Things I'll Miss About Hungary

i'm leaving hungary very soon. while there are a few things i certainly won't miss about hungary, there are many many things i will. for example....

*statues

*parks

*statue parks

*kávézók (cafes)

*flowers!!

*80s and 90s music being played more often than current music

*folk music :D

*thermal baths

*csúnya szavak (bad words)

*magyar nyelv tanulás (studying hungarian)

*izé (the word hungarians say when they can't think of what they want to say)

*nénik meg bácsik (old ladies and old men)

*parasztok!!! (country people/rednecks)

*hungarian accents (i vant to leeave in oosha.)

*old school/traditional mentality

*vanity/immodesty

*kid-centered families

*people being proud of their sneakiness

*namedays!

*women's day

*teacher's day

*patriotism

*farsang! (dress up in costumes to scare away winter in february)

*people asking me if i'm cold all the time

*overdressed children/star children (children so bundled they can't move, they look like stars)

*overt staring

*churches!!

*so many umbrellas

*everyone always having tissues and using them as loudly as possible

*fagyi!!! ohh, the ice cream.

*cute little villages

*outrageous clothes

*super high heels (even in SNOW!) she's fine as long as she has pantyhose

*emo kids

*festivals every other week

*funny looks for singing along to my iPod

*megasztar (hungarian american idol)

*puszi (cheek kisses)

*ballagás (hungarian graduation ceremony)

*szalagavató (hungarian prom)

*JEGESKÁVÉ!!!! (iced coffee with ice cream and whipped cream and chocolate sauce)

*szamorodni wine :) and tokaj and eger (wine and wine regions)

*fanny packs, lol

*nicknames for most nouns, not just people(uborka = ubi = cucumber, paradicsom = pari = tomato, iskola = suli = school, zsepi = zsebkendő = tissue, meki = McDonalds, stb.)

*sandwiches everyday, everyone, everywhere

*keys, keys, keys

*compliments on my language skills (i'm sure i'll miss hearing them when i'm in china stumbling through chinese)

****most of all: i will miss my beloved hungarian friends. so many people have made me feel loved and welcomed and special and important and valued and relevant. i've been invited to people's homes, to their celebrations, and into their lives. i've been hugged and kissed and given flowers on more occasions than i can count. i've cried on friends' shoulders, laughed with them, swum and danced, drunk and eaten, cooked bacon fat on an open flame, ridden buses to far away cities with colleagues, gotten naked with them at the baths, learned and taught, shared and absorbed culture, language, and the human spirit. i'll miss hungary a lot, and quite especially my

favorite city, Nyíregyháza.

things gone but not forgotten

things happened and i didn't blog about them. things like...
i went to a circus.
i saw "12 angry men" in the theater in hungarian.
i went to a raising bilingual children conference.
i got 2 awesome packages (from DANA T and LEIA).
it was my first "teacher's day."

all of the previous things were great, memorable, but have now been covered up with memories of less important things/times and are so far away in my head that if i tried to muster up a blog about them i would fail them all miserably.

instead, i'll tell you my favorite things about them each:
the circus: a multi-functional cast. one lady juggled, hula-hooped, sold concessions, did a raffle, was cut in half, and disappeared. the same lady.
the theater/theatre: though i could only understand about 30% (even being familiar with the story) i learned some new words, identified words i had recently learned, and didn't get a headache!
bilingual conference: i was playing with a little kid and asking him questions in hungarian. his mother was listening near by. we talked for about 5 minutes before i wasn't sure about the grammar of a sentence i wanted to say, so i asked the mom. she told me and then stared at me for a few seconds. i said thanks, thinking that's what she was staring for. she said oh you're welcome, i was just surprised. you speak hungarian without an accent and i just thought you were hungarian.
DANA T package: she put post-its on every single thing she sent me with notes about why she put that, questions about hungary, or random thoughts of hers. i could tell she really put a lot of time and thought into it and i teared up a tiny bit just feeling overwhelmingly loved.
LEIA package: how i met your mother season 1 (the only one i didn't bring here) and a shamwow both made my day. i can't wait to spill something!
teacher's day: kids gave me presents all day long! flowers, candy, a pizza dish. even kids i didn't teach on actual teacher's day came and found me to give me a gift. loved all the cheek kisses, too.

hungarian cities

hungarian cities have names that, when translated literally into english, make me laugh and understand this country better.

Békéscsaba = Peaceful Csaba (which is a male name)
Szombathely = Saturday Place
Hatvan = sixty
Lábatlan = Legless
Szentes = Saint S
Veresegyháza = Red One House
Balatonakarattya = Wish Of Balaton
Kistarcsa = Little Hold It
Diósd = Nutty D
Törökbálint = Turkish Valentine
Leanyfalu = Girl village
Békásmegyer = Froggy Goes R
Diósjenő = Nutty Eugene
Ajka = Her Lip
Érd = Reach It
Mogyoród = Your Peanut
Nagykovácsi = Big Smithy
Héviz = Hey Water
Tolna = He Would Push You
Várpalota = Castlecastle
Nemesvámos = Noble Customs
Martfű = Veered Grass
Csorna = He Would Steal
Baja = His Problem
Érsekvadkert = Archbishop Wild Garden
Nagybajom = My Big Problem

these are actual places. people live in these places. people there can say stuff like:

It's father's day in Girl Village.
I live in Your Peanut.
It's Wednesday in Saturday Place.
I lost my wallet in Her Lip.
What's your twenty? Sixty.


Can you think of any funny sentences with these places?