It's "Woman's Day!"

This morning, I decided to arrive to school early to make copies of the poem I was teaching today. I walked into the teacher room only to find silver plates holding several champagne flutes and baskets upon baskets of pogacsa.

As usual, I was clueless for a good half hour before someone explained to me that it was “Woman’s Day.” High school boys were waiting outside the door bearing flowers, plants, and chocolates for their female teachers. The headmaster read a speech and I could pick up on the fact that he was talking about “mothers and women” but I couldn’t make the connection. The time was slowly creeping to 8:00, when most of us had our first hour class. When the headmaster finished his speech, another teacher came to the front and read a poem. During his poem, the first bell rang and he continued right through it. He talked about how women see themselves differently in the mirror at different ages (a good poem and I wish I could have understood it instead of needing it translated).

Five minutes later, we were invited to toast champagne and eat our pogacsa. All female teachers received a gift of 2,000 forint (roughly equal to $10). The headmaster chimed in that mine (amerikai tanàrnő) was in the office by the entrance. I thought to myself “never in the United States” (particularly the drinking of champagne minutes before teaching and continuously between classes the whole day) and added it to the list of “mannerisms in Hungarian schools that would never pass in America.” Between my third and fourth class, some unfamiliar men were passing out roses and tulips to the female teachers. I didn’t know who they were until a fellow colleague announced that these were political fellows (one of whom was my private lesson, Zsofia’s dad who works in Parliament) who were “sly” and giving out flowers in hopes of gaining support in the upcoming Hungarian election on April 9th. Sneaky sneaky…

So, many of the teachers pushed more champagne and pogacsa at me and they continued to hover in the staff room while the minutes of first hour class whittled away. Another English teacher explained to me that today was a day simply to honor women.

COLLEAGUE: “Have you got a day like this in America?”
ME: “No, not really, but we do have Mother’s Day.”
COLLEAGUE: “Oh, yes, we have got Mother’s Day too, but not Father’s Day. Isn’t that silly?”
ME: “Oh, really? Yeah, uh-huh.”
COLLEAGUE: “There really isn’t a day for men.”

To me this is unfortunate and I did feel a little guilty accepting all the roses, flowers, and other arrangements knowing that the men did not have a similar occasion, but they didn’t seem to mind in the slightest and I don’t really know if anyone has questioned the absence of a “MAN’S DAY” or “FATHER’S DAY.” It would have been a good topic of discussion for my classes, but I really didn’t feel like going there and besides, I had planned quite a lesson on similes and poems for today.

*INTERMISSION* for two private lessons
Ok, so I just asked one private lesson, Zsofia, about the lack of a “MAN DAY” and she laughed. She just told me, “Well they’ve got Easter.”