Two weekends at Balaton

Lake Balaton is a famous destination for Hungarians to relax and cool off during hot summer days. My friend Kati offered me to go on a biking trip to Balaton on June16^th and of cause I could not resist. It was a program so called Heyday of Health. What did we do? We went to Balatonfüred by train and there we met the rest of the group. Then we were cycling from Balatonfüred to Tihany and back, which in total made 21 km. On the way we enjoyed the landscape and stopped to swim, because it was about +36. Four of us including me were riding old style Dutch bikes and it spiced up our trip a bit. Our bicycles do not have breaks or gears, which complicated to peddle up to the hills. However, it was a funny part of an adventure.

 In the evening we cooked Hungarian dinner and now I am able to make Hungarian lecso. All you need is just chopped onions, tomatoes, paprika, kolbasz and eggs. You cook everything in a big pot and serve with a slice of bread. Jó étvagyát!

Finally, we visited Figula winery where we were told about the philosophy of Figula wine making. We tasted 4 white, 1 rose and 2 red wines. One kind of the red wine was rewarded as the best Hungarian red wine in 2009 even though Balaton region is mainly famous for white wines. I have never participated in a wine tasting before and it was very unusual for me to see the vineyards just next to people’s houses.

Actually, I visited Balaton two weekends in a row. I came back for Egyesek summer season opening to spend some time with my colleagues. Thank you for Eszter who invited everyone to her summer house in Tihany.  I enjoyed our little adventure with Saskia, because we hitchhiked to get there. There were many cars passing by and we got a lift in 10 min. In addition, we had a lovely conversation with a couple who took us and they even invited us to check out a Ramadan Garden in Budapest. Lake Balaton is often called as a Hungarian sea. Indeed, it looks like a sea more than a lake because of the light blue water. 

Fashion show "Twiggy's Kiss"

My spring in Hungary started with a fashion show “Twiggy’s Kiss”. On March 2^nd 600 people gathered to a VAM design centre in Budapest, which is famous for hosting cultural and art events. All those people came to watch and support the students of Fashion and Design specialization of Forrai Bilingual School.  The beauty of the place itself was promising a pleasant surprise for a Friday evening.

The fashion-show “Twiggy’s kiss” was inspired by the feeling of 60’s and each student had to prepare 3 costumes within a theme black&white, tone in tone and rock. In total there were around 60 young designers who presented their art.

It was the first time that the students got to present their collections in such a fancy place. When I entered the building I was positively shocked. The atmosphere took my breath away because there where tons of photographers, glass podium and flashlights around. Then I went upstairs towards the changing rooms to meet the students. I could not recognize most of them. The models were trying the costumes on, the make-up artists were working, and the photographers trying to make the best shots.

 The show lasted for more then 3 hours but my favourite part remained the preparation in the changing rooms where I could feel a sweet tension while the models were waiting for their turn to step on the stage. All in all, the event was successful and, actually, it even exceeded my expectations. I was pretty critical, because from my point of view, the organization process before was too chaotic. I had to help the students to create the title, to choose communication tools and invite the journalists, compose the invitations for the guests, make the poster and stage decorations. However, it was very hard to make a contact with the students and I mostly communicated with a teacher. So, I contributed to the event by promoting it and inviting guests. I invited some EVS’ers and some students from Karinthy fine arts club. Also, 50 Dutch exchange students from Karinthy joined to watch the show and I hardly could get the tickets for them.  Being in the audience I noticed that some of the models lacked of energy and self-expression.

Looking back, I think I should have helped the students to work on the actual presentation of their collections, which includes music, movements and face expressions. A nice costume is just half of the work. The other half is to tell the story with it.