The Wonderful Hungarian People

Hungarians are very gentle, quiet and courteous people.  I have never seen someone shout at another person, show the finger to the car next to them or paint graffity on the walls.   Unlike Americans, sorry to say.  I have never seen a piece of paper, a pop can or a cigarette butt on the sidewalk.  In fact I saw a woman reach down and pick up a piece of paper from the sidewalk as she walked by.  They have little (1 ft X 1 1/2 ft) garbage cans all along the sidewalks.Everyone just throws their cigarette butts in the little garbage cans.  I think they are a lay back people.  Not like Americans that have to have everything perfect.  This is a picture of my back yard.  The gardener was pulling weeds in the bare spot you see.  He left the dandelions.  I would have pulled those out first.  They didn't mow the lawn until all the wild flowers have died that were in the lawn. 

When I say good morning to someone I meet on the sidewalk, they usually don't meet my eyes.  I think that is because they have been suppressed for many years and they just keep to themselves.  However, when I do say "hallo" they graciously say something back.  When Sister Scherrer and I were carring a mattress on our heads and walking down the sidewalk, no one honked the horn, no one yelled out the car windows, they just minded their own business.  I admit we were a site to see. 

Most people ride bicycles to and from work.  When we come to the corner of the street, the cars actually stop for us even if they stop in the middle of the intersection.  I am very impressed with this.  One day we were in the store looking for a pair of pliers.  (I needed to fix the faucets).  So some guy about my age saw that I was trying to make a decision about which pair to buy.  I had the smallest pair in my hands.  In broken English he tried to tell me to buy the larger pair but I was focused on the price.  So I bought the smaller pair.  I should have gotten the larger pair but I made it work anyway.  So my point is that he was so nice to try to help me.  He probably spent 10 minutes trying to get me to buy the bigger pair of pliers.  

I can't speak Hungarian so it is difficult to talk to people.  Very few natives speak English.  They either speak Russian or German in addition to Hungarian.  In school they had to take a foreign language.  Most people took German unless it was required that they take Russian classes.  This makes it difficult to fellowship members or less actives.

This gentlemen hauls stuff around.  He has furniture on his wagon this time but I have seen him with a load of hay.  It's no wonder he keeps his horses for his business, gasoline is $8.00 per gallon.  

I occasionally see a couple of school children walking or running when school is out.  Most of the time I see a mother with her child.  They hold hands most of the time.  Recently I saw a mother take the hand of her 10/11 year old to cross the street.  They seem very protective of their children.  Usually it's only one child, a couple of times I have seen a parent with 2 children.  

This picture was taken for all the women out there that think their kitchen is too small.  This is the home of our Branch Mission Leader.  He has 4 of us missionaries over for an authentic Hungarian dinner every Sunday.  The past 2 Sundays he has served pork or chicken soup and cold macaroni with bread.  He said for Easter holiday (Monday) he is planning to serve his traditional fish soup.  Can't wait.