Hits and misses

Okay, so this is going to be a bit of a long entry. You have been warned!

In two days, Daniel and I will be leaving Hungary after living here for two years. It’s been an incredible experience and we will cherish it always. Over the last two years we have gotten to know a lot about Hungary and the wonderful, generous and yes, slightly strange, Hungarians who live here.

So, as a prelude to our final goodbye, I thought it would be fun to post an entry about some of the things we will and won’t miss about Hungary. There is no order of importance, just a simple list of things we’ve grown to love...and hate.

THINGS WE’LL MISS

Our jobs

I know I said there was no order of importance, but this is definitely the hardest thing for us to leave behind. We have absolutely loved being English teachers and our students are the funniest, most creative, most amazing little people we have ever met. They continually surprise and impress us, and we have grown to love them all. Leaving them behind is just heartbreaking.

In addition, we have been fortunate enough to work alongside some incredible colleagues who have assisted us every step of the way and really made us feel like a part of the team. Then, there are the cushy working conditions. Daniel and I usually only worked 21 hours each week, the ‘commute’ to work took less than a minute and we could wear trackpants and other comfy clothes all day long. Plus we actually got paid to sing songs, play football and do arts and crafts. It was awesome!

The food

I hardly know where to start. We’ve had such fun trying out various Hungarian foods, and even learnt to cook a few meals like stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta) and grated potato fritters (lapcsánka). For most of our time in Hungary we were also fortunate enough to enjoy 3-course cooked meals for lunch every day. We really gained an appreciation for hearty soups, thick bread and lots and lots of potatoes and beans.

Trips to the supermarket were also fun. We discovered new vegetables such as kohlrabi (karalábé), as well as an assortment of other cool foods like túró rudi (a refrigerated chocolate bar filled with cottage cheese), Hell energy drink, strange breads (kifli, pogácsa, poppyseed-covered everything) and entire aisles filled with hundreds of different varieties of salami and cheese.

Then there were the gigantic home-grown watermelons, scrummy jeges kávé, goose liver galore, cherries by the bucket, and of course, daily ice creams from our (very) local shop. Daniel also became quite the pálinka (fruit brandy) fan, but we both agree that Unicum is vile.

Snow

Ah snow, how we’ll miss you! Even though Daniel and I had both seen snow before, seeing it every day and having it be just another part of life, as opposed to a holiday destination, was really something special. It was simply amazing to wake up each morning and gaze out onto a fresh blanket of clean, white fluffiness. And of course, stomping around in it, throwing snowballs, and making snowmen was also part of the appeal.

Church bells

For the last two years the bells in the local churches have provided a steady, if perhaps occasionally irritating, background rhythm to our daily lives. Some days the bells started ringing as early as 4 or 5am, but mostly we were allowed to sleep through until 6am. From then the bells rang every 15 minutes for the rest of the day – one chime at quarter past the hour, two at half past, three at quarter to, and then four chimes on the hour, plus a few more to indicate the exact time. For reasons still unclear to us two years later, the bells also went a bit crazy at 4:32pm each day. In spite of the all the noise, however, we both got used to the bells and will miss hearing them in Melbourne.

Big stuff

Hungarian lightswitches are huge. Sometimes I can’t operate them properly with just my fingers, I need to use my entire palm to switch on the light.  It makes me feel like an uncoordinated toddler, but Daniel really likes the big size so they’ve made the list.

In addition, many Hungarian keys are also huge and old-fashioned. And they fit into those stereotypical keyhole-shaped holes. I don’t quite know why, but this is something we think is pretty awesome and we’ll be sad to return to more modern key technology.

Being in Europe

Hungary’s proximity to many other European countries has been absolutely fantastic. We’re really going to miss jumping in our car and taking off to explore another country for the weekend. During our two years in Hungary, we’ve visited nearby countries including Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Italy and Germany. Many times we were able to take Iago along with us, and we explored some incredible sights together. Europe has so much history, and so much to offer tourists looking for unique experiences and stunning attractions. We’ve particularly enjoyed climbing castles, visiting museums and meandering down cobbled laneways in little rural towns. I can’t wait to come back and see even more!

