- Have fresh warm milk (as in, the cow was milked a couple hours prior) in my hot breakfast drinks (first tea, then strong coffee)
- Successfully go shopping for lunch/snacks at a Transylvanian grocery store
I am a loud, goofy, often faintly embarrassed American tourist, but it's fantastic to be here and to just walk around and be here. The people are very, very nice, especially if you smile a lot and at least try. (I throw in a lot of thank yous, both because it's the only Hungarian word I know, and because please and thank you can get you very far. People are so much more accommodating and pliant if you're polite. Also because it's the nice thing to do...)
I didn't start taking pictures today until later in the afternoon, after our trek through town, partially because I don't like getting in the locals' way (summers in Lake George and Saratoga, know what I mean?) and partially because I want to experience it the same way I experienced London/Kingston/Surbiton. Anthropologically, trying to be part of the landscape. Getting money from the atm, spending time talking in a cafe with people, eating sandwiches at a bar, and finding my way through the grocery store. Looking around shoe stores. Trying desperately to figure out what music video is on the television when it's on mute. Just doing normal stuff in the town, because life is not more or less complex here, it just is. And that's the point of anthropology, for me; it's definitely what I like about it. The differences lie in how we are raised to deal with the situations put in front of us: physically, economically, socially, emotionally.
That's why today's lecture on Transylvanian history with Andre was so wonderful, because he ended with our raison d'etre (and also because it's just so, so interesting, omg): the Transylvanian border was the eastern battlefield for all the major points in medieval Europe, he says; what he wants to look at is if these big political, religious, and sociocultural changes had any impact on the peoples' daily lives.
Do changes in the economic/political/religious landscape mean big changes in la vie quotidienne? We cultural anthropologists talk big talk about a person's environment and upbringing shaping (or at least, partially shaping) their personality and how they behave/think/interact. But, for example, does the Protestant Reformation matter deeply to a farmer who is more concerned with having enough produce to feed his family? Does the border changing hands between the Hungarians and the Turks and pretty much anyone else mean much to the old widow living on the edge of town who is just trying to survive until next Sunday?
This is actually really important for how we live our lives now, especially in American society. I am big on people knowing at least a little of what is happening in world events, because we are part of the world and not only does it matter for our own country's future, but there are billions of other people in the world and they matter too. But we fall back on what matters most to us, individually. What is best for our family, for our loved ones; what we're going to eat for dinner; what presents we still need to get for someone's birthday in two days; entertainment that affects us emotionally; gossip and girl time and chocolate. And I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, I'm very much a just do what makes you happy sort of person; just do you and let the rest take care of itself. On the other, I do think that thinking about people not connected to you in any way is a good thing to do, and caring about what happens in different places to different people is about compassion and opening your eyes to see other people as equals, not just others.
This post went a whole different way than I intended. We start in the field tomorrow and I'm a little nervous, but mostly really excited. It's been a whole year since I last got dirty and muddy and dug in the dirt. Tomorrow will be hard work, but fun and I have a feeling that it's gonna be so worth it.
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