Mrs. Weakland

Eggs for Easter in the Hungarian culture differ a bit from Americans. After hollowing out the eggs, paint is put on and one egg can be kept for years until it breaks. Mrs. Weakland had a few that she brought back from Hungary that have last quite some time. Americans and Hungarians alike celebrate Easter with family members, food and egg painting. 

A lot of Mrs. Weaklands favorite meals are products of Hungarian traditions or from Hungarian cookbooks she has collected over the years. This is one of her favorite meals and it is a break cake that has poppy seed or apricot. 

Coming from a family of artist, Mrs. Weakland hangs her families masterpieces on the way to adore. Her grandfather painted this piece of his hometown in Germany. 

Mrs. Weakland's mother was an artist as well as her grandfather. The painting on Mrs. Weakland's wall is a duplicate while her mother's original painting hangs in a Hungarian art museum. 

A gift from her grandfather is a painting of a man that now hangs in her living room with her mother's works of art. 

Upstairs, Mrs. Weakland and Mr. Weakland had collections of many things. But in this nook in particular held Hungarian picture books and images of the past and family. 

On the wall to the right, is a portrait of Mrs. Weakland on her wedding day. Now it is upstairs with other belongings that hold a place in her heart. Dr. Weakland, her husband was a Ball State history professor. He is not a Hungarian but according to Mrs. Weakland he is a 'Hungarian fan.'

While looking for picture books of her hometown, Budapest, Mrs. Weakland shares that her daughter took pictures of Hungary when they went to go visit that now hang on the wall. The family grows in artist and according to Mrs. Weakland she wanted her daughter to keep taking pictures because she was so good at it. 

In the book are pictures from Budapest from the city to the outskirts of town, where she lived. The book took her back and brought smiles to her face every so often where she would remember exactly where everything was.

Mrs. Weakland visits often but she says traveling is too much work now and is not sure when she will return home to visit her friends and family that still live in Budapest. She shared that she travels when she cans and usually would have a three to four year break in between each visit. 

Dolls and artifacts from her hometown are upstairs in a cabinet in Mrs. Weaklands house. One doll was made by her sister and now it is showcased to anyone who wants to take a look. 

The living room could be a Hungarian artist museum if need be. Her mother's and grandfather's works of art are hung up around the room making her home in Muncie, feel like her home back in Budapest. After meeting her husband, he needed a place to teach and Ball State was open for the taking. After accepting the job, the Weaklands planted down in Muncie, Ind. 

Everything from picture books, to dolls, to artwork, holds a big part in Mrs. Weakland's life. She left Hungary with her mother when she was 14 and still remembers what it was like. They decided to come to the States because her mother didn't want to stay in Budapest. Mrs. Weakland said it was tough being in middle school just making friends and then having to leave them all. 

Mrs. Weakland likes Muncie, it s her home. Friends come to visit even during Hungarian holidays to celebrate together and have traditional meals and reminisce on live in Budapest. The Hungarians she knows are connections she had through Ball State and students and families that have stayed in the Muncie area. 

Only a little more to go

'Two more weeks, two more weeks' is what echos in my head every day now that we only have a couple more weeks to endure. The stress is on, and the notecards begin to pile with definitions on them to remember for one test that I more than likely won't remember in the next few years. 

School will be school though, this is what I signed up for. I wish there was a sort of more hands on experience, especially for photojournalism. Having a field trip or something where we go out and collect images and bring them back and see what we can improve would be neat, but sad to say I don't think that will happen. It is times like this that I consider thinking about going into teaching. Obviously college level because children and I are like oil and water, we just don't mix well. 

Two more weeks and I will be in my senior year at Ball State. Whenever people mention graduation it is usually followed with, 'I still don't know what to do.' Yeah, that is scary. We were never treated like adults in high school and by the end of it we had to know what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives. Now at the end of our college career we are in debt with no jobs to be found, while the older generations think we are a bunch of lazy moochers. Pretty much a lose, lose situation. 

I like to think I am not in that situation. Yeah, I'm in debt but who isn't? At least I will be doing something I love with more more information to put together great stories that hopefully other people want to know about. I feel bad for people who still don't know what they want to do and are in the same year as myself because I love what I do so much and I wish others would follow what they want to do, other than why they think they should do. 

But I am ready for this next upcoming year, my last year of college, because I know as soon as I pick up my diploma we are hitting the road to a better place where stories are endless. 

