Living in hungary
 

Hello .Me and my husband live in the UK. I'm Hungarian and he's English. We been thinking to move to Hungary. I'm from gyor and that would be the area we would move to. My question would be .. how british people find living in Hungary? Can you adjust easy? Is there many british people living around the gyor area ? Only asking the question to make sure if we would make a move he would be okay. (: many thanks Csilla and Simon (:

Re: Living in hungary
 

Szia Csilla!
We in live in Budapest so can't comment on Győr but can say that we have found life here incredibly easy - the hardest part for us is learning the language, which we are, "nagyon lassan"!

Good luck with your move!

Re: Living in hungary
 

Hi
How long is a piece of string?

We sold up in the UK and moved! I have a Hungarian wife and 2 kids (9 and 5 when we moved). We have been here for 24 years, on the other hand some have gone back after 1 year and others after 5 or 6 years. Most on this forum are happy here and wouldn't go back - otherwise they wouldn't be on this forum !!

Do you have family here or are you leaving family in the UK? Leaving or joining family can be an issue for some that only comes out after you have done it.

Much could depend upon your situation, do you have to get jobs to survive or are there other income streams to take away the pressure of paying the electric bills? This makes a difference to the stress levels which can make settling in easier.

The Győr area is good, not the cheapest, it has a good economy but as with anywhere you have to choose your place which means doing your homework and not relying on estate agents for recommendations.

There are Brits around the Győr area but not an extravagant amount. other areas have more e.g. sw balaton. There will English speakers, probably in the younger age groups with the older people speaking German (or Russian if pushed).

You have an advantage in that you are Hungarian which solves some of the Language issues (although I don't know your level of fluency or how long you have been out of Hungary e.g. did you leave with your parents in '56 ?) If you speak good Hungarian this can also be a disadvantage for your husband as it is to easy to hide behind the translator/interpreter. (guess how I know)

Can you adjust easily ?? Yes or no, it depends what you are looking to do, if you need jobs, (forces early integration) or if you have a ready made community to join e.g. church, choir, music etc. The mechanical side of life should not take much adjustment as shopping, supermarkets, internet shopping/deliveries, on-line bill paying etc. is fairly well sorted now - given that you will have enough Hungarian to do the initial set up for bill paying.

Given that Győr has a university there will be students who are desperate for English conversation practice so there will be easy opportunities to talk to others providing you are close enough to the Uni. There are also dual language schools that are often keen to get native English speakers if you have suitable qualifications and want that sort of thing.

Back to the base question - What are you looking for with your move to Hungary?

Re: Living in hungary
 

Tut tut Peter! You should know the answer already - How long is a piece of string?

It is twice the length from its middle :)

Re: Living in hungary
 

To the OP: I would definately recommend taking your husband for a visit to Gyor, any other places in Hungary, so he gets a feel for the place. He might have a culture shock of how people live in the countryside for example; as opposed to tourist places such as Budapest. Let him spend in forints for example, on a minimum wage, so he sees how a real Hungarian lives in Hungary.

Re: Living in hungary
 

IMO no need to try to live on the minimum wage, about 86 gbp per week. The basic UK state pension is 126 gbp per week so this could be a better test. Prices here are rising in line with the governments aim to increase minimum wages and house prices are going up in part driven by the government grants to help families to purchase houses. (3 children or a commitment to 3 children gets 10,000,000 huf grant (about 27K gbp) and another 10,000,000 huf cheap loan. 20M huf is enough to build a small(ish) family house - plot extra. As you can imagine this is beginning to skew the house market and trades people are difficult to book up. Family loans are also available now for renovations so the market place is changing but outside of towns prices are still cheaper, but as always you have to take care about the area you choose.

I would agree with Szeged about visiting to get the feel for the place.

Re: Living in hungary
 

My wife is Hungarian and I have been visiting Hungary since 2002. Luckily my wife maintained contact with her friends since moving to England back in 1990 so when we have visited Hungary we stay with her family and get together socially with her friends. My wife's friends and her family always make me feel welcome. My long .... well .... it's becoming a short term plan as I near retirement is to move to Hungary, lock, stock and barrel. I'm confident from the experiences I have had I will find it easy to adapt to the Hungarian way of life. Obviously I expect I will miss some British things but there's compensating things which I see as a bonus, i.e. the outdoor lifestyle which is impossible in the UK due to the weather.

Csilla90 - has your husband visited Hungary and how often? If never, then obviously it would be better to spend some time in the country and visit places where he'd see the real Hungary, including warts and all!

Whatever you decide your husband needs to do his own research so he can draw his own conclusions about Hungary.

Re: Living in hungary
 

FenTiger is right - there also are big differences between the villages in the country, the tourist places at the Balaton and the big cities!

I chose a village near Hévíz e g (20 years ago) because it was the only region of the Balaton which didn't close down totally for winter ...
And it'sbecome worse (like all over Europe ...) - there are nice villages now (even 20 km from the Balaton) where there is nothing:
No shop, no bar, no restaurant and the bus runs maybe twice a day to the next town ...

Re: Living in hungary
 

The OP has disappeared!