Ugrás a fő tartalomra

Józsi, my unexpected teacher



I'm sitting on the train. I'm going to some fancy art exhibition at Szentendre.
A messy guy puts a porcelain angel and a postcard depicting Székesfehérvár on the windowsill above the bin and moves on without saying a word. I take out my headphones and stop the music. I prepare a coin because I know what this is about.
He comes back and holds out his hand. I give him the money readily but I add that he can keep the knick-knacks. He smiles, sits down next to me and starts talking.
He tells me honestly about his checkered life, his past and present, and his words seem so true and real that I start to feel sorry for him. He is very cheerful and this is exactly why I feel less and less comfortable.

I ask if people give some money to him? He shrugs embarrassed, not so much. I say all right, I'll go with you for one round. I'm good at marketing, I will easily collect a bunch of money for this guy, I think. We hardly walk two meters, the porter says to our little team "Stop that please, right?" I talk ourselves out of it. I say come Józsi, 'cause that's his name, let's go to the other direction. Humiliating looks, rude answers, to be regarded as nonexistent, it is all disappointing and humiliating. Though I am well dressed, handsome, communicative and intelligent. But now I feel like a piece of shit among the grass and I'd rather sit back and put in my earphones, listen to music and forget the humiliation forever.

Foreigners are a bit kinder to us, but they don't understand what this poor thing is talking about. Luckily, I have paper and pen. I write big letters on the paper and I know that it will dismantle language barriers at least. Though I don't know that would help this morose crowd understand what Józsi would like and why. Józsi is happy, he almost jumps out of his green coat that is three sizes bigger than him.

He says this is the best day of his life and I am his best friend. We arrive to the station. I must hurry because I'm waited for. We say goodby. He asks for my phone number but I don't give it to him. I shake his hand and wish him good luck. He is sad and so am I. Next time I think of Józsi, I'm sitting on the bus and I have two thoughts running in my mind. When have I last learnt that much about life for one euro? I should have invited him for a gyros before he starts his next shift, he might be hungry now.

The blog entry was written by the students of Kepes György Special College at the Roma Heroes workshop of Independent Theatre.

Címkék:

Megjegyzések

Megjegyzés küldése

Népszerű bejegyzések ezen a blogon

What Counts as a Punishment?

What can a schoolgirl do to fight injustice? What do we look for in pedagogues? What can we do for our children to be taught of equality and accepting each other in school? In primary school, I always sat in the first or second row. I hated it! I always wanted to sit in the last row because there, I could have been next to the window watching the whole class. From time to time, some of the "worst" boys were seated next to me. The rules for table plan were the following: 1.   bad students sit next to good students 2.   if you are a good student and do something wrong (which happened to me quite often) then you will get a Gypsy next to you For a few days or for months, it depended on the scale of the punishment. I liked those boys because they found this process unfair, too. I had three seatmate by this method in the first four years of primary school. When teachers realized that this seating arrangement was no problem for us and we even made friends, I ...
Megjegyzés küldése
További információk

Who killed Somna Grancsa?

What does education mean for you? What would you sacrifice for studying? What can a young student do if her family does not support her in continuing her studies? How can she fight prejudices in the school every day? What is our responsibility for the youngsters and in providing equal opportunities for everyone in starting their lives and being able to study? The play provides insight to a really brave girl's life who has to stand up to her family's will.  The play of Giuvlipen Company from Bucharest is based on a real story; it presents the struggle of the girl, that results in suicide, from various perspectives, raising the validity of different approaches and at the same time pointing out collective responsibility that no one can escape.
Megjegyzés küldése
További információk

“I’ve never been that careerist type, I was hoping someone would invite me to play in a theater and so it happened.” - Interview with Zsolt Lovas Fekete

  The role model of Zsolt, who grew up in Sepsiszentgyörgy, is the theater company of László Bocsárdi. The company’s epoch-making performances and intimate atmosphere immediately captivated the boy preparing for an acting career. “ I looked up to these actors like gods.”- he says nostalgically. He recounts that after one of the performances, he took courage and talked to them. That's when his dream to be an actor in the Tamási Áron Theater was born. He talks about his experiences in Marosvásárhely at Színművészeti Egyetem and how he got into the thick of alternative theater life in Budapest.  Finally, he talks about her community work, experiences and its aftermath at the Roma settlement in Őrkö.
1 megjegyzés
További információk