Weekend winos

Good morning. Last night, I just returned from a very fun day trip to Eger - part of Hungary's wine region with Mike and our great friends Liz and Tim. We got up early to catch the 9 a.m. train, because it was three hours there and three hours back. But, the landscapes are gorgeous on the ride, very pastoral, and some of them look like the foothill views from I-25 near Fort Collins. Once in Eger, we went straight to the wine valley and hopped from cellar to cellar, sampling wine all afternoon and enjoying a beautiful fall day. Even though I had just been there with my mom, it was great to go again, and it was Mike's first trip outside of Budapest in Hungary. I guess he went outside the city once to go paragliding, but I think it was time he see more of his country-of-choice.


In one of the Eger cellars we entered, we were the only ones in there, after being ushered in by the old man who owned it. There, we enjoyed a speech from the owner, who spoke a combination of Hungarian/German/English to us. Mike was the only one who could follow the animated conversation. All I could catch was that he kept discussing Hitler and seemed very anti-Semitic and anti-American when taken out of context, but Mike tried to explain that this really wasn't the case. He was just complaining about being constantly influenced and controlled by outsiders and having to switch from learning German to Russian, and now to English. Liz got some of his speech on video, so I'll post that when we get it. There was also this crazy older lady who we kept seeing at different wine cellars. She wore an enormous, fun-lined red coat, and wore enough make-up to rival Mimi from the Drew Carey show. She was at different cellars all day, and we kept seeing her pass out in short stints - where she would snuggle into her jacket, wake-up again and then get a new glass. She is a character who definitely needs a picture too.

Berlitz just keeps piling on the classes for me. I started a new one on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with business people at an oil company. The three students are really funny though, so it makes it worth it to have to teach classes from 8 am to 8 pm on those days. There is one student who continuously likes to cuss, so I am trying to expand his vocabulary. It is amusing to be able to cuss in another language, because the words carry no weight or connotations. So, while I can't get him to stop cussing completely, I am at least teaching him how to put it in complete sentences. This way he'll be a well-educated slanderer. It is crazy to think that I just started this job, but I'll already have to tell them I'm quitting soon. Liz just got yelled at by the school for not having enough availability when they didn't give her many classes, so I am sure they won't be happy to have me quit. Especially when they just had me take on 3 more classes last week!

And this photo is of Tim and me celebrating, after Liz made us a triumphant Mexican dinner.
This is a randomly-inserted picture of the lovely ladies that I have girls night with. From right to left, there's Bijal from India/France/Atlanta, Bori from Hungary/Toronto, Liz from New York/Colorado, me, and Abim from Nigeria. We get together about once a week and watch movies or grab drinks.