1.Hungarian State Folk Ensemble dress rehearsal
These are just, oh the best Hungarian folk dancers in the universe. Their director has choreographed for us before and we have collaborated with them on past trips so they invited us to the dress rehearsal of a show we couldn't attend and it was PHENOMENAL. I mostly sat there and thought, "Oh that's what Hungarian folk dance is supposed to look like". Now I have the bug.
2. Dancing with a beautiful Hungarian named Norbert.
At a Gala performance on Margaret Island at the end of the week we danced with a combination of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble and Duna Art Ensemble, both amazing groups. Norbert was my partner for the finale and he said very few words to me but when the rehearsal was being run in Hungarian he would keep his arm around me and lead to me where we needed to go. And at the final performance when we finished he said "Cusi, cusi! Thank you!" Cusi is short for the Hungarian word for thank you. I'm sure I spelled it terribly wrong but hey, I don't speak Hungarian.
3. Chick-flick moment - ice cream shoppe afternoon with the girls.
Once upon a time we were given 5 hours of free time and we were shopped/touristed out. While some people went to some random underground tunnels which they still insist were cool, me, Ashlee, Jessica, Emily Dance(Fish), Liahona, and Erin went to the most precious little confectionery shop. It was pink and the servers knew English and we talked about life and boys and mostly boys. And it was so good.
4. Making great friends with Anna from the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble.
Anna was in my group from the same Gala where I danced with Norbert. After the show I got to know her a lot better and she was AMAZED to hear that I had 8 brothers and sisters and refused to believe it for some time. She is from a "large family of 3 kids", so it kind of blew her mind. :)
5. Having Hungarian facebook friends.
6. The view from Fisherman's Bastion at sunset.
Thank you Hungarian missionaries for taking us here at sunset and when it was free. I owe you.
7. The missionaries and Timi and all of the members we met.
But really, Budapest was just about everyone on the team's favorite and I feel like it was definitely because of the friendships we created with the members. Timi was our interpreter for the ward/informal tour guide/groupie. :)
8. Our groupies (Attila, Nikki, Aggie, Timi, other members)
We had so many people following us and coming to multiple shows. It was very flattering.
9. Andrea and Andi our tour guides.
They were the bomb and funny and knowledgeable and great. And I love them.
10. Parliament.
11. Going inside of St. Matthias Church.
Beside the fact that this was my first European cathedral was the fact that the day before had been our first tour Sunday. It had been fairly horrible for me, mostly owing to the fact that I hadn't realized what it would be like so I didn't get to worship as I would have liked to. So I made up for it this day by taking some time, sitting by myself, and just having some personal worship time in this beautiful cathedral. So clearly it has a special place in my heart.
12. Firesides.
They were just amazing. Fun, spirit-filled, perfect.
13. Water conservative toilets and stalls that actually cover you.
Europeans really know how to do bathrooms man. The stalls are a real honest-to-goodness door. And their toilets are just so water-conscious. Delightful.
14. Cobblestone streets.
15. Singing to the hosts and Aundrea/Janos' speeches.
On our last night we took some time to sing God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again to Aundrea/Andi/Janos/Attila/Nikki and the Spirit was incredibly strong. We gave them presents, they gave us presents, then Aundrea gave a memorable speech about how great we are. But she realized in the middle of the speech that she wasn't talking about us as dancers, but us as individuals.
16. Andi's singing.
Sometimes (twice to be exact) Andi would sing to us on the bus. Once for a birthday, she sang a Hungarian birthday song. The last night she sang us a traditional song after we had sung for her (see 15). She was just so sweet.
17. Learning Hungarian dancing from Miklos.
Did I mention we learned Hungarian dancing in a studio right on the Danube? Yeah.
18. Paprika crackers and Bueno bars and Milka chocolate.
Paprika flavored things are the bomb. And everyone knows European chocolate rocks.
19. Cheap souvenirs.
20. Jared coming into the girl's dressing room!
We lured our pre-missionary banjo player into the girls dressing room before the performance started with cheese rolls. There is photographic evidence on facebook.
21. The schoolroom moment at our last show.
In waiting for our last show our dressing room was this quaint schoolroom. Since we were dressed in Appalachian and Emily Dance(Fish) was in pioneer she naturally pretended to be the teacher. Then Tesha taught us to ask for ice cream in Hungarian while we chanted it at the top of our lungs. There was dancing in the aisles, and wailing, and then Jon walked in (our tour manager who is the one that buys us ice cream)and it was a perfect moment that can never be beat.
22. Terror House.
This was the house of both the Hungarian Nazis and the Soviets and is now a museum to the terror that both regimes inflicted. It was amazing. And if I spoke Hungarian, it would have been even better.
23. My dating talk with the boys at Trofea Grill.
It was great. But don't ask my any details, because I'm pinky-sworn to secrecy.
24. Rita telling us about politics and the Church.
Let's just say amazing things are happening in Hungary with the church.
25. Fat arms.
This is a humorous story in which basically Liahona said I had fat arms. She was talking about the arms on my watch, but momentarily I was incredibly offended.
26. Being called "dahling" by a Hungarian woman whose English sounded British.
Often the older people who knew English knew it because of Great Britain. Therefore, British accents.
27. Doing Running Sets with Nikki and hiding her from Ed.
We have this friend Nikki from the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble. She wanted to dance with us, so we taught her our easiest dance and she did it with us in the Gala performance. The trick was hiding her from Ed before the show when he insisted on standing with us and talking to us the entire time before the show.
Ed is the man with grey hair on the left, and Nikki is the furthest girl on the right. That's how close they were! But we kept our secret. Until...we got on stage.
28. Ed delightedly playing the bones
This is the reason we thought he might not notice Nikki, he really gets into playing the bones with the band. It's quite adorable actually.
29. My first Magnum bar.
Double caramel. So. Good.
30. Paprika and Paprikash chicken (and tons of potatoes)
Meat and potatoes for every meal after starting with a delicious soup. The food in Hungary made me absolutely delighted.
31. Getting to know Jay Tibbits our percussionist for the tour.
One day we sat next to each other on the bus all day and generally chilled out a lot. It was great.
3 comments:
One day I want to be you. And I want to meet your friends. And generally just enjoy the awesomeness that is your life. Please never stop being the Lynette that I adore!
I like you.
...yeah.
That's all.
Gabor.
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