Even though my throat feels raw right now (probably from lack of sleep) and I’ve got to get up at 6:45 in the morning to take care of bank/renewing visa/other matters, I feel the need to dedicate a quick ode to my shelter for the past year.
I arrived here by car with Etelka. My first day in Szerencs was admittedly a little overwhelming. Etelka was pointing out where everything was just as the car would swerve to the left, to the right, around a bend. All I noticed that day were the flowers that overflowed pots hanging from streetlamps and the mutant sized sunflowers that infected the vast valleys of the picturesque Zemplén hills. I would figure everything else out later.
Church wall
We stopped at a small shop that is open on Sundays to get me food for the night and next day…salami, cheese, bread…and Etelka insisted on buying me a gigantic chocolate bar after I told her how much I liked chocolate. “You know there’s a chocolate factory here in Szerencs,” she repeated over and over. Szerencsians seem to be very proud of this.
Finally the car stopped after going up a hill. “Welcome to your new home,” Etelka said. All I saw was a red gate and a huge mirrored door. We went in and I met my landlady and the headmistress of the primary school. BUT, I was temporarily blinded by the niceness of the place to pay too much attention to anything else.
My home in Szerencs
When I was left alone in my new home, I looked around and then apprehensively walked to my bed and sat. I ate my entire chocolate bar and tried to stay awake, because if I had fallen asleep I would have been too scared to wake up in a strange new place. There were chickens, geese, and roosters across the street to my disbelief. The next morning, I woke up to live rooster crowing at 6ish.
Everything seemed so foreign and unknown then…
Now, it’s my second to last night and I feel the safest here.
The apartment and I have had our problems…namely the flooding of my shower at first. I had to learn how to hold the showerhead properly so that water would not flood the entire bathroom.
Then there was a time when I had to rename the place: “DaddyLongLeg Kingdom” after meeting all of my little leggy roommates.
This apartment is about a solid fifteen to twenty minutes away from anything in town, which was difficult to contend with during the snowy winter. Even worse, it’s about a half hour from the train station, a nice healthy walk, but with a load of crap on your back in the blistering cold/heat…brutal.
And my landlady, who lives above me, likes to come in unannounced to make sure I keep everything clean. This is a Royal Pain in the Ass.
BUT lately, the glass has always been half full for me, so the good memories far outweigh the bad…
The apartment and I never had any huge parties, unlike the apartments of other CETPers. If you wanted to come visit me, you had to be prepared for a hike. That’s okay, because it’s been like a sanctuary. When I was fed up with the Hungarian, I could retreat to my unbelievably comfy beds and recuperate.
I’ve spent a lot of time here thinking, writing, reading, watching far too many music videos, talking with friends on the phone, lesson planning, watching DVD’s, giving private lessons at my kitchen table, dancing by myself, attempting to make myself dinner, and sometimes even just staring out the window watching the geese parade out into the street.
After a long trip, coming back to this apartment was the most comforting thing I could ask for. Seeing everything how I left it and basking in my home base lifted my mood immediately.
My favorite place to read in Szerencs
So, I will definitely miss this place. Even though it seems slightly stupid to be sad to leave an apartment for good, I think there’s validity in getting emotional. The place was your home, gave you rest, provided familiarity when everything else was so godforsakenly unfamiliar (I guess this is more relevant when living abroad).
Hopefully, I will be able to adapt to Hungarian apartment number two just as quickly.
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