See you soon letter :)

 

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The unexpected enemy

 

When you move to another country, everybody warns you and tries to warn you of the dangers you might encounter, be careful not to get robbed, be careful with the friends you make, be careful not to go home alone at night, be careful not to get lost... but almost nobody will warn you of what will probably be your worst and most unexpected enemy at some point: loneliness.

When you see pictures of other people who have moved to other countries, or accounts on social media about traveling, everyone seems to be living their best life, amazing countries, beautiful landscapes, new friends, new experiences, new cafes... however I think it is a universal experience for almost everyone who has moved away from home for a long time, to feel lonely at some point. And it seems funny how this feeling appears at the beginning, even if you are meeting new and wonderful people and even if everything is really going as you had planned, it is inevitable that in some moments this feeling will come over you. I think this is part of a process where you have left your family and friends, who know you so well, with whom you normally have infinite trust, and suddenly you find yourself with new people and in a new place where you again have to make an effort to get to know them, to open up with them, and often you connect with people through shared experiences, and for these experiences to happen it takes time. It's an uncomfortable feeling to go from feeling so secure in people you know to having to start all over again, it takes a lot of effort to leave that comfort.

However, I believe that this "enemy" is not always an enemy, as it forces you out of your comfort zone and leads you to do incredible things that you would never have done if you had stayed in that safe zone. Suddenly, you will be meeting people with totally different backgrounds from your own, with whom you will possibly grow and learn things that you might never have learned otherwise. It also gives you a space in which you can reinvent yourself and explore parts of your personality that may be dormant but seem to flourish in these new situations. Perhaps also meeting such different people will take you to uncomfortable but necessary places where you will question things that you have always assumed, and perhaps realize that they are not so true for you, or that they don't really resonate with who you are and your values.

This is not to say that when this feeling comes it will be easy or that it will feel good, but rather that it should be assumed as part of the process instead of hiding it in a thousand pictures of sunsets, in a thousand pictures of parties. I think it is important that this feeling can be shared, as I think, that possibly when one person starts sharing about this, many others could open up about how they are experiencing similar situations, and I really believe that what is not hidden does not hurt so much.

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Búcsúk és viszontlátások

 

Mióta belevágtam az önkéntes tevékenységbe, nem csak egy közösség szerkezetébe nyertem betekintést és hasznos tapasztalatokat gyűjtöttem ennek tevékenységei kapcsán, hanem a különböző kultúrák világát is megismerhettem.

Az önkéntes munkásság által rengeteg hasonló helyzetű emberrel találkoztam, akik a barátaimmá váltak idővel és beépültek a mindennapjaimba. Pontosabban egy budapesti kiscsaláddá váltunk. Kialakultak a stabil programjaink, minden kedden filmestet tartottunk és az alkalmakkor egy-egy személy választotta az aznapi vetítés témáját. Napjaim részévé vált még a Margit-szigeti piknikezés velük, közös születésnap ünneplés, közös vacsorák felhőtlen kacajok.

Nemcsak barátokat szereztem ezáltal, de tudást és ismeretet is. Elém tárult egy teljesen más kép a különböző országokról és szokásaikról, mint amit az iskolában tanítottak nekünk. Megértettem mennyire egy szofisztikált ember az olasz, ezzel szemben a spanyolok pedig az életnek élnek. Mindig is tudtam, hogy a franciák előítéletesek, de igazán csak most láttam meg. Megismerhettem mindezen országok és nemzetek múltját és jelenét, amit nem említenek tankönyvekben. Szokásaik, gasztronómiájuk (rengeteg szuper receptet tanultam), ünnepeik beilleszkedtek az én életembe is.

Elmondhatom, hogy ezek az új tapasztalatok által rengeteget változtam és másképp látom a saját országomat, az életemet, meg csak úgy a mindennapjaimat is. Rengeteget köszönhetek nekik. Nem csak a barátságukat, hanem a számtalan tanítást is, amit tőlük kaphattam.

Sajnos ennek az utazásnak lassan a végére érek. Velem ellentétben nekik ebben a hónapban fejeződik be a projektjük és apránként haza költözik mindenki a saját országába. Visszatérnek mindennapi életükhöz, van, aki egyetemre megy, mások munkába állnak, de az önkéntesség és barátságunk varázsát soha nem feledjük el. És persze tervezzük később meglátogatni majd egymást J

Szeretettel, Móni 

                                               

                                     

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CHANGING

 

A few weeks ago, I turned on my computer after several months without touching it,and what I found surprised me. I had completely forgotten how most of my computer screen was full of miscellaneous university documents, things from tax law II practicalto a variety of drafts of my final thesis. This reminded me of how less than 9 months ago, i.e., less than the length of a pregnancy, I was still a student stressing about my last exams at university while spending countless hours searching for information so that I could finish my thesis in time to move to Budapest. I found this very amusing, and it made me think about how life can change in such a short period of time and how different I am from that stressed-out Irene at university, this is why I would like to reflect a little on this topic in this blog post.

 

I never thought my life could change so much in the last few months, but Budapest has done it. It has been many years since I have read as much as I have in the last few months, quite possibly I have read more books in the last month than I have in the last year. Plus, my usual group of friends is now made up of people of different ages and nationalities, which has proved to be a humbling slap in the face in many situations.

