Sziasztok!

Its Tuesday here, kedd, and I am going to go to the ZOO in about half an hour. Isn't that awesome, I can just pick up and go to the zoo anytime?

So yesterday was quite a full one, after school I went to the Hungarian National Museum again, but it turned out to be closed so we went to this MASSIVE market! It was awesome, I could have spent ages in there, there was so much to buy and see. I do admit that it was an obvious tourist trap, but it was a good one. They had tons of paprika, palacsinta, scarves, etc. I have to go back sometime and look more closely becuase I had to leave right away.

Then I went to have coffee with some of the other AFSers, I like coffee... Wish there was more of it. I met this girl from Sydney, Australia. Shes been here for 8 months now and knows a lot more about what the rest of the year will be like for us. There was also a girl from Finland, germany, and another from the USA there. We went to this big cafe outside of Deak ter, which has this huge park and shopping block.

Here is a picture of my class. This is the most interesting room in the building, no joke.

Het vegen hat. A istenem, az nagyon furcsa.

Well its sunday here, morning. Two days ago I went with my 'angel' as they call them here to (liason in the US) to this massive church. It was so cool! Huge and MASSIVE and very cool. We went all the way to the top and got to walk around. The view was absolutly amazing there, I could see the entirety of Budapest. I could see the same communist buildings that I mentioned when I first got here too. I guess that everyone in Budapest thinks that they are just as ugly as I do. But its very interesting. There is a great expanse of old building and squares and statures, then row after row of gray rectangles out in the distance.

But anyway, it was an amazing view. We sat on the steps after and had tiramisu, I've never had that before I don't think. Its so amazing to think, hey, I'm in Budapest having tiramisu on the steps of some ancient building. Yeah, it was pretty awesome.

Yesterday we went to Szekesfehervar again. I got to pick loads of black eyes peas, but I didn't get the chance to shell them because we went to watch my host sister ride a horse for a minute and that turned in to all day. I met this 10 year old boy who was hysterical. He has a load of horses and the tinyest little kitty (cica). When Mira got back we went for a bike ride. Or I guess that I should say I went for a bicycle ride, they went for a motercycle ride... through the forest. Its very diffucult to keep up to motercycles when you are on a bike. And I did feel a bit like Harry Potter in the side car. But it was ok. I can say that I didn't polute the environment.

We got back pretty late last night, Budapest is very cool to drive through at night. OK, sziastok!

Boldog Sulinapot JP!

-Veronica

Guess what, it's Friday again and I am again sitting in a computer class with nothing to do. But thats ok. Good start to the day.

Ive been working on a project for math class most of the week, Mr. Burke and dad know all about that. I had to present on math history in the USA and you wouldnt believe how hard it is to find decent information about the US without dragging in some other country, Japan and Germany predominantly. But its done now so I don't have to work on it any more. I guess that it was kind of interesting. I got to make a whole bunch of posters in Hungarian.

Today I am going for pizza, if it doesnt get rescheduled again. Strange to think of all of the food that I haven't had since I left. There are lots of other foods though. I dont remember if I have mentioned all of them.

Poggacsa is my favorite
Alma
Garlic cheese
Onion and tomato soup
tea
AND CEREAL, its amazing here

We might be going to Szekesfehervar again tomorrow. Hope its not to cold out.

I am going to try to take some pictures today to post when I get the chance, and maybe a movie, I found out that my camera takes movies with sound. I think I will try to get one of my class. They are pretty cool. Ok, Viszlat

-Ve

Kulcs

Today was pretty good, or i guess that I should say yesterday (its just past midnight here.

We did indeed go to Szekesfehervar today. And I finally figured out what that word means.

Szek -chair

+es -throne

feher - white

var - castle

or, the white castle where the kings are crowned. Pretty long name for a city don't you think?

So we didn't pick much paprika, we picked grapes. Grapes, grapes, grapes. Lots. There were lots of wasps in them, I got stung. But oh well. After Mira and I got to squish them in this ancient grape squishing gysmo. It was great! Then we got to drink some. It was kind of like condenced grape juice. I guess I can tell how much water is in the grape juice we buy at the store now.

They made gulas for lunch in one of those giant outside cauldrons. Very awesome. Heres a picture.

When we got back I went to one of the other afser's birthday party. Well, it was her

host sister's birthday party and hers. Which meant that there were lots of Hungarian people. Getting there was quite the production. I think I'm getting better with the public transport. Yay I love it! As long as I know exactly where I'm going I can do it.

Heres a picture of the hat I made. Yes, it is a bit big. But its warm and green and black so its all good.

Penték

I am again in computer class with nothing to do. So íi think that íi will tell you about my week here. And wasn't it an interesting one.

I finally found a yarn shop, the fourth sewing shop that i went into had yarn. I made it to this one called 'Woolly' one day after school, but they didn1t have anything made of wool, lots and lots of rope, but no yarn. But I finally got some green and black yarn and I made a hat with it last night. I have a picture of it on Mira's head that I will post later. Going to make a scarf with it some time soon. Hasn't been that cold here yet really though, so no rush.

I am going to matyas church tonight with my AFS 'angel' Ensci and possbly a girl from Thailand. But I haven1t heard from her yet. Another girl from Germany was supposed to come too but she can1t make it. But I might see her tomorrow.

