Back to Work...and Play

The clouds cleared and the storm passed, which meant that we were back to work today again. Breakfast is getting quite monotonous, so I bought some Hungarian Honey Smacks cereal at the CBA grocery store in town to "spice" it up a bit. Our workday consisted of screwing in more plywood/OSB to the wood frame on top of the structure. Again, we ended up over screwing and the telltale sign was the fact that we ran out of screws before the end of the scheduled workday. The weather conditions were perfect, sunny but not scorching, breezy but not windy. By the time noon rolled around, my stomach was growling and ready for the biggest meal of the day.

My teammates and I have learned that variety is lacking in the Hungarian diet, or at least based on our meal experiences at the Bolgogh Pension. Lunch began with another brothy, chicken stock-based soup, which included peas, carrots, and mini-pasta. The main entrée was chicken paprikash (bone chicken seasoned with paprika gravy) and pasta. The fruit selection was once again watermelons.

The heat intensified during the afternoon portion of our build. But since we ran out of screws early, Peter (HFH Construction Manager) called it a day. It was already 4:45pm, so we didn’t cut the day too short. Dinner was scheduled to begin earlier than normal at 5:45pm because we had a planned team outing: wine tasting at a local winery.

After eating chicken for lunch, we all knew what to expect for dinner: pork (which they somehow always flatten to resemble the thickness of a veggie burger) with fried potatoes that looked eerily similar to super sized tator tots. The one and only surprise to our meal was the mixed green salad appetizer. Today was the first day where we were served a typical mixed salad. I was beginning to wonder if they knew what lettuce was here in Csurgo.

At 7pm, we all gathered outside of the hotel for a walking tour of Csurgo on the way to the local vineyard. It took about 10 minutes and upon arrival the owner, who by the way is also the Csurgo Deputy Mayor during his day job, greeted us. The wine cellar was located down a dark and cold brick-laden staircase. There were two long tables set out with 18 chairs, a spit pitcher (used to discard any unwanted wine), water with gas (used to rinse the glass after each tasting to prepare for the next) and a platter of cheese, bread, and peeled apples. We tasted 5 different wines (2 white and 3 red). The first white wine was similar to a Sauvignon Blanc (it was my favorite out of the 5). The second was an Italian Dry Riesling (probably my second favorite). The Merlot came out next, followed by a very carbonated-flavored Cabernet Sauvignon. To me, it tasted corked, but the owner said it was still too young at 2004 (hmmm, sounds questionable to me???). The last wine was surprisingly not made from grapes, but instead made with the popular Hungarian wild cherry. After tasting this red wine, I now know that there is a reason why the best wines are produced with grapes and not cherries. It was terrible, and that’s being nice.

As the night wore on, everyone became more vocal and animated. Wine was freely flowing at this point when many of us decided to take a self-guided tour of the cellar. At about 10:45pm, we decided we had enough (or more appropriately, the owner probably had enough) and that it was time to leave. Half of the team went to sing karaoke down the road and the other half walked back to the hotel. Since I indulged in so much bread, cheese and wine tonight, I was determined to wake up early tomorrow for a run before our day at Lake Balaton, so I was a part of the latter group. It was another productive day here in Csurgo!

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