9 and a Half!

My first baking project of Hungary!  Nicholas wanted a chocolate brownie half birthday cake.  Sadly no Ghirardelli brownie mix (our US standard) can be found in Hungary.  There is a German branded brownie mix in the stores, so I figured I'd give it a try.  There was also some kind of mix to make a mousse-like creamy chocolate something in the baking aisle too, so I picked one of those up too.  Both turned out to be only sort of chocolate tasting (the problem of all chocolate desserts in Hungary, we've found), but he was happy, and that's all that matters.  Hard to believe we are six months away from Nicholas being 10.  Love that guy!

I've Never Seen THAT Before

OK, OK.  So this isn't the first time I've said that since we've moved here.  But really.  I really have never seen anything like this before:  A coin operated flat iron in a public mall bathroom.  Really?  I had to sneak a pic.

First Ice Skating Outing

Our original plan for the day was to go to the zoo and buy a membership.  After speaking (or attempting to speak) to the woman at the front desk, then speaking to the man taking tickets who spoke English, then going back to the woman at the front desk, we discovered that for a membership, you need to provide passport sized photos to be laminated onto your pass.  And so many people just carry those around, right?  Not so much.  So with our zoo visit thwarted, we changed gears and took the kids ice skating.  We attempted to skate in City Park (at supposedly Europe's largest outdoor rink), but it was closed, so we went to a big mall that has a small outdoor rink.  It was the kids' first time...and Tom and I aren't exactly pros.  But we had a blast.

 

Yes the helmet is too small.  Somehow it seemed fine when we tried it on at Decathlon.  We've already purchased a new one in the next size up!

 

Charlotte was slow and steady, and didn't fall at all.  She loves skating!

 

Nicholas can sometimes get frustrated with things that aren't easy from the get-go.  To his credit, he was not an instant skater.  He fell over and over and over.  But he cheerfully got up and kept going.  I was pretty happy he had a helmet on though.  :)

 

 

My new hat!

 

 

 

Two hours skating. The kids would have gone for hours and hours more.   I think we will be buying our own ice skates next season!

 

Cutest Logo Ever

 

This means "Owl Castle" in Hungarian.  I'm in love with the logo.  And the food isn't bad either!  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

They do celebrate Valentine's Day in Hungary.  Charlotte gave out red and white pens with hearts on them.  Nicholas gave out Fini Rollers, which are the kids' new favorite candy.  They're basically a sour rolled up gummy candy.  Every kids' dream.  And they double as rainbow tongues when unrolled.  :)

 

Indigenous Peoples Project

So let's say you're moving out of your apartment and moving into a house the same week.  And it's Valentine's Day.  What do you want to be cramming to get done?  A major 3rd grade project!  That involves a costume.  And artifacts.  And a relevant musical instrument that demonstrates both changes in volume and pitch.  And a backdrop.  And a PowerPoint.  To be fair, Nicholas has worked really hard for weeks on his project, which he chose to do on the Hopis.  I did send a desperate email to his teacher last weekend asking where in the world to buy supplies.  I'd love to just swing by Michael's!  But he got it all done, and was very excited for his Living History Museum.  Each 3rd grade class (there are 4) had about a half an hour for all the 3rd grade parents, teachers and students to walk around, look at the kids' projects and ask questions about their indigenous people.  I was a proud mama listening to him talk and talk about food, customs, shelter etc. to other parents...he's quite the expert.  He made a kachina, a set of rattles, a bag of dried corn, an adobe shelter and a pottery bowl.

Breach cloth costume courtesy of a cloth shopping bag with the handles cut off and an added drawstring.  Moccasins courtesy of my closet.  :)

Each student had a table with a laptop for their PowerPoint, their backdrop and their artifacts.

 

It was a such a worthwhile project...but I'm oh so glad that it's over!

It's Here!

Our sea shipment is here!  They'll be unloading and unpacking Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Hooray!  We'll be sleeping here on Friday!  I'm close to having a real kitchen!

