Christmas

Christmas this year was spent with my host family in Nyíregyháza. While it was really strange to be away from my family for Christmas, almost all of the Baricskas live in Nyíregyháza, so family get-togethers are frequent, just like at home, and Christmas was no exception to this rule. On December 23rd, my host brother Norbi and his girlfriend Adri came from Budapest to stay with us for the holidays. In Hungary, presents are opened on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning, so on the 24th, we all ate Christmas dinner together (traditional Hungarian Fish Soup) and opened presents. Unfortunately, men are impossible to shop for, so I crawled into a corner and died of embarassment when my host father opened up his gift from me, which contained foot cream. (Nice foot cream, I might add, but still, foot cream.) Even though I gave him a terrible gift, Béla did not revoke my present, and I was given a bunch of new pairs of socks and a pair of pyjamas.

On Christmas day, we all went to Erika's parents' house for lunch. Erika's sister and her son were there, as well as Béla's father, an adopted aunt, and a great uncle. We ate lunch together (cabbage rolls), stuffed ourselves with Hungarian sweets and cakes, and then stuffed ourselves back into the car and went home to sleep off our calories.

The Christmas break here lasts until January 7th, so I am planning on going to visit one of my Hungarian friends who was on exchange in Calgary last year, and I am going to try to buff up on my Hungarian. Studying maybe a long shot though, as I have spent very few hours outside of my pyjamas so far this holiday, which is just the way I like it.

Boldog Karácsonyt! (Merry Christmas)