So yesterday was interesting. I was in Math when all of a sudden the teacher started to gesture at me to come to the froont of the class. I did, and then they started to ask me questions ablut Casco Bay High School and what was different. I think that I might have freaked them out a bit. They didn1t really understand the idea of expeditionary learning. They all think that I'm very strange anyways. Yeah, school here is SO strange when compared to CBHS, lots more sitting and listening for hours. Its very strange and abnormal for me. Its ok though, the people are nice at least.

We are going to Székesfehérvár on Saturday mabye. To harvest the rest of the paprika from Mira1s grandpa's garden.

I'm very glad that it is Friday, I'm excited for this sleep idea. Hope everything in the US doesn't go into a depression... that would be bad.

Ve

Zarva

Yesterday we went to a wine festival up at the castle.






















In front of parlaiament.



































The most hysterical felt hats in the world! They were amazing!

The AFS picnic on Margit Island.

Szeptember hat - tiz

This is a picture that I took of the parliament on night when we went for a walk on the Buda side of the Danube.

Me in Hungary.

Going to the bus stop.

Lots of stairs in the building.

A LONG HALLWAY at school.

The lions on the Chain Bridge!

These are pictures that I took while coming back from an AFS meeting in Budapest last night.

I am sitting in computer class right now. I don't really know what we are supposed to be doing, everyone is just doing whatever... Nem ertem. Oh well, hope the first day of CBHS is fun!!!

Kosonom Szepen, the phrase of the day

INFO- MY BLOG IS NOW PUBLIC

The adress is http://vesvoyage.blogspot.com/

Today I got half a library card! it was very complicated, I was with this girl who speaks english but the woman behind the counter didn't and I had to run back and forth from the cloak room to get id's. So now I am allowed to go into the library, use the internet, and photo copy. But not check out books which is weird, I don't really know why.

My favorite hungarian saying right now is Nem Ertem, which means I don't understand. I use it quite frequently in fact.

Oh YEAH! I forgot, something totally out of the ordinary for me (but not for Hungarians) happened yesterday afternoon! The neighbor kids down stairs found a Greman grenade from WWII in the back yard! They called the police and they came and inspected it. Mira and I got a picture, hopefully I will be able to post it. But it was very strange. No one was like WOW, or thought it the least bit strange. I guess they find explosives all of the time around here. But weird, so many years later to still be finding grenades lying in a modern backyard behind an old wall.

Today was also my first PE class, or tesi, which I think sound very funny. It wasn't at all like a PE class I have ever had. We ran around in circles for a while and then played volleyball for a few minutes. No ultimate frissbee at all. Strange. But I got to meet more people from another class there. They all try to speak english and it is very cool to listen to the different accents they put on things.

Last night Szilvia and I went to a supermarket. I'm still getting used to all of the strange things there. Milk and eggs are not refrigerated, there are aisles or sour cream, and you have to put a coin in the cart if you want to use it.

After I got back from the library (I didn't get lost today!) I went to the post office and bought a student card. It should come in a couple of days and it will make everything easier. I have lots of id's in my bag right now.

Classes are starting to pick up. Lots to do and not much time. I am in the appartement right now, Mira should be back any second now. We are going to make fried zuccinni, which is good if it's cooked all of the way. We made fried 'pumpkin' (though it was a squash) last night, there is still so much left but it was SO good. I sugest that you try it. Just make sure that you don't make the peices to thick because it doesn't cook otherwise. It was just a fine layer of flour, egg, and a layer of corn meal I think. It was very good. Yeah, there is so much new food here, lots of it is recognisable but with twists. Like yesterday some people had pasta for luch and there were great bottles of ketsup that everyone put on their pasta. Furcsa. (strange)

This is a picture of my host sister, Mira! We are in our study room doing homework and things.

So I started school three days ago and it is so different from school at home. Its fun though, we sit around and talk a lot so I have gotten to know many people. I have one group of students for my class and I have all of my classes with them. I have lots of new classes too! I can take drama, singing, dance, computer class, and two french classes. Very cool! The school is very large though, I keep getting lost wherever I go, but its ok.

Yeah, I get lost on the public transport a lot too. But I LOVE IT! Now that I have a monthly pass all that I have to do is walk up to a subway, bus, or tram and get on it. I take a bus and subway (which they call a metro, not subway) to school.

Yesterday was also my first Magyar lesson from AFS. I got kind of lost in Deli station for a while, but I walked into another American AFSer and he was with his host brother so we got to the AFS headquarters.

I went to an anime shop right next to my school yesterday, and it had Miyazaki things! It was very exciting to see. Today my whole class went to buy books after school, there are so many places to go in Budapest!

Ok, so I'm not so sick anymore which is great, all of the afsers had something, but anyways. I'm having a good time here, hope the US is fun!!!

-Vera

Which a lot of people call me.

This is a wax exhibit in the castle.

This is the crown!!! Cool!

This is a picture of the castle in Szentendre where the crown is located.

This is a picture of the Danube.

More pictures from the open air museum.

Open Air Museum

This is a picture from an open air museum in Szentendre, I went with another AFS exchange student who is from Thailand and his host parents. There were buildings from 'different time periods' that were very cool to go into. Yes that is paprika drying on the beams.