Hungary for correspondence

The other day I got a call on Skype from what sounded like a group of Hungarian students. At first, when the Skype Answering Machine (SAM) took over the call, I heard them speaking in Hungarian. I took control of the call and asked if they spoke English, and to my surprise, I heard a "Yes." They sounded like they were in their teens; there were at least two girls and a guy. They went on to ask me some questions about myself, and after each reply, there was some Hungarian jabbering as if they were trying to translate what I had said and figure out how to reply.

One of the girls asked, "What is she doing?" I asked what she meant, and she corrected herself: "What are you doing?" I said I was doing my homework. They asked me if I liked, basketball. I said I didn't, and that I wasn't into sports much. Their reply: "Do you no esport man? I don't like you." (Joking, obviously.) They asked me if I had any hobbies. I said I played the guitar. The guy said, "You are rock star!" I replied, "I wish." Then the guy asked, "Have good girl?" "Uh, no," I said. He replied, "This is horrible!"

It's horrible enough that I don't, but when people in Europe have to rub it in my face...

At that point one of the girls chimed in. "The Hungarian girls is very pretty woman." The other girl, who seemed to have a better grasp of the language, asked me if I had a Commodore (?). I think they wanted an e-mail address or an instant messenger screen name. Later, the guy said, "We are going to a disco tonight, goodbye." At the time it was 10:45 P.M. in Hungary (I looked it up), but I shrugged off that fact and said goodbye. At least they had someone to practice their English with. I'd talk to them again; they were a charming bunch.

Since the variety show cast and crew party was moved to next Tuesday and the second and last shoot for the mystery movie was postponed, I'm sitting here at home this afternoon/evening. But at least I have one thing to look forward to.

Today I got summoned to my biology teacher's classroom. I haven't had his class since last semester, so naturally I wondered what he wanted. He told me he was taking his AP Biology students to Miami Metrozoo on Thursday. (The zoo is perhaps most famous for being destroyed in Hurricane Andrew, leading to the deaths of some exotic birds. Obviously, they've fixed up the place since then.) Since there were a few extra spots on the bus, he invited me and some of his other good students to come along.

The field trip is free (as in beer); the only costs during the day-long trip will be that of lunch and whatever else you decide to buy (maybe those smelly plastic souvenir things? Do they still have those?) Seems like a lot of people I know are in AP Bio, so we'll all be missing almost a full day of school. The AP Bio students have to write a paper when they're done, but since I'm not in his class any more, I don't have to do a thing (except all the work I'll have missed when I get back).

Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures always seem to be plain white. According to the Virtual Sculpture Gallery, they were actually painted. The site has photos of some Greek and Roman statues and colorized versions to show how they probably were supposed to look. Very interesting, but I think the natural tone suits them better, even though everyone's eyes are blank.