this is an interesting quote in the beginning of a book I borrowed from the ÖDÉ office today. let's tear this quote down a bit, shall we?
mania is defined in the medical dictionary as "excitement of psychotic proportions manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorganization of behavior, and elevation of mood"
ten million is about the current population. A quick Google search revealed that the World Bank's population of Hungary in 2008 was 10,037,637.
curable is being such that healing is possible, in this quote it's referring to the aforementioned 'mania'
charm... charm... charm is one of the things Hungary is NOT lacking. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that Hungary is not lacking. After spending five months here, one of the things I've come to love, though, is the charm that the people, the country, the language, the buildings and the customs all have. It truly is incomparable to the 'charm' that the United States has... or any other country has, for that matter.
When I go about my day-to-day life, it's easy to find things about which I can complain. Most of my life experience comes from the "American" lifestyle and way of thinking. I think often in my head "because that makes SOOO much sense" with more sarcasm than anything. It's not that Hungarians are doing anything wrong, per se, but when compared to similar situations I would face back home, perhaps a different solution would be found.
Let's take, for instance, a situation I have found myself in twice now. Hungarians are pretty good about recycling and preserving their resources (good thing!), including their paper. In order to make paper go further, it's not unusual to load a copier with scrap paper with a blank side. Many of you may see where I'm headed with this. I print my newsletters double-sided in order to save weight (and paper), so I go to print my newsletter and end up wasting paper because the paper in the printer only has one clean side... now, this is not to offend the office, because it's actually a wise idea, but just maybe not the way I'm used to going about this. Now that I've run into the issue twice, I'm sure to remember next time and will remember to check the paper on which I'll be printing before just assuming it's all clean.
I also think that sarcastic phrase often when I learn something new in Hungarian. Even though I say that there are more 'exceptions to the rules' than 'rules' themselves, that is part of what gives the Hungarian language it's charm. It really isn't something that is bad or good, it just is.
When living abroad it's easy to compare situations to similar ones in the states - our reactions, our approaches, our solutions... however, it's important to remember that Hungary is NOT the United States, and even though McDonald's and Beyonce and American Pie have all "invaded" Hungary, the two countries should never be able to be compared. Hungary, to outsiders, may then appear to be 'cured of its mania'... but to those who have experienced what Hungary has to offer would indeed notice the lack of charm if it ever happened.
*~*~*
Speaking of charm, I don't know if you've seen enough of this place yet, but I assure you that I haven't. This street, all uphill or downhill depending on where you're going, appears as though these bricks have been here for at LEAST a century, and I would dare to guess that it's been more like 200-300 years (if not more!)
looking down on the same street: notice that the white building on the left side of the street is the same building as in the previous picture...
...
This is a terraced Turkish burial ground, which is below where Gül Baba's tomb is (see previous post).
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