A Glimpse at Mecske

Magyarmecske.

These pictures are kind of dark, but a little picture of the village at least.

The main street (only street)

The church with dark clouds in the background (looking the other direction was a beautiful sunset!)

Magyarmecske church steeple through the corn (in Magyartelek, about a mile away)

*More Mecske pictures to come in the following weeks and months!

The Garden.

Kertben.

In the garden

I have really enjoyed the backyard, the garden, and the apple trees behind our house. There are tomatoes, paprika, cabbage, beetroot, and types of squash which are unidentifiable to me. They had corn in the summer, as well as pears, and it looks like there were also potatoes. There are some grapevines along a few of the buildings in the back and a couple of walnut trees. An abundance! It is peaceful and relaxing (especially because I didn’t have to do any of the work to grow the fruits and vegetables, I just pick them!). We’ve had more tomatoes than I know what to do with (have made lots of bruschetta) and have been trying different apple recipes. Here are some photos from the back.

Sirius keeping busy in the garden.

Apple picking in the back

Tomatoes, apples, and peppers!

Magyarmecske!

Finally.

The first two weeks in Magyarmecske, Magyarorszag.

I am sitting at our table in the kitchen/dining/living room after being here in Magyarmecske for almost three weeks. I have been meaning to write an entry after the first day. After the first week. After the first two weeks. And finally now I have begun. There was a beautiful sunset tonight after some rain last night and this morning and a day that fought off clouds. It seems that fall has come to Hungary as well (except for last week when there was a record high temperature!) with cool nights and mornings and bright, warm sunny afternoons. The apple trees are still heavy with fruit and I happen to believe that all of the best apples are at the top, far from anyone’s reach, even with a ladder. The corn stalks in the fields are being plowed down and nights are coming sooner. These first days and weeks have been a mixture of emotions, full of excitement, of the unknown, of happiness, of frustration, and of adjustment, all taken in good measure with hope for good things in this year in Hungary. (Also a great sense of disbelief that I will be here for a year, trying to figure out what that means!) I’ll start with the beginning of the journey to Magyarmecske…

Sunset behind the house tonight (11 oktober)

The first ones to leave orientation, Livia, Simon, and I got into a van and said goodbye to our new friends and fellow volunteers, excited and nervous to finally get to our village. The ride was about 3 hours, by the shores of Balaton, through fields and fields of corn, through large rolling hills covered with trees, through tiny villages, and larger towns, all the way to the flat farmland of Magyarmecske with glimpses of the hills of Pecs in the distance. It was a beautiful sunny day, hot and bright and the countryside was lovely. Along the way we stopped for a little break and I think all of us wondered how we would communicate with each other and what we would meet in the upcoming hours, days, and months. Livia speaks only Hungarian, Simon speaks German and English (fluently!), and I speak English and Spanish (with a few Swedish words every once and awhile), making for an interesting combination of languages and with few similarities. Unfortunately even after the language training Simon and I still found ourselves unable to even create decent sentences in magyarul (Hungarian) so we all knew it was going to be an interesting time when it came to talking with each other. Our driver, a local minister (which we found out later) spoke German in addition to Hungarian. Luckily Simon (who is from northern Germany) was able to translate for me during our time in the van and the first hours in Magyarmecske. I was thankful for that (especially because he was supposed to go to a different village, where it turns out they didn’t really need a volunteer, so he was a last minute addition for us!).


When we arrived at the house we met Andrea, whose family owns the property. She works with the Saint Marton Caritas program (of which we are a part of via the school and after school center) and she and her family now live in Pecs. (Her parents and grandmother still come by a few times a week to take care of things and gather fruits and vegetables from the garden.) We got a little tour of our house, learned how things worked (eg. the burners on the stove are opposites, so to turn on the back left burner you have to actually turn on the front right burner!). I was simply blown away by what we met when we arrived. I was expecting the worst (a tiny two room house with a wood stove. More like the size of the old shed which is in our yard) and we ended up with a beautiful house, garden, backyard, and even a dog! When we pulled up to the house I thought that maybe we were stopping by the driver’s home to meet some people, but no, it was our house! Those first moments I felt so overwhelmed, surprised, and lucky!

