Well, the students at school were much more interested in the MF than the alternative, La Boheme, so it was around 30 of us that wound up yesterday at the Vígszínház, which is Budapest's Ópera Comíque--usually it presents plays, but it does have an orhestra pit, and it arranges with the Ópera to do the MF, since the opera house is busy this time of year with performances of Fledermaus and the Nutcracker. My deal was this--I bought their opera tickets (about $9 each) , and i gave everyone 2000 forint (about $10) to buy their own train ticket. I also sprang for tickets on the metro line. They could go in to Budapest when they wanted... late afternoon or early morning, they just had to go to the production.
I left Tata around 1:30, and there were about 10-12 of us on that trip. We went to the shopping district in Pest, to the traditional Christmas Market, to just walk around, see what was there, and so on. The market is something like a standard weekend crafts fair in the US, only it lasts longer, i guess about 2 weeks. The booths are equipped with electric power, so when darkness started to fall at 4:15 or so, the square started to light up brightly. It was crowded, a fair number of foreigners (I overheard French, Russian, and lots of American English), bu mostly the crowd was Hungarian, mostly just window shopping, but enough trade going on to satisfy the vendors, I think. I bought some specialty jars of honey to use as house presents in the next week or so when I visit folks over the break.
I was intrigued by the offerings. Lots of wood products, Christmas decorations out of dried fruits and seed pods, leather, household ornaments, ironworking, jewelry, fabrics, toys. Not much in the way of "fine art," with most items tending to be practical : fur hats , trivets, oven mittens, candles, specialty honeys , cutting boards, pottery, tablecloths, napkins, blank books with beautiful covers, belts, watches, wallets, purses, mittens, gloves. With almost every item I felt a sense of stylistic difference--an American item, even a handmade craft item, would look a bit different, have a slightly different shape, use a somewhat different coloring, have a different sensiblity.
At one corner of the market was a stage. When we arrived there, around 3 pm, there was a Punch and Judy show in progress. A real one. I had never before seen one live, only in movies or on TV. About 80 people were standing, smiling at the antics of the handpuppets. All magyarul, of course. Later there was a small orhestra playing traditional Hungarian music (violin, flute, another wind instrument, percussion, maybe accordian). Right at 5:30 PM people started to gather in front of the Gerbeau coffeehouse--i thought there might be some kind of glockenspiel thingy, but instead it was a brass quartet, which played Christmas music from a balcony up on the 3rd floor.
I did make one big mistake on the trip, not that it affected the students that much, but I suggested meeting at a the coffeehouse around 5 pm. What I should have done instead is suggested Burger King. They felt a bit out of place a the former (it is VERY fancy), and they really don't have much opportunity to visit the latter, since the stores are only in Budapest.
The production of the Flute was fine. Overall. Really. I mean, I was intrigued, and it didnt matter that much to me that they were singing in Hungarian and that they did not have any surtitles. But I think it was hard for the students to follow, at least at first. Also the theater was heavily overheated.. i had been smart enough to wear a short sleeved polo shirt as an undershirt, and i stripped down to it so that I would not melt.
On the way to Budapest I had sat with one group of students on the train. On the way back another student asked if I would sit with him and his group, which I gladly did. There were three of them, both in 12th grade, and we held a long and serious conversation about how I viewed Hungary and what the country's economic prospects were and how that would affect them. History, America's problim with instituionalized racism, Hungarians' overall attitude of leaving it to someone else to solve problems, lack of individual initiative, etc etc. Despite the late hour (our train left Budapest at 11:25 pm) we had an energetic conversation for almost an hour.
When we arrived in Tata around 12:30, I wanted to make sure that people had a way to get home. But then I had a minor problem. Peter and David, both 9th graders, said that they were going to walk home. I knew it would take David at least 40 minutes to walk home, and I kept saying that they should let me call a taxi, or at least they should ride with Armin's father, who had arrived to pick up his son and whose family lives not terribly far from David's house. But then Peter said no, they really wanted to walk, and it would be nice if I walked with them because that way we could continue to talk.
So what's a guy to do? I mean, the whole point of my inviting folks to go to the opera was to open them up to a new kind of experience. And the whole point of my weekly kaffeeklatches is to encourage folks to come in and engage in English conversation outside of the classroom. So here are two earnest, engaging young men who would prefer a long walk home at 1 AM to a comfortable taxi ride, and they actually want to share my company!
Normally the walk from the train station to my house would be about 25 minutes. I think it took more like 40 last night, because we were talking the whole time, and then we would stop every few minutes as Peter or David came upon some thought for which they did not have an equivalent Englsih expression. We would figure out what the one or the other wanted to say, and then we would start walking again.
It was 1:45 AM when I got home, about 2:15 when I got to sleep. I have been tired all day, have taken at least 3 naps. I get to do this again next Monday. I dread it, and yet, I welcome it.
