Saint Stephen's Weekend in BP

There were several guests at dinner Friday night, and I met some local guys my age, who were quite stunned when one of the guests began to speak Hungarian to the crowd. One leaned over in the middle of the man's speech, to ask if I understood anything. When I said I'd understood a bit, he responded that I was the only one! :-o !!

I understood most of what this speech guy was talking about, but when the guys asked me what he had said, I couldn't remember enough to retell it after the fact. :-/

After talking to this guy and his friend over the course of dinner, the friend told me that I know the (Hungarian) grammar really well, and that despite a few mistakes, he wasn't expecting to hear my accent when I speak. :-)
Guy Number 1 studies medicine at the medical university here, could tell I'm foreign, but couldn't tell if I was English or not. :-p

Oh, and something that really bothers me! If I ask them to repeat something, they'll say it

one...word...at...a...time...

ugh! I can follow you, just don't speak so fast!! Sheesh!

I also met an Israeli girl at dinner. Or maybe she's Hungarian. I have no idea. But her Hungarian was *really* hard to understand! I think she must be Hungarian, but since she lives and teaches in Jerusalem, and therefore speaks Hebrew, maybe her Hungarian has taken on a Hebrew accent? (Like last summer when my Romanian professor told me that I had a Hungarian accent when I spoke Romanian [which I was totally unaware of])...
Or maybe it's the other way around? Maybe she...no, that's not right. Why would an Israeli, who lives and teaches in Jerusalem, be fluent in Hungarian? She must be Hungarian, and speak Hebrew because of where she lives, and that in turn influences her Hungarian... Maybe my Linguistics friends can shed some light on this...

Oh, and the speech guy. He had a Yiddish accent in Hungarian. Maybe that's why the guys, or everyone?, had a difficult time understanding him. Or maybe it was how he put sentences together? Although, when he was talking, I made mental notes on his mistakes, but didn't want to correct him, since there were *more* than enough locals to do that (and who did [at least in the beginning])!

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Saturday morning I was up and out around 10 and after 15 minutes, who do I run into but a friend from the conference! He was going to a book shop and we caught up a bit, talking about the politics of studying certain areas of the world, and then parted ways as he went to meet his wife and I headed for the synagogue.

Lunch at the synagogue was jaw-dropping! There was this older guy there, who turned out to be not only from CA, but the area I'm from, has lived there 20 years, and his grandson graduated high school 4 years ago, at a high school across town from me!! Who woulda' thought! He asked where my parents live, and when I named the cities, he nodded like a local would! :-) This guy and his wife spend 6 months here, and then are in Palm Springs for the other half of the year. He left Hungary in 1956 after the Revolution
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956), when he was 8, and he chatted with a visiting rabbi who was also at lunch; over - and I mean this in the nicest way possible - who among their relatives were sent to which concentration camp: Dachau, Mauthausen, and Auschwitz. The rabbi's relatives to Germany, this guy's to Austria, and relatives of his, outside the capital, to Poland, and how anyone sick (or diabetic) was immediately sent to the gas chamber.





The guy gave me his card and told me to get in touch, saying how I'd have to meet his wife. They're leaving sometime in October to go back to California (CA), and are here visiting his wife's parents, who live in the old part of Buda, also known as Obuda (literally Old Buda). Since he was headed to the rabbi's for lunch today, I'll e-mail him tomorrow. I had lunch with a few people at the synagogue, which consisted of bread, hummus, baba ganoush, egg salad, corn/cucumber salad, and cholent! :-)

Budapest Jewish Quarter

Hi, so I recently received a friend request on Facebook and accepted, but I haven't updated this blog in about a year. So, I was in Glasgow all of last year, and am now in Budapest.

I've been renting a room in the Jewish quarter. The hostel I found online had 12 beds to a room, and the lockers didn't have locks, so since I didn't want to risk anything since I have everything with me for school and this conference, I decided to look elsewhere for the week's accommodaton. Since I was here a month ago, and found it easy to navigate around the Jewish quarter, I used that as a starting point/home base. I remembered the pizza store ladies, but the store was closed on Sunday. I went down the block to one of the restaurants and explained the situation I was in, to the waiter that's always there. He remembered me from last time and was able to help. He also remembered that I don't speak Hebrew, which was nice. The main lady who's there isn't the friendliest, but maybe that was because the restaurant that day was pretty full!

The main lady made a phone call and I waited an hour or so for the guy to come over to the restaurant. Since I was there, I got soup for dinner: meat soup with vegetables and pasta, which was pretty good. While I waited for my soup, an older couple came in, followed by a French family, and then a group of people who could have only been there on an arranged date: a young couple and their parents, trying to see if this would be the day their child would have a successful shidduch! I passed this last group when I went to wash my hands, and on the way back to my table, neither young person looked pleased with the situation they were in.

The older couple: the wife, was fairly rude to the waiter in the way that she asked for a menu. No, not the menu, but the paperwork that says the type of kosher food supervision and which rabbi oversees that supervision. She was married and wearing a wig that seems to be a bit too young for her, style-wise.

Then this lone older lady comes in and sits down at the table next to me. The main lady came over and they started chatting. I don't know if the older one, or both, are matchmakers, but from what they were talking about, they sure could have been! First they were talking about this English guy, -- well, this guy -- who studied in Manchester, in England, and then they switched to some girl's Sheva Brachos. I don't know if they were trying to set up the sister of the girl who got married, with the guy from Manchester, but it was an interesting conversation, nonetheless! At least what I could understand...

