Happy Thanksgiving from Hungary

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. After compiling all of the ingredients necessary for an authentic American Thanksgiving meal, we spent the day cooking! In Hungary, whole turkeys can only be found in the stores at Christmas time, so we improvised and baked a beautiful turkey breast. More creativity came when making the yams...there are no yams here. So, we baked a fresh gourd and added the ingredients that would be in a yam casserole and we had a kinda-like-yam casserole....very delicious! We made a wonderful raspberry, apple salad, my Grandma's stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a relish tray. For dessert we enjoyed apple strudel and pumpkin pie!! We enjoyed spending the day together cooking, and then a beautiful dinner as a family. Happy Thanksgiving from Hungary!

Futbol

Dad took us to the local soccer (futbol) game last night. Pápa played a very good team from Budapest. There was a huge turn out for the game at the local stadium which is right next to the water park. Vendors were selling scarves, hats, coffee mugs, etc. Everyone bought a scarf to show support for the team.

It was a very cool evening and the forecast is actually predicting the first snow some time this week. We all bundled up but were beginning to feel cold in the second half.

The other team, like I said, is very good. Pápa held on for awhile, but once the Budapest team scored their first goal, it was all over. They continued to score again and again. We chose to beat the crowd and leave before the game had fully completed. The score was already 5-0, so we didn’t plan on missing Pápa’s big comeback! Lol

Many others had the same idea, so we were definitely not the only people to leave early. As we drove home we saw the downtown was already very busy. I suspect that game nights bring out a lot of people who then go out downtown following the game.

It was nice to see so much of the town coming out to support the local team. This was actually our second time watching the Pápa team play. A few weeks ago we went to Gyor to watch the game. The Pápa and Gyor teams were much better matched and that was a very close game with Pápa winning 1-0. Last night though, the team gave it their best. It was a fun night. :)

Archeological Dig-Digs up History

The local Pápa newspaper (which I translated), published an article on the archaeological dig outside of the Great Church. Here is what we have found out.

Archaeologists have discovered a cellar dating back to the Avar Period, in 670 AD. According to my own research, the Avar Period existed within the time period known as The Great Migration, or The Dark Ages, following the fall of the Roman Empire. (Zeljko Zidaric, "The Great Migration-The Dark Ages").

The artifacts found around the cellar however, date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. It was during this time in history, that Hungary founded the state of Hungary and converted to Christianity. In 1000 AD, Hungary's first King was crowned, King Stephen. King Stephen was canonized in 1083, and is still celebrated to this day (hungary-tourism-guide.com).

The upper layers of the dig, mainly consisted of the skeletal remains of children from the 17th and 18th century, from a civilian cemetery. All skeletal remains have been taken to the Varvara county museum for further examination. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Hungary was freed from the Turks but then became apart of the Habsburg Empire in which they fought an unsuccessful war for independence from 1703-11. It was also during this time that Hungary saw a large flow of migration from Germans, Croatians, Slovakians, and Romanians (hungary-tourism-guide.com).

Digging has expanded in order to look for more underground buildings. The new digging next to the Griff Hotel, across the street from the Great Church, has revealed remnants of a fountain.

The archaeologists are calling this sight an archaeological phenomena. Unfortunately for investors however, this phenomenal find has pushed back the restoration plans for downtown. Originally, plans were to begin construction at the end of November. It now appears that the archaeological dig will continue until at least next spring.

Update on the Dig

The archaeologists are continuing to dig in front of the Catholic Church, downtown Pápa. There have been no new discoveries. The digging has expanded however, and they are now digging on the other side of the main road as well.

A Hungarian Halloween

Halloween has not traditionally been celebrated in Hungary, though with the increasingly growing Western influence of the West, the celebration is slowly beginning to trickle into the country. A few stores carry jack-o-lantern decorations and witches, and Tesco has large carving pumpkins for sale.

We purchased a couple small bags of candy, just in case we had a few rouge Trick-or-Treaters. In addition, we found it necessary to buy a pumpkin, carve it and place it on the porch! Six pm rolled around and we thought for sure that we were not going to get any trick-or-treaters. Then, the door bell rang! We opened the door to find 3 boys, around 10, on their bicycles beginning to ride away. When they heard the door open they stopped. We all just starred at each other. The boys, who were not wearing costumes, said to us, “Halloween.” We said, “Yes, Halloween.” They responded, “Cukor,” which means sugar. I popped back into the house and grabbed 3 small Snickers and handed each boy a candy bar. They thanked me, in Hungarian, and took off. Those 3 brave boys were our only candy seekers for the entire Halloween evening.

We settled in for the night and enjoyed a big steak dinner with baked potato, garlic bread, veggies and paprika salad. Our marathon of scary movies continued and we eventually called it a night.

What a Halloween LOL!