I lived in a dorm with the 16 other Calvin students, other international students, and Hungarians. I took classes at the local university and with a Calvin professor, Jeff Bouman, who led the Budapest semester that fall. The class I took with Professor Bouman was integral to my experience in Budapest. This class was tailored to Americans studying abroad. We learned about crucial historical events in Hungary and Eastern Europe, but also how we as “long-term tourists” could be part of the local community. It was through this class and the experiences I had in Budapest and traveling that I really started to form my own philosophies and ideas about the world. Studying abroad is such a unique experience because of the emphasis on alternative learning. The city became my classroom and the topics we discussed in class had a big impact on my everyday life.
Studying abroad can be so much more than traveling, eating new foods, and meeting new people. It is a chance to practice “place making” —that is, learning how to be present in the space you are occupying. It is easy to feel like a tourist while studying abroad, you’re in a new space for only a few short months so it is difficult to treat it like home. At the beginning of the semester your mind is back at home with family and friends, thinking about all the things you are missing out on. But, eventually those things start to fade. The world around you feels more relevant than the memories of the people back home. This is when you start feeling like you can really invest in where you are, but may be unsure how to make your surroundings feel like home.
What made Budapest start to feel like home was working in the city with locals. Part of Calvin’s Budapest semester is a Cross-Cultural Engagement (CCE). This is a class credit that you earn through volunteering at a local organization. Some of my classmates tutored English, worked at refugee centers, or served coffee at local cafes. Most of these organizations had a Calvin volunteer every fall when there was a group studying abroad, so many of us were stepping into a long relationship between Calvin and Budapest that we were just a small part of. I ended up at the Ecumenical Office for the Reformed Church of Hungary (RCH). I worked in their newsroom and edited Hungarian articles that had been translated into English. I worked closely with Timi who translated the articles, and Dia who oversaw the office. Spending a good portion of my week working in this office with these two women ended up being the highlight of my semester.
Had it not been for working at the RCH, I think it would have taken me far longer to stop feeling like a tourist and to start feeling at home in Budapest. Being a contributing member of society in the place I was temporarily living was beneficial for my understanding of Budapest as a place. This was a time of the week when I spent a collective two hours taking public transport across the city on my own. Even this simple task was a good way to learn the city and its people. In other words, it helped me to learn my neighborhood structurally and personally. At the office I read articles about social issues affecting the local community. These articles often sparked conversations with my coworkers and gave me helpful insights into life in Hungary. Working with locals made Budapest feel like a place I was engaging rather than just a space I was temporarily filling.
Due to COVID-19 the RCH was going to be left without a Calvin student editor this year. I’ve had the privilege of now continuing this partnership virtually since returning home. It was difficult to leave Budapest after getting to know it so intimately, so I’ve really enjoyed this lasting connection. Reading articles each week about local news and speaking with the staff members back in Budapest has made the transition back home a little easier. Serving at the RCH has provided a lasting connection to a city and people I love, and for that I am very grateful.
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The Service-Learning Center’s very own, Jeff Bouman, is leaving Calvin after 19 years, and moving to Budapest to serve at the RCH. Jeff, and his wife Julie, have felt an increasing calling over the past few years to move to Budapest full time. They have already spent a collective 15 or so months living in Budapest as Jeff leads Calvin’s semester abroad in Hungary every few years. Being split between two places, the Boumans have decided to commit to Budapest as their permanent home.
Jeff is departing from his role as the director of Calvin’s Service-Learning Center to go where he feels he is being called. As Europe, Hungary, and the Church are becoming increasingly xenophobic and waves of refugees continue to spread throughout the world, Jeff is drawn to being a part of whatever it may mean for the church to respond to this massive displacement of people. Working with and learning how to serve folks who are not just homeless, but without country, is not just an important calling for people in the church, but one Jeff feels personally called to, “I want to see it firsthand and serve in whatever way I can”.
Jeff is going through the organization Resonate Global Ministry (the world mission branch of the Christian Reformed Church in North America) and his receiving partner in Hungary is the Reformed Church in Hungary (RCH). Through the RCH Jeff will be working at several different places. The main location being Kalunba, a ministry branch of the RCH. Kalunba is a NGO that works to support refugees in Hungary. Here Jeff will primarily be working to create a staff development and volunteer management program. He hopes to provide a more robust platform for long term volunteers as well as deep and meaningful staff development—both of which Jeff has been doing for years with Calvin students in classrooms, study abroad trips, and service-learning opportunities.
The other part of Jeff’s work will be done through the RCH’s partner Károli Gáspár University (where Calvin students take classes when in Budapest). Jeff has spoken here on several occasions to give lectures on various staff/student development topics. At Károli Jeff will be both teaching courses as well as working in campus ministry. Jeff has previously taught courses on topics such as social justice, Eastern European history, diversity, and plans to teach similar topics at Károli.
Through Resonate Global Jeff will also be developing a cohort program in Europe—getting younger adults experience in mission and cultural crossing in Europe. This type of program is already operating in the Middle East and Latin America, hopefully Europe will be added to that list within the next few years. This program would pair foreign young adults with a local Hungarian with the intent to explore what it means to do the work of ministry around the world. Calvin alumni are a great source for potential volunteers in the future.
Jeff and Julie had initially planned on being in Budapest early January, but with the high COVID infection rates happening around the world, their plans have been pushed back a few weeks to mid February. They have over 90% of their overall fundraising goal thus far and hope to reach 100% by the time they leave. There is still a lot of ambiguity around the move so far as housing and timing, but Jeff and Julie are holding plans loosely and eagerly looking forward to returning to their home away from home.
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Budapest has been and will continue to be a place that has close ties with Calvin. Though it’s across the globe, has another language and a different culture, there are still so many powerful connectors between these two places. It’s beautiful to see the connection Calvin has with Budapest through the students studying abroad there, alumni who have moved there, and those who have decided to work there full-time. Here at the Service-Learning Center we are sad to see Jeff leave but happy to see him continuing to further these relationships in Budapest.
Sziasztok!
Avery Gill
