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October 18, 2001
Besplendored
"Besplendored" Why did that word pop into my head on the tram this morning? Words seem to do that to me. Now that I'm living in another country though, I treasure words like that. It's a daily struggle to hold onto my vocabulary. Any time I think of a multisyllabic word, I throw a little party in my head.
I had another thought about Hungarian culture this morning too. I passed by an expensive French salon on my way to work. I could see through the window that it was a high class place inside. The furniture all matched and it was newly decorated. The outside of the building was in sad shape though. Many of the roof tiles were cracked and the plaster of the walls was dirty and cracked. I thought to myself, "self...that would never fly in The States." Even though it's nice on the inside and I'm sure the service is good, the outside of the building just doesn't look nice. As I though about it, I realized that there are many other stores like that around here. There's a great new cafe near our flat that is clean, bright, has live music, delicious iced coffee, and good service. It's in the basement of a building that is otherwise dirty and nasty. I wonder if this is a metaphor for the Hungarian people. On the streets and in my school, people that wear the same old clothes every day are on an equal level with the folks that wear nice expensive clothes. Society is not divided along lines of appearance. It's as if the outsides just don't matter to these people. It's what's on the inside that matters. I wish I was more like that.
Posted by neal on October 18, 2001 07:12 AM