Thermal baths

Before I came to Hungary the idea of lying in a pool of hot water full of visible floating ‘minerals’ sounded a bit...well...gross. But now I’m a huge fan. Many Hungarians love soaking in thermal baths and strongly believe in the positive health benefits attributed to the various minerals floating around in the water. Going to the thermal baths is a very social activity and we have often observed entire multi-generational families chatting and relaxing together while they soaked. Most of the pools have seats or benches where you can sit down, as well as powerful jets to massage aching muscles and release tension. So awesome!

Feeling rich

Hungarian currency made us feel rich. I loved plucking a crisp 20,000 Forint note from my purse and imagining it was Australian dollars instead. Alas, this was not the case and instead we became adept at dividing by 200 to find the approximate exchange rate.

THINGS WE WON’T MISS

Car problems

For the most part having a car in Hungary was great. We had a lot more flexibility to go where we liked when we liked, and we saw a lot more of the country than many other tourists as a result. Unfortunately, our car was also a bit of a lemon. The trouble started almost before we bought it. I’m still convinced that the owner of the caryard switched the tyres and removed the tow bar. But that was just the beginning. For a while it seemed as if every time we got into the car, something else broke. Mostly it was small things – the dashboard lights didn’t work, the odometer stopped at exactly 150,000kms, the radio turned on and off seemingly of its own volition, one of the inside door panels kept falling off in hot weather, the driver’s side door handle snapped, a rear seatbelt didn’t work – but there were also some bigger, more expensive problems. We had to buy new tyres about a month after we bought the car, we had exhaust problems, then the entire manual transmission had to be replaced. Needless to say, Daniel and I were pretty happy to give away the car today – I just hope it’s well-behaved for its new owner.

 

Hungarian parking

Still on the car theme and I just have to say that Hungarians may be the World’s worst parkers. We lost count of how many single vehicles we saw taking up two, three or even four parking spaces. And then there were the cars that were parked crookedly, or squashed right up against the lines, or double-parked, or parked at a diagonal angle where everyone else was flush against the curb. Maddening!

Shovelling path

The snow in Hungary was wonderful. Shovelling the path from the footpath to our front door, however, was not. The first year our tactic was simple. We shovelled the path once, discovered what a pain it was, then didn’t do it again. This would have been fine except that if you don’t shovel the path, a layer of ice forms underneath the snow as a result of people walking on it. Ice is very slippery. Our path was very long. Cue many Benny Hill-esque type adventures as we made our way to and from work each day.

During our second year, we learnt from this experience and were more diligent about shovelling our path. But that plan was bad too. Shovelling a path is difficult, physically demanding and takes a long time. Nope, not going to miss that at all.

Telling the time

Hungarians tell the time differently to Australians. For example, if it’s 9:30am, an Australian could also accurately describe the time as being half past nine. Hungarians don’t do this. Instead, they would describe the time as being half ten. Unfortunately, Daniel and I didn’t pick up on this idiosyncrasy for quite a while meaning that we were constantly late to everything (because we assumed they meant 10:30am). Then, once we and our Hungarian colleagues and students had identified this communication problem, the Hungarians made things even worse by trying to correct things. This just got everyone confused and so we were often two hours out of sync instead of just one.

Pooh shelf

The toilets at our house (and in many other Hungarian establishments) have a sort of pooh shelf. I really don’t know how else to describe it. Instead of doing your business and everything falling straight into the water, these toilets collect the excrement on a shelf. It’s weird.

Number 1s

Almost every Hungarian that we’ve met over here has had beautiful handwriting. The kids at school certainly spend a lot of time practicing their cursive writing, so perhaps this is not really surprising. What is surprising, however, is how strange their numeric 1s are. They basically look like 7s. Or perhaps more like a capital A without the cross bar in the middle. It’s very confusing. And oh so annoying because I have now started to write my 1s in the same way! Don’t you just hate it when you think something is silly and then find yourself doing exactly the same thing? 

Stray dogs

The problem is not as bad in Hungary as in other countries such as Romania, but we still see quite a few stray dogs wandering the streets. It’s very sad, especially as many of them seem to be adult dogs who were previously someone’s pet. Desexing of animals is not very common in Hungary (possibly because of the cost) so there are always lots of new puppies and therefore a constant supply of future strays.  

European bed linen

Gigantic pillows and tiny separate doonas. I just don’t get it.

In summary, Daniel and I have really enjoyed our time in Hungary. It's been an overwhelmingly positive experience and we sincerely hope that no one takes offense at these lists. They are intended only as a lighthearted reflection on our experiences. Any complaints, talk to Daniel!

 - Amanda