Having just finished my 2 week survivor's guide to Hungarian, I wish I could tell you I can now speak fluently among the natives. This of course isn't the case, but I do have a slightly larger range of words and I understand more about the basics of the sentence structure.
Hungarian is very different from English. First off, the alphabet contains a whopping 44 letters, including 14 vowels. The language is very phonetic though, so once you learn the alphabet it makes reading Hungarian possible at the very least. It is also a very rhythmic language, the emphasis placed on the first syllable of every word, and most words following the pattern of consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel, etc.
The class, for the most part, was fun. There was around 16 or 17 of us, and 99% of them were American IT students. They were here for a few months as part of their University degrees back home in the US, and part of their course was this language class. There was only me and one other person who were not American, a lovely Australian woman called M, who was in Hungary because of her son. He was at a local football academy training to be the next Magnificent Magyar, or Aussie in his case. Her husband is Hungarian and they spend a lot of time here in Budapest. Being the only people in the class over the age of 20, we hit it off and became friends quickly.
It has been a very tiring couple of weeks, I'd forgotten that having to spend all day in a classroom can be quite draining. To be honest though, I think the course was a little too full on in hindsight, and that lessons for just a few hours a week might be more beneficial for me. I think time in between lessons is needed for all the information to sink in. In class, as soon as one topic had been discussed, we were onto the next one without ever looking back. Now I will take a little breather, then study on my own a little, before signing up for some more, albeit less intensive, classes.
Last weekend, we spent the day and night at B's grandparents place. They are absolutely lovely and although they don't speak English and I don't speak Hungarian, we can usually make ourselves understood to each other. B's grandfather took us to the Museum of Agriculture (as seen in the last post), and showed us around their town. It was a lovely place, with a great history. He used to be the head teacher of the local high school so it was lovely to see everyone saying hello to him and waving as we walked through the town centre.
After dinner we had a marathon session of Rummi, and then in the morning they took us to their allotment, which they call a telek (parcel).
We spent an hour or two picking the plums, and various other fruits and vegetables, from which they make pálinka, wines, jams, preserves among other things.
Their basement is a thing of beauty, every wall is lined with shelves full of homemade treats. We sampled quite a few different vintages of pálinka too, it would have been rude not to...
I also had my birthday on Wednesday. As usual, B made a fuss of me and although I spent the day at school, I had a great day.
On Friday evening, B's parent's cooked me a lovely meal and gave me some nice gifts. I was touched by their kindness, so thank you to G & E once again, you have really made me feel welcome here. And thanks to everyone who messaged me, or sent me a card, to say happy birthday. It means a lot.
At the weekend, we were invited to spend the day, evening and night in one of our friend's holiday houses on the outskirts of the city. It is quite common among the Hungarians to have these little holiday homes. I guess the lower price of property here makes it possible.
We spent the day weeding the garden, playing cards and the evening attempting to cook food over a fire in the garden. The entertainment was great but I have to say our outdoor cooking skills left a fair bit to be desired.
No ill effects yet from the undercooked meat thankfully...perhaps neutralised by the massively overcooked potatoes.
B and I have also started to run again. Since my half marathon in March, I have barely been out running at all so it feels good to start up again finally. One of my goals since deciding to move here is to run the Budapest Marathon next October. I am in no way fit enough to attempt it this year, but I will give it my best shot to get ready for 2014. This is a good time to explain the title of this blog actually. 'A Foot in the Duna' is a play on words, as 'fut' is the Hungarian word meaning 'to run'. So it has an English and Hungarian meaning.
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So far, I've only done a couple of short 3 mile runs around Margitsziget (Margaret Island), but hopefully soon I will get my fitness back and be able to do laps. When I decided to write this blog, it was intended to be more of a diary of my running just for myself, but now it has become more of a general diary, it seems like a good idea to share it with my family and friends. And now I am up to date with it, I will attempt to post every few weeks or so.
All in all, after a month in Hungary, I am very happy and feel as if Budapest is treating me kindly. Of course I miss my family and friends from home a great deal, but I feel like this chapter of my life was meant to be. Having moved here 9 years to the day after my father died, July 30th, and into a building called Főnix Ház (Phoenix house - my Dad's auction business was called Phoenix Auction Rooms), I can't help but feel that maybe he is keeping a watching eye over us. I hope we can make you proud of us Dad.
It's a touching post Mike... Thank you!
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