Decemberben (In December)

Alfianto Widiono INA AFS to HUN (YP 2017/2018)

In a way, time is like something fluid; it keeps flowing, although often times its speed doesn’t feel the same. Time passes in a blink of an eye when you are living each moment to the fullest, but it can drag on forever when what happened is the opposite.

These sentences come to my understanding as I look back at my journey in Hungary. It has been nearly 6 months since I stepped my foot for the first time in Budapest. Since then, a lot of things have taken place. You name it; pure happiness and joy, unstoppable laugh, heartbreaking tears, homesickness.

I have been in those situations. The truth is, when you are having rendezvous with your past, it feels as if it happened yesterday. I still remember how I was eagerly typing my first newsletter back in November. Well, that was 3 months ago. The half-game of my exchange year has been reached now that we are in February. That means I only have 4 months left in what they call “The Heart of Europe”.

Bringing those things to mind, I would have to say that my favorite moment here is the whole December. I am particularly a bit biased because I always have this sentiment toward it ever since I was a child. However, last December was especially remarkable in my opinion because I feel that I got to understand my community better. I was able to be involved and contribute more to it, and through that, I learn a lot about the traditions and values that it hold. Moreover, December has always been known as a month of celebrations, and quite frankly I experienced some of the celebrations for the first time in my life.

But, before talking about what I had celebrated, I am going to talk about something which is very interesting and has never occurred to me before in Indonesia; I fractured a bone in my left arm. I was ice skating with fellow exchange students in the weekend at that time. And it wasn’t my first time skating then. I was trying to get some speed while turning when someone came from the other side about to collide with me. We managed not to crash into each other, and that was when I lost my balance. My family took me to the hospital the day after. Fortunately, the doctor told me that the fracture was very slight, and he didn’t have to cast my hand. Still, he put a bandage around my neck so that I can put my arm on it since my arm couldn’t be straight until a month after that. It also put me away from PE class exactly the same amount of time.

This accident was irritating because the next weekend, AFS organized an event called Mikulás Buli (Santa Party), and all of the exchange students from all over Hungary was supposed to come to Székesfehérvár. It is believed here that on December 6th, Santa will come to each house to give chocolates for those children who are considered to be good. On the other hand, if someone is considered bad, they would find charcoal instead. All of the present for Santa are put in children’s shoes. Not only that, usually in every school, someone would act the role of Santa. He would go around the school and throw chocolates in the direction of students. This certain day felt like heaven for me. I am someone with a sweet mouth, and I gathered tons of chocolates from this Mikulás celebration. Anyway, on Friday, we took the train from Szeged to the city where the party is going to be. I decided that I was not going to use the bandage; after all, my arm was not hurting as much as it used to, and people would not have noticed that it was nowhere near perfectly straight. As I was sitting on the train, I got a call from the other Indonesian exchange students. I live the furthest from that city compared to them, so they all have arrived there when I was still on the way. Earlier that day, I told them that I hope they could pick me up at the train station. However, I gave them the wrong arrival time, and they said to me that they had to leave 15 minutes before I arrived because if not, they would miss the bus. They gave me another choice though, if I really want to meet them that night, I should pay for their taxi back. Being an economist person that I am, I declined their offer and suggested that all of us could meet the next day. It turned out that they were lying the whole time; they were still there the whole time, waiting for me. They just did that to make me panic. It was our first time meeting each other again after the Arrival Camp. Because we were going to stay the weekend there, 3 of us were hosted by the same family, and that we spent the night catching up with each other. The next day, before the party itself, we went to have a tour around the city. We even found a place to eat Nasi Goreng! The party went quite well. All of the chapters present a performance, and then Santa gave us chocolates. Up until today, the chocolates that I collected from Mikulás day have not run out.

The next event in the calendar would be Christmas. I have always wanted to celebrate Christmas, and I was blessed to be able to do so in Hungary. At first, I wish that it was White Christmas, but my brother told me that there was no chance of snowing that time. In fact, it was the hottest Christmas in years. I really felt the togetherness of my family during the preparation for this celebration. We would build the tree and decorate it together. We also baked some ginger bread, and my mother said that I could draw anything that I want on top of it. The main celebration was on December 24th. Leading up to that, there was an event called “Secret Santa” in my class, where we had to pick someone’s name and buy a gift for them without their knowledge. All around the city, there was also Christmas Market and Bazaar. In front of the big cathedral, there were these giant Advent Candles, and the nuance really felt magical. Before having celebration dinner, we exchanged gift in the family. Again, I got a lot of chocolates, and I said to myself that this is good because I don’t have to spend a lot of money on snacks. I also gave some gifts to my family, although there was an accident when I was wrapping the gift. One of the gifts was a blouse, and unfortunately, I cut it when I tried to cut the gift’s wrapper. I had to buy a new gift because of it, and the damaged one? I don’t even know what to do with it. After that, we went to a relative’s house. We have dinner over there. Traditionally, Hungarian people eat Halászlé (fish soup) and Töltött Káposzta (Stuffed Cabbage) for this occasion. We were there until midnight. We exchanged more gifts and played some games. It was a really nice time!

Perhaps the most interesting part of what I had experienced in December was the New Year’s Eve. My family didn’t have anything planned, and it turned out that the majority of Indonesian exchange students here had the same luck as of mine. So, we went to Győr in the north, to Anabella’s house. There were 4 of us. Before going there, I decided to explore Budapest a little bit. There were big discounts at that time, so I thought that I’d better use the chance to buy winter essentials. In Győr, we went to the City Center at 9 o’clock. It was uncharacteristically cold. We walked around for an hour until we got hungry. We were trying to see if there was something open, but most of the places were closed or if they were open, they were packed with people. We managed to find a kebab booth at last. The kebab was great, although the location was not the best in my opinion. Then, we went to the main field, where there was a concert. They played some famous Hungarian songs. Not long after that, it was already 12 o’clock. Beautiful fireworks were displayed, and then the national anthem was heard. After taking some photos and videos, we continued walking. We sat down and chatted loudly in front of the theater. When we got tired, we walked home for about 30 minutes. We didn’t want the day to end yet, so we watched a film together, but no one survived until the end of it. We were in Győr until January 2nd, since the day after that school starts. Each of us separated ways, I took the train to Szeged alone. I had to change train in Budapest and it was in different station. I was trying to go to the other train station when I got lost twice. I took off in the wrong subway station, and after that, I took the bus in the wrong way. I was planning to walk to the train station when fortunately I found another subway station that could go to my destination. On top of that, I brought a suitcase with me! How convenient.

That is how December went for me. It was all kind of adventures that I thoroughly enjoy. Now, with 4 months left, what can happen? See you in the next newsletter!