Story Marty Weber

Nokedli is a simple and delicious dish to put together fast. WIth just flour, egg, water and a few spices, paprika being one of them, nokedli is a traditional favorite that she learned while growing up in a Hungarian culture. 

The kitchen was buzzing with food sizzling in the pots and pans as well as in the oven. Cucumber salad is one her Marty's personal favorite dishes to put together when she wants something refreshing. 

eBay is a surprising big part of Marty's life. Not being able to visit Budapest as often as she would like she settles for online sellers to get a taste of Hungarian culture every so often in the mail. 

History is a very important aspect in Marty's life. After her mom moved in with her sister and her father passed away, her mom was cleaning items out and gave a lot of historical content to their family to her. 

Her mother had to work for a year and have a sponsor in order to come over to the States. Marty's mother's parents were already in the states and were her sponsors. Her father was in a war camp and later found his parents in Germany. 

Nokedli just requires this device, or a knife if this _____ is not available. It makes the Nokedli into little balls that will float to the top of the water after a few minutes showing that they are finished cooking. When we were in the process of making Nokedli they rose to the top after 2 - 3 minutes of being in the water.  

Her mother saved all of her papers when she came over to the States to keep for historical reasons. She has her passport, a paper explaining that she had worked for a year, and a medical paper showing that she had her checkups done.  

Her Hungarian corner is what Marty calls it. Dolls and small glass items are in a separate room and in their own little cabinet. Each item has some significance, and a lot of the items were gifts given to her that she cherishes. 

I asked her what her favorite picture was that she had from back in the day. This is a picture of her grandfather at a camp before he came over to the United States. 

This is a collection of images that were pulled out of her piles of images to share her family. From the vineyard with her family, to her and her brother, and the Hungarian card games, each picture shares a story. The vineyards were a big part in her life because her family made wine so they would work together to help their father. 

Coming over to the States her mother first arrived to New York City being greeted by Lady Liberty herself. She then traveled to Indiana to meet up with her family and then begin her own family. 

The dolls have been gifts and artifacts she brought back from Hungary to always keep her culture apparent. 

When her husband would fly he would come to spots and find Hungarian glass to bring back home to Marty. During Marty's visit to the classroom, one of the small glass containers was a gift brought back by her husband.

From an American perspective this is a confusing sight. The Hungarian Rhapsody Santa plays a traditional Hungarian instrument during Christmas time as a nice decoration. 

Marty is a busy body and her husband is a pilot. When he is not up in the air she told him to find a hobby. He now owns 3 drones that he flies around in their backyard when the weather permits. 

Before I tried some traditional Hungarian food it was interesting to learn her background of cooking. Her mother always cooked and shared with her what to make and how to make it the Hungarian way. 

After a long day of cooking the sink begins to pile up with dishes that will later be put into the dishwasher. The nokedli, bread, and cucumber salad made a filling and scrumptious meal combining flavors American's generally don't have a pleasure of adding to their paleate. 

Fresh Hungarian style bread was laid out for tasting in Marty's kitchen. After following her recipe she puts the dough in a bread maker and out comes a bread unlike no other that I have ever tried. 

Tasting like gasoline _____ is an alcoholic beverage in Hungary that only a few people enjoy. Marty personally cannot drink it but her sister drink it as if it taste like juice. 

The cucumber salad only tastes a few steps and the right amount of dressing. Made up of vinegar, spices, and water this delicious dish is a great snack or even meal. 

Upon arrival to Marty Weber's house I walked to to be greeted by her two dogs, the smell of food cooking, and a table full of her family history just waiting be told. 

Learning so much

As I put together the website, I have to take breaks and put together my own stories. Creating my stories was a lot of fun and more interesting than I ever would have guessed.

Recently I went to go do my last story, which involved me interviewing Mrs. Weakland. Talk about a sweet lady! Her house was full of Hungarian artifacts. Because she left when she was in her teens, she still has quite the memory of Hungary. She also tries to go back and visit when she can, but she said she doesn't think she will head back anymore. 

Most of her family members were artists, including her mother whose painting is now displayed in a museum in Budapest. Mrs. Weakland had a replica of the painting, and sure enough, it does belong in a museum.

She said she was not one for art so she moved on to other things in her life. I will get more in detail in my photo essay, but for now, I won't spoil any of the interesting facts about her.

I am very happy to have this opportunity, and I love that my profession in the future is something this exciting. Learning other people's stories makes me giddy and eager to learn more. To meet these woman was a treat because I had no cultural experience, before, and they brought a bit of a Hungarian touch to the interviews.