The house (from the backyard)

Inside (living/dining room/kitchen)

Sirius, our dog (named after Sirius Black of Harry Potter)

We then walked over to the school and met a few of the teachers; again a few of them speak German, which I could actually understand a bit of (much more than the Hungarian) and told Simon a few things that they were telling to Livia. By the way, Livia, is from Trans-Carpathia, in the Ukraine, right over the border from Hungary. After WWI Hungary lost about 70% of its land to surrounding countries, so there are many Hungarian nationals living just outside the borders, with towns and villages still functioning completely in Hungarian (see Treaty of Trianon). Livia’s village is one example, where it is technically part of the Ukraine, but everyone there speaks Hungarian, not really any Ukrainian. I was impressed with the school and excited to begin work there the next day, but was also nervous and completely unsure of what I would be doing and how I would understand anything. Another cause for concern I realized as I tried to think of things to say in Hungarian was that my little Lonely Planet language guide was nowhere near sufficient to express the things I wanted to say. For the first hours and days together we didn’t speak very much to each other. I didn’t want to speak too much English with Simon because it would leave Livia out, but couldn’t speak really any Hungarian to Livia or to Simon (and Simon none to Livia or me) so there was a lot of language barrier calm in the house among the three of us. To start us off the school gave us some food so we didn’t have to cook that first night or worry about food the next morning. A great treat.

The school (From the back.  To the left is another building where the cafeteria is and behind where I am standing is a big concrete slab for futball.)

The three of us went to our first day of school at 8am the next morning and bounced around between a few different classes—from 2nd grade to 3rd grade and were bombarded with questions from the children. I quickly learned the phrase “Hogy hivnak?” (What is your name?), but for the most part other than that I was at quite a loss for understanding and for words! (The most I could really say was my name and where I was from.) I was pretty overwhelmed and tired, but excited to have “met” some of the children and the teachers. The school is made up of children from the four neighboring villages and there are between 17 and 25 children per grade (my estimate), grades 1-8.


After school we were picked up by Laci (pronounced “Lotsie”, short for Laszlo, which I just googled and found out that it is the Hungarian name for Lesley), and went to the after school /community center in Gilvanfa, the next village over from Magyarmecske, which Laci is in charge of. This is where Simon is working, while Livia and I are at the school and go to Gilvanfa three times a week. The center is in the back of the church and consists of two sets of two rooms. One set is like old classrooms and the other set, where people spend most of their time (when not walking around or playing outside), is computer rooms and tables, with three computers for people (youth) to use. Outside there is a nice little playground (well used!) with some swings, a slide, a sandbox, some bouncy things for little kids, and a see saw (which they got through a grant from the EU). We also met Peter who is a lawyer in Pecs and comes frequently to Gilvanfa to give free law help to those who may need it. They told us a little bit about the community (both Laci and Peter speak English). The majority of people (if not all) in Gilvanfa are Roma and many are unemployed due to lack of education and opportunity in the area (population is somewhere around 200 I think). We have been told that it is the poorest village in Hungary. These statistics made us unsure of what we might meet and what we would be doing. Currently what we are doing is a lot of “being” in Gilvanfa and just getting to know people—those who we meet on most days range in age from 2-22.


After introductions that first day we got right down to business: Livia and I in the school and Simon in Gilvanfa. So far our only interruptions from our work have been for getting residence permits, which took me three times at the immigration to have the right contracts and documents regarding where I was living and working. But thankfully it all worked out and on one of those days Livia and I got to spend the day in Pecs (it was much easier for Simon, only 1 time, since he is an EU citizen). Unfortunately the bus to Pecs doesn’t come as frequently as we might like, but at least it comes! (It is about a half hour by car and over an hour by bus. About 30km.)


So with a visa that goes until 31 July 2010 (and three months after that) I am here in Hungary, in a house, with other volunteers, in a school, and in a new community!  And that is just a bit about the beginning.

