The flag of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.The Consul General from the Hungarian LA Consulate did a presentation here today, discussing how certain political actions Hungary took helped to bring down the Iron Curtain. There was a lot of it I hadn't heard- I haven't spent as much time looking at that time as at some of the others- and some that I had. He discussed the 1956 Revolution a bit, and I'd heard most of what he said before, but it was nice to be reminded.
If you're interested- The '56 Revolution started off as a student led protest in Budapest on October 23rd, and quickly spread throughout the country. The Soviet Politiburo initially agreed to discuss a withdrawal of Soviet troops, but on Novemeber 4th, troops moved back into Budapest. By the 10th, Hungarian resistance had ended. It had a lot of long lasting impacts, and you can check out the wikipedia article on it.
I have a thing for Hungary. I love the language, I love the people, I love the history, I love the place. I feel so very lucky that I was able to spend time there and get to know all of those a little bit. When people ask why I decided to go there, I tend to start mumbling about not being allowed to go to Africa, and not wanting to speak Spanish and trail off after a while. In all honesty, I don't know exactly why I picked it, but I do know that is where I was supposed to be, and that's enough for me.
After the presentation was over, I went up and had a little conversation with the consul and his daughter, mostly in Hungarian, but not quite all. Everytime I speak a bit, I'm reminded of just how far my speaking abilities have fallen. Luckily, there aren't too many non-native Hungarian speakers, so even my poorly spoken Hungarian is appreciated. That's one good reason to learn less common languages- it's ever so much more impressive to say I speak a bit of Hungarian, or Samoan or Amharic than it is to say I speak a bit of Spanish. ;)
Not gonna lie, when you first posted this I didn't really read the whole entire thing because I didn't feel like learning more history than I already got in my 3-hour history lectures. :P But I read it! And it was very interesting. And Hungary sounds like an amazing place. And I think it is way awesome that you know how to speak Hungarian and that you taught me some insults -- they're much less well-known or easily guessed than the few I knew in Spanish and French! Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're having a delightful time in Washington, and that you feel slightly less bena about your blog now because someone besides your mom has commented on it :] It really is very interesting! I'm excited to see more of your photography -- you're amazing! :D