Hungarians in the big big world
I meet a lot of people on the road. With some I only have a short chat, but it makes a great impression, with others I even spend days together, still the connection in not real.
Some travelers, from all countries behave in a way, that is hard to sympathize with. I heard many times, that the Germans are loud, the Italians are shouting everywhere, the Chineese are agressive, and we Hungarians do not like the British guys coming to Budapest for stag parties and behaving like animals. But it happened many times to me, that I stayed quiet when I heard others speaking Hungarian, as I did not desire their company – not because of the language, rather because of their behaviour. This is very generalizing, but still, I am really careful with the Hungarian tourists, travelers and other Hungarians living abroad.
But last month I had two outstanding experiences that I can’t resist telling you. I am really grateful for this, my dear Hungarian friends.
At the end of a class I held in December a guy came up to me – the same way as the enthusiastic yogis approach the freshly graduated yoga teachers to have a short chat.
– Hi, where are you from?
– From Hungary.
– I guessed so…
– How did you guess? I don’t really have a Hungarian accent.
– I’m Hungarian as well.
– You’re kidding, right?
Of course the full conversation in English. This is how it started. A super fun Hungarian couple, who moved to the island almost on the same day as I did, we lived 3-4 minutes away from each other, but we needed more than a month to meet. It was an immediate connection. We could talk for hours. You know, the way that makes you feel good, makes you think, creates new ideas, opens new questions and helps to reflect. It surprised me how comfortable it was. I wandered what made it special. The language? The shared culture? Belonging to the same generation?
I spent New Year’s Eve together – sorry again for ruining your romantic night – and the last hours before leaving the island.
I got a lot from them. A refreshing feeling that I don’t have to pretend I am not Hungarian when I hear others using my mother tongue – not all Hungarians behave unacceptable when being abroad. I got reassurance, that there are likeminded Hungarians out there somewhere, and I am not a complete alien with my mindset and dreams.
They stay on the island for a while, and then who knows where they continue working location independently, living the life they chose to live. I don’t know where and how, but I really hope to meet you again!
The next positive surprise I had in Chiang Mai. I met an ex-colleague, who I did not see for more than 3 years now. It started in the social media with she commenting, that “soon I’ll be close to you”. This triggered a conversation to figure out that we will be in Chiang Mai at about the same time. So we had dinner together and agreed to organise something together for the next day. We both wanted to visit the Doi Inthanon National Park and as bad weather was forecasted to hit the area soon, we decided to do it right next day. None of us likes organised excursions, but we did not take the risk of driving a scooter for hours in the cold, so we planned to hire a private taxi for a day. Nice idea at 10 pm… however we bargained, no driver wanted to take us for less than 2500 baht. Next morning, maybe 30 minutes before the start of the program, we agreed to join an organised excursion. Well, the excursion was exactly as bad as we imagined, but at least we had a lot of fun. We were laughing until my abs started to hurt badly. In order to survive the day we made jokes from everything, recorded funny videos, took selfies with cabbages – let’s not go into details on that – and were talking and talking non stop. This superficial work related acquaintance turned into something completely different, and now I can’t stop smiling if I think of this day and this special, intelligent, sensitive and good hearted, strawberry lover – hehe – girl.
We did not see what we really wanted to see, the panorama of the Naphamethinidon and the Naphaphonphumisiri chedi with the mountains in the background, but went to the highest peak of Thailand and saw the beautiful Watchiratan waterfall, and spent many carefree hours together. Hopefully we will travel together in the future.
Thank you guys for the time spent together!