In Everything, Give Thanks

In everything, give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Did you know that the sounds many animals make are not the same according to the people from different countries? Here are a few examples of American versus Hungarian animal sounds:

American pigs = oink oink Hungarian pigs = ruf ruf

American ducks = quack quack Hungarian ducks = hap hap

American chickens = cluck cluck Hungarian chickens = chip chip

American frog = ribbet Hungarian frog = brekeke

American horse = neigh Hungarian horse = nee haw haw

American rooster = cock-a-doodle-doo Hungarian rooster = koo-ko-ree-koo

It was really fun figuring out the differences with Hungarians. They thought it was equally amusing. The pig sound is the most dangerous difference of all. I hear d a story of an English speaker spending time in Hungary and going to a restaurant. She wanted to know what kind of meat she was eating, which is nice to know when you are in a foreign country. After struggling with a Hungarian for a while, the waiter finally said “ruf ruf”. So, the English speaker thought that she had finished a dish of dog. Hungarians don’t eat dog, so a neighboring customer who listened in on the conversation and knew both Hungarian and English promptly corrected the misunderstanding.

Moving on to a different subject of interest, and the bane of my existence for the first few months of being here is Hungarian offices. All Hungarians know that going to an office of any kind is no easy task. In fact I became familiar with everyone who worked in the immigration office by the end of two months. Here’s how it goes:

The Magyar man will find himself in a bank, for example. This isn’t because he enjoys counting all of his money, soaking up the staggeringly sterile atmosphere, or staring at the beautiful uniformed tellers. No, he is stuck there because he takes a ticket when he enters and waits for ages until it shows up, big and red, on the screen. He discovers that he actually pressed the wrong number on arrival and needs to go back to the beginning. He takes a second number, and waits a second time to find that teller two needs no number in the first place. At the counter he communicates his desire to, let’s say, cancel a savings plan but is told that the only member of staff with training for such a specialized task is on her break or is on holiday. She’ll see what she can do, but it may take a little time.

The unwilling assistant starts a telephone marathon and tells him that someone has just told her that the plan is set to a fixed date and this isn’t that date. He has a little fit, saying that no such date was mentioned to him when he was sold the plan. He’s again asked to wait while she checks this. She comes back to him a good while later to say that the plan can be cut but he’ll lose interest and needs to sign a new contract. His old agreement still has his old address on it and when he moved, he was told on the phone to inform the bank in writing. They said they would make the change and confirm they had but now it seems they haven’t. His original letter appears not to have survived the update on their database. Does he happen to have a copy on him? No, he doesn’t, but if he did, it would still mean nothing without proof of postage. Is he sure he sent it? But, now they know his address has changed, he’ll have to fill in a form and only then will he be “allowed” to complete a new contract. He’ll need to supply all his details again for this as well as original documents. Maybe he would like to take a seat for another moment or two.

The lady behind the glass goes back to her trusty phone but this time calls her husband and has an argument with him before speaking to her mother and asks whether her sickly son’s fever has lessened. The aforementioned husband then rings back and calls his darling wife all the names under the sun. This so upsets her that she has to call her mother back up and tell her a tearful tale of woe, but says she won’t give in and Mom says, no, she shouldn’t. I won’t!

Magyar man notes the pause and slinks back to ask about the small matter of his savings plan only to witness the teller’s life spin helplessly out of control. She stares back at him with bloodshot eyes: what does he want from her this time?! She’s already told him she’s not had the training and the colleague who can is on lunch. Or on holiday? Oh, he’s already filled the forms in? They need to draft another contract? Then if he’ll just bear with her a little longer and perhaps take a quiet seat. She’s so busy with other matters that it will take a while to work her way to this.

Another pause passes but this time his slumber is disrupted by a bloodcurdling cry. At first, he thinks it must be the husband, the mother or maybe even the child, but no! This time it’s her computer that’s frozen. Oh no! Call Steve, please someone get Steve, it looks like they’ve lost everything! Magyar man looks on and sighs, waits for Steve to show up, and tries to focus on calming, positive thoughts. He reminds himself of his good fortune to be able to bank with a firm that offers “no-fuss financing” and gives thanks for his life in Hungary, where bureaucracy never gets in the way of anything. Ommmmm….

Alright, now this little story might seem a little harsh, but you may ask any Hungarian what they think. They will nod and say, “Yeah, that’s pretty much how it works.” This obviously did not happen to me, since there is no need for me to create a savings plan in Hungary, but there are some similarities. And in all reality, it is pretty comical when I look back on it.

In other news, school has been going well. Everyone is improving, including me. This week ended on a good note because the school was visited by a group of musicians and a dance group. They played traditional Hungarian music and danced Hungarian steps. They visit several schools in Nyíregyháza, and I’m glad they visited ours. I know it’s silly of me, but when I saw them dancing with big smiles on their faces, I knew they were actually enjoying themselves as they performed in front of the school. I wanted to be able to dance like them too. I will not become a dancer, but maybe some of the students might. They even did a little reenactment of a boar hunt. The kids laughed hysterically as the boar (who was one of the dancers) raced down the aisles and was caught by the hunters in the end. The musicians included a bass, cello, three violins, a recorder and drum.

Thanksgiving is coming up, so don’t forget to give thanks! There obviously isn’t Thanksgiving here, but we are learning to notice God’s gifts for us in my classes every day this season! I’ll keep you posted.