The scene of our honeymoon- An introduction to Zakynthos

Here comes the introductory part of 'our' extremely hot (40 Celsius degrees was the average daily temperature) sunny (no clouds for almost a week, only an itsy-bitsy, hardly recognizable tiny cloudy once for a few minutes) and crazy (meaning not an average and often funny) Greek island, Zakynthos...Yeah, we think it was ours for a while...:) Interestingly, in the hotel we stayed at called Hotel Letsos (we only called it simply "lecsó", though -unfortunately- they did not serve lecsó for breakfast...) there was only one other Hungarian family. But there were tons of English, Slovakian, and Czech people.
As you might know, we spent there a week, from 13 to 20 August, and came home with great memories and lots of funny experiences about Greek people...not to mention our wonderfully tanned skin and our pre-pre-pre-intermediate knowledge of Greek language we succeeded to achieve during our stay.... this made most of the aboriginals look at us as we were Greek, too. (so as time passed, we not only had the appearance of a Greek man/woman, but also must have had a fantastic accent that made them think this:))

Altogether what I can say about Greece, our vacation and our vacation in Greece:

1. Greek food is absolutely great as long as you order lamb, salmon, sole fish, sword fish and Greek salad. We mainly ate lamb and fishes, these are the traditional stuff. Feta became one of my favourite cheeses. Greek gyros is special: it has tzatziki and chips in it. Fruits (mainly the grapes, peaches and melons) are extremely sweet and tasty, but be prepared you paprika lovers: here tomatoes are the main vegetables (or fruits or what): it is impossible to find paprika on this small island. And be aware: continental breakfast, which is the same every day, might cause a slight agony after the third day. And one more advice. If the half-drunk waiter gets to know that you are 'magyar' and happily comes to your table with small glasses of free peach schnaps (sweet peach pálinka) to drink with you: just smile and accept it. Remember: you get it free.
2. Greek people are originally crazy. Greek bus drivers are double crazy. Greek bus drivers driving without air condition are the craziest. Okay, not as much as my father, but crazy enough to be Greek.:)
3. The sea is shallow (for a while) warm (most of the time), clean and clear (mainly during non-wavy periods), shelled (until they are all collected) and SALTY (all the time). Salty not only for your mouth and tongue, but also salty for your nice little eyes.Be aware of the last fact and try to avoid ascending salty sea waves.

That was for today. To be continued soon...and yeah, pictures will come soon, too...

:)

Becoming 'famous'

Check out these pictures taken of the two of us by a photographer (these are the so called "the bethrothed" photos):
www.fenykepzelet.hu
Here go into Galleries/Wedding/E-session aaaaaaaaaaaand.....there we are!:)

Still in Deutsch and other 'problems'...

Shame on me, really, that months pass one by one and I'm still not able to continue my blog-writing 'enthusiasm'...
Nowadays I'm still dealing and coping with those different German exam preparation books and heavy dictionaries (okay, that's not exactly true, usually I use the CD-ROM version of them, which is a lot faster and more practical). At least I'm half-happy now that I finally know, the written part of the exam succeeded. Now comes (on June 7, oh, why on this beautiful number...) Act 2, the oral part, which will be much more 'interesting'...khm. We'll see. I'll do whatever I can, but I can't guarantee neither original Deutsch or Austrian accent, nor imitated harsh 'hrrr' sounds...but I'm practicing, practicing...Whhharrrrrum? Because the exam itself was expensive enough to pass it...So, until June 7 I have here a bunch of topics with half-known, or even newer words to be memorized. Es ist wunderschön. Nicht wahr?
Another task of these days is to continue the wedding organization...this week we finally have found OUR ring, ordered it, and within 3 weeks it will be ready to take it home and keep it in a little box until the big day arrives. The rings are gold, white, beautiful, special, patterned, modern, glamorous, Italian, expensive....and yeah, they are not exactly the type we originally wanted, but we could not resist when noticing their special surface. (We haven't ever seen similar rings to these during our searches in other jewellery shops.) And what we wanted originally? Something, that goes with my engagement ring, has diamonds or zirkonia in it...previously, I planned to wear the wedding ring with the engagement ring side by side to each other, and well, finally this plan had to be modified. Wearing these two on one finger would be just too much. But at least I'll have rings on both of my hands...:) (By the way, did you know that though in the U.S. you wear your wedding rings on the left side, in Hungary engaged people wear it there and married couples wear it on the right?Interesting customs.)
During the past few weeks we also arranged other things, such as our honeymoon to Zakynthos, we met the pastor, I bought my jewellery, shoes, and other accessories, we bought the orange (or orangish...) ties and Zsolti's suit. So, all in all, a lot was done, still, several remained to continue with. The most urging next thing to be done is the music selection and the planning and printing of our invitation cards...
...but soon time will come and we'll send it to you.:)

Deep in Deutsch

Sorry for not posting anything since February....the main reason for my silence is that at the moment (well, this 'moment' seems to be tooo elongated...) I'm still in the midst of studying German...(the date of the exam is finally concrete, no more postponements...!)
As soon as I have time, I'll upload pictures and will continue to entertain you:)
Until this happens, check out this webpage about Scottish dance (especially because I'm in the videos, too:)):
http://www.bstk.hu/video.htm

Can you find me?:)

Out of the blue

I think it's time to reappear on my blog after several weeks of deep silence...
A few days ago I've found a little journal with a few of my poems. I'll share one of my favourites with you, it has the title: 'Distances'. It was written in 1998, October 9, on a Friday evening (no, not my memory's sharpness is the reason for remembering:)...it was indicated above the poem itself). No one have ever read it before. You have the privilege to see it first.:)
In 1998 I was 16. 12 years passed since then...so unbelievable.
Universally, reading it with a stranger's eye, the poem may hold three meanings, can be interpreted in three ways. Romantic love, missing family members and searching for God. Or a mixture of these. What do you think? First look at the poem then see the explanation. :)

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Távolságok

--

Óceán partján ültem a minap én,

Zúgtak az óriás-hullámok, s kék volt az ég.

