Where is your country and what is the official language?
My country is Hungary, in Eastern Europe and official language in Hungarian.
What is a traditional food from your country?
Traditional food is Hungarian goulash. I am not a chef but it is made of red pepper, steamed potatoes, sausage, sometimes beef and other spices. It is so simple to
make, that is why is very popular. and Tor, which is sausage and meat from pig and rice and mashed potato with steamed vegetables.
What was the biggest culture shock you’ve experienced at Kalani?
The language. English and Hungarian are so different from each other. Thinking and speaking in English at the same time is for me very difficult.
What do you like most about your culture?
Hungarian people are very dedicated for their job and for their life. For example they are so serious about family, mostly outside the capital, Family is like a whole thing. Some people still live with family: grandpa, grandma, father, daughter, grand kids. And this is something I can be proud of. And I don’t know if this is a positive or negative but people are very direct. For example we have a festival in our town and if someone from another town or country comes to us, ok, join us we welcome. We are very hard working people. I don’t know if this is good or bad but we are working so much. We are working to keep living and to make your own business growing. If you work for the company, they expect you to work after hours. We have to work, it is a part of life. Some people, especially in villages, don’t like to hang around or just sit on a chair watching sky or something, they just working in the garden, around the house, repairing the roof or the fence. I don’t live to work I work so I can live. Some people live to work and I think this is not good.
How do you say ‘hello’ and ‘I love you’ in Hungarian?
For ‘hello’ we have bunch of words: ‘ Helló ’; the same like in English but a different accent. Something more polite would be ‘ Szia ’, it is a better form for official use, and the longer version of this is ‘Szervusz’. We use ‘ He ’ between friends, it is much more personal. And for ‘I love you’ is just one word: ‘Szeretlek’ . We don’t use ‘I.’
What is the national dance?
We have a folk dance, it is very old, out of date, more than 600 or 700 years. It is like Hula, the dance tells stories, but it is not a common dance. There is an uniform for boys and girls in traditional colors. I don’t like it, it is strange. The tourist like it. It is very dynamic, energetic with live music, like violin and singing.
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