Mixed Emotions

This Stones song has become a part of my Hungary soundtrack: one, because it is one of the 44 songs on my MP3 player and now it will forever remind me of the Szerencs hills just after sunrise on my walk to school...(the beautiful view in contrast with the foaming, growling beasts wanting to bite my legs off (kiraly of the streets: aka, the dogs). TWO, because Hungary makes me really happy one minute, then really frustrated in the next.

   My morning commute on foot

I've had a lot of random thoughts floating through my head over the past two weeks and I just needed to make a list and piece them together like a puzzle somewhere down the road...

So here goes:


1) Szerencs smells like chocolate, but not the kind that melts in your mouth...the kind that comes out as smoke from two factory towers (strangely resembling Springfield's Nuclear Power Plant aka Homer's place of employment). Also herbal tea reminds me of Szerencs, b/c one of my students, Angela, has me over for dinner and her family always gives me this soup bowl size of herbal tea (the smell of which must cling to my hair, scarf, or clothes). Her father is actually quite hilarious and points out that the random white goat standing tied to a pole in the middle of the street is like a scene from Jurassic Park (indication that the silver screen has hit Hungary). Also, he makes sure that I know the difference between "chickens" and the    Hungarian translation of "chickens with trousers" (chickens with furry legs.) Somehow, this struck a chord with me and I was doubling over with laughter (probably b/c of the British vocab. use).

2) Went shopping w/the girls (Liz, Rosalind, and Gaines) on the weekend of my b-day...twas nice, but I haven't hit up the stores like that in a loooong time. Liz kept reassuring me that it was my b-day and I did deserve to splurge a little. Ok, so I still need some reassurance. As I was telling my contact teacher (carpool companion Etelka) my whereabouts this weekend, she matter of factly stated: "Wow Kat you can show George(the driver and husband of Etelka) and I Hungary. You see more of it than we do. Oh and Vaci Ut is the street for Americans...it's where the millionaires shop."

3) I did have a pretty good day on Friday with my classes...the stars had aligned and my students were looking at me with bright sparkly eyes, laughing at all the right moments, and repeating my prompts in enthusiastic unison. This made me contemplate my situation on the 2 and a half hour stint to Budapest Friday afternoon. It was really rewarding and fulfilling to see the kids smiling back at me, excited to learn English. Maybe I had another hole in my shirt(story from the previous week) or maybe I had chalk all over my pants ( I don't know, but I'm going to roll with it anyway). One good thing about not understanding the language...I can start to pick out bits and pieces or maybe every seventeenth word in a conversation and I can imagine a possible conversation (one to my liking) instead of hearing the real thing. I'm not absorbed or sucked into school politics or drama. I can just sit and eat my lunch (today it was noodles with about 3 cups of poppyseeds (black snow drift) sitting on top. I could only stomach about 1/4 of it) and imagine that all is well in this post-communist country for the time being. Even if it is cloudy and raining and the fog prevents me from seeing two feet in front of my face, at least everyone is content.

     Bocskai István Gimnázium, the high school where I teach on Wednesdays 

But then again, this may be an unhealthy way to view life...in denial.