I was recently in a bookstore in Szeged and the only book in English I could find was the Peanuts "Happiness is..." book and it got me thinking. Since my arrival here I haven't been very positive about anything other than travelling to other countries, so I wanted to make a short list of things that make me happy in Hungary so that everyone can get a more balanced view of my time at home.
Happiness is...
1. ... a 9th grade class inviting me to their Szalagavato (Hungarian Prom), in 2015.
2. ... sitting directly behind a mother with a baby looking at you over her shoulder with an ear to ear smile on her face from Rozsa Utca to Szechenyi Ter. (About 15 minutes)
3. ... thinking that the security at Spar is good for nothing until he is the only person ready and willing to help when the pictures on the fruit and vegetable scale disappear; Then, telling my 9th graders about it and having them attempt to teach me as many names of fruits and vegetables in Hungarian as they know to distract me from the actual lesson. (It worked...)
4. ... realizing that the same security guy has been following me around the store for the last 6 months because you have to carry things in a basket, not in you hands, in order to not look like a shoplifter.
5. ... having students take your New Years Resolution lesson seriously, and are then painfully honest about theirs to be "less miserable."
6. ... listening to two 8th grade boys talk about how excited they are are about Fernando Torres, with 1st graders slowly form a small crowd circle around us because (as Szasa and Adam explained), "they never look at Americans, they like look at you."
7. ... FINALLY being able to control my 6th lesson 7th abc class at Szatymaz without losing my voice.
8. ... receiving hand written letters.
9. ... an invitation from 5th graders at Sandorfalva to be a judge at a 'fancy dress party' before asking the teachers who are organizing the event.
10. ... the ability to have 'conversations' every Tuesday afternoon on the 1/2 hour bus ride home with the PE Teacher who never studied English.
More to come...