Fel-felbukkant egy sirály közben,

S zsákmányával távozott csőrében.

A távolság igen nagy közte és énköztem,

De nem legyőzhetetlen.

--

Lombok közt ültem a minap én,

Hulltak a falevelek, ősz volt már rég.

Át-átkukucskált egy napsugár az ágakon,

Fel-felnéztem, s csodálat ült ki arcomon.

A távolság igen nagy közte és énköztem,

De nem legyőzhetetlen.

--

Fehér orom csúcsán ültem a minap én,

Csend volt köröttem: hóvilág, jég és vakító fény.

Kémleltem a teret, nyújtottam a kezet,

De nem érkezett válasz, csak a szél süvített.

A távolság igen nagy közte és énköztem,

De nem legyőzhetetlen.

--

Síkság közepén ültem a minap én,

A Nap lement, s közelgett a fekete éj.

Néztem, néztem az eget, s mi az előbb még ott volt,

Már nem láttam többé azt a picinyke foltot.

A távolság igen nagy közte és énköztem,

De nem legyőzhetetlen.

--

De kisütött a Nap

S felderült a szivárvány fénye,

A magány elillant,

S színes lett életem végre.

Hosszú évek, oly sok idő után,

Többé már nem gyötör, nem kínoz a magány.

Nincs távolság többé, közte és énköztem,

A szivárvány ránk nevet, ott fenn, a derüs égen.

*************************************************************

Originally this poem has nothing to do with romantic feelings: it was mainly written about missing my sisters (in the 4th stanza: "Néztem, néztem az eget, s mi az előbb még ott volt, már nem láttam többé azt a picinyke foltot", picinyke folt refers to an airplane), but it also holds symbolic, religious meanings. In one sentence: it's about distances, in the mirror of seasons.

Sorry for those who couldn't understand it, one day I'll translate it...:)

Those who understood: hope you liked it.

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If you wanna have a wonderful and relaxing evening...

...all you have to do is...

...watch these very funny, what's more, hilarious videos of mine! I spent (quite) a few minutes creating them...okay, really, just a few...;)

Attention: strictly for those, who DECISIVELY and VOLUNTARILY want to laugh! :)

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/VsaWWWpjQqvxQ3RJ

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KrgSA0Jfl1eguBb0

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/we8yN1LGdejY9QZv

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/mLJ1ZCDgyTWNEE1l

That's all...for today's fun. But watch out, 'cause I'm returning soon! :)

Pre-Christmas and Christmas time

Our visit to the Vörösmarty square was the first station of our traditional pre-Christmas celebration.

Here we saw...

traditional hand-made stuff

and traditional hand-made mugs(these were my favourite ones...aren't they cute?)

and here we smelled traditional cinnamon-orange hangers and decorations

(each of them smelling like Christmas itself)and met food that lookedand even smelled like food from the traditional Hungarian Christmas Eve menue (though I must admit: there were a few things I will never ever wish to try...for example, see the leftmost big bowl? Guess what it hid! Any ideas?I'll help you: the lower parts of hundreds of cocks...)
later on we also listened to traditional Christmas music in a non-traditional way: it was performed by a group of talented polar bears!

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Then pre-Christmas snow arrived and filled our garden with whiteness, and our hearts with happiness.

it covered the evergreen trees with everlasting lightness (at least, I wished to experience its eternal nature)
and our outdoor Christmas tree which can be seen from my window

(honestly, it is almost the only thing I can see from there)(this reminds me of a symbol: the Cross with the Lamb on it)it covered the bushesand the berries

(wonder how they were able to survive the first half of winter...crazy plants do we have, no doubt about that...)

and the garden swing, where we usually sit during hot and sultry summer months and our car

snow ruled our garden as it covered each and every corner,

everything

and everybody:)

and every bodypart
it almost covered me totally and irrevocably

as I was trying to take a photo in the snow

and during the action, I suddenly began sinking...

But hey, wait a minute! I thought I was supposed to be covered only almost!

This doesn't seem almost, this seems irrevocably!

See? Nothing remained of me.

No traces, no signs, nothing. Just crystal-like and blinding snow....

and a little white house in the middle of an even whiter whiteness.

Without any witness. What a happiness.

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The clear pre-Christmas whiteness dressed our garden in Christmas wear, still, a few days later but before Christmas Eve unfortunately all the snow melted away. However, this was the point when Christmas left our garden and stepped into our house. Leaving all the cold whiteness outside, and bringing colours and warmth inside.

It brought a Christmas-tree

and Christmas presentsespecially hand-made ones for Mom
for Dad

and even for Zsolti.

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And when we ate up all the eatable parts of our Christmas presents, we turned to our Christmas cakes:

to the chocolate-almond cake

to the cottage-cheese, blueberry and peach cake (mostly made by me)

and finally, to the poppy-seed cake, which, you Americans all know, is the biggest Hungarian drug ever on Earth...thus there is a high risk to become addicted to it.

Not only almost. Irrevocably. :)

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Originally, 2009 wasn't one of my favourite numbers...still, the several great and adventurous events that have happened to me and my family during this past year's months all contributed to looking back to it with good memories and joy.

Looking forward to 2010 with the same hopes!

°~~°~~°

Happy New Year to all of You, who read my blog!:)