November 27, 2010: Snow in Budapest!

November 27, 2010: This morning I woke up to see snow covering the buildings, trees, and ground below me. It is a bit cold outside so I expect that the snow may last for the day at least.

first snow in Budapest as seen from my apartment window

After tending to my household chores, I contacted David who had invited me over this weekend. He invited me over for lunch so I headed on over to his apartment. He served an omelet type dish Hungarian style -- red peppers, onions, and tomatoes cooked with bacon pieces into which he mixed scrambled eggs. It was very tasty with a crusty bread and Tokaj wine -- perfect for a snowy day. We talked much of the afternoon before I headed home because he had a concert to go to this evening. 


I guess I forgot to include another amusing episode teaching yesterday. One of the units the students must be familiar with is how to describe a kitchen and compare a Hungarian kitchen with an American one. In going over the different appliances we have in an American kitchen, I mentioned the trash compactor and defined it as best I could. One of the boys in one of my more lively classes rose his hand and told me that in Hungary, they don't need such appliances because Hungarian men are so strong they could easily compact trash as well as an American trash compactor. So, in one of my lapses of better judgment, I challenged the student to demonstrate this to me. Without a moment's notice, the student took from his knapsack a plastic bottle that was half filled with water, he unscrewed the bottle top and proceeded to chug all the water down in one fell swoop. After finishing he let out a big belch and then crushed the plastic bottle with his hands showing me a neatly folded plastic square in his hands. Of course absolute pandemonium resulted from this and I never completely regained control of the class before the bell rang two minutes later. Unfortunately for him, after releasing the plastic square, it opened up again to become a bottle, but he made his point!