Farewell Europe » Hungary By korossyl June 18th 2007 No, I'm not leaving. This weekend I attended the Kövesdi Búcsú -- the "Farewell" in Mezőkövesd, a small town that's famous for being the home of the Matyó people, who form one of Hungary's most recognizable culture groups. Anyways, this was some sort of Catholic festival -- I'm still not entirely clear on the concept, but it has something to do with the Cult of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (cult is their word -- "kultusz" -- not mine!). Anyways, there was a giant open-air Mass, followed by the archbishop's parade, followed by a [View Full Entry]

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Adventures in Gastronomy! Europe » Hungary By korossyl June 8th 2007 I love my life, and what I'm studying, and what I'm hoping to do with it. But if I had another life to live, I think I'd be a priest (well, and Catholic). And if I had another one... an airline pilot... and if I had a fourth, I'd be a master chef. Maybe even before airline pilot? Who knows... I suppose, ultimately, it doesn't really matter all that much... But being in Hungary has allowed me to indulge in this (perhaps) tertiary passion to a degree I have neither the time [View Full Entry]

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So, I'm getting pretty homesick. For Hungary. It's made all the worse by the fact that I am in Hungary. This isn't the Hungary that I'm homesick for, though. I was listening to some music from the 50s and 60s... Karady Katalin, Boros Ida, Ratonyi Robert... songs about Budapest, and home, and the homeland... It's all gone. What happens you enslave a nation for 40 years, systematically breaking down every institution and belief and value, and then all of a sudden free it, and then expect it to rebuild itself like magic? What happens when you try to rebuild a [View Full Entry]

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The Fortress of Eger Europe » Hungary » Eger By korossyl May 25th 2007 I'm pretty much living a dream. In 1552, 2,000 Hungarians under the command of Capt. István Dobó engaged the Turkish forces under bashas Ali and Ahmed. When the Turks retreated 30 days later, there were 400 Hungarian martyred... and 140,000 Turks killed. This is one of the most glorious victories in Hungarian history, and was immortalized in a novel by Géza Gárdonyi that has since become required reading in all Hungarian school. This book was pivotal in my own awakening to my Hungarian heritage, and to work day by day [View Full Entry]

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The Glorious City Europe » Hungary » Budapest By korossyl May 23rd 2007From 05/17-05/20 I had the privilege of being a guest in Budapest, the Pearl of the Danube, the Glorious City, the Cradle of Civilization... I chose to take some rather non-standard tours of the city, so there's not many photos of interest to the regular sight-seer. For those, I suggest trying here . [View Full Entry]

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Eger Europe » Hungary » Eger By korossyl May 23rd 2007So, on 05/21 I made it to Eger, and on 05/23 I went on a photo expedition. Unfortunately, I also got pretty tired of uploading photos to this blog, so it's good I didn't take more. The fortress itself, the interiors of some the churches, some more general landscape shots, etc. will be forthcoming. [View Full Entry]

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