Dark in the city
Night is a wire
Steam in the subway Earth is afire
other than a strong presence of my
After sight-seeing and exploring the grounds of Buda Castle, photographing dozens of stunning sculptures abound, Sarah, being the church and cathedral loving girl that she is, dragged me into Matthias Church, which was not too far away, located at the heart of the Buda Castle District. And I'm telling you right now, I know Sarah's going to slap me good for saying this, but although the outside and inside of the church was quite beautiful, after so many visits to these old ancient churches, they all start to look alike inside to me. So I sat down near the confession booth and waited patiently for her to finish.
Anyway, after filling our bellies up at the restaurant where I enjoyed my first official goulash experience, Sarah and I were still Hungry for more Hungary. And there's was lots more of Hungary to see, including the biggest and best. So we headed fast for Hungary's most popular tourist destination and the largest Parliament building in all of Europe and oldest in all of Hungary, the gorgeous and grand Hungarian Parliament Building, the seat of the National Assembly. It was an impressive sight to see that surely ranks high amongst some of the greatest landmarks I've ever seen in my life. It was also my number one moment of our Big Budapest Break.
— Duran Duran, 1982
By November's end, just a couple of days after another scrumptious Thanksgiving feast in Sofia generously hosted by my good friend Joe, preparations for the American English Academy's big Christmas program were underway. Since day one of accepting the job as the school's new art and dance teacher, I'd been over hearing my co-workers chit-chatting away about this important up-coming event. As a matter of fact, the school's founder and principle gave me a DVD copy of last year's performance to view during my orientation. And from time to time they'd both pop by my classroom, unannounced, to make sure I was preparing my students to perform a couple of numbers by mid December.
I know, that's not a whole lot of time for preparation, but I wasn't nervous about that. And I wasn't nervous about my upper-level AEA Dance Crew, I knew getting them ready to perform wouldn't pose a challenge. No, what was worrying me most was my Junior AEA Dance Crew. They range from ages 3 to 8 and most of them have never even been on a stage before.
Realizing this small obstacle and the fact that I am the new teacher under the microscope this year, I had something to prove the staff — and myself. And getting 40 little hip hoppers to turn out a stellar performance at the big Christmas Program would probably be a substantial start.
Hungry for success, I had to figure out
how I was going to make it happen. I came up with all kinds of cute tricks and gimmicky solutions that just didn't add up. Then out of the blue I remembered my past performing experiences and how there was really no tricks or gimmicks that went into churning out a real stellar performance. I remembered how it took only a couple of things to make it happen.
Plenty of hard work and practice.
So throughout the early part of December, I devoted every minute of each of my one hour hip hop dance class sessions to preparing my students for the big show. Each day I would greet my students with a motto that I stole from
one of the world's greatest choreographers, that simply says, "how you look in rehearsal — is how you'll come across on stage."
The
upper-level AEA Dance Crew
understood Brooke's motto and believed that if they were going to deliver a stellar performance, it would require a lot of hard work and practice each day. The Junior
AEA Dance Crew
didn't quite comprehend. But a little ice cream sandwich and Oreo cookie bribery before each rehearsal helped drive the point across a bit faster.
After my hard work and practice speech, teaching my hip hop dancers the importance of stage presence and attitude was my second agenda. I told them that coming out on stage with confidence is one of the most important parts in achieving a successful performance and that an audience can easily sense a shy or unconfident performer right off the bat. This was another important lesson that I thought would completely fly over my
Junior
AEA Dance Crew's
little heads. But to my surprise, and without any ice cream sandwich and Oreo cookie bribery, they understood where I was coming from right away.
So after a couple of weeks choreographing routines to
Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" and
Run-D.M.C.'s "Christmas In Hollis", and bringing out the students' strengths during solo performances, I was almost certain that both of my AEA Dance Crews were ready to deliver that stellar performance I was banking on.
But after those rigorous rehearsals and with just a few days before the big Christmas show at the American English Academy, I was hungry for a break away from teaching and Bulgaria altogether. Oh, and please don't misread me — I really love teaching art and dance and my life here in Sofia is going pretty well — but every once and a while, we can all use a break to keep from breaking.
Sarah was also hungry for a break away from it all. And lucky for her, America For Bulgaria
periodically
nother dream destination on my Bucket List. And because Spiders 3D, the last film I was in, unexpectedly interrupted Sarah's
InterRail Euro Pass
birthday gift she gave me to travel Scandinavia by train, as a nice replacement, she gave me this trip to Budapest instead.
Sarah had 
been to Budapest once or twice during her backpacking days and have always spoken fondly of the place, so we were both more than anxious to go on our Big Budapest Break.