Then the guy who was going to show me the room I'm staying in, showed up. We spoke English on the phone, and then I said hello and such to him in Hungarian. Well, the main lady just LOVED this (<--sarcasm). She's like, "She's American but doesn't want to speak English...?" and threw her hands up, glancing at the other lady and the guy, who didn't seem to mind whatever language we spoke.

I really don't like Hungarians who do this. Just like I don't like Hungarians who repeat back to me in English whatever I've just said/asked them in Hungarian. Fortunately, that hasn't happned too much yet, and I hope it won't become a habit.

PS: I have limited internet so I might not be back til the 9th.

Getting ready to leave

I've been packing and getting ready to leave the US for the UK.

I'll be my new home this week! Wow, I can't believe it!

I don't know if I'll keep up this blog after I get over there.

New thoughts

I was looking at some blogs that are on Material Maidel's blog and clicked on one by Frum College Girl.

I liked one of her posts so much I'm going to do it, too on my blog.

I Am

A female

A California girl

A daughter

A sister

A young woman

A graduate student in Russian and Eastern European Studies

An observant Jew

A Jane Austen fan


But who I am

is more

than just a label

I choose

who I am

and I choose

how I want other people

to perceive me

and I will not let

anyone else

define

who

I am

Converting in the UK = Not Possible

So, I spoke with a Glasgow rabbi this afternoon. For 45 minutes. He basically told me that the London Beit Din is not going to accept me as a conversion candidate because I'll only be in the UK for a year and half to study. He was very nice to talk to (I think the accent helped), but was up front about what the London Beit Din expects of their candidates. The rabbi said that the Beit Din is so strict they want you to study 3 years before converting, and that the US will be easier. 3 years is a long time. If I did go that route, my Hebrew would be pretty good after that time! He also said that it might be worth it to have the Beit Din/Rabbis in Milwaukee get connected to the ones in London. If I studied with this rabbi for 18 mos, then returned to the US, the conversion would take 6 mos. to a year. However, I don't know if this will work.

However, the main problem is that I am and will be, a student. And students move around a lot. I don't know where I'll be in 2-4 years. Job wise I don't think I'll be back to the US, which leaves the UK, EU, and EEA, hopefully. I don't think that's fair but I don't make the rules.

A.) I wonder what if it would be possible to do if the London Beit Din knew I would (tentatively) be in the UK for at least a consecutive 4 years? (After graduation, I'm eligible to apply for a work visa that lets me stay and work in the UK up to 2 years, which I think is great!).

After 2 calls to my rabbi, he said to forget about the conversion being a factor. Decide on a school, what will be best for me, go do the degree, and THEN figure out this Jewish stuff. I guess for me, Scotland is the best way for that.

I hope option A.) works out. I'll find out tomorrow.

Oh yeah. 1 more thing. After emailing the rabbi, and suggesting Option A.), as well as a previous note in which I said where I stand on observance and stuff (including hekshers, tznius stuff, the sheitel thing and Taharat Hamishpacha, though I don't know much Hebrew or Hashkafa at the moment), he tells me that now is the time to look into Judaism on a serious level with regard to beliefs and practice. Helloooooo?! Did he read what I wrote? How many people read about TH on their own, AND before taking kallah classes?!?!?!?! Seriously... I'm sure he's serious, but I was shocked to read that! Would you be?

Scotland

Wow, I didn't realize that I know a ton about Scotland (but just didn't have it in the 'active' part of my brain):

*Dogs: Scotties, West Highland Terriers, Border Collies, Cairn Terriers

*Cows: Cattle: Highland, Angus

*Clothing: Cloth: Argyle, Paisley, Harris Tweed, Tartan.

History:
*The Tudors, spec. James I who took over after Elizabeth died in 1603
*Mary, Queen of Scots
*Falkirk
*Stirling/Stirling Castle

Places to see:
*The Shetland Islands. Shetland ponies! How could I have forgotten about them! They're so cute! Oh, and Shetland Island sweaters!
*The Isle of Skye
*The Hebrides. As in, "Hebrides Suite," which I played at band camp in middle school!
*The Orkneys
*Invernessshire
*St. Andrews' Cathedral
*Perth. When did they set out for Australia?
*Banff. When did they set out for Canada?
*Macduff. I feel like they should act out MacBeth several times a year.

Music post

Ok, so my blog name is HumanitiesGirl and I have a tons of interests in the field, and that includes music. Though I'm American, I don't listen to much US music. I mean, yes, it's nice to chill out to the Beach Boys or Oldies, but the majority of music I listen to comes from overseas:
Thanks to a good friend in Finland, she's gotten me hooked on Finnish rock! Though I can't understand it, I don't really care. It doesn't bother me that I can't understand the majority of songs by foreign artists I like. Personally, I think it's about the experience of it all.
So, this Finnish group, if you're wondering, is called Uniklubi. Their newest album is "Syvään valoon." I'm also a fan of Welsh reggae. Yes, you read that correctly. Welsh reggae. You can check them out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/yrannioddefol
Their song "Machlud" seems like the perfect summer anthem! Let's see, who do I listen to a lot?...
Uniklubi
Yr Annioddefol
Elin Kåven
Racoon
Revolverheld
Dixebra
Natasha Bedingfield
Paolo Meneguzzi


I also browse Nòs Ùr, Liet-Lavlut, and Eurovision for new music ideas.