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The prices of American products in Hungary continue to amaze me! Today, while in the drug store I checked out the makeup selection. A Loreal blush, which is normally $10.95 (according to lorealparisusa.com) costs an amazing $22 here in Hungary! This is only one example of the high prices American goods are sold for.

While some goods are extremely over priced (American brands and electronics especially) everyday necessary items are extremely inexpensive (by American standards). A loaf of fresh bread and a dozen eggs cost an average of $1 each. Flour and milk are even cheaper, at about 50 cents each!!

Bike Riding Over Europe

Bike riding over Europe...well not exactly...but we have been enjoying riding our new bikes all over Pápa! Riding bikes through town has provided us with a new perspective of the town and has lead us to different parts of town that we actually had not yet been to!

We have discovered the train station, numerous factories, and what seems to be the high school (which up to this point we thought was a different building). We had read that the high school was in the old, large, yellow college. There is an old yellow building near Vickis, which we had assumed was the high school, but after riding near the train station and seeing a different large old, yellow building, we now think we have found the high school. It is amazing that we have been here for 7 months and are still discovering new things in town.

This is an appropriate time to discuss what we have learned about the school system in Hungary. Students go to school, Mon through Fri, only for as long as it takes them to finish their work for that day. Once their daily work has been completed, they are free to go home. They are not allowed to return to school that day. Most children, from what we have heard, go home before lunch. Some children go to school for specific subjects such as English, math, etc. and are done for the day. This cleared up a lot of confusion on our part. At all times of the day, we see children walking the streets all through town. We did not understand why they were not in school, we now do.

New Years

New Years is a huge celebration in Hungary! Special decorations, horns, costumes, and wigs are for sale to help bring the new year in. There are also a number of firework stands.

New Years Eve was very loud with fireworks consistently being set off from about 4pm to well after midnight. We could hear people shouting and celebrating. Both of our neighbors had parties and we could the American music coming from inside of their homes. At midnight the sky lit up with a terrific display of fireworks, from all directions.

Traditional Hungarian New Years customs include the following:

Burning a straw man will do away with all things bad from the previous year

Do not sew or do laundry on New Years Day it's bad luck

Wash your face with cold water in the morning for health all year

Kiss your significant other at midnight

These are just a few of the traditions...Hungarians definitely know how to celebrate the New Year!

Cakovec, Croatia

We took a day road trip, yesterday, to Cakovec, Croatia. It took us less than 2 hours to get there, we stayed on back roads which were wide open. Croatia does not have an open border with Hungary, so we had to stop at the border and show our passports. The Croatian officer was very excited when he saw our American passports. He got a big smile on his face and said, “Ok, yes, America!” He asked if we were on holiday and we said we were. We crossed into Croatia and entered the town of Crakovec within minutes.

The landscape was obviously very similar to Hungary, being right on the border, though the structures were different. Hungary is known for its baroque style architecture. Croatia, at least what we saw, did not share this characteristic.

We drove into town which had many people walking the cold streets. Though it had not snowed in a few days, piles of snow lined the streets in the below freezing temperatures. A large farmers market was active in the city centre. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch but realized that we had no Croatian money and did not know the exchange rate. We laughed at ourselves for being unprepared and decided we would get lunch when we drove back into Hungary.

We explored the town a bit before heading back into Hungary. It was a short trip…we had to get back home because AirFrance had finally found dad’s luggage! His three bags, which had been lost since one week before Christmas, had finally been shipped to the Vienna Airport. We needed to get home to receive the delivery of them!

Since our Christmas presents are on their way, we plan on having a second Christmas. What a beautiful holiday season!!

Merry Christmas

We celebrated a wonderful Christmas in Hungary. Against Hungarian tradition, which involves putting the Christmas tree up on Christmas eve, we put ours up one week early. At the farmers market, on a snowy day, we found a beautiful tree for 4500 forint (about $20). With luck we also found a stand for a couple of bucks at the market. Dusty carried the tree home and trimmed the trunk with a hatchet, to allow the tree to fit into the stand. After placing the tree in the house, we enjoyed the thick pine smell all evening. The pine needles are extremely sharp, and small pine cones are growing throughout the branches.

The next day we went to Tesco in order to purchase some ornaments. It is tradition in Hungary to decorate the tree with edible ornaments. We bought beautiful Christmas balls, made entirely of chocolate! After additionally buying a strand of lights and some tinsel, we set off back home to decorate our Hungarian Christmas tree.

I embroidered our names on some stockings and hung them on the stair railing. I also embroidered some other Christmas decorations for the house. We baked all week, before Christmas, and enjoyed some snowy days.

That same week, Dad got stuck at CDG airport in Paris for 2 days, on his way back from California. When he finally made it home, his bags didn't make it with him. Unfortunately, the airline "misplaced" all three of his suitcases! All of the Christmas presents, from the states, are in those bags. We are still waiting for the airline for find the baggage. This is the 3rd year in a row that AirFrance has lost his luggage at Christmas time!

The three of us enjoyed a small Christmas, exchanging some Hungarian gifts, listening to Christmas music and enjoying each others company. Dad made a fantastic Christmas breakfast, and Dusty and I prepared leg of lamb for dinner. For dessert, we enjoyed home-made custard pie and tapioca pudding. Christmas was made complete by the light snow that fell all day.

Merry White Christmas!!

Christmas Market in Budapest

We drove to Budapest and visited the Christmas Market in Vörösmarty tér, the main square downtown Buda. The drive to Budapest was beautiful. The hills along side the highway were covered in snow. The streets of Buda were lined with beautiful Christmas lights and large Christmas trees. The market was full of wooden pavilions selling crafts, jewelry, leather and traditional food and drinks. Children were singing traditional Hungarian Christmas songs and people filled the streets drinking warm wine. Warm wine is a Christmas tradition in this region of Europe.

On the down side, the prices of all the goodies were double those in Pápa, and the market was much smaller than we expected. Vienna hosts a very large Christmas market. so we need to head there if we want to visit a larger one!

All in all, the market had a nice, Christmas atmosphere, and we enjoyed ourselves!

Christmas Season

Christmas time in Hungary is absolutely beautiful! There is snow on the ground and people all over town. For the local Pápa Christmas market, wooden booths are set up downtown where traditional hot drinks and food are sold. Dusty and I enjoy the hot chocolate, which is actually hot chocolate pudding served in a cup.

The weather has been very cold and snow fell for a week straight. Yesterday, the snow on the ground, turned to pure ice! We slipped a few times but still made it downtown for a cup of hot chocolate!

Yesterday, Dec. 6th, is the day the Hungarian children are visited by Santa. The children leave shoes on their window sills, and Santa puts small gifts into them. Dec. 25th is the day in which the Hungarians celebrate the birth of Christ.

Dusty and I are planning to visit a couple of large Christmas markets, maybe in Slovakia, Austria, or our own capital of Budapest.