Surely you can see that I cannot wait for the future and all the people I will come across and the stories they have to tell.

Heading over to Marty's

This past Sunday, I headed over to Marty Weber's house in Goshen and I can easily say I have never had a interview be more fulfilling in my life, at least so far. In our emails before I arrived, she mentioned that she was excited to hear stories that I had while in Budapest. I told her in the email back that I sadly could not attend because of personal finance issues.

When I pulled up to her home, she and her dog meet me at my car, and we walked in to her lovely home. Her home had lots of windows, which equaled a lot of natural light which meant as a photographer I was one happy camper.

I followed her into the kitchen where I found food on the stove, bread made and a bowl of dough. She said, "Well, i figured since you weren't able to go, you could experience a little bit of the food here."

While taking pictures of her and talking about food she grew up with, Marty prepared everything for me to help out with cooking a Hungarian dish.

The contraption that she brought into class that looked like a cheese grater was what I used to help make and cook the little Hungarian dumplings. Throughout this whole process, I think I said "thank you for doing this" at least 20 times.

After chowing down on a few Hungarian dishes, we began looking through her old family pictures. Being a photographer and loving photos, these pictures were wonderful to look at. They told a story and they all went along with what she was telling me. Her mom and dad's papers from Germany were in the pile, and there were photos of her old house where they had all the grape vines from which they took the grapes and turned them into Hungarian wine.

The Hungarian artifacts she collected over the years off of eBay and traveling decorated the house. Blue crystal was dominate. Things her friends and loved ones picked up for her over the years were also in a cabinet that she called her, 'Hungarian corner'.

After learning more about her family, I went around and took pictures of things I found to be important to the story, and she put food in a container for me to take along and share with my boyfriend back in Muncie.

I hope to have this photo essay be great in the end so I can send her something amazing because of the wonderful experience she shared with me.

My travel hopes

As I listen to everyone talk about their experience in Budapest or anytime I upload images to the website, I get a feeling of jealousy. Even though I had a fantastic time when I was traveling the country, I can't even imagine what it was like for my classmates to travel across the ocean and be able to be emerged in a entirely different culture.

From what I can tell from images and stories, the culture looks amazing. Being a photojournalist, my personal goal is to travel the world, meet people and be immersed in a different culture. Before this trip I would have never thought about Hungary being a destination that would be on top of my list, but now it's at least in my Top 5- under New Zealand and Africa.

The trip looked amazing. The only complaint I could imagine from receiving these pictures was that I will more people would have took more than 'snapshots' and tried to produce fantastic, National Geographic worthy photos. But we can't have it all.

I hope to travel to Budapest in the future and see what all the fuss is about. I want to get my own view of it all.

I will travel to South Bend possibly this upcoming weekend and have been in contact with Marty Weber to take photos of her life and what it was like to be raised in America but with heavy Hungarian influence. Also I will visit Mrs. Weakland on Thursday to take a peek into her life.

Take me back

When we were driving back home all I wanted to do was stick my hands in the ground and the only way I would be able to leave would be to drag me to the car. I miss Colorado. I miss fresh air and not having a care in the world and just being able to hike mountains.

I'm never a complainer, but this I will complain about. Indiana is just not that great, a nice way to put it. Sure, there are a few things here and there, and maybe it is because this is where I have always lived and I'm just getting tired of it, but getting out of Indiana is all I have been able to think about after I came back from my road-trip.

There is a whole world out there to explore and I have only seen a handful of states out of this giant planet.

Coming home was hard, obviously leaving beautiful places and scenery you instantly fall in love with will be hard, but what is even worse is coming back to a small college apartment and having to check email, get your life back on track and find a way to not be overwhelmed by being a college student. The end is almost near for this semester making students get on edge and a lot of people can only think about the finish line instead of the miles we have to run before we get there. Whose to blame us though?

Traveling is an addiction, once you start it is hard to just stop dead in your tracks and have to think "alright well I have to study for 3 classes, do 4 projects, take who knows how many pictures, meet with a group to talk about our presentation, try to keep up my grades without going mad, take care of my body and worry about organizations. Got it." Traveling is so much easier when all you have to worry about is to stay clear of New mexico and Kansas drivers.

What I'm getting at is that I miss the open road and I won't stop talking about it until I am back on it to get to the beautiful places that this awesome planet has provided me with.