At the same time, with this variety of people I have learned that there is not only one way to live and understand life, and I have discovered with them new activities that are now my favourites, such as having a picnic in the park on a sunny day (because yes, although it may surprise many of you, it was something I didn't do before coming here), meeting my friends in a house to play board games or watch a movie with wine. I'm even starting to get used to meeting up for coffee in Budapest's many wonderful cafes from time to time, which is another thing I rarely did before as I thought I didn't particularly enjoy it, however, now it's something I love doing with my friends and I even had some of my most amazing conversations there. If someone would have told me I would change the libraries and exams for doing these things with my friends, I would have laughed and thought that person was crazy.

 
It is really curious how so many things can change in a few months, how a new environment can shape your habits and ideas even when you are not looking for it. A new adventure, like this volunteer project, would change your life in many surprising and unexpected ways, although you might not be looking for it, because you think you are already comfortable and happy with who you are, and it will show you how the world if full of unannounced events and astonishing people. I can´t help but think about how my life would be if I wouldn´t have decided to come here, Would I be reading this much? Would I have changed this much? I really cannot tell, but what I know for sure it´s that I love all the grow I am experiencing and all the new people that is surrounding me, and I cannot wait to see what else is going to change during my last months in this volunteering project. And I hope I will be able to share it with you. 

See you in the next post,

Irene 

 

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Tavasz, nyár, Filantrópia

 

Kedves olvasók!

A nyár megérkeztével a mi szociális életünk is kivirágzott, nem csak a Margit sziget:) Ennek tiszteletéül egy fotó montázzsal készültem nektek, a legkedvesebb emlékeimből! 

Akaratom ellenére két szék között találtam magam, mivel választanom kellett nemrég a szentek közül, pontosabban, hogy melyik a legigazibb és legjobb. Egyik oldalon olasz barátnőnk Marta, Szent Ferenccel, a másikon pedig Irene, Szent Antallal. Nekem túl nehéznek bizonyult a döntés, ezért átadtam a teret az Instagram követőimnek egy szavazás formájában. A helyzet az, hogy soha nem fog kiderülni, ki a legigazibb szent, mert a szavazás eredménye egyenlő lett:)

Továbbá láthatóak a növénykéim (a képen csupán kettő, de ennél sokkal több van), pillanatok a boltból és barátaink Európa minden sarkából.

A hónapok teltével kialakult lassan a mindennapi rutinunk a boltban is. Mostmár ismerjük a törzsvásárlókat, megvannak a kedvenc emberkéink is persze:) Már tudjunk nagyjából ki mit keres, amikor bejön hozzánk, kinek mi a stílusa, hogy mennek a mindennapjai, kinek hány gyereke van, stb stb. És persze vannak olyan vásárlóink is, akik gyakran kis kedves gesztusokkal érkeznek be hozzánk, mint például sütemény, gyümölcs vagy csak egy kis ajándék társaságában.

Szeretettel, Móni

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Women's Day in Spain

                                                                                (Forrás: El PAÍS)

 

Taking advantage of the fact that this month was Women's Day, I would like to talk about how women's day it's been lately celebrated in Spain. However, before I begin, I would like to stress that everything expressed in this post is not intended to   represent all Spaniards

opinions and all Spanish culture on this day, but is much more an approximation of how I perceive women's day and the data offered by the various national media.

Women's day is conceived as a day to celebrate women, where thousands of people receive congratulatory messages. Receiving gifts from men, on the other hand, is a rare practice in Spain, and might even be patronising, as this day is a day to remember the struggle for gender equality. We should not forget that the commemoration of Women's Day milestone came after 129 women died in a fire at the Cotton factory in the USA, after a strike was declared at their workplace due to poor working conditions and the first National Woman's day was designated to honor this protest and all these women. 

Despite the fact that women's day demonstrations have been organized for many years, the way we understand women's day in Spain underwent a drastic change on 8 March 2018. This was due to the fact that on this day there was a record number of participants in the demonstrations, hundreds of thousands of people. The demonstrations spread to more than 120 Spanish cities and the streets were filled with people and banners with messages such as "We are the cries of those who are no longer here" or "You took so much from us that you ended up taking away our fear". 

 

                                                                    (Forrás: El País)

 

This was a turning point, as it highlighted women's widespread anger at gender inequality, increased social awareness of women's rights, and the institutional need to take further steps to achieve formal and material gender equality.  Women openly stated that they were not willing to accept their socially imposed roles, Spanish women were angry and willing to fight. I remember going to the demonstration in my hometown with my friends, I remember singing and shouting along with thousands of other women, I remember how, because of the number of people, I could not see the end or the beginning of the demonstration, and I especially remember feeling powerful and empowered by all the people around me who shared my rage at inequality and injustice.

Demonstrations have continued to be the focal point of women's day in Spain. It is a day to remember that only 8.8% of the largest companies in Spain were headed by women in 2022, that there is still wage parity, that women suffer from higher expectations and burdens at home, and, consequently, it is more common for women to be the ones to give up their careers for housework, how women are often only remembered in the artistic fields when it is feared that the "quota of women" will not be met and that the misogyny of the field will be palpable, among other consequences from this disparity. Although in the last decades much progress has been made in terms of equality between men and women, especially in formal equality, there is still much to fight for, as equality between the sexes is not a reality today.

I would like to end with a famous quote by Simone de Beauvoir: "Never forget that a political, economic or religious crisis will be enough to cast doubt on women's rights,  These rights will never be vested. You will have to stay vigilant throughout your life".

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