn't understand a damn thing going on around me. Believe me, I wish that I could, because this guy was straight up preaching to us about wine. I could hear the dedication and passion in his voice and see it in his expression, but less than a third of it actually got translated for me. One memorable part that did get translated was that he treats each grape as his own child.

The outside world may see him as a little kooky because he holds this attitude, not to mention he spends a lot of his time in an underground cave, but he sees nothing wrong with it. He can deprive whoever he wants of his wine, and believe me, it's quite a deprivation. He makes enough money selling to who he wants, and doesn't need to be a sellout (Although he probably easily could be!) to live his happy wine producer life. Quite inspiring. We should all be so lucky to be able to live comfortably doing something we truly enjoy.

He allowed me to take pictures, but wanted them to be for my own personal collection. He specifically asked me to not use them on the internet or on facebook. He sees such public displays of everything as corrupt. He holds what is special to him close and private, and in this way, him and I are alike.

Funny how I am from so far away, and can't speak the same language, and I'm not even from the same generation.....However, I am able to understand his point of view. Intonation, Facial expressions, smiles, and clinking happy wine glasses together are universal, it turns out. I guess I just appreciate when something good isn't exploited.

I will post one photo of a very happy me taken somewhere during the second half of the night only because you can't really tell where I am, and I'm in a different wing of the cellar where the barrels aren't kept.


Egészségedre!

tongue twisters and frost

"Egy megy mag, meg még egy megy mag, az két megy mag"

I learned a Hungarian Tongue twister! I love teaching Hungarians "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" And now I have my own Hungarian one to work on....I remember it, but my pronunciation still is not the best. The "gy" sound gets me every time...its like a combination of 'j' 'd' and 'g' and I can't wrap my tongue around it. Interesting experience for an aspiring speech pathologist. The tongue twister translates to " One cherry seed and one more cherry seed, that's two cherry seeds!" Tough to say for such an easy concept!

My students are always amused when I try to speak Hungarian, so I'm sure I will have them laughing with my terrible pronunciation and mediocre effort to repeat a common Hungarian child's phrase! This week in school I started introducing some interesting American pop-culture topics to my students. With the older kids, we were watching The Twilight Zone, and with the younger advanced kids I brought in articles about The Jersey Shore and Lindsay Lohan getting in trouble yet again (this time she stole a 2500 dollar necklace....really?) They seemed to enjoy it, and I'm going to continue The Twilight Zone through this week. Of course I had to explain that, no, this was not the same story as the vampire movie....And some of the kids were let down. I had to laugh at that!

I started with the classic "Eye of the Beholder" to get them accustomed to the bizarre-ness of the show....it's not really something I could explain!! So although this episode is a little predictable, its a good starting point for ESL students. I'm going to dazzle them with my favorite episodes this week :) I just tried to explain to them that this is such a classic, epic TV series and they should at least know about it even if it isn't their taste...Can't please everyone! But they were entertained at the very least....they don't make television like that anymore. And I don't want the students to think that all the shows that make it here (Friends, Dallas (!?), and Two and a Half Men....Not to mention they all download Gossip Girl and The Jersey Shore!!) are all that American television has to offer! Interesting topics are brought up, and they get to see some classic well-made television, so hopefully they enjoy it.

This week there was beautiful frost on the trees, and although I couldn't get any proper photos since I was at school, I took some with my phone. It was incredibly beautiful and I couldn't stop looking out the window on my way to school! The tree trunks were still brown, but each branch was completely covered with frost so that it was colored white...Interesting look for the trees!!


I need to mention that I've never seen a country so obsessed with Walnuts as this one...Yesterday alone I had Walnut Soup, Walnut Palinka, and a Walnut filled pastry! Hungarians make soup and Palinka out of anything apparently...but walnut!? I means it was great, just wierd!! I'll leave you with a picture of what I had for snack today after yummy bob leves (bean soup) for lunch. Its a pancake/crepe....filled with honey, lemon juice, cocoa and walnut! Soooo good!

fanny packs are cool here!

