Saturday, December 31, 2011

Boldog új évet

Boldog új évet! Happy New Years!
Yahoo! December 31 my family and I just hung out around the house! Then around five we went into town where everyone filled the main street. There were people in Hungarian traditional costumes who were wiping these traditional Hungarian whips. There were also people who were dancing with fire. Then the town lit off fire works! When all the excited was over we went to my grand parents house were we had some amazing food and some sweets. I spent the night with my family hanging out, watching movies, and of course eating special Hungarian new year foods! When the clock struck 12, we turned the TV to the 
new station where we sang along to the Hungarian 
nation anthony.Then we drank a glass each drank a glass of Champaign and celebrated! In Hungary the new year is a big thing and they have really interesting traditions and beliefs. For example on New Years Eve they eat a soup called "hang over soup" and they also have a special drink/food where they cut up oranges, pineapples, cherries, and peaches and put beer and alcohol in it. Both were very good :) ha ha Then on the first day of January they do not eat fish or any bird, because the fish will swim away with your luck and the birds will fly away with your luck. Instead they eat this food called "lencse" which I cannot figure out what it is in english. They are really small, and you can look it up on google, but if you eat lots of them, then you will get rich, similar to if they were money! ( they are like lots of little luck) Another thing is that what ever you do on the first of the month, is what you will do on the rest of the year! That means lots of relaxing and having fun for me! :) 

Hiking in Romania!

Yahoo! I went to Romania on Friday December 30th! I got up really early around 3 and met about 40 other people in Debrecen around 4 and we started the journey to Romania. We got to the boarder in an hour or so and at the boarder the police stamped my passport! Yahoo :) We started driving in the mountains about an hour and a half later, and there was snow every where! We were on a huge bus and I, from living in the Vail Vail I knew we were not going to make it up the road. I was rite, cause half way up we got stuck! It was so crazy and took an hour to get unstuck! When the road we were on ended all there was, was a hotel and a few houses you could rend and stay in. It
was really sweet cause families just came up here to be in the mountains and to sled! Soon we started on the hike. In about two hours of hiking in the snow we arrived at the top of a mountain. We pasted the tree line about ten minutes before we got to the top. When we got to the top we were about even or above the clouds and I felt like I could see for ever! The air was so fresh and clean and the view was amazing! Everyone got in a big circle and started singing the Hungarian national anthony. Then we call pulled out plastic cups and drank Champaign! Even I did :) After having a good time and celebrating the coming of a new year, we went back down the way we came and some people even sledded down the mountain. It was a very interesting experience for me because I wore teni-shoes, not knowing that there would be snow! Luckily a guy brought extra of these waterproof sock things that went over the bottom of my pants! I stayed pretty warm but was happy when on the way back to Hungary we stopped at a hot springs and went swimming! I had a really great time and made lots of new friends again!! :)

Christmas!

Boldog karácsonyt!! Merry Christmas!
My Christmas started on the 24th, Christmas Eve. I woke up and everyone wished me a merry christmas, and here Christmas Eve is just as big celebration as christmas! On the 24th everyone puts up the tree, and so did we. We decorated the tree, similar to how we decorate the christmas tree at home. But instead of putting the lights on the tree before the ornaments we them on after!! The tree was gorgeous, but unfortunately they do not leave them up for very long! Then we started to cook a lot and get ready for all of the family that was going to come for dinner. Emi's parents and Emi's broth her family came around four. We ate the BIGGEST and BEST meal ever, and then all gave 
each-other presents, although just with the other family members, not with in the close family.Everyone sang and was just so happy to be with one another on this day. Then around eight everyone left and the family and I opened our presents! My family was super sweet and gave me amazing gifts! I got two new shirts, a Hungary calendar, a Hungarian book and many more wonderful things! We stayed up talking and laughing and enjoying being together! Christmas Day we went to all the families houses, and were barley at home at all. When we got home around 8, I skyped with my parents until early in the morning! My christmas holiday was great and I loved that we celebrated two days! It was also so different for me because here, it means something really special to just be with the family, and it is important that everyone gets together. So they were as happy as can be, and the presents did not mean anything to them compared to just the gift of being together! I too, was thrilled to be a part of this wonderful new family of mine! :)

Monday, December 19, 2011

Skiing in Italy!

