My Hungarian Top 10.

So this is an e-mail I sent to my family after living in Miskolc for one week and it is so fun for me to read now after living here for about 6 months. Some things I still feel the same about and others I don't love anymore, still others I have a new perspective about and realize I was totally wrong.


Top ten things that I love about Hungary:

10. Bottled drinks. They are 3x the size of an American ones and about $1.50 (U.S $)

  9. Old architecture. Looking good.

  8. Greeting each other with a kiss. So much more fun.

  7. Obsession with chocolates. There is even an off-brand chocolate at the grocery.

  6. Obsession with American music. I still hear Lady Gaga at the mall. (Yes, we have a mall here!)

  5. Aversion to air conditioning. No fans, no nothing, sweat it out the old fashioned way. 

  4. The Spar!!! I bought about a week or so worth of groceries for under $20.

  3. Bus systerm. You buy a ticket, but nobody checks it. 

  2. Hungarian greetings. "Hello" means hello & goodbye and Szia (pronounced See-ya) means hello & goodbye.

  1. GOULASH!!! 

10. Still totally into the cheap bottled beverages, but now I don't buy them so much after the empty bottles started cluttering the top of my refrigerator. I recently purchased a Brita water filter pitcher that is my jam right now.

9. Old architecture, was confusing. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I started realizing that inside every old building, there are really normal things like dentist offices and music schools. I just thought they were all mini museums.

8. I miss hugging.

7. I ate an entire Milka strawberry chocolate bar today...still into it. 

6. The love of American music draws students into the English language more than anything else and is a big source of influence for their lives- many of my students are aware of songs becoming popular even before some Americans. I also cannot believe I said we have a mall here! I was really thinking this place would be alot less modern than it actually is.

5. Obsession with blasting the heat in winter. holy moly!!! I am baking people.. and all because of the superstition that if you get cold you will be sick or infertile.

4. Still loving the cheapness of things here compared to the U.S. but also now realizing that it means nothing since I am paid in Forints and the only reason I still convert it in my mind is so that I can make sense of its worth. I am also understanding that while the monetary strength of the Forint is an advantage for an outsider, I feel a part of the country now and I see that it represents something negative for Hungarians, a failing economy and an unstable political system.

3. Bus system. You buy a ticket and when you least expect it, someone actually does check it :)

2. Hungarian greetings: still loving them. I have even perfected the correct pronunciation. 

1. GOULASH!!! The thing that I will probably miss the most when I go back to America.