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Values

The greater the differences in values between your home culture and your host culture, the greater the stress. Values of cleanliness, responsibility, and use of time may cause stress for years. Cultures may appear similar on the surface but have broad differences in deeper values. 

Ronald L. Koteskey

Some cultural differences between Britain and Hungary

Britain                                                               Hungary

Bathing is done in the morning                            Bathing is done in the evening

Greet by shaking hands                                       Greet by kissing both cheeks.

Guests are not asked to remove their shoes.        Shoes are taken off at the door and slippers are provided for guests.

Public restrooms are free.                                   You pay to use the restroom.

School is Monday through Friday                          Kids occasionally have to go to school on the Saturday.

These are to name but a few. We have found many things in Hungary go in the opposite direction to what we have been accustomed to. Names are surname first then Christian name even when mentioning a name in conversation. Dates are year first. Homework grades are 1-5 where 5 is the best.

We remember during our missionary training being asked to fill in a form that had been written right to left instead of left to right and to make matters worsewe had to use the hand we didn’t usually write with. At the time we thought this was a little silly and a bit extreme, the reality is that the discomfort experienced then accurately reflects our discomfort in everyday life.

Now we still bath in the morning, old habits die hard! We do however greet by kissing both cheeks, we take off our shoes when visiting and provide our guests with slippers. We always go to town armed with a stash of 50 forint coins in case we need to use the restroom.  We are gradually changing and adapting.  Somethings will never be easy though, our children don’t think they will ever get used to having school on a Saturday.

In our world where many things are a little topsy turvy the best approach is to have a sense of humour.  We laugh when we make a mistake. We have become interested in the customs and why things operate the way they do. Instead of complaining or rigidly sticking to our own customs we have learned to embrace those things which make life a little easier here.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (The Message)

 19-23Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

The Message version puts this really well but bottom line it means loving people enough to enter their world whether it is stressful to do that our not.