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 :)