Barev dzes!
My name is Ákos Vázsonyi. I come from Hungary[1]
and I have spent 6 weeks in Armenia. I have applied for a program called
“Global Volunteer” organized by AIESEC. I have been working at a Yerevan school
called Global Bridge, and travelled around the Pink City and this ancient, awe-inspiring
country called Armenia. This blog intended to record my experiences here as a
foreigner, traveler and teacher.
For the sake of a more precise understanding of
my blog I have to explain its title first. The original Hungarian title “Örmény
egypercesek” is a literary pun. It literally means “Armenian one minute (short)
stories”. Since in Hungarian the sounding of “örmény” (=Armenian) and the name
of a famous writer (István Örkény)
are very close, the pun is crated almost by itself. All the more so, as Örkény
is one of the most significant writers of the Hungarian literature in the
second half of the 20th century, and he is most well-known for his One minute
stories, which display many shades of the grotesque Central European life during
the years of Soviet ruled Hungary. You can read some of his one minute stories here. If you read the story called Grotesque you will understand why the cover photo of my blog is upside-down.
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| István Örkény |
I was inspired by Örkény’s grotesque literature
and I think my experiences in Armenia can be easily compared to it as I am
immersed in a new culture, where everything seems to be upside down for the
first glance. Nothing works the same way as at home, and I have to constantly
reinterpret every meaning I come across.
And this uncertainty of meaning can result in very weird situations,
ranging from the strange through grotesque to absurd. Therefore I will try to describe
my experiences in a similar manner but sometimes I will just write down how it
is and you can decide if it is any good at all. And I also hope I won’t get
lost in translation.
[1] To be
more precise, I am ethnic Hungarian from Vojvodina, the North of Serbia, and I
lived in Szeged Hungary, for the last 6 years.
Nincsenek megjegyzések:
Megjegyzés küldése