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‘Saying goodbye with ‘puszi’ is totally confusing for me’ – foreign athletes about their life in Hungary
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Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu asked foreign players and coaches about how they are adjusting to Hungary. They wanted to know why these people chose Hungary to live in and what strange, exciting or interesting is for them here. They even asked them not to be polite. Here are the answers they received.
Hungarians drive like crazy
Firstly, they talked with Julie Fogg (28) who came from France to play in the handball team of Érd. She was the goalkeeper of the French national champion team at home and chose to come to Hungary because she knew a coach here and wanted to see the world. At first, she did not know anything about the country, and she was afraid of racism. However, she says that everybody is very kind to her. Moreover, Hungarians support their team very enthusiastically, which transforms every match into a party.
What she could not get used to are the traditional Hungarian dishes and how Hungarians drive their cars. She said that Hungarians are braver in this respect than the French. Furthermore, handball is also tougher than in France, because referees allow more, and even the players are harsher. A Hungarian wants to fight,
even if they experience physical pain.
“Of course, this is not allowed, neither here, nor abroad. Still, Hungarians do it.”
She said that the most special Hungarian word she has heard so far is “körülbelül” (= Eng. approximately), and she still does not know its meaning, but her coach uses it frequently and it sounds funny.
Hungary can be the first step towards NBA
Daniel Amigo (23) comes from El Paso (Texas) and has been the basketball player of Debrecen DEAC for one month. According to him, the club of the University of Debrecen is the first step in his professional career, and he is very happy that he could come to Hungary. He said that some rules in basketball are different here, so he had to learn them again.
He added that his
favourite Hungarian dish is lángos.
He found it strange that plastic bags are not for free, like in the USA. But he thinks that the most important difference is that Hungarians are funny and they understand jokes, so they always laugh with his teammates. He says that he likes Hungarian culture, and his favourite word is “tesó” (= Eng. ‘bro’) which sounds great and is easy to learn. He added that he would like to play in the NBA, but he still needs the experience to do so. This is why he is in Hungary.
