Topic 1

Introduce myself: My name is Balázs Horváth. I'm from the west of Hungary. I live with my
family in an old historic town called Veszprém. I’ve been living there since I was born. I
come from a large family. My parents are self-employed. I have two siblings: one sister and
one brother. They both go to primary school. In my freetime I enjoy reading and I’m keen on
playing on my phone. Also, I adore fencing, but I dislike swimming and I loathe running.

My appearance and personality: I’m of average height. I have spiky brown hair. I have a
thin face and brown eyes. I rarely wear glasses. I'm thin and I have long arms and long legs. I
have big feet and big toes. I believe I'm extremely kind, cheerful and very understanding. I'm
overly helpful and generous. On the other hand, I'm slightly impatient and fairly obstinate.

My good and bad habits: One of my good habits is that I constantly read, even while
eating. Another good habit of mine is that I always tidy my room. One of my bad habits is that
at times I bite my nails and sometimes I crack my knuckles.

My family: I come from a large family. My dad’s name is Balázs, and my mom’s name is
Katalin. Both are self-employed and have a succesful business. My dad has one sister, one
brother and one twin-brother. My mom has one sister, and one brother. I have two siblings:
one sister and one brother. My sisters name is Adél and my brother name is Barni. I have ten
cousins. Sometimes we quarell, but I guess it’s only natural.

How I get on with my family members: I get on well with my family members. They are
lovely and generous. I respect my parents and I look up to them. I can share my problems
with them and they always give my some useful advice. Of course, sometimes we quarrel but
then we make it up.
I keep in touch with my distant relatives on Facebook, and via other socialnetworking sites.
At times I call them and we arrange to meet up. I feel I’m lucky to have so many people who I
can rely on.

My distant relatives: I get on well with my distant relatives, but I don’t see them very often,
unfortunately. I have two aunts and three uncles. I have ten cousins.We have a large family,
and we meet on holiday and on special occasions such as weddings or birthdays. We love
each other very much, we always try to help each other. I believe I have strong family ties as
all my distant family members are important to me.

My future plans:
I’m quite an ambitious person. I have plenty of short-term and long-term plans. My short-term
play is to go to secondary school and besides English, I would also like to learn Russian,
German, and French.
My long-term plan is going to university abroad after finishing my secondary school studies.
. I’d like to study Politics and I’d really like to become a politician. In my view, it’ a
challenging and exciting profession.

My hobbies: I adore pursuing sports. I do fencing, and I’m really into playing chess and golf,
too. Besides this, I’m fond of reading and playing video games in my free time. However,
swimming and running aren’t my cup of tea. Honestly, I loathe swimming.

My relationship with online friends: I prefer to keep contact with my friends facet o face, as
it’s more personal. I haven’t got a Facebook account, because I’m too young and immature
for that. At least, this is what my parents say. I suppose online friendships are shallow.

Facebook:I haven’t got a Facebook account, because I’m too young. To my mind, Facebook
has some advantages and disadvantages, too. Firstly, it can be useful because you can chat
with people you rarely see. What’s more, you might arrange to meet in person. Secondly, you
can join groups where you can contact people with the ame interests as yours. You can also
make new friends, read online news and keep abreast of the latest developments int he world.
However, it has a few constraints. Some people create fake profilest o harass others and
online friendships aren’t real friendships. These relationsips are shallow.

Christmas  is a religious holiday and it is a very special ocassion in our family.  

On Christmas Eve our family comes together and celebrates.We  put up a pine tree, decorate
it, and they listen to, and sing Christmas carols. This is a very exceptional day, and everyone
get plenty of gifts. The midnight service is held at midnight, where religious people go. Here,
they celebrate Jesus Christ's birth. 
In Hungary, at Christmas people eat roast duck, and the most typical desserts are  walnut cake
and poppy-seed cake . 
People usually go to the Christmas fair. There are lot of things to  buy. People drink mulled
wine and punch. 
Unfortunately, in the past 20 years Christmas has become fully commercialised, because it's
about getting the best gifts for each other, and of course, (sadly),quality also matters to them.
The majorty of people spend too much money on gifts to their loved ones. I believe Christmas
is a time when we can express our love and appreciation to your nearest and dearest and we
can spend quality time together. 

Easter is a religious holiday. At Easter, religious people celebrate Jesus Christ's Resurrection.
They go to church and participate in processions. Lent is a long period before Easter, when
religious people don't eat meat for 40 days.
In Hungary we have a peculiar tradition: On Easter Monday boys visit their female relatives
and  "sprinkle" them  with perfume. They also recite a poem before sprinkling. In return, the
boys get hand-painted eggs, and sometimes a small sum of money.  The majority of people
don't sprinkle at Easter, but we observe this tradition in our family, 
Each country has their own Easter food, and Hungary, too. We eat ham and hard-boiled eggs.