Winter Wonderland... ugh

After a perfectly acceptable snow-less winter, Szolnok has finally caught up with the rest of Hungary and allowed itself to be blanketed by snow. I had a theory going, which was something along the lines of: Szolnok is so ugly, it is physically impossible A) for it to snow at all, or B) for snow to stick around any amount of time. Because either of these things would improve the appearance of the city, and that just can’t happen, because Szolnok is and must remain an Ugly City.

But I’ve been proven wrong on both counts. It snowed Tuesday evening and night. It snowed overnight Wednesday. It snowed overnight Thursday. There’s snow on the trees, snow on the streets, snow on the buildings and snow in the gardens. Szolnok has become, I certainly won’t use the P-word, but I’ll say it has become Almost Not Ugly.

However - the clever city has found other ways to manifest its inbred ugliness. The snow turns brown and wet. It migrates inside. The students throw snowballs at me, usually at times when I’m clutching my bag, or pile of notebooks, and can’t fire back. One hit me in the face. Had I seen who it was, I wouldn’t have been above tattling on him to the director. My shoes are wet, my pants are wet, my socks are wet. I don’t want to walk anywhere, so I’ve been eating stale bread with nothing on it.

The best part is, back during the cold spell a few weeks ago, I told everyone who would listen about Minnesota weather (“Temperatures like this, but with more snow”). So now everyone is telling me, This must be just like home for you! Yes, indeed. Just like Minnesota.... grrr.

Oh well. Spring is soon enough. It’ll be all the more appreciated now. This weekend I’m off to Tiszaújváros for Liz’s Olympics-watching party. Should be interesting.