Heartfelt thanks

Köszönöm has been one of the first Hungarian words I learned. It simply means "thank you".

I soon discovered that in an informal context you can use the word "köszi" instead. I really like that the Hungarian language has very long words but also shorter, friendly versions of the same one. It makes me think this is a funny language but, despite this, learning Hungarian is harder than I thought.

After four months in the shop I am able to understand and answer very simple questions, I can buy myself fruits and vegetables at the local market because I know numbers, if I step on someone's feet on the metro I know how to say that I am sorry. Sara says that I should be happy because I already learned a lot of words but I think these are not enough and that's why I often cannot understand what is going on around me.

Why is that important to me? After all, as a Hungarian guy told me, this is a language that I am not going to use again after this year. But still I cannot help to be fascinated by a language whose origins are so distant in time and space and that shares nothing with all the other European languages. Maybe, it is just that I would love to know Hungarian better in order to feel a bit like home in here.

Luckily, my will to learn more about Budapest and Hungary is bigger that anything else. During a week in the shop I discover day by day something new about the rude tenderness of Hungarian people; on the other hand, the weekends are my chances to go around, filling my eyes with the beauty of this country. Approx. once a month friends or my boyfriend comes to Budapest to visit me: there is no better opportunity to explore new places. So far I liked the Vegan Sunday Market and the local artisan market at Turbina, the Robert Capa contemporary photography center and Memento park, where a lot of statues from the communism dictatorship era found a home. And still: the Hungarian National Gallery and Budapest History Museum, Normafa and Margaret Island.

(Hungarian National Gallery)

(Zugliget chairlift - Normafa)

(Turbina - Vajdahunyad u. 4) 

I love Budapest but sometimes I think that I am just living in an international, cosmopolitan bubble. And Hungary is a lot more than this: in Hungary there are small cities like Nagymaros where Saturday markets are still like they used to be, and where you can ask which is the best tea for you from an old woman who speaks, like you, a bit of English and a bit of Hungarian.

In Hungary there are winemaking regions such as Eger, where it is easy to spend a happy afternoon with your friends just moving from one winery to another.
There are cities full of culture as Szentendre, and cities full of history like Visegrád or Esztergom.
I actually visited Esztergom today and I really loved it. I found a quietness and a light that moved my heart. I promised myself to come back again in the  summer just to sit and look again at the city from the  Our Lady of Sorrow Chapel on the Szent Tamás hill.

(Nagymaros)

(Eger - Valley of the beautiful woman)

(The Visegrad castle through the clouds)

(Esztergom)

I feel blessed because I had the opportunity to see and do everything I mentioned so köszönöm Hungary, because you welcomed and accepted me.

Köszönöm to all those who are in this with me.
Köszönöm to who told me you don't have to hurry in life.
Köszönöm to you, who spent your time reading my tangled thoughts.

P.S. Happy New Year!! :)