Entering Hungary

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Sometimes things get in the way of other things.

Which is probably the closest thing you'll hear in any of my blogs that approaches wise. The relevance of this is that this blog has laid barren for months on end and not really due to me not travelling and more to do with me not writing or being good at keeping travelling habits when I am working or at home.

So lets talk about Home or should I say my New home, Budapest, which has plenty of amusing foiballs to discover and chuckle over.

I arrived in the bleak mid winter to Budapest, snow hung on the trees and every surface not vertically aligned was layered in white. It was pretty and the vast supply of Christmas chocolates on Gabor's breakfast bar were still being slowly diminshing but the marzipan-chocolate novelty had notibly worn down over the last month, although now mid January it had been decided to remove the forest of pine trees and reindeer and santa clauses that lined the window frames and other surfaces.

The first things that Laura had taught me as we approached Hungary was, as I found out later, the only thing that outnumbered Gabor's Christmas decorations; how to say Hello in Hungarian.

An abridged version is as follows

Szia^a sounds like "See ya" means hello to be used to anyone younger or the same age in the singular

Sziastok^a is the same as above when greeting multiple people

Helo^a means hello or goodbye as above used freely down the age tree

Hallo means hello on a telephone call, if you not on the phone you may just sound idiotic but I am unsure of the consequences.

Na Hallo^a means goodbye, generally when the person wishes not to continue the conversation and can be repeated over and over until the conversation finally comes to an end.

Jo Napot^b Good day, used to anyone (not older ladies than you), but must be used to those men older than you, but only between morning and evening

Jo Reggelt^b - Good morning, but only used before I get up, so whenever I have tried to use it people have laughed.

Csokolom^c - literally "I kiss it", no, no this is not some lude street greeting that some of you may have thought but a shortening of the next one...

Csokolom a keszed és a labad^c - literally "I kiss your hands and feet" although it is not necessary to actually follow up on your greeting. This is only used for women elder to you and supposedly in to some older gents. Generally speaking failure to use this greeting appropriately results in an extremely insulted elderly lady, or conversely a extremely insulted younger one. Having walked this tightrope I haven't yet received the penalty of mis-greeting someone - public thrashing or a lifetime of family dishonour!

Cső^d - literally means "pipe" or "drain", I have no clue what-so-ever where this comes from but you can use it, be wary though only to people that you have a witty friendship with, serious friends and non-friends this is unacceptable.

There is also good afternoon, good evening, good night and multiple other good... but moving ahead

Right so presuming you haven't offended the Hungarian by this stage you now have touch them, somehow. Touching is very important, they are very touchy¹ people about greetings and so it is important to be touchy² too. 1 - touchy as in a bit tense, 2 - touchy as in physical touch.

To make this easy for you, I have categorised all the above expressions into letters (note the superscripts)

If you greeted with an "a" greeting you must...

Actually kiss them, twice! Right cheek first, generally avoiding any actual lip to face contact. NB Only if its a girl. NB2 This is very important - don't do this at work that would be outrageous.

Note to the Spanish, the opposite way to normal! Note to the Dutch, twice! Note to the English - yes, you really do have to kiss them.

If you greeted with an "b" or "c" greeting you must...

and if this is the first time you have met them then shake their hand

but if not, give them the two kiss routine as above.

If you greeted with a "d" you may...

Give a high 5, kiss or generally go into their fridge and eat their korbasz and gherkins.

Oh yes, and just to warn anyone who was thinking of getting a Hungarian girlfriend/wife, you will after an undisclosed length of time get kissed by all the male members of the family as well.

Well I hope you all the best if you come to the greeting minefield that is Hungary! There has to be a price for living in utopia.

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Photos

Hungarian Snacks
Palancsinta and Langos (pancake or deep fried bread with sourcream and cheese!)

Coffee and Cake
With style and grace

Hungarian camp food
Onions, courgettes and slashed pieces of fat that is then drissled onto bread and consumed in a greasy pool with the onion and courgette.

The Great Plains
The bread bowl of Central Europe

Vineyards
Wine and more wine

Christmas 2013
Presents round the tree!

Hungarian Multicoloured Sweets
Marzipan

Weekend jaunts
test a whole arsenal!

Comments

[Thereza szabo sharoni]

My opinion of Hungary blog
Well written, and entertaining '