Kosonom, kosonom, kosonom! Kosonom szepan!

(Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much!)
Boston to Budpest. Sarszentlorinc to Monoszlo: Hungary in the first week and a half. 
     First I want to say thank you again to all those who have supported me! It was wonderful to get so much encouragement from so many people and I hope that you will enjoy reading my blog. Please feel free to e-mail me and update me about what is going on in your lives and in the States (emilie.swenson@gmail.com). My e-mail connection may not always be that great, but I will do my best to respond and will always love to hear about anything going on! Since I haven’t used e-mail and probably won’t use e-mail that much, my blog entries may be long. I hope you will have the time or patience to read through!
     I arrived in Hungary after a night across the Atlantic with little sleep and lots of nerves. Thoughts of overpacking and the realization of my lack of Hungarian knowledge filled my head. As the journey began, the Swensons stopped at Anna’s Taqueria in Porter Square (in my mind the Boston area’s best burritos, ect.). One last drive through my old neighborhood, a stop in Shaw’s for some American candy (Skittles, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and M&Ms), and then off to Logan International for a flight on Luftansa to Frankfurt and then Budapest. Three mistakes were made at the very beginning. One: an overweight bag. Two: a water bottle full of fresh Saybrook tap water was in my bag as it went through security (it was promptly dumped out in a trash can by a security guard). Three: I put my travel information (boarding passes, ect.) in my back pocket as I went through security and of course they fell out en route (luckily I was walking very slowly after going through security and a woman ran after me and gave them back!). All offenses I recovered from easily, but another warning to me to always make sure I have everything and have it in the right place! 
     In Frankfurt I met up with the two other YAGM volunteers, Kristy and Matt, who made the trip from Saskatchewan and Ohio. The sun began to shine on us as it rose over the European continent and as we took off for the Hungarian horizon at a lovely, bright and early 7:30am (1:30am east coast time). I can’t say that I saw any of the landscape from the air as I fell asleep the second the plane took off and woke up when we landed in our new home. At the airport we were met by a young man who would be our guide for our first few days, Jozsi. Whisked away in a van, the three of us and all of our stuff were taken to the ODE (Ecumenical Diaconal Year) office in Budapest (another organization we are working with), where we met the director of the Roma Gadje Dialogue through Service organization as well as other ODE staff, and the two other American volunteers from the Reform Church (Jeff and Trazy, both from Michigan) who had arrived the day before. After a quick visit, the five of us now, plus Jozsi and the driver piled back into the van and headed off for the next stop, which would be our home for the next five days, Sarszentlorinc. About 2 ½ hours of driving later we arrived just in time for lunch; a first course of fruit soup full of plums and other fresh fruits, followed by a rice and meat dish, and pears for dessert. The local pastor who works with the Hungarian Lutheran Church’s gypsy mission in the village also met with us and welcomed us very kindly. This continued to be the theme of our stay: gracious welcomes from all, keeping our bellies full (not once going hungry in Hungary! …I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that joke…and hopefully this will be the last time it is ever heard from again).

Where we stayed in Sarszentlorinc (where Kristy will live for the year)

     Sarszentlorinc is a little village of about 700 with another part about 2km down the road (Uzd) where about 250 people live. The landscape is somewhat similar to Iowa – lots of cornfields, open skies, and some gentle hills. The streets of the village are very narrow, many times dirt, and sometimes windy. People’s houses tended to be very small from street view, but end up being long and narrow toward the back (something to do with taxes in the past—the number of windows on the street side being taxed). Most had fruit trees (pears, plums, and apples were very common) as well as chickens, ducks, or geese. There were stands of fresh vegetables and fruit all along the way to the village and it seemed that most people had somewhat substantial gardens with paprika (of course), and other various vegetables (squash, tomatoes, ect.). In many cases on the small hills of the area there were also grapes growing. Hungary has many wine growing regions and it seemed that people make their own wine frequently (some of which we were able to taste – delicious!).
     After lunch we took a short walking tour of the village, walking down a few streets with the Peter, the Lutheran pastor, as he greeted those who we met. Only the main road in the village was paved, so we treaded over stones and dirt as we strolled.

