Hungary, Continued

Since my previous post, I thought about the unique opportunities that I had as a by-product of my decision to teach English in Hungary. One thing that I am particularly proud of is that I have been photographed and quoted in a foreign paper. How many people can say that unless they are famous or hold valued positions in various fields? In a sense, this situation was socio-economic as we were the first group of teachers to visit Szeged through the Sister Cities program with Toledo,Ohio. The local paper interviewed the early arrivals about their opinions of the city and the goals of our organization. I had an interesting story to share that generated a lot of recognition and praise locally.

You probably have the mindset that most places in Europe are remarkably safe in contrast to many of our urban cities in the U.S. so, it was no shock to our host families that the younger, early arrivals to the city wanted to explore the nightlife the weekend on our own prior to starting classes.  All of us had literally taken our last final and hopped on planes, trains, and automobiles to get to our destination. Celebrating our new situation as well as blowing off some stress was definitely in order considering all of the studying and preparation. 

Enter: The infamous "Disco Boat" on the Tisza River. How we wanted to be there and dance the night away!  I watched my male counterparts salivate at some of the most beautiful women in the world and then try to hide their fascination and lust by commenting on how they wished they shaved their underarms.  Next Scene: The way home. Having been through the city several times by now, I thought I knew which fork in the road to take on the main street and how much closer I believed my family lived. Good-Golly-Gosh! Was I WRONG! With nothing more than an address and a phone number in my pocket combined with a minuscule grasp of a few words I managed to find a pedestrian that knew a small vocabulary of English and a desire to help. Ironically, on my long, circular walk, most people confused me for a Hungarian and asked for the time but they didn't really know how to help me with my dilemma under the circumstances.  This thoughtful pedestrian called my host mother from a payphone and relayed my issue, called me a cab and directed the driver to my new home.   

Finale: After sharing with the reporter the fact that I felt so uncharacteristically safe and that the locals were so understanding and helpful, it created a good positive spin on our exchange program and the participating school.  It is quite possible that more people enrolled.

Other additives of the experience would include:

Travel to Austria, France, Italy, Germany, & Switzerland

I went Paragliding in Interlocken, Switzerland within the Alps and met up with a new group of travel buddies that was composed of 5 Australians and 1 South African. I became an honorary Australian as they labeled me a "not so American and offensive sort".  After some time on the road with my American/teacher buddies, I knew they were right! One will never have more fun than traveling abroad with a group of Australians. Anything ridiculous can happen and they get away with everything including tormenting our elitist South African com-padre.

On a side note, it is very tragic that I would consider not being perceived as an American abroad as a positive aspect of my travels but the truth is that many Americans behave brazenly and presumptuously. I don't know how to explain it, really. You just have to see it for yourself. The only analogy I can think of is that we treat our hosts in other countries much like walking into a stranger's home without the slightest bit of cordiality, heading straight to the refrigerator, opening the door, grabbing a beer and then wondering why someone is looking at us like we have three heads.

It is embarrassing to do something culturally atrocious and I admit to having done so. My teacher friends and I toasted with our beers. While it is acceptable to raise a glass and say "to your health" in Hungarian it is taboo to 'clink' glasses with beer (wine is approved). The reason for that is that many Hungarian military Generals were hanged or shot and the insurgents toasted their demise over a beer.

If you are planning a trip overseas I highly recommend visiting this website and submitting questions regarding the location you plan to visit.

Comments

[Kytari]

I would like to have an opportunity to scan some pictures into my computer as there weren't any digital cameras on the market that I knew of in 1993. It will probably be quite a while before I do that, though.

[Etchen]

Kytari,
Please post some pictures of your travels when you have a free moment. ;-) I would love to see where you haev visited as well as your host family!