She arrived in budapest two days before me to attend those foundation meetings. I eventually arrived at the hotel around 8 pm on her second night, to find a room key waiting for me at the front desk. The hotel housed one of the
oldest swimming facilities in the country and was located
about a couple of miles from the city.
Hungry like a fat man after a foodless flight, the friendly desk person helped point the way to a very yummy pizza restaurant around the corner where I enjoyed some the best pizza I'd eaten since my trip to Italy last Summer.
While dinning alone, an activity that I loath more than traveling solo, I couldn't help but observed that Hungary would end up being placed quite high on my list of countries where my celebrity status is most prominent. I got this feeling after
I entered the crowded pizza restaurant, prompting
everyone inside to stop what they were doing
as if I'd hit the pause button on a television remote control.
I was a bit surprised at the Hungarians' reaction, considering that I'd heard Budapest is one of the fastest rising popular tourist attractions in the world. Nevertheless, my ever-so-present celebrity status was so active, that it even prompted the pizza stores' hostess and waitress to pause from work and park at my table for a while to chat with me. As I chomped down on my yummy pizza, the two girls politely introduced themselves and asked me the usual curious questions that I typical hear from East Europeans upon first meeting me, such as, "where are you from?", "why in the world are you here?" and "what do you think of our country?"
After answering the latter question with "I'd just arrived in Budapest an hour ago," the two girls, and even some strangers dining beside my table, were quite eager to help direct me to all the cool and important places I should visit during my stay. So
celebrity status, there was one other thing I'd became instantly sure of after chatting with the two girls and surrounding strangers — that the people of Hungary were extremely warm and welcoming. They also answered a few questions I had regarding their culture — particularly the origins of their very unique and exotic
Uralic language, which from what they tell me, is distantly related to Finnish, Estonian and a number of other minority languages spoken in the Baltic states.
The girls were also apologetic for the mass attention that I received when I walked through the restaurant doors. And the one girl with the funniest sarcastic sense of humor warned me of more coming throughout my trip, stating that, "Hungary gets infrequent visits from tourists who resemble you, Owen." For my slower audience, that simply interprets to I won't be seeing any Black folks around here during my stay. And besides the relieving exception of a large African tour group we spotted —throughout the entire trip, I learned that the girls weren't really exaggerating. Like Hungary's fellow Balkan States, I felt like I was starring in a movie called The Last Black Man On Earth.
I juiced the girls and other surrounding strangers for as much info about Hungary as I could, before I noticed the time was getting a bit late. So after having the girls bag up the rest of my yummy pizza to go, I headed back to the hotel to meet up with Sarah where we got a good nights' rest for our
Big Budapest Break.
Before bed time, I told Sarah a little of what I learned about Hungary's culture at the yummy pizza place, and she added that swimming is a huge sport and recreational activity of the Hungarian culture, too. And after seeing the humongous professional swimming facility inside the hotel, that included an indoor and outdoor pool, I was convinced that the words coming from my Girl From The North Country's mouth were true. And speaking of swimming,
after last Summer's visit to some of the best beach resorts of old Yugoslavia, Sarah and I were hungry for more water fun. So early the next
morning before check out, we took full advantage of this humongous swimming facility.
And let me tell you, during our stay we experienced some extremely lovely Spring-like weather for late Fall
in Budapest, but it was not exactly warm enough to swim outdoors in my opinion. So Sarah and I found it rather odd and unusual to see so many Hungarians swimming outdoors, seemingly enjoying the activity as if it were a hot sunny summer day.
And yeah, after witnessing this, I needed no furthermore convincing about how deep the Hungarians' love is for the water sports. And don't get me wrong, Sarah and I both have big love for swimming, too — but apparently not as much as your average Hungarian, because we bee-lined fast for the indoor section of the swimming facility where were enjoyed a few laps before heading off for the city center where our
cozy little hostel awaited us.
As we cabbed our way through the lovely streets of Budapest toward the hostel, the first thing that struck me about the city was that the amazing architecture and beautiful surrounding sculptures reminded me of Prague, my magical Emerald City I ventured off to in Episode 8 — but rather a conservative version of Prague, if that makes any sense. Even the people had a conservative-like manner about them. For example, I particularly observed that a large majority of females in Budapest were not dressed in that edgier or sexy-like gear that you typically would find in the Balkans and most of Eastern Europe.
After settling into our cozy hostel, Sarah and I were more than hungry to start exploring all that Budapest had to offer — we were famished. So after crossing the lion sculpture-guarded
we headed fast for t
he first major landmark in Budapest, the tranquil
Buda Castle, a historical castle complex completed in 1265 for the Hungarian kings in Budapest.