Church through the corn Sarszentlorinc (from Kristy)

     Along the way Peter asked us if we could tell the difference between gypsies and “Hungarians.” An interesting question because it was kind of hard to tell—most gypsies have a kind of Indian look to them, their skin and hair darker, but at the beginning nothing that would be too different (perhaps because coming from the US, there are so many different shades of skin colors and types of looks that people have, many times I overlook any absolute differences). Aside from the thoughts, we saw many dogs in yards (which were to the sides of the houses rather than having much of a front yard). The houses in the village and others that we have seen thus far seem to be made of some kind of cinder block type material and covered in some kind of plaster, most homes having a smooth exterior of white or some shade of yellow. The roofs are generally a red colored shingle, giving a nice contrast to the greens of the vegetation, white or light yellow home, blue sky, and golden corn stalks. Most homes also had fences and gates, all closed.

Corn behind our house

     Dinner was at the pastor’s house (Lisabet), cooked by her daughter Eva, who also acted as a host to us during our stay in the village. Here we tried “palinka,” a very strong Hungarian alcohol. (It definitely warmed us all up as we started the meal!) A great meal and then a great evening getting to know the other volunteers back where we were staying!
     The next day we woke up bright and early and left at 6:30am to go to the southern part of Lake Balaton to attend a Swedish-Hungarian conference made up of pastors (including the bishops) of the Southern Hungary and Linkoping, Sweden synods. The conference was held in English and Peter gave a talk about the gypsy situation in Hungary and the work that he does with the gypsies of Sanszentlorinc. Jozi also gave a brief talk about what it is like to be a gypsy (one interesting thing was that he said he preferred the term gypsy to “Roma.” Before coming we were told to use the word Roma, a more PC term. Whether or not we continue to use gypsy instead of Roma will depend on the people we are working with I think.) Good conference and interesting connection. Both synods were interested in getting together and so every two years they meet (about 20 or so pastors in total from the two countries) and discuss an issue (this year’s theme was focused on facing crisis with Christ). It seemed that it was sometimes hard for both the Hungarians and the Swedes to express themselves as they spoke in English. After the morning we had a swim in the lake (or more of a wading…the water was very shallow on the side of the lake we were on so we could walk out quite far not getting past our shoulders ever). Another good day in Hungary!

Lake Balaton (from Kristy)

     Friday morning began with a trip to see the local handicraft makers who make beautiful mats, pillows, and other decorations from the reeds of Lake Balaton and other local rivers (basically like straw crafts). We got to make a few things and even got to try some weaving! That night we went to Jozi’s house in Uzd (west part of Sanszentlorinc) for dinner, first stopping by the local museum that had all kinds of Hungarian history artifacts. An old school converted into a museum with old schoolbooks, flags, pamphlets, crafts, furniture, and clothes, maintained by an elderly man who seemed to be quite a local historian. (A claim to fame of the area is that Petofi Sandor lived there for about two years while he was in school. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is a famous Hungarian poet!) When we went to Jozi’s house his mother had prepared a wonderful meal for us and after dinner Jozi played guitar, Matt picked up his violin and worked out some accompaniment, and Jozi’s brother played the milk tin. Great fun!
     The following day we didn’t do much until the evening when we went to “Buszi Nini” and watched the kolach making process. Eva (the pastor’s daughter) took us over to her house, where she had a large chicken and duck pen, many fruit trees (apples, plums, pears), corn, lots of paprika, and other vegetables. We spent our time in the little house in the back watching Buszi Nini and another older woman make a sweet bread for the festival which would happen on Sunday. She had a brick oven in her home as well and spent time preparing the fire and the oven to bake the bread.
     It was the 125th anniversary of the choir in the town, with a special guest organist at the church, and a feast afterwards. So our final day in Sanszentlorinc was spent in the morning at church and in the afternoon with a lunch of Gouloszh (typical Hungarian soup) and meeting other people in the community (with help from Eva and Jozi translating). We sat with a few gypsies who were curious to know why we were so nice to them, since many times they are made fun of by Hungarians. Another encounter of what they face in daily life and an interesting realization of how treating people as people, simply showing kindness, can make a world of difference on how people see themselves to be and how community among people of differences can be created. The afternoon finished with performances of choirs (one from Pecs) and some more food and drinks.

Group picture after lunch (from Trazy)