Author: dave

from facebook:

 

Update from Debrecen to Pécs…

After packing the coaches this morning, we drove for about an hour to Hortobágy, where we visited a national park. Half the group went on the safari, while the others stayed to look at the craft stalls (be warned: the students bought everything from fake swords, pocket knives, hats, toys, to the traditional whips of Hungarian horsemen!).

We enjoyed a traditional Hungarian outdoor meal, with an appetiser of pickles and mild chillies, followed by bread and goulash, the latter cooked in a huge pot over a portable gas fire. Today was one of the hottest we’ve had so far, and therefore drinks and ice creams were popular purchases.

The safari itself was a short drive to a kind of small zoo, where we saw animals that were once common in Hungary but are now mostly only found in captivity, including wolves and European wildcats. We also saw foxes, vultures, eagles, storks, a hobby falcon and water buffalo. I was surprised to learn that lions once roamed Hungary.

After lunch it was off for the long drive to Pécs, which took almost 6 hours, meaning we didn’t get dinner until 9pm. However, on the way we did stop for 45m at a service station where the students managed to clear the shelves of most of the junk food! The landscape in Hungary is generally very flat, with acres of sunflowers (used to make cooking oil) and corn growing.

Tonight some of the boys watched the last half hour of the World Cup final. Tomorrow we are off to explore the city and prepare for our final concert, which should happen tomorrow night if the weather holds.

i played my last music roster this morning.  it was quite noisy so that was good.  i even got to use my loudest distortion pedal on the last song, so that was a nice finale.  anyway, no more sound or bassing for me.  for a while at least!

then this afternoon i was in charge of the photo exhibition.  there were three visitors this afternoon – jane, kezia and my friend mike

the rest of the day jane and kezia have been packing their suitcases ready for their trip to rotorua tomorrow

and this evening they took pearl to her aunty’s house so she doesn’t have to stay at home with me!

from facebook:

Update from Debrecen…
This morning we enjoyed a walking tour around the inner city, which is not a large area, but filled with yet more amazing architecture. After a short period of free time, it was back to the hostel for lunch, then off to the water park, a huge indoor pool complex. Many students enjoyed the slides and pools – others (me included) found a quiet corner to enjoy a cold drink and possibly even a wee kip.

After dinner at the hostel, we walked back into town and set up for the concert. Once again, we had a professional stage and crew, and a crowd built throughout the concert. John Alden Stanley, one of the Summa Cum Laude adjudicators from the USA, happened to be at the concert and enjoyed watching Westlake present the ‘complete package’.

During the NZ and Hungarian anthems at the end of the concert, there were several people in the audience moved to tears. The power of music to bring people together and build bridges between cultures has been demonstrated many times on this tour. I’m sure the students will treasure their memories of being part of this.

these pictures are a few days old now, from the performances in Vienna but i hadn’t seen them before, so here you go.  esther appears in all of them.

facebook tells us the following:

Update for Budapest to Debrecen…

This morning we checked out of our accommodation, loaded the coaches and headed in to town for a tour of the opera house. It’s a very attractive building, with several marble staircases and several impressive paintings around the foyers and auditorium.

We were told that obstructed sight line seats (i.e. with a restricted view of the stage) cost around 600 Huf (Hungarian forint) per seat, which is about NZ$3.50, while the most expensive seats are only around NZ$100 – very reasonably priced compared to operas presented in NZ (mind you, we think the average wage here is somewhere around the NZ$10,000 mark, so it’s a little hard to compare).

Then it was a short walk to the Liszt Academy, one of the most important independent tertiary music education institutions in the world, where we had a short tour of the two major performance spaces, before heading to lunch.

The group then had about 4 hours of free time, which was gratefully received, before regathering for the coach trip to Debrecen, stopping briefly at Heroes’ Square on the way.

The hostel in Debrecen is a step up from Budapest, and we are looking forward to a later start in the morning!

quiet day today – esther and kezia up early for kez’s swimming,  but rest of day was spent milling about the house. 

i popped out during the day to get a new laptop for jane so i’ve spent many hours watching that slowly update itself

otherwise a very welcome quiet day!

i’ve managed to get some of the videos off facebook for you.

esther is in the concert band but i thought you might also like to hear the choir and orchestra.

you can find them all here:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/viytj50hy5v6ixy/AADbI74DULG6LPxE9Ca9V2qta

click on an image to download/play each one

(let me know if you can’t access them!)

old posts have been restored, so it’s worth having a skim back over the last week or so to make sure you’re caught up. 

sorry to anyone who left comments earlier (Alan) but they seem to have been lost in the recent outages, so feel free to comment again!

 

here’s some facebook posts (possibly out of order, sorry):

 

Budapest, performance at the Vorosmarty Square.

Budapest @ the castle – Lost n found ……. bus.

(esther’s on the stairs, top right)

World famous in Hungary!

 

Update from Budapest…
This really is a city of contrasting history, something we gained a greater understanding of on the hour long boat cruise on the Danube. There is everything from the palaces of Hungarian kings, to Baroque churches, to Classical period hotels, to bleak communist-era buildings, and then 21st century theatres, all visible from the river. Our tour guide then took us to lunch at one of the palaces, now being used as an arts centre. Both lunch and dinner were served in a beautiful ballroom, and the two courses for each meal were excellent. In between, we went back to Vorosmarty Square where a crew of men were busy setting up the huge outdoor stage for our concert, complete with full lighting rig and PA system. As both chamber orchestra and big band were doing sound checks, a crowd gathered, only to be told that our concert wouldn’t start until 7:30pm! By the time we did get going, there was a big crowd waiting for it to begin, and this increased as the music drew in more people. All the groups were appreciated by the audience, and our hosts from the Hungarian government were delighted with the performances, especially of Turot and the Hungarian national anthem. We are back at the hostel for our final night before heading to Debrecen tomorrow.

 

Getting on the boat for the Danube River cruise. Budapest

 

Choralation singing on stage at the prestigious Liszt Academy. Wonderful acoustic!

We’re leaving this special hostel, so here’s a memento of the rules. Perhaps you’d like to use them at home?

(click for big)

Lunch at the palace. This was our third meal in this ballroom!

kezia did lots of creative things to decorate her bedroom today.  and she also had her nails done

i spent the day at an internet conference

i popped out at lunch to go to the World Press Photography exhibition and bumped in to a friend from the photo club wandering by so we both went in

i also saw mike from the photo club on the bus, and another chap from the photo club at a bus stop

kezia had swimming this evening and gale force winds are brewing again making for a windy night and wet tomorrow.

i now have emails from previous esther updates so will post them all tomorrow.

i walked past a bus expo this morning, then spent much of the rest of the day at an internet conference.

jane and kezia went to jane’s friend peggy then alex, then made some cakes.

i had my last band practice

kezia had club night at swimming

(apologies that a load of posts went missing for earlier in the week – this was due to the server hardware fail.  to be honest i think we’re lucky with didn’t lose everything!  i’ll try and recreate them at the weekend)

there’s been a few problems with the server, so i’ve lost of couple of yesterday’s massive posting session.

if any of you get family blog updates by email, could you forward me a copy of yesterday’s please to dave@funkypancake.com

thanks

dave