Baseball Tourney

Baseball and Hungary.  As discussed in my Ping Pong post, it's hard to even BUY baseball equipment here, let alone find a team.  But there is a small and growing Little League in the Budapest area, and the kids' school hosted a small tournament to bring a few of the teams together.  To put this in context, even though Nicholas is technically playing baseball here, it's nothing like in the States.  He has after school baseball once a week, for less than one hour.  Of the group of about 30 kids (girls and boys in 3rd-5th grade), most have never even played baseball, and many aren't interested in playing actual games.  I don't think we're in Chesterfield anymore, Toto!  All the same, it's better than nothing, and Nicholas has fun.  We were very curious how the tournament would go.  Then we got the rules the night before:

1.    Each game will consist of 4 innings or 24 minutes, whichever happens first.
2.    An at-bat consists of 2 balls & 2 strikes; hitters must be aggressive
3.    A batting turn for a team will consist of whichever happens first:
  a.    6-minutes
  b.    3 outs
  c.    4 runs scored by the batting team
4.    Scoring will only be achieved when batting as per normal baseball rules (when crossing the plate = 1pt.).  Points will not be awarded for hits or defensive put-outs.
5.    A ball hit into the bleachers will be considered a ground-ruled single.
6.    Balls hit off the wall or ceiling will be in play.  If caught it is an out; if not it is played as a ground ball.
7.    No lead-offs or stealing.
8.    Foul lines will be implemented.  The ball must be hit into fair territory to be in play.  Foul balls hit with one strike already will count as a strike out.
9.    A hit ball that directly hits the far wall away from home plate will count as an automatic home run.

What?  24 minute games?  2 balls and 2 strikes to get out? It was strange enough that it was going to be played indoors.  And not "indoor" like some MLB teams have covered stadiums with actual baseball fields.  Indoor like just in a gym.  With rubber bases put down.  And no lines (or at least none that correspond with baseball).  But off we went to the tournament...

 

 

 

 

 

Against all odds, the Sparks (AISB's high school team is the Blazers, the Elementary School is the Sparks) ended up in the gold medal game.  We were getting creamed.  It was 5-1 with one inning (I think??) left.  Did I mention Tom was the umpire?  He was.  That wasn't a big deal.  Until this game.  The team that was crushing us had a player running from 3rd to home.  Our catcher was standing on home, waiting for the throw.  The opposing player (who was gigantic) mowed down our catcher.  Like a hockey check.  The catcher went flying.  Tom called an out (it was their third, which even in these screwy rules meant the end of the inning) and said the run didn't count.  The coach lost.  His.  Mind.  He didn't speak great English, but just kept screaming at Tom "THIS IS BASEBALL!".  Over and over.  I was in the stands dying.  Our first experience meeting the other families from school, and our first athletic experience, and Tom is at the center of a major controversy. Tom gave the coach a little time to pull it together, then had to toss him from the game.  The coach screamed that if he was going, he was pulling his team too.  Tom calmly said that he wasn't kicking out his kids, just him.  But no...the coach walked with his team.  And that was the end of the tournament.  So we won the gold medal in the strangest baseball tournament ever.  Our head coach and several of the other coaches told Tom he was 100% in the right, and that the opposing coach has a reputation and has gotten tossed before.  But wow.  Quite an initiation!

 

Tom staying out of the melee.

and he walks...

Yea Sparks!  Signs of wins to come??

Farsang Masks

There's a holiday in Hungary called "Farsang", which is like a Mardi Gras carnival that lasts from Epiphany until Ash Wednesday.  There are cool events and parades (which we now know about and will attend next year!)  In school, the kids studied Farsang in Hungarian Culture and made masks as a tie-in in Art.  They turned out so cool!

 

Goodbye, dear Shiny

This is been Nicholas's favorite outfit (thanks Grandma and Grandpa King!), which we affectionately dubbed "Shiny".  If it was clean and in his room, it was his choice for the day.  Sometimes I would just keep it in the laundry room so that he couldn't wear it more than once a week.  This morning, he voluntarily came up to me and said he thought maybe the sleeves were getting a little short, and it would be his last time wearing "Shiny".  So farewell.  You have been loved.

Jégbüfé Yumminess

Living in Budapest, there are cukrászdas (dessert shops) everywhere.  It's dangerous.  Jégbüfé is one of the classics.  A must visit.  Or so we told ourselves. :)

 

The cream puffs are as big as Charlotte's head!

 



Meringues are pretty gigantic too!

 

Please notice that Tom's dessert didn't even make the photo!