Brian Cohen
  • Making the Grade Blog
  • About Me
  • Tutoring
  • Press
  • Resources to Share

Americans aren't Hungary enough

7/26/2011

2 Comments

 
After traveling for about 3.5 weeks throughout Eastern Europe I think I have enough experience to say that Americans truly keep themselves ignorant. Maybe it's out of a sense of narcicism, maybe it's just total lack of knowledge or curiosity removed when we are younger, but I have seen and talked to VERY few Americans over the past few weeks. You would think there would be more of us marching through the streets of St. Petersburg and Moscow now that we can. But no - we like to keep ourselves blissfully unaware of what's going on outside our own borders. More ruminations on that after a small update on what I've been doing. If you are only interested in pictures (no offense taken), please check them out here.

As a tribute to the ignorance that I personally had until this visit to Budapest - I had no idea there were two cities here once upon a time: Buda and Pest. They joined together in the 1800s with the building of the chain bridge (not made of chains - just called that because it chained together the city).

In any case, I've walked around this place SO much over the past few days. I visited Castle Hill, the location of famous churches and the central government offices. I went to the Budapest History Museum and learned that Jews actually have been in this area since the 1300s. Who knew? I participated in a Jewish walking tour of the Jewish quarter and went into the Dohany Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe (2nd largest in the world behind the Emmanual synagogue in NYC). And I took a night stroll with great pictures to that effect.

Probably the coolest thing so far, though, was the first night I arrived. I got into Moishe House Budapest at around 6pm (thanks again for hosting me!) and participated in Kabbalat Shabbat services with people from all different backgrounds, including a French girl, Romanian man, former resident of MH NOLA Gill Benedeck and his sister, and my friend Jenny with her bf Sham. It was great! The tunes were almost all the same and I felt totally welcome. I even thanked the leader who then asked me to do Kiddush. Of course, I put on a little flare to it and I think everyone enjoyed.

This whole experience, though, served to underscore the point I was making earlier. Americans are just not out there enough to notice commonalities in thought, experience, life, etc. The fact that I can go halfway across the world and have a common experience with someone who has one part of his/her life the same as me is important. Also, the fact that there are people over here who WANT to talk to me even if we have NOTHING in common is also important.

One of my major goals this year as a teacher is going to be exposing my students to things in this world they have never seen before. I am brining back numberous pictures of numbers in different contexts (with different languages around them) in order to share what I've seen. I think it will be good for teenagers in Philadelphia to think outside of their city (or neighborhood even) to explore the world. I am hoping that my connections over here can be strengthened so that some of them will be in touch with some people over here as well. If any of you reading this live in another state/country, please let me know if you are interested in that as well.

Tomorrow I take a train to Vienna and then Israel on the last day of July. If you are reading this and feel like letting me stay with you in Israel, let me know!
2 Comments
jenny
7/29/2011 09:03:08 pm

hey brian, yeah the hungarian folks i talked were all surprised that i was visiting hungary for...apparently no good reason. you don't HAVE to come? why are you coming to hungary? for VACATION? so confused. i guess they don't get a lot of americans. if everyone knew what a great root canal you could get on the cheap, i think there would be many many more.

Reply
Joy
8/5/2011 06:20:32 am

I hope your kids enjoy the pics/stories! I know I do. Though I do think it's hard to get outside yourself like that when your family is struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Hopefully your efforts will inspire them. :)

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I am a math teacher in the New York Department of Education. I infuse technology and real-world problems into my curriculum in order to prepare my students for the future. I would love for people across the country to recognize we teachers can't do it alone. If you don't believe me, come visit my classroom!

    Picture

    Contact Me

    Picture

    Email Updates

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    March 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.