Roman Cemetery of Sopianae

Keith and I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon checking out the Roman crypts in Pécs (built around the end of 4 A.C./early 5 A.C.) It was really awesome, and I was astonished that not only could we take photographs, but we could use our flash too...

Keith's initial reaction:

"This [crypt] was constructed before Beowolf was even written! Granted, the story was already being told, but it hadn't been written yet...isn't that crazy!?"

During the Roman rule, the area of current day Pécs was the city Sopianae. The extensive cemetery of Sopianae was built under a densely populated residential area, in the north-western part of the present-day Pécs center, of the ancient Roman settlement.

The late Roman cemetery of Sopianae is considered a Christian cemetery based on the Christian symbols of the mural decorations of the buildings found and excavated here, although heathen graves have also been discovered in this cemetery which had been used for a very long time.

It's hard to see the detail of the paintings in this video clip. The paintings are from the 4th Century on the inside of one of the tombs in the crypt.

Peter and Paul burial chamber: This 4th century building is found in the center of the necropolis. The underground part was the burial chamber with the tomb while the chapel was built above them. Visitors can admire the richly decorated walls and barrel vaults of the chamber.

Mimes

Mimes in the center of Pécs.

Pécs

I have no idea what this word in red bold letters means...I do know that it is 16 letters long. I also know that it is not the longest word I have seen in Hungarian.

In other news...my Hungarian vocabulary is growing. I know how to say "very ugly," "very pretty," "lake", and can count to seven.

Dumb Americans: We almost cooked with cold medicine earlier this week. There is this bottle in our fridge that we thought was some liquid spice (like vanilla) and we were going to cook with it. We ended up not and asked Dori about it...turns out it's cold medicine.
Also, I think we have been sleeping inside duvet covers...I noticed this evening that the giant pillow cases we've been sleeping in have buttons and button holes across the top...

Today I spent the morning figuring out the washing machine by using the pictures in the Hungarian manual (SUCCESS!)

Clean clothes drying

I continued to be ridiculously productive and crossed of EVERYTHING on my to do list (which included "Learn Hungarian" and "Write Thesis." I figured 200 words on the thesis and learning 3 new phrases in Hungarian was enough to cross off both.

My friend Eszti took me to the Post Office so I could get the stamp for my Visa...turns out the "stamp" is $80 worth of stampssss. Whatever, the government gets the money without having to make one special stamp for some girl who wants her Hungarian Residence Visa, that's totally cool.

Afterward, Eszti took me to Malomvölgy--a lovely lake for fishing with trees and walking paths around it.

Malomvölgy

Due to our stroll, my feet each became one giant blister...good job me for deciding to wear new shoes today. Totally okay though. Eszti is pretty awesome. She likes Sex and the City, yoga, and good music...need I say more? :-)

I spent the rest of my afternoon exploring the bus system. My theory is to get off the bus when I see something I either know or looks pretty. I found the center of Pécs today:

I have no idea what any of these buildings are.

Jet Lag.

Keith dancing in a giant pillow case/our bed sheets.



If anyone knows how to rotate videos...please let me know.

Views of our Neighborhood

Our flat is the windows right above the windows with flowers







View from our flat






I want this car (it's in our parking lot)

Somebody who can stay in control of virtually any situation is somebody who is said to know where his or her towel is.

A going away gift from Julia and Pat




The towel references is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

"... a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

The "DON'T PANIC" (always in caps) reference is also from the Hitchhiker's Guide series.

Jó reggelt kívánok (Good Morning)

Most of the Eastern European borders have been redone post WWI. I presume this is why there is confusion as to where I will be living for the next year...
I've been bade well wishes for my extended stay in Turkey and my year in the country of Prague and told I should be brushing up on my Spanish. I usually just say, "Thank you," and smile and then giggle later. For me, I occasionally flip flop the locations of Czech Republic and the Ukraine. It's all totally fine (as long as I need to get to where I'm going)
Keith and I will be living in Pécs, Hungary for one year. Below is the map for Hungary:
(Pécs is that city in the lower left hand corner of the country)



Hungarians seem to be as snooty about their language as the Basque and Catalans in Spain. Around the turn of the 19th century, the Hungarians had a language summit/set of conferences to work on preserving the Hungarian language. Hungarian is NOT part of the the Indo-Euro languages--it is Finnish based and has 40 letters in its alphabet. Let's learn some Hungarian!!

Jó reggelt kívánok: yaw ray*gelt key*vah*nohk: Good morning

Hogy vagy?: Ho/eeg (like the Hawain food poi) voj: How are you?

Köszönöm, jól: Cu*soo*noom, yowl: Thank you, I'm well

And now you know some Hungarian and can come visit us!!!!
Keith and I will be posting some videos of our travels and language trials and errors...get excited!!

Travel Plans

Okay, so we are officially leaving from JFK airport Friday, August 20th at 7:45pm and arriving in Budapest at 10:50am (Budapest-time--about 4:50am Eastern time). I have vegetarian meals set up for us on the flight and a shuttle service will be taking us from the airport in Budapest to our flat in Pécs.

My doctor told me today that I will be on crutches for another 4-6 weeks (we'll see about that...) and probably will need a cane after that. At least this means Keith and I will get to board the plane early.