Getting into the swing of things

Well things are coming along well here. We are finished with our second day of orientation - and I have mastered the Hungarian language. Just kidding. We have been working with two native Hungarians, one on "every day stuff" and one on Hungarian language. I am determined to learn the language if it kills me. It's intimidating though, since there are different rules, word order and vowel harmony. I even tried on our boat tour tonight to ask for a drink in Hungarian and the guy said back to me "you're better off using English" even though I totally rocked the "I'm thirsty, could I please have a beer." I mean why cut me off if I'm trying the languge? REALLY?

I have been learning a lot about the Hungarian people as well. They are pessimistic by nature, as should be the case after having been conquered over and over and over again... there was a story they told us yesterday about a man who lived in the same village for his whole life, and yet he'd been a citizen of 5 different countries. I mean really. They are always expecting the worst, because if something good happens, something terrible is about to follow - as history has repeated itself here over and over again. We were also told some interesting things about a meer smile. If you (as a woman) smile at a man and say "no" or "no I don't want to go out with you" despite what comes out of your mouth, the smile means you are interested. By that token, I think I have about 22 boyfriends. At the same time, we were told that if you smile while here, Hungarians will wonder what the hell is so good about your life that you are able to smile about things... and not care for your company. They are very interesting people. They have to work more than one job to make ends meet, and even then, they have NO money. So, I'll be making about (funny thing, I'm looking for the dollar sign on the keyboard, and there isn't one here...) 650 dollars a month, and it's heaps more than the local people are making. They are heavily taxed, and they have rent to pay for. Neither of which applies to me. Additionally, they as a country are the only people paying back the debts owed from the pre-communist era and from the Soviet rule, so a lot of their money goes toward paying that off. The parents typically use 50% of their take home pay to support their children, and over 65% of their income is paid back to the government in taxes. No wonder they are pessimists. With the recent Georgia/Russia situation, the attitude here is "well of course we'll be invaded, it's what the Russian's do" - so even though the actual threat level of a Russian invasion is minimal, the attitude is that it is inevitable. Luckily I'll be on the west side of the country - an easy train ride out to Bratislava or Vienna.

Last night Jake and I walked over to the Pest side of the river and just familiarized ourselves with the popular part of town. They have a magnificant Basilica- where I attended two weddings on Saturday afternoon- it was interesting. I was not invited or anything, but i decided to go in and hang out for a while. It's very popular to get married at the Basilica, so there were more brides waiting outside to have their turn once the other weddings finished. The outfits of the guests were something to see for sure. Everthing from Lake street hooker to Ann Taylor like formal dresses. There were also several ladies in "hats" but they were more like feather tiaras. It was interesting.

We then had dinner at a little Greek place that was showing the Hungarian/American water polo match. The food was excellent!!! Don't worry, I'm warming up to the idea of goulash and porkolot (both traditional Hungarian dishes) but I have 10 months for that crap. On a similar note, the largest minority here are Chinese, so there are many Kinai (chinese) places to eat - which is cool.

We walked back across the river at night- which was beautiful- and we were exhausted when we returned. Today we had a long orientation day and then Regan, Laura, Steve and I took a night time Danube tour. It was perfect - the weather was great and there was narration about the buildings along the Danube.

I'm warming to the idea of spending 10 months in another country- especially since we have met a lot of the teachers who were here last year, and they loved it. However, I feel somewhat secure at this point because I am surrounded by native English speakers. I know that that won't be the case for very long - and that frightens me a bit. Thankfully, I have met lots of people who are going to be all over the country, so I'll have places to go on the weekends to visit my new "friends." Additionally, I am only about 45 minutes out of Budapest in my town, so one of these weekends, I'll make it back to ride the funicular up to the top of castle hill.

The orientation has been so intense that we don't have much time to get around and enjoy the city, but it has been interesting information. I have learned a lot already -and the language teacher is really dynamic and teaches in a really neat way, so even if you are lost - you can somewhat follow along. Perhaps thats what our Burnsville kids say about their language teachers? Or even history teachers :)

At any rate, I am feeling better day by day about my decision, though I know the homesickness is going to settle in soon. I also am realizing that I am at "home" at our little hostel that doesn't have toilet paper or water that actually makes it up the shower hose all the way- but in a few days, I'll be shipped off to scenic Tata to start over again, this time on my own. Yeesh.

More later... miss you all.

Carla

P.S. I won't be able to get any pictures on here anytime soon because it's a public computer and I can't very well download them to this machine - but I should have some in the next few weeks I hope.