Hungary: March 20

Thursday, March 20

We were greeted by another beautiful sunny and crisp day as we made our way to the school for another round of class visits in the same type of yesterdays. Today Hannah and Maradith stayed behind at the church to continue the work.

Breakfast, served again at the school, consisted of cold cuts, jam, foie gras, hazelnut spread, two kinds of bread and hot cherry tea. The Principal had breakfast with us and then led Carlos and Dr. Mayle on a tour of the school. We visited every classroom, including a chaotic chemistry session where the teacher seemed to be part of the problem and not of the solution. We saw first hand discipline as the Principal gave him “the look.” We hope he still has a job tonight. Just kidding, but I’ve seldom seen an icier encounter.

We also visited a music classroom where the students sang a traditional Hungarian song. They were very well behaved, and in tune. Great experience. We returned to the classroom where the rest of the team was finishing up their session. During the break we were served iced coffee.

We also talked to the students about a subject they had requested information on: maple syrup. Mrs. Mayle had brought a jar of maple syrup from home and the teacher had some packaged waffles where the students were able to taste it.

After that session Carlos and Dr. Mayle walked back to Debrecen Plaza and took the tram to the University. We were lucky to board one of the old city trams, a yellow car with a single headlight, referred to by the locals as “Cyclops.” There are only 3 Cyclops running. The more popular blue trams with two headlights, are called “Barbies” since the handles inside are pink.

We walked to the University, which is north of main downtown Debrecen and saw the Aquaticum, a popular thermal baths area, and a lovely garden known here as the great forest. Apparently at one time, this area was heavily wooded but both the Nazi and the Soviet invasions took advantage of the flat terrain and destroyed most of the trees. It’s still quite lovely with a nice pond outlined by flowering weeping willows.

The university campus is very beautiful as you can see from the photos. We went in and visited the English-American Department where Dr. Mayle teaches the semester in Hungary. Unfortunately, since it’s also spring break here, none of the faculty was around. However, the hallways, main hall and the library were well populated by students studying. What a concept!

From the University, we made our way back to the church and again we rode the Cyclops. Quite the serendipity. We had a wonderful lunch of rice cabbage rolls that has to be one of the greatest meals I’ve ever had. Of course I had to fight Dr. Mayle for the remaining 20 rolls as he was quite adamant that they were all his.

We spent the rest of the afternoon working on the church grounds, planting trees, finishing up the irrigation system, and covering the sides of the shed. Several other families joined in so we had more hands on deck to help.

Dinner was a flat bread called “Langos” which we lathered with sour cream and cheese. I also tried it with blueberry jam. Very good and extremely filling. Tomorrow will be our last day working at the church. We’ll get sometime in the afternoon to go shopping in Debrecen and then will attend Good Friday service.

We leave Debrecen on Saturday afternoon for Budapest.