Speaking on behalf of the teachers, the hospitality has been great. It turns out that one of the teachers involved in the exchange had just purchased a new apartment, and after some nudging on her part to get furniture delivered on time, we've got a beautiful two bedroom aparment to stay in!The photo on the left is the living room, which is actually where I'm sleeping (the couch on the right pulls out).
The second photo is a view of downtown Salgótarján from our window.The place is small by comparison to American apartments, but very efficient and totally comfortable: a single person who wanted an extra study, or a couple--even with a child--could live here quite comfortably.
Our hosts have of course been very generous with food. Last night we had an enormous dinner at a local restaurant/bar (what in Germany we would have called a stube) consisting of various friend and grilled meats (including turkey--yay!), a fried cheese square, rice, vegetables, french fries, and of course glasses of cold Hungarian beer (we're over 21, students, so just put those snarky comments back where they came from). For dessert they served an odd but delicious combination of sponge cake, raisins, walnuts, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.
We returned to our apartment, and this a.m. we had a terrific breakfast from the well-stocked refrigerator: yogurt, cereal, toast with butter and jam, cheese; there's also a selection of sliced deli meats, rye bread, and a variety of juices (pear, orange, and one labeled "High C" that appears to be fortified orange juice). (This breakfast is so like the breakfasts I had in Germany, although the cereals were different: I had "caramel corn flakes", and Ms. Folk had a mixture of "honey O's" and "Cinnamon Squares", with no muesli anywhere I could see.)
Students: what did you have for dinner and breakfast? Any surprises? Let us know!
2 comments:
The first day I was around, we had a Hungarian meaty-paprikay-chopped-up-noodly thing with these tiny pickles that was intensely delicious for dinner. My breakfast story so far has just been one massive hamburger (filled with all sorts of goodies along the lines of paprika, Hungarian ketchup (it's almost but not quite completely unlike American ketchup), and onions) with some cherry tea on the side.
My house family has been extrememly hospitable to me regarding food. When I arrived I informed Balínt (my host student) that I would be willing to break my vegetarism and eat some meat. He then relayed this message to his mother, but thus far everything I have been feed has been without meat.
After hearing how many students are eating strange(but tasty) meat driven dishes such as roasted chicken stuffed with pork, I can't help but feel lucky.
THe school in Salgótárjan has even had their cooks prepare vegetarian meals exclusively for me. Meanwhile our school has not even incorporated vegetarian options in all lunches for the significant vegetarian (or other meat restrictive diet) population.
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