Gabrielle or Gabi: Our first Hungarian friend - Carol's entry

Gabi is the head of American Studies at the University of Pecs. I emailed with her over the summer about courses I would be teaching. She has been incredibly helpful. Last Wednesday she came over to our apartment for tea; it wasn’t a very fancy affair. Just tea and party mix. She stayed for two and half hours. Moments were awkward and there were occasional lapses in conversation. All of this can be explained by cultural differences and a lack of familiarity with one another. But what I think was most striking is the amount of good will that existed between us and how much we wanted to get to know one another. Besides talking about courses and American literature, she talked a lot about her family and dog. She has a sheltie named Rosie that she quite loves. I was somewhat surprised when she said that Rosie was having her period and therefore was difficult to deal with. I suppose she meant Rosie was in heat. We had one other funny language moment when Maria asked us if we were “cadaverous” ; what she wanted to know is if we were carnivores, not vegetarians.

On Saturday around 3:30, Gabi came over to our apartment to pick us up. She had Rosie with her, a sweet adorable dog, although she did have tendencies toward nipping at ankles and humping legs while walking. Gabi came to show us the way to her apartment. I needed to learn coospace, which is their name for blackboard. The dept. relies on coospace and electronic readings a lot. The students don’t buy books in English—too expensive. I am not used to doing so much online. She was kind enough to invite us over to her home. I was very curious to meet her family and see her apartment. First, her family consists of a husband Ernest and two boys, one in college in Budapest, and a 15 year old boy named Zolti, who was at least 6 ft. and very cute. I wish I knew someone to set him up with. Hannah, perhaps? Ok, too young. I’ll have to meet the older one. He was not home, but in Budapest. Zolti knew English and was very interested in us. I had watched the Australian Open semifinal with Nadal and Verdasco and was full of enthusiasm and desire to talk about it. I asked him what sports he liked. He said swimming and soccer. I was disappointed but persisted. I asked him if he liked tennis or watched it. He said, “No, I don’t like tennis.” Gabi quickly said to him, “Say pardon.” You could tell he was translating everything he said into literal English and was therefore very blunt. I was not however deterred and proceeded to go on about the match that lasted over five hours. I obviously needed to talk to Al or one of my brothers.

Gabi had told us that her husband did not speak English, that he was of the generation that learned Russian. Ernest is a computer guru at the post office. He apologized immediately for his lack of English skills. Here his wife is an English expert and his son is learning it. Tom and I later decided that Ernest understood more English than he let on. He did ask us if we would like tea, which he prepared. He walked into the room carrying a tray and said, “Room service.” We all laughed.

Gabi and Ernest own their apartment, which consists of five rooms: a foyer which opens into a dining room with a small kitchen off to the side, a living room or study, two bedrooms, and bathroom. They have stopped heating the living room to economize. It is an old apartment and has a lot of character. The ceilings are 15 or 16 feet high with large windows, so the apartment feels light and airy and therefore larger than it is. Gabi knits her own sweaters and goes home everyday to prepare a meal for her family. She knows a lot of history and we talked about Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. I am astounded by how much she knows and does. She told me that she teaches five classes; she has one off for chairing American Studies. Brutal. The professors at Pecs are in the classroom for 12 hours a week, which is what we are at Cal Poly. The difference is that their classes meet once a week. While at Pecs, I will teach three classes, but they meet once a week. [More about my teaching later.] Anyway I can’t get over what all Gabi does and how she is good at it all. She has a Fulbright next year to somewhere in upstate New York. I am sure that I will be writing more about Gabi.