Pigsticking was radically different from how I had hoped it would be, but not that different from how I had thought it might be. By that I mean it was much more touristy than I had hoped. I was under the impression we were going to a small town, but we went to this place called a Tanya, which was a Hungarian tourist trap kinda thing. Very odd. Apparently pigsticking is illegal already, and so it can only be done in 'heritage' places. So this Tanya is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it didn't feel like it. There was a little petting zoo type place, mini-golf in the summer, and even a place for weddings. But it was actually quite fun, despite this.
We arrived at 9:30 in the morning, and were greeted with shots of palinka. Palinka is a honey-apricot brandy sort of liquor. So we had two shots of that, then watched the pig die, it's hair was burnt off, and then they cleaned the skin. While watching this, we got mulled wine. Then we went inside for breakfast, and had more mulled wine. The breakfast was interesting. They fried pigs blood and pig fat together, until it turns into little black lumps, and we were served this, and then more pigs blood is mixed with eggs and onions. This and bread rolls was breakfast. We went on a walk to see the animals, and played around with the electric fence, and then came back to watch the pig's head come off. We got more mulled wine to celebrate this. After this, we stood around and watched the pig be dismembered. I was not as bothered by this as I thought I would be. We were served mulled wine throughout. we then had a three course lunch. First we were served soup made with noodles and the spine of the pig. Next was the entree, which was blood sausage, liver sausage, and simple sausage with paprika potatoes. Dessert was a Hungarian style custard pie with marmalade topping. It was alright, but after hearing all of the things that went into the foods, I couldn't bring myself to get that excited about the foods.
The best part about the trip were our Hungarian tour guides, who were just having a lot of fun with us the whole time. They told us everything was "traditional Transylvanian." For instance, the fire pit was "traditional Transylvanian fire pit" though it was obviously just a normal fire pit. But it was fun. On the way back they taught us some Hungarian songs, and then we made one up for the day that was set to the tune of the American national anthem.
Yesterday and today there were riots at Parliament, so there were riot police out, and barriers set up, and lots of chanting and singing. Apparently the country is liberalizing its health care system, and the conservatives are upset, so they are protesting. So that's kind of fun.
I have found the National Foreign Language Library, and it's pretty cool. They have a fairly good selection of novels in English, plus the New York Times, Time and the New Yorker, which are nice to read.
I have a couch in my room now! We moved it from the kitchen into my room, and now my room feels smaller, but much cozier and I can lounge someplace other than my bed.
Tomorrow I leave for Berlin, so I won't post until next Monday probably, but hopefully with some pictures of Berlin.
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6 comments:
My gosh! What a great trip!
Oh those hungarians and their fruit brandy. Watch out if you ever notice that your town's routine is eerily absent from your viewing window, as you may be in for a drunken stumble.
Well. I'm impressed that you ate all the food... I suppose it'd be rude to not eat it, but that breakfast sounds quite interesting and I don't think I could stomach it. The whole day sounded fun though, the tour guides sound great... as does the singing of the Hungarian songs.
And yay for the couch! It was in the kitchen before? Weird.
Was it a Traditional Transalvanian blood meal?
When you say Hungary is "liberalizing" its health care, do you mean a) socializing it or b) privatizing it? I'm confused because I thought "conservatives" in Hungary leaned towards a more "small government" direction and liberals were the socialists, but I could be wrong.
I mean socializing it. Providing coverage for people. I mean I don't really know, this is just what my teacher said.
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