Our second day in Budapest. We started our day at the Lauder School. Today I worked with a 9th grade class (because this is their 2nd 9th grade year, they are the age of US 10th graders). There were 4 students in a class of 30 that had some connection to the US (parent lived there or they had lived there) and maybe 5-6 of the students had been to the United States. Some of the students in this class were familiar with the music from Hamilton and enjoyed learning the meaning behind the lyrics. Due to the students being older, feeling more confident with their English and having some students with a connection to the US, more students were actively engaged in the lesson, asking questions and freely sharing their opinions about the “idea of America”.
My second class was a group of 11th graders. Immediately it was clear that these students were intellectually mature, thoughtful and quite opinionated. I presented them with a lesson on the US election – including our process, candidates and party platforms. The students were very well versed in US politics. Hearing their thoughts and beliefs about our system and politicians was fascinating. The students believed that the US didn’t really have a clear choice in their candidates since, in their words, Trump was a racist, sexist, climate change denier bully while Hillary was a corrupt politician who would never be able to bring change. When I asked them about their news sources they claimed they were reading the same things I was reading – stating they had gotten their information from social media. It made me think about the power of social media, and how here in the US we are all guilty of reading only views that support our own beliefs, and yet those same messages are being sent abroad. The class had watched Trump’s acceptance speech live in school. They were not impressed. We spent much of our class time discussing the impact of Trump’s win. I shared with them some of the recent events that have occurred close to home, including the swastikas on the school buildings in my neighborhood. We also spent a little time discussing the similarities in our governments’ right-wing approaches to immigration. Most impressive to me was the view the students had of the US being at the forefront of global policy and the impact US policy decisions (esp in terms of global issues like climate change) have on the international community.
The relaxed atmosphere at the Lauder School continues to amaze me. The students call their teachers by their first names. They have coffee stations set up in the back of classrooms and they have a couch/lounge area in most classrooms. The students use language in the classroom that would never be acceptable in a US classroom and they do not hold back on their opinions at all, but it is also important to note that everyone respects that about each other. There is no need for “safe spaces” or so it would appear, because everyone respects that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
The afternoon was spent touring Budapest. We spent the first part of the afternoon at the Parliament building. The Parliament building is part of the city skyline along the Danube. It has a Neo-Gothic base with a Neo-Renaissance dome. Inside the building we were brought up a 133-step staircase with gilded ceilings throughout. At the top of the staircase is a large room that houses the Hungarian Crown, along with 2 guards who watch over the crown at all times. No pictures allowed…We then walked to the legislative chamber, again very ornate in design. This is where the Parliament meets. The Parliament has over 700 rooms, and was clearly built in a time period when Hungary was much larger. Today, only about 200 representatives work in the building. Another reminder of Hungary’s history and how much it has changed over time.
Our next stop was the Opera House. Considered one of Europe’s finest opera houses, the Opera House, along with the Parliament, is filled with Hungarian pride. It was built when Budapest was co-capital of the Habsburg Empire. Emperor Franz Josef contributed half of the funds to build the Opera House, on the condition that it be smaller than the opera house in Vienna. Franz Josef visited the Opera House only once, apparently upset that, while smaller than the one in Vienna, it was definitely more beautiful – or so the Hungarian legend goes. We had the pleasure of hearing a mini-concert at the end of our tour.
The evening ended with a visit to the local JCC. We met with the director of the JCC Zsuzsanna Fritz. The JCC is continually striving to identify members of the Jewish community in Budapest. Again we were told stories by both Zsuzanna and the Headmaster of the Lauder School about their own path of learning about their Jewish identities. Both individuals did not discover they were Jewish until they were teenagers. Even then, it was not discussed amongst family members what it meant to be Jewish. The Jewish community in Budapest has been fragmented by the losses during the Holocaust and the oppression during communism. Members of the older generation are afraid to discuss their lineage and/or want to forget about their lineage. Trying to revive the Jewish community in Budapest is a difficult task, especially when the individuals do not even identify themselves as being Jewish – at least in the religious sense. To many, being Jewish means being a liberal intellectual. That was one of the founding tenants of the Lauder school and seems to be an important value in the students lives there as well.
As we continue our tour of Budapest, we are all struck by the tormented history of the city. The Germans blew up the bridges of the city as they crossed them so that the Soviets could not cross the Danube and get to the Germans.
The Soviets were seen as the liberators of the Hungarian people, which is complex for many to internalize because so many of the people are not proud of their Jewish heritage because it is connected so closely to the Holocaust and/or Sovient oppression.