Orientation: Post Language Classes, Real Hungarian. (Almost)
Monoszlo, Magyarorszag

Our language classes winded down and we greeted a whole new group of people, doubling the size of the group in Monoszlo (I believe 26 volunteers in total, plus other staff). The new group from Transylvania (Romania), Ukraine, other places in Hungary, and Switzerland (Hungarian ancestry, I think she speaks 4 or 5 languages fluently!) helped us to realize just how little Hungarian we knew and once again made us come to terms with the fact that indeed we would have to learn the language to get around. Our language classes had been based in English and all the volunteers in the class spoke excellent English, so even while in Hungary, we were continuing to live our lives in English. What a good wake up call the other volunteers were to us!

We spent time getting to know each other through games and activities as well as a couple of night sessions of telling our stories—how our lives have gotten us to the place to be volunteers. A variety of backgrounds and lives, some harsh, some relatively easy, all coming together to give a year to do something that hopefully will be positive and meaningful, all looking for depth and meaning in life. The group meetings and sessions were interesting experiences because they were done in both Hungarian and English. When someone would speak it would be translated. This was a nerve wracking experience in some ways because you hoped that what you expressed would get translated properly! I found myself trying to be very careful with words and fearful that a wrong message might get sent. For the most part however the translation seemed to work smoothly. An amusing thing was when someone would say something funny all the people who spoke that language would laugh and about 2 minutes later when it finally got translated everyone else would laugh. Oh the language barrier!

Kristy, Matt, and Jeff (American volunteers) taking a rest when we went on a long walk through the countryside around Monoszlo

Country roads along the way

On the Saturday night during the five day orientation a Roma band came and sang/played for us. Made up of children from the Budapest area, there were 3 young singers, a drummer, and the leader (father of the drummer) played guitar. After some songs we also learned a few Roma dance moves. A great night!

The band

A gypsy song they taught us

 Throughout my experience from the application process for the YAGM program, to telling people about it, to asking for support, and finally being in Hungary I have felt so enormously blessed and thankful for the kindness I have met along the way. It has been absolutely overwhelming to have experienced so much love and generosity and many times throughout the past months I have been moved almost to tears from the great and beautiful human spirit that binds us all together. At the YAGM orientation I felt so grateful and happy to be with the other volunteers, former volunteers, and in the presence of the ELCA Global Mission staff because of our common interests, hopes, and ability to share our lives and spirituality with each other. At orientation and since arriving in Hungary I have also felt overwhelmed and amazed by kindness and hospitality and once again have been grateful for the ability to share openly about feelings, spirituality, and life in general. Even with language barriers and inability to express oneself well with words, graciousness and kindness show through and the chance to meet with people and feel connected can still be experienced.

In the end, a really good orientation even though I have felt a little oriented out! (A week in Chicago, 10 days of language "orientation," and then 5 more days!) It is a good and strange feeling to finally be starting the work that I have been orienting about for all this time! Excited for Magyarmecske.

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

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)

Getting There!

As my departure day nears I am ever thankful for the generous support I have received so far. Visiting St. Paul Church in Old Saybrook last month gave me a great amount of energy and renewed my excitement for the work I will be doing. It was invigorating to have so many people so excited about the YAGM program and know that there are people who want to hear about and support the important work of the ELCA abroad.

I want to thank the congregation of St. Paul for all of their donations -- almost $3,000 has been raised! These gifts have been some amazingly generous and I appreciate so much wonderful support.

The days seem to be going by faster and faster as I try to fit in all the things I want to do and see all the people I want to see. I look forward to keeping you all posted on what is yet to come!

I will be in Chicago for orientation with the other YAGM volunteers from August 19-26th and I head off to Hungary September 1st. Once I get to Hungary I will be doing language training from the 6th through the 17th, a few kilometers north of Lake Balaton (also known as Hungary's inland sea -- the largest lake in Central Europe) in a town called Monoszló. From the 17th through the 22nd other Hungarian speaking volunteers will join us and we will have further introductions to Hungarian and Roma history and culture. And finally on the 22nd of September I will head off to Magyarmecske to begin my work there.