Monday, September 17, 2007

Our first full day in Hungary!

We awoke Saturday morning right on time without an alarm clock, and went down to breakfast to see many familiar faces, and to meet some new people. After breakfast and introductions, we proceeded to the old gym for our first workshop session.




Miklos Manninger was our first instructor and he was delightful! He didn't speak German, but with the help of a few interpeters, and some hand signals and demonstrations, he taught us part of a dance that he put together from a number of simple historical folk dances.


After dancing all morning, we broke for lunch, and then went into the roomier new gym for a presentation on the Hungarian school system and the German circiculum at the Friedrich Schiller Gymnasium where we were staying. The speaker was Dr. Zoltan Guth, the director of the gymnasium.




Then on to more dancing. After and full afternoon of dancing, we were served dinner, and then spent the evening getting to know some of the other participants.


It was a full day and we were ready for bed, but sleep was impossible as the dog next door could only bark at night, and he barked, and barked, all night long.