Horseback riding and Mexican food

October 8-10

So, this past weekend, a fellow CETP teacher Alex from Bekescsaba came to visit us in Pápa. This called for me to become hostess again, and so of course I did! I planned a big Mexican dinner with the American girls and Zsuzsa for Saturday night. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Friday, I went with Zsuzsa to investigate a nearby stable, to see how much it would cost, etc. We walked to the end of town (literally, there was a sign) and found the horses. Zsuzsa talked to the owner for a bit, found out it was about $10/hour, and they talked about the fact I’ve never ridden an English saddle. Apparently the solution was just to put the stirrups up on it—perfectly logical to take away the only thing holding me on the horse. So, next thing I know, I am on a horse for the first time in years. Yes, I lived next door to the horse capital of the USA for over 8 years. Let’s just say it was less than successful. The horse didn’t listen to me, even after I remembered (and was reminded) of how to control a horse English style. A magical English-speaking riding instructor appeared out of nowhere to reign in me and my lousy horsemanship skills. He had me learning how to post without stirrups, the HARDEST workout my thighs have ever experienced. They are a bit tender a week later. It was interestingly fun and exhausting. They didn’t even charge us, and offered us a lift back to town since the sun had set. We got out long before the center of town at a coworker’s flat so Zsuzsa could borrow his bike for the next day, and ended up staying and chatting for well over an hour. It was like 830 and we were both starving, as our quick endeavour had turned into an all-night event, and our co-worker offered to order pizza. We decided to head out since he needed to study and we needed to get home, since we were not dressed for the cold night. We went to the pizza place but could only get a table outside, so ordered and had it delivered to Zsuzsa’s and hustled home in the cold. We ate our mediocre greasy pizza with salami pineapple and corn (yes, corn on pizza is a Hungarian thing).

Saturday I got up and spent the morning putzing and cleaning and prepping for company and NOT working on school stuff as I planned. We met Alex at the train at about 1 and started his grand tour of Pápa with a trip to the grocery store before heading to our flats. We went to the nagytemplom and found Csaba the groundskeeper who let us up the stairs to the bell tower. It was awesome, I climbed all the way as high as I could on these rickety rotting stairs. From there we tried going to the Kekfesto Museum, (Pápa is famous for its blue-dyed fabric) but the sign on the door said something about closed, visit, and clean—at least that’s all we could translate. So, we went to Esterhazy Palace, the big yellow U-shaped building you see when you look up Pápa. We were completely unimpressed with the interior—it’s used as a library and music practice rooms with two very small art collections. So, we did like the Hungarians were doing and climbed up on the giant lion statues out front for some pictures. We showed him the biggest tree in the country and headed back to my flat to start dinner. It was fun. We cooked and talked and ate all night. Between the six of us we made quite a feast. I made Spanish rice, refried beans and taco-seasoned chicken, Maggie made salsa and a spinach-black bean entree, Angie made peanut butter cookies and chocolate ice cream and Zsuzsa brought Hungarian pastries. Oh, I also had cheddar cheese and sour cream and wine and all sorts of other things. We tasted palinka but I still can’t even stand the smell.

Sunday we all slept in, and Alex and I went to Győr for a bit before he had to cross the country back home. I got home just in time to start dinner and try to figure out what I was going to teach the next week, but instead talked to home via Skype and went for hot chocolate with Maggie and Megan.

It was a nice weekend.