Horse bitten!

Hi there. I've had it on my Facebook that I'm recovering from a horse bite. Well here's the story...

I spent last weekend on a teachers' trip to the eastern part of Hungary. On Sunday, we were visiting an Archaeological Park in a small town called Polgar, near the Hortobágy National Park. I was taking pictures of a horse they had in a corral, apparently for pony rides, when I guess I got a little too close and the horse didn't like his picture taken. Me=paparazzi; horse=Keanu Reeves. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I wound up falling backwards after he bit me. I either tripped, or the horse actually knocked me over.

I found the other teachers and they took me to the first aid station (a bench outside the park entrance) and cleaned the wound (no broken skin, but pretty scraped and red). I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, so that's probably what saved the skin.

After the tour was over, they guide took me and Kata (to translate) to a doctor in Polar. I got a tetanus shot. Ouch...still hurts today! Then it was back to the group (we were gone less than an hour, while they all had lunch) and back on the tour bus. As we were leaving the park, Kata got on the loud speaker, as she did every time we were going to a new destination to explain our next stop, or give some information about where we were going. I usually understand about 25% because of course she does it in Hungarian. But this time I recognized my name. She was sharing all the details of the trip to the doctor; what the wound looked like, the shot they gave me, what we had to pay! We actually didn't pay anything...the park took care of that. I leaned over to one of my collegues and said "rolám beszél?" "Is she talking about me?" She nodded and I rolled my eyes. Nothing is private in Hungary..especially at my school.

For the rest of the afternoon, everyone kept asking if I was ok, "does it hurt?" All in Hungarian of course. I just wanted to say "I'm not part of the tour...not an exhibit..leave me alone!" But I didn't. I just let them know I was fine, and just a bit sore.

When I got home, I removed the bandage and it was very swollen. It looked like I had a sock stuffed under my skin. I put some ice on it, then later that night some more. By morning, the swelling was still there, but better. It was on Monday, that the arm I got the tetanus shot in started hurting. It was extremely sore and stiff today (Tuesday).

It's still sore. I didn't realize how much I bump into walls and door jams. No matter which side, it hurts.

So that's the saga. I'm recovering and the bit is turning a lovely shade of green!

Re-entry to the Blogosphere...

I know I've been neglecting this blog for a while, but I'm back.

I've been back in Hungary for about three weeks, and teaching almost as long. Since coming back, a lot has happened. A couple cool things are some purchases I made in the past few weeks. I bought a dining room table! So now we can have dinner parties and not have people eating with their plates on their laps.

I also bought a bike. BTW, pictures will come later. It's fire-engine red with only 6 speeds, but it does me just fine for Budapest biking. I've been out on it twice now. I'm pretty saddle sore, but I'm sure that will go away with more use. Tonight, I rode from my place all the way to the Danube River. I haven't figured out how far that is, but it's pretty far. I was out for 2 hours! I'm tired and a bit sore, but feel really good. Gotta love those endorphens (sp?)!

So, off to bed with me now. I'll be sending out an e-mail update by next week.

Blessings,
Erin