Listen! The Wind Is Rising

Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves, we have had our summer evenings: now, for October eves!

- Humbert Wolfe

I think everyone is getting into the swing of things. The first grade kids might still be getting used to being in school, but you can’t blame them. Teaching has been going well. As expected, it was a lot easier this year than last year. Ugh, the first year was a killer. But, any first year teacher can tell you that. This doesn’t mean I’ve got everything figured out. Maybe I never will, but if I keep moving towards figuring it out, I’ll be in good shape. The 6th grade classes I teach have recently been talking about the differences in Hungarian schools and American schools. One of the classes is pictured here. There are so many differences! I’ve just now started to realize how different they are only because I destroyed everything I knew about how American schools work when I was flung into the foreign world of Hungary. It just goes to show that there is more than one way to do things.

Most Hungarians begrudgingly waved goodbye to summer, but not without setting up their bogracs (You remember those right?) in the back yard one more time for some delicious fish soup. It’s festival season, and recently there was a Tirpak festival in town. The Tirpak people actually built the big Lutheran church when they settled in Nyíregyháza many years ago. They farmed the land around the city in small settlement groups. Not only that, but these people are great at cooking! (Or, so I’ve been told.) The teacher that I live with is actually Tirpak, and I would have to agree that she is a great cook. There is a big cooking competition at this festival, and they all cook in their huge, gIgAnTiC, ENORMOUS bogracs pots. Just look at that picture! It smelled amazing all day long, and at night you couldn’t smell anything because your senses were overwhelmed with the sound of the concert (for better or for worse).

That’s one festival I went to. I also visited Melissa, a fellow MCN missionary down by Bonyhád. The festival wasn’t in her town, but nearby in Szekszárd. In fact, all of the MCN missionaries in Hungary and our one missionary from Slovakia were there. It was great to see everyone so early in the school season. We are all pictured below. We love family portrait poses. This festival was all about wine. Southern Hungary is well known internationally for their wine, and mostly their red wine. They have a few white wines, but they’re still made from red grapes. These wines are just fermented without the skins. Of course, we couldn’t leave a festival without Kürtőskalács, or chimney cake. This stuff is everywhere in Europe. I’ll blow your mind. A person will wrap a tight snake of dough around a big metal cylinder and hold it over hot coals. After the dough had been baked, sugar, cinnamon, coconut, walnut or vanilla with be sprinkled over top. The bread is pulled off of the cylinder and you are given a hot and delicious chimney-shaped cake. If a festival doesn’t have Kürtőskalács, it’s not worth going to.

This past weekend, I went to Demecser for a cabbage festival. Yes, I went to three festivals. I’m not really that fond of cabbage, but I went anyway (mostly for the Kürtőskalács). Hungary is also known for its stuffed cabbage. It’s kind of like at home when mom makes stuffed peppers, but a cabbage wrap replaces the pepper. Thankfully, the area of Hungary I live in uses sweet cabbage for their famous dishes. In other parts, the cabbage is sour and you know I just don’t like it as much. I went to the festival with a friend whose mother entered the cooking competition, and she won! So, I partook of the best, stuffed cabbage at the festival. Cabbage was everywhere. They were even used to provide heads for these little soccer players with pepper smiles. I have a feeling that that this past weekend was the last sunny and warm weather eastern Hungary will be seeing for a long time. The forecast says rain. Fortunately, mom’s package that contained my rain jacket I forgot has arrived (along with some very tasty chex mix)!

Please pray that the Lord would keep me strong and courageous for the work and play that I continue to enjoy.

P.S. Wix has recently changed some things on this site. I’ve lost my ability to send those little, fancy emails to remind readers to check out my posts, so for now they are going to be boring, normal emails.