above the clouds everything is clear

As December was rolling in, the main thing that was on my mind was: how does this Christmas business go down in Hungary? Unfortunatly I will tell you about that next time around because this Christmas I spent in Esberg Denmark!

Ok, ok, the beginning of the story goes as such: I was due to switch host families on December the fifteenth and I didnt fancy too much spending the Christmas season with strangers, so with some help from back home we got it worked out and I went up to Christian McNeils house up in Denmark for the holidays. At first I was only planning on staying there for Christmas then coming back to Budapest for New Years but Christian told me right away, if I am going all the way up there I have GOT to be in Denmark for New Years. So miraculously we worked everything out and I had my plane ticket booked for Copenhagen!


Backing up, on the fifteenth of December I had all of my worldly belongings packed and I was off to the Kálmáns house. I went from living in a house with two people (me and the host mum) to living in a family with seven people and one giant dog (mum-Kata, dad-István, sister-Kata, sister-Zita, sister-Shannon (also a Rotary exchange student from USA), brother-Bence, giant, huge dog-Ceaser). Needless to say, I loved the change. A full house is just so much fun, and this particular household is very busy. The family is originally from Zenta Serbia, but they moved the 50 kilometers to Szeged when bombs started to rain down in March of 1999. Along with many other things, this family believes in keeping ones culture alive and expression. They choose to do so through dance and music. Every member of the family can play multiple instruments and the house is full of random instruments. Many instruments that are unique to a specific culture and are not widely known. It is amazingly interesting and I wish that I had more time in this house to learn an instrument or two before I leave. All members of the family are also in folk dancing and when they arent in lessons, most days of the week they are at a folk concert or folk dancing party. I will have to get some pictures of them dancing becuase it is a dance unlike anything that I have ever seen before. It involves alot of jumping and lots of clapping. Clapping your hands against your chest, thighs, stomach, feet, just about everything. From what I have seen it involves a whole lot of cooridination and memory. I dont know if I would be up to learning it!


Just about as soon as I moved in I had to pack up my bags again. This time to go to Vienna Austria! This was a trip organized by Rotary for all of the Hungarian exchange students and it was an extreme amount of fun! There are 45 (ish) exchange students here and when we all get together it is a guaranteed good time. First us five exchange students from Szeged trained up to Budapest where we met up with all of the exchange students then we hopped on a bus for Gyor. We go for a little sight-seeing trip around the city, but we didnt see much becuase we went at night, but we appreciated it all the same! We spent the night in a sort of youth hostel. And if you have never travelled with a group of friends before, the nights where you are stuck in some grundgy under-cleaned-hostel are just as much fun as the days spent in gorgeous antique cities. The next morning we woke at the crack of dawn to head out for the Austrian border.

We entered into Vienna around ten in the morning and after a quick, short guided tour around St. Stephens Cathedral and the "stephansdom" area we were left on our own until five when we were to catch the bus to go back to Budapest. Not the greatest way for a bunch of teenagers to really experience and learn the in-depth culture and history of a great city, but probably the best way to ensure that we all had a great fun time. Laura and I (no surprise) lost the group about five minutes after we were allowed to split up and we spent the time in together exploring Vienna. Together we wandered into some really cool places. One of the best I think was the little shopping market next to the Art University. All of the clothing and accesories and paintings and everything else artsy was one of a kind and made by the University students. Very cool. Although I think the only thing that I bought there was a very very good bowl of soup (it was a wee chilly outside). The shame of it is that I saw a whole lot of really impressive looking statues and monuments and buildings...and I have no idea what they were or what they represented. But if anyone is heading to Vienna, I can recommend the hot wine and the art universities market. Other than that, wander to your liking!

At five oclock we all met outside of St. Stephens Cathedral to wait for our bus. And we waited. And waited. We waited two and a half hours for this bus. Originally the plan was for us to get into Budapest around eight oclock and attend a Christmas party that Rotary was putting on for us. By the time we got there it was after eleven and by the time we ate our dinner it was around one. Beginning of a great night.


Three days after I returned to Hungary, I was off again for Denmark. I had tried to purchase my train ticket from Copenhagen to Esbjerg on the internet but I couldnt figure it out (it was all in Danish), so Christian (he came to McMurray two years ago on Rotary exchange) bought it then emailed me saying that all I had to do was print out the attached information and that would be my ticket. I looked at the attached text and I was thinking to myself that it was the funniest looking ticket I had ever seen. It looked like all text and I didnt see numbers anywhere. But I thought 'Hrm! Its Denmark, who knows how they do things over there!' So I printed off my 'ticket' and headed out. My trip started with a 7:45 train from Szeged to Budapest then a bus to the airport (I am still amazed I got there alright). The wait in the airport wasnt too bad, then on the airplane (which was delayed until five oclock) I was sitting next to a Hungarian who moved to Denmark fifteen years ago and only spoke Hungarian and Danish. So I had to trust to my Hungarian skills to get me through the plane ride. On the plane I learned that he was also taking the same train as me, for just a short trip. But he said that he would be able to help me out anyways. After finding the train station we got our seats and relaxed until the ticket lady comes around. This is where my trip turned from normal to an adventure.

As soon as she reached for my ticket you could see the look on her face change. She knew that it wasnt right. She took one look at it then said what Im guessing was 'dårlig' which means not good. It turns out that in all of that mysteriuos danish text attached to the email was a danish link to the website that I was supposed to go to to print off my train ticket. But I did not see it as it was in the middle of a page of danish text and was in danish itself. Clearly she thought that I was trying to rip off the system and that I should be punished for doing so. I was feeling like the stupidest tourist ever. Becuase trusting that everything would go as planned (and just generally not thinking too much at all) I hadnt changed any money into krones. I had euros, canadian dollars and forints on me, but I had a feeling that they would be useless. Meanwhile my hungarian/danish friend was speaking rapid danish to the ticket inspector explaining to her that I was an exchange student and that I just did not see the link and that you can see in the text that I did pay with a credit card for the ticket. After a little while she gave in and stamped my ticket and told me to get off and buy a valid ticket at Fredericia which is where I was to transfer trains to Esbjerg. My Hungarian friend got off at a stop before Fredericia but he assured me that everything would be just fine.

