10 countries where Hungarians stick together- Part 2

Previously, we showed a couple of letters written by Hungarians from abroad to refute that Hungarians never stick together. Velvet.hu collected more letters, here they are.

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10 COUNTRIES WHERE HUNGARIANS STICK TOGETHER- PART 1

Russia

“I have a little (better) experience, however, I lived with my family as an expat not in the West but in the East, actually in Moscow.(…) The community is obviously much smaller than in London or in any other Western European cities. The size and composition of the community also have influence, in Moscow, there are a lot of young people with children – diplomats and senior professionals plus university students.

There is an organization called Hungarian Club of Moscow which gathers local Hungarians. The organize events – from arts and crafts through the dance house to balls with 100-150 people. There is Children’s Day and Santa Claus ceremony in the embassy – the last performer of Children’s Day was Akos (as part of his international gigs). We regularly attend sports festivals with Hungarian interests together to cheer. And interestingly, many of these friendships have remained after we returned home, we regularly meet here and in Moscow as well, because my work binds me to Russia. And if I have time, I participate in football matches once a week.”

United Arab Emirates

“I have lived abroad several times and I have several types of experience how people are looking for the company of other Hungarians.

First, I went to study and work within Europe. There, I did not want to look for the company of other Hungarians, since I wanted to integrate into the local culture and learn about the culture. In addition, it is also true that the fact that someone is Hungarian it doesn’t mean we will be friends.

Then I got a job in the UAE. Here, as I arrived, my first friend was a Hungarian and since then, I have been looking for the company of Hungarians. This is due to that cultures are very different here, this is a Muslim state, and practically only Asians work there. How well a Hungarian goulash or a Langos comes! Here I don’t feel Hungarians would envy each other, as if you don’t have a job here, you’ll be sent home, but if you do your job well, Europeans can have good job opportunities.

European culture is very different from the culture of the UAE, and while it seemed interesting in the beginning, Arab and Asian people now fully merged into my days. I somehow got used to their habits, but sometimes I think how many good things there are in Hungary, for example the speech. I like living here, it is much better financially, and it is completed by local Hungarians. At this time, I feel like being at home.”

East Africa

“We live not more than 20 of us in a more than 20 times bigger area than Hungary, in South Africa, and it is a reliable community. The usual “Hungarian” discord is unthinkable here, because of foreign culture, big distances and constant difficulties, everyone is aware that you can count on another Hungarian “as a last resort”. If not so intensely, but we keep in touch , visit each other. We gladly contact Hungarians visiting this are, most of them are tourists, and if they need help, we do it and interpret. Recently, relatives, friends came to one of the expats working here and they will spend a day with us as guests of the Hungarian orphanage.”

Canada

We’ve been living in Canada for 31 years, we have a lot of Hungarian friends who are either 56 refugees or came here after a few years later after us.

The primary motive of our relationship was language, which allowed mutual assistance, and if we wanted to relax, we didn’t have live through chatting as a wearing brain training.

However, we all know our emigration is not temporary, so it is good to embrace the local system of values, for our own good, and not always regret the world we left behind. Although we haven’t given up one thing: the Hungarian flavors.

That doesn’t mean we don’t feel ourselves home when we visit Hungary, but when the time comes to travel back, we all feel we go home.

We unwillingly watch the political dynamics of today’s Hungary, the slangs of the language almost hurts. This is not a criticism, merely reflects the evolution of language, while we remained at the level of the ’80s.

Australia

“Our group, the Hungarians in Australia, which is the biggest Facebook group for Hungarians living in Australia, has more than 2100 members and keeps growing.

I believe and profess that this “Hungarians don’t stick together abroad” is just a bad innervation. If that was true, our group wouldn’t be so large, there wouldn’t be different groups for Hungarians living in Australian cities and there wouldn’t be theme groups for Hungarians of Australia.

Of course, everyone can tell about bad experience, but if we focus on positive examples and keep count them, the assesment of Hungarians living abroad won’t be so dark.

(…) Maybe we don’t have “Hungarian quarters”, but there are also many nations who don’t, like the Germans, Swedes, French, and Dutch etc. Sticking together doesn’t depend on we have anything like that or don’t.

We are many, different and we know our own nation the best, so we tend to believe that others “don’t do this”. But yes. Other nations are not better, just different.

based on the article of velvet.hu
translated by BA

Photo: Pixabay