My Families Immigration
My grandmother escaped during the revolution of 1956. My grandfather was part of the uprising and got on a list of citizens to arrest when the revolution failed. He asked my grandma to go with him and leave Hungary. She asked her father if she could go. She was only nineteen, the same age as my sisters now. When they escaped to Austria they got married, mainly because they were living together and that was not proper. So they really got married and didn't know each other, similar to Ashima and Ashoke.
When my grandparents had a sponsor to go to America, my grandma was six months pregnant with my mother. My grandma didn't know anyone and was very lonely, just like Ashima. My grandma would mail my mothers hair from her first haircut.
My Grandma relied on mail for news about her six brothers and sisters. My grandma was the oldest and missed her siblings. Where Ashima and my grandma differ is the whole baby naming. My grandparents wanted to assimilate, blend into the American life style. They didn't want their kids to be different. So when they named their three kids, they chose very American sounding names, not Hungarian names. Patty, Peter and Tommy, can't get more American then those names.
In the similarity column, goes the visits back to Hungary. My mother said she hated having to go to visit Hungary every summer. They would have to go for the whole summer to visit with family in Budapest and the countryside. My mother would be jealous of the American kids who would get to go to the beach or attend camps.
My mother also said she remembers going to other Hungarian families houses every weekend, listening to everyone speaking in Hungarian, eating Hungarian food. My mother said she hated it at the time, but appreciates it now, as a grown up.
When my mother met my father, my great grandpa in Hungary heard his name, Michael Hallas, and said Magyar (Hungarian!). Hallas, Halasz means fisherman. My mom said no, my father is of Ukrainian descent. Well, as it turns out, my great grandpa was right, a family tree search turned up Hungarian origins.
So, the wedding was with all the family from Hungary, in New Jersey at the Short Hills Hilton, attending a mixed American Hungarian wedding. Very similar to Gogol and Moushumi.
When I was Nine years old, my mother took my bother and sisters and me to Hungary for the whole summer. It was fun, but I wonder if I would have liked it as much if I had to do that every summer?
We eat Hungarian food at Christmas on Hungarian plates. We celebrate Christmas Eve, not day. We do the Christmas Day thing for my father, because that is how he grew up. So I guess some of the Hungarian customs stayed with my grandma and my mother. I wonder how I will celebrate Christmas with my family?
Gogol's story was without a doubt similar to my own family's story.
Gogol's story was without a doubt similar to my own family's story.
