Learning: Like a Child

An interesting thing happened last week, just after moving in. We awoke around 2:00 A.M. to the sound of the doorbell, downstairs in our guesthouse. We thought we were the only ones in the house, and that the landlady did not stay here. But then we heard footsteps on the stairs and had one of the "what do we do now" moments.

It's interesting that we hadn't really anticipated what it would take to report some kind of emergency, whether it be crime, fire, or medical. It immediately reminded me of what our young grandchildren had been drilled on--learn to say your name, address, phone number, etc. So now I can recite the essentials in Hungarian, including spelling of my name. And I can even use my cell phone, now that the commands are in English! By the way, there was no emergency and everything is fine in our house...just an interesting lesson in the basics.