Story of Brigitta

Amikor 18 éve Új-Zélandra érkeztem, megismertem egy családi barátot, Vasista Jutkát. Sajnos már nincs köztünk, és óriási űrt hagyott maga után. Jutka egy fantasztikus humorú, hihetetlenül önzetlen hölgy volt, akit csak rövid ideig volt szerencsém a barátomnak tekinteni. Nagyon fiatalon ment el, két lányt, Brigittát és Katit hagyva maga után. Kati az édesanyjával, Jutkával élt; a szomszédom volt, a mellettük lévő lakásban laktam. Kati kerekesszékben él évek óta; egyéni kommunikációjával beszélgetünk és nevetünk. Az ő nevetése kitörő és nagyon ragadós. Zoya nénivel néha meglátogatjuk és olyankor Brigitta is eljön. Nemrég Katalin névnap alkalmából látogattuk meg. Zoya néni Jutka jó barátja volt; a lányok születésük óta ismerik. Ezek a találkozások rendkívül jó hangulatban telnek: rengeteget nosztalgiázunk, de persze főleg ők. Olyan sok érdekes információt és történetet hallottam már idáig is a magyar közösség régebbi életéről, hogy megkértem Brigittát: mit szólna ahhoz, ha elmesélné a mai fiatalabb generációnak, hogyan is teltek a magyar klubnapok 30-40 évvel ezelőtt gyerekszemmel. Íme egy kis időutazás Vasista Brigitta szavaival.

Bán Dóra

The Hungarian Club was a huge part of my childhood. I fondly remember going to the Club as a child in the 1970s in my best dress and hair in pig tails. Although I mostly looked forward to catching up with the gang of other Hungarian kids, it was always a fabulous evening of food, song, dancing, laughter and familiar faces. There were a few locations in Auckland that I remember going to: Fickling Centre in Three Kings, the Scout Hall at Rockfield Reserve, the Mt Albert Community Centre next to the Rocket Park, but best of all were the evenings at the Balmoral Lounge. The Balmoral Lounge had a steep flight of stairs that the kids would run up and be greeted with the sight of an absolutely massive Hungarian flag which would be tacked to a table or on the wall and we knew we were there for a good time. The smell of pörkölt and warm bread always had me eager for dinner time. We celebrated many occasions at the Hungarian Club including Mother’s day, Easter, Szent István Day and Karácsony with Mikulás who our parents had reported our mostly-good and some-bad behaviour to. Any celebration seemed to start with long speeches and was followed by entertainment, eating and drinking and the laughter and chat getting louder and louder as the night progressed. There was a dance group with various Hungarian mums (or friends) and teenagers. They always looked so sophisticated to me with red lipstick and big hair with red, white and green ribbons woven in. I was one of the girls in the kids dance group (see photo) and we’d perform a few times a year to our proud parents, grandparents and friends. I still keep in touch with most of these girls and know we will stay life-long friends. There were some celebrations that only parents went to, like the Szilveszter Buli. I could only watch Anyu and Apu getting ready for a night out and be disappointed my sister Kati and I couldn’t go too. But my mum would always bring home some chocolate or if we were really lucky a slab of mákos or diós beigli. The Hungarian Club would be involved in special events too, like when the Hungarian Football Team came to NZ for a friendly thrashing of the kiwi team. The Hungarian Club was out in full force that day cheering on the visitors of course! And as good hosts it was followed at the club with dinner, wine and good Hungarian banter. I also remember the Hungarian Club would occasionally organise family outings where we all piled on a hot bus and would be driven to spend a day at Wenderholm or the pools at Parakai. A day swimming and playing with friends would always end too soon. We would have BBQ lunch with Hungarian style sausage sizzle: hurka in a bun in one hand and an uburka in the other. Thank you for the lovely opportunity to be nostalgic and reminisce about some of the good old days. I really do look back fondly, and with a smile, at those times at the Hungarian Club and know that it was a large and important part of my childhood.

Vasista Brigitta