My Neighbor
By Zary Fekete
Posted on
Once a year in Budapest the local government of each district has an event called “lomtalanitás” or “ungarbaging”, an opportunity for people to rid their closets and basements of anything that they don’t need. The dates are posted a few weeks ahead of time, time enough for people to pile things onto the curb outside their building in preparation for when the garbage trucks will come to whisk it all away.
I found out that my district’s date was coming soon when I was walking home one day from the elementary school where I teach English. There are a few homeless men who sit in the park at the end of my block. They play chess together in the afternoons and drink cheap wine from plastic bottles in the evenings.…
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