UNBELIEVABLE! Sunday December 11 at midnight 43 other students, 6 teachers and I left from Debrecen heading to Italy! My school put on a ski trip to Bellamonte Italy. After 16 hours of driving through the beautiful mountains of Austria, Sloveina, and Italy we arrived to our little hotel San Celso. We stayed in a little village that was in a valley with two other villages. These were the bases of a group of ski resorts.  Through out the week we went the the largest of the three resorts three days and the second biggest twice. We skiied from about 9:30 to 3:30 for five days. It was a 100 % different kind of skiing for me! Starting with the ski lifts! We had a ticket that we could keep in our jacket and before every lift there would be a reader
that would scan our passes, not people. Then before the lifts they had a gate that would open right before the chair came, and then you would ski on to this magic-carpet type thing that would take you forward until the chair came around and you would sit down. They had mostly four person chairs, alot of chairs with bubbles, a 6 person chair, and several gonolas! Here it is like a stricked rule that you must put the bar down and I did not see one person not put the bar down! The next thing that was different was the runs! The easiest was blue, then green and then black. Every single run was groomed and was similar to a green or blue at home. They did not have any black runs open because there was not enough snow. The interesting thing about the runs, was that they were all made by snow cats. The first thing I asked was if there were any good tree runs. I got a blank look like   I was talking in another language or something, and found out that I pretty much was!
They told me that in Europe no one skiis in Europe and it is not allowed. The only places they ski is on the runs that the snowcats make! I was so confused and did not understand this! I soon figured out also that since they only ski on groomers their way of skiing is different than the way I ski. They were really good at carving and to me it looked like everyone around me were racers! They all went as fast as the could making huge GS turns or small and fast quick turns! Also the crazy thing was that skiers stopped everywhere in the middle of the runs! Since so many kids came on this ski trip we broke into four groups based on how well you could see. I was in the best group with 11 other kids. Every day we had a new teacher from our

school who skiied with us and would teach us how to be better skiiers. It was funny cause we got assignments like ski on one ski, or make quick fast turns or some weird things. Everyone in my group and all the people that were skiing here looked like the turists that I make fun of back home! Everyone had small googles, gaper gaps, used skiny racing skis and did that racer style tuck where their poles go strait up in the air! :) I wish I could say that I looked as stylish as I do back home but I to was using racing skis, unmaching blue pants that had suspenders- which of course I wore! The whole time I was there I only saw very few snowboarders, and only a few "freestyle" looking people. They looked just like the skiiers at home with twin tip skis, small poles, Electric, DC, and other american brands. I do not know what they were doing cause there was no park here.
It snowed on the drive there, and then again on Friday but not enough to notice that it was snowing. The weather was similar to at home but defintaly not as pretty as the Colorado blue skys! During the nights we played pingpong, cards, and fosball! They have fun different pingpong game, a different fosbal table, and they also play BS and mophyia! I shaired a room with two girls and made lots of new friends, again! I had a new and great experience this week and got back Sunday night at midnight and did not have to go to school today!! This week I also realized how lucky I am go to skiing every weekend, in the trees, in powered, in truly the best ski resort in the world! 


My Soul City

In the morning Friday December 9th, I rode the train into BudaPest. Here all the exchange students met up and we all went to Győr, a city about two hours away. The Győr Rotary club hosted us all and then on Saturday took us on a trip to Vienna! We traveled by bus for a long time but arrived to Vienna around noon. I spend the day admiring the beautiful buildings. They had a similar architecture to the other buildings I have seen in Europe but they were well taken care of and very clean. They had very nice, beautiful, and fancy stores with glass windows so you could see in. People were speaking every language imagionalble, walking in and out of stores and smiling just as big as I was.
The energy flowing through the streets swarmed through me and I have never felt more at home or like I belonged in a place like did here! After walking through the city, it became dark and a Christmas market took place! It was similar to the one in Debrecen but filled with beautiful gift, delisious food, and cheerful people! The area was lit up with lights and festive decorations and the sound of happyness filled the air. Unfortuantly 5:00 came soon and we had to leave and head back to Győr. I did not get to see all of the city, just around the center where we were, but I found out the city has a big castle and lots of great musicums! I am postive that I am going to go back! I had the most amazing weekend here :)

Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas time already??

Yup :) here in Hungary it is already Karácsony-kor! The streets of Debrecen are all light up with lights and all day long they play Christmas music. Every night they have a huge shopping even where there are little wooden houses, or booths set up where people are seeing things! Here in Hungary they celebrate the time around Christmas a little different. First they celebrate Advent. This is where there is a wreath with four candles. Starting four weeks before Christmas on a Sunday they light on candle and then the next week two and so on until they are all lit! This past Sunday was the second time we lit the wreath. Also tomorrow is Mikulás Napja. This is the day were someone like Santa comes and brings the kids chocolates and candy!

He comes tonight, and they celebrate and find the gifts tomorrow morning. The tradition is to put out a clean boot under your window, so tonight I did that! :) Mikulás came a little early I got my surprises! He brought a beautiful warm sweat for the cold days here, lots of chocolate, a little Mikulás, a moose candle, and some hair ties! Today I went with Rotary to  a kindergarden to give early presents! There was one group of kids that was disabled and they sang songs for us and even baked up Hungarian Christmas cookies!

-It has been a great start to my holiday season! :)