We pull into the station and I have my huge travel backpack on and I am completly wide eyed. I decide to follow the locals as they at least seemed to know where they were going. I find myself in an underground train station, where, seeing as it was ten oclock, everything was closed. The ticket office was closed.

Here I once again get the now familiar feeling of being a stupid-north-american-tourist. I dont know where in the coutry I am, I have no local currency, my cell phone battery is almost dead and I have to go pee (the washroom was closed). That is when I see the little automatic ticket machine, where you put in money or a card and you get a ticket out! Genious!! So I select my route and insert my visa card aaaaannnndddd...no dice. It will not accept it. I insert my bank card aaaaaaannnndddd...still not my day. Will not accept it. For kicks I insert my hungarian bank card and to no surprise it did not work. At this point I am really considering finding a hostel somewhere and trying to work things out for the next day. I step outside the station and it is pitch black outside and there are no street lights anywhere and it looks like it is a bit out of the city. I went quickly back inside.

I see a little corner store and I head for that. I go up to the cashier and I ask him if he speaks english. Like most Danes (I found out) he definatly did speak english-and quite good english I might add, a nice change from Hungary. I ask him if he can take money out of my bank card for me. After him telling me that he could only if I bought something I grab the closest thing (which happened to be gummi bears made by a famous danish confectioner). He swiped my card through the machine a few times, each time his eye brows getting closer and closer together then told me it wasnt working.

I just looked at him. I must have had quite the look on my face because he just reached into the till and handed me the money and gave me the gummi bears. I just stood there. He said, go back to the machine and put the money into it then take your train.

I could have kissed him.


The rest of the journey passed without too much excitment (at this point that was definatly a good thing).

The first thing I noticed about Denmark was efficiency. I was impressed. After spending a prolonged time in one country I wasnt noticing some of the finer aspects of society. Being in Denmark taught me alot about Hungary. In Hungary many people are so caught up in the past that it is difficult for them to look forward to the future. The whole attitude of Denmark was different, everyone there is itching to move forward and they are focused and making it happen. Even the Hungarian national anthem is a solemn ode to the past battles won and lost. Needless to say it was refreshing to spend some time in Denmark.


Christmas caught up with me very quickly. It seemed like every day we went to some aunt or uncles house for christmas lunch. I learned to come very hungry to these and to be prepared to eat for hours. It lasts for about 4 or 5 hours and the host brings out waves and waves of hors d'oeuvres where the danish open faced sandwich was prominant.


Christmas eve we had a great huge Chistmas dinner, in which I will have you know, did not include vegetables. Mostly ham, duck and three different kinds of potatoes (including potatoe chips). Very tasty, just not what I imagined I would have for Christmas dinner. After supper we moved into the living room where we sang carols (THEY sang carols in danish, I just laughed) and danced around the Christmas tree. After a couple carols we began with the presents. Then we moved BACK into the kitchen and ate another supper. And another dessert.


On New Years I found myself on the way to a house party and from that morning of the 31st fire works were going off steady. It didnt seem to matter that you cant really see them in the middle of the day. Around midnight the entire sky was lit up for hours. It was awesome. So loud though!!


Back in Hungary now, I have been racking up the list of amazingly useful skills that I am aquiring (previously on this list is hip hop dancing, waltzing, and learning Hungarian). The newest addition is learning to unicycle! I was sitting outside and I look up and see my host brother wheeling around the backyard. It only took my falling on my bum four times for me to be able to wheel about five feet. THAT is progress.


The other weekend I crossed the fifty kilometers to Zenta Serbia with my host family and I had one of the most interesting and unusual times. The change from Hungary to this tiny old town was great. We went back in time when we entered the town and here I was walking to the market with my host mum and we went to the dairy lady who she has been buying her fresh cheese and milk from ever since she was a little girl. It was great. It took us over an hour to get all of the ingredients for lunch becuase everyone knows each other. Despite us being in Serbia, everywhere we
went everyone spoke Hungarian. Everyone there has lived through being discriminated against becuase they are all Hungarians who found themsleves being caught on the wrong side of an invisible line called a border when the treaty of trianon was drawn up in 1920. If you ask anyone what their nationality is, they will say without hesitation that they are Hungarian, although they live in an area that has been called Serbia since 2003 and before that five different versions of Yugoslavia. But still, they are doubtlessly Hungarian. And they always will be.

On Saturday to my surprise another Canadian was a guest in my host families house. This was Jean Beliveau, from Montreal who decided in 2000 to walk around the world to promote "Peace and non-violence to the profit of the children of the world". He has been currently walking for seven years and he celebrated his 40 000 kilometer walking in Hungary. Beliveau happened to meet my host sister in Szeged when he was passing through and she invited him to spend the night in Zenta when he passed through Serbia. We all ate supper together and planned out the next stage of his trip (his route through Serbia and then on to Bulgaria. As we were talking that night my host brother asked him if he could walk the next day with him to the next town. The next day found me walking the 20-odd kilometers to Ada with Jean Beliveau, my host brother and my host dad. One of the most interesting days I have ever had. You dont realize how much thinking one person does when all they have been doing for the past seven years is walking alone across the world. It was the most interesting five hours. So I am watching for him in March of 2012 which is when he is planning to be in Vancouver for the last stage of his walk. If you want to learn more about his amazing guy his website is www.wwwalk.org

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