Here are some of Seth’s thoughts from his first two weeks in the first grade at Dr. Szent-Györgyi Albert Általános Iskola.

“Hi, this is Seth.  I am in first grade.  I have some letters and words that I am learning how to write and read in Hungarian.  For example, ‘kék’ means ‘blue,’ and ‘faházak’ means ‘tree houses.’  Some of the letters I am learning to write are V, Á, A, Z, í, K, F, É, E, H, and I.  Everyday I have házifeladat (homework).  I have a magic box with magic sticks and beans in it.  What I do with it is I use it to spell words (see the picture).  The magic box in Hungarian is called a ‘varázsdoboz.’

“In the morning, I go to the closet in the hallway, and I hang my hat up, and I get my inside shoes on, and I go sit at my desk in the classroom.  Then the teacher comes in, and all my friends arrive.  My teacher tells me what to do.  First I have Hungarian class and then math.  We also have torna (phys. ed.), an English class, and drawing.  We go to the play ground and come back to eat a snack.  Mom and Dad pick me up from school.

“My favorite parts of the day is when I have torna, drawing, swimming, and snack time.  I also like lunch, math  and Hungarian class.  When I go to Hungarian school, everybody speaks Hungarian.  I speak Hungarian to them too.  I have some friends who I talk to.  We talk in Hungarian about things like animals.  Some of my favorite animal names are kutya (dog), hal (fish), and technősbéka (turtle).  In class I understand everything, but some things I don’t.

“I have some friends in class.  There names are Kinga, Bendegusz, Jenő, Dani, Márk, Benedet, Patrik, and there are a couple others, but I can’t remember their names.”

-Seth Whitfield Newell