Living in a country thousands of miles from my family, I often get asked if I miss them. I miss them everyday. Things happen everyday that make me wish they were around the corner instead of around the world so that I could share what I am experiencing more frequently.
But, after living here for 4 months, I am a part of the community. I recently shared lunch with a teacher at the school that I am working at. I mentioned I was trying to cook a certain recipe that required corn starch only to realize I don't know the Hungarian word for it. She managed to find me some. The woman at the corner bakery I go to recognizes me and automatically gets what I want. Every Tuesday, a student of mine helps me translate the lunch menu for the following week. My mentor's wife welcomes me home with a hug when she picks me up from the train station. The youngsters at worship have begun to recognize me and smile and wave when I get there. I have realized I can live without the best of the best coffee ever made. Showers don't need to take a half an hour. Biking is not just for exercise, but can be used (and is used) for daily transportation. Asking for help is required when you don't know the language. However, if you don't speak the language, you can still build strong, healthy relationships with people within your community. Do I miss my family? Everyday. But, I am so thankful for a community of people who make sure my heat works, I have food, and I am cared for. "I beg young people to travel. If you don't have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown, eat interesting food, dig some interesting people, have an adventure, be careful. Come back and you're going to see your country differently, you're going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture,food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You're going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It's not what Tom Friedman writes about. I'm sorry. You're going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can't get out of a book that are waiting for you at the end of that flight. A lot of people- Americans and Europeans- come back and go "Ohhhh." And the lightbulb goes on. (Henry Rollins)
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This year, I have the privilege of working with a few different populations of people.
During the school week, I work with high school students (10th through 12th graders) at the Lutheran High School in Békéscsaba. Parents and teenagers are able to choose the secondary school that the teens attend. The schools can either be in their hometown or in a neighboring town. Some of my students are from surrounding villages or towns and take the bus into Békéscsaba everyday. Others are from towns further away. They stay in the Lutheran High School Dorms Sunday night through Friday, heading back to their hometown Friday afternoon. The dorms come at no cost to the students and their families. Although 3 meals are provided, the students’ families pay out of pocket for these. Besides English, all of my students are taking at least one other foreign language. Hungarian curriculum requires all students learn English, Italian, or German. Most students will take intermediate or advanced level language tests after completing high school. They have to pass the higher intermediate language test in order to get into university. The lessons usually involve a conversation around upcoming holidays, how school is going, or we work on English homework or practice tests for the language exam. I correct pronunciation and grammar. My students teach me Hungarian words for different things and love showing me their favorite musical artists. Two mornings a week, I attend activities at the Lutheran Nursing Home in Békéscsaba. One of many services the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary provides, the nursing home has an assisted living portion and memory care. 3 meals and around the clock nursing care are provided on a daily basis. There are activities two days a week for residents living here. During the mornings, the activities are aimed at those in the assisted living. There are memory games, exercises, discussions, and crafts. Each resident has a very different personality. One gentleman loves to rile up the women by making sly comments during activities. Each of them will laugh, point their finger, or shush him. Three mornings a week, I head over to the Day Center for young adults with disabilities. Another service provided by the Lutheran Church, the day center is in another part of the same facility. Recently added, it has a large activity room, a lunchroom, a mudroom, a staff office, and a room where the young adults can go and rest throughout the day. In the rest room are two beds, a TV, and a fooz ball table for them to use as they please. I come and hang out, doing crafts with the participants, watching movies, or interacting as staff work on other items for the facility. Afternoons are usually spent with students in English lessons. One evening a week, I take a bus to nearby Békés. I attend a weekly worship service for Roma and Non Roma Young adults. People of all ages attend. I have begun meeting with two young girls wanting to work on their English. We meet before worship, kick around a soccer ball or play a game of pool and chat in a mixture of English and Hungarian. They usually tell me something in Hungarian, point, and I repeat in English. Every morning, I wake up to the sun rising behind the Little Lutheran Church, which is across the street from my flat. Students are starting to arrive to school, chatting as they wait for their teacher to get there. The smells of lunch already being cooked begin wafting up to my flat.
This year, I am living in a two bedroom flat above the "Canteen" (cafeteria) in the local Lutheran high school. Before arriving in Békéscsaba, I was told that I would be in a one or two room flat: which means it could be a studio or a one bedroom flat. Arriving to my flat, the principal asked if I had been told anything about my accomodations. I chuckled. I had learned by this time that what I was told, expected, and shown were all very different things. Now being here almost 3 months, I realize how much I appreciate the space and being so close to everything. Church is literally across the street, the market is a 5 minute bike ride, and I can get anywhere I need to go by bike in Békéscsaba within 15 minutes. If my water heater happens to stop working in the middle of the week, my principal is over in a matter of minutes to fix it. The bus stop is right outside my flat. My students also have figured out where my flat is as we occasionally use it when the classrooms we use in the school are being used by other teachers. A couple of students have come and hung out while waiting for lunch. |
Elaina JohnsonI am from a town on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. I grew up in Hudson, WI, where I had the privilege of returning after graduating from Winona State University with a degree in Therapeutic Recreation. Archives
December 2016
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