Back outside on the other hand, located directly behind Matthias Church was something that didn't look too familiar outside or inside, the fantastic Fisherman's Bastion, a terrace in neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque style situated on the Buda bank of the Danube on Castle hill. We spent a good long while there taking more photographs and exploring each of the seven picturesque towers that represent the seven Hungarian tribes that settled in the Carpathian Basin in 896.
All this exploring made us quite hungry for something yummy to eat. And throughout our Big Budapest Break, Sarah kept raving about goulash, a traditional Hungarian soup or stew, usually made of beef, onions, vegetables, spices and ground paprika powder that originated from the Hungarian gulyás, a word for a cattle stockman or herdsman. But to be perfectly honest, this goulash didn't sound very appetizing to me. And this time, my mom is going to slap me good for telling this story. You see, the name 'goulash' is reminiscent of a childhood nickname that me and my brothers used to call a cabbage and potato soup dish that my mom seemingly threw together during hard times. This goulash went a long way — but from what I can remember, it was nothing I craved or looked forward to eating when times got better. So you can bet that I really wasn't looking forward to chomping down any goulash during my Big Budapest Break.
Anyway, getting back to the story, directly after we found a nice little cozy restaurant near Fisherman's Bastion, Sarah and I got into a small skirmish over my reluctance to experiment with foreign cuisines when traveling or vacationing, which, of course, stemmed from her suggesting that I try this goulash stuff.
After repeatedly refusing the goulash, Sarah became quite annoyed and tossed a familiar motto of hers at me a couple of times, she repeated, "Owen, one doesn't truly experience a country, until one has experienced a county's cuisine!"
Stubborn as a mule, I didn't want to admit that her statement was absolutely true at the time.
Instead, to keep the peace, I kept quiet and ordered a good helping of this goulash stuff as my main course.
And you guessed it, my Girl From The North Country was correct, again.
After one spoonful of the goulash I was sold like a mansion in Beverly Hills.
Forgetting my table manners, I literally polished my plate clean. And f
or the remainder of our Big Budapest Break, I was hungry for the goulash.
That's all I seemed to crave! Ironically, after I ordered so many helpings of it, Sarah was now insisting that I try something else!
Women! You can't please them.
To cut a long story short and hopefully spare you from too much more boredom, for the next couple of days, Sarah and I basically explored more of beautiful Budapest, including lots of lovely night walks across the picturesque Liberty Bridge, more basking and swimming at t
he
Art Nouveau style
St. Stephen's Basilica, a Roman Catholic basilica in honor of the first King of Hungary, a visit to
The Museum of Fine Arts, where we were treated to a surprise double billing of the fine works of the late great Gustav Klimpt and Colombia's Fernando Botero,
and last but certainly not least, the most wonderful walk around
Hősök tere or "Heroes' Square" and
Our
City Park experience was surely my second favorite moment our Big Budapest Break.
Speaking of favorite moments, my third favorite moment was like a sweet delicious dessert after a satisfying meal. Literally. You see, on our last night in Budapest, Sarah and I took a wonderful walk down
t
eminiscent of a
As we strolled down the most beautiful avenue in Budapest, littered with iconic
green and yellow telephone booths,
robust Botero statues, and gothic architecture abound, there was
a familiar taste of melancholy in the air that reminded us that our Big Budapest Break was almost over. With our hands clutched tightly, and our heads filled with wishful thoughts to stay in Budapest forever, a strong familiar smell of chocolate
woke us from our trance. This satisfying scent was coming from a nearby upscale dessert restaurant.
Happening upon this little dessert restaurant was perfect timing in so many ways than one. You see, next to the goulash, Sarah had also been raving about Budapest's reputation for having some of the best chocolates and desserts. And this place seemed like the perfect spot to put it to the test. And besides the restaurant's amazing ambiance, the sweets we ordered on the menu were some of the best desserts I'd ever tasted in my life — in turn securing Budapest's reputation of being one of the great chocolate and dessert states in the world and adding to a perfect ending to our Big Budapest Break.
But the fun's not quite over yet. So If you'd like to see more stunning and detailed photographs that tell a far better story than I, feel free to click on this link and enjoy.
The time is now,
the place is here
And the whole wide world is filled with cheer
— Joseph Simmons & Darryl McDaniels, 1987
After our Big Budapest Break, it was back home to Sofia where we were greeted to a snow covered city. It was also just a few days away from the big Christmas program at the American English Academy. And although my hip hop dancers seemed more than ready to perform, I was still getting more and more nervous by the day. But this time my nervousness was mainly due to a
scheduling conflict that kept me and my students void of any stage rehearsals and sound checks right up until the actual day of the show. So with literally a couple hours before the curtains opened, I finally got the chance to get all my dance students on stage for a dress rehearsal and test run through their numbers to see how it was all going to work out.
