Okay so hopefully this will be considered worth reading and or... eh. I don't really know but anyways this should cover everything that I deem worth noting since... oh geez, since like Christmas. (has it really been that long? Bocsii) So here we go.
Hungarians celebrate Christmas on 24 December so on that lovely day, (it really was a lovely day, all the snow had melted and the fields surrounding Máriahalom were sprouting new grass, not exactly winterishly Christmas but lovely nevertheless) on another note, nevertheless is one of my favorite words simply because it's really 3 words but some English major decided that this phrase should just be it's own word. How cool is that? Sorry, tangent. Moving on.
In the evening of the 24th we drove to Budapest to Mama's flat where we had a delicious meal with traditional Hungarian Christmas foods such as fish soup, apples in cream and mayonaise, rice, more fish, mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables and for dessert a chocolate mousse cake. [not exactly Hungarian but really delicious] after dinner and many anxious pleas for Ajandék (presents) we went into the living room and opened gifts. We went in age order from youngest to oldest. My host grandmother gave me a warm winter coast and a matching hat and scarf set and my host aunt gave me chocolate. It was a lovely evening. After opening presents we drove home and opened presents that "Jesus and his Angels" had left. I recieved some books on Budapest/Hungary, a nice colored shoe box from Kata and a homemade diarama from Betti. I gave my host family some MendoMate, books of California Redwoods, a reuseable bag from Real Goods, a tye dye kit and squished pennies for my host siblings. Ooh I almost forgot to mention, I got my first white Christmas er... December 25...
The next day we went to my host dad's mother's house to eat and open gifts. Both of my host grandmothers are very good cooks. Here we had more traditional Hungarian food including fried chicken, apples with mayonaise, fish soup, poppy seed cake, etc etc. After dinner and a few pleas for ajandék we went to open presents. I received a scarf, a sweater, more chocolate, and a kid's magazine in Hungarian with childrens poems which I am trying to learn to read.Ooh I almost forgot to mention, I got my first white Christmas er... December 25... When we got home from Rostás Mama's house I skyped with my family back home as they were opening presents from Santa. It was fun, though a little sad making to be "there" on Christmas morning. Knowing what the atmosphere was like, what the air smelled like and what CD's were playing on the stereo was bittersweet. A few hours later I skyped with my cousins, aunts and Uncles in the Bay Area. Once again the moment was bittersweet but I really enjoyed seeing their faces. Especially when I told them I wouldn't be back until July as apparently most of them thought it was a single semester program.
For New Years Eve (Szilvestér) the Budapest City Exchangers went to another exchange student's New Year's party in Debrecen. Debrecen is the second largest city in Hungary with a population of about 200,000. It was a lovely night we sang the national anthem [er... I moved my lips but well yeah I still have yet to learn the Hungarian national anthem...] we stayed up until the crack of dawn when the BPcitykids took a train back to Budapest. Did I mention Debrecen was freezing? Because it is. Really really cold. I guess I've been taking all the people and buildings in Budapest for granted. Needless to say I'm thankful to live in a big warm city.
Speaking of living in a big warm city... I actually do now. I moved yesterday to the suburbs of Budapest. It was very hard to leave the Rostás Csalad. They mean a lot to me in a way that words cannot quite accurately explain. The noise, the laughter, the warmth that can only come with a happy family. I really hope I keep in touch with them for years to come because I would hate to lose contact with them. Like I said, they mean a lot to me and Máriahalom is a place I will always call home. My new host family is very nice as well. I live 20 minutes from school in a very nice flat. I have one host brother who is twelve so things are much quieter here. Also, my host mother speaks to me in Spanish as opposed to Hungarian. I haven't really spoken much spanish lately because of my emphasis in Hungarian so I was relatively shocked when she started speaking spanish. I could understand everything she was saying but I could only think to respond in Hungarian which was cool I guess but really difficult to switch back and forth between languages. It's getting easier though which is nice. I speak an odd mixture of English spanish and Hungarian but it's all fluently. (if I don't know a word in Hungarian I go to Spanish, if I don't know it in Spanish I go to English) so I figure 30% Hungarian 50% Spanish and 20% English. It's crazy, but it works. So yeah, that's my current life as of late. I'll try to update more often as opposed to giant posts such as this one. However, I just thought of a really interesting point that I was playing around with during class. But because of it's length and the emphasis I want to put on it I'm going to put it in an extra post.
So goodnight for now. I hope this post has been relatively satisfying.
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