Language School: Monoszlo, Magyarorszag

10 Days of Realizing How Much there is to Know about a Language.

We arrived in Monoszlo from Sarszentlorinc. And we thought Sarszentlorinc was small. Monoszlo has a population of 100 some people. Located about 4 or 5 km (1.6x4=miles) from Lake Balaton, it is a beautiful, quiet little village, nestled in between hills of vineyards and fields of corn. Our first night we met the other non Hungarian speaking volunteers—people from Germany, Denmark, and France (with some other people helping out from Transylvania and from Hungary) and the next day made no hesitations in diving into the Hungarian language. The alphabet proved to be difficult. 44 letters (I think…) and 4 different o’s and 4 different u’s (a total of 14 vowels, I think…). Pronunciation can make a big difference too! (Saying ass or police for example…similar sounding words.) But we made it through 10 days learning way too much information to absorb anything!

Where we were staying

Looking out over Monoszlo (church steeple and hills of vinyards in the background)

Most of our days were spent in class, with breaks for tossing around a Frisbee and for lunch, the nights free for futbol, Frisbee, or movies. There were a few exciting adventures though.

Language Class (from above!)

We visited Hegesto, a basalt intrusion (I believe) that towers over Monoszlo and the surrounding area. A little hike to the top and some beautiful views of the area and the lake.

One rewarding part of it however was when we took a trip to a nearby town (Tapolca) and were able to understand some of the signs. The little joys of learning. A beautiful day spent walking around and also venturing into a cave that is underneath the town! We went down the stairs into the cave and paddled little boats in the water of the cave, in some places having to duck quite a bit in order to fit through! We finished the afternoon by taking the train to Zanka (the town next to Monoszlo) and went swimming in Lake Balaton. A good day and nice break from class.

Inside the cave!

By the shores of Balaton

We also visited the wine cellar of the local church and tasted some delicious Riesling and learned a little bit about the process. The church set up the vineyard in order to make money to survive and continues to make wine today.

A candlelit night in the wine cellar.  A dark walk back, but great stars! And bellies full of delicious wine and bread with zsir (aka spreadable fat), salt, and onions. Great breath.

Overall the language experience proved to be very challenging , but a good foundation for the language. It would have been nice to spend a month or more on just language and easy. Amazing how much you still don’t know how to say even after learning what seemed to be a lot. All in all, excited to learn more and put it into practice (as well as understand what is going on around me). Language school was also a great time meeting and getting to know new people and eating A LOT of food! (And loaves upon loaves of white bread per day. A staple of the Hungarian diet.)

Language Class Group