And man was there some needed working out to do. Besides the surprisingly scratched-up recording of "Christmas Rappin'" that
I delivered to the sound check folks,
both dance crew's performances were sloppy and lacked enthusiasm. During the routines, most of the students were out of sync, and to top it all off, Little John, the youngest of my students who recently turned 3, who normally loves the attention, refused to come out on stage to perform his solo part. I was quite surprised and disappointed by this. None of the students looked this way during the classroom rehearsals. My only guess was that they'd gotten nervous performing in front of their peers and teachers for the first time.
With less than a couple hours away from show time — I panicked. Something told me that my stellar performance I was banking on just wasn't going to happen today.
I was no longer hungry for success, I was now hungry to get it all over and done with. I wanted this nightmare to end. And with
no more rehearsals left to try and fix things, all I could do now was make like my main man Coach Reeves from The White Shadow with his team down at half-time; I
gave them one last pep talk and hoped for the best.
With about one and a half hours left before show time, there was no way I was going to spend it at school feeling all nervous and jittery. So I decided to drive Xena back home and rest up before the show. But when I arrived home I couldn't even shut my eye lids. I was still way too nervous to sleep. I couldn't even eat.
Since the Junior AEA Dance Crew were the opening act of the big Christmas program, after pacing the floor for an hour, I hopped back into Xena and headed back to the school a half hour before show time to make sure they were dressed and ready to perform.
After the kids were ready and dressed, at approximately 15 minutes before show time, I marched them downstairs to the auditorium and backstage. During the line up, that included another quick pep talk from me, two of my 5 year old female students, Nana and Angela, got into a shouting match over their placement in the line up which resulted in both girls crying hysterically. I tried to do what I could to calm them down, such as pointing out the importance of the show, but nothing I could say seemed to work.
They just cried louder!
Disciplinary problems was the last thing I needed right now. And to make matters worst, while all of this was going on, the lights went down in the auditorium room and the announcer was calling my Junior AEA Dance Crew to the stage.
"My goulash is cooked," I thought to myself.
Then out of the blue the students straightened up like a military troop ready for battle. It was like after hearing the announcer call them to the stage, the voice somehow transformed these little kids into professional performers ready to go out there and give the show of a lifetime.
I couldn't believe it! I'd like to think that somehow they knew just how important this moment was to me and was determined to make me proud. Wishful thinking? Probably.
Anyway, t
here was still the matter of the two girls crying to attend to. But just when I was ready to cut them both from the performance to save everyone from embarrassment — they straightened right up, too! I watched as they wiped the tears away and marched out with the rest of the dancers. Then bewildered and confused, I bravely followed behind them and took my place at the side of the stage to helplessly watch what I thought would be my fate.
Then right at the first horn line of the classic "Christmas In Hollis," Harry, one of my most precocious and challenging 5 year old students, led the Junior Dance Crew off first with a magnetic solo performance imitating The King Of Pop's robot-like moves with the cutest perfection. The crowd erupted in cheers and applauds as I looked on with shrugged shoulders, trying my best to hold back my joyful emotions like Tom Landry on the sidelines after the Cowboys have just scored a winning Super Bowl touchdown
.
Harry's performance was crucial too, because it seemed to have motivated the other dancers, setting the pace for the remainder of the AEA Junior Dance Crews performance.
As each kid stepped out and delivered an excellent solo performance to more cheers and applauds, I was still worried about one really little one in particular coming up, soon.
Little John. The 3 year old student who refused to perform during dress rehearsal.
I just figured, if he didn't perform then, why in the world would he perform now? And in front of all of these strangers while his parents were watching him?
"No way, he's just not going to do it!" I said to myself.
Well, he proved me wrong that night. Because not only did Little John come out to perform his solo, his performance was one the highlights of the Junior AEA Dance Crews entire performance.
Oh, and not to leave out my upper-level AEA Dance Crew, but as I said earlier, I really wasn't worried too much about them. I knew they would be awesome and my prediction was right. Because just like the Junior AEA Dance Crew, they turned the place out as well.
In my hearts of hearts, I knew that my dance students delivered a truly amazing performance that night. And even though the dancers received big cheers and applauds from the crowd, I still wasn't sure how it was really received by everyone. But immediately after the show, all of my wondering and worrying was put to rest. I got a wave of congratulatory handshakes and thank yous from my students' parents, my co-workers, and even the big bosses.
I suppose you can say that I got that stellar performance I was banking on.
Be seeing you.
O
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