For those of you who don't know, Tamara and I have been anticipating the comeback of Fanny packs for years now. We noted that while they made a (neon and cheesy) fashion statement in the 80's and 90's, they are quite useful! For instance, think about going out to the club/bar and having the freedom to swing your arms and dance without worrying about a purse because your belongings were already attached to you. Or, think about exercising and having a place to put your ipod and cell phone while you jog around town. Useful, but officially branded in America as "one of the 80's worst fashion choices." At this moment, you are probably picturing, as I usually do when the word "fanny pack" is mentioned, an overweight family with matching neon fanny packs walking around Disney World and looking up and around at the sights while simultaneously shoving french fries into their mouths. No? Just me? Well, Tamara and I joked about how one day they would come back, and let me tell you, they have come back with a vengeance at the high school I work at.

I saw some girls rocking them a few weeks back, and although I was excited, I must admit I thought it was some kind of sick joke. But, this week, I saw a group of the "cool" boys wearing them on the bus. These boys are cheeky as hell when I have them in class, but I know they are considered the "cool" kids because of their general style, demeaner, and bad haircut (I call it the half-mullet and I really wish I had a picture for you). Anyway, they wear the fanny pack around their waist, but to the side/back of their body, not in the front. Also, they come in normal neutral colors and the popular American Brandname "Eastpack" (remember, the backpacks??)

I'm working on getting a picture of this with my phone, maybe I can be sneaky and nonchalant. I literally almost asked my student yesterday if I could take a picture of her wearing it... I wanted to explain the whole story! I refrained, however, not wanting this trend to stop before it begins. I want the fanny pack revolution to overtake Eger and all of Europe! I sound evil, but I swear I'm not, I'm just excited.

adventures

This past week went pretty well....In school for the most part we talked about music. So I brought in some music and we talked about the lyrics and hidden meanings and symbolism (with the brighter classes anyway!) So it was a fun week for me because I'm and English major nerd. Later in the week I had the kids bring in lyrics from their favorite songs to talk about....so we listened to a little music, talked about the message the artist was trying to send...the kids were happy and I was happy. Even when they brought in music that really irks me, I kept a smile on my face like a good teacher should :) At least no one brought in Justin Beiber!

We found out about these ancient beehives which are a natural Hungarian Phenomenon, so we were in search of them for the better part of the weekend, and we found them today! Yesterday we tried to get to this village, Szomolya, to see them, but we had some car troubles and had to go on a closer trail. The whole weekend was pretty gorgeous weather, about 50 degrees and sunny! So we went on a hike yesterday and accidentally stumbled onto the same clearing we went to one time in October! We just got there a completely different way. It's funny because the signs only say that you are headed towards an overlook, but which overlook is not specified. Anyway, it was a pretty overlook, even for the second time because everything was covered in snow this time.

Today, we chitty-chitty-bang-banged our way to Szomolya to check the beehives, but we had no idea where they were in the village. So, after asking an old guy on the side of the road, he gave us pretty general directions but advised us that we couldn't go by car and looked at us like we were crazy. We politely told him we knew and were planning on hiking, and we went on our way....

Well when we got there, all there was was a beautiful view and a sign saying we were in the general area...but nowhere did it say where the trail was, or how to get there! There was about 4 different ways we could go....we just chose the BIG muddy one because "the car couldn't go there..." So we're walking with no direction for about 20 minutes, in the mud, and finally we see a little arrow off in the distance so we figured we were going along the right way, and we were thankfully. I should say that this whole time, there were breathtakingly beautiful mountain views....The mountains were practically purple and the sky was SO blue, it was incredible. So after about a mile treck through the mud and following these vague little arrows, we get to the park and read the little sign about these beehives. Experts only think they are ancient beehives, but they speculate it could have also been a place to cremate people or a number of other things....they really dont know what they are, these rocks just look cool. They know that they are REALLY old because they found ancient plates in the area, but its hard to say how old (they think around the 4th century).

It was certainly one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and I think we will try and find more in the coming weeks because they are all over the Bükk mountain region.

In the last one I was pretending to be Heidi!

For Sunday lunch today, we had Traditional Hungarian Paprikaskrumpli which is pototoes, noodles, sausage, and onion stew all in a paprika sauce/soup! SO GOOD. Apparently it is a traditional for Shephards to eat....Not sure, but definitely loving the food :)