I’m finishing my meal at Chicken Express while Lili takes a photo from the window. It’s a surprisingly lovely view of Highway 281 looking south. We are on a rise and the foliage around us glistens in the evening sun.
Lili’s mom asked her to take (and send) more photos of Texas. Her parents want to see through her “lens” this country which they have not yet visited. They, along with Lili’s brother, miss her terribly, but support their daughter in her school year abroad.
Our Hungarian girl Lili is our fourth foreign exchange student. She arrived on August 9th — a month to the day. Truth be told, it has not been an easy month for her. The climate, culture, topography, food — pretty much everything — is completely different from Budapest. And like most exchange students, she’s experienced homesickness.
When I asked Lili which state she would have chosen (AFS doesn’t let students choose; it’s based on where willing host families live) she actually said Texas. I was surprised she didn’t say California or New York like most students. She must be attracted to the quintessentially American cowboy image of Texas. She said she prepared for the heat, but I don’t know if anyone can adequately prepare for every day being over 100 degrees with humidity.
One of the many benefits of being a host family is education. I’ve learned so much about Hungary in the last month. As with our other students, Lili arrived bearing gifts: a lovely lavender gift set and books on the Magyar people and the striking architecture of Budapest. Also a fiction book that is required reading for Hungarians called The Paul Street Boys. This book, which had a Dickensian/ Mark Twain feel to it, touched my heart.
Lili also knows how to cook. She followed the recipe of her beloved grandma and made Paprikás on August 20th, a national Hungarian holiday also called Saint Stephen’s Day. The meal was a delicious mushroom stew served over homemade pasta.
Before she arrived, I learned a few Hungarian words thanks to Duolingo — Szia! Hogy vagy? And I read the Culture Gram 2023 for Hungary. Like many countries in Eastern Europe, Hungary struggled under communist rule. Then after the breakup of the Soviet Union, it tried to establish democracy, but struggled economically. Today they have an “illiberal” leader who runs the country unfairly.
The corruption that runs through their government makes me realize how grateful I am for freedom of speech and other liberties. As fractured as our country is, I will never take it for granted that I am an American.
Hosting this time around is different. With Amelie, Alex and Lucas, they had built-in buddies (in the form of my twins) to help them navigate high school in the U.S. Lili doesn’t have school age host siblings. Lili went from taking a city bus to a school with the same 30 or so students since primary school to taking a school bus to a high school (James Madison) of 3000 students.
Our adult son Cedric has hit it off with Lili. They both have similar quirky personalities and have had long conversations into the night. We chose her based on some things in her profile that we thought would be a good fit for him. It appears to have worked.
Next weekend is Homecoming and Lili bought her ticket for the event. Our trip to North Star Mall was productive. She found a silky olive green dress, shoes, clutch bag, jewelry and make-up. I didn’t mind the four hour shopping excursion. It was fun to watch Lili splurge on something for herself. She deserves it.
