Two weeks ago I wrote about how Hungary is moving all education online as schools shut their doors for the time being.
Now, new restrictions are being implemented and they affect not only educators and students, but all Hungarians: we are under partial curfew until April 11th. Stricter rules apply in all areas of life:
Grocery stores, farmer markets and pharmacies only serve customers under the age of 65 between 9 am and 12pm. So us, under 65, we have to stay away from those places for this time slot.
Sale of essential supplies such as flour, sugar, milk and oil are capped at 5 pieces per customer.
We are not supposed to leave our residence except to report to work and to get groceries and medication.
These are all restrictions that my family can live with fairly easily for now. Since none of our children are school-aged, we just do lots of crafts, spend time in the backyard gardening (our green onions are almost ready), read and play.
On the other hand, I hear complaints from both parents and fellow teachers that online education on primary and secondary school level is putting lots of stress on both parties and remains very ineffective. Not to mention that families with 2-3 or more school-aged children have to share computers, tablets and this further affects outcomes.
Speaking of education: the posters I shared above offer great learning opportunities: since you are very familiar with the context, try to figure out the individual Hungarian sentences and phrases. I always say, that once you are familiar with the context of your reading material, you are half-way there. As unfortunate as the current situation is, use it to your Hungarian-learning advantage, at least.
To sum up our experience here in Hungary, I took pictures in our local grocery store two weeks ago and yesterday about the red lines painted on the floor to enforce social distancing. I think the two pictures side-by-side tell the whole story of how rules are tightening as time goes on.
Stay safe, as always, cheers, Katalin.
